Kampung Story [at] Point Cook, VIC

The first time we ate here I wasn't terribly impressed. I had thought the prices were a bit too steep for what we were getting; from what I can recall, I think each dish was around the $12 mark. The Husband didn't mind the place as he enjoyed the Roasted Chicken Rice, though I wasn't particularly keen on it.

We gave it another shot one afternoon when we realised they had begun offering a lunch deal; $9.80 for a main meal plus a drink and a chicken + sweet corn soup. Now that, I think, is a way more appropriate price point. I think with the lunch deal, you choose one main meal from around 6-8 choices.

 Roasted Chicken Rice

The Husband, of course, ordered the roasted chicken rice (again), but this time he wasn't as impressed as before - although edible (rice was flavourful), somehow it didn't taste as authentic, he said. By the way, the roasted chicken rice was not part of the lunch deal.

Nasi Lemak with beef rendang

I ordered the nasi lemak, and given the choice to have it served with beef rendang, chicken curry or fried chicken, I opted for the rendang. Not a fan of the sambal served with the nasi lemak, but everything else was pretty decent.

Overall, value for money for a decent malaysian meal, if you have the lunch deal. I have been back a couple of times for the lunch deal since, and wouldn't mind the occasional dinner here if I am really craving for Malaysian food without wanting to travel far.

Sanctuary Lakes Hotel Cafe [at] Point Cook

$2.50 coffees before 12pm on weekdays. Normally skeptical, but a friend had recommended that coffee and breakfast weren't too bad at all.

Came by on a weekday, and the weekday breakfast menu was a bit sad. Just whatever you see in the glass display - muffins, quiche, etc. Ordered a coffee, which was actually pretty good.

That brought us back on a weekend to try their cooked breakfast. A relatively small menu, but definitely enough to cater to all tastes.

Big Breakfast

The Husband decided to ordered the big breakfast with scrambled eggs; definitely worth having it again. The eggs were fluffy, bacon were thick-cut; it was all quite lovely actually.

Rustic Baked Eggs w/ chorizo

I opted for the rustic baked eggs with chorizo; came served with sourdough bread. The eggs were poached well, eggs were runny. I did enjoy it, but couldn't eat the whole serve by myself.

Great little cafe; there's a lovely fireplace to sit by. The only negative thing is that the cafe is only open until 12pm everyday, and cooked breakfast is only served on weekends. Kind of a bummer. But overall, I'd be keen to come by for breakfast on the weekend again.

Evolution of Veni-Vidi-Voro

A bit depressing, looking at my two previous posts - from Cutler & Co. in Fitzroy to Little Mekong in Laverton.

sigh.

Little Mekong [at] Laverton, VIC

We decided to have dinner here about a week ago, when I craved for some rice paper rolls but didn't want to travel to Footscray. A few work colleagues had recommended this place, so we decided to give it a go.

The restaurant does have street frontage on Triholm Avenue, however you can ONLY enter via their back entrance. For some (possibly security) reason, they leave their front entrance door locked. There is parking behind the restaurant, so it was easier to access via the back anyway.

Remember I said we went to dinner because I craved rice paper rolls?

Well, there weren't any on the menu!
Ack! I can see someone had posted photos of rice paper rolls on Urbanspoon  in January 2013. Where were my rice paper rolls in July?!    :(

We settled on some Cha Gio (Vietnamese spring rolls, $6 for 6) instead. They were freshly fried, but I thought the meat filling was just too lean. Wasn't bad tasting, but the filling wasn't very flavoursome - just tasted like lean minced pork marinated in fish sauce and white pepper.

Whenever we want to give a Vietnamese restaurant a try, we normally order the same dishes as a benchmark - the broken rice  (Com Tam Bi Suon Cha Trung - Steamed broken rice w/ marinated pork chop, homemade meat loaf, shredded pork, fried egg with a side of pickled vegetables - $10) and beef pho (Vietnamese beef noodle soup - $10).

The rice itself tasted like plain steamed jasmine rice, fluffy and soft, instead of the slightly firmer grains that we normally get in Footscray or Richmond. Pork chop was a tad dry, but overall, it was okay to eat.

Pho was again edible, but not-quite-comparable to the likes of my beloved Footscray.

Service was great - staff was certainly friendly and courteous - lovely people.

Overall, we didn't leave disappointed, but chances are that we would continue to trek up to Footscray whenever we crave for some Vietnamese food. I probably wouldn't oppose to returning, if someone suggests dining here - I'd probably be keen to try the shared dishes to see how things go.

Most importantly, nothing seemed as if it had been sitting there for ages - everything did seem freshly cooked, for which I am always thankful!

Cutler & Co. [at] Fitzroy, VIC

Just photos from our dinner on my birthday in January 2012. The place didn't look too "fine-dining" - not a place you'd go to have a quiet meal before offering a marriage proposal though. Overall, food was great.

Sorry for the abruptness of the post - this just fell into the "I'll blog about this later" pile and got forgotten for 18 months. whoops!

 

 

The pièce de résistance, of course, the reason we were there, was for the pork. omnomnom.

Dessert:

 

Cafe Indigo [at] Point Cook

Cafe Indigo really does not look like a cafe I'd even consider stepping into. Decor-wise, it was really unimpressive; it really just looked drab and boring - kinda like those places that serve kraft 99% fat-free overly-sweet mayo in their salads, or "free-form" lasagne, or unidentified/unspecified "meat" pies... you get the picture.

It was only because I was on the way to the loo at the Sanctuary Lakes Shopping Centre in Point Cook, and walked past the cafe and came across its menu. Words like "Meredith Dairy Goat's Feta" and "wagyu" and "pulled pork" jumped out and surprised me. I couldn't believe my eyes! Could this really be true??? The guy at counter also mentioned that if I didn't like the coffee, they would give my money back!

They print out their menus on 'normal' paper and so I could just take a copy home. The menu stuck on our fridge and we planned to go give it a try "no matter what".

I really really wanted to like it!

And so the verdict?

We popped over for lunch on a Saturday. The Husband felt like the lamb burger, and I wanted to give the pulled pork sandwich a go.

I would have liked the pulled pork sandwich to have been a bit more moist. The pork was a tad dry and I felt there wasn't enough sauce. Would've like it if the coleslaw had just that little bit more dressing.

The Husband was reasonably happy with his lamb burger; I felt it needed a little more salt, and my homemade burgers are probably yummier.

That said, for $10-11 per dish, it was very reasonable and we were happy enough to not mind trying the other items on the menu next time. I was more than happy to pay $10 for the meal, but certainly not if I had to pay the same price as what you'd get in the city (~$17).

Chips were fresh - so score one on that! Coffee was drinkable, surprisingly.

Overall impression: The menu definitely sounds more impressive than the actual dishes. But if I was in the area and needed to have lunch out or a coffee, I really wouldn't mind dining here again. But it'd need quite a bit of work before I could call it a 'great cafe'

All the best!

Wonderbao [at] Melbourne CBD

I had visited Wonderbao AGES ago, and realised this blog post was still unpublished in draft form. And what do I see on Urbanspoon today? That Wonderbao is now the second most talked about place in Melbourne - Ooohhhh - i was there first (kinda, not really; but I was there before ALL the recent hype!) - well done wonderbao peeps!


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Finally got the chance to try out wonderbao. At $3.8 per special bao it's not terribly expensive. We ordered 2 different kinds of pork belly bao, and a vegetarian one, as well as a pork da bao and a chicken one.

My favourite bao was the pork belly bao with pickled vegetables. Sorry- didn't take the time to note down the actual description on the menu. I also thought the pork da bao was pretty good too. A noticeable difference from the $2 ones u get from your local Chinese takeaway shop or the frozen ones from the Asian grocer (uhm, come to think of it, perhaps the ones you get from the local Chinese takeaway shop ARE the frozen ones from the grocery). Anyway, THESE ones actually taste of pork and the meat was juicy.

Overall, a like! Would be happy to grab a quick bite from here again!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The Ivy [at] Olinda, Mt. Dandenong

Gosh, I cannot believe it has been one whole year since my last post on this blog! What happened to being obsessed (albeit mildly) about photographing and talking about food??

Anywho, the sudden resurgence of this blog is now due to our visit yesterday to The Ivy in Mt. Dandenong. Have posted the below review on Urbanspoon directly:

Having been here once and being quite happy with their dinner meals, I thought it'd be a nice place to bring my mother and mother-in-law over for lunch on Anzac Day. Wood-fired pizzas we ordered were decent, kid's meal was unexpectedly small-sized (for my 11yo nephew). When we asked for the bill, we gave our Entertainment Book voucher to get our "Buy 1 main, get 1 main meal free" deal, only to be ABRUPTLY and RUDELY told that they do not accept the vouchers on public holidays, that this was an Entertainment Book ruling, and we would have to take it up with Entertainment Book. When I (very calmly) tried to clarify that the Book specifically states that the vouchers are ONLY NOT VALID on:
- Christmas eve, Christmas day, Boxing Day, new year's eve, new year's day
- Valentine's Day,
- Good Friday and Easter Sunday
- Mother's Day;
The man at the counter (presumably the business owner), interrupted me and rudely insisted that they do not accept it on public holidays that I should bring up the matter with Entertainment Book.

If business owners cannot financially afford to partner with Entertainment Book to offer such deals honouring its terms and conditions, they just shouldn't partner with them in the first place.

Extremely appalling. Will definitely not be back to The Ivy. This is of no loss to me, as there are many other establishments on Mt Dandenong to visit. Would gladly pay full price (instead of saving a mere $25) to businesses that have more integrity!

You can be sure that I would not be recommending this place to friends any longer.

Really so appalling and disappointing. There are SO MANY other places on Mt. Dandenong to dine at; they can be certain we will not be returning.