Spatula, Spoon and Saturday

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

(Stir-fried vegetables of choice with chilli and basil sauce – pad gaprow – and fried egg – $11?)

Believe me when I say this: you don’t truly appreciate the cliche ‘time flies’ until you become a full time carer of a newborn baby almost-toddler. So when I had every intention to blog about a few places that I (used to) lunch at as a salarywoman in the City, I hadn’t realise how much time had passed since then. So here I am – 9 months into my 12-month maternity leave. I think I might just get to it before I go back to work in December and then find out that all of these places are either gone or no longer the same!

(The green circles spell out ‘Ratee Thai’ from the alphabet/vowels panel – very cute)

Ratee Thai is one of the many eating outlets that make up the Mecca of cheap eats that is known Port Phillip Arcade which is situated on Flinders Street just near the Swanston Street corner (you can also enter from Flinders Lane). Their clientele is a mix bag of office workers and Thai uni students – always a good sign for a Thai restaurant. Its fit-out consists of charming communal tables with its wall adorned with the Thai alphabets (in case you’ve wonder what it’s all about!)

Port Phillip Arcade also happened to be the mid point between my (former) work place and Josh’s. So we used to end up there a lot for lunch. Yes, folks, I was one of those people who have lunch with their partners almost everyday. You can decide whether it’s sweet or sad.

(Pad Si-ew  – stir fried rice noodles with chicken, egg and Chinese broccoli with sweet soy sauce – $10?)

Ratee Thai has a varied menu. You can go with the Wok Bar option – choosing your own meat, vegetables, sauce and noodle/rice; you can choose from the Classic option – a choice of the popular Thai dishes such as pad thai, pad gaprow, pad si-ew, tom yum, etc.; or you can simply grab a plate of bain marie choices.

Call me boring but I am such a sucker for a good stir-fried veggie and tofu. Very few outlets in town actually do decent stir-fries. Every Asian shop does them but very few actually make them good. Ratee Thai does. They also have the advantage of letting me choose my own vegetables (I love the combination of Chinese broccoli, broccoli, snow peas, bamboot shoots and baby corn).You can also have brown rice at extra cost. And of course, a crispy Thai-style fried egg is a must.

Josh usually ordered from the classic menu. Their pad si-ew (stir-fried rice noodles with sweet soy sauce) and pad thai are a tad sweet but not horribly so. I found them to be acceptable especially with the condiments of fish sauce, vinegared chillies, sugar and chilli powder provided as you would normally get in Thailand allows you to balance the flavours however you like. I also like the fact that they don’t load it with random vegetables and stay quite true to how the dishes are supposed to be done. Their bain marie dishes were also acceptable while, again, being just a tad sweet.

Be warned though – the place gets pretty packed and you will end up having to play musical chairs with other people if you arrive there a minute later than noon. So get there early!

Ratee Thai [ Website ]
Address: Shop 3-4, Port Phillip Arcade, 228-236 Flinders St., Melbourne VIC 3000 [ Google Map ]
Phone number: (03) 9639 3322

Sri Lankan rice & curry has to be one of my all time favourite dishes. If you haven’t had it, get yourself to your nearest Sri Lankan grocer or curry shop immediately. It’s exactly what it sounds like – a plate of rice and different types of curries. Normally you’d have a spicy meat curry that balanced out with a few different types of milder vegetable curries and dahl. It is served with pickle, sambal (the Sri Lankan side dish made from grated coconut tossed with dried fish and spices, don’t get confused with the Malaysian sambal which is a chilli sauce) and a poppadum.

This is a great recipe for a mild ‘white’ curry. It’s great for using up cauliflowers or other vegetables that you have lying around. I adapted it from one of my favourite cookbooks of all time, Sri Lankan Flavours by Channa Dassanayaka. It’s a gorgeous book with lovely photgraphy and the recipes are very easy to tackle. Don’t let the number of spices put you off. They are cheap and easily available. Head to your closest Asian or South Asian grocer to stock up on your spices.

Sri Lankan is one of my favourite cuisines to cook at home. It has great focus on vegetables and, with a well stocked spice cupboard, is very flexible and can be made with whatever is around. Channa says you can add other vegetables such as carrots and potatoes or whatever is available in the fridge.

Cauliflower Curry For Two

• 1/2 medium head cauliflower, cut into florets
• 1/2 cup cashew nuts (roasted, salted, raw – they all work)
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1/8 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/8 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 cup frozen peas
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 5 curry leaves (or 1 bay leaf – pictured)
• 1/4 mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic, chopped

Boil the cashew nuts while you’re preparing the other ingredients to soften. This should take about 20 minutes. If you like a bit of crunch in the cashew nuts as I do, 10 minutes should be enough.

Add the cauliflower florets to the cashew nuts. Add turmeric, cumin, coriander and bring to boil. Simmer for a few minutes until the cauliflower is soft. Add frozen peas and coconut milk and bring back to the boil.

In another pan, fry the onion, curry leaves (or bay leaf), mustard seeds, garlic and chilli until the onion is soft and coloured. Toss the onion mixture into the cauliflower curry. Season with lemon juice and salt to taste.

Channa said this is great with roti or bread. I served it on rice with Sri Lankan chicken curry.

Do you know how many Japanese there are in Melbourne?

About 5,000.

Do you know how many Japanese there are in Bangkok?

About 50,000.

Does this mean that, in probablity terms, there are ten times the likelihood of finding better ramen in Bangkok? Probably. I don’t know. What I do know though, and there I go again with post spoilers, that Yamagoya Ramen on Thong Lor does a pretty damn good tonkotsu ramen and definitely a place to check out while you’re in town.

Look at the pictures, people!

So back in the days of gallavanting Bangkok earlier in June this year, I said to a few of my Japanophile foodie friends/relatives (luckily, I have quite a few)  ‘please take me to a really good ramen shop.’

The amazing coincidence was that three of them rang and wanted to take us to Yamagoya Ramen on the same day. Loving ramen as much as I do, I would have totally been willing to eat ramen for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But unfortunately that was the day after our visit to Nahm. Though went to Yamagoya for lunch, we did. But only just one meal (insert sighs of disappointment here).

Yamagoya Ramen Thong Lor is one of the six branches of a ramen chain operation in Bangkok. It is situated not very far from Japan Village – a concentration of all things Japanese in Bangkok. We got there just before noon on purpose because the place gets quite busy and, according to my fussy uncle, the first broth of day is best. Read the rest of this entry »