Eating Out: The Chinese Wok [Devon Plaza, Doncaster East]

Sorry I don't have an address for this place or proper names for dishes as I don't have the menu anymore. But it's 2 shops away from Nandos at Devon plaza. Now there are 3 asian restaurants at Devon Plaza, Lucky Hut which I have yet to try and quite frankly don't particularly want to try, The Chinese Wok been open for a few weeks and the sushi place which I would like to try some time.

The Chinese Wok is tiny, seats probably max 15 people? They could fit more but I guess they chose comfort over cramming which is good. First impressions were not so great as one look at the menu and it seemed like "aussie" chinese food. After pondering for AGES at the menu, finding out that the meat dishes actually came with rice and being told that they made their own sweet and sour sauce I went with the classic....sweet and sour pork DUH! Mum wanted something a little more asian and chose something along the lines of Noodles with pork? 爆酱面was the chinese name if I'm not mistaken.

sorry for the crap quality, taken with phone

 Sweet and sour pork $9ish

It wasn't radioactive red! The mound of rice was massive and I didn't manage to finish it. The pork tasted like pork and was battered and fried. The sauce was quite sour for my liking, maybe traditionally it is actually really sour, I don't know. It tasted like a home cooked meal made with love which is getting harder to find nowadays. The number of chinese places who do not give the shit about their food is quite scary and disappointing. 

Noodles with pork $10ish?

Okay the name for this was actually a lot better sounding that the one I just made up. The bowl didn't look very big at first but it was filled to the max with noodles and pork mixture. It doesn't look that awesome but let me tell you it tasted AMAZING. The noodles were special and I don't know the exact name of them but they were white and almost spaghetti like just thinner. The pork mixture has a special sauce that I suspect was bean paste but it was soooooo good. All in a light broth. Just like chinese street food. If I were to come back I would definitely order this.

Food: 9/10 Tasted just like home cooked meals. We talked to the chef who was this lovely chinese lady who was so passionate about her food and making it the best. Got some takeaway chinese side dishes for dinner that night and they were so delicious too.

Service: 8/10 All the waitressing if done by this girl. She super friendly and helpful. She knows all the dishes. Only problem was we had communication problems, she spoke chinese to me and I tried to reply but she didn't understand me (a 42 in vce chinese means nothing, she couldn't even understand me trying to say chicken), so from then on I just replied to her in English whilst mum talked to her in canto and she replied to mum in English. It was messed up. But she speaks decent English.

Environment: 7/10 It's not fine dining. If it was in China this would be considered pretty good.

Verdict? I want to go back and have the bowl of noodles all to myself =] Hopefully the food won't change much.

Cooking: Har Mee (Prawn Noodle Soup)

Spent 2 hours making Har Mee instead of studying =S I think I should research on how to make har mee before actually trying to make it next time. Although I had over a litre of prawn shells the broth still wasn't prawny enough. 

Not going to post a recipe since I don't exactly know how to make it and I don't have the time to type one out. Topped the noodles with leftovers from during the week. And with a massive dollop of homemade sambal.

How do you get the flavour out of the prawns shells?

Eating Out: Pho at Swinburne Uni

 I know I'm supposed to be spending every waking moment studying for the end of year exams which start in under 3 weeks!!! But to take a break and relax I went out for lunch and had PHO. Unfortunately I still crave pho....how does that work? Sorry I don't have a name of the place, I don't even remember reading one. K仔 took me there. Just off glenferrie rd.

Special Combination Beef and Chicken Regular $8.80

It was a pretty decent sized regular. Loads of beef and some chicken. Beef slices, beef balls, some sort of tripe, beef tendon like things and some chicken breast. Totally worth the money. Only let down was the broth wasn't as clear as what I'm used to and it was really rich in beef flavour. 

Bun Bo Hue $8.80

Out of the 3 bun bo hue's I've had I think this would be the best. Even better than springvale? Well personally I liked this one. Good broth, definitely spicier than all the ones I've tried. Best thing was the entire top was covered with toppings. Some of which I didn't even know what it was and probably didn't want to know. Anyone else find that Bun Bo Hue noodles are impossible to grab with chopsticks because they are so short?

But luckily these noodles weren't too soft so it wasn't as hard to pick up.

Overall it was decent viet noodles at a very good price. Whether I would come back? It's glenferrie rd, so many other choices and I probably won't be able to find this place again. Somewhere near maccas I think.

Eating IN: Laksa King

After coming home from lunch at Straits my brother came home with takeaway laksa from LAKSA KING. I've been wanting to visit since hearing about it and my bro went with his friends a few months back and rubbed it in my face.

Even the takeaway is presented so neatly. The taste was outstanding, even for a takeaway which had been reheated it was very very good. The broth was full of spices which was balanced out with the coconut. Now I really want to visit Laksa King and actually have a bowl of laksa dine in.

Please may that day come sooner!

Cooking: Awesome instant noodles

Came home from my first exam for the year.
Played an hour of wii to relax.
Made some awesome lunch...of ramen...or otherwise called instant noodles.

Looks like the real deal yeah?
I made the chashu last week, been sitting there waiting to be eaten.
To get this awesome bowl of noodles done in 10 mins. (best if you use tonkotsu/shoyu/miso flavour noodles)
1. Put a pot of water on the stove put your egg in (just covering the egg). Boil the water.
2. Boil some water in the kettle (too add to pot later and to make soup)
3. Slice chashu and put under grill.
4. After the pot has been boiling for a min add in more water from kettle, enough to cover the noodles.
5. Add noodles. Cook for 3 mins.
6. Flip chashu.
7. Stir noodles.
8. Make soup with flavouring packet.
9. Put noodles into bowl. Dunk egg into a bowl of cold water until cold enough to peel.
10.Meanwhile take chashu out and put into bowl with noodles.
11. Peel egg and cut in half.
12. Serve.

Guess what I just did!
Taught you how to make instant noodles =P
Enjoy.

Eating Out: Ampang Tofu 13 Village Avenue, Doncaster East

Went out for lunch with the family. Couldn't choose where to go. I wanted to go to Straits Cafe but due to the legionnaires disease outbreak like 50m down the road parents refused to go there. Ended up at Ampang Tofu although I wanted to go to Malaya Inn cos we haven't been there for soooooo long meaning about 10 years.

Curry Laksa Chicken $9.00

Used fried tofu instead of tofu puffs. Nothing special about it. A bit of a let down. The broth wasn't spicy and fragrant enough but was quite coconutty. At least it wasn't bad.

Thai Fried Noodles $9.50

Mum ordered this one. Very strong lemongrass and sour flavour. The noodles have soaked up tom yum flavour. I suspect they add tom yum soup to the noodles when this is cooked to soften them and allow them to soak up extra flavour. Quite nice. Could have been spicier though. And I didn't really like the raw shredded lettuce on the top.

Hokkien Mee $9.50

Mum was about to order Stir Fried Beef Rice Noodles but I stopped her and asked whether we could have Hokkien mee instead. I like hokkien mee for it's sauce, so delicious. This was my favourite dish out of the three. However the sauce was quite runny and didn't stick onto the noodles as well as it could have. And there wasn't much seafood or vegies in with the noodles. Just nitpicking, not bad.

Food: 8/10 The food here isn't amazing but it's definitely not bad. It's good but don't expect exceptional food. Presentation could be improved. 

Service: 6/10 The person at the counter could have been a bit friendlier but I guess he is under a lot of stress. Tables were not cleaned for about 5 mins after being SEATED. Bowls had weird brown residue on them, probably from sauce not being cleaned off it properly *shudders*. They need a better dishwasher.

Environment: 7/10 This place is pretty cramped. The place is about the size of the place is a tad bigger than my room. And you can seat about 20-30 people in there I think. Not an ideal environment to dine in. However I do love their massive wallpaper of KL more specifically the Petrona Twin Towers, I would love one of HK in my room.

The verdict? Consistently good food. Although there may be better Malay food around, this is a place you can rely on. I would come back again if I really wanted to but with the choice of Malay restaurants around, this place probably wouldn't be first choice. It you want some decently authentic Malay food QUICK, come here. 

Eating Out: Malaysian Kitchen, 910-912 Doncaster Road Doncaster East

Been wanting to try out this place since it was renovating. Finally got to go there with mum for lunch today. Looks pretty decent on the outside, inside is pretty nice. However I seem to get this feeling like it's a bistro....I don't get why though. Took the waiter ages to figure out whether we should sit downstairs or upstairs...which was a bit awkward as we just stood there watching her look at the downstairs area and then look at the stairs a few times...
Lunch special is $10.80 with about 15 different choices and either a soft drink or coffee. I don't remember all the choices but there was Nasi Lemak, Curry Laksa, Wonton noodles, Fish head noodles, Assam Laksa, Hainanese/Roast Chicken Rice.
They have some pretty authentic stuff on their normal menu, serious not so famous hawker food. However if you aren't eating there at lunch a bowl/noodles will set you back about $12. I know that sounds pretty cheap but considering the prices of Malaysian food in Melbourne, that's starting to enter the higher price end.

Fish Head Noodle Soup $10.80 with drink (latte)
I'm not a fan of fish head, so many bones. I tried some of the soup and it was like really comforting, a little under seasoned by I think it's better that way. I wouldn't mind a bowl of that soup with noodles for when I'm sick.

Hainanese Chicken Rice Set with soft drink $10.80
I was rather disappointed with my lunch. The rice was almost a highlighter yellow, lacked chicken taste, the chilli sauce lacked garlic, there was so little chicken (don't be fooled by the picture) most of the chicken was bone. The pickled vegetables didn't seem to go that well in my opinion and the soup was pretty average.
Mum asked for Sambal to dip her noodles in. The sambal tasted very good, really good flavours except lacked one thing. It was not chilli AT ALL!!!??!!

Whilst ordering my drink, I asked whether they had Teh Tarik and got a puzzled face from the waitress. Asked her in Chinese and she replied "no, we don't have that".
Now what kind of authentic Malaysian Restaurant doesn't have Teh Tarik??

Food: 7/10 Nothing special, could have been better but it wasn't bad. Very ungenerous portion of chicken, very generous portion of chicken bone.

Service: 6/10 Didn't encounter a single Malaysian waiter/waitress. Okay they can't be faulted on that. The waitresses do not speak a common language, some mando, some canto, no fluent english. No drinks served until you ask. Waitresses did not know which table was which, serving food to random tables. For some reason an old man with a walking stick had to sit upstairs, absolute inconvenience, what were the waitresses thinking?! Halfway through the meal I saw the waitress turn into the dish washer....in the sight of all the customers. In short, I dislike their service. 

Environment: 6.5/10 Feels like a bistro. They have those little round bar tables up against the wall (out of the way). Noodles on the floor. Lack of lighting, only had natural light that was coming through shut blinds (which makes it very hard to take a decent pic of your food).

Verdict? Pretty average. It's not bad but it's definitely not good either. If I was given a choice, I think I probably would choose to go to Straits Cafe 3 mins down the road. Just my personal opinion.

Eating Out: Old Town Kopitiam, 195 Lt Bourke St, Melbourne Chinatown

I first visited this restaurant about 2 years ago. And even back then it was very good. I remember I ordered the curry laksa that time, how I remember? I ALMOST DIED cos it was so chilli. Nah, it wasn't that chilli for Malaysians but it was pretty chilli for me. 2 years on and not much has changed about this place. It's pretty packed and its a public holiday so theres no business people around...I wonder what it is like on a working weekday.
Had a very hard time tossing between, Nasi Lemak (curry chicken, my fav), Char Kway Teow (cos I haven't had it in a while), Hokkien Mee (haven't had that in ages as well), Siamese Laksa (sounded awesome but it looked super super spicy in the picture) and Prawn Noodle (I don't even remember when I last had this, that means), therefore I chose to go with the Prawn Noodles and what a good choice it was.

Old Town Prawn Noodle Har Mee $9.90

Where should I start? It looked really appetising. The broth was extremely rich in prawn flavour. It was quite salty in a good way. It had slices of pork, fish cake, kangkung (water spinach), half a boiled egg, 3 large and crunchy prawns. The hokkien noodles were just right, I have rediscovered my love for them. Very very nice bowl of noodles especially on a cold day. I do recommend this dish if you can't don't eat chilli. 

Old Town Fish Ball Noodle Kway Teow Teng $9.90

White rice noodles, white fish cake, white fish balls, white poached chicken, clear broth.

Singaporean Fried Vermicelli $10.50

Very thin vermicelli with tonnes of goodies. Not spicy.

Food: 8.5/10 The food here is consistently very good. Flavours are rich, portions are big, presentation is quite good. 

Service: 8/10 Food came out quite quickly. Waiter only came around for take orders, to give us water and to serve us our food. They seem very very very busy.

Environment: 7/10 Everything is quite new and relatively clean. However it is pretty cramped and very noisy. But then again it is Chinatown, everything is cramped so they're exempt. 

Verdict? I really like this place. Probably the best Malaysian Food I've had in Melbourne so far. Very happy to come back at least another 10 times to try everything (I want to) on the menu. Maybe I should make that my goal for the next couple of years. I think that proves that I highly recommend this place.

Eating Out: Meals On Jacksons, Jackson Court, Doncaster East

Been wanting to come here for 2 months now, ever since Steph told me it was alright. The name sounds pretty weird (kinda like meals on wheels) but it's far from that. It's actually a little Malaysian and Chinese Restaurant in a local shopping strip/area (Jackson Court). Wasn't particularly busy although many just buy take away as they do have a lunch special.

We ordered 3 dishes to share between the 4 of us.

  Got bored waiting for food so played with the camera.

Curry Laksa $8.80

Not bad. Contained two types of noodles, chicken, char siu, fish cake, tofu puffs, spring onion and fried shallots. The soup was very creamy, in my opinion too creamy and not fragrant/spicy enough. Also it was not chilli enough for my liking.

Ipoh Combination (滑蛋河）$9.80

Very average. Everyone complained there was not enough eggy sauce. My family loves their sauce when it comes to noodles. Also the noodles were really narrow/thin for some reason, I'm used to wide rice noodles for this dish. Didn't taste exceptional because the ingredients weren't as fresh as they could be. 

Combination Fried Noodle $11

Quite disappointed with this one. Dad ordered since it was the most expensive he thought it would be good. It turned out to be pretty much all the stuff in the Ipoh combination just with fried noodles instead and the addition of cauliflower and broccoli. But crispy noodles are nice =)

Should have gone with Hokkien Mee instead =.="

Food: 7/10 it would have really helped if the food was served hot not warm

Service: 7/10 one lady waited all the tables in the restaurant so you can't expect her attention constantly. She does do a very good job though. 

Environment: 7/10 Everything is relatively clean and modern. Surprisingly spacious given the amount of space. Good lighting though.

Verdict? Not too bad. Pretty average. I think the only other malay restaurants around would be Rasa Malaya and Straits Cafe, I can't compare because I haven't been to either for quite some time. I wouldn't mind coming back here to try their curries but I probably wouldn't order what I ate today, there are a lot of other options on the menu. I think I had my hopes up too high for this place. But it's not a bad chinese restaurant, probably one of the better ones around in that price range. 

Update!! New Petaling Street soon to be opened at Box Hill as La Porchetta closed down. I want to try all the Petaling Street restaurants around. So far I've only tried the Glenferrie Rd one, where I found out Assam Laksa is definitely not the dish for me. It's an acquired taste =.=" Also got to try the one at Glen Waverley, except that every time I go down to Glennie, I always end up at my uncles restaurant.

Cooking-Chips/Wedges + instant noodles

Yesterday I came home from school and decided to make potato chips. But since I didn't have 40 mins to bake them, I decided to microwave the cut up potatoes to speed things up. However thanks to the storm, the power went out whilst I was microwaving =.=" So I made an instant noodles instead, my favourite flavour. Tonkotsu :) Or pork bone soup flavour.
SOOOO YUMMY :)
So after like 30 mins, the power came back on and I decided to finish making my chips/wedges. Finished microwaving them, then seasoned them with herbs and random spices, then chucked them into the mini oven (which is really really good for just baking small batches of things). Unfortunately managed to burn myself on the oven whilst flipping the chips (did I mention I'm extremely clumsy in general?) Whipped up some chilli mayo to dip them into and had my 2nd afternoon tea XD

 

Verdict? Alright, not crunchy enough unfortunately. Also I should have peeled the potato, the skin was chewy and gave a weird texture.

Yeah, instant noodles and chips for afternoon tea : ) 

(so gonna get fat now =.=")

Eating Out: 大长今dae jang geum－Chinatown

This blog post is about a week late. Last week I went shopping for an 18th pressie for Mat with Ngoc and Abel. After buying his present we went out for lunch. (Sounds a bit like Ngoc's blog post bout this day..btw check out her blog cos it's funny as and she's one of the most amazing artists --> Ngoc's Blog)
Anyways back to lunch. Ngoc felt like Korean so we ended up walking past this place where they had two ladies dressed in traditional korean outfits holding menus out the front, I felt so sorry for them as it was 35 degrees outside. We walked inside to find a massive flight of stairs (we were so tired from pressie shopping) but awesome aircon. Sat down and they gave us a massive bottle of chilled water : ) and they're teacups were abnormally large....they took forever to fill up.

 

(photo courtesy of Ngoc)

I ordered the beef bulgogi set which is the plate in the top right corner, all the dishes in the middle and a bowl of rice. The beef was quite sweet but I think it's supposed to be like that. Definietly needs to be eaten with rice. The kimchi was quite sour but not extremely chilli which was good. All the rest of the accompaniments were pretty average. Though the chilli cucumber was refreshing on such a hot day. Ngoc and Abel both chose noodles (hence the two bowls in the pic) Both were boiling hot for ages. Bad choice for them on such a hot day (thank god that place had awesome aircon). Ngoc had a Chicken Noodles I think, looked very yummy. And Abel had Seafood Noodles which came with this massive prawn he didn't know how to eat without using his hands. Abel seems to love the noodles (think they were handmade) and ate them in world record time despite the soup being boiling hot.

Verdict? Definitely would go there again to try their noodles. The place was super spacious, very hard to find spacious restaurants in Chinatown. Lunch was under $10 for each of us which I guess is pretty good for us students with little money. And it probably one of the
cleaner places in Chinatown, very clean indeed.