We were greeted at the station by Ling and Noah and we headed to 3 Kingdoms. The trip involved a subway and wading through ankle high water. Ling got a piggy back from Noah to keep her shoes dry!
3 Kingdoms was reasonably busy. It smelt good as we walked in and we were hungry so good signs. We shared some fried dumplings which were tasty, kim chi pancake and spring onion pancake. The pancakes were ok - more veg than pancake. The courses came out one at a time too so it was quite a long meal. Noah ordered a fermented rice drink which came in a can and the response from both Ling and Noah after first sip wasn't enough to make me want to try.
Main courses - Noah had beef bulgogi, Steve and I had bibimbap which was a stone pot with beef, veggies and fried egg in it which I topped with chilli sauce and Ling had teriyaki fish. Ling's dish came out really late and tasted a little odd. Kind of sweet and salty at the same time. The bibimbaps were pretty good; lots of rice but not really authentic as the egg was too well done. Usually it's raw and you mush it altogether to get a bit of sauce from the egg so the dish ended up being a little dry. The beef bulgogi tasted fine - not exceptional but fine. It looked a but stringy too.
Wouldn't bust a gut to return but it was acceptable and the company made it fun.
We then went for Chinese dessert at Monga Dessert Lounge. Got to say I'm not a huge fan but because we were in Box Hill and the weather was humid like Hong Kong, it felt like the right thing to do. Plus it's Chinese New Year so I guess I should do things that are the traditions of my people.
Once again Ling's dish was delayed but Steve's waffle with green tea ice cream and red bean paste was even later. The waffle and ice cream was good but the red bean paste was a little bit too much like Mexican refried beans which don't really go with waffle and ice cream so Steve pushed the paste to one side. Lings sweet green bean (like a pulse rather than the vegetable) with kelp was declared ok but she wished she'd ordered her usual red bean sweet soup. Noah had a basil seed and watermelon dish with coconut milk that looked like frog spawn with balls of red melon. Nice colours. I had the sago with coconut milk and ice cream which was like runny rice pudding and nice enough but far too much coconut milk so I couldn't finish it.
I think we'll return to Monga Dessert Lounge and bring my mum as she likes stuff like that but Chinese desserts are not really my thing.