A Sunday gathering around a round table with plenty of shared dishes to dig into family style is a great afternoon well spent, and we chose to do that at Dainty Sichuan in Glen Waverley.

Admittedly I've been a bit dubious and hesitant about Sichuan cuisine. I'm not a fan of that numbing pepper spice and whilst I enjoy heat and spice, my poor tummy sometimes doesn't. But Ling loves this place so we were ready to give it a go.

Seated around a table, 5 adults, a 3 year old and a baby in a bassinet, we had plenty of room. Found the wait staff friendly and helpful enough; the environment is very typically Chinese restaurant.

So we ordered quite a bit:

• Fish Slices with Pickled Vegetables
• FIsh Flavour Eggplant
• Cumin Lamb Ribs
• Bang Bang Chicken
• Corn in Gold Sand with Salted Egg Yolk (unpictured)
• Stewed Pork Belly Sichuan Home Style (unpictured)
• Sichuan Home Style Baby Cabbages, Pickled Chilli, Sweet and Sour (unpictured)

Steve was a little apprehensive as the menu items are a largely different to the more traditional Chinese cuisine that is heavily Cantonese influenced. I think he only recognised Ma Po Tofu and the sweet and sour pork, neither of which we ordered! However, his anxiety was shortlived as when the food arrived, he dug in and enjoyed.

The term 'fish fragrant' actually does not mean fishy at all but refers to the Sichuan traditional flavour notes of hot, sour, salty and sweet and with battered eggplant it's pretty glorious.

Definitely strong flavours come through in all the dishes but it doesn't overpower the natural flavours of the food and the flavours of each dish can be differentiated. It's good to know, it's not one big spicy mess.

The lamb ribs are what you want lamb ribs to be. Some fat for flavour but not so much that there's not meat and plenty of crunch and spice.

The mild dishes are the Stewed Pork Belly, the Baby Cabbages (which actually had slices of pork in it so watch out vegetarians!), and the corn. The fish dish was also quite mild but the combination of the piquant broth and steamed rice was pretty moreish.

We had a great meal - family feels and good flavours. Steve and I didn't feel any tummy discomfort afterwards either so good times all round although those with a more sensitive 'system' may feel the effects of spice, salt and oil. I've been informed it's worth it though!

Saturday was a double date night and we caught up with Ling and Noah at Straits Kitchen. It was all a bit confusing and they actually meant for us to dine at Straits of Malacca in Glen Waverley but somehow I ended up booking Straits Kitchen in between Mount and Glen Waverley so after a delayed start we managed to all be in one place, seated round one table!

We ordered 6 dishes in total to share and the waitress said they would come out three at a time. The combinations she chose was a little bit weird but I guess it doesn't matter too much.

So round 1 was Hainanese Chicken Rice, Sambal Spinach and Five Spice Pork Chop.

The chicken rice was decent enough and above average. The spinach was fresh, vibrant and flavoursome and a favourite of everyone. The pork chop was decent enough too but I thought the batter was a bit too thick.

Round 2 was Wat Dan Hor (rice noodles stir fried with a thick sauce), Roti Cenai with chicken curry and Beef Rendang.

The roti cenai was very good - warm and fluffy roti with a crisp to it and a decent curry. The wat dan hor was a touch too gelatinously gloopy and the beef rendang was a bit of a disappointment considering it was calling itself the specialty of the restaurant. The beef itself was tender enough but the balance of spices just wasn't quite right and the sauce wasn't fragrant enough.

All in all, dinner was decent enough. I'm not desperate to return but I'm not averse to either. Maybe next time we'll get to the right Straits place!