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Roast Duck Inn

23/12/2014

My mum and dad spent Christmas and New Year with us and their usual place of residence is UK. They have visited us before and enjoy grocery shopping and preparing food at home using the fresh produce we have here in Australia.

This time we decided to show them Box Hill for grocery shopping and they loved it there! We must have visited at least 4 or 5 times over that period and then after my mum went home and my dad stayed we also went a few times during weekends in Jan / Feb. So in a short space of time, we soon became regulars.

We always order roast duck. It's just so delicious there and the meat is dense and flavoursome. Latterly we also had the crispy roast pork and even my dad admitted he wouldn't be able to improve on it! Now that is a rarity as my dad pretty much thinks he can make a better version of most Chinese dishes!

Steve loves the duck, salted egg and century egg fried rice. Really it's quite an unusual choice for someone non Chinese but he always asks for it.

My dad came to love the pippis in a chilli wine sauce. Super spicy but super tasty it's amazingly fragrant. The clam meat is sweet and the chilli sauce extremely exhilarating! Also pictured is the cuttlefish which is a very typical Hong Kong dish.

Although meals there are brisk and it's not about having a long, leisurely lunch as it's still fast food, the service is mostly friendly especially the male manager and female manageress. They are very welcoming and hospitable which is a welcome change to a lot of the authentic Chinese restaurants around. My mum apologised one time as we were leaving as we'd had Amelia with us and we'd made a bit of a mess of the table. The manager told her not to apologise and when going out to eat she shouldn't have to worry about things like that.

When in Box Hill, I wouldn't go anywhere else!

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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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Food Republik

15/3/2013

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Friday evening trip to Box Hill - only for the brave hearted and the large stomach'd! We met up with Ling, Noah and Stef for an Asian feed. The original intention was to drive in but Steve and I inadvertently and unbeknownst to each other succumbed to Friday night post work drinks rendering us as useless drivers...so we jumped on the train and joined the commuters to the burbs...

Food Republik was buzzy and busy just like a hawker place in Asia and Ling and Noah had started ticking the boxes on the order pad. We tried various things including dumplings, oyster pancake, Taiwanese beef shin noodes and some fried rice.

The best was the noodles - they were springy and fresh and the beef and broth was flavoursome and savoury. The additional soya egg was also a hit and reminded me of grandma's version.

The fried rice was bland and the dumplings were ok. I wouldn't return for either of those but I would for the noodles.

We also, well I also ordered three of the belly pork buns to share and I had expectations that they would be super yum like the sliders at Spice Temple.

Hmmm...somewhat misguided expectations... The bread part was good - steamed mantou and there was a big piece of pork. But the whole things was more sweet than savoury and just a bit weird. The pork wasn't very porky and lacked meaty goodness. I think the others thought I was mad for ordering three!

We decided to do the Asian dessert thing. Now I'm not a fan of Asian desserts as they're usually pretty synthetic, sweet and well strange. Red beans really belong in Mexican food and not sweetened for a dessert.

Anyway Stef was under strict orders to try the most expensive mango dessert with the coconut ice shards and I decided to join in with a strawberry volcano with vanilla ice cream.
Unlike with the pork buns expectations we had low expectations of the desserts and were pleasantly surprised.

The strawberry was a little synthetic but not offputtingly so. The coconut ice thing on the mango dessert was good but I wasn't a fan of the mango balls which was like eating a bath pearl.

It's an interesting place and well priced but wasn't so great that I want to return immediately.

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Wong's Lucky Bar

25/5/2012

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A Friday night trip to Box Hill to catch up with Ling and Noah meant a visit to Wong's to sample their set banquet including lobster chow mein. We met up there and Ling and Noah were already seated and ready to dig in! This is one of their regular haunts but they'd never had the lobster so we were all in for something new.

We started off with shark fin soup but I doubt it was shark fin. The usual thick gloopy Chinese soup. This was followed by main dishses of salt and pepper chicken ribs which were crunchy and tasty and appetisingly golden in colour. The sweet and sour pork was also up there in appearance stakes and although we pretty much knew MSG was present in everything, we still tucked in and enjoyed.

The lobster chow mein was done in spring onion and ginger and the noodles that soaked up all the dishes was yummy. The lobster itself was somewhat tough and chewy though and lacked a seafood flavour. The Hainanese chicken was delicious - soft and silky with a light soy and chilli sauce. Finally the sea cucumber and braised mushrooms dish was also pretty good. Steve and I felt that the dishes were not as good as Pacific BBQ and Seafood Restaurant but we also concede that if we had ordered the same amount of food there it would have been a lot pricier.

There was definitely enough food for us all and the banquet was well priced at around $50 per head. Steve avoided the sea cucumber dish and Noah avoided the lobster and portion sizes were still large enough so that everyone enjoyed a decent amount of what they liked and wanted.

Sadly after this meal, we all fell sick the next day. This dinner was consumed Friday evening and by Saturday afternoon, Ling, Noah and Steve all fell ill to gastro and I joined them on the Sunday. Whilst we cannot be 100% sure it was down to this meal, it does seem pretty flukey that we all experienced the same symptoms. The ever witty Ling has renamed this place Wong's Yucky Bar!

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Fu Long

20/11/2011

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Sunday afternoon yum cha with the Worthingtons complete with door to door chauffeur action!

Martyn and Claire came to pick us up and we headed to Box Hill to their preferred joint for dim sum. Steve and I have never done yum cha in Box Hill so we were up for seeing whether it was any good.

Fu Long was busy and a little bit manic as one sitting was just finishing and the new one beginning. Lots of Chinese folk sat round tables and trolleys of goodness were being pushed around by unsmiling waitresses. All very familiar!

We ate a whole heap of dumplings. The majority were very good. Three per basket and very plump fillings and wrappers were of a decent quality. Some of the prawn meat was a bit pink in colour so probably some food colouring used.

We particularly enjoyed the egg tarts with the flaky pastry, the rugby ball shaped ones that are crispy and chewy and Steve had three mini pineapple buns! The char siu bau were great too - two fluffy buns with a decent amount of filling (meat and sauce) and not lurid in colour either.

Reviews for this place are very mixed. I'm not sure what the usual menu is like but the dim sum was more than acceptable. We didn't try anything non yum cha except for a portion of Chinese broccoli and really, there's not a lot that can go wrong with that. One or two of the stems were a bit tougher but the majority was good.

We were very lucky and the Worthingtons footed the bill. Prices seemed cheaper than the CBD and we'd be happy to return again.

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SImon's Peiking Duck

16/9/2011

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Friday night and it's double date night with Ling and Noah. We decided to head East and meet at Simon's Peiking Duck which has a reputation for having the best Peking duck in Melbourne.

Noah made the reservation and had pre ordered two ducks for the four of us. Basically one duck is done into Peking duck with the pancakes, then the meat is stir fried with either noodles or beansprouts and then the carcass is used to make soup.

It's $55 per duck with the beansprouts and $63 for the noodles and one duck feeds 2 people or 3 if you order some other stuff. They do two sittings in one evening so we went for the later one at 8pm.

We arrived and Ling and Noah were already there. We were slightly delayed as we stopped to help some guys in our basement car park jump start their car. Simon's was a full house! The tables were close together and there was a little bit of "excuse me, could you move your chair slightly" so we could squeeze by and get to our window table.

Before long the duck starts to come out and this is what every table is waiting for and every table orders. The homemade panackes come out first and the waiter does a quick demo of where to put your spring onion and cucumber.

The crispy duck makes an entrance and it's all golden and glistening.

It's pile it on time and add a slosh of sauce before fold, fold, fold and voila!

It's incredibly unctuous, tasty and I'm not sure whether to use the word greasy or juicy. Greasy seems to have negative connotations but there's no denying that it is. I guess the grease does stop it from being super crispy but then super crispy may make it dry. This is far from dry and it is very good. The pancakes disappear quickly but no fear as round 2 of duck makes an appearance along with another bowl of sauce.

The other great thing is the pancake wrapper. Definitely home made and it just has that soft chew good bread has rather than the dry stuff that is shop bought.

By this time, we're up to our elbows in grease and wiping our fingers all over the paper table cloth. We weren't given serviettes or napkins and our first request for them doesn't materialise. Eventually we get one napkin each which isn't really sufficient. Service at Simon's is brisk and apart from the napkin scenario, on the whole efficient. Our teapot is filled regularly and the food arrives quickly.

After our dishes are cleared away, the next course arrives. No photos though as my hands are still too greasy! We have the duck stirfried with handmade noodles first then with beansprouts. My preference is for the noodles but the beansprout dish isn't bad. The stir fry dishes are not as good as the Peking duck but nice enough. I wouldn't travel out of the city just for this course but I would for the whole shebang. There are some shitake mushrooms and other bits in the noodles. We ask for chilli sauce or oil and get a small dish of freshly chopped chillies.

Final course is the duck soup which is the Chinese broth like consomme soup. It's clear liquid and has the taste of duck. There are a couple of pieces of tofu, some green veg and the flavours of dried mandarin peel, star anise and pepper. It's okay but not amazing.

So at Simon's, the first course is super yummy, the second course is pretty tasty and the final course just ok. Lucky for Simon the first course is good enough to ca

Simon's Peiking Duck Restaurant on Urbanspoon

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3 Kingdoms and Monga Dessert Lounge

4/2/2011

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Friday night adventure to Box Hill! Steve and I decided to get there by train which was made more exciting by the fact that a candidate of mine told me not to get the train back from Box Hill after 9pm "because bad things happen there after 9pm!" Our journey there started off grey and then the rain fell. When I say fell I mean it poured. Rivers were created on the platforms of the stations we passed through. We could hear it hammer down on the roof of the train.

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.

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Roast Duck Inn

Roast Duck Inn

Food Republik

Wong's Lucky Bar

Fu Long

SImon's Peiking Duck

3 Kingdoms and Monga Dessert Lounge

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