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Dikstein's Corner Bar

28/10/2013

Post work dinner with the girls. Pizza and pinot = perfect

The pizzas are a little small but they are cheap so I would go one per person and then maybe order an extra as a "share". The mushroom, spinach and feta was the faourite of the night but the others were good too - chorizo, artichoke and olives and a pork belly and pear.

The fries were deliciously salty and came with a yummy, spicy mayo.

This place is cosy, great value for money and a true hidden gem.

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Lee Ho Fook

26/10/2013

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I read about Lee Ho Fook on Broadsheet and immediately marked it as somewhere to go. Bankrolled by Pei Modern and Movida backers with a chef excited about doing something new, I was intrigued, I tried calling on the off chance they had a table that night but luck was not on my side. fonext day we were in the area and walked past so popped in and made a reservation for the coming Saturday.

Soon it was Saturday and we headed over. Even with a later table reservation, it was still pretty busy so we waited at the bar and the friendly bartender entertained me as Steve drove round looking for a parking place.

We were shown to a high table to the back of the restaurant against the wall. Comfortable enough but not the most relaxing but the place is pretty buzzy, speedy and hip to be relaxing.

I watched chef Victor at the pass and liked his enthusiastic manner and his resounding claps to indicate service!

We started with the;

TEA EGG, avruga and dill
RAW SCALLOP, lap cheung, shitake mushroom and spring onion

I loved that the tea egg reminded me of the tea eggs my Auntie used to make and also my Gran used to pop the odd boiled egg into her red braised belly pork dish and the salty, earth, tea flavours of this dish brought back those memories. The yolks were perfectly creamy and rich and the avruga just added that salty kick.

The scallop dish was also a hit, Sweet and silky scallop and then chewy sweet sausage meat with a salty shitake hit and then creaminess from the scallop as the final note. Loved this and there probably only was one scallop in the dish sliced thinly but at $5 I thought it was really reasonable.

We then went with:

Raw OCEAN TROUT and jellyfish salad
Saltwater DUCK, bitter leaves and radish

The trout and jelly fish was a modern twist on some familiar flavours. I loved the fragrance of sesame coming through and the ocean trout sashimi. The jelly fish reminded me of Chinese banquets from my childhood, usually at weddings. I used to love the chewy, slippery strands of jelly fish that were likened to rubber bands. In this dish there were some small slivers of the traditional jelly fish and then a deep fried version which was muted in flavour but added crunch to the soft, slippery sashimi and jelly fish.

Slices of cold poached duck laid beneath the shell of deep red bitter leaves. The duck had been poached in saltwater and had this beautiful moist texture and salty, smokey flavour. I loved the texture and the flavour but Steve preferred the trout.

For our main course, we went for probably the two most popular and classic dishes:

Crispy skin SHANGDONG CHICKEN
Sweet and sour PORK

The chicken came in big chunks on the bone and was beautifully golden with a thin crispy skin. It sat in a delicious fragrant and soy based sauce. Kind of traditional, elevated to restaurant standard.

The sweet and sour pork also had tones of tradition refreshed for the present, It's not fusion, it's not Chinese with a twist, it's tradition refreshed for the palettes of today. Not that sweet and sour pork is tradition. When I say it's tradition I talk about memories of the 70s when Chinese takeaway was a weekend treat and back then the garish pink and glossy sauce was considered exotic. Here we see the flavours captured but the sauce isn't lurid and the battered pieces of meat is done so tastily with a freshness brought in by the crunchy veg and slivers of fresh pineapple.

I'd have loved to try the STEAMED soy CUSTARD, hot and sour sauce and the lamb to share but sadly our tummies wouldn't let us. We couldn't even manage dessert and there were some delights from the menu that appealed and they looked delicious.

Oh well, one for next time! Yes please.

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The Blue Train Cafe

23/10/2013

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Wednesday evening and time for a mid week pick me up and girly chat time. I meet Charlotte at the new and refurbished Blue Train Cafe. The place is reasonably busy, enough to give it a bit of a buzz but plenty of tables available.

It's bright, it's breezy, the sun beams through the windows and it's all very pleasant. We sit next to the window and enjoy the view of the Yarra and we take a look at the wide and diverse menu.

The waiter is very friendly and we're torn between different food items and he helps us decide on the B.T Porky B’s - steamed buns filled with braised pork belly, cucumber, spring onion and hoisin sauce over the pea and halloumi fritters. And we also plump for the pulled roast duck, water chestnut and wood ear mushroom spring rolls with a ginger chilli soy sauce.

I've got to say when the buns arrived Iene was a little disappointed as they were so small and buried beneath a whole heap of greenery. They were tasty enough but I thought they'd be bigger, meatier, punchier...On the flip side the spring rolls were a more generous than I expected so I guess it's evens all round.

Flavour wise the filling in the spring rolls was probably on the bland side but the dipping sauce helped. On the texture side, they were golden and crispy and so non greasy that they were deceptively healthy! So not healthy but couldn't taste that bad grease.

Charlotte had the honey leg ham, taleggio, artichokes and chives pizza which hit the spot. The topping looked generous, the pizza base thin. I don't think it was the best pizza in the world but it was good enough and it's a satisfying crowd pleaser.

I was torn between a pasta dish and the peri peri basted ½ chicken with coleslaw and charred corn on the cob. The waiter convinced me with the tender way he referred to the chicken dish. He definitely had love for the chicken. It's a generous chicken and covered in sauce; almost drenched and I can see why some people would have preferred it to be less saucy. I always though peri peri chicken would be more marinated and roasted rather than covered in sauce. I guess authenticity isn't really the main point here; it's all about taste.

I did really enjoy the chicken with the sauce and the slightly creamy coleslaw that just mellowed out some of the spice in the sauce. I'd have loved some chips to soak up the sauce though - just a few!

I enjoyed our evening at the Blue Train. It has a wide enough menu to appeal to all ages and tastes and plenty of crowd pleasers. It's not gourmet but its location, fit out and pricing will appeal to all the tourists that frequent Southbank. I thought that the pizza for under $20 was value for money. I wouldn't recommend Blue Train for being at the forefront of flavour and food but I would recommend it for groups and get togethers whereby it's about meeting up, having a chat in a pleasant environment and being in that location.

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Grace Darling Hotel

20/10/2013

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Sunday lunch at a pub - what better way to spend a Sunday afternoon with the lovely companionship of dear friends. And the Grace Darling was a pleasant place to do just that.

We found the bar staff and wait staff friendly and flexible. I'd booked the table for 12:30pm but we ended up not taking the table until almost 2pm as we had a few pre lunch drinks! I guess the fact that it wasn't busy and there were lots of tables helped but still nice of them to be so accommodating.

Between the four of us we had the burger, the Sunday roast, the chicken kiev and the corn and jalapeno fritters. Steve had the burger which looked impressie and the chunky chips were delicious.

The Sunday roast came in a cast iron pot with veggies and gravy and Rachel and Tim enjoyed that. I think they almost forgot there was no mash when mash is a crucial element of Sunday lunch!

The chicken kiev I had was definitely enjoyable with the potato rosti and coleslaw. The breast meat was moist and the herb butter oozed out as it should . The crispy coating wasn't too think and whilst I initially thought coleslaw was a strange accompaniment, it actually went well with everything. The croquettes were also crispy and then fluffy on the inside and I liked the chilli hit.

All in all we had a jolly good pub lunch at the Grace Darling. Probably not great enough that we'll become regulars and frequent every Sunday but enough to add it to the list of pleasant places to while away a Sunday.

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Scugnizzo

19/10/2013

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Dark night and I wanted pasta - good traditional Italian. It was getting late though and it was a Saturday night so we weren't sure if we could get a reservation. Some research pointed us in the direction of Scugnizzo and with an Urbanspoon score of 91% we though we were lucky to get a table.

We walked there from home and it was quiet part of town and as we peered in through the windows, we did wonder if it was closed as it seemed empty. The Korean place close by seemed much busier. However we ventured in and were warmly welcomed.

It soon became evident that this trattoria style restaurant does the majority of its trade feeding corporate suits during the day and like the area, at the weekend, it is much quieter. A real shame actually because if this was situated in the busier part of town I can imagine it would be much busier...but then maybe it wouldn't have the roaring lunch trade...oh the ups an downs of business.

It's a lovely dining room with high ceilings and exposed brick work. The tables are nicely spaced apart. Our waiter was friendly and hospitable.

We started off with the carpaccio of the day which was smoked tuna. It was pretty intense although so thinly slices. Pungent and fishy it was evoked memories of a hot place by the sea where an old lady would dry her fish in the sun.

We shared the Maltagliati di Noce alla Boscaiola which is house made walnut maltagliati with duck and sautéed porcini served in a sun dried tomato sauce. The matltaglia is like super thick lingine with a frilly edge. Thick and al dente I loved the rustic feel of the dish and the ribsticking stodginess of it. The flavours of the duck and tomato and porcini mushroom was deeply satisfying and the shredded duck meat tender and tasty. Win!

We also shared main courses of a prosciutto pizza and maialino con risotto caramellato which was roasted suckling pig with an apple and pea risotto wrapped in prosciutto andserved with caramelised truffle honey.

The pizza was large with a thin base but a pillowy and doughy crust that was light and fluffy with generous topping and and I can vouch that it stayed good for breakfast the next day! The pizza base didn't dry out and I'm not usually a crust eater as I find it too dry but not in this case.

The roast pork looked dry but was actually juicy and springy in texture. The risotto wrapped in prosciutto was so tasty and such a good idea. Not sure if its a traditional Italian thing but we'd never seen it before.

We were so full after all this and took half the pizza home. We felt very satisfied and certainly felt we'd had a good Italian feed.

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Roast Duck Inn

13/10/2013

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Roast Duck Inn was the place where met Ling and Noah for lunch this Sunday and with a name like that, well it raises the expectations of roast duck doesn't it?

Well before I talk about service, ambience etc let's get the white elephant in the room done with. Yes the roast duck is good. In fact very good. I'd make Steve drive me to Box Hill over Pacific in Richmond now for this duck.

What made it a superior version? Good meat to bone ratio Not fatty but enough for the meat to remain juicy. Nice colour, not too dark and carved into decent manageable sizes. Large enough for their to be meat to eat but not too large that it can't be eaten with chopsticks.

Ok duck discussion over, what else? Well the place was busy although we didn't have to queue as Ling and Noah had arrived and nabbed us a table. Looking around everyone was enjoying their lunch and all the dishes looked yummy. Some beef noodles caught my eye...

The waitress was actually very helpful and helped us with the menu especially the Chef's Specials as they were all in Chinese. She recommended a few dishes too and helped us get our volume of food right. Although there were some mistakes in that our duck didn't arrive and had to be chased up and we did order those beef noodles but they didn't materialise either and by the time we realised they would be a no show, we were too full; especially as we'd ordered more rice!

We also enjoyed some beef in a BBQ ish sauce. I'd asked for the Cantonese style beef fillet as I know Steve likes it but the waitress said this was better. It was pretty tasty and the meat tender so no complaints.

The chilli chicken in salted egg yolk was also tasty but not much chilli. Loved the garlicky, crunchy gai lan. And the fried rice with salted egg and century egg was a hit for everyone. So much so we ordered it again. It smelt so good. Lots of wok hei!

Ling mentioned she liked this place as didn't feel it was too heavy on the MSG and having had the food and waited for the MSG after effects, have to agree with her that I didn't get the usual thirst or discomfort from MSG excess.

I could be so bold as to say this is my new favourite Asian place. Shame it's not closer.

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Dikstein's Corner Bar

Lee Ho Fook

The Blue Train Cafe

Grace Darling Hotel

Scugnizzo

Roast Duck Inn

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