Manila Place (Penang)

I still have a few Melbourne food posts to wade through, but just a quick food post on food in Penang for this entry.

Me and Mum went to Manila Place for lunch today, a cafe-style restaurant situated in Gurney Plaza. It serves both local Malaysian-style cuisine and Western cuisine, so there's a little something for everyone. ^.^

We both had the set lunch, which came with an ice-lemon tea, mushroom soup and strawberry ice cream for dessert, which cost RM19.90/AUD$6.70.


The soup was okay - good creamy soup, but nothing to really shout about. It wasn't nearly warm enough I feel, for it to be really good, it had to be pipping hot so it'll be all creamy and yummy when you eat it with bread. There was quite a lot of mushrooms though so I'll give them credit there.

We also ordered a Caesar Salad (RM12.90/AUD$4.30) to share.


Great salad with great dressing but the portion was a little small. I know for AUD$4.30 it was a steal, but not for RM12.90 in Penang. :P We would both have preferred more tomatoes and crisp lettuce. Also not enough cheese and no anchovies in sight. :( Props for real bacon bits and flavoured boiled eggs though.

Mum had the Chicken Curry with Pita Bread for her main.


The curry was fragrant and was of just the right amount of spiciness for mum. The chicken meat was lean and tender as they used thigh/breast meat so there was minimal amount of chicken fat. The pita bread used was wholemeal pita bread and it was toasted, so it wasn't oily, much to Mum's delight. She loved her lunch.

I had the Spicy Lemongrass Chicken with Rice. I never seem to be able to stay away from lemongrass chicken, WHY.


It was definitely Malaysian-style lemongrass and different from my Dessert House gorging in Melbourne. The sauce was plentiful and thick, flavoured with lemongrass and spices. The chicken was a lot - they gave three big pieces of meat. Pan-fried to just the right amount! I certainly enjoyed it! And the crisp veggies at the side was a great complement.

I supposed it was a little pricey and a little up-market compared to the usual Penang offerings - but it was a nice place and the staff was quite friendly (rare find in Penang :D). I might make this one of my regular "fancy place" places to eat.

Also, I promise I will have hawker food up - when I get to eat theeeeeem.
- Mouse

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Manila Place
170-G-43, Gurney Plaza,
Georgetown,
Penang 10250
Phone:+6(04) 2262005

Alf's birthday

Happy Birthday to Alf!

We celebrated his birthday 2 weeks ago with a really simple dinner at home due to the rest of the people,except the birthday boy, would have exams soon. We started off our dinner with cheese and eggyolks pasta cooked by Alf. *WAT?? I heard* yea... We suggested to go to Grossi Florentino for a decent dinner (which the girls~me, MM & Mouse ended up going short after Alf left for holidays in Malaysia. This post will b coming up soon.) but Alf said he would cook for us due to the decreasing amount of vitamin M in his pocket. So, the birthday boy cooked pasta for the 4 of us =)

The pasta. Yum.


keropok keping, pineapple and the sauce for dipping

Alf loves the keropok keping! So, i decided to fry up some for him. The sauce is for you to dip ur keropok with. It is made by my cousin (I brought it from Malaysia, btw) using prawn paste, belacan, chilli and some other ingredients. The sauce is v nice! It is a bit spicy and I added some roasted peanuts and sesames into it. How fragrant! We normally will have different types of fruits(pineapple, cucumber, turnip (bangkuang), mango (not too ripe) & guava) and then will add in the keropok (crack it) together with the sauce. In Malaysia and Singapore, we called it rojak. There are slight different ways of eating it in different states but the fruits and the sauce are the main things.

The Cake

Alf also bought the cake by himself (he insisted) coz he said he wanna choose a cake that he actually like so that he will enjoy it =D So, here it is a chocolate cake from Laurent Patisserie. I took the picture of the box because we tried and tried but could not take the cake out of the box without cutting the box up... and hence we wondered how they actually put the cake in as there is no space for us to put our hands in and could take the cake out, without ruining the cake... Neway, we cut the box up =)

Like the pokka dots


My share of the cake

The cake is very rich. It has bit n pieces of crunchy chocolote bars in it. The dotted sponge layer on the edge complement well with the chocolate cake as it is not sweet. Good choice, Alf!

San is still in Melbourne

**EDIT: Btw, since Mouse is back to Malaysia for holidays now, so some of the posts from her will b featuring food from Malaysia! Just in case anyone confuse with the posts... * I miss those food, sob quietly =( *

Don Don for a quick lunch

Left

Right

This was my lunch from Don Don Japanese Restaurant (Swanston st) ~ Chicken curry don, $5.70. I enjoyed it very much. The curry is very "smooth" and got quite strong curry paste's taste. Its not spicy, so for those that cant take spicy food but love to eat curry, i would recommend this. AND i have to mention the chicken. The grilled chicken smells absolutely delicious. They hav this grilled aroma n are well marinated with terriyaki sauce. Beautiful.

Don Don's sukiyaki beef, Don Don's bento box and sashi don(Tummy Rumbles) are worth trying too. Check them out =D

San

Don Don
330 Little Lonsdale St
Melbourne 3000 VIC
Phone: (03) 9670 7113

Don Don
321 Swanston St
Melbourne 3000 VIC
Phone: (03) 96623377

Kimchi Korean Restaurant (in Penang, Malaysia)

In the next three weeks, there will be a special section to IronEaters: Penang food!! Yes, yours truly is back in the Paradise of Food (which is also where she comes from) for three weeks and plans to gorge on all the yummies of her hometown. :D Except (I will be kicked severely for this) I am not much of a hawker food person and because of health reasons, I am trying to cut down on hawker food. However, the obligatory Char Koay Teow post WILL BE up when I get to my favourite stall. And a few select favourite Mouse hawker dishes. ^~

FYI, Penang is a state in Malaysia.

The first Penang post is going to feature Kimchi, a Korean restaurant near to my house (please don't ask me for the address, I was an idiot and forgot to take the business card - but I'll edit this post once I find out). I went there for lunch with my mother and aunt today.

Our lunch - consisting of the usual Korean appetizers (I know there's a name for them but I don't know whaaat), a main dish, a drink and a dessert, cost RM12 per person, which divides out to be roughly AUD$4.

There's the blatant $$$ reason why I love Penang so damn much. Hahahahha.

Anyway, there were a selection of 6 appetizers to choose from.

Freeeeee. :D

From top left, the first one was a kind of bean in sauce, which was quite ok. The next one was of course the kimichi in which it nearly burnt off my tongue. After that was the sesame bamboo-shoot thingy, which was my second favourite of the lot. And then to the bottom of it, the asparagus, which was my FAVOURITE. It was so yummy and tasty and so yay! ^~ The one to the right of it is an omlette thing which was quite ordinary (but good ordinary), and the last one was a spicy radish-veggie thing.

I had the Don-Gas, which was Korean-style pork cutlet.

The rice served looked little - but I didn't finish it even.

It was a pretty ordinary cutlet in my opinion, but the sauce was pretty special. It was a sort of spicy-sweet sauce that was quite different to what I have tasted before, and it went very well with the pork cutlet. One thing about the cutlet was it was skinless, so there were no fatty bits, which was yay-ness for me.

Mum had the Kong Guksu, Korean noodles in cold soya bean soup.

So pretty and white.

We've never even heard of or tried it before, so Mum decided to be adventurous and try that. And WOW. It was so amazingly specially good!! First off, the noodles came with a small portion of salt - so you could season it however salty you want it to be. The soya bean broth was REAL soya bean, non of the watery stuff. It was so rich and thick that we could actually taste the bean bits in the broth. And the Korean noodles were tops. They were thin and springy to the bite, so so good. There was practically no oil at all, which made Mum a very happy Mum.

My aunt decided on the Janchi Guksu, Korean-style noodles in broth. It was a very light and sweet soup, accompanied with the same yummy noodles and lots of veggies. She certainly loved it!

It was actually all smoky from hot steam; I had to photoshop this. x.x

For dessert, it was some lavender-ginger concoction (not sure what it exactly was) which was quite nice but took a little getting used to. :D

Definitely going back there again! The ambiance was nice and the staff was friendly - it was run by a young-ish Korean couple. After 5 years in Melbourne - I thought that was supremely cheap but my aunt didn't really agree, even if she liked the food. :D The prices were definitely WAY BEYOND CHEAP compared to Melbourne - but an average price for Penang, I guess.

Address coming soon, I hope.

- Mouse

Garage Cafe & Bar

There is a charming little cafe called Garage near to the (new) law school of the Univerity of Melbourne, in which I think not many people know about it. I first learnt of the place back in 2005 when a few of my law-friends brought me there, and it certainly is one of my favourite places to eat when I am in the area.

Garage Cafe is stationed in where the name suggests: a garage. It's a pretty darn cool place, with car spaces (although I am not sure whether you could actually park your car there), pool tables and racing car arcade games. The cafe itself was simply but nicely decorated with wooden picnic-style chairs. On the whole I find to be quite a unique place.

It's a REAL garage, like I said.

My sister and I was in the area on Monday and decided to pop by for lunch. Garage primarily serves Indonesian cuisine, with a few variations of chicken schnitzel and the likes.

Sis had the Opor Ayam (Chicken Opor) ($9.90) which was basically Indonesian 'white' curry ('white curry' is my own term, don't quote me on that).

Ayam = Chicken.

Check out that fried egg and tell me you don't want to eat it. :D

Sis really liked it and I had a bite, and I thought it was really nice. Granted I haven't tasted any other Opor Ayam but this one's pretty good, with enough flavourings and meat. Sis' only complaint was that there could be more sauce. The fried egg looked good and I wanted to steal half but by the time sis gave me the egg, I was too full from my own lunch.

I had the Mie Komplit ($13.50), which was noodles with minced meat, mushroom, wontons and shallots.

Komplit = Complete.

Check out the mushrooms! Oooooo!

Sooo yummy! I love the mixture of mushrooms and mince meat, they went so well together! There was a lot of noodles and meat, quite a decent value for money. The noodles were flavoured well and the dish was really enjoyable! I especially loved the mushrooms. My one small nit-pick would be, I would like it more if the noodles were less oily. It was just a teensy bit too oily.

Garage is really a hidden little treasure and I think everyone should give it a go to discover it. :D One of my other favourite dishes is Mie Pangsit (can't remember the exact price) which is really yummy as well.

- Mouse

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Garage Cafe & Bar
221 Berkeley Street
Carlton 3053
Phone:(03) 93495000

Ishiya Japanese Stonegrill Restaurant

A really back-dated post but bear with me here. Have been procrastinating on blogging!

Stonegrill was one of those fancy-pants restaurants that we always wanted to try and always went like "go now, go later, go whenever" and never really got around to it until this year. I've heard a lot of good things about that place - particularly the bit where you cook your own meat to perfection on a hot stone. Sounds tempting!

FYI though - it has been a long time since we went (I am a horrible procrastinator etc) so I have forgotten the exact names and prices of the food but I will describe it the best I can.

Anyway, there are two very important things I want to talk about Stonegrill: the food (of course) and the service. I'll start off with a picture post of food and then text post of service.

When we went to Stonegrill, this blog has barely been set up, so the photos taken were kind of minimal and not very good, so my apologies for that. I went there with CC, Turtle, Ben and San.

Turtle and CC ordered some alcoholic drinks, and I think the one pictured here is Turtle's drink with peaches and peach schnapps. CC ordered something else and I remembered that both seemed to enjoy Turtle's drink more.


Me and San shared an entree of Grilled Salmon.


Which was really cooked to perfection. The salmon was tasty and tender to the bite, and very wonderfully grilled. It's yummy and the sauce that was complimenting it went very well, along with a squeeze of lemon.

For my main, I had the Stone Bowl Fried Rice. There is a Japanese name for it but my memory and non-existent Japanese fails me.


The egg was cracked into the bowl as it was served to me and I watched it cooked while stirring the rice around it. That was definitely fun! The fried rice is really good, too, with enough seasoning and enough prawns, meat etc to go with it. I think it cost around $22-$25 which makes it really expensive fried rice, but it's good. Really good.

San had the Aged Tenderloin, which was beef she cooked on the stone.


The beef is tender and nice and since she can cooked it to the way she liked it, I daresay she did enjoy it. You can also grill the mushrooms, tofu and cucumber yourself!! The beef came with a selection of five sauces.

The sauces were DAMN GOOD. Especially the sesame sauce which was practically (but not quite) to die for.


Turtle had the Beef and Prawn combo for his stonegrill, CC had Potato Croquets for an entree (which was among the best potato croquets I have ever tasted) and Chicken for her stonegrill and Ben splashed out for Lobster for her main. And everyone enjoyed their food.

Stonegrill, on the whole, has rather good food that at least reflected the prices paid (Ben paid $49 for her lobster) and a pretty environment that was nice and relaxing and classy.

The service?

The service, was without a doubt, the most appalling service I have ever received in a fine-dining restaurant. I have had better service at Chinatown cafes. At Dessert House, even. Seriously, no joke.

First of all, when me and San reached the restaurant, we were periodically ignored for 5 minutes, until I signaled a waitress and we managed to get our table. After that, as we were waiting for the rest to arrive, we were just reading the menus and wasn't really ordering anything. (By the way they don't serve tap water and water cost $5) Then our people started arriving and we wanted more menus, in which we were, again, as you guessed, ignored. Turtle at last went to get the menus himself.

We tried signaling for service 2647562784763 times and were ignored by the staff, except for this one very nice (and very hassled, very busy) waitress who kept trying to approach us but was always called off to some other table. Finally, the manager, MANAGER, came over to ask us about out orders and because there were 5 of us, we kept asking questions and discussing among ourselves what we would like. And in all honesty, it was less than a minute discussion. We weren't keeping her there for three thousand millenniums. It wasn't even 3 minutes.

She stood there with a completely sour face and looked really impatient. After we placed our orders, she basically stomped off. And after that, when CC wanted an extra glass (or a fork, I can't remember), we tried signaling her again, and after 37478576374 tries she came over very unwillingly and after we told her what we wanted, she just nodded and as she turned away - get this, this was the highlight - SHE ROLLED HER EYES AT CC.

OH MY GOD.

CC was so angry she wanted to leave immediately, and who could blame her?! We were paying customers, and she was actually the freaking MANAGER. With that sort of service attitude? Who are you kidding? It was like we were paying insane prices to be insulted and patronized - I seriously cannot believe that woman and if we had more time and weren't rushing off to a movie, I would've worked on getting her fired. Seriously. That woman (god I wish I could remember her stupid name) is an insult and a shame to the service line. Because you do NOT roll your eyes at your customer, no matter how absurd their request is (and CC just asked for a glass), at least not where they could SEE it.

What an ignorant, idiotic, moronic ass of a human being. I was insulted and I was angry and we definitely did not deserve that sort of service.

So yes. Food was good, environment was good, but service was so horribly bad. I understand if they were understaffed, but at least be polite and apologetic if you were keeping your CUSTOMERS WAITING. You do not roll your eyes or act huffy like some kind of prima-donna bitch.

I wouldn't go back there again. Because even though the food was good, it wasn't good enough for me to go back there and be patronized and insulted and end up raging mad at the manager.


- Dissatisfied Mouse

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Ishiya Japanese Stonegrill Restaurant
152 Little Bourke St
Melbourne 3000
Phone:(03)96509510

Breadtop

Satay bun ($1.90) & Spicy beef ($1.80)

These are my brunch from Breadtop, QV + the egg tart from Maxim yesterday =D quite full as they were all dough-y based. This is my 1st time having the satay bun as the pyramid shape & the word "satay" caught my eyes. The top part of the bun tasted like pastry typed of texture while the bottom is just like normal bread. I like the bun's texture as it provides some crunchiness but the satay inside...... well... nothing like satay... I can only subtly taste the peanut butter, if there is any, or I could have imagined that there was, since I love to eat satay. LOL.

For the spicy beef bun, I love it as the beef is a bit spicy *duh* and the amount of it is just rite, where every bite u'll have some spicy beef in your mouth. I like.

BreadSan


Breadtop
QV
Melbourne 3000

Egg tart from Maxim Cake House

This mini egg tart is from Maxim Cake House, chinatown. Mouse jt bought a few of them and treat me one. *thanks mouse* It is still on my dining table. Wonder will I eat it tonite?

Just feel like a quote here: "Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first." by Ernestine Ulmer

San is still full from dinner

Maxim Cake House
173 Little Bourke Street

Melbourne 3000
Phone: (03) 9662 1980

Gin Khao Thai Food

We had Thai food again today for lunch. When Turtle suggested Thai food, I initially wanted something else, but decided what the heck. I don't know about San and my sis, but for me I just want like GOOD Thai Basil Chicken. The five of us (plus Sis' visiting best friend HW) went to a Thai restaurant on Swanston St., a relatively new place called Gin Khao Thai Food. Not the first time we've been there, we like the place a lot, hence going back for the...fourth time I think, this year.

Me, San and Sis are both big fans of their Pad Thai, so HW decided to order that, and Sis, too - Pad Thai with Chicken ($11.90).

Wooo at the extremely long spring onion! (no one ate that)

Sis as I had mentioned loves it, so thumbs up from her. HW seemed to like it as well. My own personal opinion on it (as I have had it before) that it's really one of the better pad thai I have tasted. The noodles used especially are special and so suitable. There's lots of chicken and chunky bits of peanuts, along with dried prawns (xia mi) to round off everything. The spices and spiciness all adds up in the dish. It's really great.

I wanted Thai Basil Chicken but there's something called Chiang Mai Noodles ($10.50) on the June Specials and it looked really tasty so I couldn't resist!

Even the picture looks good enough to eat. Either that or I am just overly greedy.

It was great! The coconut-based soup was tasty and fragrant without being overly coconut-y or overly spiced with chilli, the amount of chilli was just right for a cold winter's day. The chicken pieces were plentiful and generous and went really well with the curry soup. The noodles were the best part - soaked thoroughly with the curry at the bottom and crispy at the top. The contrasting textures when I bit into a mouthful of noodles, chicken and soup was wow. What a great combination! I really hope they'll make it a permanant item on the menu, I will definitely go back for that.

San had the Chicken with Cashew Nuts ($10.90).

San's chicken with nuts.

Artistic San's artistic chicken with artistic nuts.

She was really satisfied with it. The sauce was good - although some people might find it salty by itself, hence it had to go with rice, and went really well indeed. She found the chicken tasty with the sauce, and the vegetables were fresh and really crunchy, adding the bite to the dish. She loved it, and would go back for that as well.

Turtle had the Red Duck Curry ($14.90).

Even the rice is shaped like the curry bowl.

He enjoyed his meal as well - loving the tender duck meat that was cooked just right to his tastebuds. Vegetables were a good compliment and the curry sauce, according to him, was yummy and hot. He even found a lychee in the curry and was really amused by that. I had a taste of that and it was definitely more successful than Lemon Bistro's version - by far.

Turtle didn't have enough cos he was greedy so we ordered dessert to share. First, we had the Banana and Sticky Rice ($4.90).

The banana is in the rice and I just feel the need to say that.

That's a favourite of San's - she really liked that one. Turtle found it so-so though, and thought the banana in the rice rather resembled salmon (he's weird, yes). I liked it myself - the spiced banana was a good compliment with the sticky rice.

All of us liked the other dessert, Coconut Dessert ($4.90).

So small and cute and so not enough for five!

It's a really really small portion - but so so so yummy! It was wonderfully fragrant and the coconut pudding texture on the top went really well with the bottom layer of...I think it was something similar to sticky rice but I couldn't be sure. Let's just say it went really well together and Turtle would've polished off the whole thing in 2 seconds if the little blue plate didn't burn him (go plate go!!).

Overall - a wonderful food experience. None of us were disappointed with the food - everything was tasty and yummy and just right. The dining environment wasn't bad either, it was a nicely furnished cafe-like place. It's good for a quick lunch AND a long lunch if you plan to stay there and chat. :D

(And no, this still isn't the favourite Thai place of ours that I mentioned in the Lemon Bistro post. That is yet to come, but we do like Gin Khao a lot!)

- Mouse

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Gin Khao Thai Food
242 Swanston Street
Melbourne 3000
Phone: (03) 9663 3345

Laksa Me

Laksa Me (Malaysian-fusion restaurant) has been catching San's eye as of late, with glowing reviews in Tummy Rumbles, A Few Of My Favourite Things and etc company, including the Age. We trooped down there to try it two weeks ago (and I am blogging it now because? I am sick. Sick, mind you. Not lazy. :D) for a lunch, when I needed a break from staring at my books.

We arrived there nice and early, in fact, we were the first customers for lunch!! Talk about greedy!

To start off with, we ordered drinks, of course. And I will put a picture of the green tea this post, not because it is Laksa Green Tea, it's normal green tea but I just feel like it, so hah. San had Little Creatures' Pale Ale to go with her anticipated spicy food.

My friend is an alcoholic, bwahahaha.

And I am a green-tea-holic. Not as bad cos that doesn't require rehab.

We ordered the Vegetarian Triangle ($6.80) to share, since it has been recommended by many food bloggers. (By the way, I was joking about San being an alcoholic, just in case people thought I am serious :D)

Sooo appetizingly yummy looking!

It did not disappoint, I really liked it! The covering was super crispy and there's enough filling in there - combination of veggies - to make the triangles very tasty. The sweet sauce (kecap manis?) served with it also added to the taste, making it yummy indeed.

San had the much-touted My Mum's Laksa ($9.50).

MY mum doesn't know how to make laksa, FYI.

San demanded this picture be blogged. Still the Mum's Laksa.

In her own words, much to her disappointment, she didn't feel that it lived up to expectations (and she had very high ones indeed). She thought it was just mediocre and not very fragrant. The spiciness to her, was a bit overbearing as she can taste the spiciness alone without the combination of the laksa soup (althought she didn't find it to be extremely hot). Chilli Padi did a better job, she recalled.

I had the Cheong-Fun with Fish Dumplings and Fried Pork Crackling ($10.00).

Don't ever say that backwards (Cheong-Fun) in Chinatown, unless you have a penchant for getting kicked.

First of all, the chef made his own Cheong-Fun rather than buying it off Chinatown stores, which earns a point in my book. However, it was all falling apart when it was served to me, hence it didn't look like Cheong-Fun anymore, more like thick rice noodles. There was fish cakes and fish balls along with bits of fried pork with it, which made it very fragrant combination. I have to say that the fried pork, fish and noodles went very well together as a whole, but something's missing in the broth. It's too coconut-y in my opinion and it could be spicier (as in more spices). More spices will add to its fragrance and taste, definitely. I did like it, but I thought it could be better.

Dessert was not stated on the menu, luckily we had the sense to ask the waiter whether there is dessert served. :P (Yeah, we were greedy and hungry). So if you want dessert, just ask the waiter! Desserts were all freshly made from scratch by the chef, hence it took a little while to come.

San picked the Pulut Hitam ($8.00).

Hitam and Orange.

It was very aromatic, we can already smell the coconut and pulut hitam even before it was set down before San. She tucked in with gusto and she really liked it - the sweetened coconut milk really mixed well with the pulut hitam. Pulut hitam, by the way is glutinous rice, also a Malaysian-esque favourite.

I picked the Tang Yuan (Tong Yuen) ($8.00).

Four is actually a lot, even if doesn't look so.

Yum, freshly made and none of those frozen Chinatown stuff. Tang yuan is a Chinese dessert made of floury dough with filling inside - traditionally red bean paste but there has been variations of black sesame and peanut. The one above was red bean filling. I love it - San reckoned there wasn't enough ginger in the soup but as I am not a big fan of ginger, I wasn't complaining. The tang yuan was tangy and nice, and the chef was generous with the filling. Yummy!

Overall - we found Laksa Me to be average on its mains, if only because we had read so many glowing reviews and went there with very high expectations. Too high, maybe. I should add here that I am from Penang (Island), Malaysia, the place of Mother of Hawker Food/Hawker Heaven hence I am VERY picky over hawker food. Very VERY very, I'm elitist and snobby like that. San has been to Penang and had our Penang laksa plus Malaysian laksa back in her own hometown, so I guess we're just extremely picky about finding laksa that is authentic. I guess it's not easy to get it here in Melbourne.

By the way, if anyone has any idea where I can get Penang-like Char Koay Teow in Melbourne, PLEASE tell me. I've been searching for five whole years and while there's good Char Koay Teow I've come across, none of them are PENANG Char Koay Teow. :(

- Picky Mouse

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Laksa Me
Shop 1, Liverpool Street
Melbourne 3000
Phone: (03) 9639 9885

Zampelis Cafe Greco Melbourne

A backlogged post from yours truly. There's gonna be a few of that coming up I think, as I have been bugged by the all-horrible EXAMS and also the flu bug. In fact I have had the flu for about a month now, time to ease up, you stupid virus.

Anyway. :D

Maggie, a friend of mine from Hong Kong was visiting and we met up to go for dinner together with my sister, Chez and Jen. We decided on Cafe Greco simply cos Maggie didn't feel like Chinese food. Cafe Greco is supposedly a Greek restaurant (I think) but if they are supposed to be (someone please kick me if I am wrong), they're not very greeklike. :P

Photos are taken in quite a hurry as everyone was starving and wanting to eat like immediately, so I do apologise for dodgy angles. Also, I've forgotten the exact names and prices of the food - but they range from $20 (that's my pizza) to $32 (sis's Spanish Paella).

Maggie had an entree style dish of Beef stuffed in Eggplant.

Nice and stuffeeed.

She liked it, and said that the beef and eggplant went well together. She was also satisfied that it was actually big enough a portion to fill her up despite being an entree.

Sis had the Chicken and Seafood Spanish Paella.

The pan is a cute touch, 'cept that the handles burn.

I had that the last time I was at Greco (which was last year) and I thought it was so-so - nothing really special about it despite the impressive name. It was just risotto rice with seafood, chicken and lots of onions. Taste-wise was okay, but it wasn't oustanding or special. Sis thought it was all right, but probably wouldn't have it again.

Chez had the Seafood Linguine.

Pasta Smasta.

She would rate that as average and she definitely had better pasta than that. It wasn't bad but nothing spectacular either.

Jenn had the Whole Roasted Baby Snapper.

Fish's up on a dish.

I just want to say that I do like the roast potatoes that came with Jenn's dish although she didn't like potatoes in general, so no comments from her on that. The fish was slightly overcooked, she thinks, but it was a generous portion and the taste and seasoning of the fish was quite good.

I had the San Cristina pizza, which was pizza with smoked ham, anchovies, artichokes, mushrooms and olives.

I can seeee the anchoviessss.

My pizza probably would be the most successful of the lot. The toppings were plentiful and generous and they all went very well together. The artichokes were tasty with the ham and the olives a great complement to them. Mushrooms just rounded out everything nicely. I would've preferred more cheese, but that would be nit-picking. :D

And dessert!! Because we had to give up the table at 8.45PM, we decided to buy cakes to take back to my apartment and eat those while hanging out. We didn't manage to take nice pictures of the cakes we did buy cos we were gorging on them before we remembered to take pictures - but here's the selection of cakes at Greco. I think they are well-known for their cakes - but the cakes are very pricey in my humble opinion, ranging form $7.50 to $10.00 per slice.

Cakes!!

And more cakes!!

And more more more cakes!!

Anddd...you get what I am about to say...CAKES.

You really don't want to read "cakes" again, do you?

Their cheesecakes are good, I recommend those. Among our cakes we got the American Baked Cheesecake and the Chocolate Cheesecake.

To be honest, I don't think the food at Greco's is all that great. Service was good, but then semi-fine dining service is always good. It's a nice place to hang out and have nice desserts, the environment is not bad, except when it's weekends/Friday night, then you really have to shout over everyone else to be heard. :D

- Mouse

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Zampelis Cafe Greco Melbourne
Crown Casino Complex
Shop 18, 8 Whiteman Street
Southbank 3006
Phone: (03) 9686 9733

Lemon Bistro Thai Restaurant Cafe & Bar

Friday nights are always horrible to find a place for dinner when you don't have a booking. Fortunately, trusty Chinatown always has something for us, even when it's not our first choice restaurant. :D

On the recommendation of my sister's course mate, we tried a Thai restaurant on Little Bourke Street yesterday - Lemon Bistro.

Presenting...the MENU!

We ordered three dishes to share, with rice. I also ordered a green tea and actually took a picture of that, but as I was editing the pictures, I realised it was...well...green tea. There's nothing remarkable about green tea. It's not like it's Thai Curry Green Tea, it's just green tea.

The veggies came first - we ordered Vegetables With Home-made Peanut Sauce ($10.80).

Chunky veggies in sort of chunky sauce.

It was rather ordinary veggies, I supposed. The peanut sauce did have a nice nutty taste that did not taste like it was made from peanut butter, but it was mild to taste and nothing like Satay Sauce, if you were looking to make that comparison. Also, I also have to complain that the bok choy they used was way too big - they should've chopped it to make it easier to eat.

And then our first meat dish - Thai Basil Chicken ($15.80).

Chicken's buried under there somewhere. It's there, trust me.

I rather like the sauce, the thai basil was quite fragrant and tangy to taste. A little bit too salty, but it was okay with rice. However we all three (me, my sis and San) agreed that we have tasted better thai basil - the basil could be stronger. Sis and San weren't particularly impressed, actually. And the dish was nothing really special, to be honest - just chicken slices and lots of veggies (we could've made do with the veggies from the chicken!).

The last one we ordered was the best of the lot, Red Duck Curry ($16.80).

*inserts some joke about duck*

It was really yummy; I love the curry, it suited to me as it wasn't too hot. Of course, for sis and San it could be hotter. :D The bamboo shoots were a nice compliment to the dish, and the duck meat was good, too, cooked just right. There's also enough duck meat to go around for everyone.

Rather decent place, but I noticed that it catered more towards Aussies than the Asians - and I think it's also because of that that the food was not very spicy. I would've expected Thai food to be a lot more spicy than the ones we had yesterday. Not the best Thai restaurant ever (we do have a favourite and I'll review it when we do go there, it's a bit out of the way), but the food's quite okay.

Yeah, I'm picky.

- Mouse (who hasn't been writing as much as she should but she had exams PLUS she is sick)

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Lemon Bistro Thai Restaurant Cafe & Bar
Shop 2, 178-190 Little Bourke Street
Melbourne 3000
Phone: (03) 9663 3001

Doughnuts!!

On my way to get a book at Baillieu Library this morning, I took the wrong tram at La Trobe street (should take tram 19) and luckily I realised it when it made a stop at Victoria Market =) Since I haven't had my breakfast, I thought y dun just grab some fresh hot jam-filled doughnuts?

The American Doughnut Kitchen Van

My doughnuts

WOW...Lots of sugar

My favourite part ~ the jam

This doughnut van is at Queens Victoria Market and is run by Boening's family. They have been in the doughnuts business for more than 5 decades... Here is a bit of their story, if u r interested.

San

Fish for dinner

The fish looks good and taste good as well

This was wat I had for dinner last nite ~ sun-dried tomatoes (with something something else) on fish. yum yum. If anyone wans the recipe, I will ask Alf =)

San

Don Don Japanese Restaurant

Sukiyaki beef on rice, Only $5.50

Went to Don Don (Swanston St) 2 days ago to buy lunch, around 1pm, and u could c there were people lining up til the door of the restaurant. Yup, its quite a popular place for a v quick, good yet cheap lunch to feed your tummy =)

Because they got extremely fast service, it wasn't long until my turn to order, and by the time I kept all my change into my purse, the food was ready for me to take home =D As you can c in the pics, despite the cheap price, the food is good (If i am not mistaken, Don Don's food are all under $10, and yea, tts including Bento boxs' prices). The beef is tender and I also like the sauce, which is mixed with the rice under the beef.

OOooo, one thing is that they only have limited choices on their menu. But for whats on it, I would say Don Don has done a pretty good job on them!

San

Don Don
330 Little Lonsdale St
Melbourne 3000 VIC
Phone: (03) 9670 7113

Don Don
321 Swanston St
Melbourne 3000 VIC
Phone: (03) 96623377

Yong Tau Fu Part II

This is the part II, which I used the leftover fish paste (part I was a few posts b4 this) to continue making those delicious stuffed veges ~ chillies, eggplants and mini tofu puff. Had those last week, 2 days after Part I yong tau fu, but didnt post it until now =P

They were pan fried and ...

then being cooked in the curry broth for a little while

time to eat =)

There is actually part III...HAHAHAHA. U must be thinking how many kgs of mackarel fish i bought..only 1/2kg. But coz i added minced pork and some other things, so the fillings became quite alot. The last bit of the fish paste, i jt wrapped them up with some fried eggs (beat the eggs up and each time put 2 tablespoons of eggs into the frying pan, the quickly put a spoonful of fish paste on it and wrap them up). I didnt take the photos of them... but if i make them again next time, I will remember to take =D

San

Disgustingly poor hygiene at selected Chinatown Restaurants

Just read about the news from The Age, regarding the poor kitchen conditions at certain restaurants in Chinatown ~ Nam Loong Restaurant, Jenny Pan's Beijing Hot Pot and Dumpling Cafe. Reading it, I feel sick:

"...live and dead cockroaches and rodent droppings" and "...food stored in cleaning buckets, on floors and near contaminants, the accumulation of waste, dirt and grease and live and dead cockroaches".


Besides, Nam Loong is a repeat offender (here) .... *gosh*

Out of this 3 restaurants, I only been to Nam Loong once to buy their pork buns(char siu bau) as I was recommended by a fren saying that their buns were good. Luckily i never went back. I just hope that consumers will b aware of those restaurants as their cleanliness standards are just shocking!

San

Kimchi Friends

On the past Monday, I went to Holmes to meet my fren, JW. Initially, we thought of going to Nyonya Hut for lunch as JW told me that she feels the char kuey teow there is the best she has had so far, plus i also have heard about it serving good Malaysia food there...Hence, I must go. Haha. However, just before we going to meet, JW found out that Nyonya Hut is not opened on Monday! *sob* Therefore, she brought me to Kimchi Friends Restaurant instead =)

Kimchi Friends is a Korean restaurant situated at Holmes (opposite Homes college). Its a small Korean restaurant but serve decent Korean food at economical price.

These were what we had for lunch that day:

Pork Bul Go Gi , $8.50

I've ordered pork bul go gi, which is thinly sliced pork being stir fried with chilli and onions. The pork came with a bowl of rice, miso soup, and 3 side dishes (kimchi) ~ cabbage, bean sprouts and fish cakes. It was delicious. The pork was well marinated and the spiciness was just nice. Also, the amount of pork served was very generous.

Chicken Twi Kim, $8.00

JW ordered the above. Again, it came with rice, miso soup and 3 side dishes. The chicken is crumbed and being deep fried.

At Kimchi Friends, they provide free flow of tea ( has the rice cracker taste ) and its self-served. However, if you prefer other drinks, they do sell a range of different beverages. At the end of my meal, I just feel contented as the food is good and its cheap.

After lunch, JW brought me to Glen Waverley to buy bubble tea as she thinks Happy Cup's are pretty good.

Mango Milk Tea, $3.80

I got myself a mango milk tea. The milk tea is $3.30 and the pearls is $0.50 = $3.80. WOW. How expensive! Although i love the pearls as they were soft n chewy, its overpriced.

Anyway, I was happy to do some catching-up and thanks JW, for bringing me to Kimchi Friends and Happy Cup =D

San

Kimchi Friends
631 Warragal Road
Chadstone 3148
Vic

Yong Taufu, Part I

Yong taufu is v popular in Malaysia and Singapore. Loosely speaking, it is " stuffed tofu". "Yong" is like a way of cooking, not too sure what is the word in English. If anyone knows, pls shout out. Anyway, not only tofu, you can have stuffed chillies, lady fingers, beans, mushrooms, eggplants and practically anything that u like. I personally love the chillies'! *Sigh, miss my mum's yong taufu*

Hence, i've made myself the stuffing for the veges for tonite's dinner and tomorrow's. The fillings for the yong taufus are normally made up of mackarel fish and/or prawns and/or porks. Can also add some dried shrimps and some chopped spring onions. However, mackarel fish is the main ingredient as it provides the "springy-ness" texture ~ in Hokkien, we call it Q.

Tonite, i used some mackarel fish i bought from vic marc + minced pork + dried shrimps for the stuffing. Since tonite are only me and alf having dinner together, hence i've only "yong" some chillies and eggplants. The rest of the fillings will b kept in the fridge for tomorrow's dinner.

My yong taufu

San

Lunch at Meiji Japanese Cafe

After the meeting, MM drove us back to city and headed to Meiji Jap Cafe for our lunch. I haven't been to this restaurant b4, although i have been walking passed this restaurant many times, whereas the rest had.

[From L to R] the restaurant, one of the decorations inside the restaurant, the menu

Walking into the cafe, u will notice this japanese water feature at the front, and some nice japanese pictures and maps are hanging on the walls. It was very cosy and gav me some japanese feels =)

To start, mouse ordered green tea, $2.00, for herself while the rest had plain water =D

Lovely teapot and the tea cup

Then, Jen and Chez ordered Agedashi tofu (fried tofu with tempura sauce), $6.00

Jen said it was slightly oily and the tofus were only averaged, where according to them, Koko's version was a lot more tasty (might go there in the v near future, hehe)

Jen n Chez also ordered another entree: Yakitori (grilled chicken skewers), $5.00

Chez loved the chicken as she thought they were tender n juicy.

MM also ordered an entree: Pork Gyoza (Japanese pork fried dumplings, 5 pcs), $4.90

These gyoza were quite good, with some crunchiness outside and was soft inside * i had stolen one btw*

OK.... now is our main =)

By the way, all main came with a miso soup.

Miso soup

Mouse's choice was Hotate Bata Yaki (sizzling scallop), $10.90. It came with a bowl of rice and miso soup.

It smell v good and how big were the scallops...yum

Chez ordered Tempura Udon (Deep fried squid, prawns and veges with noodle), $13.00 + Chawan Mushi (Steamed eggs with seafood and veges), $4.90

Chez enjoyed the udon v much...

...but thought the chawan mushi was a bit dry *the seafood & veges are under the eggs, just in case u ponder where are they*

Jen had picked the Sanshoku (Salmon, pork mince and fried eggs), $8.50

Whereas MM had ordered Asari-Takenoko (clams n veges), $10.00

Lastly, its mine ~ Tempura bento (tempura, grilled fish, small cucumber roll, pickles, salad and rice), $13.90.


The tempuras were v crunchy and the shushi got this freshness + bites from the cucumbers. As for the grilled fish, it was too salty. Other than that, i did enjoy my bento.

Overall, I was happy with my food. The service was polite *with smiles* and efficient. I will love to go back again =)


San


Meiji Japanese Cafe
105 Little Bourke Street
Melbourne
Phone: (03) 9662 2899

Sunday late brekkie at Cafe Delphi

Me and a couple of frens went 2 Moonee Ponds yesterday, around 10am, for a meeting. Bcoz some of us didnt manage to hav breakfast b4 this, hence we all quickly went to this cafe to get some caffeine/hot chocolate/cookies/sandwich.

The first thing came to my vision is this range of different cakes, cookies and some sandwiches on the display cupboard.


I would lov to sit down n slowly savour one of the cakes, but due to time constraint, i ordered the below:

My brekkie ~ hot chocolate & 2 cookies

The hot chocolate is not bad, quite concentrated. Enjoyed it =) and the cookies are cookies. pretty standard taste.

mouse's brekkie ~ chai latte & jam-tart cookies

She ordered her current obsessive favourite drink ~ chai latte, but its made from tea bag. So, Mouse was =( and moaning about the tea bag chai like bratty Mouse she is when she doesn't get what she wants. She also ordered a jam-tart-cookie thing that tasted rather good. The top biscuit bit and the bottom bits are made of different textures with the top bit more pastry-ish. The jam is yummy but she thinks it can be a little less sweet. Coffee would go really well with the cookies but Mouse wasn't allowed caffeine because she was SICK [again, =( ]. This part is by Mouse

San

Cafe Delphi

11 Puckle St
Moonee Ponds

Phone: (03)93704707

Spanish Dougnuts & Dessert House

This morning, i went to Vic Market with Alf to do our weekly marketing. As i havent had my brekkie, hence i decided to get myself some spanish doughnuts.

the paper bag

I bought $3 worth of spanish doughnuts here. As u can c, it is not alot in there. Actually 1 piece = $1, however, cz some of them are in smaller pieces, hence the seller jt chucked in another 1 or 2 for me.

I havent eaten them for quite sometimes, so im delighted to hav them this morning. The doughnuts were still pretty warm n crunchy. LOVE it. The only criticism is that the amount of sugar on them was TOO little!

As much as I enjoy it, I have to say tt is pricey for 1 piece= $1 aud. hm.. Mayb i should just make them myself...

Victoria Market
Corner of Elizabeth and Victoria Streets
Melbourne

*Time flies... and it was lunch time again!

Went to Dessert House for lunch. This is one of our regular places for meals as the food there are pretty good and its not expensive. Its a v popular restaurant for Asian and esp. international students where you can safely say tt most of the international students in Melbourne know this restaurant.

We arrived there at ard 1.30pm and as u can c, the queue is quite long. This happens quite often during lunch n dinner times as the restaurant space is fairly small.

Fried Chicken Ribs on Rice $7.80

Lemongrass Chicken With Egg On Rice $7.50

If u r in the restaurant, u would sight these 2 dishes on a number of tables, esp the 2nd one as its the house specialty. Ooooo, also the restaurant has quite a range of desserts on their menu, such as diff types of pancakes as well as other types of desserts, and they are yummy too =)

We always enjoy the food there, although i hav to mention that the quality of the service is not v good, esp during peak period, where u r expected to leave once u finish ur last spoonful of whatever u've ordered.

EDIT: Not too long ago, they have also opened a branch at Swanston street (opposite QV).

San

Dessert House
The Midcity Arcade (connects Bourke St to Chinatown)

Melbourne 3000

Alf's Beehun (Fried Rice Vermicelli)

Alf is a pretty good cook among us. And on Thursday nite, this is wat he cooked for us, one of his signature dishes =D

These were the ingredients for the beehun

It might look ordinary, but i can assure u that the taste of it is not! and I had 3 plates of those. Cant get enuff! *blame myself for hurriedly took the pic as i was v hungry at tt moment...*

San

Fifteen

Went to Fifteen yesterday with mouse n turtle =)


But.....

I will only post it in the next few days as its gonna b quite a long post... now, let me share with u on my other meals...

San