Golden Fields
She says:
Epic. That is the only way I can describe the dinner that Gerard, K and I had at Golden Fields the other day. I’d been sick all week and flat out at work so I pretty desperately wanted to get home and log some couch time but when K suggested dinner at Golden Fields I thought it was worth delaying my bonding session with my heater. I’d been to Golden Fields once before, a few weeks after it opened, and had been looking forward to going back. I was glad I decided to go out, the food was amazing even if we ordered way too much.
Andrew McConnell’s new St Kilda restaurant is sleek. The restaurant is bight and open with some quirky touches like the gold roller skate in the kitchen (top pic). The staff were friendly and efficient, which is useful given how massively busy the place gets. By 6.30 on the night we were there it was a full house.
I could talk more about the restaurant (pretty) and atmosphere (busy) but let’s be honest, this night was all about the food, so let’s get to it…
He says:
It was Friday night, and I was tired and wasn’t really interested in going out. All I was thinking about was the home delivered Thai food I was going to order, when Marg sprung a dinner invite on me. Sigh. In St. Kilda. Double Sigh. The resulting drive to Golden Fields was an exercise in frustration, so I was in no mood for dinner when we arrived.
That all changed once the food (and drink) started coming out. The pork dumplings and peking duck bun were good, if a little small for the price, however in retrospect this was a good thing. The roast pork was amazing. How you wish your mamma used to make it. Beneath the wall of crackling hid a tasty excess of tender pork that I literally couldn’t cut out fast enough. Save up all your pennies, go to Golden Fields, and order the pork shoulder. You won’t be disappointed.
We ate:
There were three of us and we shared everything but to be honest we easily had enough food for 4. We were all struggling after dinner, even if there were 5 of us we probably wouldn’t have gone hungry.
After we ordered we were brought a little bowl of pumpkin seeds.
K started with a Dunalley oyster with fresh wasabi ($6). He said it was good and really enjoyed the wasabi which wasn’t as hot as he expected it to be.
K and I then shared one of the massively popular (and now available take away) New England lobster roll which is cold poached crayfish, watercress and kewpie mayo on a hot buttered roll ($15). The hype aint for nothing, the crayfish is delicious and everything in the roll works really well together. Have to say though, it wasn’t the standout.
We had two serves of the rustic pork dumplings with Shanghai chilli vinegar ($9 for 2). The ‘dumplings’ are basically eerily Momofuku-like pork buns. They are delicious. That is all.
Sticking to the starters section we also had the twice-cooked duck with steamed bun, vinegar and plum sauce ($20). The duck is Golden Field’s take on peking duck. Method: shred duck leg with spoon, open steamed bun, add celery and plum sauce and dunk the whole thing in the vinegar. The duck is easily as good, if not better than, the lobster roll.
Salads-wise we went for the steamed eggplant with silken tofu and pickled chillies ($14). The eggplant and the sauce were good. The tofu, not so much. The pieces were big enough that they hadn’t absorbed a lot of the sauce and ended up being pretty bland.
From the meat and fish section we ordered the slow-roast salt pork, crackling, pickled cabbage and tamarind ($90). Seeing this come out was the moment we knew that our ordering had gone horribly wrong. The pork looked (and tasted) delicious but it was easily enough to feed 5 people. Easily. There’s not a lot to say about this pork other than that it was delicious, the meat, the crackling… perfect. Stand out dish of the meal/weekmonth.
With the pork we also had the watercress & chrysanthenum leaf salad ($8). It was fine I guess, it was really a non-value add though.
Obviously we were completely full after our hideous over-ordering so we didn’t manage dessert but, last time Marg was here she had the peanut butter parfait with salted caramel and soft chocolate ($10), her life may never be the same again.
