The Yorkshire Hotel, Abbotsford by Big Fil

I didn’t know the Yorkshire Hotel before searching for a pub for a Sunday afternoon lunch. Well I tell a slight lie, I’d seen it on Hoddle Street but it always looked a bit dodgy, I didn’t know its name and it’d never appeared to be a potential good place to dine. At least that was until Ms Kezza mentioned an awesome steak dinner that she had had there. Internet comment also looked very promising so a decision was made, the Yorkshire it was!


Despite its outward appearance as looking rundown and location in one the less salubrious parts of town, the Yorkshire sits towards the gastro end of the pub spectrum. The dining room is kind of nice with a few pictures around the walls, a step above the typical pub standard but without being anything too outstanding. Surprisingly quiet, considering its proximity to one of Melbourne’s major thoroughfares and in terms of the number of patrons, it’s all nice enough but in itself not enough to warrant a return visit.


What encourages further visits is the interesting menu and well prepared food. Choosing dishes took much longer than normal, with everyone finding several options which piqued their fancy. Entrée and main, main and dessert, this proved too difficult a decision for some with Foghorn Leghorn opting for a three course entrée sized meal.


While the steaks had been particularly recommended none of us went down that path. Instead from the entrees the fried lamb’s brains were a popular choice, alongside the crispy pork belly with Atlantic scallops, the garfish from the daily specials and the charcuterie, a selection of cured and cold meats served with a side basket of sliced bread.

The lamb’s brains were an adventure for some, with Ruby Grapefruit never having tried them before and quite surprised at the texture and taste. Served with a crispy fried coating, for me lamb brains themselves are a little tasteless and it is all about the contrasting texture of the dish. Slightly crunchy on the outside, firm but creamy meat in the middle, at first Ruby didn’t enjoy it but the more she ate the more she liked it. Positive comments on the apple and chorizo salsa as well.


Snooze went for the pork belly and scallops. With Snooze offering tastes around the table I can confirm the pork was good and tender, if the skin was not as crisp as I would have preferred. However, the pick of the dish appears to have been the scallops which I didn’t try, the one word description of which was ‘gorgeous’.


I was surprised that most of the table didn’t seem to know what garfish were, a subtly flavoured fish very commonly served back in Adelaide. However, Benny commented that his were cooked just right so that the bones were edible, although the skin could have been crisper.


As for Mr Leghorn’s charcuterie, all I tried was the yummy chicken liver but it looked very good as well as generous in size.


If all was good with the entrees, the mains were a bit more of a qualified success. The spiced lamb rack was the standout – I think everyone who didn’t order it (myself included) would have liked the chance to reorder when we saw it hit the table. The lamb was beautifully cooked, medium rare and tender and sweet. While the white bean cake served with it was good, even better was the smoked eggplant puree and the salad.


The seafood risotto was tasty and generous with the seafood. The unusual addition of green olives also boosted the flavours of the dish. One minor problem, the addition of a little too much oil which was noticeable in the bottom of the bowl.


Snooze went for the vegetarian option of the dosa pancake, filled with mushrooms and rice noodles and served with a green vegetable curry and char grilled tofu. Comment was that the pancake was very filling and the vegetables well cooked, but I think the giveaway that it was a good dish was the determined effort she put in to finish it.


Unfortunately and confounding Snooze’s theory that I always pick the best dish on the menu, Benny and I both went for the crispy veal shank rendang. Beautifully tender but not really crispy, I think the dish didn’t quite work. The two main issues were that it wasn’t what I would consider a rendang, a dish that I associate with a fairly ‘dry’ sauce. Secondly, veal is a very delicate meat and the flavours of a rendang might be better suited to a stronger flavoured meat. Still, the dish was saved somewhat by the very nice way it had been cooked.


With most of us opting for entrees the only dessert sampled was the black cardamom and coffee brulee, with Brittany biscuit and date chutney. I am a big fan of cardamom in Indian desserts and was a little disappointed that it wasn’t noticeable in the brulee. On the other hand, if it had been described simply as a coffee brulee I would have been very happy with it. Crispy on top and smooth underneath, and very well complemented by the date chutney. Served with a touch of ginger and possibly a hint of chilli, tender and flavoursome without being overly sweet. The Brittany biscuit got a bit of a mixed reception – I liked it but Benny was not such a fan.


Overall

My pub meals are usually at the cheaper end of the spectrum but I thought this was the best I had tried in Melbourne. The dishes were interesting and generally well thought out and the presentation was very good. No complaints about the competent service or the dining area, and the prices aren’t as cheap as some but that’s only to be expected for the quality available and the size of the serves. I think the fact that a number of us headed for the counter on the way out to grab a business card was the best indication that we would be more than happy to return. For me it’s definitely filled away for taking visitors interested in a bit more upmarket pub meal.

Verdict

Food – 8

Ambience – 7.5

Service – 8

Price – 7.5

Address

48 Hoddle Street

Abbotsford VIC 3067

Tel (03) 9417 3088

Roller Door, West Melbourne by Big Fil

There seems to be a bit of a herding instinct for good Melbourne cafes. There are some lone wolfs where you see one standing by itself, the only decent café in the area, but good cafes often gather into herds like in some great African migration. As a place where great cafes now go to feed and mate to the great savannahs of Brunswick and Fitzroy I think you’d now have to add the grasslands of West/North Melbourne, home of some of the best and cutest cafes in Melbourne. One of the most recent additions to this herd is Roller Door.

Roller Door is a small café tucked away in an obscure street near the North Melbourne train station. Unlike many Melbourne cafes where the industrial hipster vibe feels like a bit of a put on these guys felt like the real deal. Not too cool for school or for friendly service, they were enthusiastic and seemed keen to make everyone’s day. In fact, one or two of them reminded me a little of puppies, playful and bouncy if maybe a little ditsy so that I was willing to forgive almost being shorted $10 on my change. As well as the tiny counter area I also liked the courtyard out the back a lot. It’s a little small and could use a bit more greenery but with all the nearby tree lined streets the rainbow lorikeets managed to keep up a consistent chatter in the background and it felt very self contained and cosy.

There is a bit of a formula for good inner city café food in Melbourne. First of all, don’t get too ambitious for the size of your kitchen. If your kitchen is small, a few poached eggs and muesli type dishes will do. Secondly, there are a number of very good bakeries around Melbourne, use them for your bready products. Thirdly, fresh ingredients, fresh ingredients, fresh ingredients. And lastly, poach your eggs right. Roller Door appears to have learnt and followed these rules well. I found the food to be very competent versions of typical Melbourne café dishes. My poached eggs and smoked salmon came with nice fresh avocado and a pleasant slight sourness from the cabbage in the coleslaw.

Most importantly though, the eggs were perfectly poached. There be liquid gold in them there treasure chests!

Second breakfast was the rustic eggs, with the same free range poached eggs, garlic butter roasted mushrooms, capers, broccolini, torn basil and goats feta on sour dough. Again eggs perfectly poached, with creamy feta, strong earthy flavours and enough garlic that I didn’t need to be worried about vampires for the rest of the day.

Breakfast dessert options are a little limited but did include a dark chocolate and berry muffin. Served warmed it was packed full of berry and chocolaty goodness to finish of the meal.

 

Overall
Just a great little café. This is becoming a spot where everyone can find a favourite place, whether the nostalgic Grigons & Orr, the polished Auction Rooms, the cute as a button Beatrix or the chilled Roller Door. Amd that’s not even including my personal favourite Fandango!

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

Address
13 Stawell Street
West Melbourne VIC 3003
Tel: 0449 208 681

 

Fenix, Richmond by Bureaucrat

I was excited with the express lunch deals that were offered as part of the MFWF. Prix fixe menus are common in London, and I really liked them! They're usually good value - and sometimes you stumble across one that was really, really good value.


After perusing the menus (of the restaurants that actually had their menus online... as an aside, Aussie restaurants are pitifully behind the rest of the world. Would it kill them to have an up-to-date menu and info online or even offer an online booking system that actually works?!), I chose to take Mother Hen and Mr Strong to Fenix.


It wasn't until after I booked the lunch, that I realised that the chef at Fenix is one of them 'celebrity' chefs that's on MasterChef. To me, that's not really a big deal. However, after reading the reviews of Fenix, I was slightly worried - there were rather negative reviews of the service.


Anyhoo, on the appointed day, we rocked up to lunch at Fenix. There's free parking if you dine there. Fenix is situated over the Yarra river. It has a lovely, relaxed and smart-casual atmosphere. There's outdoor seating for those wanting a coffee and lingering over the weekend papers. While inside, it's light and airy and smartly appointed - funky without being try-hard.


For starters, I encouraged Mother Hen to get the watermelon, Persian fetta and mint (a flavour combo which she hadn't tried before) with crab cakes. This was the stand out dish of the day. Sweet melon (delightfully presented in cubes) melded well with the creamy fetta and fragrant mint. The crab cakes had a crispy thin shell with the tender crab inside - it was not at all oily. Perfect.


Mr Strong went for the slow-cooked beef ribs served with celeriac remoulade. A very generous serve of melt-in-your-mouth beef, which had a rich beefy (but not gamey) flavour.


For mains, Mother Hen went for the fish pie. A lovely crispy crust, and underneath lots of piping hot pink and white fish. The white sauce was creamy without being overladen with cream and butter.


Mr Strong went for the roast pork belly, with squash and pinenuts. For Mr Strong, it turned to be a rather meaty meal. Another generous serve of protein. The pork was tender and flavoursome. And yes, I know it's pork belly, but for me, it was a tad bit fatty for me. The crackling was mostly crispy but it was a wee bit chewy in places.


I went for the remaining option on the MFWF prix fixe menu - the gnocchi with tahini yoghurt, fresh peas and mint. I'm not usually a fan of gnocchi. I find it's too much like eating an over-stuffed cushion. This gnocchi were nicely pan-fried and well, were as light as it could have possibly been for a dense nugget of pure carbs. I felt the tahini yoghurt/pea/mint dressing was kinda bland for something that was kinda bland itself.... bland meets bland.


For dessert, I had to get the hot doughnuts with lemon curd and lemon syrup. So childishly simple and delightful! Why anyone wants to eat Krispy Kremes is beyond me. These hot doughnuts were light and fluffy (not at all oily), with the crunchiness from the sugar. The perfectly balanced lemon curd helped cut through the richness. I'd go back ther eagain just to eat this dish again (and also the watermelon, fetta and mint w crabcakes).

Verdict
Food – 8.5
Service – 9
Ambience – 9
Price – 8

Overall
I had no complaints about the service - our waitress was friendly and prompt. I liked her so much that I even gave a tip. All the dishes had a nice balance to it (except the gnocchi). It was rich and/or strong flavoured dishes, but didn't make you feel bloated afterwards (that's not to say that we didn't leave with rather full bellies!).

I love the vibe there - would love to see what it looks at night. I note that Fenix has an ongoing $35 express lunch. The menu is quite varied - I'd definitely be back another time to try more delicious dishes.

Address
Fenix
680 Victoria Street
Richmond 3121
Phone: 9427 8500

Pho 102 Saigon, Melbourne CBD by Big Fil

Here I sit on a Friday afternoon, feeling more than a little full after trying to give a newish Vietnamese café in Royal Arcade a proper try.

It’s pretty hard to find good Pho in town. I mean, there are a few places that are ok if you have a hankering but nowhere that would make me lick my lips in anticipation. I was hoping that Pho 102 Saigon would break the ice for good pho in the CBD. However, while I thought it was as good as anywhere in town, it was still a level below the better places in Richmond or Footscray.

Pho 102 Saigon is somewhere you probably wouldn’t come across unless you knew it was there. I'm almost always taking random walks around the city but I think it had opened at least 3 or 4 months before I found it. It’s small and tucked away in the small side arcade of Royal Arcade down the stairs leading towards Little Collins Street.

Getting there early is a good idea. We arrived just after 12 and had the place almost to ourselves. A few others wandered in slowly until around 12.30 and then suddenly the line was out the front door. Consequently it became a little uncomfortable trying to eat with the line snaking just past our elbows but given the shop is so small it’s one of those things that can’t really be helped.

Snooze and I both have our favourite versions for pho. Snooze likes the versions with beef balls or the peppery beef sausage, whereas I tend to go for either the rare beef or the ‘special’ beef versions. Fortunately we were both covered in what was a shorter range of options compared to most speciality pho cafes.

The pho came out pretty quickly and with what I thought was a strong whiff of herbs. Snooze herself commented on liking the fairly strong basil taste which grew as she was drinking her soup. My own take on the soup was that it was ok, flavoursome but not terribly subtle or complex. In terms of ingredients, I liked the way my beef was properly rare and pink. Given that the ingredients continue to cook in the hot soup my biggest gripe with pho is when the meat is already fully cooked when served, so by the time you start to eat it is over cooked and even a bit rubbery. However, the pieces of meat didn’t appear to be of the best quality and both of us thought they could have been more generous.

Ducking the usual prawn rice paper rolls we (or more correctly I) ordered the chicken rolls. These were a little mediocre, the chicken slightly dry and probably could have been improved by a few more herbs. On the other hand, the beef wrapped in betal leaves was tasty even if I’d have preferred a bit more beef and less of the accompanying vegetables and noodles in the serving bowl.

Something I'd heard of but never tried before was the Vietnamese iced coffee. Strong and sweet, I'm an irregular drinker at best of coffee and probably wouldn’t order it on every visit but I did like it.

Overall

If desperate for a good bowl of pho my first recommendation would be to head out to the suburbs. But if you’re a CBD office flunkey like Snooze and myself you could do worse than Pho 102 Saigon. Food is ok, prices are reasonable and unlike the indifferent attitude you sometimes get the staff here seemed to be trying hard to make the café a success (it wouldn’t surprise me to find out that the place is family run).

Verdict

Food – 7

Service – 7

Ambience – 6

Price – 7

Address

Shop 5 Hub Arcade

318-322 Little Collins Street

Tel: (03) 8683 5578

Cumulus Inc, Melbourne CBD by Big Fil

Its name might be light and airy but the centrepiece of our lunch at Cumulus Inc was something much heavier and earthier, a whole roast shoulder of lamb. Combined with great soft shelled crab and excellent octopus for starters, and a light and fresh cracked wheat and freekah salad for balance, the only disappointing dish for the day were the merely good roast potatoes.



When you enter the set up initially feels deceptively casual, with its industrial chic styling and chatty wait staff. However, it quickly became apparent that staff have struck a good balance, professional and friendly rather than overly casual. The style of the menu is slightly unusual, with dishes designed to be shared and varying between smaller and more tapas in style to our much larger roast. And with a general no-booking policy unless you are prepared to wait it pays to visit at slightly unusual hours.



Having done a bit of reading to find out what other people had enjoyed here, and with one of the cats having tried here a couple of times before, the grilled octopus and the crab seem to be the most popular of the smaller dishes. And while not having tried anything of the others I can’t make any comparisons but can confirm both were very good. The octopus was delicate in flavour and tender in texture. While some have indicated that they found it too spicy I didn’t find it that way at all.



The soft shell crab came with the sauce in a cute little yin-yang, and some lettuce cubs for wrapping the crab in. I love soft shell crab but two things can kill it for me, if it’s overly oily or if the batter is too strongly flavoured and overpowers the delicate flavour of the crab. Absolutely no problems with either of these things here at all. While I might have a slightly larger serve for the price some of the best soft shell crab I’ve had.



The main feature of the meal though was the slow roasted lamb shoulder. Served with tongs and an almost superfluous knife, the meat was tender enough that grasping it with the tongs you could just pull it away from the bone. I’m always a little apprehensive ordering lamb when dining with Asian friends, particularly those born in south-east Asia. Lamb is just about my favourite meat out there but there is something about the taste and smell which they often dislike. However, no problems here with the meat having none of the strong flavour and odour you sometimes get (which I am not sure if it comes from slightly older lambs or the way it has been cooked).




The lamb was beautifully complimented by the salad which was light and refreshing with great texture, something you don’t always associate with salads. Fresh and crunchy with a slight tang to cut through any fattiness from the meat, I am usually a vegetables man with my roast but this balanced the meat perfectly.



The only slight disappointment, the roast potatoes. Served with the skins still on, I was hoping for little crispy golden nuggets but these didn’t have the crunch I was looking for. They also lead to the only hiccup in service for the day, although it was a kind of important one. The timing of the octopus and crab was good, with the crab coming out minutes after we had finished with the octopus. However, while our idea was that the other three dishes would be eaten together and the salad and lamb came out simultaneously, the potato only arrived just as we were finishing the lamb and then only after a reminder and an apology from our server.



Overall
I can understand why Cumulus Inc is so popular, with four excellent dishes and the potato which only disappointed in comparison to the rest of the meal. With the one hiccup service was very good and even sitting in the middle of the room at no stage did it feel like we were crowded by any of the other tables. Even the prices, which admittedly are higher than at most of the places I’d regularly frequent, seemed fair value for money considering our meal as a whole. I don’t normally get excited by roasts at restaurants, preferring to order things which I can’t make a pretty good fist of at home, but this was the best I’ve had in a long time. And all the cats were pleasantly purring as we left.

Verdict
Food – 9
Service – 7.5
Ambience – 8
Price – 7.5

Address
45 Flinders Lane
Melbourne VIC 3000
Tel: (03) 9650 1445

Kaneda Japanese Restaurant, Melbourne CBD by Big Fil

Wednesday is normally yoga day for Bureaucrat and Snooze, but for reasons not fully explained to me this week was yoga free. So the unexpectedly available Snooze and I went wandering around fairly randomly looking for somewhere for a quick lunch and eventually settled on Kaneda Japanese Restaurant, a small and casual place in Mid City Arcade between Bourke and Little Bourke Streets.


For a small arcade restaurant I like the way Kaneda is set up. The large hanging lanterns give everything a bit of a red tint – which I don’t normally like – but I do like the way they manage to fit a comparatively large number of patrons in without it feeling overcrowded. The Japanese motifs decorating the walls felt comfortable rather than overdone and unlike most of the cheaper Chinese restaurants in that part of town it feels very clean and well run.



It’s also obviously very popular with the lunchtime crowd, with very few (if any) empty seats. Diners appeared to be mainly office workers indulging in generously sized bento boxes and noodle soups. Both Snooze and I went for a Bento, and I ordered a small serve of fried octopus balls (takoyaki) on the side.

All the bentos come with a serve of miso soup. Snooze found hers a little ordinary but I liked the way it didn’t seem as salty as most.


Snooze’s tempura bento came with two California rolls, a small spring roll, some fried chicken and rice. The tempura was nicely fried, the batter light and crisp. Excluding the prawn tempura, which she found a bit tasteless, the rest of the tempura was good with special praise for the sweet potato. The fried chicken was also good without being special, still crisp and moist but possibly a few mins out of the fryer.


My choice was the crumbed fish bento. As with the tempura the fish was nicely crumbed and fried but not as flavoursome as I might have hoped. The spring roll was good if a little small, and the fried chicken very similar to Snooze’s bento.


The reason I ordered the takoyaki was because they were up on the board as a special. Served topped with bento flakes, these were quite strongly flavoured and maybe not the best thought out combination with the more delicate tempura and crumbed fish.


Overall
A nice place to eat. While nothing made me go ‘wow’ it was nicely decorated, staff were efficient and polite, the food was good and generously proportioned and the price more than fair. The sort of place you could have as a regular favourite rather than a special occasion place, I strongly suspect I’ll be back to sample more of the menu.

Verdict
Food – 7
Ambience – 7.5
Service – 7
Price – 7

Address
Mid City Arcade, 200 Bourke Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
Tel: (03) 9663 8802