Miss Jackson, St Kilda by Big Fil

The first thing which struck me about Miss Jackson was just how crisp and minimalist it looked. I'd always thought of St Kilda as the home of good but grungy cafes but Miss Jackson is definitely not made from that mould. No 1960's or 70's retro feel here more an ode to modern Scandinavian style - uncluttered, everything in its place and no wasted elements.



That's fine in itself although not really my style. I like uncluttered but I found the combination of white walls and brown tables quite stark. That's not to say that Miss Jackson lacks colour, but that comes through the staff and food rather than through the décor.


The guy who served us was friendly, even having a laugh with us about having first pick about where we wanted to sit (we were our normal early selves). And unlike some well known cafes where we've searched for something a little different to try, many of the dishes here had small twists to them to make them a little less ordinary. Our choices - herb scrambled eggs with homemade corn bread, ricotta pancakes with grilled banana and honeycomb butter, and homemade crumpets with raspberry butter.


I think assuming it would be the quickest dish to prepare Snooze requested for the crumpets to come first, before the other dishes. I don't want to seem overly picky because they were fine, but we both found them a little dense and not as hot as they should have been. The raspberry butter wasn't something I'd seen before and an interesting touch although it didn't rock my world. While hardly regretting trying them given the number of things I wanted to sample on the menu I'd probably not order them again.


Being a little pushy I asked Snooze if she wouldn't mind ordering the eggs and cornbread. A little selfish maybe but I knew I'd like the pancakes and also wanted to try the cornbread. The eggs were delish, light and fluffy and speckled with little flecks of parsley. The cornbread had little kernels of corn in it, which I hadn't seen before and making it a little more like a fritter than I was expecting. Still good though.


To me though the pancakes were the dish of the day. The pancakes were light and fluffy, looking almost like omelettes when they hit the table. Combine that with honeycomb butter (a taste combination that was always going to work well with pancakes) and some of the best lightly caramelised banana I've ever had and you have a sweet breakfast winner.


Overall
An interesting little café which although it isn't quite me, I still want to return to because of the menu and its little twists on more common café food. The food is very well presented and thought out and while its not somewhere I'd want to sit for hours it is still a nice place to eat. The only downside (and I didn't notice this especially) was the noise level when Miss Jackson filled up and how Snooze felt as though she was sitting at our neighbour's table based on how close we were sitting.

Verdict
Food - 8
Ambience - 7
Service - 7
Price - 7

Address
Shop 2, Grey Street
St Kilda Victoria
Tel: (03) 9534 8415

Maney's Dumplings, Bundoora by Big Fil

Given it's situated between two universities and its expanding overseas student population Bundoora has always been surprising light on for good, cheap eateries. While nothing particularly special Maney's Dumpling is a welcome addition, a little slice of Chinatown out in the sticks.


From the outside Maney's looks like a generic suburban Chinese restaurant, but on the inside it's a bit nicer than this. It's well lit from its large windows, with mainly neutral colours but a few wall decorations and red lanterns to add a dash of colour. While hardly full even at 2.30 on a Saturday afternoon there was a small but steady stream of customers, with three or four tables always in use.


A number of different types of dumplings are available and our choices were the fried beef and Peking pork dumplings. The better of these were the Peking pork dumplings, well cooked with tasty, well balanced fillings. Good dumplings and good value at $8.50 for 15. The beef dumplings were also flavoursome and looked good but were too oily, with a disconcertingly large puddle left after the dumplings were finished.



For mains style dishes we went for the chicken ribs with spicy salt and pork chop with spicy salt. I thought the better of these were the chicken ribs, which were meaty and moist. I thought the pork was slightly dry, not horribly so but just enough as to be noticeable. However on the whole I thought both of these dishes were fairly average. Not good, not bad, fairly typical of what I'd expect when eating at a randomly selected cheap CBD Chinese restaurant.



Better were the fried rice cakes. I found out afterwards that we had specially asked that they be less oily and they were, with a pleasant texture and well balanced amount of vegetables. A dish I generally like and a well made version.


Overall
If located in Chinatown Maney's would be just another Dumpling house, somewhere to visit once and probably walk out thinking it was ok but you wouldn't hurry back. However, by being located in Bundoora it stands out, offering an acceptable option if you want a decent dumpling or noodle meal without travelling to Box Hill or the City. Service wise its obviously a family run restaurant, not as efficient as it could be but friendly and quick enough, and the prices are reasonable. A welcome addition to the area.

Verdict
Food - 6.5
Ambience - 6.5
Service - 6.5
Price - 7

Address
Shop 7, 16 Macleans Road
Bundoora VIC 3083
Tel: (03) 9470 8883 Liked it and cheap eats

Sichuan Restaurant, Box Hill by Big Fil

It was a dark, cold and wet night, perfect for some fiery Sichuan food. Not that that had been the original plan, but the new Malaysian Restaurant on Whitehorse Road we had intended to try wasn't open for dinner and we were all too hungry to travel far.


The windows at night were fogged up with the steam from the popular hotpots but we were after something a little different. The front room tables all came imbedded with cooking pots so we were led into the yellow room at the back. While a bit hidden away this was actually quite a nice room, restrained in the decorations, the tables well spaced and not too noisy.


Ms Counting her Calories and Ironman weren't very familiar with Sichuan cuisine so the pressure was on me to come up with pleasing suggestions. Ruby and Hungry Pete had previously mentioned that spicy tongue and heart were classic Sichuan, and I was keen to try two of my favourite dishes, the spicy fried eggplant and spicy cumin pork ribs. Ms L isn't keen on spicy food so for her it was a bowl of tomato soup with fried egg.

Our first dish was the heart and tongue. This looked good with fire engine red sauce, thin slivers of (cold) meat and a few sprigs of green on top. Taste wise I was a little indifferent, I am usually a big fan of tongue but prefer it hot and not so thinly sliced that the meaty flavour was a lost a little in the spicy sauce. Unusual and interesting but I probably wouldn't order it again.


Better was the fried eggplant. With a sweet chilli like sauce I like this dish, and at its best (to me anyway) it is almost like eggplant wedges rather than the soggy mess you often get with eggplant. These weren't quite that crispy with the strips towards the bottom a bit too soft. However they were popular with the whole table, including Ms L.


The dish I was most looking forward to was the spicy cumin pork ribs. I just adore this dish at Sichuan House, its one of my favourite things that I've had in Melbourne. I didn't believe that Sichuan Restaurant's version was a good, tender and flavoursome but with a lighter hand with the Sichuan pepper and the meat a little dry. Still, probably my favourite dish of the night.


The dish that surprised us, both in its size and taste, was Ms L's soup. Ordering the small bowl we were all taken aback when it reached the table. I suspect the small reference meant that it was suitable for a small table (4-6) rather than a single person. The soup was fairly light, very tomatoey and much better than we expected.

Photo 313

Overall
Pleasant atmosphere, lively without being rowdy, enjoyable food delivered quickly and reasonable prices for the serving sizes. Nothing to complain about but nothing to necessarily drag me all the way out to Box Hill when there are other, for me more convenient restaurants that I like as much. The only caveat is that Sichuan food is not like your normal Chinese suburban restaurant. No beef with black bean or sweet and sour pork, just spicy, somewhat oily food that warms you up and sticks to the ribs.

Verdict
Food - 7
Ambience - 7
Service - 7
Price - 7

Address
65 Carrington Road
Box Hill VIC 3128
Tel: (03) 9890 9898

The Little Ox, Brighton by Big Fil

The Little Ox is the real deal, offering well thought out and delicious breakfasts to those willing to travel to the backstreets of suburban Elwood.


With white walls, fresh flowers on every table and comfy seats to sit on, it's quite a pretty café given its bovine connections. Despite reading of complaints about the staff even at far too early o'clock on a Sunday morning our waitress was noticeably sleepy but friendly and attentive, the interior a warm contrast to the wet and rainy Melbourne weather.


With a number of interesting options my choice was the corned beef, with potato roesti, sautéed spinach, and poached egg with hollandaise sauce. I was curious as to how well the combination of these flavours would work. Corned beef with potato is straightforward but combined with spinach, a poached egg, hollandaise sauce? Suffice it to say that they worked much better than I'd expected, the beef thinly sliced and not overly salty, the egg perfectly poached and the sauce not overly heavy in a well balanced dish.


And since I always talk so much about the perfectly poached egg, and this one looked so beautiful, I had to get a shot of it.


Snooze went for something I'd also been considering: grilled polenta with pork and pistachio sausage, poached egg and pear relish. Given Snooze prefers a lighter breakfast than me I was concerned that the polenta and sausage could be overly heavy. Not so, with deliciously meaty sausage, fluffy polenta grilled on all sides, and the firm pear relish adding lightness to the dish. And again, a perfectly poached egg to top it off.


The breakfast dessert options are limited but all looked good, with the walnut, chocolate and mascarpone muffin catching my eye. It was a little more crumbly than I prefer, but served straight from the oven hot with warmed butter on the side and delicious.


Overall
Obviously dear to the hearts of locals given how many braved the elements on a particularly bad day, the tables are limited and the queue was hitting the door before 9am. This could have been partly because the outside tables weren't really useable, but I'd definitely suggest getting here early if travelling especially down to Elwood for a visit.

The menu contains a few interesting options, well thought out and very tasty, which are combined with great presentation. Match this up with the type of flavours which particularly appeal to me and the result isn't necessarily the most impressive breakfast I've had recently but certainly the one I've enjoyed the most.

Verdict
Food - 9
Ambience - 7.5
Service - 8
Price - 7

Address
452 New Street
Brighton VIC 3186
Tel: (03) 9596 6577

The Gun, England by Bureaucrat

Bang! Bang! After several recommendations by a few people that I had to try The Gun, we finally tried it.


Going to The Gun wasn't high on my priority list, as colleagues had told me that it was a gastropub. These were the same colleagues that told me that The Old Brewery in Greenwich was a gastropud, and I was not impressed with the food there.

However, when Ms C, who's a chef, told me that the food there was delicious, I decided to move The Gun up my list.


Located off the main road and relatively away from the main part of Canary Wharf, The Gun is an upmarket pub that caters to business lunches and a swankier place to get a drink. on the day we went, we were pretty much the youngest people there - most of the other diners and drinkers were in the 40+ age group.


Inside, it's smartly decorated with dark wood, crisp white tablecloths and liveried staff. In keeping with the history of the area, there were naval trinkets and knick knacks.


We decided to skip the starters, and went straight to the mains. The Lawyer got the 12-hour slow cooked lamb with greens and dauphinoise potatoes. The lamb was shaped into a round, and the meat was incredibly tender and flavoursome. We especially liked the very crispy top, which had been pan fried. It was like eating a peking duck - crispy skin and the melt-in-your-mouth meat.


The dauphinoise pototoes was too decadent for us. We had a little bit, and as nice as it was (the cream, butter and pototoes, which were cooked in stock), we couldn't finish it. I loved how it came in a small cast-iron gratin dish.


I ordered the duck breast w duck pie and kidney sauce. Like the lamb, the duck breast was incredibly tender and flavoursome. A nice thin layer of fatty skin, which helped keep the breast moist. It was quite a large breast. Visually, the duck pie was quite fun. It had squidgy peaks of mashed potatoes which had a appetising burnished gold colour. Underneath it was shredded duck meat with finely diced veg.

Overall
A proper gastropub, with a French-influenced cooking style. You couldn't fault the quality, and it was a very rich and sublime meal. There was a varied menu, including several specials of the day. On the day we went, there were gulls' eggs (which are apparently only available for about two weeks in the year) served with white asparagus. Definitely a place to go if you want to eat something that's not the usual fish and chips, pie and mash, etc.

Address
The Gun
15 Coldharbour
Docklands E14 9
Telephone: (020) 7515 5222

Bianco 43, England by Bureaucrat

For those of us living in the south-east London, we were all rather excited when a new pizzeria opened in Greenwich.


A few weeks after it was opened, a group of us went to try Bianco 43 for dinner.


True to its name, the interior was decorated in high gloss white and wooden furniture - sleek but it had a nice comfortable feel to it. On the ground floor, you could see the wood fire brick oven and the pizzas being made. Set over two floors, we decided to sit upstairs.


Ms G went for the Gnocchi Alla Sorrentina, which was gnocchi oven baked with tomato, mozzerella, parmigiano and fresh basil. Ms G loved the dish and said it was very filling.


Ms X went for the capricciosa, which had artichokes, cooked ham, sausage, olives and mozzerella. It looked really yummy, and was a very big size.


Ms Y got the lasagne, which she liked. I thought it was quite an impressive height for a lasagne.


I got the Bianca Crudo, a calzone filled with lots of gooey mozzerella and cotto ham. I thought this was a pizza, but it came served as a calzone. It may sound like a simple dish, but, boy, was it tasty! I especially loved the fresh, doughy pizza dough, that had a nice charred flavour from the pizza oven. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't finish the calzone - there was just too much of it! Rather reluctantly I had to admit defeat.

Although we were quite full, Ms G, Ms Y and I ordered the canolli for dessert. I'm quite fond of canolli, while Ms G and Ms Y were keen to try it for the first time.


I was expecting small canolli shells, but this came as a big canolli shell, filled with vanilla ricotta cheese, and drizzled with chocolate sauce. Although taste-wise it was spot-on, the size of the canolli made it a bit difficult to eat given the size of it.

Overall
A great place for great Italian food at a reasonable price. All the dishes were quite big serving size. I loved how the plates all had these beautiful and colourful designs. The service was also pretty good - you definitely get sense of eating an Italian's family home but in a cafe setting.

Address
Bianco 43
43 Greenwich Church Street
SE10 9BL
Telephone: 020 885 826 68

The Booth, Box Hill by Big Fil

I was left a bit in two minds by our visit to The Booth, a Taiwanese Noodle, Rice and Dumpling Café in Box Hill. The food and prices are good but I didn't really enjoy eating there, mainly because one of the staff came across as quite unfriendly and the overall feel to the place.


Dropping in on a Sunday Night I was surprised at just how busy this café was. Outfitting is very basic with plain tables, floors, (most of the) walls and fairly harsh lighting. With tables turning over quickly it isn't really a place to linger, much more a walk in, order, eat and leave style place.


The menu is fairly extensive with a long list of hawker style choices. While we barely touched the surface of available choices what we did sample was at worst acceptable and at best very good. Best of all (to me anyway) were the beef wrap and the pan fried pork dumplings.

Generous with the tasty and tender beef in a roll fried just right, I'd definitely re-order the beef wrap on a return visit. Regarding the wrap itself, I was surprised at how much it reminded me of some Malaysian style cooking. In fact, I think one of the dishes was described on the menu as Taiwanese naan.


The pan fried dumplings were equally as good, well fried giving the wanted nice contrasting texture between the softer tops and more solid bottoms and none of the unwanted extra oil you often get. The filling was very good, well balanced between the pork and cabbage. While unfortunately a bit stuck together these were some of the best pan-fried dumplings I've had in Melbourne.


The name three cup chicken with rice refers to the wine in which the chicken is cooked. With the tender chicken just falling away from the bone and the richly flavoured soup it was both novel and tasty.


Slight let downs though were the pan fried lamb scroll and the stir fried pork noodles. As pointed out by Ms Counting her Calories the lamb scrolls were very reminiscent of murtabak, a filled roti dish from Malaysia. While nothing particularly wrong with it, I just found the taste and texture not as interesting when compared to the beef wrap. Same with the stir fried pork noodles. A perfectly acceptable workmanlike version of the dish, there was just not that much to distinguish it from that available in dozens of cafes around town.



Overall
My major issues with The Booth were the setup, which felt almost more like a canteen than a café, and the brusque, almost dismissive vibe given out by one of the staff members. I know the café was busy, and that places like this exist based on a fast turnover of customers, but once or twice it felt like it was crossing the line between efficiency and rudeness. On the other hand service was quick, we were all happy with the food and the prices were reasonable. On balance I did like The Booth but more for a quick bite than somewhere to relax or catch up with friends

Verdict
Food - 7.5
Ambience - 5.5
Service - 6
Price - 8

Address
612 Station Street
Box Hill VIC 3128
Tel: (03) 9899 7666