Lunch at Fenix

Yesterday I enjoyed a long anticipated lunch at Fenix with sis J.  We had the 10 course luncheon, which turned out to be incredibly popular with the restaurant filling up fast.

It's a bit of a surprise - as in, you're not sure what you'll get because they use "the best produce of the day".  It's also a "sharing menu"; several plates are placed on the middle of the table to share.

Always good to start off with some sparkling mineral water.  Cleans the palate!  I may have also had a cheeky sip or two of sauv blanc, but I promise J drank most of my glass.  It just felt nice to order it.

The first three courses were light, great for picking at and building an appetite.  This first one appeared to be a cured salmon with some radishes and seaweed.  In my current preggo-state, I couldn't eat this one, but J assures me it was scrumptious.

This, I could eat.  Baba ghanoush with tomato/chickpeas and toasted flat bread.  Smoky eggplant was a nice contrast to the zingy tomato.  There was also some type of oil sprinkled over, if I had to guess, I'd say smoked capsicum.

Again, something I couldn't touch - but again, J assured me it was delicious.  An assortment of cured meats and baby pickles.

Next up, three of "the first main course".  Gorgeous roated chicken atop sauteed baby brussels sprouts.

A bowl of the most divine assorted green olives...

And one of the best (albeit very simple looking) tomato & basil spaghettini I'd ever tasted.  A definite lemon flavour in amongst the tomato and basil goodness.

Next up, the "second of the mains":  swordfish with a goats cheese, watermelon and caramelised onion salad.

Damn.  I'm not a roast pork lover.  However, this looked so divine I did have a taste, and it was quite nice!  Roasted pork, crackling, atop creamy polenta (I think with ricotta or some sort of cheese melted through).  Plus a lovely creamy gravy on the side.

Next up, desserts.  The first one was a vanilla bean panna-cotta (absolutely perfect in texture and flavour), alongside two chocolate quenelles, fresh raspberries (where did they get those!??), and a caramel and biscuit base.

And finally, cinnamon 'donuts' with apples roasted in a caramel sauce.

What a revelation.  The food was incredibly simple, but at the same time very well considered.  Everything was fresh and delicious.  At $59 a head, extremely good value for an experience at one of Melbourne's best.