Spatula, Spoon and Saturday

(Chasyu ramen at Ajisen Ramen in Hawthorn)

It is a fact of life that all good things must come to an end. And so my year of maternity leave is over and I am now back at work. As much as I really enjoy working, I have no time to even eat out as much, let alone keeping this blog updated.

But try, I must. And happily, I would like to welcome 2012 with an annoucement that I have found The Best Ramen In Melbourne. So far anyway.

Now I know what you think. Ajisen? Chain ramen? Pah! But really, this Ajisen is so different from all the Ajisen ramen I have had (and I have had them in four different countries including the one in Melbourne CBD).

(Ajisen Hawthorn menu)

We went to Ajisen Ramen in Hawthorn because it is basically the closest ramen joint to us and one weeknight when I have a craving for ramen (I do that), I decided that we should give this new(ish) joint a go. It was rather quiet with only one or two patrons. I suspect that, being near Swinburne University and right at the lobby of UniLodge, it does a bit more roaring trade during the lunch hours.

Ajisen does their ramen Kumamoto style – that is, with tonkotsu broth (rich, white, pork bone broth) that has been cut with a little bit of chicken stock. The result is a lovely well balance broth that, while fairly rich and fragrant with its pork fat glory (yes, I said pork fat glory, get over it), is not so stickly fatty and rich that you feel ill after two spoonfuls (though admittedly I have absolutely no issue putting away a large bowl of one.)

Josh went for the Chasyu ramen ($11) which turned out to be the absolutely correct choice. The broth was delicious. Excellent balance between great flavours and not too salty or rich. The noodle was bitey and firm. The roast pork, or chashu, was so meltingly tender and just so damn perfect. The crunchy wood ear strips provided a great balance of texture. The egg was just a touch too well done for my liking but I’m happy to report that I have been back twice since and the egg is now perfectly soft boiled.

What a great bowl of ramen.

(Volcano ramen – $12?)

Unfortunately for me though, on our first trip, because I was in a mood for spicy ramen, I ordered their Volcano ramen. It was a mistake. The Ajisen volcano sauce in this instance was so overpoweringly spicy and bitter than it completely ruined the dish.

But I can’t complain. It was my fault to order their random bastardised version of  ramen. So don’t complain to me if you had gone and ordered something silly like grilled salmon ramen and come back and complain to me that it’s rubbish. Just stick to the original charshu ramen and you will be right as rain.

(chahan, fried rice with chashu roast pork – $5.50)

I also ordered a chahan, a Japanese-style fried rice for Mini Me, who at the age of one, showed as much appreciation for it as she possibly could. The fried rice was served in a disposable container. Not a very good impression. I read on their website some rubbish about disposable container being more green. They must have been on drugs. Anyway, I’m happy to report that they stopped doing that on my last visit and Mini Me’s fried rice was served in an appropriate reusable bowl.

(Takoyaki – $6.5?)

We also ordered a side of takoyaki which turned out to be, I suspect, frozen takoyaki that had been deep fried and had been smothered in lots of mayonaise. A typical vulgar way of serving takoyaki in Melbourne which the traditionalist in me simply didn’t approve of but my palate rather enjoyed the crunchy balls with flavourful fillings. We also ordered a couple of yakitori chicken skewers which were also deep-fried in the same fashion as the takoyaki but nevertheless quite tasty if I wasn’t so fussy. Josh and Mini Me agreed.

Did I mention it was cheap? By god, it was cheap. And we’re not talking about tacky Laminex surrrounding type joint here.

And best of all, it’s in my neighbourhood. Go on. Make the trip. Order their Chasyu Ramen and ignore everything else and you will be rewarded with a really good, quite authentic bowl of Kumamoto ramen.

Trust me.

But guess what? I’m off to Sydney this weekend. With a very lucky last minute Momofuku Seoibo booking. And possibly a chance to try out the famous Gumshara ramen too.

Stay tuned.

Ajisen Ramen Hawthorn [ Web Site ]
Address: 367 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn, VIC 3122
Phone number: 03 9818 0818

There is so much failure going on this week. Least of all that I haven’t managed to eat a Paleo meal (to be perfectly honest with myself, I’m never going to be able to stick to a fad diet of any form.) but also a blogging failure.

Of course, when I started the weekly round-up, the idea, to me, is so that I update the blog more than once a week so I don’t have one weekly round-up after another. That didn’t happen. I was did fully intend to write up about Demitri’s Feast on Swan St. but I didn’t get to it. Sorry.

(Toast with jam and brown cheese)

Let’s start with a breakfast that was a totally paleo fail: toasted corn sourdough (from Purebread Bakery, see below), Norwegian brown cheese (also known as brunost or gjetost) and strawberry jam. I love it. It’s so wrong but I love it.

(Piccolo at Purebread Bakery in Surrey Hills – $2.5)

What else? Last week, (see yet another failure, I’m doing last week’s round-up this week. So much fail) went by in a blur. On Monday, I went to the library and borrowed a tonne of books. Mostly board books for Mini Me. They are very nutritious. She eats them constantly. On Tuesday, I met up with Raymond, who used to supervise my thesis back in my postgrad uni days, at Purebread Bakery in Surrey Hills. Do you know how much of a score it is to find that your local bakery actually knows what a piccolo is and makes it nicely? Yeah. It’s a good feeling.

(Dessert burger from Purebread Bakery in Surrey Hills – $3)

They also did this little nifty thing called dessert burger a few Saturdays ago but I feel like sharing it here because it’s rather cute. It’s basically a brioche bun stuffed with strawberry, coconut and some other sweet stuff (memory’s a bit hazy, sorry.)

(Almost Jamie Oliver’s beef and vegetable stir-fry)

Also on Tuesday, yet another failure. I actually followed a Jamie Oliver’s stir-fry recipe. Now, as much as I love Jamie Oliver, I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him for anything Asian related. I die a little inside everytime he attempts to make ‘Thai’ food. BUT, I have been watching Food Revolution and he goes on about tasty stir fry so I was curious. I found this recipe in one of his books. It called for you to stir fry garlic, ginger and chilli with beef. Season it with soy sauce, sesame oil and lime juice. I sort of ignored bits of it and used oyster sauce,  soy sauce and lemon juice instead. And it was actually tasty. So I wouldn’t mind making it again. But it is a total Failsian moment. Coupled with the fact that I ran out of soy sauce half way that I had to dig into the takeaway sushi soy sauce stash. Fail. Fail. Fail.

(Steam salmon with soy and ginger – recipe here)

On Wednesday, I had a date with Adriano Zumbo. And because I had a date with another man, I felt the need to be a good wife and make Josh dinner before I went off to my ‘date.’ I ended up tossing together some simple Cantonese style marinade for the frozen salmon fillets (that I bought from Regal Salmon at Taste of Melbourne – such good salmon) with steaming instructions for the fish and some greens. He thought it was good of course.

So back to my Zumbo ‘date.’ Books for Cooks (if you’re not on their mailing list, what are you waiting for?) held their usual meet-the-author session for Adriano Zumbo’s new book and I signed up for it. It was a lovely evening. We got to sample goodies cooked by Amanda from Books for Cooks (I think, that’s what she usually does) which were superb. Macarons, pastries and chocolates were on offer. Almost as good as Zumbo’s macarons. He was asked a lot about his patisserie and his time in France. About other up-and-coming dessert chefs in Melbourne (the answer: Burch & Purchese and Luxbite) and a whole lot of other ‘famous’ patisseries in Paris – whose names completely went over my head other than Laduree and Pierre Herme. Of course.

(Zumbo macarons)

Now I have to be perfectly honest with you, I didn’t know who Zumbo is, really. All I know of him is this box of lovely macarons Ellie had brought me when she came down to visit earlier this year. But they were indeed fantastic macarons. So obviously I was curious to meet the man behind it. Turns out he is a bit of a Masterchef celebrity as well. Since I’ve only seen about 15 minutes of Masterchef in my entire life, this fact skipped me.

(Beef pho at Pho Dzung  on Victoria St. – $7.5)

So after nibbling at the sweet goodies offered at the event, I Hua, Thanh and I decided we really needed a proper dinner. We ended up on Victoria St. for pho because it was on the way and I was quite keen to get off Smith St. Sorry, not a fan. We ended up my favourite on Victoria St. Pho Dzung. It wasn’t as good as I remembered it to be but it was a decent bowl of pho nonetheless.

(Soft boiled eggs and hollandaise sauce on toast)

Some time in that week, I may or may not have had soft boiled eggs and jarred hollandaise sauce on toast for dinner… See my Facebook post for the easiest and fool-proof way to make soft boiled eggs.

(Crispy barramundi and apple salad – $22)

On Thursday, yes, we’re only on Thursday still, Thanh, Agnes, I Hua, Liesl, Josh and I went out to I Spicy in Hawthorn for dinner – which I’m still yet to blog about from the last visit (yet another fail). I Spicy is basically a tiny little Thai joint in the Safeway building on Glenferrie that does quite decent cheap Thai food. We’ve been there a couple of times and had massive amounts of food each time. Thanh and Agnes declare it to be better than Appetizer. I think that’s like comparing apples to oranges.

(Bec’s strawberry and cream pavlova)

On Friday, I had mothers’ group and may or may not have had a couple of slices of Bec’s beautiful strawberry pav for lunch…

And I spent the weekend a bit sick. And the only win I can report, after many failures this week, is that my little veggie garden is coming along rather nicely.

How was your week?

Why hello there. Life has been very hectic for me the past few weeks and will continue to be ridiculously so until I go off to a three-week stint in Thailand in November and December (I hope it’s still there and not entirely covered in water when we get there).

So as I mentioned on the Facebook Page (please like!), I’m going to be neglecting Spatula, Spoon and Saturday a bit.

But I don’t want to! I love this blog and I love finding a few minutes to actually work on it (and believe me it needs lots and lots of work)

So when Off the Spork came up with this genius idea of doing a weekly round ups / photo blog, I decided I’m going to jump on the bandwagon. You can’t call me a trendsetter, thank you very much.

Because I have been busy – I have been eating a lot of instant noodles for lunch. I know. Don’t judge me. I am Thai, after all. Mamaa (as instant noodles are coloquially known and also the actual name of the brand) is a favourite of, well, everyone. I particularly prefer silvery packet tom yum flavoured ones. I love to add lots of greens (choy sum, kai lan, bok choy, cabbge, any and all), coriander (essential), spring onions (not essential but preferrable), preserved cabbage (tung chai) and an egg. I don’t really eat Mamaa any other way though.

(La Belle Miette’s macarons)

On Monday, Kat came over for a catch up and dinner and I decided that I really wanted spinach and ricotta cannelloni for dinner. So we rushed off to Temple (also known as Leo’s Fine Food and Wine) to buy ingredients. Kat mixed up ricotta, fresh baby spinach she snipped into small pieces, eggs and a bit of nutmeg and she dutifully stuffed the cannellini (messy, hard work!) while I tried to make the bottled Dolmio’s pasta sauce (found it in the cupboard – horridly, nastily sweet) more palatable by adding onions, sage and lots of white wine. No photo but it turned out great served with a simple garden salad.

On Tuesday, having been disappointed with La Belle Miette on Church St. (Richmond) being closed on Mondays, I managed to get myself a few macarons. I will write more about each flavour I sampled soon.

(A lot of floorboards!)

One of the reasons I have been (and will continue to be) very busy is because we are renovating. So we ended up at Ikea one night. We bought 200kg of floorboards. Do you know how much of a bitch to carry all those floorboards around? Yes. Very much.

(Ikea meatballs)

Naturally, we went to the Ikea restaurant. Of course we had to get meatballs since I haven’t had them in forever.  They were okay but not as good as I remember them. I guess I haven’t had them in so long my taste had changed. AND THEY NO LONGER STICK A SWEDISH FLAG ON THE MEATBALLS! Disappointment.

(The Ikea $4.50 dinner special)

I was also curious on what the $4.50 special would get us – chicken and pasta was the answer. It was actually quite good (as far as $4.50 go anyway.) The chicken breast had lovely herby seasoning to it and the veggies in the pasta weren’t cooked to the buggery considering they were in a bain marie. Pasta was overcooked, of course, but this wasn’t Italian food and so forgivable.

Because we were starving we also got the ‘sandwich’. This was fairly average, really. The salmon was bland. The prawns were bland. The egg was, well, egg. The bread was a bit meh too. This bread doesn’t do well just sitting the fridge.

Friday was a bit more happening. Agnes, her husband Alastair, Thanh and I went to the Aylesbury for Penny‘s farewell drinks (she’s off to live in Sydney.) The rooftop was a bit packed after a while so we left for what we call ‘Secret Thai’. Whose proper name is Appetizer Kub Klam, which isn’t really a secret since a couple of bloggers blogged about it. I loved it for its Thainess. It managed to capture that essential Bangkok beer garden experience down to the tee with a beer tower, live singer with guitar music and a kub klam menu consisting mainly of deep fried salty foods to compliment its drinking hole atmosphere. A sort of a Thai pub food.

I will blog about this place separately but meanwhile here’s a picture of the deep fried pig’s intestine (‘How Bourdain of you,’ says @falican) We ate so much that when Agnes said she’s on Paleo diet we decided to we had to get on it.

Naturally, I fail at it. Hard. What can I say? I love carbs.

The weekend. Oh the weekend. Saturday we spent working on the reno. I went to Bunnings for the first time in years to buy paint (we went with the boring Grand Piano). They gave us free jelly beans. And a stuffed dog. O..kay.

(Bunnings sausage sizzle)

Because I didn’t have time for breakfast, I had to have a sausage sizzle because it smelled so good. Also the first in years (last one was probably work’s barbecue in 2006). Josh had breakfast and so he had no excuse to have one as well. But he did. It was amazingly delicious. Either that or I was freaking starving.

I also managed to sneak to the Camberwell Market and look mah! They have purple asparagus. How cool are they? Didn’t buy them though. Bought lots of other veggies – including massive green asparagus which were so fresh and sweet, we had some raw in salads.

The florist also had the most gorgeous shade of roses ever. I would have bought them for my mum if she were in the country. They smelled divine. I love roses. I also saw the first peonies of the season (bloody expensive) – this can only mean our wedding anniversary is coming up.

On Sunday, Mini Me and I went to yum cha with a couple of girls from work while Josh painted the apartment. She and I had our first yum cha chicken claws. That’s right. I have never had chicken feet at yum cha. I know the term for this is ‘failsian.’ But obviously, Mini Me won’t have that problem.

She rather liked it too. The bone, that is. I didn’t mind it either. I was also made to try tendon. That experience will not be repeated.

And we ended the weekend with a meal that my uni housemate invented. I decided to make it because the Ikea meal sort of reminded me of this (and she is Scandinavian, maybe there’s something there). I seasoned the chicken breast strips and pan fried them. Made up a batch of packet pasta and sauce (one of those horrid Continental things which I surprisingly didn’t mind) and loaded up with tonnes of veggies.

Happy days.

Date visited: 19 June 2010

I have decided to declare a blogging amnesty on myself. Fact is: I eat a lot more than I blog. While recently, my eating out has slowed down dramatically due to Mini Me being, well, Mini Me, I still have piles of old photos of meals that I took a long time ago. So this blog post will be full of pictures but short of description.

This meal took place so long ago that I can barely remember the details. It was back when Ron O’Bryan was at the helm of the kitchen and, believe me, he cooks some damn good nosh.

(Some sort of salad involving beetroot)

However, here are some of the things I do remember about that night:

(Stuffed zucchini flower – so very good)

1. They churned their own butter – and it was the best damn butter I have ever tasted

(Croquette of some dsecription)

2. The local was small, dimly lit, inimate, casual and all around lovely. And cheap. For a little restaurant doing such outstanding food that had been ethically, sustainably and locally sourced, it was cheap.

(Mushroom gnocchi – totally in adequate description, sorry)

3. There were five of us: me, Josh, Jeroxie, her Mister and their friend (my silly memory insists that the ‘friend’ was actually Mister’s sister but I don’t think so.)

(I’m sure this was beef)

4. This was the night Jeroxie and Mister found out that I was pregnant and they both had exactly the same surprise gasp and priceless facial expression. Sort of like ‘omg-you-are-an-alien-afterall’ type surprise. Priceless.

(Pork belly and some sort of beans)

5. I loved the quince crumble so much that I attempted to lick to glass clean. And I’m not generally a dessert person.

(Duck)

6. I don’t even remember enough things to even have a line after each photo. Oh well.

And now I feel that when those critics of food blogs yammer on about food blogs are unprofessional, I am beginning to see their side after all.

Slow Down! @ Harley Court [ Website ]
Address: 56 Acland St., St Kilda VIC 3182
Phone: 03 8534 3030

‘How do you like your eggs in the morning? I like mine with a kiss.’

Strangely enough, Snow Pony’s website is the only website whose neverending autoplay music doesn’t piss me off. It’s such a great tune to get you in the mood to visit this awesome little cafe in Balwyn (or as their official address Deepene – seriously does anyone know what Deepene is?) for their brunch.

(Snow Pony Winter 2011 menu)

Because I am your regular Eastern suburb stay-at-home Mum, I find it really hard to battle into the inner suburbs for the awesome cafes frequented by the hip young crowd during brunch hours with a young baby, especially on the weekends. Snow Pony is the perfect answer. It’s not too far from home and I can always get parking just out front.

(Mini Me and her grandmother)

Snow Pony, whose name I can only guess has something to do with the fact that it’s situated on White Horse Road, is brought to you by the same folks who bring you Friends of Mine in Richmond and Porgie and Mr Jones in Hawthorn. They have similar menu with the similar flair in their food. But Snow Pony’s staff has been absolutely outstanding at accommodating Mini Me and just all around very very lovely. And they have been very consistent about it in all the visits we made.

(Giddy Up – Snow Pony’s big breakfast – $18.90)

On this particular occasion, I took Mini Me and her grandma out for a lunch treat. We both decided to share a couple of dishes. Lyn had opted for Giddy Up, which is Snow Pony’s version of big breakfast. It consisted of two poached eggs, bacon, roasted tomato, smashed avocadoes and herby mushrooms. There is nothing imperfect about this dish. The eggs were perfectly poached with the white just set and the yolks rich and runny. The bacon was smokey and crispy. The mushrooms were flavourful. Right down to the Noisette thick cut toast which Mini Me happily munched on (and absolutely refused to touch supermarket white bread for days after that).

(French lentil salad – $18?)

We also ordered the French lentil salad with rocket, walnut and goat’s cheese. It was a lovely salad – everything was perfectly dressed and the flavours were well balanced. Unfortunately, it was tiny and I was starving. So it wasn’t something I would order again (because let’s face it, I’m always starving.)

(Toasted banana bread with maple syrup mascarpone, fresh banana, berry compote & crushed pistachio – $14.9)

So to make up for the small lunch, I decided that I would have their lemonade scones with jam and cream which I have had a few times and are all kinds of awesome except they weren’t available*. So instead, we settled on sharing one of their very popular breakfast dish: toasted banana bread.

How supremely pretty is this dish? Thick chunks of toasted banana bread with generous amount of mascarpone, banana and berry filling drenched in syrup and berry coulis topped with green pistachio. It is such a good looking dish. And very satisfying. It was basically the opposite of the light lentil salad I had earlier but still with all the prettiness.

You can probably tell by the gushing that I will be there. Often. Please don’t stalk me.

Snow Pony [ Website ]
Address: 95 White Horse Rd., Balwyn VIC 3026
Phone:  03 9816 8911

* to this I had to send off a terse email complaining about the lack of ‘sconage’ (because it wasn’t the first time it had happened – they ran out of scones quite often from my experience) and received a promise that scone numbers will now be doubled in all of their cafes. Yay.

Date of visit: 31 July 2010 – note menu items may no longer be available and those that are may have changed.

Number 8 is Crown’s own modern Australian restaurant situated within the Crown casino complex just by the riverside. There are quite a few restaurants in the area. A very lovely place to sit out on sunny days for long lunches. So last year (yes, I know, I am so behind), Maya, Josh and I went out for our catch up long lunch on a very lovely sunny Winter day.

(Complimentary bread with dips – unimpressive)

Number 8 was recommended to me by a couple of colleagues who had had a few business lunches there. We decided to give their lunch specials a go because, as I previously mentioned, Winter is all about long lunches. I believe at the time it was $65 for a three-course lunch including three side dishes. Currently, Number 8 lunch specials sits at $68 for two courses (including side dishes) and a glass of wine according to its website.

(Maya’s entree: quail and rocket salad with a slice of foie gras?)

We each ordered an entree, a main and dessert as well as three side dishes. Believe me it was a lot of food! Pictured above was Maya’s entree of quail salad. I can’t remember a lot of this dish at all even though I did have a taste. Don’t you love friends who don’t mind sharing food? The only thing I remember about it was the foie gras which came as a tiny almost dried sliver rather than a buttery, silky chunk of foie gras I expected.

(my entree: wagyu Carpaccio  with wild rocket, semi-dried tomato, truffle oil and crisp parsley)

My dish, on the other hand, I remember quite well. A friend, Jean, had strongly recommended this dish as the Number 8 dish to try. I was hesitant because I was pregnant at the time and wasn’t supposed to eat undercooked meat, let alone raw. But decided that the risk was minimal and went for it anyway. I have to say though, unfortunately, I didn’t like it as much as Jean did. There was something not quite right about the way everything came together – it didn’t blow my mind. It wasn’t a bad dish though. The meat was thinly sliced and the fat melted on your tongue. That was rather good but I found the flavours lacking.

(Josh’s entree: ricotta gnocchi with fresh tomatoes)

Josh’s ricotta gnocchi, on the other hand, was excellent. The gnocchi was light and fluffy with the fresh tomato sauce perfectly suited. I was having serious food envy by this stage. Unfortunately, he wasn’t interested in trading his gnocchi for my carpaccio.

(Rack of lamb with herbed crust?)

For main, Maya had ordered the rack of lamb with herb crust. She was warned that it would be served medium rare and whether she was okay with it. She was. And it was good. The meat quality good and it was treated perfectly. Unfortunately, I can’t remember much about the accompanying sauce.

(Venison loin fillet)

Same was the case for Josh’s venison fillet. It was also perfectly cooked and the meat was tender and flavourful and he enjoyed it immensely. Again, I can’t remember much about the accompanying sauce. It was the meat that stole the show. There seems to be a running theme through all the Crown restaurants that I notice – and that theme is meat.

(King George whiting with grilled zucchnini sage and pinenuts)

Because the other two had had big wins with their main dish, someone had to be unlucky and got the dud one. Yep. That was me. Because I really am not a big meat eater, I decided to go for the fish option of King George whiting with grilled zucchini, sage and pinenuts. Let’s not mince words: it was terrible. The quality of the fish itself was decent albeit bland and underseasoned. The zucchini was incredibly bitter and it would have been the deal breaker if it wasn’t for the even more horrible component of the dish, the sauce. While I could not recall what Maya and Josh had as sauces for theirs, I remember the swirls of thick sauce to be kecap manis. Just kecap manis. Nothing else. I could be wrong. But that’s what it tasted like. Suffice to say, I didn’t enjoy my dish.

(French fries)

As a part of the lunch special, each of us could order a side dish with our main meal. I love the idea of side dishes. I love that you can just take a few simple ingredients and make them memorable. Unfortunately, Maya insisted on the French fries. Not that I had anything against French fries. Thing about French fries is they are utterly boring. Anyway, these French fries were okay. Maya did say McDonald’s were better. That gave me the excuse to ride her hard about ordering French fries at nice restaurants and how the Kipfler potato with garlic and rosemary would have been a much better choice.

(Side of mushrooms)

Josh and I made a joint decision for sauteed mixed mushrooms. Because we love mushrooms. HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE MUSHROOMS? I die a little inside everytime someone says, ‘I don’t eat mushrooms.’ I even once had a vegetarian colleague who didn’t eat mushrooms because she didn’t think they’re vegetarian. Hmm’kay. Anyway these mushrooms were decent albeit slightly oily.

(Steamed broccolini)

I also asked for a side of broccolini because at the time, after having had the broccolini at Lento, I was obsessed about broccolini. The broccolini were steamed, dressed with soft cheese (can’t remember exactly what it was). I remember it to be slightly bland but that’s where the memory ends.

(Passionfruit pavlova?)

Naturally, we all went for desserts. Josh went for the tangy passionfruity? meringue dessert. I remember that this was just the type of dessert he loves and that he enjoyed it immensely. So Josh had had three very big wins with his entree, main and dessert. He was the lucky one. Unfortunately, in the food department, his memory isn’t as good as mine and I didn’t pay enough attention to his dessert only that I didn’t enjoy it as much as he did and it’s not something I’d normally order.

If Josh was the lucky one, then I was the unlucky one. Yet again, my dessert was the dud one. The vanilla creme brulee was unremarkable. The dish wasn’t heated through properly and the custard was still slightly cold in the middle which contributed to the texture being not quite right. The only impressive thing about it was the size. It was massive. But after two courses, I wasn’t looking for massive. I was looking for lovely.

Maya’s dessert, chocolate fondant with ice cream, on the other hand, was gorgeous. Rich, warm and velvety chocolate fondant. It was served with ice cream and hazelnut brittle type thing. So good.

So good, in fact, I have a few more photos for you.

Phew! Yes, that was a very large meal for all of us. I don’t think any of us had dinner that day.

All in all, we had a lovely lunch – of course the fact that it was a gorgeous day didn’t hurt. The service was friendly and impeccable as to be expected. The food was a bit of a hit and miss which was slightly disappointing (mostly for me for picking duds) but overall the lunch special we had was extremely good value. Though I can’t help but thinking that if I were paying the full price, I would be a lot more disappointed.

Number 8 Restaurant and Wine Bar [ Website ]
Address: Crown Casino Complex, 8 Whiteman St., Southbank 3006 VIC
Phone: 03 9292 7899

Back in 2008 (dear god, has it been that long?), I discovered North East China Family – a double storey, modern dumpling restaurant on Flinders Lane between Liz and Queen. I went there on my own and had a fried rice and, by god, it was one of the best fried rice at a Chinese restaurant I had ever had. So I went back with Josh and others in tow for the dumplings numerous times since the initial visit.

(Seafood fried rice – $11?)

The dumplings themselves, vegetarian dumplings aside, were quite good. We have tried a few and settled the pork and pickled cabbage dumplings as our favourite. The skin wasn’t too thick or doughy and the fillings were well seasoned and balanced. The vegetarian ones, unfortunately, didn’t rate well. I found the filling of greens and a few other random bits of carrot were a bit one dimensional and, well, wasn’t any good.

(Boiled pork and pickled cabbage dumplings 15 for $8?)

The portions, on the other hand, used to be rather large and generous (15 for around $8? at the time) and if you consumed the whole plate of them,  you would have to roll yourself back to your office. I noticed the reduction in size over the past few years, however. Since then the dumplings had become a bit smaller and North East China Family had been less generous with the filling. I can’t say I blame the restaurant since most people seemed incapable of finishing a whole plate of dumplings. Another point to note is that the restaurant charges extra ($1?) for the pan-fried version of the same dumplings. As we very much prefer boiled dumplings over fried, we have not tried the fried variety.

(Apologies I can’t remember what this one was called. Possibly the Shanghai noodles)

Other non-dumpling dishes also rate well in my book. The fried rice, although it was never as good as the very first fried rice I had there, was decent with excellent wok hei and no too greasy. A few other dishes that we had included fried noodles with pork, beef and scrambled egg sauce on rice and Beijing noodles with meat sauce. All quite well made and quite tasty.

(Beef and scrambled egg sauce on rice?)

Now here comes the sticking point: the service. North East China Family had been very popular since they opened a few years ago and the service had dramatically declined in our last few visits back in 2010. While we normally scored a table without a lot of hassle, the food wait had become ridiculous. Our last visit, we received our first dish in 10 minutes and had to wait a good half an hour for our dumplings.

This was absolutely unacceptable during the lunch rush. We even stopped going there on Fridays and eventually other days as well. I can’t comment on how their service has been recently but if you have, please share your experience. I would also like to mention that the waitstaff were pleasant, though ineffective. I think the kitchen was more of the problem.

(Prawn dumplings)

We had also been back once during their dinner service. Their menu included ‘can only dinner’ section and we had sampled a couple of dishes from there and from memory, they were excellent compared to the lunch dishes which were good. The dinner service was nowhere near as terrible as lunch. I wouldn’t hesitate to go back there for dinner again but would be rather weary about lunching there if I don’t have unlimited lunching hours.

(Sweet pancake with red bean paste or lotus paste filling)

North East China Family used to be a really good lunch option for dumplings in the CBD with its cheap, tasty and generously portioned dumplings and other rice and noodle dishes. However, as their popularity grew, their service had been very disappointingly slow. I would recommend you try their dinner service, where the food and service were better, and stay away from their crowded lunch service.

North East China Family
Address: 302 Flinders La, Melbourne VIC 3000
Phone: 03 9629 9968

Ah. Centre Place. Who doesn’t love it? A tiny and cramp laneway full of graffiti art and sandwich shops. LOTS of sandwich shops. In fact, this is this place should probably be named Sandwich Place. Either that or Copper Lane due to heavy lunching police presence from the cop shop up the street.

Centre Place has to be one of my favourite Melbourne sights. It often gets overlooked by weekend tourists and suburbanite Victorians because this laneway is only hip and happening, or rather, full of sandwiches, on weekdays in the morning into early afternoon with most shops starting to wind down at around 3pm.

(Tandoori chicken focaccia – $7-$8?)

Centro Espresso Caffe is situated in an ideal position of the corner of Centre Place and Flinders Lane. A perfect spot for people watching. That is, if you actually get a spot. The space here (and any other shops on Centre Place) is absolute premium and many people buy their toasted sandwiches to takeaway.

I have had a few sandwiches from Centro Espresso Caffe and found them to be a decent balance between taste, portion, price and choices. Centro usually has 3-4 different types of sandwiches in wraps or focaccia plus a few choices of salads. They also have the ‘home-style’ simpler sandwiches like curried egg and salad sandwiches with square breads.

(left – chicken and pasta salad, right – garden salad)

On the day these photos were taken, I ordered salami focaccia which was filled with a few slices of grilled eggplant, olives capsicum, semi-dried tomato, cheese and salad leaves. I had it toasted. It was decent and filling. In fact, I normally struggle to finish a sandwich from here which meant I had the leftovers to nibble on later in the afternoon when three thirty-itis hit.

Josh ordered the tandoori chicken sandwich which had a few slices of bland tandoori chicken typical of the tandoori chicken that is the sandwich filling variety rather than actual smokey, spicy tandoori chicken you get at your local Indian. It was covered in yoghurt sauce, cheese and had a few slices of tomato and salad leaves. It was also toasted. Surprisingly, it was quite all right. This would be the one sandwich I personally wouldn’t order myself but it was fine.

(Salami and roasted vegetable foccacia)

Because we were both hungry, we ordered a mix of two available salads to share. It turned out to be a bad idea because I kept forgetting how big the sandwiches were. Eyes bigger than stomach and all that. The salads themselves were nothing to write home about. Nor were they bad.

Centro Espresso Caffe, with its best asset being a perfect location to watch the hub bub of Centre Place, does serve decent  sandwiches to hungry city workers and tourists but it is in no way outstanding with a pletora of sandwich outlets in the area.

If you have tried their coffee, please let me know what you think.

Centro Espresso Caffe
Address: 252 Flinders La, Melbourne VIC 3000
Phone: 03 9654 7070

Soldiering on with my CBD lunch series for your Melbourne CBD lunch needs (wow I make it sound like a public service, don’t I?) Sichuan Dining Room is more of a casual eatery tucked away in Mid City Arcade, one of the many arcades on Burke St./Little Burke St, the home of Melbourne Chinatown. Just like other eateries around the area well known for its plethora of cheap, tasty Chinese/Asian selection.

(Mapo tofu on rice)

Sichuan Dining Room, unfortunately not the same as the now-defunct Sichuan Dining Room which I loved in Hawthorn, has a rather large menu consisting of your usual ‘something-anything on rice’ for under $10 up to Sichuan-style hotpots and ‘various parts of a pig/chicken/duck fried in a tonne of dried chillies’ costing up to $30+ for family dinner where sharing is required.

(Chicken kungbao on rice)

I have had both options. Let’s talk about the cheap lunch options first. We ordered three dishes with rice to try. The ‘on rice’ option, while cheap was rather limited to the more mainstream Australian Chinese dishes. Our mapo tofu (tofu and mince in spicy, chilli oil sauce) was more spicy than the mapo tofu you would get at a Cantonese restaurant but it wasn’t outstanding. It was pleasant enough for a lunch time rush though. They also serve the ‘on noodles’ options and it is my failing that I never gave them a go. Please let me know if you have and what you think about it.

(spicy eggplant and mince on rice)

The same could be said about the kung bao chicken – chicken with sweet-ish sauce with peanuts, capsicum and dried chillies. It wasn’t spicy and marked rather low on their chilli scale. A good flavoured dish but it really wasn’t what I had hoped it to be. The eggplant, on the other hand, rather was good. They were soft, silky and not too oily.

The ‘main’ options, on the other hand, are much larger and much more expensive ranging betwee $17-$35. I have seen a few students and families gathering around to share them. They offer the more authentic Sichuan options. I have had a few dishes from that selection. While they are conveniently located, its sparse dining room and service does not match the price tag for a nice meal out. The food itself is tasty and well done enough but compared to the other luminaries such as Dainty Sichuan in South Yarra, they come up short.

So overall, Sichuan Dining Room is an option in the Chinatown area for a quick and cheap Sichuan lunch but perhaps they may not be all that great for the more pricey shared Sichuan dishes.

Sichuan Dining Room
Address: Mid City Arcade, 194-200 Bourke St. Melbourne VIC 3000
Phone: 03 9663 5472

To continue the Port Phillip Arcade theme, I bring you Jolly J’s. As mentioned in the previous post, Port Phillip Arcade is a Mecca of cheap eats in Melbourne CBD. Some good. Some terrible. But noone seems to agree on what is what. So I can only do my bit and let you know what I like.

Jolly J’s is a little bit of a jack of all trades when it comes to your cheap CBD lunching needs. The menu consists of various hot food items (such as chicken parma, calamari rings and garlic prawns) and hot chips. But of course, the main draw card for Jolly J’s is their Sri Lankan style rice and curry.

(Jolly J’s daily specials of Sri Lankan style rice and curry – $7.50)

I, of course, went directly to the Jolly J’s Daily Special – Rice & Curry. How can you argue against a good, wholesome interesting Sri Lankan lunch for $7.50? Did I mention it’s super cheap?

As any other Sri Lankan rice and curry shop in Melbourne, you get a choice between white rice or yellow rice, a choice of vegetable curries (eggplant, pumpkin, lentils, mixed vegetables, etc.) and a choice of meat curry (beef, lamb, chicken). You will also get yoghurt condiment (sometimes called ‘curd’ at Sri Lankan restaurants), coconut sambal and chilli. A poppadum is also served on top.

(Left clockwise: lentil, mixed veggies, chicken curry, eggplant curry,  coconut sambal. Middle: chilli sauce?, raita (yoghurt and vegetable condiment), yellow rice)

Because I prefer my Sri Lankan meat curry to be mind numbing hot, I found the meat curry to be on the mild side. The vegetables, on the other hand, were perfectly cooked and well seasoned. The eggplants soft and silky (and oily, but that’s to be expected) and the vegetables not cooked into grey mush. I also enjoyed the condiments. Jolly J’s also lets you heap on a few extra chilli condiments if you were after something more spicy. I would do this next time.

Jolly J’s Curry Shack may not serve the most perfect rice and curry in the world but their food is indeed decent and it is an excellent value. And as all other Port Phillip Arcade outlets, I recommend you get there early unless you enjoy a game of lunchtime rush musical chair.

Jolly J’s Restaurant
Address: Shop 8-9 Port Phillip Arcade, 228-236 Flinders St., Melbourne VIC 300 [ Google Map ]
Phone: 03 9650 9989