Airstream Cafe, Glen Waverley by Obelix

It's school holidays and Kiddo and I had a movie date.  But a date is not a date without being wined and dined.  So we had pre-movie sustenance at Airstream Cafe within the Century City complex where the Village cinemas are situated.

The ambience of Airstream is light and airy.  There is an alfresco deck area which I would imagine would be lovely to sit out on a sunny day.  Kudos to Airstream, the staff are extremely cognizant that patrons may be movie-goers and we were asked at least three times by three different service staff about the timing we would like our meal to be served.

I ordered a grilled salmon on a bed of scalloped potatoes, green beans and a citrusy glaze ($26.40).  It was very filling and quite rich with the creamy potatoes and oily fish.  Even a glutton like me struggled to finish this.  The salmon itself was probably a bit too over done for my liking

Kiddo chose off the kids menu.  There were a selection of five or six mains and for $10, a drink and ice cream was included.  Kiddo chose the Hawaiian pizza.  The pizzas at Airstream are cooked in a wood fire oven.  There was unfortunately a bit of a wait for Kiddo's pizza.  Luckily we were filling ourselves up with the moreish hand cut chips.

The aforementioned handcut chips ($9) served with a delicious garlicy aioli and ketchup.  

I ordered a decaff latte to wash it down and Kiddo had her lemonade which came with the kids meal.

Kiddo then wrapped up the meal with chocolate icecream.  

Verdict:  We liked it.

Overall
Airstream Cafe is a good pre movie / post movie stopover for a feed and drinkie poos.  The staff are very friendly and they endeavour to get you out in time for your movie.  The kids menu in particular is good value.

Da Rin, Melbourne CBD by Bureaucrat

Da Rin is a Korean restaurant that specialises in the crispy Korean style chicken.  I think Gangnam Pocha used to be here but it seems like it's now gone and in its place is Da Rin and another adjoining restaurant. 

Da Rin is a narrow-ish restaurant with cutesy Korean girls waiting on you, while the mandatory flat screen TV blares psychedelic Korean pop music videos at you.

Naturally, fried chicken is featured on the menu.  There's a range of flavours (sauces, e.g., sweet and spicy, honey and garlic) to choose from and you can choose to have a small or large serve.  We went for a small serve of the original fried chicken original ($15).  There's about six or so pieces.  A light crispy batter, the chicken is fairly succulent and tender. It's nice but nothing particularly special about it - except for the way it was served, which was on a black slate and a pair of mini tongs in a bucket for you to put the chicken bones away.

It also came with a very refreshing and fresh side dish or pickled radish and shredded cabbage with a sort of 1000 island dressing on top.  We also ordered a serve of rice to go with the chicken.


We also got the bulgogi bibimbap ($16).  While it certainly looks generous in size, we've certainly had better bibimbap before.  It tasted fine but there are tastier versions around town.  It came with a bowl of miso soup and chilli sauce.



Verdict: we liked it.

Overall
Service is friendly but the kitchen service is a little slow on the night we went.  The food here is fine but nothing exceptional or rave worthy about it.

Hakata Gensuke (by invitation), Hawthorn by Obelix

The ramen at Hakata Gensuke is oft spoken of in revered tones among ramen aficionados.  Queues of ramen hungry patrons are frequently seen outside the HG in Melbourne CBD hanging for a fix.  See Bureaucrat's post on HG, CBD here.

I was so excited to hear that a Hawthorn branch of Hakata Gensuke has opened!  And I was thrilled to be invited to try the new items on the menu exclusive to the Hawthorn branch.


Gyoza

My dear friend M and I were treated to a few entrees to whet the appetite.  We could not forgive ourselves if we did not eat the chicken kaarage, succulent spiced chicken morsels crumbed and fried, and gyoza, delicate little dumplings filled with pork and veggies and pan fried to crispy perfection.

Then came the raison d'etre, the ramen.  When it comes to ramen, it's all about the broth.  I understand the broth at Hakata Gensuke has been simpered for over eight hours until it becomes a full bodied collagenic experience.  The broth seems to me to inhabit a nominal state between a liquid and a solid, it was so dense and lovely.

The Aka Tonkotsu ramen is exclusive to Hawthorn.  It is a delicious blend of spicy cod roe with the original tonkutsu (pork) broth and served with the traditional cha-su (pork) and noodles.  My friend M, being someone who could take the heat, very much enjoyed the Aka Tonkotsu and recommended it for any fellow chilli heads.

I, on the other hand am I chilli wimp and opted for the black tonkotsu which was the basic tonkotsu broth blended with a black sesame paste.  It was sublime.  The sesame lended a further depth of flavour to the broth.  I could swim in it, it was so divine.  The cha su was melt-in-the-mouth tender.

As a companion to our ramen, we sampled the Mentai rice, another exclusive to the Hawthorn branch.  It was Japanese pearl rice topped with spicy cod roe, the mentai and surrounded by crispy shards of nori.

Any ramen connoisseur would say that the accoutrements are almost just as important as the main event. HG offers a selection of pickles, garlic paste, sesame seeds, dipping sauces to further enhance the noodle experience.

For drinks we sampled a selection of Japanese beverages.  M had the famous 'pop soda' with the glass bead gimmick and the fizzy yoghurt drink, Calpico.

I went the clean green tea option, served cold in a can.

Here are a few shots to demonstrate the ambience of Hakata Gensuke Hawthorn edition.  It is a casual and contempory fitout, perfect for informal dining with family and friends and located so conveniently along the Glenferrie Road strip.

Verdict:  We loved it.

Overall
Like the HG in the CBD, HG Hawthorn does not disappoint, offering authentic ramen experience for Melbournians.  HG Hawthorn has addition menu items, namely the Aka Tonkotsu and Mentai rice which are both definitely worth sampling.  Thank you Hakata Gensuke for the invite to the opening of the Hawthorn branch.

Dae Ji Pork Cutlet House, Vancouver (Canada) by Bureaucrat

Ingrained (ha!) in me is a need to eat rice.  Give me a big bowl of fluffy, aromatic rice and I'm a happy camper.  By this point, we had been in Canada for over a week and I was seriously feeling the need to have some rice for dinner.  

I had found a Chinese eatery with a high score on Urbanspoon in Downtown Vancouver.  However, we couldn't find it but instead we found a Korean restaurant, Dae Ji Pork Cutlet House.  It's a cheap and cheerful sort of place - nothing too flash on the inside, what with the small tables and slightly poky set-up; and while the place isn't grotty it could do with a bit of a spruce up.

Feeling greedy, I got the Daei Ji pork cutlet (CAD$8.99).  Two pieces of crumbed pork, smothered in gravy, served with rice, corn niblets, picked veg and salad. Simple and hearty, it hit the spot.  The pork was tender and the batter was thin and crunchy.

The pork and rice came with a bowl of miso soup, which was a tad too salty for my liking.

The Lawyer, also missing his rice intake, got the chicken cutlet curry on rice (CAD$7.99).  It also came with miso soup, and he also ordered a fried egg (CAD$1) and got an extra serve of rice too (CAD$1.50).

Verdict: we liked it a lot.

Overall

Really great value here.  The food is simple but it's good and homestyle in nature.  The place seems popular with Koreans, students and office workers.  Service is friendly.  

Souperman, Melbourne CBD by Bureaucrat

With its bank of black soup cauldrons, Souperman in the QV shopping centre food court seemed like the perfect place for a quick, healthy and filling lunch.  Mr P has soup from there and thought it was pretty good.  So one day, I joined him and got soup.

There is about six or types of soups to choose from.  I went with the avgolemono - a lemony, chicken Greek soup.  I've come across in recipe books but I've never had it before.  It's meant to be a soothing, homely soup, made with lemon juice, chicken broth, egg and rice - kinda like the Greek version of the Jewish chicken matzo ball soup.

Apart from knowing what the soup is made of, I have no idea what an authentic avgolemono soup is meant to taste like.  However, I'm fairly sure it wasn't meant to taste like Chinese congee.  It really did taste 'Chinese' - it tasted like and had the consistency of chicken congee (especially the rice, which had almost disintegrated and the soup was a bit watery in texture) that you would buy from any Chinese restaurant.  The only thing that made it not like a typical congee was the presence of the lemony tang among the strands of chicken and cracked black peppercorns.  Also, I'm not sure if there was any egg in the soup.  It came with a slice of day-oldish bread.

Verdict: we wouldn't return.

Overall
I like the idea of a place that sells a range of soup - it's a great for the times you want a healthy lunch. While the price is relatively cheap, I'm not sure I'd got back there again.

Pie In The Sky, Olinda by Obelix

Pie In The Sky

Why, oh why, oh why?

Apologies for the short and lame attempt at verse but I cannot fathom the big attraction that is Pie In The Sky.  Yes, it is situated on the tourist trail in Mt Dandenongs but surely that alone does not explain why there are throng of tourists queuing up to eat there.  The quality of the pies certainly offers no explanation. Bureaucrat has dined there before and loved it, see post.  So I'm stumped...maybe I went there on a bad day for I found their pies were as bad as my poetry.

I don't want to turn this into a long winded whinge-fest so I'll keep it succinct.  I found their food similar in quality and content to that served in hospital canteens.  I used to work in a hospital where for five bucks, the staff could order the lunch special which resembled a plate of food at Pie In the Sky.

This was their beef burgundy with chips ($11.40) and gravy ($1.50).  Apparently this pie is a "Gold Medal Winner" as per their menu.

I had the tandoori chicken and spinach which is the "Multi Gold Medal Winner' with peas, mash and gravy ($14.90).


It was instant mash potatoes dolloped hospital canteen style and there wasn't much spinach in the pie (see above).


Kiddo had chicken strips from the kid's menu ($9.95) inclusive of free ice cream (see below).

And a shot of outside...



Verdict: we wouldn't return.

Overall:  Pie In The Sky is certainly a popular tourist destination but one could get better pies from the frozen section of the local supermarket.  Most of their pies are proclaimed medal winners but I am unsure who's awarding them.

Oriental Wong's Kitchen, Box Hill by Obelix

Oriental Wong's Kitchen was a tip off from my mother.  If she said it was worth going to, then it usually is as my mum is nothing short of discerning and loves nothing less than seeing value for her money.

Oriental Wong's Kitchen is set unpretentiously in a food court in Box Hill.  It holds its own very well next to the plethora of Asia eateries in the area.  On my mum's recommendations, we ordered:

The roast duck on rice ($8.50).  This was a generous serving of breast and leg meat and the price was surprisingly low for roast duck.

Fish ball noodle soup ($8.50),  Once again whopping serves.  Apparently the fish balls are made on premises and one can buy these separately to cook at home.  I enjoyed the fish balls, great texture.  The flavour of the broth was light and clean.  A good dish for a great price.

Kiddo had the BBQ pork with rice noodles ($9). The BBQ pork were tender and not too fatty.  The serving size was not as gargantuan compared to the dishes.

Silky bean curd ($2).  We had the sweet and warm version with ginger syrup as dessert.  I love this stuff.  So silky it dissolves the instant it hits your mouth.  It's poetry.



Verdict: We loved it.

Overall
Oriental Wong's Kitchen is cheap eats done right.  The roast meat dishes are definitely their specialty.  I have tried their more hawker stall offerings on other occasions such as the Hainanese Chicken rice.  That was disappointing.  So the moral of the story is, stick with their roast meat dishes and you can't go wrong.

Spring St Grocer, Melbourne CBD by Obelix

The Spring St Grocer is a veritable treasure trove of all my favourite things:


Fresh flowers...


A Gelateria...

An organic grocery section selling all sorts of wonderful things.  It even sells kombucha!....

And something to really really make my heart skip a beat...a fromagerie.  It has a proper climate controlled cheese room with a very informative staff member who was a fountain of cheesy knowledge.  And they weren't skimping on the tastings either...

As tempting as all of the above, I was really at The Grocers to grab lunch.  I was very excited to see New York style deli options on the menu.


I ordered the chopped liver, egg, onion and lettuce on rye ($9).  It was absolutely awesome.  I am not usually a big offal fan but having been converted to chopped liver and egg by a Jewish family whom I use to baby sit, this rye sandwich was a walk down memory lane.  The liver was nice and plentiful and without any off putting membranous bits.  The flavours were like pate but chunkier.


The rye bread leant a beautiful dense envelop to ferry the liver and egg mixture into my maw.  The cooked down onions were a nice touch.  I was particularly thrilled by the chips on the side!  It felt like a picnic.  

My friend ordered a vegetarian panini which reported back as filling and delicious.

Verdict: We loved it

Overall
The Spring St Grocer is like a one stop shop for all things wonderful.  I wish I could bring in my sleeping bag and camp in their fromagerie and do nothing but feast on cheese, gelati, chopped liver, kombucha all day.