The Fry Bread House, Arizona by Ms Counting her Calories

The Fry Bread House was a place I very much wanted to try after hearing about it from Tucson Trevor. I've eaten fry bread before – in 2010 at the National Museum of American Indians in Washington DC and at a Native American powwow in Virginia – and loved it.

The fry bread is similar to the Malaysian roti in that the fry bread is crispy in parts and chewy in other parts, but the fry bread is more doughy than roti. And, like the Malaysian roti, it can be served with savoury dishes or as a dessert. It's absolutely delicious when made correctly, but can become soggy and oily if left in the wrong hands, as we found at a Mexican restaurant in Flagstaff, Arizona, that I have decided, to be fair, not to reveal.

Anyway, after a 2 year hiatus from the delectable fry bread, I was very keen to eat one (or two, preferably more) again. And, the Fry Bread House did not disappoint.

There are two Fry Bread House in Phoenix. One is north of downtown Phoenix; the other is in Mesa, south east of Phoenix. On our first visit, we went to the Fry Bread House in north Phoenix. Set off a busy road, this Fry Bread House was a small establishment where you order and pay at the counter, find a table and collect your dishes when your order is called out.

Initially, Iron Man ordered the Green Chile Stew with fry bread, Miss L ordered the chorizo burro (it appears to be an open burrito) and I ordered the Red Chile Stew. However, when we tried the dishes, Miss L found the chorizo burro too spicy, so we swapped dishes; I loved my Red Chile Stew, which was spicy, even if fairly oily, with chunks of beef in it, but sacrificed it to Iron Man, who gave his Green Chile Stew to Miss L.

The beef in the Red Chile Stew was lovely and tender – really well cooked.


The Green Chile Stew was less spicy with bits of carrots, potatoes and chicken, which didn’t show up too well in the photo.


The servings for the stew were a good size --- particularly if you were having fry bread with it (the stew- fry bread combination was a special). Everyone ended up enjoying their new dishes!

And, I ended up with the chorizo burro, which I also liked. As I mentioned, it was very spicy and the chorizo was diced up finely; almost like the skin from the chorizo had been discarded, the meat inside roughly cut up and fried.


The fry bread was very nice and how I expected it to be after my first taste on the east coast; it was a little oily, which was to be expected when something is deep fried, but not soggy. There were some crispy bits and some doughy bits. We loved it.


To finish off, we ordered the fry bread with cinnamon and sugar.


Again, not too oily and definitely not soggy. There was just the right amount of cinnamon and sugar, though me being a sweet tooth, would prefer more sugar.

Overall
I was very pleased with the Fry Bread House. If only we live in Phoenix; it would be a place I would return, though after some intensive exercise; it is not particularly healthy. Indeed, when returning to Phoenix the next week we went to the other Fry Bread House, in Mesa, which although didn’t have the ambience (looked like any other eating establishment in a shopping mall), similarly delivered on good cheap Native American food. On our second visit, Iron Man ordered the Red Menudo, which was a spicy stew with tripe and hominy (dried maize kernel and tasted like chickpeas when cooked) with fry bread, and Miss L had the hominy and beef stew. Both Iron Man and Miss L enjoyed their dishes.

Verdict
Food – 7.5
Service – 7
Ambience – 7
Value – 9

Address
4140 North 7th Avenue
Phoenix, Arizona


1916 W Baseline Rd
Mesa, Arizona

To bug or not to bug, that is the question, by Bureaucrat

As part of the MFWF, the Museum Victoria held a 'Bugs for Brunch'. The purpose was to educate people (mostly kids) about alternative food sources - namely bugs.


Beaker w bug

I was keen to go. However, upon a bit a research, it turns out that for an adult ticket, I would have had to fork over $20 to eat some bugs. For me, twenty simoleons is bit much to pay just to eat bugs.

Crossways Food for Life, Melbourne CBD by Snooze

Big Fil and I stepped out for lunch—the most important requirement for me was that the food be quick and good. Crossways Restaurant, a short walk from work, was chosen and it hit the spot for both speed and quality.

The arrangement at Crossways is a little different to other places: not only is the menu and price set but there is only one main and one dessert on offer, and a choice of cordial, lassi and water to drink. And the price: $5.50 for concession card holders and $7.50 for everybody else. It’s also relatively basic inside although light and bright, and with loads of places to sit on two levels.


Today’s offering, a ‘Malaysian’ tofu curry and rice with poppadoms didn’t appeal at first. The curry looked watery when I viewed it from afar and I was ready to turn my nose up at it. The reality was quite different. The tofu and vegetables were large and chunky, the sauce a decent gravy and the curry itself was flavourful and spicy but not hot. Exactly as I like it.


I thought the date and orange halava with custard was even better. The custard was warm and creamy (although very slightly runny) and the halava was exactly as a cake type dessert should be: nice texture and delicate taste.

As I understand it Crossway has an all you can eat arrangement – I think once you’ve finished you can go back for refills. However, between curry, dessert and lassi we were struggling to finish anyway.





Overall
It’s been years since I ventured to Crossways and I need to make sure it’s not such a long time next time. The food is cheap and tasty, and exactly what you’d expect from a good home cooked meal.

Verdict
Food - 7
Service - 7
Ambience - 6
Price - 10

Address
123 Swanston Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
Tel: (03) 9650 2939

Mr Tulk, Melbourne CBD by Bureaucrat

Ah, Mr Tulk. It's with a sense of fin de siècle that I write about Mr Tulk.  Prior to London, Mr Tulk was my favourite cafe - I'd go there quite often...any excuse would do for me to have a leisurely lunch there.  While I was dragooned in London, I used to pine for the food and every aspect of Mr Tulk. I loved its fresh and creative take on the standard cafe fare, the gorgeous waiters and waitresses (they all look like they're models), the lovely hum of chatter from the diners and the overall vibe of the place.

But since I've been back in Melb, I've stayed away from Mr Tulk. Mostly it was because I was worried if any aspect of Mr Tulk had changed while I was away.  I'm a stickler for tradition and slow-moving changes. I didn't want my perfect cafe to have changed in any way.  So a few weeks ago, Big Fil and I went to Mr Tulk for lunch. We sat down and my immediate sense was that Mr Tulk has lost it's magic. It's still a great cafe, but somehow the glow has waned for me.


Based on my recommendation, Big Fil got the chicken and silverbeet pie. This pie is also my favourite. Crisp and flaky pastry, filled with tender pieces of chicken and veg. It's served with the most delicious Madiera jus. Perfect for a wintertime lunch.


One of my favourite dishes was the corned beef and potato patty with poached eggs. The patty used to be a pretty sizeable serve. However, these days, the patty is now a reasonablish-sized croquette. A nice crisp crust with lean corned beef and finely diced potato that has a perfect firm-mushy texture. I love breaking up the poached eggs and mixing it with the English mustard and smearing it onto the corned beef.

I can highly recommend the salads there too. By memory there's a salad with hazlenuts, rocket, fetta and grated beetroot that's really nice if you want a healthier option. I'm not sure if it's still on the menu, but they also had an absolutely fabulous duck confit. The baguettes are simple but have strong, gutsy flavours - they're almost tapas-like in its approach. I'm told that the coffee is good there, but I haven't tried them as I'm not a coffee drinker.





Verdict
Food - 8.5
Ambience - 7.5
Service - 7
Price - 7

Overall
Service is on the slower side but it isn't outrageously slow. Mr Tulk is the place where you've got the full lunch hour to dine. It's not the sort of place where you can eat and leave within 30 minutes (unless you're getting the take away - eg, the very tasty baguettes and pizza slices).

Mr Tulk used to have a range of specials that would be based on the best produce they had at the time. However, at least based on my recent visit, they don't seemed to have the specials anymore.

For me, Mr Tulk has served me well over the years, but I think it's time for this bureaucrat to move on. Mr Tulk is located on the LaTrobe Street side of the State Library. And with the opening of Moat (see Big Fil's review) on the Lt Lonsdale St side of the library, my mind and tummy is designating Moat as my favourite cafe in the city.

Address
Mr Tulk
State Library
328 Swanston St
Melbourne 3000
Telephone: 8660 5700

My Sister Says, Port Melbourne by Big Fil

I hate getting into arguments about he says, she says. However, I says that My Sister Says is one of the cutest cafes I have come across in the whole of Melbourne.


There are three things that make it so cute. First of all it's very small inside, verging on too small. While it makes efficient use of the space it has there isn't much to begin with, so that unless you're happy to sit on the street side tables getting in early would be a very good idea. Secondly, with its cakes up the front, shelves at the back and warm colours it has a very warm and homely feel to it. Thirdly and perhaps the most important, it has the cutest serving staff. Almost puppy like in their anxiety to please, friendly and bouncy even on a Sunday morning, I can't say it’s the most efficient service I've ever had (although in that respect it was on a par with most cafes) but I would have forgiven them almost anything (well, other than maybe dropping my food into my lap and even then it's debatable) just because they seemed so happy and keen.


Food wise the menu is small but the proportion of interesting dishes is very high. My French toast came with raspberries and ricotta, which while I neglected to note down I think was infused with mint. Very soft toast and not overly 'eggy', the raspberries would have been overwhelmingly sweet if paired with cream but matched very well with the ricotta.


Having gone for the smashed avocado option at Kamel the week before, Snooze this time went for the unusual breakfast salad. With crispy pancetta, roasted tomato, rocket, asparagus and soft-boiled eggs drizzled with mayo and gomasio, it's a style of dish I can't remember seeing being served as a breakfast item before. I particularly liked the saltiness from the pancetta, and the softness of the yolk compared to the normal dry yellow ball you usually get in salads. I can't say it was my favourite breakfast I've ever had, but it was certainly an interesting one.


The selection of cakes behind the counter looked good but without anything grabbing our attention as a must try breakfast dessert we decided to indulge out sweet tooths (sweet teeth?) at Noisette down the road.

Overall
Located a bit back from Bay Street, I was a bit surprised that My Sister Says wasn't busier than it was. The small window at the front did a fair takeaway trade, but even given how small the cafe was unless your heart was set on sitting inside finding a table would not have been a problem the whole time we were there. The fact that the menu was so limited would probably stop me from wanting to return again and again, but our visit was so easy and relaxing it felt like I was back on summer holidays again.

Overall
Food - 8
Service - 8
Ambience - 8
Price - 7

Address
118 Bridge Street
Port Melbourne VIC 3207
Tel: (03) 9646 1117

Gingerboy, Melbourne CBD by Big Fil

Early March means three things to me, the end of summer, (my) birthday and the chance to try a few places outside our normal price range, compliments of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival's express lunch deals. The winner by acclaim for this year's Express Lunch choice, Gingerboy.



Unfortunately though, despite the high hopes and expectations we all had prior to our visit, our lunch was very disappointing. If the purpose of the express lunch is to give diners a tantalising taste of what the restaurant is about so as to entice them to return, Gingerboy failed to do so quite dramatically. The main issue, service that fell far below what I expect from such a high profile Melbourne restaurant.

That’s not to say there were no positives. The mix of black bamboo with fairy lights gave the restaurant a very modern funky feel which suited the style of food very well. And we all thought the food was good if not as good as Gingerboy's reputation had us anticipating.



With the express lunch you have a choice of 2 courses out of entrée, main or dessert, with two choices for each course. The entrée choices were prawn and garlic chive sui mai with a red vinegar dressing and grilled wagyu in la lot leaves with a coriander and mint relish. While I opted for a dessert I can say that both entrees looked good and I'm reliably informed by Ruby Grapefruit that both were good. The sui mai was tasty with beautifully tender prawns, and the coriander and mint relish was excellent and really lifted the wagyu dish.





Neither of the mains though really hit the mark with any of us. Feedback on the green curry with sea bream, garlic shoots and baby corn was that it was good but not outstanding, lacking a little punch in its flavours and little bream in the curry. My choice of the sweet and sour chicken, with chilli peanuts, cherry tomato and Thai basil had the same issue. The contrasting textures with the chicken, salad and peanuts were nice, and the flavours were well balanced. However, there was nothing about it which really made me sit up and notice, nothing to make me go wow.





Needless to say, I enjoyed my caramelized banana and tapioca with pandan ice cream dessert. A dessert right up my alley, I thought the banana could have been a little more caramelised but loved the contrast between the cool ice cream and the warm tapioca. And with pandan one of my three favourite dessert flavours, my favourite dish of the day.



But what spoiled what would have been a good if not outstanding lunch was the service. Firstly, even after five minutes I noticed that Snooze was looking very unhappy about something. With the tables quite close together every second or third time one of the staff passed by her chair to serve either someone further down our table or at the next they kicked the leg of her chair. Once or twice is annoying but not enough to make a good experience bad, but this continued for the full 1 1/4 hours we were there.

Secondly, when pouring the complimentary glass of wine Ms Kezza only received around 1/3 as much as everyone else with the waitress promising to return with another bottle to top her up. After 15 minutes it was clear she’d forgotten and we needed to remind her so that Kezza could drink her wine.

Finally, the thing which annoyed me most, bringing the bill to our table before asking if we wanted our complimentary coffees, or even before my dessert was served. I understand that with express lunches there are two sittings and we need to be out on time, but starting to rush us out at 12.55 when the next service isn't till 1.30, and delivering the bill in the middle of the meal rather than the beginning or the end with the coffee (preferable) made the whole experience feel like express lunch diners were unwelcome.

And to just to ensure we left on a poor note, the end of meal coffee was very poor with Ruby Grapefruit declaring it 'undrinkable'.

Overall
Over the past three years we've had a mix of average to very good experiences with express lunches, but Gingerboy's was the only one which has put me off returning to a restaurant.

Verdict
Food - 7.5
Ambience - 8
Service - 4
Price - 6

Address
27-29 Crossley Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
Tel: (03) 9662 4200

Kamel, Albert Park by Big Fil

For our first weekend breakfast after my being overseas for nearly four weeks Snooze and I headed off to Kamel, a popular café with a middle-eastern slant located on Victoria Ave, Albert Park.


One of the things that struck me when thinking about what to say about Kamel is that with the sheer number of excellent cafes around Melbourne it's possible to become a little blasé or jaded. For example, Albert Park is not one of the suburbs I generally hear people mention when talking about where the best cafes can be found in Melbourne. However, put Albert Park just about anywhere else in Australia and I could imagine it becoming a foodie hangout more than somewhere mainly for locals. With Kamel, Albert Park Deli, Laurent, Browns and the new Hausfrau all within 5 minutes walk of each other, plus Andrew's Hamburgers, Lord Cardigan and other places that looked good but that I didn't note the name of or have forgotten, the fact that it's not considered a prime spot just shows how spoiled we are.


After our visit I'd classify Kamel as a good café if not my favourite in the general area (that honour would go to Mart 130). However, it's an interesting and comfortable one with an early contender for staff quote of the year. Both Snooze and I had a chuckle after I heard one of the staff behind the counter say to our waitress "I got up at 6.45 this morning and by 6.55 I was over today". Fortunately this didn't impact on the service we received, which was friendly and polite.

With five different poached eggs dishes available Snooze decided on the poached eggs with smashed avocado on toast topped with macadamia dukkah. Smashed avocado dishes seem to be becoming a standard café offering these days and I thought Kamel's was a fairly standard café offering. My major issue with this dish is that I often find the avocado part of the dish a little bland in taste and texture. I wouldn't have described Kamel's version as bland, not exactly, but for my personal tastes I would I would have preferred something a little stronger flavoured sprinkled over the top than the macadamia dukkah.


My choice was the baked eggs in spicy tomato, Turkish sujuk and roast capsicum sauce, served with warm Turkish bread. In something of a rarity for baked eggs I found these were nicely cooked with the yolk still yellow liquid sunshine goodness (baked eggs often seem to come out in pots so hot that by the time it's cooled sufficiently to eat the eggs are overcooked). I enjoyed the sujuk as well but am not sure I'd describe the sauce as spicy, I thought it was a little runny and mild in flavour.


Overall
As a breakfast venue Kamel was a nice place to eat. The front room was warm, cosy and early in the morning not overcrowded, with lots of interesting things to view and contemplate while waiting for your meal. Service wasn't overly quick so not sure how they'd cope if busy but staff were friendly and their overheard conversations entertaining. There are also apparently two other rooms out the back which Snooze checked out and reported as nice. The major issue to me is that the menu looked very interesting and had me quite excited about our visit, but the way our dishes were executed seemed designed more for someone else's tastebuds than my own.

Overall
Food - 7.5
Service - 7
Ambience - 7.5
Price - 7

Address
19 Victoria Avenue
Albert Park VIC 3206
Tel: (03) 9696 1386

Alerto's Mexican Food, California by Ms Counting her Calories

On our way to Disneyland, we decided that it would be better to get decent food at decent prices outside than to pay inflated prices for fairly ordinary food. And, that was how we discovered Alerto’s Mexican Food. Alerto’s is sandwiched beside a burger place and a Chinese restaurant on a shopping strip on South Harbor Blvd, not too far from the Disneyland entrance. It's a very small eatery with only about 10 tables for dining in and service was very basic. You had to order at the counter then find a table and wait for your order to be ready. Then you had to go and collect your meal. Therefore, service is non-existent, but the lady who took our order was very nice.

On our first visit, Iron Man ordered the Adobada Burrito, which was filled with spicy pork and guacamole, and Ms L had the kid’s cheese quesadilla. Not feeling particularly hungry, I decided to sample what they ordered. After taking the first bite of Iron Man’s burrito, I regretted not ordering my own dish. The burrito came out piping hot and full of flavour, though not particularly spicy. Ms L’s cheese quesadilla was a basic quesadilla with cheese in the middle, but the standout was the rice and bean that accompanied it. The bean, which I believe may be the South American black bean (which is different from the Chinese salty black bean), was mushed up and didn’t look particularly appetizing, but it was very flavourful. Unfortunately, we didn’t come prepared and didn’t have the camera with us. So, no photos.

But, on our second visit, for brunch (we slept in as we were still jet lagged), we came armed with the camera. This time, I wasn’t going to deny myself and ordered the Adobada tacos. It didn’t look the prettiest, but OMG, it was very tasty indeed! Same filling as in Iron Man’s Adobada Burrito last night, but I had two small tortillas to wrap the Adobada filling in. It was messy work eating this, but well worth the effort.

Iron Man ordered the Chorizo Burrito. The chorizo was all diced up and mixed with fried eggs. We found it to be too salty and I couldn't taste the eggs. As I like chorizo, I was disappointed with this burrito.

However, Ms L’s Bean and Cheese Burrito was quite nice, mainly due to the beans.

We liked Alerto’s so much that we went back for dinner as well. Yes, we ate lunch and dinner there on the same day! That was how good Alerto’s was.

As Mexican food is not great for the waistline, I chose not to order any dinner there, instead sampling Iron Man’s Machaca Burrito and sharing Ms L’s Chorizo Torta. The Machaca Burrito was filled with shredded beef, eggs, capsicum, tomato and onion. Not spicy this time, but another very tasty and delicious burrito. Unfortunately, the photo of the Machaca Burrito didn’t turn out.


A torta is simply a Mexican sandwich, but instead of using plain white or wholemeal bread, it uses something like a focaccia, but not as doughy or as thin as a tortilla. As I’ve never had a torta before, it's hard to know whether Alerto’s torta is authentic or not. I did like it though. Ms L’s Chorizo Torta came with lettuce, guacamole and eggs. Unlike the Chorizo Burrito from this morning, I found this to be less salty, even though the eggs were so lost in the diced up chorizo that I couldn’t taste the egg. It was very filling though. In fact, Ms L could only eat one half of this torta and I had to help eat the other half; while my palate was very happy with that, my waistline sure wasn’t!

For dinner we tried the desserts – a mango flan and a churro. The mango flan was nice. The churro was OK but we had better (admittedly more expensive) churros at Disneyland.

On each visit, Alertos was pretty full, with a mixture of tourists and locals. Many of the customers could have been from Latin America or with Latin American background.

Overall
We love this place mainly because in Melbourne we're deprived of actually authentic Mexican food. The prices were also very reasonable; the most expensive burrito was the Adobada, which is US$4.95. If anyone is going to Disneyland, make a trip to Alertos first, eat all you can then spend the rest of the day walking around Disneyland to burn the calories off.

Verdict
Food – 8
Service – 6
Ambiance – 6
Price – 9

Address
1770 South Harbor Blvd, Suite 128
Anaheim CA 92802
Tel: 714 817 6932

Rue Bebelons, Melbourne CBD by Big Fil

I have to say that I lurve Rue Bebelons. Probably more bar than café, I haven't visited for after work drinks but it makes a great quick lunchtime pit stop. Very close to Melbourne Central, with its slightly wonky wooden tables and chequered table clothes it's more European than more typical Melbourne industrial in feel, a welcome break when feeling like going somewhere warm and cosy.



The food here is very simple, with the choice at lunch of four different kinds of baguettes and in winter a single soup. And that's it. It's basically the sort of food you could make at home, uncomplicated, filling and comforting. There's nothing special about it but it does show that whenever you use fresh ingredients and a modicum of care you're going to get a perfectly acceptable result.


The four different baguettes are salami, ham, pastrami and salad. As Snooze said, when you get beetroot in your pastrami baguette you know you're in Australia. Two size serves are offered, which I'd classify as large and huge, with the smaller $6.50 (I've never been hungry enough to order the huge). Generous with the pastrami and the salad fresh and slightly crunchy, Snooze likes the bread here although I find it a bit too chewy.


My choice on the day was the pumpkin soup. While I'm not a huge soup kind of guy I do like a good pumpkin soup, particularly when the weather is cold. I wouldn't have classified this as a good pumpkin soup, as a heavy hand with the coriander dominated the flavour of the soup. Still, I think I'd prefer it that way rather than weak and insipid.


But even if the food doesn't stand out the atmosphere, service and prices do. Somehow it manages to feel both cosy but not cramped, interestingly decorated but not busy. The staff get big ticks for being both friendly and efficient, in fact the blond guy who served us was excellent. There is a real knack to coming across as friendly and attentive when busy and he had it down pat. And when you can get a coffee, a decent baguette and change from a tenner, it has to count as one of the better value places around this part of town.

Overall
Just a great regular lunchtime haunt type place. I think they also do pizzas at night. Lots of fun and good value for money.

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

Address
267 Little Lonsdale Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
Tel: (03) 9663 1700

Railway Club Hotel, Port Melbourne by Bureaucrat

For Mr Strong's birthday, Beaker and I took the family to dinner at Railway Club Hotel in Port Melbourne. I nominated the RCH as the place for dinner based on its number one status as the best steakhouse on Urbanspoon.


The restauarant is separated from the rest of the pub, so you don't get the riff raff from the pub-goers and the noise associated with them.


Inside, RCH looks like a typical pub that you would find in a middle class suburb - clean, neat and slightly outdated furniture.


Pick a steak, any steak


For our starter, we ordered a main serve of salt and pepper calamari to share among five adults and one child. Very fresh and tender calamari - we definitely recommend you trying dish. It came served with a shaved fennel and rocket salad and thick cut chips w homemade mayo. Delish. We also got two serves of garlic bread, but that wasn't anything exceptional - a regular French stick smeared with margarine and some garlic.


For mains, Bubba Chuck got the kids' fish and chips. A fresh piece of white fish, which was lightly breaded and pan fried.


Mr Strong and Mother Hen ordered the 800g Cape Grim Rib Eye for two. This came with sauteed pancetta and peas, red wine jus...


...onion rings and roasted field mushrooms. This was great value and very tasty. I especially liked the onion rings. Despite help from the rest of us, we only managed to eat about 95% of this dish.


Beaker went for one of the specials - 250g eye fillet served with eggplant croquettes and caponata. Beaker liked her dish and I quite liked the croquettes - eggplant is such an underrated veg.


Mr P got the 250g scotch fillet w mushroom sauce, which came served with them thick cut chips.


While I went for the eye fillet w red wine sauce. Lovely, tender and flavoursome steak. It was almost perfectly cooked - I had asked for medium to well done, which most of it was, but it was a bit too pink in the middle for me.


We also ordered a large garden salad in an attempt to offset all the rich, protein consumption. The salad was an absolute outrage. A bowl of iceberg lettuce, a token slice of tomato and cucumber, with a drizzle of a commercial light and tangy salad dressing for $11. Frackin' hell - we weren't impressed with this dish!

Verdict
Food - 8.5 (I would have made it 9, but the ho hum garlic bread and that ridiculous salad brought the mark down)
Service - 7
Ambience - 7
Price - 8

Overall
I think we were all pretty happy with the food at RCH. I reckon RCH deserves its status as the number one steakhouse in Melbourne. Although there were a mix of diners, RCH seemed quite popular among the white-haired generation.

The only negatives were the outrageous $11 salad and the fact that they didn't turn on all the aircon until about 7pm. I'm all for saving energy and being green, but when it's a humid, 30+degree day, you turn all the aircon that you got.

Although our starters came out quickly, there was quite a lag (about 30 minutes) for the mains to be served. If we hadn't had the starters, we would have been very hungry and grumpy. However, from what we could see, the food came out at a reasonable time for the diners around us.

Address
Railway Club Hotel
107 Raglan St
Port Melbourne 3207
Telephone: 03 9645 1661