FOG

Tonight I caught up with Mark Torpy, as one last dinner out before the wife got back from her trip to London.

We decided to head down Chapel Street, towards the Toorak end... I had been spending most of my time up the Windsor end so it

was a noice treat. We got to Greville Street and thought, hey, been a while since we ate down here so off we headed.

Past the old Candy bar where we had spent so many Sunday afternoons.

We walked past FOG, had a look at the menu, which was very impressive and decided to see what else was on offer before made

our decision. Our first choice was Chez Olivier, I had been there a couple of times before and loved it. Unfortunately they

were busy and without a booking it would have meant a 30 minute wait.

So, we headed back to FOG.

We were taken inside out the back in a great spot so we could see the fire... We sat down and the waitress opened our napkins

and put them on our laps. Excellent, this should be a great experience.

Hang on, that fire is outside, and there are people out there eating! Why are we in here? So we requested a seat outside and

the waiter went out to see if there was anything available. There was, so we were escorted to our seat where fresh napkins

were waiting, however we had to put them on ourselves.

So this is where I have to explain why this post is heading in the direction it is heading in...

Normally, I'm not this fussy or snobby or what might start to appear as being unreasonable, but when I know I'm going to be paying a decent amount of money for the meal, I have some high expectations.

On the table were 2 warm fluffy rolls, a dish of lovely light olive oil and tasty balsamic...

First of all our sparkling water arrived, closely followed by our Cosmo and French Martini. The cocktails were only $10 each which for a cocktail out was very reasonable; however they were quite weak and very drinkable.

We took forever to decide on our food and put through our order, but no time at all to decide on the bottle of Catalina Sands Sauvignon Blanc.

After returning from the toilet it noted that our napkins hadn't been refolded.

I ordered the lightly Smoked Duck on Israeli Couscous or Ptitim with asparagus, charred bok choi and apricot almond compote. Mark had the Salmon with yellow lentils, roasted fennel topped with a brown mustard seed, watercress and persimmon and coriander glaze.

The food was amazing, the wine was great, but unfortunately my glass felt like it was always empty...? Oh, there's the bottle over there on the seat in the ice bucket... may as well fill up the glass myself.

The duck was juicy and tasty... I just love the ptitim, last time I had it was at Cavallero with fish.

The out door area at FOG is great, comforatble and the big brazier added to a great atmosphere... But we think indoors might have been the place to be for that extra little bit of attention.

It was deffinitely a great meal and I did enjoy myself, but I can't help but wonder what Chez Olivier would have been like.