JUNE 2011 Hits and Misses

July 1, 2011 by nurikkochan | 2 Comments

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Le Bangkok (Lonsdale St)

Location: 195 Lonsdale St, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: (03) 9663 0360
Trading Hours:
Monday  ~  Friday  1100 – 1500, 1700 – 2200
Saturday ~ Sunday 1100 – 2200
http://www.lebangkok.com.au/

Dishes Ordered:

• Pad Thai (with Prawns)
• Chicken Penang Curry

Pad Thai (with Prawns)

Penang Curry (with Chicken)

Spiga Bar (Melbourne Central)

Location: 2 Menzies Alley, Melbourne Central. Enter via 360 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: (03) 8676 7515
Trading Hours:
Monday ~ Thursday 0700 – 2100
Fri 0700 – 2200
Sat 0830 – 2100
Sun 0830 – 1630
http://www.spiga.com.au/

Dishes Ordered:

• Entrée: Tomato Salad
• Main: Pear and Cheese Pizza

Heirloom tomato salad with lemon pesto crumbs

Pear & Cheese Pizza: Goat’s and gorgonzola cheese, olive oil, walnuts and pear

Pear & Cheese Pizza: Goat’s and gorgonzola cheese, olive oil, walnuts and pear

Loved the fresh tomatoes they have used for the salad and the great flavours brought out by the basil pesto.

The pear and cheese (with additional goats cheese) was something quite unique from Spiga Bar, I really liked the idea of the combination of the ingredients and it was a delicious meal. The waiter asked us how we liked the pizza and also mentioned that they are continuously coming up with new pizza ideas, check it out at Spiga Bar in July!!

Shou Sumiyaki Sake bar and Grill 将 炭火烧 (Little Bourke Street)

Location: 160 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: (03) 9654 3933
Trading Hours:
Lunch: Tuesday ~ Sunday 1200 – 1500
Dinner: Sunday ~ Thursday 1700 – 2200
Friday ~ Saturday 1700 – 0000
Happy Hour: Sunday ~ Monday 1700 – 1900
http://www.shousumiyaki.com.au/

Dishes Ordered:

• Lunch Set Menu: Salmon Sashimi Soba Set
• Lunch Set Menu: Gyoza Ramen Set
• Lunch Set Menu: Tempura Prawn Soba Set
• Hot Otsumami (petite dishes): Wagyu Ox Tongue Steak
• Cold Otsumami (petite dishes): Kani Tempura Salad – Deep fried soft shell crab, mixed green leaf salad with creamy spicy dressing

Lunch Set Menu: Salmon Sashimi Soba Set

Lunch Set Menu: Gyoza Ramen Set

Lunch Set Menu: Gyoza Ramen Set

Lunch Set Menu: Tempura Prawn Soba Set

Cold Otsumami (petite dishes): Kani Tempura Salad – Deep fried soft shell crab, mixed green leaf salad with creamy spicy dressing & Hot Otsumami (petite dishes): Wagyu Ox Tongue Steak

Lovely Japanese restaurant, really impressive dishes and presentation.

Darac Grill and Bar

Location: 53 A’Beckett Street, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: (03) 9662 2441
Trading Hours:
Monday ~ Friday 1200 – 1400, 1800 – 2200
Saturday 1800 – 2200
Sunday Closed

Dish Ordered:

• Spicy Beef Stew (Budae jjigae) with tofu

Da Rac's Cosy Home-like Ambience

Da Rac's Cosy Home-like Ambience

Tofu Budae jjigae for upto four people

Walking into Darac felt like walking into someone’s wooden house, it was warm, cosy and the people in there were friendly. The home like atmosphere Darac has provided was really nice and all I wanted to do was to finish one big bowl of kimchi and rice! The restaurant offered quite an extensive menu but their house special – spicy beef stew (a.k.a Budae Jjigae) definitely did the trick. Would definitely visit this ‘house’ many more times in the future to try out their other food!

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THUMBS UP

Famous Hotpot 名爐港式火鍋 (Little Bourke Street)

Location: 150 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: (03) 9654 6668
Trading Hours: Sunday ~ Monday 1200 – 2200

- All you can eat hotpot 25$ per person

Front Menu

Meat, Poultry, Seafood and Veggies - Pick from the menu and that was how they were delivered

Soup Base for the hotpot - Non-spicy before and after...

All you can eat – what more could you ask for? The idea of buffet scares me sometimes because it requires alot of self-control and portion judgement. We tend to order more than what our tummy can store; I don’t like to waste food so having the freedom to order as much as I like was yet another interesting meal this month. Don’t get me wrong though, my friend and I have really enjoyed our hotpot experience with Famous Hotpot.

The staff informed us prior to our meal that if a queue for dining start to generate then our dining time would be limited to 90 minutes; let me just tell you that 90 minutes was more than enough for us and we took our sweet time cooking and eating. Another plus to this place was the friendly staff they have (given that we were friendly also xD) and there were a large range of fresh ingredients for the hotpot to select from. We’ve selected a few ingredients from each type: read meat, poultry and seafood; also really focused on the greens and beans!!

To me, hotpot is all about looking after each other; making sure that the food cooked in the hotpot are ready and then serving it to your friends; then adding more ingredients into the hotpot when they run out =D Sense of responsibility and practicality both achieved. Remember not to over eat, you don’t always have to get your money worth as long as your tummy is happy!!

Edoya Japanese Restaurant (Russell Street)

Location: 138 Russell Street, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: (03) 9654 7358
Trading Hours: Monday ~ Sunday  1130 – 2300
http://www.menulog.com.au/edoya_japanese_restaurant#menus

Dished Ordered:

• (Hot entrée) Agedashi Tofu – Fried bean curd with light soy sauce
• (Main) Chirashi Sushi – Special sushi arranged in bowl of vinegar rice with variety of fresh fish and vegetables
• (Chef’s Suggestion) Gyu Maki – Enoki Mushrooms wrapped with Thinly Sliced Beef

(Hot entrée) Agedashi Tofu – Fried bean curd with light soy sauce

(Main) Chirashi Sushi - Special sushi arranged in bowl of vinegar rice with variety of fresh fish and vegetables

(Chef’s Suggestion) Gyu Maki - Enoki Mushrooms wrapped with Thinly Sliced Beef

Service a bit of a fail but at least the food was good!! =] I really enjoyed all the dishes.

Gânache Chocolate Lounge (Collins Street)

Location: 245 Collins St, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: (03) 9650 8388
Trading Hours:
Monday ~ Thursday  0800 – 2000
Friday 0800 – 2200
Saturday 0900 – 2200
Sunday 0900 – 1800
http://www.ganache.com.au/

Dessert Ordered:

• Brownie Mousse - A serious chocolate fix, with a rich chocolate sponge, a layer of chocolate anglaise, a layer of French style chocolate mousse, garnished with 23 carat gold leaf.
• Cappuccino

Chocolate Mousse Brownie

Chocolate Mousse Brownie

Coffee + Cookie

Coffee

Monga Sweet Cafe (Russell Street)

Location: First Floor, 217 Russell St, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: (03) 9654 4885
Trading Hours: To be confirmed

Dessert Ordered:

• Black Sesame Seed Waffle
• Drinks

Waffle

The service was very slow, I went up to their counter to make my order because the waiter/waitress never approached us. Our waffle was served just as we finished the drinks. Don’t go there if you are impatient like me. It’s a place I’d visit probably once a month to pack on some extra kilojoules.

Petaling Street (Swanston Street)

Location: 162 Swanston St, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: (03) 9639 8264
Trading Hours: Sunday ~ Monday 0800 – 0300
www.petalingstreet.com.au

Dishes Ordered:

• Chilli Prawn
• Malaysian Special Sauce with Chicken Fillets with Rice

Malaysian Special Sauce with Chicken Fillets with Rice

Chilli Prawn

Malaysian hawkers restaurant. The seating can be very cosy in there!! Not a bad restaurant, it’s simply quick and filling. Their service can improve but at least some of the waitresses in there are happy.

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TOTAL FAIL

Chillipadi (Melbourne Central)

Location: Shop OE7 Menzies Alley, Melbourne Central. Enter via 360 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: (03) 9663 5688
Trading Hours:
Sunday ~ Wednesday 1000 – late
Thursday ~ Saturday 1000 – 0500 (next day)
http://www.chillipadi.com.au/

Dishes Ordered:

• Gado gado warm Indonesian salad with crunchy peanut sauce
• Banquet Menu: Seafood Gyoza & Japanese teriyaki chicken on rice

Gado gado warm Indonesian salad with crunchy peanut sauce

Banquet Two Courses Menu: Seafood Gyoza

Banquet Two Courses Menu: Japanese teriyaki chicken on rice

Terrible salad!!!! Makes me wanna cry. It was a flavorless, tasteless, unseasoned vegetable salad yet topped with overly sweet and spicy peanut sauce. I used to like Chillipadi! But I can never trust them to make me a nice meal ever again.

The teriyaki chicken was slightly better since it was at least marinated in teriyaki sauce, but the chicken pieces were over cooked and very hard to eat. The seafood gyoza (dumplings) were fine, probably the only thing they got right that night.

~~~~~~For more photos of the above places visited~~~~~~

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WISHLIST

Le Croissant
Location: 1204 Toorak Road, Camberwell VIC 3124
Telephone: (03) 9809 2263