Eating Out: Bellagio Chinese Restaurant [947 Whitehorse Rd, Box Hill]

There are soo many places to eat at Box Hill and we decided to choose somewhere we don't normally walk past and consider. We walked along Whitehorse rd but not the DarkZone side. And chose this Chinese restaurant. It's got a nice atmosphere.

Handmade Pork Pan Fried Dumplings (8) $8.50

Very surprised at how nice they were. Very crispy bottom, delicious pork filling. The pleating was beautiful.

Chicken with Special Ginger Sauce with Rice $8.50

Not what I expected. The special ginger sauce was special indeed. It had a chinese medicine taste to it which I hated, my parents didn't mind it though. Acquired taste I think. The chicken itself was pretty good except for the many bones.

Beef Noodle Soup $9.80

Not bad but not spectacular either. Generous serving of beef. The chilli helped the otherwise plain dish.

Taiwanese Fried Noodle $8.80

Didn't particularly like this one either. The noodles were sooo dry that a lot of tea had to be drunk.

Food: 7/10 Mediocre. It's Box Hill, mediocre isn't good enough.

Service/Environment: 8.5/10 The waiter was nice and helpful despite the minor language barrier.

Value: 8/10 Seems like good value but considering taste it wasn't really. Also you can get some pretty cheap good food in Box Hill.

Verdict? Ummm, probably won't be back for  while. 

Eating Out: 1228 Tea House [936 Whitehorse Road, Box Hill 3128]

One more exam to go!!! Then 3 month summer holiday. I can't wait.
So just a quick review.
I don't remember the last time I came here and I wonder if I ever have. I think they're supposed to known for making a good bubble tea but I didn't order one and it was a sunny hot day, what was I thinking? So after flipping through the menu many times I decided on Korean Chicken in Special Sauce but it turned out that it didn't come with rice and rice costs $2 extra. It wasn't exactly the price that made me change the mind but the fact that there would be a large serving of fried chicken that I was certain not to finish. Changed to the Taiwanese Pop Chicken Rice instead, little did I know that that serving would be quite large.

 Taiwanese Pop Chicken Rice $8.90

I know it doesn't look like a lot but it was, just have a look at all that chicken compared to the egg underneath. The chicken was crisp and well seasoned. It wasn't too oily tasting which made eating a lot of it easier. Underneath the chicken lays a soy sauce egg and some preserved vegies. The rice was really plump and oily from the chicken, did I mention there was a heck of a lot of it? In the end I only managed to finish half  and doggy bagged the rest home. K仔 couldn't help me as he conquered his own mound of rice.

Korean Spicy Squid Rice $10

I just made up that name as I have forgotten it. So pretty much it comes on a sizzling plate filled to the point where its going to fall everywhere. The squid was tender but probably out of a frozen packet. The sauce sweet and a little spicy but not as chilli as it looks. It came with kimchi and some potato cubes on the side. 

Food: 7.5/10 Nothing out of the ordinary. Could cut back on the oil.

Value: 8/10 Pretty good considering serving sizes.

Service/Environment: 7/10 Looks relatively new except could be cleaner. 

Verdict? I'd come back to try the bubble tea. It's Box Hill, the list of restaurants I have yet to try is endless.

Mid Autumn Festival Box Hill LONG OVERDUE

This is about a month late. But I think it's worthy of blogging about. Mid Autumn Festival is awesome because it means MOONCAKES. Lotus paste with egg yolk encased in a almost biscuit like dough covering. Unfortunately the Mid Autumn Festival is no where near as big as in HK. But it was none the less fun to go to Box Hill and celebrate...or mainly to eat some awesome food.

Char Tow Kueh $4ish

Little stir fried rice cakes. A malay dish. Weren't too great especially when all squashed together. I know it should be a lot better but I've never actually had it anywhere else before I don't think

Taiwanese Oyster..something $5ish

Seriously this was soooooo weird. Blobs of this translucent jelly like floury stuff. In a never tasted before sauce. With an oyster or two thrown in with egg. This dish just wasn't for me. Maybe it's an acquired taste?

Xinjiang Lamb Skewers 5 for $10

This is the exact reason why I go to these festivals and line up for 30 mins with smoke blowing into your face. Juicy lamb chunks cooked over a charcoal fire, sprinkled with cumin and chilli. I could eat 5 or more of these, no problems. I know you can get them in the city opposite state library for $3 each but I have yet to try it.

We had a few other things like deep fried school prawns and octopus. Although they were on the salty side it was really nice. One thing I really wanted to try was the deep fried spiral potato chip. Except at $5 a stick which was one potato it was insanely expensive. I might try it make it myself after exams. 

Sorry about the photo quality, all taken using my phone. Next time a festival is on make sure you check it out, there is awesome food there and some of it you can't get in restaurants.

Eating Out: Wong's Lucky Bar 旺旺幸运吧- Whitehorse Rd, Box Hill

Situated in the MIDDLE of the ROAD (in between the traffic light which connects box hill central and 7-eleven, where the tram stop is) is this little Malaysian/Chinese Restaurant. They've been putting a lot of ads in the Chinese newspapers about their $6.90 Hainanese Chicken Rice and "Authentic" Laksa.

Walked in to see WILL PAN on the mounted tv =D Sat down and ordered Hainanese Chicken Rice, Seafood Laksa and Nasi Goreng. Watched Jay's 2007 World Tour Concert whilst waiting. The dishes arrived very quickly and looked quite presentable....but looks aren't everything. Sorry no pics, totally forgot to take pics until everything was half eaten but I'm pretty sure everyone knows what Hainanese Chicken Rice, Laksa and Nasi Goreng looks like.

Hainanese Chicken Rice-I can't say it was exceptional. I would probably give it an alright. The rice was very fragrant, the 6 or so decent sized pieces of boneless chicken could have been "smoother" and I swear the chilli sauce was dyed red.....Overall this dish was like SALT on SALT on more SALT and that was without the soup....

Laksa- Made from quite bland seafood mix and seafood highlighter I have to say I was quite disappointed. I felt the soup base didn't have enough spices and not rich enough. It was a creamier colour than usual. If I were to come here again I wouldn't order the laksa again. But then again what would a honkie girl who hasn't been to Malaysia know about a laksa?

Nasi Goreng- What can you say about fried rice? It was pretty average. I'm not sure what is supposed to be in Nasi Goreng but it can't be brown special fried rice right?

Verdict? To be honest I wouldn't come back again considering all the other choices in Box Hill. Sorry, maybe for their Hainanese Chicken if they decide to go easy on the salt.