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Dainty Sichuan, South Yarra

December 15, 2011
★★, Chinese, Dinner, Eating Out, South Yarra
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176 Toorak Rd Map 
South Yarra, VIC 3141
03 9078 1686

My sister loves Sichuan food and we used to frequent Dainty Sichuan when it was located on Corrs Lane in the CBD, now taken over and renamed Sichuan House.

One of our favourite dishes to order would be thier ‘Sui Zhu Yu’ which directly translated means Water Boiled Fish. It is a pot of Sichuan style boiled fish with lots of chilli and ‘hua jiao’ Sichuan Peppercorns.

However since moving to their new location along Toorak Road, they started having hotpot as well which we decided to try that day.

Hot Pot here is good, soup’s flavorsome but don’t drink too much of it or you would have to put up with an insatiable thirst after from all the salt/MSG.

We also ordered their Chilli Chicken and Meat Paos.

Their Chilli Chicken has been decreasing in portion over the years, with more dried chilli than actual chicken pieces. As I don’t like to eat chicken/pork/fish skin, ( haha yes even pork crackling) I personally am not a fan of this dish, however my cousins really like it.

The Meat Paos were mediocre, wouldn’t recommend getting them.

Overall, still one of our favourite places for Sichuan Food. Also, good for large groups.

Rating:
★★         good, recommended
$ to $$       $15-25 per main

Dainty Sichuan on Urbanspoon

Guhng (The Palace), Melbourne CBD

December 4, 2011
★, Dinner, Eating Out, Korean, Melbourne CBD
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19 McKillop Street Map 
Melbourne, VIC 3000
03 9041 2192
Recently met up with some friends for dinner and they suggested to have Korean food over at Guhng. I happily agreed since I’ve never been there before. We made a booking for 7 of us and were seated once we arrived.
The interior is nice. Although not too wide, there were several floors which allowed it to accommodate a fairly large number of patrons with large tables suitable for groups of 6 to 8 ppl.
Service is friendly but can be a bit slow.

We ordered quite a lot of food, including ox tongue, pork belly, beef ribs and hotpots.

Everyone really like the Pasta Coleslaw side dish (side dishes are refillable). The BBQ dishes ordered were tasty. The hotpots on the other hand were just mediocre and at a heftier price of $35+

Overall, Guhng offers good Korean BBQ but no stand outs from other Korean BBQ restaurants.

Rating:

★             relatively good, still worth a try

$$$        $25-35 per main

Guhng (The Palace) on Urbanspoon

Pho Dzung City Noodle Shop, Melbourne CBD

November 25, 2011
★★, Dinner, Eating Out, Gluten Free Friendly, Melbourne CBD, Uncategorized, Vietnamese
2 Comments
234 Russell St Map
Melbourne, VIC 3000
03 9663 8885
 

Located along russell street, I’ve walked past this place many times.

Had pho cravings but unwilling to head to Mekong (I think the last time I visited that place was around 3 years ago?, it was so MSG laden that I actually woke up with a puffy eye the next day, due to water retention from the excessive MSG or sth. I’m not kidding!)

So decided why not try Pho Dzung City Noodle Shop instead.

I had the Special Beef/ w/ Chicken Combo (minus Tendons & Tripe, forgot to mention no blood D: )and K had the Beef Combo.

Tastewise, the noodles were good, salty but still not that bad. Portions were good as well.

The beef was tender, especially the rare beef (which I would recommend getting as it continued to cook in the hot soup resulting in a perfect state of ‘done-ness’ ahah). Also liked the sausage peppercorn.

However, would’ve preferred if the waiter actually asked which size we wanted. He gave us mediums, K managed to finish his but I couldn’t finish mine (small would’ve been just right).

Overall, a good place for pho in the CBD.

Rating:

★★         good, recommended

$              under $15 per main
Pho Dzung City Noodle Shop on Urbanspoon

Shanghai Street Dumpling, Melbourne CBD

November 22, 2011
Asian, ★★, Chinese, Dinner, Eating Out, Melbourne CBD
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342 Little Bourke Street Map
Melbourne, VIC 3000
03 9600 2250
 
 
 

We had the Chicken + Prawn Shanghai XiaoLongBao $9.80 & Pork Shanghai XiaoLongBao $ 8.80. Also, the steamed Vegetable Buns $4.80, Chili Beef on Rice $9.50, Beef Braised Beef  in Noodle Soup and Beef slices Noodle Soup (around $8.80 to $9.50).

 

The Pork XiaoLongBaos were juicy and delicious!

The Chicken and Prawn ones were just alright, was rather dry. Didn’t enjoy the Vegetarian Buns, looked and tasted like it it came from the frozen section of the asian grocer.


The Chilli Beef on Rice was just alright, with the beef pieces rather chewy.

Both noodles were good, especially the braised beef which was soft and the broth the soup was yummy.

Overall, a bit hits and misses but real yummy Pork XiaoLongBaos and food’s still good. Prices are cheap and portions are good as well.

Rating:

★★         good, recommended

$              under $15 per main

Shanghai Street Dumpling on Urbanspoon

Yu-U, Melbourne CBD

October 26, 2011
Asian, ★★, Eating Out, Japanese, Lunch, Melbourne, Melbourne CBD
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137 Flinders Ln Map
Melbourne, VIC 3000
03 9639 7073

Yu-U is a bit tricky to find as many previously have noted. They don’t have any noticeable signage outside, closest thing to a signage would be the small frame hung on the wall right outside thier door.

The restaurant has a sleek modern japanese style with a large bar type table in the middle. The place is quiet and relaxed. Me and TT went for thier Lunch Set $18

I had the Grilled Beef Set $12, whilst TT had the Salmon Set $18 + Sashimi (2nd main) $12 and both with seasoned rice $2 (each).

Sashimi (chef’s selection) $12

Grilled Beef Patty Set w/ Seasoned Rice $20

TT really liked the Sashimi and commented on its freshness. Both of us prefer the Grilled Beef Patty over the Salmon Curry.

The Beef Patty was tasty and went well with the garlic soy sauce. The Salmon Curry however was very mediocre, the curry lacked ‘pow’ and tasted quite flat. Portion was also rather small.

Curry Salmon Set w/ Seasoned Rice $20

The seasoned rice was yummy, moist and cooked with bits of mushroom and veg.

However, we found a strand of hair in with the rice.  We notified the staff and she apologized and removed the bowl promptly. She did return with a new bowl of rice but it was quite a long while later.

Overall, food is pretty good and it’s a nice hidden lunch spot in the city.


Rating:

★★         good, recommended

$$           $15-25 per main


Yu-U on Urbanspoon

Killiney Kopitiam, Carlton

October 10, 2011
Asian, ☹, Carlton, Dinner, Eating Out, Singaporean
3 Comments
114 Lygon Street Map 
Carlton, 3053
(03) 9650 9880
www.killiney-kopitiam.com
 

Newly opened along Lygon St, Killiney Kopitiam serves Singaporean style food. We decided to try it out for dinner.

It’s a somewhat self service restaurant, where you order and pay at the counter and you get a number for your table.

Menu’s pretty simple, we had the Fried Kway Teow $8.80, Hainanese Chicken Rice $8.50, Singapore Laksa $8.30, Lontong $8.30, and Soft Boiled Egg $2.20.

Well,

Hainanese Chicken Rice & Soft Boiled Eggs

Singapore Laksa

The Hainanese Chicken Rice portion was small, the chicken arrived lukewarm – cold-ish.Taste wise wasnt good either.

The Singapore Laksa, oddly the vermicelli was overcooked?! it was really soft and mushy.

The Lontong (rice cakes w/ boiled egg, vege, sambal chilli w/ spiced coconut gravy) was far from the more ‘fresh’ looking photo in the menu.The rice cake itself was alright, but the vege & everything else in the gravy was cooked to a mushy state. The dish was also tasted heavy on sugar and salt.

Lontong

Fried Kway Teow

The Fried Kway Teow, was just average but amongst all the dishes that night, it would be the ‘best’.

Overall, food quality is really lacking, a really disappointing dinner/ food experience.

Rating: 

☹                    many problems, bad experience

$                     under $15 per main

 

Killiney Kopitiam on Urbanspoon

Nutrients, Melbourne CBD

September 28, 2011
★★, Eating Out, Indian, Lunch, Melbourne, Melbourne CBD
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Shop T10b, The Foundry,
399 Bourke Street Map
Melbourne, 3000
(04) 0367 5084
www.nutrients.com.au
 
It was a little bit tricky to find as it’s in a small food court area located inside The Foundry.  Only opens for lunch on Weekdays, bain-marie style, this place emphasizes on a ‘No Junk Lifestyle’.
A variety of options, food here is freshly prepared, wholesome and healthy (Preservatives free, cooked with minimal oil and no deep frying). They also only use leans meats in their dishes.
Portions are good and prices are cheap ranging from $7 to $10 depending on how many dishes you choose.
We went there for a late lunch and most of the dishes were already sold out. We had the Chicken Curry, Poached Chicken Breast w/ Gravy, Brussel Sprouts, and Brown Rice.
The dishes were simple but they also tasted good, the food was still flavorsome. There is a tendency for Chicken breasts to be quite dry when cooked but the Poached Chicken here was succelent.
Overall, a filling and tasty healthy meal.

Rating:

★★         good, recommended

$              under $15 per main

Nutrients on Urbanspoon

Kambo, Forest Hill

September 25, 2011
Asian, ½, Chinese, Dinner, Eating Out, Forest Hill
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1 Mahoneys Road
Forest Hill, 3131
(03) 9894 7933

Guest post by faddy

So the 12 of us rocked up to Kambo without a booking and we were rudely told that we needed a reservation.  The place was empty as it was only 6pm but they somehow managed to fit us in.

Food was good.  Portions were decent sized, tasty and came out very quickly.  We ordered a cream based squid, deep fried chicken wings with pine nuts, mongolian beef, a steamed tofu, some pipis and they all went down pretty well.

Mongolian Beef, Squid with Cream Sauce

Deep fried chicken with pine nuts, Pipis

We were also given some ‘complimentary’ dessert.  When asked what desserts were being served, the lady sarcastically answered ‘dessert’.  The dessert turned out to be sago but I was really not impressed by the way the staff treated us that night .

 

Rating:

½                  mediocre, nothing special

$ to $$       $15-25 per main

Ma’s Dumpling Den, Carlton

September 8, 2011
Asian, ½, Carlton, Chinese, Eating Out, Lunch, Melbourne
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88 Grattan St CarltonMap
Carlton, 3053
(03) 9347 7702

This place recently just opened up along Grattan Street. M and I decided to try it out for lunch, the place is alright, service is okay. The waiter there seemed inexperienced and split ice over an unlucky patron.

Food wise, we had the Dumpling Noodle Soup and Special Fried Rice. Didn’t like the Dumpling Noodle Soup, dumpling’s skin were thick and tasted like those frozen dumplings from your local asian grocery. The noodles and soup also had a flour-y taste and was suprisingly oily. Special Fried Rice was just alright.

Overall, just passable . Not sure if I’ll be returning to give it another try, even if I do, would probably be just the dumplings.

 

Rating:

½            mediocre, nothing special

$              under $15 per main

Ma's dumpling den on Urbanspoon

Binh Minh, Richmond

September 5, 2011
Asian, ☹, Dinner, Eating Out, Melbourne, Richmond, Vietnamese
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40 Victoria St Map
Richmond, 3121
(03) 9421 3802

After seeing all the positive ratings and reviews for this place on Urbanspoon, decided to try this place out for dinner.

Went there with a booking, but place was full (with non-asian patrons) when we arrived. The waiter just took some random tables and seated us right in the middle of the room. Service was rude and unhelpful.

Food wise, we had the Spring Rolls, Duck Salad, Fried Beancurd and Snow Peas, Salt & Pepper Squid, Grilled Chicken with Lemongrass and Chilli Fish Fillets.

Spring Rolls, Fried Beancurd and Snow Peas

Salt & Pepper Squid, Grilled Chicken with Lemongrass

Duck Salad

Chilli Fish Fillets

Overall, honestly, terrible asian food, I think they cater more to non-asian customers. Everything was overly salty and/or overly sweet, and tasted MSG-laden.

Am surprised at all the positive ratings and reviews. As for me, will not be returning, definitely better places elsewhere. Also had a major case of thirst on the way home from all the sodium.

Overall:

☹                     many problems, bad experience  

$ to $$         $15-25 per main

Binh Minh on Urbanspoon

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