Chez Dre, South Melbourne by Big Fil

Chez Dre is a bit of a legend amongst the Melbourne cafe scene.  It’s located in one of the most competitive parts of Melbourne for great cafes – just near the South Melbourne market – but even so its reputation is as the premier place to go in the area for great breakfasts and breakfast desserts (otherwise known as cakes).  So what did Snooze and I think of our visit here?  Chez Dre is one place where reputation clearly reflects reality.

The main entrance is up an old laneway – very Melbourne Chic – and from the view when stepping through the door it isn’t possible to really appreciate what a great job they've done with the set up.  Behind the screen is the ‘boudoir’ section, for those looking for well filled padded seats.  Further on is the old Melbourne staple--larger communal table--and out the back is a court yard area that proved very dog-friendly.  The kitchen opens up into the dining area and the whole place is remarkably well spaced for such a popular eatery.

The menu is a little out of the ordinary without necessary being on the leading culinary edge.  For me anyway, it was more about doing things well while adding a few not too challenging twists.  Being the gentleman I am I allowed Snooze to choose her dish first and of course she naturally headed for what would have been my first choice.  It’s a curse sometimes being so nice and polite.

Anyway, Snooze’s Moroccan baked eggs came with lamb sausage, tabouleh, tahini yoghurt and grilled bread.  Not taking any notes but just over one week later two things stood out about this dish to me.  First of all the flavour packed lamb sausage.  The only breakfast sausage you normally get with this much flavour is chorizo, which brings a fair chilli hit with them.  These though were just packed with my favourite meaty flavour (lamb) which really lifted the dish.  The other highlight, perfectly runny eggs.  One of the killers for baked eggs is the eggs are overdone due to continued cooking in the hot pot.  These though still had the perfect liquid yolk which is released when you pierce the soft outer white shell.

And if Snooze can steal my normal choice I can always go for a more typically her vegetarian option, in this case a slow baked mushroom with roasted buckwheat, lentils, walnuts, grapes, goat's cheese and poached eggs.  While the strong earthy flavour of the mushroom and lentils was good, what truly stood out was the crunch of the toasted lentils.

Unable to leave without our breakfast desserts, I may have got a bit too greedy here.  There is a saying you can’t have too much of a good thing, but the cakes are very rich, or at least the ones I chose were.  Looking picture perfect behind the glass counter I just had to order two, a shiny coated chocolate tart and the caramel mound.  The chocolate tart was decadently rich, like late Roman Empire dining with the emperor decadent.  The caramel mound wasn't quite as rich, but contained several different layers of caramel goodness.  I think Snooze found the chocolate tart overly rich, given she'd just eaten a generous breakfast, but almost forced herself to finish her share of the caramel mound it was that good.  I think next time though, a single cake would suffice between us.

Overall

High quality food and very well set out cafe but the service was occasionally a little scratchy, for example the cutlery being brought to our table before we ordered rather than for our neighbours.  Only a minor thing and we didn’t really care, but an indication that they may not be as organised as they are aiming for.  And pricewise, well Chez Dre isn’t cheap and I wouldn’t go there expecting a bargain.  However, we certainly didn’t feel we overpaid and it’s more a case of paying a bit more to get a bit more.

Verdict

Food – 9

Ambience – 8.5

Service – 7.5

Price – 6.5

Address

Rear 285-287 Coventry Street

South Melbourne VIC 3205

Tel: (03) 9690 2688

By Josephine, Brunswick by Snooze

After breakfast at Hungry Birds, Big Fil had his usual eage eye on breakfast dessert and his choice for the morning was By Josephine. It might be at the scruffier end of Sydney but it's typically Melbourne; you need to scratch under the surface.



By Josephine is decidedly elegant inside. The purple paint on the walls is decidedly "look at me" but at the same time it's elegant and offset by the pristine white woodwork on the opposing wall and the white trim and chairs. I like it.



The texture and flavours of the macarons are good: none of that almond meal like texture left on the tongue and with good solid flavours. Our choices for the day: salted butter caramel, foie gras, black sesame and jasmine blossom.



I'm crazy for salted caramel and By Josephine's was better than most although I'd need to try another one to see whether I think it's better than Cacao. The caramel was rich with the gooey centre I like, not to mention that delectable stab of salt to offset the sugar.

Black sesame is not a favourite with me ... Big Fil's the team member with a decided taste for Asian inspired flavours and I defer to his view that this macaron was (very simply) delicious.

The surprise for both of us was the jasmine blossom. I often find macarons like jasmine blossom and rose to be washed out but this wasn't the case at By Josephine. Here eating the jasmine blossom was as much about inhaling the fragrance as it was about eating it.

I've left the most interesting for last: the foie gras. This wasn't a favourite with Big Fil and it took me by surprise. I ate my half slowly and was taken with how the foie gras' savoury taste balanced, and almost overwhelmed, the sweetness of the macaron. Big Fil's view was the texture was creamy and interesting, but he wasn't convinced by the flavours. With such diversity, I may have to try another to see if my first impressions continue.

Overall

Just in case you're not that interested in macarons, By Josephine also stocks pastries and friands, ice cream and savoury rolls. And if you find you do love her macarons and don't get to Brunswick very often, you'll find stockists across Melbourne and country Victoria listed on the By Josephine website. Definitely delectable.

Verdict
Food - 8
Ambience - 8.5
Service - 8.5
Price - 7.5

Address
365 Sydney Road
Brunswick Vic 3056
Tel: 0420 276 361

Father's Office Speakeasy Bar and Restaurant, Melbourne CBD by Bureaucrat

For a work lunch, we headed to Father's Office Speakeasy Bar and Restaurant.  I came across this place after a bit of googling.  I liked the look of the menu, and because I'm the foodie at work, I placed a booking.


Despite being located near work, I didn't realised just how close it was.  FOSB&R is located upstairs on the Lt Lonsdale St side of QV, sandwiched between Strike Bowling and a San Churro shop.


Following the flight of stairs up, the place opens up into a spacious area - there's a bar area, a dining area and a nice, breezy balcony that overlooks Swanston St.  The place is decorated in 1920s-30s style furniture and trimmings.  A few of us couldn't help but notice the nice decorative touches - art deco and recyled glass light fixtures, the statement chandelier, lots of comfy couches and deer heads.


As we were a large group, we pre-ordered.  As such, we all went for the $15 lunch deal, where you get to pick a main dish (from about 15 mains) and a soft drink.

Here are a few of the dishes (apologies in advance about the blurriness of some of the photos... I was still getting used to my new camera)...


...a few of us got the Philly steak sandwich.  A Turkish roll filled w housemade tomato relish, steak, caramelised onions, Swiss cheese, cos, baby pickles and jalapenos.  Everyone who got this loved it.


...Ms A got the chargrilled summer veg salad comprised of grilled zucchs, capsicums, asparagus and eggplant w baby spinach, cherry toms and panfried haloumi. Despite being the only veggie option, Ms A liked her salad.  It certainly looked good to me - it looked substantial (unlike some vegetarian options that look like rabbit food).


...a few of us got the beef, apple and beetroot burger (including moi).  A brioche bun w housemade beetroot chutney, black Angus beef and apple patty and a wedge of brie.  I picked this because of the brie, beetroot and apple, and I'm so glad I did!  A very generous, juicy patty which made more delicious with the oozing brie.  The chutney was equally generous and wasn't too sour or sweet.  There was just so much of it that I had to prioritise.  I ate all the good stuff and left the brioche bun and most of the chips. The only minor negative is that the aioli didn't taste very garlicky.


...a dozen buffalo wings.  Ms U got these.  While she was impressed with it when it came out, she was left rather puzzled with the lack of spice. Ms U had to ask for some Tabasco to give the wings a kick.


...Mr J got a dozen Cajun wings.  Unlike Ms U, Mr J liked his wings and thought they were flavoursome.


...Mr H got the dish that all of us wanted, but dared not to because of the calorie content.  Mr H got the crumbed camembert.  Crumbed and shallow fried, served w housemade beetroot chutney, rocket, pear and Parmesan salad.  Despite liking the cheese, Mr H only finished about 2/3 of the cheese as this was a rich mama!

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

Overall
The overwhelming feedback was the serves are huge - and indeed they are!  The food was pretty good for most of us, however, a few weren't that impressed (mainly Ms U's bland buffalo wings).  I thought the food was above average and I really liked the place.

The place feels classy without being try-hard, and yet it's casual enough to just go there and hangout over a leisurely lunch or drink. The service was great and friendly.  I'd definitely go back for lunch/dinner and drinks, even!

I liked this place so much, that I went back there within a week with Mr S.  Despite wanting to try another main dish, I opted for the beetroot, apple beef burger again because I liked it so much the first time.  Mr S got the man-burger (200g patty, cheese, beer battered fries, egg and bacon - just to name some of the ingredients) and to his credit, Mr S did finish everything on his plate... I guess he's a man!

Address
Father's Office Speakeasy Bar and Restaurant
249 Little Lonsdale St
Melbourne 3000
Telephone: 9662 3798

Lil Boy Blue, Kew by Big Fil

I got the impression that Lil Boy Blue was a fairly new addition to the Kew Kafe scene.  Certainly, having recently been named as one the Age’s top ten places to get an ‘international’ style breakfast (a fried egg taco) it appeared to have gone from very to ridiculously busy, something reflected in the slightly panicked way staff were trying to cope with the number of customers (they generally succeeded).

In terms of style, it’s pretty much on the Melbourne trend, warm, not too blingy, tables scattered around a small room, seats next to the windows and a small passageway leading to a few tables at the back.  While we did have to wait a few minutes for a seat, it was 9.30 on a Saturday morning.  Even so our waitress was escorting us to a table at the back within five minutes.  A little squishy and not as nice a location as at the front, but that’s what you get for visiting at that time of day.

Given how busy they were we probably took longer than we should have to decide on our orders.  Ms L and myself decided to be sociable and share our orders, firstly a salmon gravalex with polenta chips, avocado puree, poached egg, crème friache, dill and mustard dressing.  Pretty as a picture, with perfectly poached egg and delicious marinated salmon.  I am not sure I’d have described them as polenta chips though they were still nicely fluffy in the middle, lightly crunchy on the outside.

After explaining the concept of pikelets to Ms L (like smaller, a little more dense pancakes) and stone fruit (peaches, apricots, plums etc, fruit with a pit in the middle), our second dish was decided.  In addition to pikelets and fruit it also came with cinnamon ice cream and almond praline.  Ms L’s eyes lit up when she took her first bite, proclaiming them ‘yummy’.  I would have to concur, with nicely poached and not too soft fruit, not overly dense pikelets and pretty decent ice cream.

Ironman decided on the pulled shoulder pork in a brioche bun.  This came served in its own lil blue boy paper wrapping, which I thought was an interesting way of branding.  The bun had a nice golden crust but looked a little small, and Ironman confirmed that he was expecting something a little larger given it wasn’t served with a side order of fries or something similar.  Also something which Ironman noted, when served pulled pork in the US it had come with a sweet vinegar sauce.  This version was a little different – as I understand it there are several authentic ways of serving pulled pork depending on where in the US you are.

Ms Counting her Calories had chosen Lil Boy Blue specifically so she could have the fried egg tacos with ham, chilli tomato relish and goats feta.  Last dish to arrive and probably the best, it came with the same cute wrapping as the pulled pork bun.  Three things stood out to me about the tacos – the way the texture of the fried egg and the soft tacos melded together so well, that the egg was nicely fried and not overdone, and the bit of a kick from the chill relish.  I am not sure if I’d have it in my list of top ten world breakfasts of the year, but I can’t say they are wrong either.

Overall

Cute little cafe with good quality food.  Service was a bit pushed on the day, but other than a minor mistake with one drinks order everything came out right and I was particularly grateful for the way they communicated with us as to how long we would likely need to wait for a table.  Definitely a keeper.

Verdict

Food – 8.5

Service – 7.5

Ambience – 7.5 (a little over-capacity but nice)

Price – 7

Address

309 High Street

Kew VIC 3101

Tel: (03) 9853 5003

Golden Lake Cake and Roast, Springvale by Bureaucrat

Following our rather meh lunch at Pho Hung, I felt the need for reinforcement.  So, I thought, let's get some buns. And I knew where I wanted to get them.


Of course, I didn't know the name of the place, I just recognised the place by sight.  Almost everytime we go to Springvale, we inevitably get lost.


The few landmarks that I know is this buns place, which I now know as Golden Lake Cake and Roast. Given its location and its size, I figured it'd be good.  Certainly, it has a lot on offer.


So we went with two custard egg buns (right), a red bean bun (with the red spot) and a BBQ bun (bottom left).  Admittedly, it was a few hours post purchase that we ate them, so it could have affected the quality.... but, on the other hand, the buns could just be plain crap.

The custard buns were the most disappointing.  When I picked one up, it was heavy - waaaay heavier than what a custard bun should be.  Biting into it, the bun was dry and had a texture like a bushman's damper.  The custard filling was solid and worse, it had dessicated coconut in it.  Wrong weight, wrong texture and wrong coconut.  Even looking at them, the surface looks lumpy.

I didn't have the red bean bun, and the Lawyer didn't say much about it, so I assume that it wasn't earth shattering.  Ditto with the custard buns, it had an odd lumpy surface.

The BBQ bun was equally wierd.  The dough was heavy and dry.  The BBQ pork was as wierd  and mysterious as you would fear from any meat you buy from Springvale.  It really felt and tasted like scrap meat from god knows where.  It was so wierd that I chucked it out after two bites.

Verdict
Food – 4
Ambience – 6
Service – 6
Price – 8

Overall

So, an even meh-er experience than Pho Hung.  Maybe (and that's a big, maybe) we chose wrong, but I ain't going back.

Address
Golden Lake Cake and Roast
46 Buckingham Ave
Springvale 3171
Telephone: 9574 6881

Pho Hung, Springvale by Bureaucrat

Finding ourselves in Springvale again, we took the opportunity to try out another eatery.  This time it was Pho Hung.


Initial impression was that PH was busy and chaotic.  Inside, the tables are cramped with hungry diners, loud chatter from adults and kids, and the harried staff rushing from table to table.  It was certainly popular, as there was a near constant crowd of people standing around in the little space waiting for a free table.


As it was busy and chaotic, it took a while to flag down a waiter to get our menu.  However, when the waiter arrived, he just pointed to the neon signs on the wall - there were no paper menu, just the neon signs.  As there weren't that many options that looked good to us, we just settled on our usual Vietnamese dishes.


The Lawyer got pho w beef and mixed tripe.  The Lawyer thought this was kinda average.  Whenever the Lawyer orders tripe in Springvale, I'm always (secretly) amazed about his bravery.... you'd never get me to eat par-cooked meat from Springers!


I got the pork chop rice.  To be fair, I can't remember whether the menu said it was grilled pork chop... but I was not impressed by the fried and oily appearance (and taste) of the chop.  Given how quickly it came out, I suspect that the pork chop had been already cooked (for god knows how long ago), and then refried before it is served.  As such, the pork was burnt on the edges, dry and chewy.  The rice was cooked with too much water and was a tad claggy, and the veggies felt like they've been sitting around in the kitchen.

The pork chop came with a clear soup, which was actually pretty good and wasn't laden with MSG.


Perhaps the best item that we ordered was the three colour drink; but when it came, we were given a four colour drink which they also forgot to add it to our bill.  The drink had quite a reasonable amount of red beans, slippery clear, yellow and green jellies with lots of coconut milk.

Verdict
Food – 5
Ambience – 6
Service – 6
Price – 8.5

Overall
The food, service and ambience was rather 'meh'.   I can't understand why this place is so popular. Given that there are many other options in the area, I'd suggest you try somewhere else.

Address
Pho Hung
268-274 Springvale Rd
Springvale 3171
Telephone: 9540 3566

The Treasure, Forest Hill by Bureaucrat

It's unrelated to this post, but I have to say, when will this heat end?!


Anyhoo, recently for a family celebration, Mother Hen made a booking at The Treasure.  Situated on Springvale Rd and slightly set up and beyond the road, TT has been around for a while.  Growing up, we'd occassionaly go there.  We've definitely went there for yum cha and possibly for dinner (it's been a while, I can't remember).  But over time, we sort of forgot about this place... until now.


For a Friday night dinner, I was surprised how quiet the place was.  Although we got there at 6.30pm, there were already a few diners there already (notably all Westerners).  Outside, it's done up like an old school Chinese house.  Inside, it's spacious, neat and proper, with cliched plastic dining chairs, peach serviettes folded into hats and auspicious Chinese paintings.

Having perused the menu, Mother Hen decided to go for the lobster banquet. After showing us the live lobster, the waitress took it away to kitchen.

One of the things I really liked about TT is the little attention to details.  From the outset, the service was friendly and always with a smile.  We also got a nice big serve of complementary prawn crackers and soup to start the meal.  It was because of this that I didn't mind that the service was erring on the slow side (especially given that there weren't many diners at this point).  Having said that, I can be incredibly patient when it comes to seafood.


And my patience was well worth it.  Lo and behold the lobster served w egg noodles.  Succulent, chunky pieces of lobster cooked perfectly with lots of tender spring onions and young ginger.  I can still remember the taste!  There was quite a lot of meat with this one, and even though there were four of us, it took a while for us to finish it.  For those who grew up in an Asian family, you would know  that Asians get fixated on knowing whether the lobster (or crab) that is served is indeed the whole lobster.  Well, TT passed muster, as Mother Hen was able to do a body count of all the expected lobster parts and it equated to one lobster.  The sauce was deliciously morish and plentiful, which made the noodles extra slurpworthy.

After we picked the lobster clean, the other dishes soon arrived.


We got stir fry beef with mixed veggies.  A simple but well executed.  Tender beef strips and all the veggies were perfectly al dente.  Btw, I'm absolutely loving it that my new camera was able to capture a great photo of this dish.


Salt and pepper pork.  A lovely golden, light batter encasing tender pork.  Not at all oily or fatty.


And my childhood favourite - deep fried fish w sweet corn sauce.  As with the pork, the batter was light and golden.  The fish was tender and plentiful.


On my point about the little things, we also got a serve of fresh fruit and red bean soup to finish.  While I'm not a fan of red bean soup (or anything with red bean, with the exception of the Vietnamese three colour drink), it was a pretty good one - lots of red bean and not at all watered down.

Verdict
Food – 9.5
Ambience – 7.5
Service – 7.5

Price – 8.5

Overall
I really liked the food and service here.  The food is well cooked and the serving size is pretty reasonable.  The service is friendly and polite, albeit a tad slow (but we weren't in a rush, so it didn't matter).

I feel kinda bad for TT as I had hoped it would have more diners here, especially on a Friday night.  I'd definitely recommend this place for a nice Chinese meal.

Address
The Treasure
482 Springvale Rd
Forest Hill 3131
Telephone: 9803 2388

Guzman Y Gomez, Melbourne CBD by Bureaucrat

The launch of the Swanston Street outpost of Guzman Y Gomez sort of passed me by.  I did see the very long queue of diners hoping to get a free burrito and I also heard that they even had a mariachi band.  However, it took a few weeks before I made it in there to try the food.

The glow from its bright yellow sign beckoned to me.  I’m always keen to try out any new Mexican place (provided they’re not too pricey.... after all, it is street food, which some Melbourne Mexican eateries seem to forget).  The only thing that stopped me from trying it sooner was because it’s been so stinking hot and when it gets stinking hot, I prefer to stay in my climate controlled office.

However, as it wasn’t too stinking hot, one day après work, the Lawyer and I ventured out onto Swanston Street and into GYG.  I’m loving the yellow and black colour of the place it feels so vibrant. 

After perusing the menu, I went for the salad bowl with barramundi.  I really liked this dish.  A nice amount of rice (which was a tad soggy) lots of salsa, black beans, barra and a nice sprinkling of cheese on top.  The salsa was fresh.  The barra was nicely seasoned and a fair amount of it.  I loved especially that they also included the delightful crusty/crunchy bits from the barra being pan fried into the salad bowl.  I also really liked the cheese, which apparently was humble cheddar.  This cheddar wasn’t like anything that I had tasted before.  This was salty, savoury and a bit sharp in flavour which went well with the dish.  Loved it all.

The Lawyer was equally enthused about his salad bowl with beef guerrero (the mild, slow cooked beef).  The beef was melt in your mouth and had a yummy, beefy flavour from all the slow cooking.

Verdict

Food – 7.5

Ambience – 7.5

Service – 7

Price – 8

Overall

We love GYG.  Propz for the menu.  I really liked that it has fish on the menu (which its Mexican competitors of similar ilk do not have).  Not surprisingly, I’ve been back a few times now and have replaced my Mad Mex loyalty card with one from GYG. 

One time, I got the barra salad bowl again and noted that they used snapper instead (which I didn’t mind at all) and the quality was just as good.  I’ve also tried the chicken guerrero salad bowl.  That was tasty and the chicken had a very appetising smoky flavour to it.  The only downside with the chicken salad bowl was that I felt that the serve of chicken was a bit mingy...and it was served as these itty bitty square pieces of chicken... kinda like pellets.

When the day comes and I’m feeling the need to be nutritionally bad, I’ll definitely go for a quesadilla or soft shell taco...until then!

Address

Guzman Y Gozmez

289-299 Swanston St
Melbourne

Telephone: 9988 1402