Restaurant Review: North East China Family

Location: 302 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
Cuisine: Chinese

I've had dumplings here before and thought they were quite good. So, when Charlotte found time out of her busy corporate lawyer schedule, we decided to have lunch here.

The place was in a bit of a mess, to be perfectly honest. The wait staff appeared absolutely clueless. We had to ask for our tables to be cleaned and for a new set of cutlery.

We ordered Wonton dumplings and noodles. While they tasted alright, it had taken them quite a while to serve us.

We also ordered pancakes. These were suppose to be for entree. Unfortunately, they came after the noodles... which we found quite strange. The pancakes were good though. Beautifully crisp on the outside. Incredibly moist, perfectly seasoned pork on the inside.

Overall Impression: 4/10

Service was dissapointing. Time was the main factor. As it was a week/working day, both of us only had an hour to spare and dining there took up almost all of that time. Food was not bad.

Cafe Review: Kartel

Location: 500 Collins Street, Melbourne
Phone: (03) 9629 9800
Link: www.studioequator.com.au/projects...
Cuisine: Cafe-style food
Overall Impression: 6/10

Cannot believe I only just discovered this place today. It is a great café that serves good food and coffee. Service is prompt and its great for a casual catch up with colleagues/friends during a working day. I had the lasagna and it was pretty good. Everyone at my table was equally satisfied with what they had ordered and received.

Restaurant Review: Chatter Box

Location: Shop 18, 235 Bourke St, Melbourne

Phone: (03) 9663 2588

Cuisine: Malaysian Hawker food

Overall Impression: 5/10

There is nothing fancy about this place. In fact it looks incredibly run down. But that is why it works. It serves hawker-style Malaysian food. So, it certainly looks the part. It may not serve the best Char Kuey Teow or Curry Laksa in town, but if you work in the CBD, it is convenient and it provides plenty of bang for your buck! They have a good $8.30 lunch special with a variety of cook to order dishes.

On this occasion, I settled for some greasy goodness - It's winter and some extra insulation is warranted. I had rice with curry chicken, deep fried chicken wings and curry eggplants (that have also clearly been deep-fried beforehand). And it was good. Nothing fancy or revolutionary but for $8.30, I was happy.

Restaurant Review: Dragon Boat

Location: Chinatown, Melbourne
Link: http://www.dragonboat.com.au/
Cuisine: Chinese

I've never really been a Yum Cha fan. And no, Dragon Boat hasn't changed my mind.
But everybody else in my family loves it so we decided to check out the newly refurbished Dragon Boat in Chinatown.

The service was quick. Given it was very busy, the waiters did very well.

Overall Impression: 5.5/10

Great variety and good service. Highly recommended if you want to get your 'Yum Cha' on.

Restaurant Review: Dragon Boat Palace

Location: 149 Lonsdale St, Melbourne
Link: www.dragonboat.com.au
Cuisine: Chinese

For someone who doesn't enjoy Yum Cha, I sure do end up having it quite a lot. And this time, it was of the all-you-can-eat variety...

We went all out and ate til we had to unbuckle our belts!

Overall Impression: 5.3/10

I do apologize for the decimal place... but I liked Chinatown's Dragon Boat just a tad better. It just had a nicer ambience, I think. And the all-you-can-eat style yum cha at Dragon Boat Palace meant, everyone was engulfing everything pretty quickly so the waiters were under a lot more pressure. So, you end up being surrounded by really stressed people. And then you start feeling really stressed... So, maybe thats why I didn't think the ambience was as good.

Restaurant Review: Kitchen Workshop

Location: Ground Floor, Clarendon Street Entrance, Crown
Link: http://www.crowncasino.com.au/kitchen-workshop
Cuisine: International, Buffet

I hate buffets. But due to several factors including undue influence, I went to Kitchen Workshop last night. There was a pretty decent selection of mains and entrees. From memory, there were lots of random deep fried things, beef bourginon, calamari, fish, roasts, antipastos, salads, pasta, biriyani rice, an interactive teppanyaki station (where you get to choose what you want in your stir-fry). I was waiting in line at the teppanyaki station and saw them pour a ridiculous amount of oil on and chickened out, quickly leaving my position. J and R tried it though and they said there were nice flavours but it was really nothing to shout about. There was also a generous selection of desserts (that included a chocolate fountain).
The mango pudding in particular was a winner. Simple and pleasant.

Overall Impression: 5/10
Delivers everything it promises but goes no further. Great value for money. An all you can eat dinner that cost us 19.50AUD perhead. Relaxed ambience. Helpful staff.

Function at Park Hyatt (catering by Radii)

Location: 1 Parliament Sq, East Melbourne

Phone: (03) 9224 1234
Link: www.radiirestaurant.com.au
Cuisine: Modern Australian

Overall Impression: 6/10

When I last visited Radii, I was very impressed by the quality of the restaurant's offerings. So, when I found out that I had been invited to a function caterd by them, I was particularly excited.

From the moment we arrived, there was food on the table. A selection of seafood, cold meats, marinated and grilled vegetables, cheese and bread kept us all very very happy

Entree: Duck terrine

Entree: Baby cos lettuce with crisp Pancetta, poached egg, ceasar dressing

Main: Breast of chicken stuffed with Herbed Goat's Cheese

Main: Eye fillet

Dessert: Chocolate Dome

Dessert: Ginger and Tea Pannacotta

As with any catered event, the sheer number of guests means that the quality of the food on offer will undoubtedly suffer. All in all, the food was very good. Highlights were both the desserts and the Chicken breast that was cooked perfectly. The steak was unfortunately a dissapointment as it was sinew ridden. The entrees were both passable.

Restaurant Review: Mezzo Bar and Grill

Location: 35 Little Bourke St, Melbourne
Phone: (03) 9650 0988
Link: www.mezzobar.com.au
Cuisine: Italian
Overall Impression: 7.5/10

Oyster on Little Bourke used to be one of my very favourite restaurants. So I was heartbroken when it closed down at the end of 2009. A restaurant named Mezzo Bar and Grill took its place but I didn't really take notice until I found out it was actually run by the executive chef behind Oyster, Joseph Vargetto! There had actually been an executive and strategic reason behind the change. In essence, Oyster never really "closed down". Instead, there was a name change to showcase Joseph's evolving Sicilian food.

Beautiful bread that was served with delicious extra virgin olive oil

From the moment we arrived, we noticed how lovely the ambience was. It was a formal dining space, and yet the ambience maintained an air of casualness about it. The wait staff that took care of us was excellent. He provided us with great service and care. He was even attentive with the amount of bread we had for the table. And the extra virgin olive oil we had with the bread was seriously divine. 

Entree: semolina dusted calamari, shaved fennel and herb salad, salsa of sultanas, lemon and capers

The calamari was cooked perfectly and the accompaniments provided such a balance of acidity to the dish. The crust was crisp, the calamari was tender. And the flavours.. Oh the flavours. There was a burst of Middle Eastern tasting flavours. Which I found very interesting. This is an entrée I would highly recommend.

Main: cavatelli (semolina gnocchi), pork and veal ragu

When I read 'gnocchi' on the menu, this was certainly not what I was expecting at all. In my mind, I thought it would resemble the semolina gnocchi I had at Café Di Stasio. Nevertheless, the pasta was cooked perfectly and the pork and veal ragu was tasty and hearty.

Main: angus porterhouse served with caponata 'messinesi', herb oil

Of all the dishes, this was the biggest let down. The steak itself was tender and perfectly cooked. However, the caponata was not to my liking. The flavours tasted like run of the mill café mixed vegetables you could order on the side.  

Dessert: tiramisu della nonna . my nonna's recipe

The tiramisu was great. Everything you would expect from the perfect tiramisu. Every morsel was moreish. It was an excellent way to finish a lovely meal.

Another great thing about Mezzo is that they certainly do not skimp on portion sizes. You *will* leave well-fed. Extremely well-fed.

Recipe: How to make a giant cupcake

 Giant Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe

I decided to bake J a giant cupcake for his birthday because he loves things that are the wrong size but to scale! E.g. A Jeroboam (double magnum) from Yering station:

So I thought a giant cupcake would be a good idea. The only problem is my lack of skill in the kitchen but I really tried my best and after lots of trial runs, here is the recipe I came up with. Because I didn't want to buy a special giant cupcake maker, I used an oven-safe bowl for the dome-shaped upper tier of the cupcake and a regular round cake tin for the lower tier. Make sure that the bowl fits nicely on top of the cake tin. Happy baking!

Makes 16 servings.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups self-raising flour 
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 cup greek-style yoghurt
1/2 cup milk
30ml Red Food Colouring
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Frosting:

250gms butter
2 cups icing sugar
juice of 1 small lemon
2 "triangles" of Happy Cow cheese
Lollies etc to decorate your giant cupcake. (I used mini marshmallows)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour an oven-safe bowl and a round cake tin. Sift flour, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.

2. Beat butter and granulated sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Mix in yoghurt, milk, food color and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until just blended. Do not overbeat. Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean in both the cakes baking in the oven-safe bowl and the round cake tin. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire rack.

4. For the Frosting, beat cheese and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in icing sugar until smooth.

5. Cut the top bits of the two separate cakes from the oven-safe bowl and round cake tin.

6. Spread frosting on the bottom part of the dome shaped cake.

7. Place the dome shaped cake on top of the round cake.

8. Frost the dome shaped (top tier) part of the cake with frosting until it looks like a giant cupcake!

Cafe Review: Badger Creek Blueberry Farm Winery & Cafe

Location: 11 Garnook Grove, Badger Creek

Link: www.mantirri.com.au
Cuisine: Cafe style food

Driving up and around the Dandenongs, we noticed a 'Blueberry farm' sign. We decided to follow the signs and we found ourselves at the Badger Creek Blueberry Farm Winery & Cafe.
As we had already had lunch, we decided to each have lovely iced coffees together. Very quickly, we realised there were blueberry smoothies on offer but it was too late as our iced coffees had arrived. Will definitely make a point to come back here to give those smoothies a go the next time I'm in Healesville.

Overall Impression: 6/10

What a lovely cafe with beautiful surrounds. Really wish we had more time there to actually go on a blueberry picking adventure. 

And on a side note, Badger Creek reminds me of Badgers. And Honey Badgers...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r7wHMg5Yjg

Restaurant Review: RA, Collins Quarter

Location: Collins Quarter, 86a Collins St,Melbourne

Phone: (03) 96508500
Link: http://www.collinsquarter.com/
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Overall Impression: 6/10

RA is well known among the younger corporate crowd. Jam packed on a Friday night, this upmarket city pub is tucked away in an alley (in a very Melbourne sort of way). Less known is the fact that they offer delicious food for those seeking to reward their taste buds.
I had the opportunity to sample their Christmas menu…

 Turkey Gallotine
Stuffed with Lemon and Oregano served with Tequila cherries and caramalised pistachio

 Pims!

 Roast Pork Belly with Bread Stuffing, Grain mustard coleslaw and Roast yellow peaches

Christmas Pudding with Brandy Anglaise
Service was prompt and friendly. The food was wonderfully Christmas-y =) The pork had good crackling, the turkey was tender, the pudding was moist! It was simple and to the point.

Restaurant Review: Woolshed

Location: t18/161 Harbour Esplanade, Docklands

Phone: (03) 8623 9640
Link: www.woolshedpub.com.au
Cuisine: Modern Australian

Had the opportunity to try their Christmas dinner menu. This gastropub dishes up delicious food. Everything was plated up beautifully and tasted just as good as it looked! Great for a group function.

Restaurant Review: Om Vegetarian

Location: Level 1, 28 Elizabeth St, Melbourne
Phone: (03) 9663 0062
Link: www.omvegetarian.com
Overall Impression: 5/10

Was catching up with the lovely Phermonh. Being vegetarian, she suggested this restaurant called Om Vegetarian. I have actually never heard of this restaurant until then. She sold it to me as being $6.50 for an 'all you can eat' dinner. I was shocked but also now very curious. So I spent the rest of the week before our catch up getting really excited about what a $6.50 buffet would look like.

When we arrived, I realised it was not so much 'all you can eat', but more feel free to ask for more, which in my opinion, are two very different things. The latter requires a thicker skin.

What happens is you are served with a plate filled with food (as pictured) and you can go up to the counter and ask for refills.

I ended up asking for a little more of the basmati rice and curry potato and we both left well fed.

It is hard to say anything too harsh about a place that charges you $6.50 for dinner so I won't. The food was very basic but at the end of the day it delivered what it promised. Thanks for the lovely catch up, Phermonh! I look forward to more vegetarian meals with you.

Dulce de Leche (Spanish caramel) at Koko Black

Dulce de Leche is a thick, caramel-like milk-based sauce or spread popular in Latin America. It was by chance that I discovered its deliciousness. Travelling around Europe with my family and spending some time in Argentina when I was about 12, we met a friendly young girl who was about 18 at that time (the same age as my sister who had not come along with us on the trip). She asked if she could be our pen-pal to improve her English and my sister and little Miss Argentinian developed a friendship over the letters they sent each other. She decided to visit us during the Melbourne summer a year later and we welcomed her into our home. She brought along with her, jars and jars of Dulce de Leche and that was when I had my first taste. It was delicious. I spread it on everything I could - bread, crumpets, pancakes, crackers! It was a good summer.

Since then, I have been in search of places where I can have good Dulce de Leche.

Koko Black is one such place.

Over Easter, my mom surprised me with these Dulce de Leche filled bunnies from Koko Black and they were delicious. There are many other products in store at Koko Black that have Dulce de Leche in them and it is always a treat!

:)

Cafe Review: CHATIME

Location: 28 Elizabeth St, Melbourne

Phone: (03) 9663 9998

Link: http://www.chatime.com.au/

Taro Milk Tea with pearls

Matcha (Green tea) and red bean with pearls 

Step aside Bubble Cup, there is a (relatively) new kid on the block!

Chatime offers a premium milk tea and pearl experience. As ridiculous as that sounds, it is true.

The use of good quality Taiwanese tea and flavourings that are far less artificial than the usual deal means that this store usually has a queue. But it is well worth the 2 minute wait. What you get is a delicious and refreshing milk tea. The only down side is that it commands a slightly higher price for its premium offering. It was $5.70 (excluding extra charge for pearls etc) for a large 'Taiwan Taro Milk Tea' (pictured above). But I don't think I have ever taste Taro milk tea so good. It tasted very natural and the bits of creamy taro were delicious and added a nice textural element to the drink.    

Overall impression: 7/10 

Restaurant Review: Ga mi

Location: 535 Lt Lonsdale St Shop G, Melbourne

Phone: (03) 9670 3232

Cuisine: Korean

Overall impression: 7/10 

I have never eaten a plate of Chicken anus before. Nor have I thought it would ever be necessary. That was, until that ill-fated night, when I lost some weird game we were playing at the table at Ga Mi and I took my first bite. To be honest, it really did not taste as bad as I had thought it would. It was foreign and strange, as opposed to gross (taste-wise, that is...). The plate of chicken anus that Ga Mi had plated up was filled with flavour, so I don't blame the chef for the unpleasant experience I had. It was the textural elements of the anus itself that I had a problem with. I don't think I have ever tasted anything quite so muscle-ly, sinew-y and packed with cartilage. Like I said, it was strange.

But the chicken anus dish is not what Ga Mi has gained a cult following for. The reason I love Ga Mi is for its fried chicken. It comes in three varieties- original, sweet chilli and garlic. Personally, I prefer the original (sans sauce) chicken. Crunchy and tasty. It is kind of like KFC, but for the fact that it taste a lot less artificial. Its hard to describe but I'm sure you will understand once you've tried it. And how could you ever go wrong with a nice bucket of fried chicken. Yum!

Cafe Review: Best Vanilla Slice: Just Fine Food

Location: 23 Ocean Rd, Sorrento, 3943

Phone: (03) 5984 4666

Cuisine: Cafe style

Overall impression: 7/10 

We were in Sorrento for a relaxing weekend away with my sister, my brother-in-law and my beautiful baby niece. It's cold this time of the year but we enjoyed how much more tranquil Sorrento felt. It was a wonderful trip filled with wine-tastings, wine-purchases and excessive food consumption.

We decided to try out the illustrious Sorrento vanilla slice from Just Fine Food. Its always interesting to see whether something lives up to the hype that surrounds it. And in the case of this vanilla slice, it certainly did! My tastebuds were in heaven, every moreish morsel was delectably balanced. I find vanilla slices in general far too sweet for my liking but these struck the perfect balance.

The pastry quite literally melted in my mouth and yet did not lose its sheet-like textural elements. The custard filling was smooth and delicate with a hint of lemon twang to it. It was delicious. I tried not to think about the amount of calories I was consuming because it tasted decadently deadly.

But yes, beautiful.

Restaurant Review: Crystal Jade

Location: 154 Little Bourke St, Melbourne

Phone: (03) 9639 2633

Cuisine: Chinese

Overall impression: 5.5/10 

Crystal Jade is one of the few restaurants that offer yum cha alongside good and prompt service. It has a nice ambience and if you are seated near the glass windows, it is such a delight to look out and see the bustle of China Town. 

As far as the yum cha experience goes, the food certainly meets expectations. Although the Xiao Long Baos do not hold a candle to Hutong's offerings, the rest of the items were very good. The following are some of the dishes we had.

 

It was perfect for the relaxing Sunday brunch we were after.

Cafe Review: Barista Espress

Location: TG03, Ground Level,  Goldsborough Lane, 181 William Street, Melbourne

Phone:  (03) 9670 6620

Cuisine: Cafe-style food

Overall impression: 5/10 

     

I finally got to catch up with my  wonderful ex-colleagues after months of planning! It wasn't a particularly good day for a catch up. The weather was horrible - it was absolutely freezing, and very soon, we could see the rain falling down from where we sat.

We quickly forgot about the weather.  JW had just returned from an exciting trip and it was really good to see her and ASP had exciting news about a delicious man in her life.

Neither of us had eaten at Barista Café but this was a pleasant experience. The food met expectations, the coffee was better than average and the service was prompt.

Being in Goldsborough lane is pretty cool too cause that meant we could do a bit of shopping before returning to our respective work places.

 Pizza with side salad

Creamy mushroom and avocado rigatoni

Restaurant Review: Margo's (Revisited)

Location: Crown casino, Southbank
Link: http://www.crowncasino.com.au/margos
Cuisine: Modern Australian

Was craving veal shanks so I suggested we all head to Margo's. This is my fourth visit and even though having dinner inside a casino is not exactly ideal, I have always found it an enjoyable casual dining experience.

It happened to be Ben's birthday and after telling one of the staff members, we were served with a complimentary glass of sparkling wine each and a nice coffee and cherry cake to end the meal. The cherries on the cake were delightfully alcoholic.

 Veal shank slow-cooked veal served with mashed potatoes and vegetables

Again, the veal shanks were very good.

J ordered the 'surf & turf' - moreton bay bug and 200g porterhouse steak with chips and salad.

He said is was 'ok'. The bug was good and the steak was cooked 'medium', like he had requested.

I guess the food isn't all that fantastic but I find Margo's really honest. It’s a weird way to describe a restaurant but its just fair. The food is consistently what you expect it to be. It might not be a magical meal but its always enjoyable and suitably casual.

And the complimentary sparkling wine and birthday cake was a nice touch. Well played, sir. Well played.