Piatella, Glen Waverley by Bureaucrat

Once upon a time, Kingsway in Glen Waverley was yet another unexceptional suburban shopping precinct - mainly local fashion shops, professional services, a Chinese takeaway restaurant and a cafe or two.  Young families and golden oldies shuffled up and down Kingsway going about their daily business and dropping by at the local council office and the library.  Nowadays, Kingsway is bulging with cafes and restaurants, and getting a parking spot has turned into a competitive sport in this area.

Shakshuka baked eggs with chorizo and prosciutto

There are Asian eateries (e.g., Hong Kong Dim Sum, The Grand Tofu, Ocean King Chinese Restaurant) and cafes galore (e.g., Workshop Brothers, Mocha Jo's Burger Bar, Yo My Goodness) and even fine dining options (e.g., The Black Toro, The Butcher's Bench and Yokohama Teppanyaki) all located in this relatively short shopping strip.  

Dohwa, Glen Waverley by Bureaucrat

A new-ish addition to the Blackburn Road shops near Syndal station (where you'd find Trei and Danny's Kopitiam), Dohwa is a Korean restaurant. It's quiet and assuming.  I was recommended to try Dohwa by a Korean acquaintance of mine who works in the area - he says that the food there is authentic and tasty.  Reviews online agree with this assessment and for a mid-week lunch, we fronted up bang on 11:30am.


Korean fried chicken on rice

Inside, it's clean simple lines with nice little homely touches.  The service here is friendly and thoughtful - I particularly liked how we were given warm water on a cold winter's day and not cold water to drink.  There's a special lunch time menu, which we ordered from.  There's a mix of what you'd call traditional Korean dishes and also more modernised dishes (e.g., burgers made with Korean fried chicken served with chips).

Ichi Ramen, Box Hill by Bureaucrat

Buoyed by my experience of better than average dumplings at Dream Dumplings and chic Asian fusion brunch at The Penny Drop, I thought I'd be brave and see what else Box Hill has on offer.  A quick Google told me that Ichi Ramen was a spot for good ramen eats.  Located on the exterior-facing side of the old part of Box Hill Central, Ichi Ramen looked popular among the lunchtime diners.

For starters, the Lawyer and I shared some deep fried calamari.  These were lovely and tender and nicely seasoned.  However, I wasn't too impressed with the overly burnished hue of the batter - using some fresh(er) oil to cook the calamari would have made this dish much better.  I'm always a bit leery of places that re-use their cooking oil to such an extent that it's obvious in the dish.  I'm an advocate for waste minimisation in the kitchen but this is distinct from cost minimisation, which is what I suspect Ichi Ramen is doing.  

Dumpling King, Hawthorn by Obelix

I am on a lifelong quest for perfect dumplings.  On the pilgrim path, I came across Dumpling King in Hawthorn.


Right after a fun run whereby the middle-aged P exerted himself  in ways he has not in the past two decades, P, high on adrenaline, full of chest-thumping vim and vigour ordered their Sichuan wontons in hot spicy soup.  The verdict?  Hot. Spicy.  I could not get past nibbling the edges of the wonton wrapper before my lips were on fire.  So beyond the obvious adjectives in its name, I cannot describe their taste for you.  However if you are a chilli fiend, then I guess this one is right up your alley.