Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside.

Unusual sandstone cliffs at Sandringham

In the run up to Christmas Barnadi has been doing a lot of extra shifts at the restaurant, working lunch and dinner.  So last Sunday when he was only working the lunch shift we decided a trip down to the beach would be a good way to unwind.  I caught the tram up to Bundoora to meet him at work and then he drove us back down to the sea.  Not wanting to face the crowds at St. Kilda or Brighton beaches we carried on around the coast until we got to Sandringham.  It was quite a windy evening which kept the temperature down despite being a clear sunny day.  The sea was still too cold to consider swimming in so instead we walked along the beach exploring the unusual formations made by the large sandstone cliffs.

Trout and Kingfish Carpaccio

Once we had our fill of cliffs and sand we decided it was time to fill our tummies too, rather than driving straight home and having to cook we stopped in St Kilda and got a table at Cicciolina on Acland street.  Cicciolina is a rather pricey place, but somewhere Barnadi had always wanted to take me to, mainly because they serve brains on the menu.  The restaurant is very small and some would say cosy, others cramped, I would just say if you have a waist size over 38inches this might not be the place for you!  For starters we had the brains of course and we also shared the trout and kingfish carpaccio.  The brains were served wrapped in pancetta and reminded me of pigs in blankets, although they had a much softer texture once you bit into them.  The carpaccio was really nice too, but the blood orange segments that were served with it completely overpowered the delicate flavour of the fish.  Then for a main course Barnadi had the duck while I had a snapper fillet, both were good, but I did prefer my choice.