Dead Man Espresso, South Melbourne by Bureaucrat

On a breezy weekend, the Lawyer and I headed out to South Melbourne, which is Ms N’s stomping ground, for breakfast.  Ms N steered us into Dead Man Espresso, a cafe that just oozes hipster charm and a polished industrial vibe.

The thing that caught my eye was the fact that DME is located above street level.  As such, as you approach the cafe, you can hear the chatter of lively conversation waft down from above you and spot the cool cats having their brekkie/coffee from the wooden panelled indoor-outdoor dining area.

With the Venetian blinds, the streaming sunshine, cool breeze and chillaxed atmosphere you can almost imagine you were someone tropical.  For both male and female diners, there’s plenty of eye candy to choose from among the staff that work there.

As we had arrived in peak breakfast/brunch time (circa 10.30am), the place was already packed.  Luckily, we only had to wait about five minutes before we got a nice table around the back that views onto the street.

To kick things off, we got some coffee and chai lattes.

For food, I decided to go for a healthier option of green pancakes, spinach, green onions, green chilli pancakes, w lime butter, smoked salmon, poached egg ($18).  There’s just something about green pancakes that sounds fun and childish.  The fairly hefty pancakes were a smidge on the burnt/overly golden brown side.  They didn’t have much of a taste, nor were they particularly memorable.  What I did like were the squeaky edamame, gooey poached egg and the reasonable mound of smoked salmon.  Despite the chilli, it wasn’t spicy (thankfully) and I couldn’t really taste the lime butter.

Ms N went for the dish that I was contemplating to get - crumbed potato and herb hash,  w pancetta, green tomato salsa, fried eggs and sour cream ($18.50).  While I didn’t get to try the dish, Ms N seemed happy with it.

The Lawyer got the impressive campfire breakfast, which had bacon, pork and fennel sausage, tomato, mushrooms, beans, fried eggs with toast, which was served in a skillet ($21).  Even more impressively, he polished the whole thing off (except the crusts on the toast).  Everything looked fresh and was very nice according to the Lawyer.  Definitely one for those with big appetites.

Verdict

Food – 7

Ambiance - 8

Service – 7.5

Price – 7

Overall

I do quite like the set up they have got going at DME – with the friendly service and nice vibe.  It’s definitely popular as there were more people queuing up for a table when we left.  Foodwise, the ingredients are fresh, the serves are reasonably generous but tastewise, there was nothing exceptional about it.  That isn’t to say the food was bad – it was fine but nothing to rave about it.  In other words, I’d go back again because it’s a great place to hang out and the food is reasonable enough to nosh on while I’m there.  However, I’m not going back that because of the food, per se.

Address

Dead Man Espresso

35 Market St 

South Melbourne 3205

Telephone: 9686 2255

Top of the Bay, Williamstown by Bureaucrat

In the lead up to Christmas, almost every meal is planned.  Whether I'm cooking at home or eating out, alot (much, much, more) of my time is spent planning menus, studying menus, buying groceries and navigating that thin line between eating properly and having an extra creamy, fatty, crunchy and/or sugary treat because it's Christmas.

Williamstown pier

So once the 25th day has passed, I'm left in this foodie stupor.  The fridge is bare after being crammed with food and drinks, the pantry is empty, I've definitely spent too much money eating out and I definitely need to get back to the gym.  

The next big meal isn't until NYE/NYD.  So what to do in the intervening days?  Take a day trip is my answer.  Without any planning, we got into our car and headed towards Williamstown.  I don't know much about the area except that we had seafood there over 10 years ago.  I've always been meaning to go back and wander the main streets and check out the views but have never managed to get there.

As we were still feeling full from all the xmas meals, we just wanted a light lunch to tide us over to dinner time.  We stumbled across a fish and chippery - Top of the Bay.

It was one of the few places that were open over xmas time.  And it had a steady stream of locals getting their tucker.  I tend not to go to F&Cs much because it's not exactly the healthiest meal, plus, too many places use frozen fish and have a thick, greasy batter on the fish....bleurgh!

However, TofB uses fresh fish and has the lightest of batter.  We got a barra pack to share ($11.50).  A moderate fillet of barra which was fresh, juicy and finger licking good.  Crispy batter and well drained of excess oil.  It was so good that I wanted to get another pack (but I didn't because, as nice as it was, it's still deep fried food).  I'm getting hungry just thinking of this barra!  The chips were thick cut and equally nice.  Perfectly fried - crispy on the outside and mealy on the inside.  It came with a nice wedge of lemon and tartare sauce.

Verdict

Food – 9

Ambiance - 7

Service – 7.5

Price - 7.5

Overall

Great fish and chips - I am definitely going back there next time I'm in the area!  As it's opposite the pier, you have a great view while snacking on the delicious fish.  Feeling very envious of the locals who live nearby.  You are paying for quality here - the fresh fish, the clean oil and the perfect batter means that it is a wee pricier than your average F&C shop.

Address

Top of the Bay

1 The Strand

Williamstown 

Telephone: 9397 7404

Twee's Hut (by invitation), Melbourne CBD by Bureaucrat

When it comes to Vietnamese food, you've got lots of options for authentic pho, bun, banh mi and rice paper rolls out in the suburbs - Footscray, Richmond and even maybe Springvale.  However, it's bit difficult trying to find proper Vietnamese eatery in the city.  Sure, there's a couple of Vietnamese franchises and there's one too many tourist trap Vietnamese eateries, but there's nowhere where that's known for authentic and good Vietnamese food.

One more than one occasion, this has proved bothersome - I've asked other foodies, colleagues and friends as to where they go when they get a Vietnamese craving when in the city.  To date, no on has an answer (except for, "do you want to head out to Richmond?").  However, this problem is no more!  I now have an answer to this question, and the answer is "go to Twee's Hut!"

Earlier this week, Ruby Grapefruit and I were invited to try out Twee's Hut for lunch.  Ruby Grapefruit had spotted the place recently and said that it was getting pretty good reviews online.  We were well looked after by owners (husband and wife team) Ricky and Thuy (Twee), and also Jimmy, who's Ricky's cousin - it's fair to say that this is family run restaurant!  You can't help but get swept up into their enthusiasm for their food and their eagerness to share with you their family recipes.  As the lunch crowd came through, Jimmy and Ricky made everyone feel welcomed and took them through their menu.

There's quite a range on offer.  From rice paper rolls (aka "grenades"), banh mi ("Captain Baguettes"), pho (also available in 'on-the-go' smaller serves in cups) and buns (aka "the bomb" - vermicelli noodle salads).  Of most interest to me was also Mama Spicy Beef (bun bo hue) soup noodles and Twee's Soul Bowl, as the bun bo hue is not usually found at Vietnamese eateries in the city and the Soul Bowl is definitely something that I hadn't come across before (more on that later).

For drinks, Ruby Grapefruit got an Island Kiss, which is a freshly squeezed juice of pineapple, orange an apple.  She said it was very good and not too sweet.  In addition to the strong sense of family vibe, Twee's Hut also has a strong community spirit by giving back tot the community.  For every freshly squeezed juice that's purchased, Twee's Hut makes a donation to the Cancer Council.  

When Jimmy told us about Twee's Soul Bowl, I knew I just had to try it.  The Soul Bowl is their take on the Thai dish, pad Thai.  As Ruby Grapefruit and I were sharing, we opted to go for the dry version (it also comes in soup).  It has pork, prawn, quail's egg, egg noodles, thick chewyish rice noodles (Cambodian style), shredded lettuce, fried shallots, beanshoots, peanuts, spring onions and coriander.  This was a fairly generous sized dish.  It has a sweet-ish sauce (perhaps made with hoisin sauce?) that's drizzled over the noodles, which you need to toss through.  I quite liked it and I particularly liked that it wasn't over-sauced.  I liked the two different chewy textures of the egg and rice noodles, however, Ruby Grapefruit thought the egg noodle was a tad stodgy for her liking.

The noodles came with a bowl of clear, flavoursome broth.  Very homestyle in flavour and style - yum!

For our other dish, Ruby Grapefruit picked one of the banh mi - the crackling roast pork.  Ruby Grapefruit thought it was really good – tender roast pork, crunchy crackling, fresh salad and the caramelized onion was a nice touch. I liked that it had a nice filling-to-bread ratio and also a nice pork-to-salad ratio.  I particularly liked the very morish pate that's smeared on the bread.  The bread was fresh and crunchy, and it was a good serving size.  

Verdict

Food – 8

Ambiance - 7

Service – 9*

Price - 8*

*Scores are notional as were guests of Twee's Hut.

Overall

Based on what we've tried, I'm definitely going back to try out the "bombs", pho and, when Big Fil is back, the Mama Spicy Beef noodles.  And I'm definitely going back for more of the Soul Bowl. Office workers rejoice - you now know where to go for an authentic Vietnamese lunch!

Address

Twee's Hut

Shop 26, 343 Little Collins St 

Melbourne 3000

Telephone: 9917 2017

The Last Jar, North Melbourne by Bureaucrat

While it’s now late Feb, it’s only now that I’ve come to writing up my team’s Christmas lunch.  While Big Fil may want to take credit in identifying The Last Jar as a place to try out, I have to burst his bubble, as I had known about TLJ for a good six months before he first started mentioning the place... so nyah!


TLJ is an Irish pub doing Irish pub meals.  It seemed to be the perfect place for my fellow podders as they have a quasi ritual of having steak for their Christmas lunch each year.  So on a stinking hot day, we scurried our way from the city into city fringe of North Melbourne.


Stepping inside into the cool, stone building, with high ceilings was a great relief.  The soothing pastel colour scheme and also helped bring the temperature down – at least in our overheated minds.  I especially liked the quaintly simplistic decorative touches of vases of fresh flowers and slightly mismatched solid wooden furniture.


The friendly waitress quickly brought over large enamel jugs of cold water and some of the guys took the opportunity to knock back some Guinness.

As we had all studied the menu days before the lunch, we all knew what we wanted to order.  In the menu, TLJ proclaimed that they "churn the butter, we make the bread, we smoke and cure the fish, we make the sausages and puddings, we salt and smoke the bacon...and the curry sauce.  We don't make the oysters, we don't make the fries and we don't lay the eggs."


And indeed they make the bread and churn the butter, and man, they taste good!  The dark bread was full of deep savoury flavour but with a lovely mellow sweetness.  I couldn't help but wonder if there was some Guinness in it.  It also had lots of nubbly texture from the various seeds through it.  Despite it looking dense and heavy, it was actually surprisingly light and moist.

The white bread also had the light and moist texture, and was some of the most flavoursome white bread that I've ever eaten.  Everything about these two breads made you believe that you were eating this in a homely farm out in Ireland.  It's no hyperbole that you could taste the essence of homemade food and the earnestness of the simple bread and butter.


Thank goodness for the bread because it would be a very long wait before our meals came.  The staff were a bit apologetic but said the delay was due to the business of the seasonal Christmas trade.  So 45 minutes later, our steaks finally arrive. I've only put one photo of the steaks up, as they all looked the same but each had a different sized steak.  By memory, I think this was a 250 gram scotch fillet.  A nice beefy steak that's better than your typical steak from a pub.  The chips were chunky with a thin crispiness and flouriness on the inside.  The salad was plentiful and very fresh.  I also liked the addition of the thinly shaved onions in it.


The steaks came with a green peppercorn and whiskey cream sauce - properly made and not that icky packet stuff.

Verdict
Food – 8
Ambiance - 7.5
Service – 6
Price - 7.5

Overall
The food is above average and pretty decent in size.  You can tell they take a lot of pride in the food they serve here at TLJ.  The restaurant area, which is where we sat, is nice but the acoustics of the room makes it very loud - what with the echoing laughter from diners, the footsteps and chairs scraping back on the floors.

Service is friendly but I had to give it a score of 6 because of the delay in the food.  However, I reckon this was because of the Christmas time.  I'd go back again if I wanted a nice steak in a comfortable, relaxed, homely setting.

Address
The Last Jar
616 Elizabeth Street
North Melbourne 3000
Telephone: 9348 2957

A Little Bird Told Me..., Melbourne CBD by Bureaucrat

While I tend to be more of a tea drinker, I do enjoy a properly made cup of coffee.  While I love the flavour of coffee, I don’t really care for the caffeine hit.  Plus, finding a quality coffee house/cafe is like finding the proverbial needle in the haystack.  Hence, I drink tea.  At least I know where I get my tea leaves from.  

It was Ms H that put me onto A Little Bird Told Me..., which is a speciality coffee house.  Going by its location, ALBTM seems to be popular with the local university students and pod dwellers that work nearby.  

It's fairly big space for just a coffee house.  I love the ceiling to floor windows that provides ample opportunities for people watching.  The clean looks are complemented by warm wooden furniture fit out and terrariums. Even during the peak periods, the place has a cosy hum.  You can almost imagine that you're in a coffee house in Europe.

While coffee is the mainstay on offer, they do have a small selection of baked treats to tempt you.  Coffee here ain’t cheap - a small cappuccino will set you back $3.80.  I like its coffee because it’s definitely strong, aromatic and smooth.  

Verdict

Coffee – 8

Ambiance - 8

Service – 7.5

Price - 7

Overall

If I ever have the luxury of time, I’d wander in and sip on my brew inside the cafe and maybe allow myself to indulge in a sweet treat. Until then, I’ll have to settle with getting my coffee as takeaway.  ALBTM has made it onto my list of go-to coffee places (the others are Mr Tulk and Fourteen 10).

Address

A Little Bird Told Me...

29 Little La Trobe St 

Melbourne, VIC 3000

FOMO Thai, Melbourne CBD by Bureaucrat

FOMO Thai is located towards the top end of Bourke Street.  I had noticed it before because of it's catchy name.  For those who aren't familiar with the acronym, it stands for "fear of missing out".  However, because I didnt' go to finishing school, I unintentionally keep referring to this place as "MOFO"... an acronym that has quite a different meaning.

For an early weeknight dinner, we headed on inside.  

It's kitted out with lots of tiles and metal features, and about medium sized space.  

Because of all the tiles and metal scraping on the polished cement floor, the place is quite noisy even when it's not yet at full capacity (and the music doesn't help).

The first time I ate here, it was a sweaty, humid day.  So we took the opportunity to order some cold drinks.  The Lawyer got the lychee w pulp smoothie and I got the nicely tart tamarind drink.  While both were nice, I did prefer the lychee smoothie more.

As hot weather zaps my appetite, I went for a salad - Yum Ped Krob - crispy duck salad.  This was quite tangy and salty.  I suspect the shredded duck was cooked then fried, as it was kinda chewy and dried in parts.  The salad was incredibly punchy - lots of the the sharp red onions, spring onions and the zingy lime, tamarind and salty fish sauce... they definitely don't tone done the flavours for khun tang chat.  I could have done with a bit more sweetness to balance all those flavours.  A bowl of plain rice would have improved the enjoyability of this salad.

The Lawyer ordered a seafood pad Thai, which the staff will happily make for you even though it's not on the menu.  He had had this before at FOMO and knew it was great.  Indeed, I got a bad case of food envy when it came out.  Big, lots of wok hei and that glorious scrambled egg net over the rice noodles.  The envy continued as it had a fairly decent amount of plump prawns and squid through it.  Aromatic, pleasantly chewy noodles, with slivers of garlic chives, beanshoots, tofu cubes and a nice sprinkling of toasted peanuts...an all round yum.

A few nights later, we were back again.  I made sure that we got the seafood pad Thai again.  In addition to it, I wanted to try something from FOMO's grill/bbq range.  As such, we got the aptly named Crying Tiger - char-grilled beef tenderloin served medium rare w "a tangy dipping sauce".  Our initial thought was "this is rare".  The good points was that this was a bigger dish than it appears to be.  The steak was tender and had a nice beefy flavour, as it was good quality beef, I didn't mind the rareness.  The "tangy dipping sauce" was a bit of misnomer - it's fiery!  One tiny smidge of it made my tongue buuuuuurn.  But in that brief nanosecond before the chilli registered, I could taste that the sauce had a lovely savoury, complex depth to it.  The tiny clump of salad leaves was a bit of a laugh, though.

We got a serve of rice to go with the tiger.

Verdict

Food - 7

Ambiance - 7

Service - 7

Price - 7

Overall

I quite like FOMO.  It doesn't hold back on the flavours and I like the look of the many authentic, and less commonly available, dishes on the menu.  I'd definitely be back to try more of the bbq dishes.  It's a nice place to share a meal with friends.  However, I have to say that both times I left feeling only just full - it feels a bit pricey to eat your fill here at FOMO.  But the food is tasty and different enough to pique my interest to come back.

Address

FOMO Thai

171 Bourke Street

Melbourne 3000

Telephone: 9650 7987

Chilli Padi, Melbourne CBD by Bureaucrat

For an impromptu work lunch, we picked a place that's close to work - Chilli Padi.  While everyone else in my team had eaten there a few times before, I had yet do so.  For years, I've eaten at the restaurants right next to it (e.g., Chilli India), and heck, I've even been to its sibling restaurant, Chilli Padi Mamak in Docklands), but never at Chilli Padi itself.

The guys at work seem to think Chilli Padi to be pretty good - in their view, anything that's cheap (less than $12) and has big serves has their tick of approval.

On this balmy day, we got to sit upstairs, which has a slightly nicer vibe than the seats on the ground floor/lane way dining areas.

CP has quite an extensive menu.  So much so that despite initially knowing what I wanted to order (wat dan hor), I then quickly became indecisive because there were so many dishes that I wanted to try.  Eating with my team means that we don't really share our dishes, so I can only give you photos of what we ordered.

Mr P went for the cashew nut chicken on rice ($12.90).

I went for the chicken nasi lemak ($11.90).  I have to say that I did regret not ordering my first choice (wat dan hor).  This was an okay nasi lemak - I've had better, and I've had worse before.  My main complaint was that this was all a bit spicy for me to eat, which meant that I couldn't really appreciate the dish as my mouth was on fire.  Pleasingly, there was a big serve of pickled veg (but was a bit 'meh' in flavour) and lots of crunchy ikan bilis and peanuts.  I didn't finish this as it was too spicy and also it had a pretty big serve of coconut rice.

Mr G went for the chicken pad Thai  ($13.90), which came with fairly generous sides of fried shallots, chili and peanuts.

Mr G went for the beef rendang w rice ($9.90).  This was also a bit spicy than what Mr G would have liked.  He seemed a bit underwhelmed about the dish, as he was expecting something more tasty for a dish that was listed as a specialty of the place.

Last but not least, Mr A went for the Kampong fried rice ($11.90).  Quite a big dish, this was.  A big mound of eggy fried rice with nuggets of chicken, ikan bilis, peanuts and shallots.  It's served with a chicken satay.  

Verdict

Food - 7

Ambiance - 7

Service - 7

Price - 7

Overall
I don't mind Chilli Padi.  While I didn't quite enjoy my dish, I would go back again just to see what other dishes are like.  The serves are fairly generous and the place is clean and comfortable.  It's also conveniently close to work.

The general vibe that I got from my team was that the food's alright as is the price.  Worth trying if you want a reasonable meal, but there's nothing exceptional about the place.

Address
Chilli Padi
Little Lonsdale St
Menzies Alley
Melbourne 3000
Telephone: 9663 5688

New Royal Garden Restaurant, Mt Waverley by Bureaucrat

Ah, takeaway!  Great for when you're feeling lazy, have nothing in the fridge or both.  On this occasion, I was feeling lazy, so went to one of our local Chinese restaurants for some T&A... hehehe.

If my memory serves me correct, New Royal Garden Restaurant used to be called something else (we're talking about at least 15 years ago).  When it was rebranded as New Royal Garden Restaurant, we all had a chuckle... I mean, a place is only new when it is new.  With the inevitable passage of time, it soon became not new, yet it still calls itself as new.  Back then, when it was new (are you following this?), we'd occasionally go there for yum cha and dinner, but over the years it's fallen off our list of regular places to visit.  

As it had been so long since I've last visited this place, I wasn't sure what dishes they are known for.  I know that in the past 12 months, Mother Hen and Mr Strong had gone there for dinner and didn't think much of it (not very tasty and over priced, was their view).  

The entrance is a bit hokey pokey and not the most pleasant to be - with chairs crammed against the large tanks of live seafood (full of glum looking fish and crab), splashes and pools of water from the fishies that were being caught, delivery boxes of stuff, stacks of the free Chinese newspapers, and the takeaway BBQ area.  Having placed our order, we waited in the entrance.

About 15 minutes later we got our order.  I was rather surprised to have our meal being presented in a rather smart-looking tote bag.  

When we got home, I was also pleasantly surprised at the bag of complementary prawn crackers.

Onto the food.  We ordered three dishes as we were feeling greedy and this would double as some left overs for the next day.  The best dish was one of their specials - braised, stuffed eggplant.  Thick slices of tender eggplant (no seeds, no chewy skin) with a generous filling of prawny-porkyness in the middle.  It had a lovely syrupy gravy made with plump black beans and was topped with lots spring onions.  I could easily only order this dish next time and have it with a big bowl of rice.

The next best dish was the beef with cashews.  This was okay - not bad but not great.  Lots of tenderised but bland beef, crunchy cashews and al dente vegs.

The least impressive dish was our order of $10 worth of char siu.  Salty, gristly and a whiff of MSG, is how I'd describe it  I didn't really eat this with our meal.  The next day, I cut it up into little pieces and made fried rice with it.

Verdict

Food - 7

Ambiance - 7

Service - 7

Price - 7

Overall

NRGR is okay.  While I don't have anything against the place, I'm not likely to go back there again (unless it's for the braised eggplant).  The serves are fairly generous and generally taste okay, but there's nothing exceptional about the food.  A stock standard suburban restaurant.

Address

New Royal Garden Restaurant

570 High St Rd 

Mt Waverley 3149

Telephone: 9886 1388