Melbourne Culinary 2.0

Another Melbourne postttt ! It's been my favorite city to visit lately. In fact I am planning to go again in early April just for culinary purposes ;P I appreciate coffee more because of Melbourne hihi.. 

So this post was during my visit back in Dec 2015. I know right, its been too long! That time I traveled with plane and yeah, I conquer my fear of flying, sort of ;p

First stop is to St.Ali in South Melbourne. I reached there at around 2PM and was in shock cause the people are actually still queuing for table! It amazed me at the same time how wide their dining space are. The cafe itself has the central spot on the top left pic below, but they got other dining area which are just across this spot and next to it. 

How cool is that Pool of Bottled Ice Coffee! :)

They have DJ in da hood too! how Cool is that ......

We seated after almost about 20mins of waiting and I got their Ice Cold Latte.. I think this ice coffee down here is my favourite so far in both Sydney and Melbourne! It was light in terms of mouth feel and yet the flavour is pretty strong and aromatic! Highly Recommended...

$6

For the foods, we ordered My Body is My Temple. A vegan option which comprise with Pistacchio Sponge, Pecan, Dark Chocolate, crunchy Puffed Grains, Banana Matcha Mousse, Fresh bananas and Lime. I love the texture but flavour wise, it wasn't great, just love the banana ;P

$18.5

The next dish that we ordered is actually the 1st dish on the "Hall of Fame" category in their menu which is called My Mexican Cousin ^^ I really like how they named their dish :) SO it's a Corn fritter made with their secret recipe with poached egg, Grilled Haloumi, Corn and Cucumber Salsa, Spicy tomato puree and Green Salad. Almost every table ordered this dish, so I thought might give it a go.. Again, it doesn't impressed me much, despite the perfect oozing poached egg and the freshness of the combination, the corn fritter wasn't the best I've had.

That may also be because we were too full from the previous lunch that we had in Menya and the tiredness since we caught the really early flight on the 1st of Jan after watching the fireworks the previous day.. muahaha..

For Dinner, we straight away went to Ma Brown. Which I did book early for their quails! I still go to the one in Balwyn. Even though it's quite a drive, I think its always worthed for good food. Recently my friend dine in the one in the city but he told me it was just good and not life changing good.. I wonder whether the taste are the same.. I am really curious, wanna confirm it but don't wanna risk my chance of paying for un-delicious foods ;p

PS: If u go to Ma Brown, take photo and upload it on insta wwith hashtags, they give our free dish if u win.. I won a deep Fried Calamari on my next visit! I wonder if it's still redeemable in my next visit to Melboourne hihi..

Its the first time my dad visited the place and heee lovesss it. Can't get enough of them :)

That's basically summed up my first day in Melbourne..

Ho Jiak, Starthfield

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Ho Jiak, recently opened inside Strathfield Plaza offers a Hawker Style experience with their mini dining area and a delicious authentic Penang taste in every plates.

I went there with my foodie troops a couple months back

The foods there are well priced and the portion was good as well. To start with, there is nothing better than Penang Chee Cheong Fun. Steamed Rice Roll with Tofu Skin, Fish Balls and Sweet Black Sauce. Love the sweet sauce! And a great start to begin the meals.

Chee Chong Fun $7.80

Next to come is the Bah kut Teh. Pork spare Ribs, Pork Belly and Deep Fried tofu cooked in a Chinese Herbal Soup. The soup is lighter in colour than the one I had in Penang but the taste itself is really good and not too herby as might be offensive to some people. Bakut teh that night was one of the favourite among us..

Bah Kut Teh $13.80

 And the must order whenever you visited Penang or Penang-food restaurant is their Char Kwey teow. With a nice smoky wok aroma and chewy rice noodle is the perfect sign that this is legit stuff! Cooked with cockles, lap tjeong, prawns and egg! I did add a bit more soy sauce and chilli to it cause i love my food salty and spicy ;p

Char Kuey teow $12.80

Nasi Pattaya is Malaysian Fried Rice inside Omelette almost like Omurice in Japan but this one is more complex in terms of flavour in my opinion. Almost every table got this dish and yeah, it tasted amazing ;) It looks simple but hey it's really hard to make a perfect fried rice without ready made paste, in my opinion :)

Nasi Pattaya $12.80

Another fried rice that night but the special thing about this one is the Sambal Durian. Yes ladies and gentlement, there is a hint of Durian inside that chilli paste and I love it. It tasted pretty weird on the first bite cause who put durian in chillies right, but it actually is a good combination after all.

Harmee - Penang Prawn Noodle soup is my personal favourite! Rich broth with perfectly cooked noodle, fresh prawns and sliced of pork belly with boiled egg and fried shallot! You just have to try them. No words to explain ;P I also did put heaps of belacan sambal in it. Yuum

Harmee - $12.80

Overall, I love their foods! We ate our heart out and we were sad cause we didn't get to try the Hainanese Chicken rice and did not get to taste their Michael Jackson. But that means, another reason to visit! The pic below shows how crazy we were, 6 of us and we bought that much, plus the Roti Canai with Chicken Curry that I didn't get to take photo cause we were too hungry and the foods were too precious just to be photo-ed and stared ;P

Spice Alley, Kensington Street

So couple weeks ago, my friends and I visited Kensington street for the first time on a Sunday. We reached the place 2pm after church and we were starving! Luckily, the place wasn't as crowded as I imagined it would be.

This place is located just next to Central Park and they got so many entrance to the area. We went through this small lane to reach the place and once we entered, we were amazed by the design of the dining area and how the placed the food vendors. Definitely bring me back to eating street foods in Malaysia.

Went to Spice Alley with Ms.N, her sister and not to forget Bebski. The four of us ordered each dishes from each stalls. They were so cheap and so delicious at the same time! So let me break down the list of the food vendors:

• Alex Lee Kitchen : was planning to try their Durian Roti but they run out, so we got the Roti Telor and Roti Canai with Curry
• Old Jim Kee: Char Kuey Teow, Hokkian Noodle, Sambal Pipi, Lohbak and Fried Chicken Wing
• Bang Luck : Oyster Omellete fritter and Crispy Pork Belly with Chilli Jam on Rice
• Hongkong Diner: Roast Duck with Salted egg on Rice
• Drinks: Ice Kacang and Milk tea

Believe or not, each person spent $25 for everything. We ate our heart out and tummy are fully satisfied! :)

Spice Alley is a great place to chill and they sell a variety of foods to choose from.

Had Froyo from Anita for dessert. I know.. i know. After all that feast, i still got room for this :P

The Goni's Schnitzelria, Marrickville

Bebs' colleague at work recommended this place in Marrickville for the biggest schnitzel ever! So last weekend, Beb and I visited this place cause we wanted to witness how big the schnitzy are! We reached there around 1pm and the place was pretty empty..

They also only accepted cash! I've looked at their menu before we came and we ordered immediately.. Their menus range from $24-$35.

Their dining area are wide and there isn't much decoration in the place. It's pretty plain I must say, which give me doubt at first to visit the place. I even confirmed with bebski about the place cause he said that during lunch time, it is usually crowded with customers!

We looked at the only patron dining there that arvo and the plates on their table were massive! So we decided to get just one dish and a starter.
the Garlic bread with Turkish bread sounds interesting. So we ordered that and I'm glad I did, it was crisp and yet chewy, just perfect texture to my liking! The garlic was not too overpowering, just enough to make it fragrant. yummy!

Turkish Garlic Bread $6

For the main, we got the Schnitzel Marinara, which comes with Garlic Prawn and Deep Fried Calamari. At first, I thought there will be a pile of tomato marinara sauce on the schnitzel, but thankfully, it doesn't. Otherwise the schnitzel will be too mushy by the sauce.

The portion amazed me beyond measure! I couldn't imagine how big the deep fryer is! The chicken stuck with one another and it's just a humongous slab of chicken breast perfectly crumbed and deep fried into the square plate. Bebski and I only ate 1/3 of the plate and we took the rest home.

We had that for dinner and 2x lunches before we can finished it up. I think it can easily feed 4 people for $27 $$ Very good value for the pocket!

Schnitzel Marinara $27

As we were eating, the place started to be crowded with people from all ages but mostly oz. I think we are the only asian customer dining there haha! Nevertheless, I'm glad that I followed beb's suggestion to try the place out. It did not disappoint. But lesson learnt, next time when I visit the place, I will surely bring more company with me! :)

My Delight, Mascot

Two Indonesian Restaurant in a week! We dooo missed Indonesian food soo muchh last week. Sunday is usually my brunch day but last week, I gave in to Bebski cause he wanted to try My Delight for quite a while now. My sister has been telling us to try their Green Chilli chicken and My friends told me to try their Beef Ball soup  / Bakso Abang  abang. So we went and go mad on the foods, as always ;p

First, we tried their Pork Meatball. It was quite cold already but still good. It got a the prawn taste and it's not as empty as the one in Pinang Bistro. But I still prefer the later hands down.

We also ordered the Pork Satay - Indonesian style pork skewer chargrilled with sweet soy sauce. The meat was very generous and the seasoning are just perfect! It does taste like the one we have in Jakarta. bebskii loved it so muchhhh! and I highly recommend it if you wanted to try a very good pork satay.

Pork satay 5pcs $8

 And here comes the Green Chilli Chicken! Oh my Gawd, the green chillies areee too good! it's not spicy, but rather fragrant and really good with the chicken. The fried chicken is not as good as 99 but the green chilli, the best ive had so far in Sydney! Another recommended dish and especially eaten with steamed rice :)

Green Chilli Chicken $8

I tried the Bakso Abang2 - Clear Beef balls Soup with Tendon ball, soft tendon balls, Beef ball with egg inside and a tofu beef ball and vermicelli:) It wasn't as amazing as I thought it would be. It's okay, quite good. The problem is in the broth, it needs more punch of flavour. But with a bit of Kecap manis (sweet soy sauce), a bit of salt, vinegar and chilli, everything's changed :)

Bakso Abang Abang $9

To feed my curiosity, we also tried the Combination Noodle it got mince pork, diced chicken, boiled wontons and the best part, crispy pork lardddd.. groarr... The only noodle in Sydney that think smart enough to add this on noodle toppings! Bebski & I would definitely come back here just because of the lard!

Buttt...... If you're unlucky, sometimes they don't make the lard, so it is seasonal. better call first before you drive all the way to mascot if your eally wanted to try it out :) But the seasoning of the noodle and everything else is just perfect! The chilli also great hereee...

We spent ard $40-50 here for everything. But we came out with full tummy and smile on our face. Especially bebski's face :)

Enjoy Mie, Kensington

A new Indonesian Noodle  shop opened up in Kensington not too long ago. So bebski & I decided to try it out one Thursday night. The location of the place was where Wow Bulgogi used to be. They've changed a bit of the interior but everything else are still similar.

So what you do when you enter is to look at the menu, order to the counter and then pick a seat :) There's a self-serve section for cutleries, condiments and serviette.

Bebski and I were starving and we wanted to try everything on the menu but unfortunately they ran out of their Fried meatball. So we just got the Deep Fried Wonton (Pangsit Goreng). Nothing special on the wonton, it's a bit oily in  my opinion and not very generous on the fillings ;p

Fried Wonton $5 for 4pcs

We ordered their Mie Spesial which includes Diced Chicken, Soy Egg, Chicken Giblet and boiled Wonton. I love the seasonings of the noodle and I'm pretty sure they used pork lard or some kind of fat cause the taste is just spot on ;P

The only thing to complete an Indonesian Noodle dish is Chilli sauce! Unfortunately again they put too much water onto the chilli mix, maybe to cut cost but the taste is just too bland. :( But the noodle is pretty itself without the chilli. It's just my preferences hehe..

Mie Spesial $11

I loveeee Gow Gee / Suikiaw n indo.. I got a bowl of gow gee soup for the sides. It tasted pretty good in my opinion.. Pretty similar to the ones we got back in Jakarta :)

Gow Gee 4pcs $6

So the verdict of this place.. Worth a try but bebski didn't like it that much so maybe i'm not coming back.. well at least not with him. he ended up getting a Maccas meal on our way home ;P
Apart from Noodles, they only got one rice variant in their menu. They closed Monday and Tuesday.