Our first reviewer is Peach Water. I have to say she takes some amazing photos and I love the captions - very unique and fun.
About Peach Water - Probably best described as a geek girl who is an avid and active video gamer, prone to carnivorous cravings and mad for macarons and cupcakes. When not sampling the menu of Melbourne and beyond, I take delight in designing and progressing my design portfolio.
THE SHARING HOUSE
Address: 35 Dukes Walk, South Wharf, VIC 3006
Phone: 03 9245 9800
Website: www.thesharinghouse.com.au
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheSharingHouse
Twitter: @TheSharingHouse
Cuisine: European
Price: $$
Opening Hours: Daily, Noon – 11PM
Foodie Partner: Nick
Background info:
Back of the house: Paul Mathis (Taxi Dining Room, Transport Hotel, Chocolate Buddha, Firechief, Henry and the Fox, Coffee Head and Akachochin).
Sharing House’s head chef is the former head chef of Vue De Monde: Mark Briggs
The Sharing House’s front bar is made up of $12,000 worth of Lego!!!
Earlier on the year, I
harassed/threatened kindly asked Nick to do commission work for me, which was to design me a 3D peach, so that I can use for my blog. Not before long, he sent me an email with the most spectacular looking Peach, and of course, without much hesitation I offered to take him out for lunch to thank him for the commission work.
I must say, Nick is a VERY talented individual who works for a major developer/publisher/distributor game company, doing a lot of 3D design work. I think his work needs to be recognised, and I am grateful and blessed to have a good friend like him. So, Nick if you are reading this, thank you so much for the 3D peach, and being one of my good friends! :)
I thought for a long time wondering where I should take Nick for lunch to thank him for the work he had done for me, and when I found out about the lego showcase at The Sharing House, I ultimately decided to take Nick there.
So on Sunday, Nick and I met up at our local train station (Nick made me wait at the station mind you >_<) and trained it into the CBD. We got off at Flinders St, and walked along South Bank before hitting onto South Wharf. Nick apparently was complaining about his sore knee, but I somewhat turned a deaf ear towards him. Whoops :P We could have got off at Southern Cross Station, however I dont regret it because I love taking long strolls in the crisp cold Melbourne Weather.
When we arrived at The Sharing House, the first thing the waiter asked us before seating us was whether we wanted to dine at Akachochin or The Sharing House. As mentioned in the background info above, Akachochin and The Sharing House is operated by Restauranteur Paul Mathis, so I guess that was the main reason why we were asked where we wanted to dine.
Once we sat down, I started scanning around admiring the set up of the unique look of The Sharing House. I cant exactly remember where I read it but, the front bar is made up of $12,000 worth of Lego. And apparently the lego was purchased on Ebay! Really cool :D Just don’t have your kid taking the lego apart! It could be disastrous! ;)
Like always, drinks. Nick ordered the Ginger Beer. It comes with a slice of lime and according to Nick it’s very refreshing :)
I, on the otherhand ended up ordering the Blood Orange drink. I believe this had added soda as it was a fizzy type drink. Very refreshing, slightly tangy and almost reminds me of sunkist! yum! Highly recommend this drink! :)
The food at The Sharing House is designed for sharing.
All the items on menu looked really interesting and we almost over ordered. But thankfully the waiter who took our order helped us choose the right amount of food!
Had I ordered any more, I’d probably go into another food coma (which is happening quite often recently :().
Had I ordered any more, I’d probably go into another food coma (which is happening quite often recently :().
Whilst waiting for our food, I noticed a cute little glassware on the table. It looked really adorable with the small spoons. I found out from the waiter that this is actually used for the chickpea and parmesan cheese, which is one of the popular dishes. (Didn’t order it unfortunately)
We were asked by the waiter whether we wanted all our dishes to arrive at the same time, or come one at a time. I decided to go for a dish at a time, as I would have been sitting there all day taking photos and I dont think Nick would have been all too happy :P
The first dish to arrive was our starter dish: The Rabbit & Cauliflower Popcorn.
This starter dish is without doubt the winner of all the dishes we ordered. Nick was a bit hesitant at first in ordering the dish, but he decided to agree to order it. And did he enjoy it? Of course ;)
This starter dish is without doubt the winner of all the dishes we ordered. Nick was a bit hesitant at first in ordering the dish, but he decided to agree to order it. And did he enjoy it? Of course ;)
The fun thing about eating this dish is that you can not tell whether you are about to pop a rabbit or cauliflower popcorn into your mouth until it hits your mouth! :P
The Rabbit Popcorn was slightly on the salty side, with a cheesy taste. Whilst rabbit meat is a gamey meat, you will definitely NOT taste the gameyness.
The Cauliflower Popcorn was really good. Whilst the cauliflower itself doesn’t have much of a flavour, the batter that coated the cauliflower help bring some flavour for the popcorn. For this popcorn you definitely need to dip it into the aioli to heighten the flavour!
The Rabbit Popcorn was slightly on the salty side, with a cheesy taste. Whilst rabbit meat is a gamey meat, you will definitely NOT taste the gameyness.
The Cauliflower Popcorn was really good. Whilst the cauliflower itself doesn’t have much of a flavour, the batter that coated the cauliflower help bring some flavour for the popcorn. For this popcorn you definitely need to dip it into the aioli to heighten the flavour!
Whilst waiting for our next dish, Nick pointed out a little lego figurine! I would love to know how many people will actually spot this cute little figurine! If you do spot it, feel free to email me. (peach.water@gmail.com)
Ok, in all seriousness, whilst writing this blog article and also looking at the photo, I felt a seriousness need to visit my family doctor for a blood test.
As you can see in the photo below, between Nick and I we both ate almost 80% of that Pork Belly. Needless to say we didn’t feel all that good after from all that fat!
Unfortunately for a pork belly to be done right, the skin and fat needs to be left on, otherwise you’ll have a piece of… well I dunno… It wouldn’t be much of a pork belly!
Whilst I did eat bits of the crispy skin, half way through I found myself carving off the fat and eating the lean pieces of meat with some of the skin.
To help with the greasiness, a dish of condiment was served on the side. I have no idea what the condiment is, but it’s a tangy condiment made out of herbs, olive oil, and egg whites.
Whilst I did eat bits of the crispy skin, half way through I found myself carving off the fat and eating the lean pieces of meat with some of the skin.
To help with the greasiness, a dish of condiment was served on the side. I have no idea what the condiment is, but it’s a tangy condiment made out of herbs, olive oil, and egg whites.
The pork belly also comes with a side of salad made up of beetroot, spinach leaves and parmesan cheese shavings. In all honesty the salad wasn’t necessary, plus it was extremely salty!
It almost felt like there was salt added into the salad.
It almost felt like there was salt added into the salad.
I must forewarn anyone who does decide to tackle this heart attack inducing pork belly, to make sure they have a team of at least 3-4 people. As the portion is definitely WAY too BIG for 2 people.
Having said all that, the pork belly was definitely full of flavour and it was a good piece of meat. But to Nick and I, it was just a bit too heavy and greasy for us.
By the time Nick and I had finished our Pork Belly, we had almost died. Also I need to mention that I had to cancel one of our cheese fondue order for dessert as we felt that we were going to die in our seats! LOL
Having said all that, Nick and I still had a stomach to eat dessert. I seriously believe that everyone has a second stomach for dessert ;)
A good thing about The Sharing House is that the waiters working there are good at giving us opinions and looking out for us.
Like I said at the beginning that made sure that we didn’t over order, and fit for the people at the table.
Also, the waiter gave us some time to rest our stomach before starting on our dessert, which was SERIOUSLY needed!
Like I said at the beginning that made sure that we didn’t over order, and fit for the people at the table.
Also, the waiter gave us some time to rest our stomach before starting on our dessert, which was SERIOUSLY needed!
The first dessert to arrive was our ‘Corneto Icecreams’, that arrived on a test tube rack.
Please note that the photo does not accurately depict the size of the ice creams. The are in fact quite bit size!
Please note that the photo does not accurately depict the size of the ice creams. The are in fact quite bit size!
The ice creams went down a treat. I ended up having the Strawberry, Pedro Ximenez and Pistachio, whilst Nick had the Vanilla Bean, Mint and Coco Nib.
The strawberry icecream has a great strawberry flavouring, and definitely does not taste like artificial strawberry icecream for sure!
The pedro ximenez had a slight tangy taste, as pedro xinemez is a white grape grown in Spain. It was nice, but it wasn’t my favourite flavour!
As for the pistachio, it definitely had a strong flavour, and reminds me a lot of my favourite pistachio macarons <3
The strawberry icecream has a great strawberry flavouring, and definitely does not taste like artificial strawberry icecream for sure!
The pedro ximenez had a slight tangy taste, as pedro xinemez is a white grape grown in Spain. It was nice, but it wasn’t my favourite flavour!
As for the pistachio, it definitely had a strong flavour, and reminds me a lot of my favourite pistachio macarons <3
As for the cones, they were really crunchy, and reminds me of eating an those Chinese Eggs roll biscuits! haha
The final dish we had for the day was the deconstructed jaffa, which was clearly the winner and the hero of the day!
I was left floating up to heaven and sitting on cloud 9 for the rest of the day because the dessert was just that good!
I was left floating up to heaven and sitting on cloud 9 for the rest of the day because the dessert was just that good!
The presentation, and the taste of dish is so good that it’s difficult for me to find the best word to describe it. I guess AWESOME would be the perfect word :D
Each element of the dish accounted for this winning dish.
The mandarin sorbet was a refreshing sorbet, but on the slight bitter side. Nevertheless it was good to cleanse the palate.
The chocolate fondant was clearly the highlight out of the other outstanding elements because the moment you cut into the fondant the melted chocolate would just ooze out. I could seriously just eat that fondant all day!
The blood orange and the mandarin jelly was like eating candy. Sweet, and soft. It’s more on the chewy side than on the wobbly jelly side in case you are wondering :)
Nick did mention that one of the two jellies were too sweet for him, but I found them both to be ok.
As for the mandarin pieces… well I don’t think I really need to describe the taste of a mandarin, unless you’ve been living under the rock :P
The mandarin sorbet was a refreshing sorbet, but on the slight bitter side. Nevertheless it was good to cleanse the palate.
The chocolate fondant was clearly the highlight out of the other outstanding elements because the moment you cut into the fondant the melted chocolate would just ooze out. I could seriously just eat that fondant all day!
The blood orange and the mandarin jelly was like eating candy. Sweet, and soft. It’s more on the chewy side than on the wobbly jelly side in case you are wondering :)
Nick did mention that one of the two jellies were too sweet for him, but I found them both to be ok.
As for the mandarin pieces… well I don’t think I really need to describe the taste of a mandarin, unless you’ve been living under the rock :P
After we finished our meals and our tables were cleared a really cool lego constructed bill box came to our table.
I sat there pulling the lego apart, whilst Nick sat there looking in horror! LOL. I told the waiter and he said it was fine as other people did it too.
Nick ended up playing around the the Skater boy lego piece for a while.
I sat there pulling the lego apart, whilst Nick sat there looking in horror! LOL. I told the waiter and he said it was fine as other people did it too.
Nick ended up playing around the the Skater boy lego piece for a while.
I just really like the small touch at the very end, as it really sums up the whole fun experience at The Sharing House.
And after all that food? Well if you need to go to the toilet, there’s a lego sign to show you your way ;)
In conclusion, Nick and I had a memorable time at The Sharing House. It was a relaxed environment and the food, service was remarkable.
Whilst we almost died at our table from the pork belly, it doesn’t reflect on the quality of the pork belly. It was really designed for more than two people in my opinion. Had there been an extra person, I’m sure we wouldn’t have struggled as much.
Whilst we almost died at our table from the pork belly, it doesn’t reflect on the quality of the pork belly. It was really designed for more than two people in my opinion. Had there been an extra person, I’m sure we wouldn’t have struggled as much.
If there’s two dishes I needed to recommend, it would definitely be the cauliflower & rabbit popcorn and the deconstructed jaffa.
Definitely a must try place if you are over in South Wharf.
Definitely a must try place if you are over in South Wharf.
http://www.peach-water.com/blog/
@Peach_Water
