Food Court Challenge: I ♥ Teppanyaki Revisited[Westfield Doncaster]

I've been craving Unagi (japanese grilled eel) for quite a while. I love the fatty-ness of the fish with the sweet sauce. It is heavenly especially when served with rice. Last week I found out K仔 has never had unagi before so we ordered a unagi don. Except we were both super hungry from looking for a gift for a friend that we dug in before realising that I hadn't taken a picture.

Unagi Don $9.50ish

Generous portion of fish on a big mound of sushi rice. Nice and hot with lots of sauce. Unagi don must have lots of sauce in my opinion as the rice can be quite plain. However to be honest, I really don't think you can stuff up unagi don, that stuff comes out of a packet.

Unfortunately K仔 got a bone stuck in his throat which remained there for the rest of the day. How do you get rid of a fish bone in your throat? As a kid I remember I used to just swallow heaps of rice in a big gulp except that didn't seem to work.

Food Court Challenge: I ♥ Teppanyaki and Dumpling King [Westfield Doncaster]

I ♥ Teppanyaki

 OK Deluxe (I think) $6ish

I can't exactly remember which one it was but it had bacon, pumpkin as well as the usual peas and cabbage. Freshly made to order with lots of sauce. Cheap, filling and delicious lunch.

Verdict? Definitely come back again but probably only for their okonomiyaki.  

Dumpling King

Dumplings in spicy soup $9.80

Wanted to try they dumplings as they make them in the little window next to the counter. The dumplings themselves are quite good, thick skinned with a generous pork filling. Unfortunately the soup was indeed spicy and filled with msg. It was good but my mouth was on fire and I could barely taste the dumplings. I really liked the addition of the seaweed like stuff, added a crunchy texture compared to the soft dumplings.

Verdict? Haven't really had a great experience with this place, I think it's a little overpriced and laden with msg.

Foodcourt Challenge: Simply Thai

Simply awesome. I remember eating from this place 2 years ago. And nothing much has changed, still awesome. It's made to order so you know it hasn't been sitting around for god knows how long.
Ordered the same thing, it is just too good. PAD THAI!!

Pad Thai $10.90

This is almost perfect for food court food, and pretty damn good for restaurant food. The serving is huge. There were 3 massive SHELLED prawns, YES! Calamari, tempeh, fish cake all with a smoky flavour to it. Every mouthful was filled with noodles and accompaniments. Handful of crunchy beansprouts on top with some garlic chives. A mound of nuts and chilli flakes to add in to your liking. It is seasoned perfectly with a balance of sweetness. Acidity is adjusted with the lemon. Only downside is the price, but sooooooo worth it.

Seafood Tom Yum Soup $10.90

Presentation could be improved but it's from a food court. Serving is once again pretty large. Prawns, mussels, calamari, fishcake, tomato, mushrooms and thin vermicelli noodles. The soup was pretty decent, sour enough. You can get some pretty dodgy tom yum soups here, especially if it is the packaged kind. Cold day + decent tom yum soup at a food court + shopping = :). What else could you want? K仔 said it was pretty good although it isn't as spicy as what you get in Thailand, can't believe he's never had Thai food in Aus before, only in Thailand. I want to go Thailand now =]

Verdict? Definitely would come back if I feel willing to fork out the extra few dollars. Who knew such good thai food existed at the local food court.

Food Court Challenge: Subway

Once again technically not in the food court but around the corner. After a day at State badminton(we came 3rd/4th) I was feeling pretty hungry despite the amount of lollies, fruit and a sandwich. Decided on Subway as it is filling, cheap and  yummy. Chose from the $7 foot long subs and the only one that appealed to me was the meatball one. Don't worry I didn't eat an entire footlong for afternoon tea, shared it with K仔.

Got it with pretty much everything except for olives and jalapenos (though we should have). Chose the chipotle southwest sauce. Yummy crunchy bread, lots of salad, and a few meatballs which I have suspicions about how they were made and what they contain. But together it made a pretty good sandwich.

Super filled and it just falls everywhere when you eat it unless you're experience =]

Like this photo? I didn't take it.

Food: 7/10 A good sanger after a long day is always going to taste good, especially if it's toasted and you're eating it with someone special.Though better quality meatballs would have made it better but then again it is a fast food chain not a gourmet restaurant.

Service: 8/10 Quick and to the point.Can't expect too much enthusiasm when you work at a fast food chain. 

Environment: 6/10 There are a few chairs and tables behind the shop but it is literally in the middle of the shopping centre and I don't exactly like being watched whilst I eat, feels a bit like a zoo. We went to the food court and ate instead. 

Verdict? Quick, decent, filling and cheap. Ticks all the boxes for the perfect food court choice.

Food Court Challenge: China Bar

Okay, technically China Bar isn't in the food court, it is located on the ground level next to Sushi Sushi next to the elevator. Arrived at around 2pm and it was still quite full and very busy. You could see the chefs at the back with smoking woks.

Beef Brisket and Wonton Noodle Soup $9.90

I have to say it looked a bit like someone threw the vegies and wontons on. But a relatively clear broth *ahem MSG*. Tried some noodles which tasted like what wonton noodles are supposed to taste like. The beef wasn't as meltingly tender as I expected, super dry and stringy. Maybe I just have high expectations. Didn't try wontons but I realised they were missing the floppy wonton skin end. They looked a bit like siu mai but like fully covered. What kind of wonton doesn't have the floppy part overhanging? Alright for $9.90, decent amount of noodles. 

Char Kway Teow $10:50

Tossing between Hokkien Mee and CKT. Made a last minute decision to change from hokkien mee to CKT as I haven't had CKT in a while. Miss my uncles one, though this one is quite similar just not the same. No lap cheong (chinese sausage) in this one =[ my favourite. The presentation not bad, except a few garlic chives on the top would really just make it that little bit more appealing. Otherwise colour was quite good, evenly brown. Beansprouts were still crunchy, fishcake was fried on both sides, prawns were medicore. Good wok hei/smokiness and the garlic chives added that little bit of garlic flavour without it being overpowering. Best part of course is the deep fried pork fat pieces, crunchy and yummmmy. So unhealthy but whatever. Only complaint is serving size is smaller than other restaurants. However quality does make up for it so not going to complain as there are some pretty damn dodgy CKT out there. 

They also offer frozen dim sum here where you just take it home and steam it to eat. Pretty convenient except it's not cheap. You can even get chicken feet, haha I don't eat that anymore, something about it that creeps me out.

Food: 7.5/10 Nothing spectacular. Nothing completely bad. 

Service: 6.5/10 Unenthusiastic cashier person. Tables not very clean. Got given the wrong dish at first although there being a sign saying our number. However food does come out pretty fast. 

Environment: 6/10 Sitting in the middle of a shopping centre is never ideal. Nor is sharing tables with strangers who stare at you.

Verdict? Yeah I'd come back to try claypot rice. Pretty good food considering it is a shopping centre. Still a tad pricey for a student. Especially for dim sum.

Goal: Eat my way through the shoppo food court

Food courts are notorious for serving horrible OVERPRICED food. So I've decided that I will eat my way through every place in the food court at Doncaster Shoppingtown to try and find the best one. By saying best one I mean my personal favourite, I'm in no position to say which one is the "best" but you know when a place is "bad" because you don't want to eat there again. Two main things I'll consider is taste and price.
I probably won't review every single place because I've already been to some.
I'll make a new page for this. Click "Food Court Challenge" under the blog title up the top

So why am I doing this? I went to shoppo yesterday and went to get something to eat, after walking an entire round still couldn't decide on what to get. And ended up eating this

Nandos will never fail me. Except it fails on price, this plate cost $10.50

Hopefully I'll visit shoppo often enough to keep it updated.