Located on Lt Lonsdale Street is Water Flame, a Taiwanese place that was spotted by Big Fil. Although WF is within a stone's throw of Hardware Lane, it seems a little bit lonelier. However, that doesn't mean that others haven't found the place.
WF has an unusual layout. There's two wings and in the middle is the payment/take away area. On our first visit, we were taken to the right wing and into the upstairs dining area. Inside is neat, slightly homely and proper.
There is quite an extensive menu. I kept on saying to Big Fil that I "had a good feeling about this place". Just something about the friendly, polite service and the homely vibe to the place.
To start off, we got some Taiwanese popcorn chicken. Nice pieces of chicken breast meat with a light batter.
We both went for soup noodles. Big Fil got the Taiwanese stewed beef noodle soup ($9.80). A very big bowl of piping hot egg noodles, braised beef and Asian veg, topped with spring onions. I thought there was a pretty good serve of beef. By memory, Big Fil liked his noodles and beef. I had some of the beef and it reminded me of Mother Hen's own braised beef (but not as good, though!).
I got the homemade pork ball, prawn ball and cuttlefish ball w dry seaweed and rice noodle soup ($9.80). This took a while longer to come out. But when it did, it was impressive. An equally big bowl of noodles (and there was lots of noodles), with two balls of pork, prawn and cuttlefish, and lots of seaweed. It was topped with fried onion bits and fresh spring onions.
What I liked best were the balls. Definitely homemade and not manufactured. Each had a nice 'bouncy' but light texture, and were pretty good size. I also liked the generous seaweed. A nice simple dish, but despite the presence of the seaweed, the soup base itself was kind bland.
Given that I liked the food on our first visit, the next time, I took Mr S there. This time, I went for the beef stir fry rice noodles. A generous serve of rice noodles, reasonable amounts of tender beef. While this was a simple and tasty dish, I would have much preferred it if it had the addition of egg being scrambled through it. As wtih my noodle soup, there was so much noodles that I couldn't finish it off.
Mr S got the chicken rib bento box, which he quite liked. The chicken ribs definitely looked very good, and smelled really good! Fresh salad and a nice mound of rice.
Verdict
Food - 7.5
Ambience - 7
Service - 7
Price - 8
Overall
Simple, homely and good. Good value, good quality. They don't use MSG, which is a definite plus in my books. WF is unassuming but it clearly has a following (going by the number of diners and people getting takeaway). I'm kinda surprised by some of the negative reviews on Urbanspoon - I have to say that I don't agree with them at all.
Definitely on my 'go to' places for a nice hot meal at a good price. It makes a good change from the many Korean/Japanese places around.
Address
Water Flame
336-368 Little Lonsdale St
Melbourne 3000
Telephone: 9642 2882
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