Longrain

Longrain

44 Little Bourke St, Melbourne

(Ph) 9671 3151

During dinner at New Age Cafe, V said he was going out with some others to Mamasita this week and my eyes twinkled when he said that - I had been wanting to come here for a few months but never got the chance to! So we decided to invite ourselves =P

We were meeting up at Mamasita at 6.30pm on a Tuesday night - oh my gawd the wait for a table for 5 was 1+ hour o_Oa I knew this was the hype restaurant of the year but I didn't think it would be this crazily full! 

We were starving so V suggested we go to Longrain instead - I had been wanting to come to Longrain for a while too but never got the chance to so I was happy =) We were worried there'd be a line here too, but surprise! The restaurant was half empty!

It was so dark inside - I guess very ambient feel =P We sat at a communal table - was a bit disappointed didn't feel very high class for the price of the food here.

We were a bit shocked at the price of the food here - ~$30-40 per main so we decided to share 4 mains and stuff the boys with rice - Thai Jasmine white rice $3.00 per head (I don't eat rice so we only got rice for 4 - saved us $3 lol) They wanted to get Biodynamic Australian brown rice $4.00 per person - lol biodynamic rice?!

The first main we ordered was Crisp whole ocean trout with caramelised tumeric, pineapple and chilli $37.50

Crisp whole ocean trout

Wow this was like a delicacy - crispy trout with delicious caramelised sauce and crunchy seaweed on top! The bones were so crisp we could bite it like a chip =) This was my favourite dish of the night =)

Next came the Caramelised pork hock with chilli vinegar & crisp garlic $33.50

Caramelised pork hock

P thought he had been here before and tried this dish and said he loved it (turns out he went to Red Spice Road which apparently is similar to Longrain). The pork was slightly tough - think it's meant to be tender inside but I think they overcooked it, was crunchy on the outside but a bit too tough inside. The caramelised sauce was very delicious though, slightly sour with vinegar.

P wanted the Spiced Sher Wagyu beef stir fried with snake beans & caramelised chilli $39.00

Wagyu beef stir fry

Wow this was a disappointment - was such a small dish! Couldn't really tell it was wagyu meat, just tasted like a normal stir fry dish. Snake beans were fresh and crunchy though.

The boys wanted another meat dish so they ordered the Stir fried duck breast with snake beans, Thai basil & curry paste $39.00

Stir fried duck breast

When we ordered didn't even realise that this was snake beans again (we've been doing that a lot lately - ordering 2 very similar dishes, should really read things properly =/ see Indya Bistro). This was so much more chillier than the other dishes - didn't think the "curry paste" would be more chilli than the "chilli" in the other dishes lol. The duck was alright but the chilli was just so overpowering I didn't like this as much.

Don't think the boys were really full after those 4 dishes - weren't very big portions for the price. Thank goodness there was unlimited rice =P

We saw every other table had ordered the Eggnet with pork, prawns, peanuts & caramelised coconut with a cucumber relish $29.50. It was such a large plate of stuff covered in a beautiful eggnet - I was so jealous I really wanted to try it but the others didn't want to order another dish 'cause it was pretty expensive already =( next time.. maybe..

Food~

Crisp whole ocean trout with caramelised tumeric, pineapple and chilli - 8/10 - I liked this very much... my fave =)

Caramelised pork hock with chilli vinegar & crisp garlic - 5.5/10 - flavour was good but the pork was a bit tough =(

Spiced Sher Wagyu beef stir fried with snake beans & caramelised chilli - 5/10 - could not even tell this was wagyu... not worth it!

Stir fried duck breast with snake beans, Thai basil & curry paste - 4.5/10 - wow this was so hot, they should have warned us in the name like "chilli curry paste" maybe??

Service~
4/5 - was very good, but it had to be for the price of the food =P

Atmosphere~
2.5/5 - would have been nicer if they weren't all communal tables, could totally hear what the people next to us were talking about =P the ambient lighting was nice though =)

Not sure if I'll come back here, not sure if the food is worth the price... maybe we'll try Red Spice Road next time!

C.
xo