Eating Out: the booth 路边摊 [Box Hill]

612 Station St, Box Hill 3128
Accessible by train, tram and bus.

I believe this place closed for some reason as they reopened early last month. The food here has always been alright but we never came back again for some reason until I saw they had reopened (suggesting the food may have changed).

Their menu is very extensive and the indecisive ones will find it a nightmare trying to choose a dish. I do like how they describe what is in each and every dish.  The food in order that they came out.

Three Cup Chicken Rice 三杯鸡饭 $8.50
Taiwanese restaurant means must try either Beef Noodles and/or Three Cup Chicken.
One word to describe this dish, disappointing. 
Likes:
+ Served in claypot (does not represent cooked in claypot, please note the difference)
+ Fresh basil used.
Dislike:
- Chicken, cooked for so long that the bones were mushy.
- Chicken meat had little flavour
- Majority of the chicken were little chicken wings (I'll explain why further down)
- Very oily
- Soupy not dry like it should be

Beef Noodle Soup 红烧牛肉面 $8.50
Choice of Original, Rice, Tau Shou (knife shaved?) +$1.50 or Cat's Ear +1.50 Noodles.
Likes:
+ Fatty braised soft beef cubes
+ Rich soup
+ Generous serving
+ Pickled sour vegetables to balance out the fatty beef
Dislikes:
- Lack of fresh vegetables


Special Chicken Noodle Soup 路边摊招牌面 $8.50
If you come here you must try the chicken drummettes. Their specialty. They push the meat down  which makes it different and easier to eat all the meat without getting it all over your face. 
Likes:
+ Super crispy well marinated chicken (Yes you get 4 for that price with noodles)
+ Light broth with noodles (chicken drummettes is very strong flavoured already)
+ Soya marinated egg
Dislikes:
- None that I can think of
So what happens to all the little chicken wings that come connected with these drumsticks? They get thrown into the three cup chicken pot instead.

Beef Wrap 牛肉卷饼 $9
Another of their specialty, not sure whether it's worth the $9 but it is very delicious and filling.
Likes:
+ Crispy yet slightly chewy spring onion wrap/pastry.
+ Tonne of marinated beef (reminds me of those ridiculous meat sandwiches they have in America)
Dislikes:
- Hot outside cold inside, however this is actually done on purpose, it's just that I'm not used to the hot/cold difference.

Food: 8/10 The three cup chicken pulled it down, all the other dishes are very good.
Service/Environment: 7/10 It is very cramped and noisy. However service was attentive and the food came out very quickly despite the place being full house. The use of electronic ordering by the waiter/esses is probably the reason behind it.
Value: 9/10 Serving sizes are generous, family of 4 adults struggled to finish it. Prices are very very reasonable.

Verdict? Become one of my new favourite places at Box Hill, but then again I have many favourite places at Box Hill.

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

Hungry after a day of orientation at uni K仔 and I decided to head down to Box Hill to try out the afternoon tea specials at Petaling Street. Twice we did this.
There are 10 dishes to choose from, all of which are $6.80. YES $6.80!!!!!!!!!!! May I add that includes Teh Tarik hot/cold OR a can of soft drink. But do go for the Teh Tarik, very frothy but sweet.

On the first visit we shared a Hainanese Chicken Rice. No picture because we were just too hungry to care. The skin was very springy. Only issue was the soya sauce underneath was quite salty. There was about 5 decent sized pieces of chicken.

The second time we went we both ordered separate dishes, at $6.80 why not?

Traditional Malaysian Roast Chicken with Rice

Likes: 

Whole maryland =] with super crispy skin

Moist chicken (I don't get how it can be so moist if the chicken is roasted, really raises suspicions.)

Chicken rice was quite chickeny

Dislikes:

Skin was extremely salty, like they dipped it in salt. 

Char Koay Teow
Likes:
Very generous serving.
Everything was there (crispy pork lard, fish cake, prawns, chinese sausage, egg, beansprouts, garlic chives and COCKLES)
Just right for chilliness (not for K仔, he added a massive dollop of sambal onto his share)
Dislikes:
Cockles tasted like the sea, sooooo fishy.

By the end we were both completely stuffed. Although this is their "afternoon tea" set we had it for lunch. I wonder how anyone could eat the much for afternoon tea.

Food: 8.5/10 The chicken dishes were average but the char kway teow was the best I've had all year.
Service/Environment:  8/10 Clean. Alright service, English is obviously not the waiter/waitresses first language but it is better than a lot of places in Box Hill.
Value: 9.5/10 Exceptional value. To get a 10 the dishes would have to be perfect, close but definitely not perfect.
Accessibility: Train, tram and bus.

Verdict? Wonder if I can try out all 10 dishes offered. 3 down 7 to go. Ipoh Hor fun sounds good, as does Petaling Street Style Short Rice Noodle in Claypot.

Eating Out:Ants Bistro [9 Corrs Ln Melbourne, 3000]

Friends and I went out to celebrate the conclusion of our year 12 exams. Ended up at Ants Bistro where I re learnt why I never went back again after a visit a few years ago. Okay, it wasn't that bad but there is better, a lot better.

Most of the lunch dishes of rice and noodles are under $10.

Shanghai Fried Noodles

There wasn't really much that was wrong with the dish except that it was really over seasoned. However there were good things too, lots and lots of different types of mushrooms. Although some were the canned type they still were nice.

Food: 6.5/10 No one really said much about their dish. However a lot of tea was drunk after finishing our dishes.
Service/Environment: 7/10 Surprisingly it wasn't too cramped. Staff were helpful and efficient.Food came out at various times, but fairly quickly. However there was a slightly disturbing painting on the wall.
Value: 8/10 Lunch for under $10 in the city. Except quality could have been a lot better.

Verdict? Probably prefer to try a different place next time. I really think this is a hit or miss type of restaurant.

Why is the chinese name and the english name different? Ants bistro and red ants are quite different...

Eating Out: Ma Ma Sichuan Restaurant [483 Swanston St Melbourne, 3000]

So after a very disappointing muck up day because the teachers are sooooooooo uptight and restrictive my group of friends decided to out for lunch. I was going to wear my costume out but since if was already drenched from the insane non stop rain I decided to ditch it, soggy cardboard is no fun. Decided we wanted to eat buffet a few days ago but we had a bit of a dilemma choosing between China Bar Signature and Ma Ma Sichuan but since China Bar is soooooo far from school and more than double the price, Ma Ma Sichuan won. We're students who can't drive =.="

So pretty much it's $10 for lunch buffet from a bain marie + a can of drink. I can only sum it up by saying you get what you pay for. Sorry for the lack of pictures, I really couldn't be bothered as I was too hungry.

 There were two soups to choose from. Corn and egg or the one pictured. Both quite bland and unevenly thick. Some more chicken powder might help =P The corn soup was so plain that if you added sugar to it it would have made a good chinese sweet soup/tang shui....

Since we arrived at around 1:30-2ish I believe some of the food may have been sitting around for a while, especially the fried rice as it had become so dry and hard...good dosage of msg was used to flavour it just like everything else. Preferred the non vermicelli fried noodle, probably because it wasn't as dry except it ran out and they didn't make more =[ Other than that everything else was like stuff you find at a little chinese restaurant in outback Victoria...stuff for the gweilow...okay I shouldn't say that. But highlighter red sweet and sour pork with more batter than meat and you know what I mean.

Second round consisted of some better food. Vegies cooked in msg, chewing gum beef with a hint of soda/alkaline flavour (how does that work, isn't that stuff used to make beef non chewing gum like? Wonder what cut of beef they used, probably one suited to braising not stir frying) Spring rolls were crispy and what you're average spring roll tastes like, just don't ponder about what it contains. The honey chicken was extremely sticky to the point where BITS of batter would be stuck to your teeth but it was pretty good. But in my opinion the best was the fried chicken. Fried chicken can never really go wrong =] Didn't try some of the things like pig trotters and chicken feet, just not for me.

A few rounds later they decided to shut down the station although we hadn't finished eating. We planned on staying as long as we could to get more than our monies worth and to chat but I guess that's not what the workers wanted and I don't blame them.

Food: 5.5/10 AVERAGE. At least all the dishes were edible. 

Environment: 7/10 Pretty clean and spacious. 

Service: 6.5/10 Waitresses spoke chinese to us ABC kids, we replied in our broken chinese 3rd language. They realised we were ABC and spoke to us in English after. Dishes were not taken away at all...it's a buffet though...

Value: 9/10 $10 with drink. If the food was a little better then it would be the best.

Verdict? Probably won't come back for lunch buffet but I want to try the sichuan hot pot buffet for $22 a head which is actually what this place specialises in. If you like dodgy chinese takeaway then you will like this place.

Do you feel ashamed when you hear a Caucasian speak Mandarin and Cantonese better than you can?

Eating Out: Ramen Ya [Shop 25G Melbourne GPO 350 Bourke St Melbourne, 3000]

This place proves that you don't need to have a prime location to have good business. It's one of those places you will walk past and not even realise that it exists. However at No. 9 on Urbanspoon, it's doing quite well. Why? Because it serves good authentic food.
I never realised how ramen obsessed David Chang was until I started reading his book, and boy is he dedicated to ramen. And now he's made me somewhat addicted. If you give me a choice of soup bases for ramen I will always choose tonkotsu, always always always. Not saying the other ones aren't nice but I just love tonkotsu.

Charshu Tonkotsu Ramen $10

I always think $10 is starting to get pricey for a bowl of asian noodles. But here, that $10 is cheap and so worth it. Of course I chose the house specialty. Comes with four thinner than thin slices of charshu. Nothing particularly special, tasted a tad like the one I attempted to make, a slice of naruto of the same thinness =[, BAMBOO!! (Never realised ramen is supposed to have bamboo until I read Momofuku  and this stuff isn't that random canned stiff crunchy stuff, it was actually floppy), sprinkle of spring onions, seaweed sheets, picked alarming red ginger and half a boiled egg (unfortunately not the awesome soft boiled ones).

It was sooooo nice. Lots of soup to go with the large serving of noodles which were thick and chewy in a good way. Sure the soup was salty but it was delicious, so delicious you forget about it's saltiness which you are reminded of 30 mins later when you're thirsty as hell. 

Probably be a long time before I'll get to eat tonkotsu ramen again =[

Seafood Gyoza Ramen-Shoyu base $10

Essentially the same except the charshu become gyozas. The gyozas aren't bad but I don't particular like any sort of dumpling which has a mushy/puree texture for the filling. Still like tonkotsu base better than shoyu/soya base. Nothing will change me. I know I'm stubborn.

Love the feel of Ramen Ya which apparently means ramen shop. Their spoons are even cooler, although it is a little awkward to use since it's so big. Reminded me of year 7 when we made wooden spoons for woodwork at school. Mum never used my spoon as she didn't know whether it was safe to use with food. 

Food: 9/10 Based purely on ramen. They've got everything that should be in ramen in ramen I think. 

Service: 8/10 Speak up when you order so the guy can hear you. Otherwise no problems with service.

Environment: 7.5/10 Nothing glamorous. Quite cramped. Only let down was since it was raining many of the chairs were wet although the place is covered water drips down the side.

Verdict? Cold rainy day + hot bowl of delicious ramen = comfort. 

Did you know ramen noodles don't actually contain any eggs?

David Chang you have taught me so much =]

Eating Out: Coconut House [449 Elizabeth St Melbourne, 3000]

After attending a 3 hour lecture I was starving. I've been wanting to come here since I heard about it. Of course who better to go with than a Malay(or Aussie Malay). Wasn't too hard to find, diagonally opposite Drummond Golf.

BBQ Roast Chicken and Hainanese Chicken Rice $8.60

I had to get this since it says it's specialty on the shop window. Just getting either BBQ Roast Chicken Rice or just Hainanese Chicken Rice is $7.60. Very good value. I can't say it's the best I've had but it's up there. The rice is quite fragrant and garlicky, a lot of the time the rice lacks the chicken flavour but this one was pretty decent. 

The portion of chicken is quite large although the pieces are small which in my eyes is a good thing as you can actually fit the entire piece in your mouth with rice. The roast chicken was a little dryer than the poached but expected, it is a roast chicken. The skin was crispy. No complaints. 

The soup was different to the usual msg chicken stock like soup. It was actually soup!! Like soup Mum makes except I don't think she's ever made this one. Maybe it's a Malay soup but I have no clue. It's a turnip and peanut soup. 

I really like this picture =]

Traditional Curry Laksa $8 something

Heard good things about their laksa. I guess my expectations were a little too high. But nonetheless it was a good laksa. It has everything it should. Wasn't as chilli as I thought it would be. Only complaint would be serving size. You can get a snack one for about a dollar less and I seriously wonder how big that serve is since this serve was on the small-average side. I guess coconut milk makes you full. 

The Malay/Aussie kid thought it wasn't hot enough in regards to the laksa and the weather(it was raining) for it to feel like Malaysia. 

Food: 8.5/10 Good food. I guess it does live up to it's reputation. No complaints.

Service:  7/10 Only fault was the waitress wiped down the tables next to us but didn't wipe ours. No biggie. 

Environment: 7/10 Little cramped. 

Verdict? Gladly come back again. Great value, great food. What more can you ask for?

Oh, found out dad actually read blog post.....Hi again Dad =]

Eating Out: Red Lantern Chinese BBQ 327 Doncaster Road, North Balwyn, 3104

Ate lunch here with mum yesterday. Since they're extending/expanding one would assume that they are doing quite well which means that they serve decent food. And in my opinion, my assumption was right.

Char Kway Teow $9.50

Full of ingredients, however the only seafood present were these extremely crunchy prawns (with no flavour). Is CKT supposed to have fishcake and lap cheong? Because neither were present. Lots of crunchy beansprouts. Hardly chilli at all. Some egg, some char siu like stuff and little tiny pieces of something which I assumed to be pork fat but didn't taste like it...not sure what they were. Capsicum and carrot were some unusual additions. It was slighty brown but not as dark as what I'm used to seeing. Altogether it tasted pretty nice but not really like char kway teow, tasted a bit like singaporean noodles (星洲炒米) with hor fun(河粉/wide rice noodles) instead of rice vermicelli(米粉).

Roast Duck and Soya Chicken Rice $10.50

Just one selection is $9.00 but I couldn't decide between the two so we got combination. The soya chicken was alright, used to be better. Large pieces of meat, smooth elastic skin with soya sauce flavour. The roast duck on the other hand was surprisingly good. Also large pieces of MEAT, not just bone like some stingy places. The skin was crisp but there was only a thin layer of fat. Good for the health conscious, bad for the fat lovers like me. However encountered the same problem as we did for the take away roast pork last week, the BBQ meats were cold. 20 secs in the microwave won't do any harm right?

Food: 7.5/10 Pretty good, one of the top places around my side of town for Chinese BBQ meats. Extremely generous servings, Mum and I had trouble finishing both plates. A tad on the oily side.

Service: 8/10 No complaints about this. Waitress was nice (she had blue eyelashes o.o) Food came really quickly. And you are left to eat in peace.

Environment: 7.5/10 Contemporary Chinese furnishing. Not sure whether the open kitchen really works. Looks organised but cluttered at the same time. Though the ducks hanging in the kitchen to dry look pretty cool.

Verdict? I'd come back. Since they are so quick and serve decent food. Also it's along the way back from school so it's convenient. 

Look at that skin!

Drooling yet?

Eating Out: Kambo Chinese Restaurant, Cnr Canterbury Rd, 1 Mahoneys Rd, Forest Hill

Booked a table for 8pm at around 6pm on Friday night. Chose this place because of their special "If your birthday is in August, get a free oyster for you and your friends/family". And hoped that we could get 2 oysters each for free since both my dad and I are born in August but its only one birthday person per table.

Ordered the "live fish" set. You can't choose the dishes, they are already set. Can't exactly remember the names of dishes so I will describe them instead.

Complimentary Soup

This came literally straight after we ordered. The lady scooped it in around 10-20 seconds before attending other tables. Typical complimentary soup. I believe it was dried vegetable/cai, carrot and pork soup. And probably some added flavour enhancer/msg.

XO Oysters

Yes only 4 were free. That's how they make money from this offer. Most people don't just get one oyster each, they want at least 2 and therefore buy more for $2.50 each 0.0 Initially ordered 4 XO chilli ones and 4 spring onion and ginger ones but when they came it was 8 XO Chilli ones with spring onion on top. Not sure what went wrong but we didn't bother asking, they looked so yummy. The oysters were massive, though not strongly flavoured the XO sauce really helped. Though I feel a better quality XO sauce would have been better. The oysters were just undercooked which is fine because it retained its creamy squishy part. And the second all the oysters were taken and eaten from the plate, a waiter had come along and collected the empty dish. It was amazing. 

Lemon Grass Pork Chops?

Like most Cantonese cuisine you find in restaurants now, the pork had been deep fried before being put into a sauce, but no batter. The sauce lacked lemongrass flavour and had lots of honey in it. Don't think I've ever tried a dish like this before. Also they could have used cleaner oil as there were little specks of the stuff that sinks into the oil all over the pork. I guess we went later in the night and they've been frying all day long so the oil couldn't have been cleaned. 

Stir Fried Garlic Baby Spinach

Didn't expect this much spinach. It was really packed onto the plate. It was a little too oily that ever leaf was shiny. The garlic could have been a little stronger, otherwise it was a fine dish. Can't really go wrong with asian vegies.

Scallops on Tofu

Not a fan of tofu, especially when its super big to minimise the amount of scallops required. The tofu was bland and you had to cut it down the middle and pour the sauce into it. The scallops were typical chinese restaurant ones...if you get what I mean. Something out of a packet possibly. Still had some scallop taste to it.

Steamed Live Barramundi 

I love fish, especially when it's steamed asian style. The flesh was soft and just cooked. Good flavour and was really delicate. Sooooo delicious yet simple. 

Fruit platter

Seriously it's very hard to make fruit platter look good. Straight of the fridge to you fruit platter. Wafer thin slices of watermelon and orange. Both sweet. 

Sweet soup-mung bean?
Not a fan of warm sweet soups, I like cold ones. This wasn't too bad, typical honkie style.

Food: 7/10 Nothing spectacular, everything was average and expected. 

Service: 8/10 Quite impressed. Don't expect to chat to your waiter. This place is to the point, and done asap.  Tea pots are refilled before you know it. Dishes come quickly and go just as fast. Amazed at how quick everything was done with only 4 waiters for the entire restaurant. 

Environment: 7/10 Once again, a typical chinese restaurant. Don't expect sparkling dishes. Or quite surroundings. 

Verdict? If I was in a hurry or if it was late at night I would come since they have a different menu past a certain time of night. However only if I was in the neighbourhood. There are other places closer to home with similar food. Sat down at 8pm, finished dinner just after 9. Impressive.

Eating Out: Vietnamese Pork Roll Joe's Bakery, Devon Plaza, East Doncaster

Did you know that you can get Viet Rolls in East Doncaster??!! I discovered this about 4-5 years ago. I know the viet rolls from Footscray, Springvale and Richmond reign supreme but I happen to live at least 40 mins drive away from each of these suburbs. And this bakery is along the way home from school so it's super convenient. 

Vietnamese Pork Roll $4

Can you guess where I took this pic? One of the best lighted spots to take pictures, the dashboard of the car =] Couldn't wait to go home to take a pic and then eat so I took a pic in the car (and made a mess) whilst waiting for mum at the pharmacy and then ate it on the way home. Viet rolls should not be eaten in the car. The crusty roll crumbs go everywhere and if you encounter one of those super chilli chillies you are doomed (that has happened to me before and I looked like I was crying with a retarded tongue the entire way home). 

The rolls was super crusty and fluffy. The pate was generous and had a very strong liver taste. The  three meats were thick cut. The spring onion was diced (i find the ones with the entire length of spring onion in there impossible to bite through and you end up having to eat the entire thing in one mouthful, not pleasant). The pickled carrots and daikon were still crunchy and not too sour. Lots of coriander. Asked for a bit of chilli. Altogether it was pretty delicious and satisfying. Few improvements could be the addition of the mayo (but hygiene/health issues), to go a little easier on the soya sauce so it doesn't drip through the bag when you eat it and to add the deathly red edged meat you usually find because I love that stuff =P 

Food: 7.5/10 Satifisfying but not as good as the one's from the vietnamese suburbs. The fresh bread is awesome since it's a bakery. 

Service: 8.5/10 Smiles when you are served. Oh did I mention the person who makes these viet rolls isn't asian? It is made by a very nice caucasian lady. I'm pretty sure she just constructs the rolls, all the prep is probably done by the asian owners. 

Verdict? This place never fails to deliver. Very consistent and they have a wide variety of other pastries and slices. I will keep coming back to this place every time I want a roll. For only $4, I'm not going to complain, it's about the same as springvale/richmond/footscray. They only make the rolls during lunch hours. 

Photos taken with my new camera that I got for my birthday from Dad. 

Quite pleased with the quality.

Eating Out: Yuki Japanese Restaurant 1901-1903 Malvern Road, Malvern East 3145

It was my 18th birthday a couple of days ago and I wanted to eat Japanese because it's my favourite cuisine. I believe that it is the best cuisine not just because of taste but for skill, refinement, respect for food and culture. But I better not start an argument here, everyone is entitled to their opinions. Friend went here and kept raving about their takoyaki (he loves his takoyaki) except when I asked him about the food here he couldn't remember anything about it (not a good sign). This place has been placing ads in the chinese newspaper for quite some time and they have a birthday special. If you go on the day of your birthday and you have more than 4 adults then the birthday person gets to eat for half price, and if you have more than 6 adults then the birthday person eats for free. Enticing yeah? And if you book 24 hours in advance, you get free oysters (max 6 per person, you have to tell them how many you want) I think I forgot the phrase, "some things are too good to be true", now you know where this is going.

So you can come in and order a la carte or go for the buffet for $27.50 for week nights or $30 for weekends I believe. 

When I first walked in it felt like a cosy motel/lodge feel. Got given a menu and you can pretty much order anything from the menu except for specific sushi rolls...

*warning-half the menu will be described during this post

Tempura Prawns (6)

Relatively large, well battered and crunchy prawns. Not too oily. However prawn quality was a little disappointing. Also the prawn didn't really fit into the dipping sauce bowl (but that can't be helped). Good start to the meal. However the tempura prawns at Surf and Turf were a lot better but that was 2 years ago

Oysters

I love seafood, raw oysters especially. This tray contains 30 oysters for the 5 of us. Very fresh and creamy. No complaints, just a big smile on my face.

Unagi

Ohhhhhh, I didn't realise how much I missed unagi until I took a bite. The unique taste with the fatty skin and sweet sauce is sooooo delicious. However I do believe this comes in a vacuum sealed package and requires little effort except heating up to make. Craving Unagidon now, must get it whenever I get a chance to.

Seaweed Salad

I also believe that this comes pre made and highly doubt it was made in house as it was so green that the sesame seeds turned green. Very crunchy and refreshing, it was gone in no time.

Takoyaki (6)

On first impressions I was a little disappointed, there appeared to be very little takoyaki sauce and no bonito flakes. However after biting into them I was pleasantly surprised, a fluffy ping pong sized ball with more than one octopus piece in it =] My friend was right. Later on we ordered another plate and it was even better than before. Crispy outside, piping hot on the inside and there were tonnes of octupus pieces inside. Best takoyaki I've had in Melbourne, or possibly ever.

Gyoza (6)

Most interesting looking gyoza's I've ever seen, not the usual gyoza or dumpling shape. It was obviously steamed then deep fried or perhaps just deep fried and on the verge of being burnt. The wrapper was very crunchy and the filling was very average.

Wrapped Prawns? (6)

This was a chef special that was not on the menu. Prawns wrapped in spring roll pastry and drizzled with an interesting sauce. Nothing special about it although I felt like it belonged at Yum Cha not at a japanese restaurant, but I could be wrong.

Mussels in Cream Sauce

This isn't on the menu either and is another chef special, however it is on the take away menu. The take away menu seems to offer more than the dine in menu, which is pretty weird. The mussels were medicore but the sauce was quite nice. Creamy onion sauce that had something else but I couldn't figure out what is was, could eat a tonne of these. Maybe it's because I love mussels. Ordered it again later and it wasn't as good as before. The sauce became liquidy...

Sashimi and Sushi Combo platter with Soft Shell Crab handroll.

This was one of the first things we ordered and it took about an hour to come out. Contained salmon sashimi which was alright, not top notch but decent. Only one piece of kingfish (I believe it was kingfish) came with the platter and existed as a nigiri. How do you share one piece of kingfish with 5 people?? The soft shell crab roll was quite good. The batter still crunchy, you could taste the crab. However it fell apart very easily as there was not much rice to hold it together.

Agedashi Tofu (6)

someone ate some already

Since the tofu piece were so small and the sauce almost covered it there was very little if any crunchy parts. However overall it was very good, no complaints.

Seafood Okonomiyaki

 Very battered filled okonomiyaki. Found only traceable amounts of cabbage. Seafood was frozen marinara mix. All together it wasn't too bad, didn't come cut up though so it was a tad hard to eat. It was a pretty good chewy pancake.

Sashimi

According to the menu this should contain salmon and kingfish, however the latter was not present. The salmon was good, crunchy and no sinewy bits. However it looked like the sashimi chef was getting a tad lazy or maybe it was intentional that some slices where very thin and some very thick. Not that it mattered, still sashimi.

Miso Soup

Most disappointing dish of the night. Yes that is how much soup we were given. It was cold and extremely salty. I'm pretty sure it would have been fine if we ordered this earlier in the night when they were actually making it, not at the end of the night when they were just about to close.

Black Sesame Ice Cream

I didn't try this one as I ordered the green tea one. Aunty could only taste vanilla, black sesame pretty much didn't exist except in sight. 

Green Tea Ice Cream

Little scoop of ice cream. Also experienced pure vanilla flavour from green ice cream. The waitress said that the chef personally makes the ice cream....*cough cough* does it require a chef to go down to safeway to buy a tub of ice cream to mix with matcha powder? At least don't be stingy with the green tea powder because you're wasting it since you can't even taste it. 

Food: 6/10 Although there was nothing bad about the food, the quality of ingredients was just disappointing. Also the money saving shortcuts taken made a definite impact. Japanese food should be better because it's all about fresh good quality ingredients and no shortcuts. 

Service: 5/10 A waiter and a waitress did all the work. However the waiter was new and literally had no idea how to many things. He didn't put our order through many times. He didn't know what some of the things on the menu were. At least train him before he starts work, or get him to learn the menu. The waitress was definitely more experienced and quite good at bs-ing her way through stuff. She was very friendly but when she got to excuses, she went round in circles. Asked whether I could have another bowl of ice cream and her answer was "sorry no, we only make enough of each for the night" I'm pretty damn sure you don't make the ice cream everyday and you don't know how many people come in every night AND you can't know how much of each flavour you will need each night because you're giving people a choice. Even the "but she's the birthday girl" trick didn't work. Sorry, tried to refrain from complaining throughout post. 

Environment: 7/10 Very shabby. Seats sank in amazingly. Disposable chopsticks. Flickering light was beyond annoying. A bored and slow sushi chef on display was not pleasing to see. 

Verdict? A lot of work and improvement must go in. I'm not sure whether they have many second time round customers. Because I probably won't be one unless it's a birthday dinner or something special. I can't say whether the $27.50 was worth it or not. In my opinion I'd rather go Surf and Turf if that place still exists.


Photos taken with my new camera which Dad gave me about an hour before we went out for dinner. Still getting used to it. Pretty happy with the pictures since I had no tripod and it was quite low light. Shutter speeds of around 1/8sec-1/15sec were used with no flash.