Tuesday, 26 January 2010

Wood Spoon Kitchen

Sake 2

Well, peeps, I am heading back to uni this year to become a Master of Teachering. I'm very excited about this - particularly as I now have a student card! - and Essie wanted for us to go out to celebrate my success and we ended up at Wood Spoon. It was a bit of a surprise as I had been mentioning wanting to go there but wasn't expecting a sms from her the day I found out about uni telling me we had a booking - she's sneaky!

Anyway, together with the boys we headed off to try this place I have heard so much about.

We shared a bunch of nibbley things to start - edamame, seaweed salad, agedashi tofu and okonoimyaki - and I chose to have umeshu while everyone else had various sake. The umeshu was one of the nicest plum wines I've had (which, admittedly, isn't hard as I've only had one other plum wine in my life) and the pear sake I sampled was amazing.

Edamame

The edamame was salty and delicious and we were so frickin' hungry that they were gone in a flash.

Seaweed Salad

I loved the seaweed salad - I loved the tomato and cucumber in it.

Okonomiyaki

It was a tasty okonomiyaki - it has 'nom' in the name so it must be good - and I can't remember any thing else about it but it being tasty. This is the downside of writing up two weeks late!

Agedashi Tofu

I REMEMBER THINGS ABOUT THIS. This agedashi tofu was by far the highlight of the meal and was so fucking amazing. OMG PEEPS. Nix and I were sharing this as the omnis had the pork gyoza but we convinced Dan and Esther to try some too and then regretted our decision as it meant less tofu for us. If you eat one thing this year, make it this!

Vegetarian Miso Soup

The vego miso was tasty if not quite what I expected. If I'd read the menu, I would have noticed the mention of pumpkin and sweet potato. It wasn't what I was expecting but it is tasty and full of surprise sustenance!

Dengaku Don

We shared the Dengaku Don which I loved but J found the texture a bit strange - it was a bit like tahini-coated eggplant. Which makes it sound terrible but I loved the softness of the eggplant and the sesame flavour. I can see that it might not be to everyone's cup of tea.

Sesame Icecream

After our monster effort, we thought it best to go the whole way by having dessert. The sesame icecream was an intense trip to sesame land - no sugary fluff here. It went really well with our other dessert choice . . .


Pumpkin Dango in Coconut Milk

pumpkin dango! This was very very sweet but also fairly amazing. Anyone who has had the pleasure of going to The Dumpling House with us knows our love of the pumpkin cakes. This dish was like the insides of pumpkin cake in sweet soup. WINNER.

At this point we rolled ourselves out to my car (A+ parking spot in front of the restaurant) and went home to rub our bellies.

This was an amazing evening - the food, company and occasion - and I feel like I've already had my best meal of 2010 in the first half of January. We had excellent service all night and even though it is a small space (though, apparently, it used to be smaller), it didn't feel like we were eating on top of the other patrons. Wood Spoon also get a huge thumbs up for their clearly marked vego, vegan and gluten-free options on their menu. It makes everything less stressful when you know exactly what everyone can eat.

GO THERE AND HAVE THE TOFU! IT IS AMAZING.

Wood Spoon Kitchen
88 Smith Street
Collingwood
web

10 comments:

Hannah said...

First, congratulations! Good luck with the Masters, I hope it all goes super smoothly :)

Secondly, want want want want want. Devolving to toddler status. Black sesame ice cream, pumpkin dango, seaweed salad? I"m so envious right now!

steph said...

I really want to try Wood Spoon Kitchen! I've heard so much about it.

s-j said...

@Hannah - it is so good! If you are Melbourne post-worldwide jaunt, it is definitely worth a visit!

@Steph - THE AGEDASHI TOFU. LIFECHANGING!

Hannah said...

My brother moved to Melbourne last year, so I do indeed foresee much tofu and black sesame ice-cream in my back-home-future!

Penny said...

Oh yum!! Okay I am definitely going here for dinner, soon!

Jetsetting Joyce (MEL: HOT OR NOT) said...

I'd heard middling reviews of Wood Spoon so never made much of an effort to go. However, your raves about the tofu have made me rethink my avoidance strategy - and it's right near me so I'm definitely trying it soon. Thanks for the post!

Jetsetting Joyce

s-j said...

@Penny - Let me know what you think! I hope it is delicious for you.

@Joyce - I'd only heard good things but then read a few middling ones in the last week or so (post-visit research?) and was a bit sad that it wasn't so great for everyone. I was speaking to my friend Lili who went on our recommendation and she liked it but wasn't overwhelmed by it. The tofu did get her enthusiastic thumbs up! Can't wait to hear what you think.

Vicki said...

Small world - I think you might have been sitting at the table behind me!!! I was there in early-mid January on a tuesday night & I noticed someone at the table sitting behind me taking photos. I blogged about it here: http://vickivegan.blogspot.com/2010/01/wood-spoon-kitchen.html

perry said...

... seaweed salad--WANT. lucky Aussie. (don't think I'm getting decent Japanese food again until I cross back over the Continental Divide).

Fat Bastardo said...

I agree Perry!