Sunday, December 19, 2010

Ramen Ya - CBD Melbourne

Address: Shop 25G Melbourne's GPO
350 Bourke St
Melbourne 3000
Phone: (03) 9654 5838
Website: http://www.ramenya.com.au/
Rate: 7/10



For people who become obsession with ramen I’m going to ramen ya, the name it self is self explanatory they serve ramen but they also serve bento box, rice and sides. This is one of those restaurant that is hard to find and it’s hiding in the alley way.
In ramen ya restaurant the order is simple you order in the counter you’ll pay and get a number then you sit down. Nothing like a cold Ramune in a sunny day, Ramune is a carbonated soft drink made in Japan which has a interesting design, a Codd-neck bottles held a marble on the mouth of the bottle. You push the marble inside the neck of the bottle where it rattles around while you drink.


The house special of CharChu Tonkotsu Ramen is surprisingly good when it only cost $10. The rich saltiness of the broth tasted like corn fed chicken soup, it’s full of flavor that you forget its saltiness which I recommended that some beverage afterward. As the broth provides flavor to the slender noodle it accompany by boiled egg, bamboo shoots, spring onion and thin slice of roasted pork.

CharChu Tonkotsu Ramen ($10)
My friend order the unagi bento, it consist of huge portion of rice, seaweed, pork gyoza with some vegis and grill unagi.
Unagi bento ($12.50)
 
Then we also order seafood gyoza and pork gyoza.

seafood gyoza and pork gyoza ($6.00)
The silky texture of the pastry fill with seafood, from what I found it's seafood stick that you can find in the Asian groceries

 Ramen ya offer cheap and economical of Ramen if you have a budget and wanted a good boil of Ramen.




Friday, December 17, 2010

Secret Recipe - CBD Melbourne

Address: Melbourne Central
211 La Trobe Street
Melbourne VIC 3000 (located on level three)
Phone: (03) 96398884
Website: www.secretrecipeaustralia.com/
Rate: 7/10

A restaurant just open two week ago has 241 fans on facebook in Australia. The ideal family friendly restaurant which has variety of cuisine, range from Asian classics nasi lemak to western cuisine spaghetti Bolognese. After a day of shopping in Melbourne central the kids menu and a good cup of coffee attracted a lot of family's and friends to this restaurant.
The first impression of this restaurant is a modern which the floor board when from floor up to the ceiling and beautiful cakes display on the shelf. First we order a beverage which is hot cafe mocha with marshmallows for a cold rainy day, a smooth and hot mocha make you fell warm inside but the marshmallows it's too big for the drink. (I prefer small one).

cafe mocha with marshmallows ($4.00)

My friend order grilled mushroom chicken. A grilled chicken has no grill mark come with a creamy mushroom sauce; on the side we have a salads and white rice which is fusion of western and Asian food a mix that I’ve never see before.

grilled mushroom chicken (14.50)

I’ve order the nasi goring with satay. The first bite of the fried rice tasted the creamy rice, the crunchiness form the green beans, the mix of chicken and the bacon is what it hold the dish together, then you fell hint of spiciness that gives a great kick to my taste buds. On the side there was chicken satay in skewers, the chicken was a bit dry and I was hoping some satay sauce I can dive in to.

nasi goreng with satay ($15.00)
 
For dessert I order mango delight, a layer of mango puree, fresh cream and chunks of mangoes.

mango delight (5.50)
 
My friend order the black forest cake, dark cherries filled into each layers of a cake.

black forest (5.50)
  Secret Recipe restaurant is deal family friendly cafĂ© restaurant with a wide range of foods to suit almost any taste, it's worth to try it out.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Mee Too Cafe & Bar - CBD

Address: Melbourne Central
211 La Trobe Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
Phone: (03) 9654 1322
Rate: 6/10



After exploring hundreds of store range form modern fashion to unique and modern architectural space in Melbourne central, we arrive at Menzies alley tucked behind the Melbourne Central office tower there is alley of cafe and bar for people who just wanted a quick bite to a leisurely lunch or dinner. We were convince by Mee too cafe staff that the porterhouse steak going to be melt in my mouth.
Immediately my friend orders the porterhouse steak. The porterhouse steak was cook till medium rare, its crispy outside and juicy inside, the smoothness of the red wine sauce goes well with the crunchiness of the green beans and the mushroom, my friend found surprise enough there were wedgies found under the mushroom which still have some crunch on it.
Porterhouse cook with red wind sauce ($26.80)


Well I order a rocky fish fillet with garden salads which appear on the special board. The dish was a disappointment because the fish fillet is flaky and moist which is cook perfectly but the flavor is over power by pepper. On the side there was small mix of salads with no dressing.
rocky fish fillet with garden salads ($22.90)

 I've always like a dessert after the main course so I order bacio cake (mean kisses in Italy). It's a moist chocolate cake with creamy chocolate layer in the center. On top of the cake there are hazel nuts; chocolate powder and a chocolate ball fill with chocolate mix hazel nut.

bacio cake ($7.80)
 Mee Too cafe is a good place to relax and soaking up the unique Menzies alley ambience.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

SAN CHOI -Kew

Address: 300 High St Kew 3101 VIC
Phone: (03) 9818 0438
Website: http://www.drinkeatweb.com/sanchoi/index.htm
Rate: 8/10
 


We've been recommended this restaurant by family friends, due to our experience with Chinese restaurant so my dad wanted to go early so we arrive around 5:30. We were greeted by a friendly staff; once we seated the manager introduce us the special's menu and the fresh seafood for the day. There were fresh barramundi, oyster and scallop. I can't get my hand off from those prawn crackers which they serve as complimentary (thumbs up!) while I deciding what to eat first.

prawn crackers (Free!!)


First we order half dozen each of steam oyster and scallop for starter. The scallop is top with caramelize garlic in oil, glass vermicelli, added little bits of fry shallot and coriander for decoration. The oyster top with caramelize spring onion and ginger in oil witch give off a nice aroma then add fine chop spring onion and coriander for decoration. The scallop is bit small but the flavor is banging!

oyster ($1.80 each)
scallop ($2.00 each)



For the main course we have barramundi which can be eat two ways, from what I heard in the old day's the restaurant filleted the fish for stir fry with vegetable but the chef think is a waste if they discard the bone because the bone still contain meat so the chef decided to deep fry the bone in hot oil and serve with vegetable. The stir fry barramundi is bit plain so they give u a dips which is hoy sin sauce but it's a bit salty for my taste. The deep fry barramundi goes well with the sauce but a lot of bone's to pull out.

Barramundi eat two ways ($64)

Barramundi eat two ways ($64)

The classic spare rib in mandarin sauce is what I expected a well balance of sweet and tangy mandarin flavor with crispy spare ribs.

spare ribs in mandarin sauce ($22.80)

The last dish I did some research on the internet and it come out the green prawns and glass vermicelli with XO sauce in hotpot come out to be the most popular dish. The caramelize onion, garlic and the XO sauce give's a great flavor to the glass vermicelli and the green prawns, it serve with the hotpot so just to keep the dish nice and warm. But from the image I found on the web it look as if it down size a little but other then that the dish is good.
green prawns and glass vermicelli with XO sauce in hotpot ($28.80) 

SAN CHOI restaurant is a good restaurant if you want traditional Cantonese food, some might said is daggy but I say the traditional style and the flavor make up for it. Also the new innovative dishes writing on colorful strips of paper taped on the wall which gives a new twist in Asian cuisine. The price is might be a little bit expensive but it's worth to going back and try some more.


here a lunch menu
here is a dinner menu

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Toki Japanese Restaurant - Carlton

Address: 88 Grattan St, Carlton
Phone: 9347 9748
Rate: 5/10




While me and my friends walking down the famous Lygon ST in Carlton we stop by at Toki Japanese restaurant for lunch, where we greeted with warm smile from the waitress. The chef special menu caught my attention especially Toki platter ($15.50) so I decide to give it go. The dish came up with a variety of Japanese salads like cabbage, orange, ginger, seaweed dressing, poached with white cauliflower top it off with a creamy sauce, 4 delicious sushi rolls, soba with prawn tempura, sashimi, teriyaki chicken and Yakitoshi tofu with miso soup. One thing I like about this platter is there is a lot of different food you can eat. The high light of this platter is the sushi and the fresh sashimi.

$15.50

 Also I order dessert call DO-RA-YA-KI which is a soft Japanese pancake filled with warm red beans served with slice of apple, orange and green tea ice cream. ($7.00)
$7.00

Toki's is good place for lunch when you fell like light Japanese dish in Carlton.


here is a lunch menu i found online :)
page 1
 
page 2