Pizza Capers, Malvern by Bureaucrat

After an afternoon of splashing around in the pool, we definitely needed some grub.


As it was too hot (and us being too lazy), we decided to get some takeaway pizza.  Instead of my usual go-to pizza place (Crust), we went to Pizza Capers, which Beaker had previously tried.


I hadn't heard of the Pizza Capers chain before so I was curious as to how it would taste like.  Certainly, they have a big range of toppings to choose from.


The one Beaker wanted to try the most was the Bourbon BBQ chicken pizza, which came with two hot wings on top.  I was a bit skeptical as to whether this would taste nice.  For me, BBQ sauce does not belong on a pizza.... I'm sure the Italians would back me up on this.  While Beaker and Mr P liked this the best, I thought it was over-sauced (BBQ and some sort of sour cream sauce) and greasy.  The grease stain on the bottom of the cardboard box was testament to its high calorie content.  The chicken wings were tiny and scrawny.  The only positive note was that there was indeed a reasonable Bourbon flavour to the pizza.


As with our family rule of ordering pizzas, we naturally got a seafood one.  This here is the (oddly named) Savanna, which comes w octopus, prawns, barramundi, scallops, mussels and calamari.  While it certainly has a long list of seafood to its name, in reality, it was kinda mingy.  There was an over-reliance on mussels (ie, the cheaper seafood), while there was minuscule amounts of the good stuff (scallops, prawns, calamari, octopus). Also, I don't recall the pizza having any barra on it.  I did like the fresh spring onions on top, though.


We also got the Algerian pizza which came w  chorizo, capsicum, olives, bocconcini and Roma tomatoes.  I liked this one the best as it tasted more like a typical 'the lot' pizza.  Having said that, I only liked it because I didn't really care for the other two pizzas.


We also got two entrees - a herb bread and a garlic bread.  Thankfully we didn't pay extra for these (we had a coupon), as they were quite dismal in quality.  You can tell they're like them frozen garlic breads you find at the supermarkets.  Chewy, plasticky bread texture with an artificialish flavour - give it a miss.

Overall

PC pitches itself to be a gourmet pizza chain, I didn't find it to be the case.  I definitely would say that Crust is far better in terms of quality (refer my post back in July 2012).

I'm sure of the many pizzas on offer at PC there will be some that are good.  However, given the three that we tried, I'd only really say one of them was 'good' but certianly not gourmet.

Verdict
Food – 6
Service – 6.5
Ambience – 6.5
Price – 6.5

Address
Pizza Capers
135 Wattle Tree Rd
Malvern 3144
Telephone: 9509 3111

My Cambodia, Springvale by Big Fil

Sometimes we just like to search out something new, something unfamiliar. Hence the visit by Snooze and I (Bureaucrat and the Lawyer being otherwise engaged) to My Cambodia, one of the myriad of places to dine in sunny Springvale.

The first thing I should do though is explain just how much I knew about Cambodian food before our visit....nothing, zip, zilch. I probably had some suspicions that it would have some similarities with its south-east Asian neighbours, but other than that I was preconception free.



My Cambodia is obviously popular though, with its mixed Cambodian, Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese menu attracting sufficient customers that we ended up sharing a table with two different sets – one who were there when we arrived and then another when we left. The TV in the corner playing unfamiliar soap operas (Khmer?) was a homely touch, and while the restaurant had that same look that every second Vietnamese restaurant in Footscray/Victoria Street/Springvale has adopted, the family run atmosphere gave it a touch of personality.

Asking our friendly waitress in identifying the more Cambodian side of the menu, we soon settled on the Phnom Penh noodles (dry, for ease of sharing), the traditional lemongrass soup and a serve of the special broken rice, even if it was more Vietnamese in style. The food was soon on its way and first dish up was the Phnom Penh noodles. Because we had asked for these dry the normal pork bones based soup was served on the side. The noodles themselves were almost like a noodle salad, served with pork sliced and minced, cubes of blood, other assorted goodies and a big hit of garlic. A nice, big flavoured noodle dish which we both enjoyed.





The lemongrass soup though, while I thought it was very good it was so unfamiliar to Snooze she struggled to decide whether she liked it or not. A fairly sour soup, with pieces of beef and a trifle of tripe, it was again big flavoured and quite sour. I thought it provided a great balance to the flavours of the rest of the food and drink, particularly the sweetness of our shakes.



The final dish took a little while but was probably the best thing we ordered. The pork was well marinated and despite looking potentially overdone perfectly cooked. Slightly crisp on the outside, still tender and juicy on the inside, absolutely spot on. The accompanying vegetables had been lightly pickled giving them a slight tang and while I don’t know exactly what it was, the additional fish flavours gave it an interested punch to the flavours. Snooze commented it was much better than similar dishes she'd tried in the city and I would've been happy to return just to have an entire plate for myself.



My sour sop shake was light and refreshing with just a touch of sweetness, and I gathered Snooze liked her coconut shake as well.



Overall
Fun and cheap, with some differences in flavours from the typically sweeter Thai and Vietnamese around town, I can’t comment on the authenticity but I can comment on the quality and our meal was very good, particularly at the prices paid.

Verdict
Food – 8
Service – 7
Ambience – 6.5
Price – 8

Address
28 Buckingham Ave
Springvale VIC 3171
Tel (03) 9540 3551

Leroy's, Newport by Bureaucrat

It was a serendipitous day where everything turned out right.  I had pointed my car westward and ventured into the western burbs... destination: Newport.  After a delightful morning of hunting and gathering, we wandered around the main bit around Newport station and picked Leroy's for lunch.

The first thing that struck me was the very friendly and happy staff there.

The second thing that struck us was the menu.  My god, Leroy's was a lucky find.  A very tempting menu on offer at very reasonable prices (about $5-$10 cheaper than its peers in more pricey suburbs).

The third thing that struck us was the food.  Very, very delicious and fresh!


The Lawyer has a weak spot for French toast.  This was French toast w berry compote, citrus infused ricotta and almond flakes.  A very appetising golden toast, light and fluffy.  It was sweet without being sickly.  A perfect amount of syrup ensured that the toast wasn't too dry or soggy.  Lovely aromatic toasted almonds.  It wasn't a surprise to me when the Lawyer licked the plate clean.


I got the Thai beef salad w Asian salad, toasted cashews, lime and sweet chilli dressing.  Delicious strips of tender rump steak, fresh salad ingredients and aromatic cashews.  Thankfully the dressing was made from scratch (I find the pre-made sweet chilli dressing in a bottle too overpowering and so cliched).  Everything was fresh and juicy.  Two thumbs up.


I also got a chai, which was nice but a smidge too sweet for me (I'm being picky here).

Overall
A great find!  The subtext that, for me, it was so unexpected for the western burbs.  I'd love to have Leroy's as my local.

Great service, great food, great prices.  Foodwise, everything was done so well.  All the little details were spot on.  Dang, maybe I should head out west more often!

Verdict
Food – 9
Service - 8.5
Ambience – 7
Price - 9

Address
Leroy's
5 Mason St
Newport 3015
Telephone: 9391 9009

Miss Mai, Adelaide by Bureaucrat

A few weeks ago, an unexpected turn of events at work saw me boarding a plane to Adelaide.  The last (and only) time that I was in Adelaide was when I was a wee little one.  The only memory I have of the place is that the water tasted funny and I got travel sick on the way there from Melbourne.

Anyhoo, after I discharged my work duties, I headed into the CBD for some lunch.  I was kinda curious of what the foodie scene would be like.  The little laneways is reminiscent of Melbourne, which made me happy (I'm one of those people that travel to other parts of the world expecting those cities to look and be the same as Melbourne).

After a quick wander, I joined the queue for lunch at Miss Mai.  MM is a tiny little shop that sells a limited range of Vietnamese food.  But as the owner/cook at my favourite takeaway place (Danny of Danny's Kopitiam) says, you do a few dishes, but you do them well.  MM had a near constant queue throughout the lunch hour (which moved very quickly).  What I couldn't get over the fact that everything was SO cheap! Fresh, healthy lunch under a tenner!


On offer were vermicelli salads, buns, rice paper rolls and pho.  After umming and ahhing, I went for the lemongrass chicken vermicelli salad. The salad base is pre-made, and you pick a range of meats and/or vegs, with optional fried onions and roasted peanuts. I was lucky enough to grab a seat at a table to eat my salad.


Upon lifting up the lid, there was a very generous amount of chicken, salad and noodles.  The chicken was panfried (but not greasy) and had a faint taste of lemongrass.  The salad (julienned carrots, cucumbers and shredded lettuce) was fresh and the noodles were plentiful.  The nuoc cham was spot on.  There was so much that I could only finish about 95% of it.

If I was so full, I would have ordered some rice paper rolls.  Also, had it been a cold day, I would have gone with the pho.  If I ever find myself in Adelaide again, I know what I'll be having for lunch!

Overall
Great, healthy and cheap lunch!  Happy staff who love their food and clientele.  Top marks.  Love this place.  I can't think of a place in Melbourne CBD that comes anywhere near this quality or price.  If MM was in Melbourne, it'd definitely be a regular place for me... Miss Mai, please come to Melbourne?

Verdict
Food – 8.5
Service - 8
Ambience – 7
Price - 10

Address
Miss Mai
73 Gawler Place
Adelaide 5000

Casa del Gelato, Carlton by Bureaucrat

A few weeks ago, it was Health Week at work.  There were various activities and events that were put on to encourage us office pod dwellers to be more healthy.

One of the activities was a team walk.  To incentivize us, there was $200 at stake for the team that participated in the walk.  While my team wasn't too interested in winning, we did like the idea of leaving the pod in search for gelato.

So off we trundled from the CBD towards Lygon Street, in search of Casa del Gelato. Upon arriving at CdG, we were impressed with the range of iced delights.  Inside, it was very clean and bright.  White walls with white tiles; and the ice cream behind the refridgerated counter.  It reminded me of a delicatessan.


There were so many flavours that it made it hard to choose what we want.  While it certainly look good, it didn't taste as nice.  I went peach, berry and lime gelato. The flavours tasted artificial and sickly sweet to me.  After eating about half the cup, I threw the rest away.

Overall

I found the gelato a bit 'meh'.  It can imagine it being popular, given that it's in Lygon St and it had a feeling of being a tourist trap sort of place.

Verdict
Food – 6
Service - 7
Ambience – 6.5
Price - 7

Address
Casa del Gelato
163 Lygon Street
Carlton 3053
Telephone: 9347 0220

Pho Chu Le, Springvale by Bureaucrat

Twice, in as many weeks, I find myself in Springvale.  Taking this opportunity to (a) eat in Springvale, and (b) try a new place for the blog, we picked Pho Chu Le.


Inside, it looks like a typical restaurant in Springvale - tiled floors, simple tables and chairs, mirrors to give a sense of space, photos of dishes up on the walls.  Having said that, PCL is a bit cleaner and smarter that its peers.  It was promising that it was pretty much full haus in there.


Going for our staple orders at any Viet restaurant, we got a serve of pork and prawn rice paper rolls to share.  This is pretty good - reasonable amount of prawns, tender poached pork.


For mains, grilled pork w vermicelli for moi.  Generous amount of pork, with a nice balance of fattiness and meat. Fresh salad ingredients.  This was a pretty reasonable effort.  However, the big tsk tsk was that it had a smidge of MSG.


The Lawyer got the pho with beef and tripe.  According to him, the beef was a wee tough but the tripe was tender and nice, and the broth had a deep, beefy flavour.  Extra propz for the generous amount of beanshoots and mint that came with the pho (so much that we took the mint to go so that I could add it my smoothie that I was planning to make back at home... hehehe... yes, I'm that cheap!)

Overall
I'd rate PCL as a bit above average for the typical Vietnamese place.  Quick service, generous serves and clean.  The only negative is the use of MSG.

PCL is a safe bet - I'd go back there again and try some other dishes if I was in the area.

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

Address
Pho Chu Le
Shop51/ 268-274 Springvale Rd 
Springvale 3171

Ito Japanese Noodle Cafe, Melbourne CBD by Big Fil

It’s a bit nicer than your typical Japanese cafe around the city – the sushi a little fresher, the decor and seating a bit more comfortable, the prices a little higher.  The service on the other hand, well it was friendly but it was certainly hard to get staff’s attention when we were ready to order.

Anyway, unless you walk in you'd be hard pressed to pick Ito was anything more than your typical student cheap eats place.  The building it’s located in is nice enough but looks fairly run down, from the outside anyway.  Inside though is a pleasant surprise, much more restaurant than cafe, with a series of booths for two person dining near the entrance and what looked like tables towards the back for larger groups (a hint there were only the two of us on the day).

Menu wise it’s pretty familiar territory at lunch time anyway, with your typical ramens, bentos, dons.  Surprise, surprise I decided to order one of the dons, the katsu don, crumbed deep fried pork with egg on rice.  On the plus side, the rice was nicely fluffy and because the egg was a little bit runny rather than omelette in style it helped to hide that the pork had been a bit over-cooked.  On the negative side, the pork was still overdone, resulting in a crumbed crust that was a bit harder and crunchier than I prefer it.  Consequently what should have been a good kastu don was just an ok one.

Snooze went for one of the Bentos, number 5 I think but don’t quote me on that.  Anyway it came with a handful of big juicy prawns we both liked and salmon and a white fish sashimi that was fresher than much that you’d find around town.  It also came with unagi (eel) which was milder in flavour than most that I’ve tired but still very nice, and crumbed fish we had very different reactions to.  Snooze didn’t like it whereas I thought it was like super premium fish fingers, those treats from when some of us where small made from unidentifiable pieces of what you hope are fish.  Snooze's issue was that she's not a real fan of crumbed fish in general but I found these nicely soft and tender in the middle and full of flavour, the crumbed and fried outer coating adding a nice texture to the fish.  All up both of us thought it was a pretty good bento.

To accompany our meal we (actually I) ordered one of the starters, the vegetable tempura.  Lightly battered then fried pieces of beans, potato and other vegetables, the batter was light, the vegetables still crispy and not a hint of excess oil either on the tempura itself or left on the plate afterwards.  The simplest part of the meal and probably the best executed.

Overall

 The only real issue I had was with the service.  The three serving staff I noticed were obviously trying very hard, but with one needed at the front to usher in new arrivals and the combination of larger tables at the back and the smaller tables at the front we seemed to be forgotten for a while.  And because the staff were concentrating on the back, where the majority of customers were sitting, it made it hard for us when trying to order.  Not enough to discourage us from going again and as much a consequence of the shape of the restaurant I suspect as any issue with the staff, although possibly easily corrected by the addition of one more server for the lunchtime rush.

Verdict

Food – 8

Service – 6.5

Ambience – 7.5

Price – 7

Address

122 Bourke Street

Melbourne VIC 3000

Tel: (03) 9663 2788

Olympic Doughnuts, Footscray by Big Fil

Olympic Doughnuts is a real throw back, back to when the world was a simpler and less cynical place. They come from a time way before the American culinary imperialism of Starbucks, Krispy Kreme or Donut King, back even before MacDonalds or Hungry Jacks hit Australian shores.  They come from a time when visitors to the special events such as the yearly agricultural shows would be greeted by vans piping the sounds of ‘Fresh American Doughnuts.  Get them while they’re hot”, when American style foods were considered an exotic once a year occasion.  That’s the era that Olympic Doughnuts comes from.

And that makes them way cool for two reasons.  If you’re over a certain age you might remember what a special treat these once were.  Far divorced from the neat, pristine iced donuts of today, these were the ugly ducklings of the donut world and only came in two versions – cinnamon or jam.  They were hot, they were sticky on your fingers, and back when even spaghetti or sweet and sour pork was treated with suspicion it was a reminder that there was a big wide world out there.  Alternatively, for those who don’t go back that far, these are the old skool real deal rather than some shallow reproduction that only fools phools who weren’t there at the time.

The Olympic donut van is located in a well tagged corner of the Footscray train station.  Apparently it was in some danger of being demolished as part of the Footscray train station redevelopment but fortunately sanity (and good taste) prevailed.  While very simple, just fried dough rolled in sugar and impregnated with jam by a fearsome dolphin, I thought these were very good old style donuts.  A bit denser and ‘breadier’ than their modern cousins without being overly heavy, these need to be eaten while still warm and fortunately the constant demand results in sufficient turnover that ours were still toasty warm.

The jam is added at the last moment to the donut which I think may help it to retain its fluffy texture.  It’s added to the donut via a dolphin headed dispenser that if it wasn’t such an integral part of the experience here I’d like to take it home.  It is kind of scary though, as it looks like it would be a pretty effective weapon in a fight given its only meant to be part of preparing jam donuts.

We’d already had breakfast before coming here so only shared the two.  The end result though, 20 sticky fingers, 2 mouths with slight jam smudges in the corners, and one enormous wave of nostalgia.

Overall

At how many places can you get a trip down memory lane for just 80 cents?  Old skool donuts, get ‘em while they’re hot. 

Verdict

Food – 8

Service – 8

Ambience – 7

Price – 8.5

Address

Irving Street, corner Footscray Train Station

Footscray VIC 3011

Pizza Cafe at the Grand Hotel, Mildura by Bureaucrat

Upon arriving in Mildura, we headed out to central bit of the town in search for dinner.

I find Mildura to be a combination of Mornington Peninsula and Canberra.  As Mildura is located next to the Murray River it has that chillaxed, communal vibe that's common with any city or suburb that's adjacent to water.  It's sunny skies, wide pavements and roundabouts is reminiscent of Canberra.


Having wandered up and down Langtree Ave, we settled on Pizza at the Grand - a family friendly restaurant which appeared to be popular with the locals.

For the four of us, we got two pizzas and a pasta.

When it comes to ordering pizzas, there's a set of  unspoken rules in my family.  The first rule, you must get the seafood pizza.  The second rule, is that if you can order a second pizza, then it must be 'the lot'.  The third rule is that, so long as rules 1 and 2 have been observed, then you can order anything else.


Ergo, we got the seafood pizza. I quite liked this - a good amount of cheese (I do love mozza), garlic and anchovies. No pizza is complete without anchovies.  Nice crisp, thin base.


And here is the 'the lot'.  Lots of ingredients (always a plus in my books) but nothing memorable.  It was good, run-of-the-mill sort of pizza.


Mother Hen picked the duck pasta.  While we were waiting for the food, she was speculating whether there would be much duck in the pasta.  So often, many restaurants skimp on the (more) expensive ingredients.  She was pleasantly surprised to find that this duck and mushroom pasta had plenty of duck pieces.  Tender, flavoursome duck, coated in a very unctuous and morish cream sauce.  It was so very good but so very bad.... I could just see the cream sauce attaching itself to my arteries.  I think the pasta was handmade and it had a pleasing chewy-ish/bouncy texture.

Overall
A nice place for a relaxing meal.  The place is huge and the service is friendly (they are all so polite and ready to help).

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

Address
Pizza Cafe at the Grand
18 Langtree Ave
Mildura VIC 3500
Telephone: 03 5022 2223

Dinh Son Quan, Footscray by Snooze

Armed with advice from the Footscray Food Blog about the best breakfast in Footscray, Big Fil and I braved 35 degree weather and made our way to Dinh Son Quan for brunch. (Thank you Ms Baklover for the fabulous suggestion, and incidentally for a great food blog.)

I think when you combine the look of the place, the heat of the day and the wafting scent of tropical fruit you can almost find yourself somewhere in south east Asia. It's an interesting looking place, simple cafe type tables and a mix of European landscapes popular in Australia in the 1970s and the Vietnamese/Asian equivalents above our head. While we were looking around and waiting for our food we indulged in a little idle conversation about what banh meant. We see it everywhere in Vietnamese food but neither of us had any idea. It wasn’t until I got home I discovered it could mean either cake as in banh cuon or banh chung, or maybe bread as in banh mi. It seems to mean quite a lot of things really because Big Fil looked into it and it means baked as well.

On to our first banh dish, the banh cuon. This is a complicated dish if you judge by the number of ingredients, because there are plenty. A rice noodle filled with ground pork, minced mushrooms and minced shallots is at the base. It’s then served together with Vietnamese pork sausage, sliced cucumber and bean sprouts, as well as a large bowl of dipping sauce.

This was seriously good. I love the freshness and crunch of Vietnamese food, that's why I keep coming back for me. This version delivered all of that. The rice noodle was a little thicker than perhaps Chinese type noodles and stickier, and everything else was pretty good.

Our next dish was banh xeo, a savoury fried pancake made from rice flour, water and turmeric powder, and stuffed with pork, shrimp, diced green onion and bean sprouts. Our version was eaten by stuffing the pancake and filling into large pieces of lettuce, adding mint and Vietnamese basil and eating it as best we could with our fingers. The banh xeo is also dipped into the same dipping sauce as the banh cuon.

This was my favourite of the two dishes. The pancake had that beautiful fried smell and perfect taste, it was light and crisp and, as usual, I enjoyed the freshness of the ingredients. Something I know I’ll order over and over again.

Given the heat we both ordered a cold drink. Big Fil beat me to the custard apple shake, he described as thick, creamy and sweet. I guess I’ll have to take his word for it! My next choice was the durian shake (but they were all out of durian) and I ended up with the fresh coconut juice. Always refreshing on a hot day, the only downside being some of the coconut meat wasn’t young and soft.

Overall

Dinh Son sits on the outside corner of the small Footscray market known as Little Saigon Market. It’s not the market most people think of when they visit Footscray since it’s towards the back and away from the train station. But it’s worth the trek for the food, and for the friendly service.

Verdict

Food – 8

Service - 8

Ambience – 7

Price - 8

Address

1-17 Nicholson Street

Footscray VIC 3011

Ph: 03 9689 3066