Okay, not just me. 20 lucky bloggers and readers got to join the lovely Chantelle from Fat Mum Slim for lunch at Vanitas, a lovely little restaurant on the foyer level at Palazzo Versace, Gold Coast.
Chantelle is an Olympus ambassador (read about that here), and those lovely people invited us to a boozy lunch so we could play with their kick-ass cameras! How nice of them.
Those cameras really rock. They link to social media (must be wi-fi capable...fancy!)...they're lightning fast and are this new-age blend of digital camera and collage/filter/editing app. Kinda like your iPhone camera, on crack. Check them out, and someone please buy me one.
But anyway, food!
We had a beautiful Australian bubbly on arrival (I asked the name of it three times, but have a terrible memory which was not helped by the quantity of the stuff that I managed to guzzle), and sat down to a nicely crafted choice-of-3 type menu.
For entree, I chose the gnocchi with mushrooms, poached egg and truffled hollandaise. Rich city! It looked lovely and certainly had some complementary flavours with the mushrooms, egg yolk and buttery hollandaise. It had the vibe of a fancy breakfast...at lunch. The only thing I wasn't totally sold on was the gnocchi - the texture was a bit off. Onward!
I ordered eye fillet, and was apprehensive when I had no say in how it was going to be cooked. Pretty typical for a catered function, but I'm a rare meat lover, and really despise a well-done steak. My fears were assuaged as soon as the plate came out - the meat was perfectly rare, butter-soft, sitting on fantastic paris mash and accompanied by turned carrots and a rich jus.
My steak was just gorgeous and I could've gone three more! (Piggy!) Looking around the table, there did seem to be a few inconsistencies as to how cooked the steaks were, which I imagine would be a common issue when serving 20+ mains at once. Everyone I asked seemed happy enough, though.
For dessert I couldn't pass up the opportunity to sample the creme brulee. It's one of my very favourite desserts and I also think it's an easy one to do in bulk, so I thought it'd be a safe bet. The brulee had a wonderful vanilla bean flavour, and came with crunchy almond biscotti and some poached pear. The only aspect that was missing was the crack(!) of the brulee. The sugar crust was a bit soft. Perhaps bruleed too early?
There were some Hill red and white wines served with the meal, but I stuck with the champers. It really was delicious. Must call Vanitas and ask again what it was!
(Funny story, I actually ended up calling the man to come down and stay at the Sheraton across the street that Thursday night! There was no way I was driving anyhwere after my 4 or 5 glasses of bubbly at lunch! Whoops..... Fun to be spontaneous sometimes, though!)
Me after 4 or 5 bubble at lunch....
I had a really lovely luncheon and met some beautiful ladies. Chantelle was such a gracious host - there were goodie bags of homemade fudge (highlight!) and fancy stationary gifts from kikki k! What a woman! I scored an elegant gold-gilded gratitude diary, and I've been mindful to write in it often. It's become a lovely ritual to note down 3 things that I'm thankful for each day. More of that!
So, thanks again to Olympus and to Chantelle for a lovely day - and I'd surely recommend Vanitas for a set-menu function. Food = overall very good, Atmosphere = opulent, Service = fantastic, Company = even better!
xo,
AB