Venice, Italy - Gluttonous Travels (The wine trails - 1st stop)

The rather nice view from our hotel room
at the Hilton Molino Stucky

Goodbye London, Helloooo Venice.

To mark the end of life in London and the start of life in Melbourne, we decided to take a road trip through the wine trails from Venice to Bordeaux. First stop – Venice.

Venice makes you feel like you are floating on a fairy tale island of grandiose palaces and colourful, dilapidated villas, as the tourists float by in gondolas and the espresso machines whirl in the alleyways. It may be heaving with tourists, but something about being surrounded by so much calming water, where even taking a taxi involves an Angelina Jolie style cruise past domed cathedrals, brings an instant feeling of serene other worldliness.

It's all part of the fun, getting lost wandering among the bright blue canals

Venice was going to provide the freshest seafood of our trip before the trek inland to the wineries – think plump, salty little clams with spaghetti in a white wine sauce, grilled razor clams in olive oil, branzino, huge plates of delicate fritto misto, and big, sweet fleshy prawns.  Jet black squid ink pasta and calamari stewed in a tomato sauce with creamy polenta were other favourites. Eat sugary whipped cream sandwiched between meringue, rich chocolate salami, life giving coffee gelato, seafood bruschetta and thin pizza slices the size of your head.

A quick plate of pasta with fresh seafood at Fantasia

Londoners might go looking for cool little bacaro bars a la Polpo, but while there are exceptions, mostly the real deal cichetti bars look like old man pubs with blinking pinball machines and a few ham paninis on the counter top. Polpo is probably more Brooklyn than Venice. For wines, you have the choice of all the local Valpolicellas, Ripassos and Amarones the beautiful Veneto region has to offer.

Steamed lobster at the Aromi restaurant

Risotto with botargo, candied lime and crushed hazelnuts at the Aromi Restaurant

A couple of restaurants we would have liked to have tried were closed for both days of our trip, being a Monday and then a public holiday. Try Corte Sconta and check out the recommendations of An American in London and Mark Bittman. However, the best meal of our trip was at the Aromi restaurant at the Hilton Molino Stucky where we stayed.

The hotel has several restaurants – the Aromi restaurant has the option for a meal on the terrace, with panoramic views over the Guidecca canal, over summer. The fare combines simple, seasonal ingredients in creative Venetian dishes.

Cheese dumplings with crab, sea asparagus and summery black truffle

We tried the degustation menu (€95) - steamed lobster served with vegetables cooked in salt; cottage cheese gnocchi style dumplings with crab, sea asparagus and black truffle (TPG substituted this for the squid ink risotto which was gorgeous); creamy risotto sectioned into thirds with each of botargo, candied lime and crushed hazelnuts; a platter of fresh scampi, monkfish, prawns, sea bream and eel; sweet, caramelised polenta with milk ice-cream and a white and dark chocolate stick;  caramelised polenta with milk ice cream white chocolate pure and dark chocolate stick. On the a la carte menu, pastas are around €25 and mains are about €35, so it's at the pricier end of the spectrum as you would expect at a luxury hotel.

Our excellent waiter matched the first few courses with an Livio Felluga Sauvignon Blanc – I don’t normally go for Sauv Blancs at all, but boring old Cloudy Bay this was not. A Lamo Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz/Merlot gave us a sublime taste of the very reason we were here to explore the wines of the Veneto. We finished with a lovely Recioto over dolce. Although the room was quiet on a Monday night, I recommend the restaurant for elegant and delicious creative takes on traditional fare and excellent service.

For us, it was an easy toddle back to our room at the Hilton Molino Stucky, created from the restoration of 13 buildings that constituted a 19^th century flour mill. It’s gigantic (we got lost on our way to our room a few times!) and some towers feel like being inside a castle. Situated on Guidecca Island, the view across the canal when you pull back the curtains in the morning is one of the hotel’s main draw cards. Check out the view from our hotel room in the headline shot above.

You can then take a free shuttle ferry across to San Marco in under 15 minutes. The trade off for the fabulous views is the inconvenience of having to time your comings and goings with the ferries, which leave for San Marco every hour or for Zattere every half hour, but it has to be said that travelling by boat in Venice feels rather glamorous so it’s hard to begrudge it. The last ferry returns to the hotel after midnight.

The Hilton Molino Stucky - a former flour mill
(This photo was provided by the hotel)

Each room has a king sized bed (or 2 singles), satellite TV, high speed wireless (not free) and elegant, sumptuous bathrooms and fittings.

The view from the Skyline rooftop bar and the rooftop pool (yes I’m collecting them) across the canal towards San Marco Square is also fabulous – the perfect spot for an Aperol spritz at sundown (Venice is its birthplace afterall). There’s also a gym, spa, Turkish bath, jacuzzi and sauna.

Guidecca consists of 8 gondola shaped interconnected islets, and is a quiet escape from the tourist hordes. It houses many grand historical villas, avant-garde lofts and warehouses that now host art exhibitions and other cultural activities. Probably not worth a special trip if you’re staying in the throng, but a lovely place to stroll around, and worth a stop at Harry’s Dolce just a few minutes along the canal from the hotel.

Here are some more snap shots of Venice for inspiration:

This is what the late night taxi home looks like in Venice...

A Venetian petrol station

Another grand canal

Peak hour

From Venice, we head towards the vineyards outside Verona for some serious guzzling. Stay tuned.




Greedy Diva was a guest of Hilton Molino Stucky. Rates vary and you can get some great deals - the standard rates at this time of year are around €169 per double which is great value for this quality in Venice - and with those views.

Coda, Melbourne

Betel leaves

What to say about Coda? It's uber-cool with a funky, industrial, concrete shell setting, lots of buzz and some of the dishes have spark. It does modern Thai and Vietnamese sharing dishes with a big side of hype. But, in the end, save yourself a walk down the stairs (and quite a few dollars), and go to my now beloved Chin Chin down the road or luscious Longrain a few blocks away.

Fried betel leaves

Harsh? Well, I did have a great night with Ms Gourmet Chick, MTV Husband and TPG. But, after the last martini was spilled (literally - sorry Ms Gourmet Chick) the lasting memories of the food were that it was patchy. I loved the spanner crab betel leaves - zingy and fresh with a lively array of flavours and textures. And I quite liked the crisp zucchini fritters with oozy mozzarella, fresh slithers of zucchini, punchy peas and mint. But other than that, I mostly remember the downers.

Not so special pork belly "special"

The recommended pork belly special was a huge disappointment - boring, slimy texture, no rich porky flavour and no crackling. NO CRACKLING! Big fail. The Scotch fillet may have been cooked straight from the fridge - still slightly cold in the middle and lacking that full sublime flavour of the fabulous steaks I had in the King Valley this weekend (more later). The banana fritters had a raw doughy flabbiness about them.

Octopus with sour green mango

Neither was the magic there with Coda's much talked about wine selection either. Perhaps we were unlucky, but we didn't have the normal sommelier, Travis Howe, at hand and the selection of wines chosen by the sommelier of the evening left us non-plussed.

 Zucchini fritters with mozzarella

I had high hopes for Coda. It looks like all that I love about Melbourne restaurants. It fell short for me.

Banana fritters

The Mornington Peninsula, Australia - Gluttonous Travels

Gluten free margherita at T'gallant

The Mornington Peninsula is stretch of coastline just over an hour's drive from Melbourne. Not only beloved of surfies and those with fond childhood beach holiday memories, it also has plenty to interest wine lovers with a penchant for chardonnay and pinot grapes. Increasingly, it's upping the ante on the food stakes too. You'll find lively farmers markets, beach front, brunchy cafes, high end modern cuisine and old fashioned fish 'n chip shops galore. And, when you've just bought a new car, it's the perfect place to go for a cruise through the rolling hills and pine trees, where you'll feel like you're in a Mercedes commercial (minus the Mercedes in my case).

One of my favourite towns is Red Hill, snuggled among the hinterland. There are some lovely cafes, artisan cheese makers and bakeries in the town itself. And on the fringes, some stunning wineries.

View over the vines at T'gallant

We took a day trip and arrived just in time for a laid back Sunday lunch at nearby T'Gallant. With live acoustic music, gorgeous views and crunchy thin based pizzas coming at a slick pace from the woodfired oven, it's easy to see why the big communal wooden tables are packed to the rafters. The food is simple but good, and there's plenty of wines by the glass. (Pizza also comes gluten free.) Afterwards, don't miss the free tasting at the cellar door.

The Australian Spuntino - the big shed at T'gallant

Ten Minutes By Tractor is one of my all time favourite wineries, and so their cellar door was our next stop. Right next to its upmarket (and highly regarded) restaurant, pay $10 (redeemable on purchase of a bottle) to try the full range of their delicious wines - the Pinot Gris every bit as good as their better known Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs.

Horse riding tour of the wineries - the back yard at Green Olive cafe

Next, we stopped at Green Olive cafe, farm shop, olive grove and vineyard for a restorative, well made flat white, elbowing the local kids out of the way for a sneaky bounce on the trampoline overlooking the vines. They run coffee making and cooking courses here too, which might be worth checking out.

If it's summer, you'll need a swim. There's a long stretch of coastline to explore. I love Dromana beach with its silky white sand, clear light blue water and fading beach boxes. These are the kind of beaches you dream of in Europe, but they're totally low key  - not a Prada beach bag in sight.

Greedy Diva super tip - best to drive home at 3pm or after dinner on a Sunday to avoid the bumper to bumper traffic on the road back to Melbourne. I learned the hard way.

Naked Japan, Albert Park, Melbourne

Unagi don

Misuzu's up the road may look the part, with its coloured lanterns bobbing prettily in the treetops, but the prices have soared through the roof.  So on a balmy summer's evening,  crack open an Asahi just down the road, in the far more laid back Naked Japan.

This is not gourmet, and the chopsticks may not be as shiny as those at Misuzu's. But its reasonable quality at "cheap eats" prices. The unagi (eel) sparkles in a saucy glaze, filling the mouth with oily freshness, and although there's a little too much dressing on the seaweed and sesame salad,  hotpots of beef are big, rich and soothing, tempura is light and crisp and udon noodle soups come steaming and loaded up with goodness. 

Seaweed salad

True, this is not one to cross town for, but if you're after a decent casual midweeker on the shady streets of Albert Park, a stones throw from the beach, you won't find much better value around. Service is always sweet, and it's BYO.