Bourbon Street, South Melbourne (by invitation) by Bureaucrat

Move over food trucks, the new kids in town are online delivery lunch providers.  And at the head of the cool kids is Bourbon Street.

Bourbon Street was launched about a month ago and there’s been quite a bit of buzz about the food that’s coming its kitchen.  It does slow-cooked, New Orleans-inspired sandwich rolls and rice bowls with free delivery to the city, South Melbourne, Albert Park and South Yarra, every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

This week, I had the lucky opportunity to try out some of Bourbon Street’s menu and I can definitely say the buzz about the food is definitely well deserved.

I got the BBQ beef which has been slow-cooked for 10 hours.  It’s marinated in a smoky BBQ sauce with traditional coleslaw and crunchy pickles.  This comes in a sandwich roll or rice.  I chose the Cajun brown rice for a gluten-free option.  

It came with a generous amount of tender beef.  I was a bit worried that the beef would be smothered in BBQ sauce (as so many places seem to think that excessive saucing negates the need to ensure the meat is actually tasty).  But all worries were erased when I tasted it.  The beef isn't smothered in a sickly gloop.  Instead, it’s tender and juicy and has a lovely smoky, sweet-tinged taste.  Perfect – just the way I like it.

The beef came with the nubbly brown rice, which was cooked in stock and smoky paprika (I think).  And the coleslaw was a yummy crisp salad with lots of finely shredded cabbage and carrot with just a right amount of mayo dressing.  All in all, I really enjoyed the three flavours and textures and how they contrasted against each other.  

To go with my lunch, I also got some cute snacks.  A bag of kale chips – large pieces of crispy, salted kale that dissolves in your mouth almost instantly (it counts towards my five a day!).   

And also a pot of candied walnuts which have soaked in Bourbon and roasted with a hint of spice.  The walnuts have a slight Bourbon flavour and makes a nice little sweet treat without being too sinful.

Verdict

Food - 8

Ambiance - 7

Service - 8*

Price – 7.5*

*Scores are notional as I was a guest of Bourbon Street.

Overall

Thank you to Bourbon Street for sharing its great Southern style food with me.  I'm pretty impressed with the BBQ beef rice bowl in terms of the flavour and also the amount that you get.  I love that the food is healthy, filling and tasty - it's kept me going all afternoon.

I let my fellow team members try some of the food, and one bite was enough to make them agree that we should order one of each sandwich roll/rice bowl for our next team lunch (there’s also pulled pork, jerk chicken and chilli sin carne to choose from).

And if that’s not enough to make you get ordering, it also comes with free delivery!  Be the envy of your workmates at lunch and head to Bourbon Street.

Address

Bourbon Street

Order via: http://bourbonstreet.com.au/

Happy Noodle, Glen Waverley by Bureaucrat

Food courts aren't my thing.  But sometimes you gotta eat because you gotta eat.

So this is how I found myself at Happy Noodle at The Glen.  It's located in the mini food court that's near David Jones.

And if I'm going to eat at a food court, I'm definitely not getting the bain marie stuff.  So I ordered the Hainanese chicken on rice.  Our buzzer beeped and we got this tray of food in return.  And it reminded me, again, why I avoid food courts.

The chicken was chewy and the skin was rubbery, and it didn't look terribly appetising.  The soup was oily and but had MSG in it (on the plus side, it was piping hot).  And the rice, well, it was warmish and a bit dried out in texture (on the plus side, there were lots of it).  Needless to say, I just ate the bare minimum to ease off my hunger pains and left the rest.

Verdict

Food - 5

Ambience - 6.5

Service - 7

Price - 6

Overall

Yep.... next time I'll get the $2 cheeseburger at Maccas (which is also located in the same mini food court area).

Address

Happy Noodle

The Glen

235 Springvale Rd

Glen Waverley 3150

Telephone: 9802 2138

Champions Bistro, Clayton by Bureaucrat

For a special meal, we wanted to take Mr and Mrs L to somewhere different.  We wanted to go somewhere that had a set lunch or degustation menu, and we wanted to go somewhere that was located in the eastern burbs.

Heirloom vegetables with anchovy and garlic emulsion

Thanks to the recommendation from Nat Stockley (one of the top contributors on Urbanspoon), we had a fabulous time at Champions Bistro.  When you think of fine dining degustation menu, you tend not to think of heading to your local suburban bowls club.  But this is what it is - an unexpected and delightful dining experience.

The story is that Clinton McIver, ex sous chef at Vue de Monde, at the request of his friends, decided to help out CB for a few months.  Initially, Clinton was going to help out until February of this year.  But we went about a fortnight ago, and he's still there - but who knows how much longer he'll be there as this was always meant to have been a temporary stint for him.  But while he's there, Clinton and his team are creating delicious five and eight course degustation menus at $60-$80pp (wine matching is available for an extra $50).

The dining area is like your typical bowls or RSL club.  A spacious conference type room with standard tables and chairs, with views of the bowling green.  It's clean and it's comfortable but it ain't some fancy restaurant (no damask tablecloths).  In fact, you get to see the chefs come out in the dining area to access the hot water urn for their cooking.

The waitresses are friendly, knowledgeable and prompt - just what you'd get from a fine dining place.  As each table has to order the same five or eight courses, we decided to go for the eight courses.  And the dishes came out quite promptly.

The first three courses were appetisers.  The first to come out was fried potato and scraped wagyu.  Crispy wafers of potato with a moreish, creamy goo of finely diced raw wagyu with avo.

Next was the heirloom vegs w anchovy and garlic emulsion (see first pic).  A lovely fresh, colourful and crunchy salad.  Thin slivers of the the various root vegs - I wish someone made this for me every day so I can get my two vegs!  The mayo was very smooth, and the Lawyer loved it so much he practically lived the pot clean.  The above picture shows a serving size for two people.

The next dish was my absolute favourite dish of the day - macadamia, crab, butter and sorrel.  A light-as-air meringue as the base, which was topped with the sweet and tender crab and a blob of creamy sauce.  It was buttery, it was light, and it dissolved in your mouth in an instant - a moment of utter bliss.  The above photo shows four serves.

The next two courses were the entrees.  The first of them was the ocean king prawn w first radishes and acidulated water.  This was my least favourite dish.  The prawn was big and chunky.  I know a lot of places prefer to serve seafood a bit undercooked, this was just a tad undercooked for my liking.  The acidulated water was spring water with orange juice and horseradish (or some other kind of mustard).

The 'Autumn Harvest' mushrooms cooked in pork juices and sour quince was my next favourite dish.  Meaty slices of mushroom that absolutely tasted like roast pork - wonderful!  I loved the meaty texture of the mushroom being paired with the porky goodness.  I also loved the thin slivers of crackling-like pork on top.  Quite a few of us liked this dish.

At this time, we got two loaves of freshly baked sourdough to go with our meal.  They must have only just come out of the oven, as all tables in the restaurant were being served with bread as well.  It was fantastically warm, soft and flavoursome.  It was great timing because it meant we could use the bread to mop up the lovely mushroom and pork juices.

The main dish was duck with native apple berries served with an orange and carrot sauce.  While you can't really see the duck, it was a fairly meaty serve.  Beaker and I both thought it was like a confit in texture, in that it was very tender and falling apart.  I particularly liked the apple berries - they're like mini apples and had a slightly tart flavour.  With the slightly buttery sauce, the apples tasted like an apple crumble - and it really went well with the duck.  I loved the crispy shards of duck crackling.... yum!

We were all getting quite full.  And we had cheese and dessert courses to go through.  First up was the Pynegana cheddar w black garlic, plum and rye. We were told the inspiration for this dish was them cheese and cracker snack packs you put in a lunch box - except that this was a more adult and sophisticated version.  A lovely smooth, airy mound of cheddar cheese.  I didn't really like the plum and black garlic jam/confit.  The sour plum and strong garlic flavour didn't do it for me and I felt that it would have been better without the garlic.

The two desserts were sublime and fun.  Of the two, this one was my favourite - 'salted pop corn'.  We thought we'd literally get some popcorn but we were wrong!  This wonderful soft meringue that had a strong aroma and tasted of popped corn.  Inside the meringue was this yellow goo, and the whole thing was smothered in this white custardy goo.  And on top of that, it had a generous dusting of powdered pop corn.  Each item tasted strongly of salted pop corn.  It was so fun and just so decadent.

Last but not least was the dish that had us puzzling about as to what it'd actually be.  On the menu, it was simply called 'butter, nut, pumpkin'.  What we were present with was a mound of crumbled hazelnut meringue, a slightly chewy honeycomb crumble (I think), pumpkin goo and was topped with a smooth-as white chocolate and burnt butter ice cream.  While I liked this dish, I felt it was a wee sweet for me.  

Verdict

Food - 9.5

Ambiance - 7

Service - 9

Price - 10

Overall

CB is a hidden gem out in Clayton.  Foodies will love it for the food, and for those who aren't into the snobbery/pretension that sometimes comes with fine dining, CB is a great place to experience the food without the wank (or price tag!).  Eighty dollars for nine course, fine dining experience is pretty impressive in my books (considering that you'd easily pay triple figures per person for the same thing in the inner/city).  

I was really pleased with the thought that went into the menu.  A great balance of meat, veg and carbs.  You definitely felt full.  Achieving this balance isn't as straightforward as you'd expect (e.g., our meat-heavy degustation at Stefano's Restaurant left us full but craving some veg; or the drawn out degustation at Jacques Reymond that left us hungry after 12 courses over 3.5 hours).

The waitresses advised that each week, one or two dishes may change or get tweaked; and by the end of the month, a good part of the menu (if not, all of it) would have changed.

The place is kid friendly - as we had Bubba Chuck with us, the waitresses offered her colouring books and pens for her to play with.

This is a top notch place - I urge you to try it before it's too late!

Address

Champions Bistro

Clayton Bowls Club

37 Springs Rd  

Clayton South 3169

Telephone: 9544 9929

Dickson Dumpling House, Dickson (ACT) by Big Fil

I hadn't planned on dumplings but the moment I saw Dickson Dumpling House my dinner plans were settled.  Well lit, clean, busy staff buzzing around  and best of all packed with pleased looking dinners, I'm a bit of a dumpling addict and I just had to try it.



One thing I did like a lot was being able to watch the kitchen staff beavering away behind the serving area.  Hygiene standards at many dumpling joints are decidedly dodgy.  Willingness to provide an open window into the kitchen area shows a least a confidence in what they are doing, as well cheap entertainment when I don't feel like reading my book.



While it does offer a variety of larger dishes it was to be little mouthfuls of steamed and fried goodness for me.  If I had been in a group through there were a couple of things which I would definitely have ordered, in particular the scallops which I was close to ordering anyway.  First up though were some duck spring rolls.  I ordered these out of curiosity as much as anything else, because I didn't remember ever seeing them on a menu before.  When they came out they were of a generous size and perfectly fried, but while I found them enjoyable the duck flavour didn't really come through as much as I'd have liked.



Second dish, also ordered out of curiosity as much as anything, were the boiled prawn and pumpkin dumplings.  I have rarely seen pumpkin filled dumplings on menus before and had never tried them, and I was decidedly uncertain how these would work.  I always applaud places that try to do something a little bit different and thought that the prawn and pumpkin combination worked reasonably well.  Not perfectly, as I thought the pumpkin made the filling just a little heavy, but the flavours were well matched and I'd be happy to order them again.



Returning again the following night it was the Shanghai pork dumplings (Shao Long Bao by another name?) and the pan fried pork dumplings.  Both of these were ok, but probably not better than that.  With only 6 in a serve the SPD seemed a little pricey, a bit stingy with the soup and the flavour not as complex as some of the better versions around.  Given that there were a few other interesting options on the menu I didn't get to try I'd probably give them a pass next time.



A little better were the pan fried pork dumplings.  A touch smaller than usual I also found that some were a bit overdone, rendering the dumpling skin more hard than crisp.  Flavour wise I thought these were fairly good, although could have been improved by a more generous filling.  Overall, not the best going around but still perfectly acceptable.



Overall
A nice place for mostly respectable dumplings, the sort of place I'd happily revisit without being an absolute favourite.  Service is a little nicer and more polite than dumpling house standard, although you may need to wave at staff to make sure they know you are ready to order, and the set up is a little nicer too.  All in all a quick and cheap place for a bite to eat in Northern Canberra

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

Address
2 Cape Street
Dickson ACT 2602
Tel: (02) 6248 8350

Isabella's at Rochford Winery, Coldstream (by invitation), by Bureaucrat

Over the Easter weekend, I had the lovely opportunity to take up an invitation from Isabella's at Rochford Winery to try their new Autumn menu.

Yarra Valley Blackmore Wagyu carpaccio with black garlic puree, deep fried bone marrow and green olive powder

Located just under an hour's drive from the city, Rochford Winery makes a great day trip out, with lots of blue sky, clean air and sunshine waiting for you.

Because we got there a bit early, Mr Strong and I took the opportunity to soak up the vista by meandering around the estate.  

It was a good thing that we got in some light exercise, as we were soon to find out that they certainly do feed you well at Isabella's.  

The tree-lined pathway to the restaurant, cellar and gift shop.

We were greeted by friendly, smiling staff that led us to our table.  The dining area has an open space floor plan, that's divided up into a bar, cafe and restaurant area.  It has ceiling to floor windows for you to take in the views while you dine and allows the sunshine to stream through.

While there is an a la carte menu, we were keen to try their two and three course lunch menu.  Naturally, as you'd expect, the dishes are matched to wines.  To start off, we had some warm bread.

As I was the designated driver, I didn't order any wine.  However, Mr Strong did order a glass of Macedon Ranges Pinot Noir.

For our entrees, I got the Yarra Valley Blackmore Wagyu carpaccio with black garlic puree, deep fried bone marrow and green olive powder (see first pic).  This is easily the most decadent Wagyu that I've ever eaten - none of the Wagyu that I've eaten before comes close to the amount of marbling in this dish!  

The marbling in Wagyu beef is graded from 1-12.  This was a score of nine, which meant it was deliciously creamy. The wafer thin slices went really well with the tart cornichons and the very moreish black garlic puree.  Although I couldn't quite taste the garlic, I really liked the umani flavour of the puree - it reminded me of Bovril, which complemented the Wagyu.  At the time, I didn't realise that the little fried ball was actually bone marrow - I cut it open and this little pod-like jelly slid out.  It didn't have much of a flavour but I liked the novelty of it.

Mr Strong went for the local beetroots, with Yarra Valley goats curd foam and pine nuts.  A lovely, light entree of sweet, tender beetroots and the light-as-air goats curd foam.  I especially liked the little dots of dark red puree - I think it was pureed beets but it had something else added to it to give it a really savoury flavour.  The toasted pine nuts gave a nice earthiness that balanced out the sweet beets.

For mains, I got the wild mushroom vialone nano risotto, which was served with a cute pot of mushroom consomme and mushroom and aged parmesan croquettes.  A lovely thick risotto with loads of wild mushrooms.  I particularly liked the use of enoki, wood ear fungus and oyster mushrooms - which you don't usually see in a risotto.  Throughout the risotto there were lovely wilted green leaves and lots of oozing parmesan.  The croquettes had a yummy crunchy crust which hid a gooey inner.

While I liked my risotto, the standout dish of the day was the 220g Wagyu rump.  Gorgeously beefy and seared.  We asked for it to be served medium well, and it came out perfectly.  As with the carpaccio, it had a marble score of nine.  It was served with horseradish potato puree, baby leeks, pearl onions and Rochford Pinot Noir jus.

The Wagyu was meltingly tender and flavoursome, and the jus was also full of flavour.  I also loved the onions which were burnished with balsamic vinegar (I think).  There was a very generous serve of mash, which was smooth but I couldn't quite taste the horseradish.  Mr Strong was very happy with his choice of dish. 

To go with our mains, we ordered a serve of seasonal veggies.  I loved the nice mix of vegs, which included samphire (locally foraged), kale, a colourful range of carrots, broccolini and peas.  All were perfectly al dente and tender, and were drizzled with olive oil.

We were too full to order dessert.  However, I did spy the table across from us order the tiramisu (served in a small terracotta pot), Death By Chocolate, and the apple pie (with lots of pashmak on top - this would have been my choice if I wasn't so full).  Mr Strong ended his meal with a latte.

Verdict

Food – 8.5

Ambiance – 7.5

Service – 9*

Price – 7.5*

*Scores are notional as we were guests of Isabella's.

Overall

Thank you to Rochford Winery, Head Chef Ciaran Butler and his team at Isabella's for taking the time to show us their estate and share with us their lovely food.  I spoke to Head Chef Ciaran who explained that they source much of their ingredients locally and that their menu changes regularly. 

The service is friendly and attentive, and the serves are generous - you'll definitely leave feeling full.  Isabella's and Rochford Winery are well worth the visit.  Certainly, there were plenty of people here sharing the same view - from large groups sharing a special meal, tourists, and young families enjoying the cafe while the kids and dogs play in the grassy field.

Address

Isabella's at Rochford Winery

878-80 Maroondah Hwy

Coldstream 3770

Telephone: 03 5962 2119

Pacific Seafood BBQ House, Melbourne CBD by Bureaucrat

One fine day, I met Mother Hen and Mr Strong in the city for lunch.  As we were around QV, Mother Hen suggested that we try out Pacific Seafood BBQ House on Lonsdale Street (although, oddly, the name on the shop is Pacific BBQ Cafe) - apparently our friends, Mr and Mrs L, have eaten here before and reckon it's pretty good.

I'm fairly sure that there is another PSBH in another suburb - either Richmond or South Yarra seems to ring a bell.  I have walked past this PSBH loads of times but have never tried it out.

Inside, the place reminded me of a school cafeteria.  Bright colours, plastic chairs and booths, and the tables set out in a neat grid formation.  While it was early (around 12pm), the place already had quite a few tables of diners tucking into lunch.

I didn't need to read the menu to know what I wanted to order - roast duck on rice!  The duck here was pretty good - juicy, meaty and not too fatty.  It came with a big serve of rice and some lightly stir fried cabbage.  Simple and good.  

Mr Strong went for the stir fry beef hor fun.  A fairly big plate of hor fun with lots of beef strips, which had beanshoots and spring onions tossed through.  A reasonable amount of wok hei and it wasn't too salty.

Mother Hen went for one of the $11 set lunch menu items.  She got the grilled pork chop w black pepper sauce on rice (it also came with spaghetti).  Along with that you can also have a cup of tea or coffee.  She opted for the tea which was served Honkie style - which, to me, tastes like builders' tea made with too much sweetened condensed milk.  

Verdict

Food – 7.5

Ambiance – 7

Service – 7

Price – 8.5

Overall

A nice spot for a cheap and cheerful lunch.  The menu is varied and has lots of Honkie favourites. While I've only been there once, I reckon this place is a keeper.  I'll definitely go back for the roast duck on rice.  

Address

Pacific Seafood BBQ House

213 Lonsdale Street  

Melbourne VIC 3000

Telephone: 9663 9288

Mamak, Melbourne CBD by Bureaucrat

Mamak is a restaurant that's rather popular in Sydney, which has found its way into Melbourne.  When it first opened, I remember the buzz about the fact that it was opening, and the long queues of people lining up for a table every day.  Big Fil went there a few weeks after it opened (see his review in September 2012).  

As I'm quite skeptical of most things, I figured, if Mamak is good, then it would be around for some time and, as such, I don't need to hurry to try the food there.  When I first ate there (over a year ago), I didn't see what the big deal was.  The food was okay but I thought it was a bit pricey for what it was. I didn't have anything against the place but I wasn't in a hurry to go back.

So a few weeks ago, it happened that we needed a quick apres work dinner.  As it was before 6pm, the place wasn't full and we got a table straightaway.

We got two mains and some roti chanai to share.  The roti was flaky and light and came with some dipping sauces.  By memory, the yellow one was had some lentils and wasn't too spicy (it was our preferred sauce), while the orangey one was bit more spicy.  We didn't even try the chilli sauce because it'd probably be too hot for us.  While the roti was freshly made and the sauces were nice in flavour, the sauces, however, were lukewarm.  Tsk.

For the mains, we got nasi lemak w curry chicken ($12).  Instead of curry chicken, you can choose curry fish, lamb or veggies; sambal prawn or cuttlefish; or fried chicken.  A big mound of coconut rice was the good thing - as were the ikan bilis, roasted peanuts, cubes of cukes and the boiled egg.  The curry chicken itself was rather mingy.  Two pieces of mostly bone and gristle with very little meat, and also served rather lukewarm.  Definitely not worth the $12.

The mee goreng ($12) was slightly better - at least it was freshly cooked.  Stir fried Hokkein noodles w egg, prawns, fish cake and bean sprouts.  It was okay but nothing exceptional or noteworthy about it.

Verdict

Food – 6.5

Atmosphere – 7

Service – 7

Price - 6

Overall

While my first visit I thought Mamak was 'meh', based on my latest visit, my thoughts are "I'm not coming back".  There was a whiff of MSG from one or both of dishes - I couldn't tell which one though.  It was enough to make me feel really thirsty afterwards.  

Food is average - you can certainly get better for cheaper or at the same price elsewhere.  I still can't understand what the big deal about this place is (and there are still queues during the peak dining times).  For the price, the serving size is on the wee side - we were both still hungry afterwards.  I certainly wouldn't line up to eat here.

This ain't a cheap and cheerful sort of place.  It's mid-range but they still expect you to clear your table asap so they can give it to the next lot of diners.  Overall, I find Mamak a bit of a rip-off.

Address

Mamak

366 Lonsdale St  

Melbourne Vic 3000

Telephone: 9670 3137