Eating Out: Petaling Street Revisted Again(Afternoon Tea Special) + Desert [600 Station St, Box Hill]

Yes I went to Petaling Street AGAIN for their afternoon tea special. So far I've tried 4 out of the 9 specials.
This time I chose the Wonton Mee (Dry)
Very different to to Honkie Wonton Noodles which is wontons and noodles in soup. Malay style however comes with char siu which was a very weird concept to me at first but after having countless arguments with K仔 about whether Honkie or Malay Wonton Noodles is better and having a taste of Malay style I've been converted!

Going to rate the Wonton Mee according to Leslie Tay's (super famous Singaporean food blogger who's a doctor by day) expectations which are written in his book which I love (thanks K仔 for getting it for me from Singapore =] )

Wonton Noodle (Dry) $6.80 with drink

Afternoon Special Mon-Fri 3-5pm

Likes:

+ Super tasty QQ noodles
+ Massive serving of noodles
+ Enough wontons
+ Meaty tasting char siu which looked dry but was alright.
Dislikes:
- RED char siu, more would have been nice as well
- Char siu wasn't fatty enough, and no crispy burnt bits =[
- MSG wontons with little filling

Teh Tarik $3

Have had many many cups of this

Likes:

+ Nice and frothy

+ Very smooth and milky

Dislikes:

- Price

Ice Kachang $4.50

Massive BEWARE

Likes:

+ Size

+ Colourful

+ Price

Dislikes:

- Hard to eat without it going everywhere

- All the goodies are at the bottom, very hard to reach

- Coloured syrup is very very sweet

- Feels neverending

One problem with the ice kachang. There is a minimum charge of $3.50 per person however the ice kachang is so massive you need at least 2 people to help attack it which doesn't meet the $3.50 minimum charge. I think they should waive the charge if the itemed ordered it ice kachang, seriously I'd like to see on of the workers there finish one themselves without chucking it up afterwards.

There is a Petaling Street opening on Swanston St in the city. Ever wondered why this place has soon to be 4 chain stores? Because their food is ABOVE AVERAGE at reasonable prices.

Eating Out: Simon's Peiking Duck Restaurant [197b Middleborough Rd Box Hill South, 3128]

Tuesday night and they still had 2 seatings with the 8pm one about 75% full. You know this meal will be up to par. This place has been reviewed by everyone, critics and bloggers. As a result I think it's overrated, however it is pretty damn good, I was just expecting out of this world amazing which obviously wasn't the case.

So I'm assuming the first thing everyone notices is how come it's spelt Peiking and not Peking. That I cannot answer but I believe someone blogged about it already HOWEVER according to their array of awards/certificates/qualifications stuck to the window this restaurant is actually registered as Simon's Peking Duck Restaurant. Yes without the "i". Could someone clarify this on their next visit? Not that it really matters.


         Peking Duck $55/65 a duck (3 courses) 15 pancakes
Likes:
+ Crispiest skin (quite certain it's so crispy because it has been flash FRIED)
+ Lots of skin with some meat
+ Good balance of flavours
+ Thin pancakes so you don't get full as fast
Dislikes:
- Not enough fat under the skin (could be due to frying rendering it all out)
- More pancakes please =P

               Timorese Chicken $17.80 I think

Simon said this dish was one of his favourites and supposedly marinated for 24 hours, maybe acquired taste?

Likes

+ Large serving

+ Sweet, salty, sour, chilli flavour explosion

Dislikes:

- Flavours tasted all mixed up and not too pleasant

- Wasn't very fresh

                        Belachan Vegetables 
Simon says (haha touch your toes) he doesn't like okra because it's slimy but I like it for its weird texture.
Likes:
+ Slightly chilli
+ Belachan wasn't overpowering
+ Variety (beans, okra, eggplant, asparagus)
Dislikes:
- Quite oily

Food: 9/10 Must say the peking duck is very very good. I went to Da Hu Peking Duck Restaurant a month ago and that peking duck was atrocious and it's supposed to a specialist restaurant. The thin pancakes were special and perfect. Timorese chicken was a bit of a let down. The noodle and soup course were very average.
Service: 9/10 Amazing for an Asian restaurant. I was more than pleased after my last restaurant visit being Yuki Japanese (my rage post is yet to be posted, but do check Urbanspoon for reviews or should I say explosive rage rants). Simon is what customer service should be like. Also the waiters/waitresses are very attentive, we ran out of water and one look at them and one look at the jug was all that was needed to get refills.
Environment: 7/10 Very cramped. Obviously trying to fit as many tables as they can in which leads to invasion of private space.
Accessibility: Bus and car. 733 bus from Box Hill to Oakleigh (vice versa) passes it, not sure what other buses if any.

Verdict? Will come back. Next time NO WAY am I sharing a duck between 4 people. 2 people maybe 3 to a duck. Peking Duck is just one of those foods which no one wants to share.

Garrr uni is eating up all my time

I know I haven't posted in over 2 weeks
Don't worry I have a few posts still to write
-Rant about Yuki's
-Simon's Peiking Duck
-ECPot

Unfortunately uni started 2 weeks ago and I've been completely wasted after 3 hours of public transport travel time a day and countless incredibly boring lectures. Hopefully I can find the time soon to write up all the posts. If you want to know more about what's been going on with my life head over to my other blog http://nonfoodieponderings.blogspot.com/ I post every few days on that. So click and read to find out what life is like for a first year uni student in Melbourne and for rants about how shit Melbourne public transport is.