Pacific Seafood BBQ House

Pacific Seafood BBQ House

240 Victoria St, Richmond

(Ph) 9427 8225

P had been craving roast duck for a while so instead of getting our usual Viet food on Victoria Street, we decided to come in Pacific Seafood BBQ House. This is the original Pacific House of the 3, specializing in roast meats unlike the Lonsdale Street one which is more of a HK style cafe. I have been here before with my parents for dinner but not for lunch - their roast meats and their seafood are their specialty.

We got served a bowl of complimentary soup when we were seated - was very flavoursome =)

The menu is full of proper dishes and entrees but we wanted rice dishes which we couldn't find anywhere =/ There are also dishes written on paper stuck on the walls, mainly in Chinese but some in English as well. On the table there was a short list of Lunch Specials which were rice dishes but not roast meats. In the end we decided to share a Roast Platter - 3 meats for $28. Roast duck, roast pork and BBQ pork.

The roast duck was delicious - crispy skin and succulent meat. The only down side is when you order part of a duck it all depends on luck whether you get a meaty portion or a bony portion, as opposed to when you order half a duck or a whole duck - ah well. The roast pork skin was crispy but there was more fat than meat on it =( The BBQ pork was a bit disappointing though - was quite dry like it had been hanging by the window for ages =/

After we ordered our dishes we saw the man at the next table had ordered a roast pork rice dish! Plus it had some bokchoy on it! =( Why was it not on the menu?! We should have ordered 2 rice dishes instead of this big main plus a bowl of rice..

Food~
5/10 - maybe it was our unlucky day but the roast meats weren't as good as I remembered it to be

Atmosphere~
2/5 - quite cramped tables but the usual for Victoria Street restaurants

Service~
2/5 - quick efficient service

C.
xo

Blossom Thai

Blossom Thai

278 Toorak Rd, South Yarra

(Ph) 9827 8599

Catch up with J and T =) Thought we should go somewhere near their place 'cause we can easily drive there. Flipping through the Entertainment Book I found a 25% off for Blossom Thai - seems to have quite good ratings on Urbanspoon so we decided to check it out. It's actually right next to Miss Chu which on this Friday night was packed with people lining up on the street, while Blossom Thai was still quite empty at 7pm. People starting coming soon after though and it ended up very busy too.

I like how they give us lemon water =) and 2 serviettes?! One white and one red - do they expect us to get quite messy? =P I guess it makes it look nice lol.

P wanted an entree which all seemed a little expensive but this sounded interesting. Golden Bags (4pcs) - chicken mince, corn and water chestnut wrapped in pastry lightly fried, served with tasty dipping sauce $9.90

Very delicate little packages - how do they wrap it up with more pastry like that?! Interesting presentation but nothing too special here. Should have gone for a Roti & Peanut Sauce entree instead!

They're quite vegetarian friendly here - most dishes you can get vegetarian, chicken or beef or prawn (in increasing order of price). Since T and I don't really like prawns we just went for chicken or beef which was the same price. I love red curry so we got Gaeng Dang (Red Curry) - Thailand's favourite red curry, Thai spices coconut milk and sesasonal vegetables - beef for $19.90

A very flavoursome non-spicy curry with lots of coconut cream <3

Also got a Pad Takai (lemon grass stir fry) - stir fried with chopped lemon grass, chilli and seasonal vegetables (on sizzling plate) - beef for $21.90

Came on a sizzling plate =D I always wonder why restaurants serve food on sizzling plates - it's not like the food is cooked on the plate, and the hot plate would just overcook the food? Not too bad as a stir fry dish but thought the lemon grass flavour didn't shine through as much as I would have liked.

We got 2 Jasmine rice ($3.90 per serve) and 2 Coconut rice ($4.90 per serve) to share - coconut rice is the only rice I actually love to eat <3 Full of flavour but not too wet - was delicious by itself or went very well with the curry and the stir fry =)

Last came our favourite Pad Thai - Thai style thin rice noodles with red onion, tofu, egg, chives, bean sprouts with home made Pad Thai Sauce - chicken for $17.90

Damn they gave us chicken breast =( The chicken was a bit tough and they gave us massive pieces instead of more bite size pieces which I would have preferred. The home made pad thai sauce was full of flavour - love the peanut and the raw bean sprouts on top =)

Food~
6.5/10 - after the 25% off was well worth the meal, but normal price is a little on the pricier side for Thai food but then again it is South Yarra =P definitely come get the coconut rice!

Service~
3/5 - friendly service here, very prompt in topping up our water =)

Atmosphere~
3/5 - nothing to complain about here

C.
xo

Mamasita

Mamasita

Level 1, 11 Collins St, Melbourne

(Ph) 9650 3821

A was back in Melbourne and wanted to try Mamasita - a few years after it's opened it is still overly popular and if you come anytime near peak time be prepared to wait along the famous stairs and down onto Collins Street for up to a few hours! We decided to come at 5.30pm on a Sunday night an luckily it was only about 90% full haha. It's entrance is very small and not very visible next to the 7-Eleven but I guess if you come near peak times you would see the line of people waiting outside =P

Inside is actually not that big so no wonder the wait is so long!

We were seated at the end of the bar on high stools - not particularly comfortable but not that we really had a choice!

Sorry for the blinding flash but it's pretty dark in here =/

We started off with the famous Elote callejero - "Street style" chargrilled corn, queso, chipotle mayo & lime $5.4

Quite expensive for one cob of corn but was awesomely delicious - so cheesy with spicy seasoning on top, complimented by the lime juice.

Next we got a Tostaditas (4 per board) - 2.5inch fried tortilla chips with toppings
de Pollo - chargrilled chicken, avocado, chipotle mayo & queso fresco $15.4

The home made tortilla was crisp and crunchy - the mountain of toppings seemed a bit too much for a single tortilla chip, maybe they could have given us another one for the top so it would be more like a sandwich? Would love to try some of their other toppings like pork belly with crackling =D

The  Ceviche - raw fish cured in citrus sounded pretty interesting so we got one to share
Ceviche de Veracruz - snapper, tomato, olive, green chilli, lime & coriander $7.7 single serve, $16.5 share

Came served with some corn chips =D Not sure what it was meant to be like but there was a lot of liquid in it, it was more like a soup? The raw snapper was a bit fishy but was quite nice cured by the tanginess of the lime.

So many small dishes so we decided to get one main to share. Pancita de cerdo - Guajillo- braised pork belly, habanero cream, fried parsley & lime $27.5

This actually tasted like Asian pork belly - like a sweet soy flavour. I quite liked the habanero cream though - just a touch of spiciness which contrasted with the sweetness of the pork.

The waiter suggested us to get either some rice or some other carbs to go with the pork. She recommended the Platanos Machos - fried plantains, pico verde & queso fresco $7.7

Plantain is a starchy banana commonly used for cooking - deep fried here so tasted like chips =D Delicious as a dish by itself with the verde and the cheese anyway!

Luckily most of the dishes weren't too spicy (none of us really eat chilli!) but if you find it's not spicy enough for you, you can always add some of either green or red chilli into your dishes - we were not game enough to try though! =P

Food~
7/10 - quite tasty authentic Mexican food, would definitely want to try their tacos next time and maybe not their main dishes though

Atmosphere~
3/5 - quite a nice chilled restaurant, if only they had more tables - bar stools aren't particularly comfortable =P

Service~
3/5 - friendly but brisk service, I guess they want you in and out quickly so they can serve the massive line of customers waiting!

Would definitely be back!

C.

xo

I Love Pho 264

I Love Pho 264

264 Victoria St, Richmond

(Ph) 9427 7749

P had been wanting to come try I Love Pho for a long time, after I got him a "I Love Pho" T-shirt from Vietnam he said he'd come here wearing the shirt =P On this day we weren't planning on having lunch at Richmond so he unfortunately didn't wear the shirt - ah well another time!

It's very Westernised compared to the many other Vietnamese restaurants on Victoria Street - I mean, it actually has an English name!

We came here for a late lunch so we got seated immediately, but I know if you come at peak lunch times it can be quite packed here. The waitress asked us immediately whether we knew what we wanted to order =/ They don't provide menus here unless you ask for it but it's just what's on the menu on the walls - they pretty much only sell Pho here with spring rolls and rice paper rolls, and just a few other Special dishes. One annoying thing about this restaurant is they don't have their prices on the menu and don't tell you there are different sizes for the Pho (small/medium/large) so if you don't tell them what size you want they just give you the default medium, which I don't think is very customer friendly.

We started off with some Pork Spring Rolls

P loves ordering spring rolls at Vietnamese restuarants even though we can make them just as deliciously at home! Their home made fish sauce is very good though - super crunchy and fresh wrapped in some lettuce.

P always goes for the Special Beef Pho

This was a medium size - pretty big! Lots of rare beef, beef balls, tripe, tendon, brisket etc. Also came with some raw onion which is not the norm for Pho? The broth was quite flavoursome but was a bit too salty for my liking. They gave us the Pho but the plate of bean sprouts and herbs didn't come until like 5mins later hmm =/

I went for one of their 2 special dishes. Bo Kho - Vietnamese beef stew served with your choice of rice noodles/egg noodles or a bread roll

This was more like a soup but was very flavoursome and the beef brisket was super soft and tender. The bread roll was very fresh, crunchy crust and super soft inside - delicious soaked in the soup =) But what the?! They gave me a bad bit of carrot?? =(

Food~
6/10 - P says the Pho here is not too bad but probably not worth the hype. Would be nice if they served more non-Pho dishes here too for people like me who get dragged to Pho places =P

Service~
3/5 - service was quite quick (except the plate of bean sprouts!) but don't expect too much!

Atmosphere~
2/5 - typical Vietnamese restaurant on Victoria Street

C.
xo

The Blue Room

The Blue Room

279 Clarendon St, South Melbourne

(Ph) 9699 4036

I bought a Groupon Voucher - $59 for Three Course Modern Australian Dinner for Two People with a Glass of Wine Each. The entree is set but we get to choose our mains and dessert from the menu, all except the Eye Fillet.

I had read their service was a bit slow but we came quite early on a weekday so service was actually not too bad. They're famous for the wood-fired pizzas here (can see the oven in the picture below) but we'd had too much pizza recently so decided to try something else.

Neither P or I particularly drink wine so we asked the waiter if we could change it to a non-alcoholic drink but she said no =/ how weird is that isn't a juice or Coke cheaper than a glass of wine?!

We were started with a shared entree tasting plate which we didn't get to choose.
Saganaki - pan fried kefalograviera cheese with charred lemon and tomato salsa
Salt and pepper calamari - served with lemon aioli
Pork and veal meatballs - roast pepper and tomato sauce with salsa verde
Tempura prawns - tiger prawns in tempurra batter served with wasabi mayonnaise

They didn't really give us all the side sauces mentioned in the menu, instead just gave us a lemon aioli which was delicious and went well with it all. The saganaki was a little salty eaten by itself but the rest was all very delicious - a nice tasting of a few entrees =)

P went for the Porterhouse Steak 350g - char-grilled to your liking with crispy chips, salad and red wine jus $29.90

The steak was cooked perfectly to medium rare, a little more jus would have been nice though. Chips were deliciously crunchy but slightly soft inside =)

I got the Pork Belly Clay pot - pork served with canellini beans, chorizo sausages and vegetables served with char grilled Turkish bread $25.50

Pretty impressive looking, but they were not very generous with the pork belly, and with the few pieces there were, they were mainly fat and not much meat or crackling =( Few slices of chorizos which was good, "vegetables" was not really existent - it was mainly a pot of canellini beans =/ I should have gone for the Lamb Shank Clay pot instead!

We were pretty full after our mains (the beans and the bread and the chips were all carbs!) but our dessert came. I got the Soft Centred Chocolate Pudding - with house made honeycomb and vanilla ice-cream $12

This was delicious - though the chocolate inside wasn't as runny as I thought it'd be. The home made honeycomb was delicious - love honeycomb!

P got the Chocolate Fudge Brownie - served with berry coulis and vanilla mascapone $10

I had read good reviews about this but it wasn't that special, a very rich brownie, P thought there'd be more berry and sourness to cut the sweetness a bit, Should have gone for the Vanilla Creme Brulee instead of 2 chocolate desserts - was way too rich!

Food~

7/10 - not too bad given we were on a voucher, will come back for their pizzas another time!

Service~

3/5 - not bad, but why can't they change our wines to a non-alcoholic drink?!

Atmosphere~

3/5 - quite a nice restaurant in South Melbourne

C.

xo

Vapiano

Vapiano

Flinders Lane, Melbourne 

(Ph) 9620 3335

I had been to Vapiano in Brisbane a few times before and remembered how awesome it was, so was super excited when they opened one in Melbourne! They were doing 2 days of free lunches while the chefs and waitresses were in training but I unfortunately missed out on it. They gave buy-1-get-1-free pizza/pastas vouchers for those who missed out to be used before end of April, so P and I came to try it out on a Sunday lunch.

So new and nice inside! Downstairs is just the entrance counter, the restaurant and kitchen is all upstairs.

They gave us each a Chip Card at the counter - you swipe your card to record all your food and beverage purchases so there's no problem of split bills at the end, smart =)

It was pretty empty when we were there so we got awesome service =) There's a pizza area, a salad area and a long pasta area. Plus a dessert area which wasn't really open yet.

Most of the tables are high tables with stools - not particularly comfortable if you want to hang and chill. But there are some lower tables up the back too - it's quite a big restaurant =)

At each table there were bottles of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and herb pot plants! Mainly basil which you add to your own pasta or pizza =)

At the salad bar there's bread for you to try the salad dressings - the dressings were really flavoursome but we weren't hungry enough for a salad as well. Would have liked it if there was parmesan cheese for us to help ourselves to though!

At the pizza bar they give you a buzzer so you don't have to stand around to wait. The screen on the bottom is where you swipe your Chip Card to record your purchase.

Big clean oven which on this day had some issues and the pizza took forever to come out. After apologizing to us, the manager was kind enough to say they'll give us the pizza for free for our inconvenience.

There were quite a few pasta counters 'cause the chefs cook it right in front of you =)

You choose your pasta type and the pasta sauce, and you pick whether you want garlic, cheese etc.

The packets behind them are the many different types of pasta they have on offer =)

Complimentary ciabatta bread =)

Tada! Our Pollo e Spinaci - chicken breast, onion, pesto, baby spinach in a cream sauce with pappardelle $20.90

It was deliciously fresh and cooked al dente - the sauce was delicious and even though they weren't that generous with the chicken it was a perfect ratio - less is more =)

Yay the pizza buzzer finally went off!

Barbecue Pollo - chicken breast, barbecue sauce, onion, smoked cheese, tomato base, mozzarella $20.90

This was one of the best pizzas we've ever had, maybe 'cause we waited forever for it =P Super thin crispy crust, super cheesy and not much chicken - less is more again!

So because they gave us the pizza for free, we didn't get to use our buy-1-get-1-free voucher, and since it was such an awesome meal, we came back again a few days later for dinner. We still ordered one pasta and one pizza.

Filleto di Manzo e Rucola - fillet of beef, mushrooms, rocket, carrots, zucchini, spring onion and white wine with campanelle $20.90

This was more like a dry pasta and was quite different to what we expected, kinda like a stir fry with pasta. Was still quite tasty but I guess I would have preferred a pasta with a sauce.

Gamberi e Rucola - prawns, olives, rocket, tomato base, mozzarella $20.90

This was super awesome too - they were surprisingly very generous with the prawns, and they were big and juicy too! Like the other one, super thin and crispy base =)

Vapiano is one of the new gems of Melbourne, it will get very busy very soon here! Bonus is when you pay, you can help yourself to a handful of gummy bears! =)

Food~
8/10 - super awesome and fresh, love how they cook your food straight in front of you =)

Service~
4/5 - very attentive and polite here

Atmosphere~
4/5 - cool place to hang out, imagine it will get very busy here when more people know about it!

Will definitely be back =)

C.
xo