Supper Inn

Supper Inn

15 Celestial Avenue, Melbourne

(Ph) 9663 4759

It was Chinese New Year's Eve - year of the Dragon! We wanted to have a Chinese meal in the city - tried booking a table at various restaurants but they were all booked out for the night or we had to get the Chinese Banquet ~$100 per person! We're working now but we're still poor! =P

In the end managed to book a table for Supper Inn - it's a pretty good restaurant and just the normal menu on the night =) They said we had to be out in 2 hours but that's alright

We arrived like 15 minutes late 'cause the city was massively full - no car park! I thought we could all pick a dish but they all got me to select dishes for everyone to share =P There were 8 of us so we ordered 5 dishes and a vegetable. The waiters were very attentive to us - think they wanted us to quickly order and eat so we get out in time =P

Thought we should order some Western Chinese dishes - of course had to order Sweet and Sour Pork =P sweet, sour and crunchy =)

Sweet and Sour Pork

L wanted Garlic Prawns - was alright, they de-intestine the prawns unlike at Western restaurants =)

Garlic Prawns

A whole Roast Chicken 'cause chicken is lucky and everyone loves chicken =) We taught them to touch the chicken pieces into the plate of salt - wonder what's in that plate of salt? MSG?

Whole Roast Chicken

They wanted Stir Fry Beef and Cashew - nothing too special but they liked it.

Stir Fry Beef and Cashew

I wanted Coral Trout and Tofu Pot - forgot Westerners aren't very good wish fish bones so they had a bit of difficulty =X but was quite tasty, though I really doubt they cook it in the pot =P

Coral Trout and Tofu Pot

And a plate of Garlic Gai Lan - <3 gai lan =)

Garlic Gai Lan

Food~
6/10 - pretty average Chinese food, would have ordered some other tastier dishes but wanted to order dishes everyone would like. They turned the aircon on so the food went cold kinda quickly which was a bit annoying =(

Service~
3/5 - we came late so the waiters were really quick to take our orders and the food came very promptly - good 'cause we were hungry!

Atmosphere~
2/5 - quite rowdy on this night but what can you expect on CNY eve =)

Happy Year of the Dragon everyone!

C.
xo

Three Bags Full

Three Bags Full

60 Nicholson St, Abbotsford

(Ph) 9421 2732

☆☆☆

Of course had to take L to brunch in Melbourne - so many awesome brunch cafes that I still had to check out! This time it was Three Bags Full - it's right next to the Vietnamese stretch of Victoria St in Richmond, but it's actually in Abbotsford. ☆☆☆ given by the Cheap Eats Guide! =D

We got there at 10am - there were about 4 groups of people before us, but lucky a few groups of people were finishing up so only had to wait about 10 minutes.

Why do all the cafes have lights dangling on wires from the ceiling?

But slightly different here - they have upside-down teacups hanging off the ceiling too!

It was quite a hot day so both P and L ordered a Watermelon, Strawberry, Apple & Mint Fresh Juice  $6.00 Actually L ordered it first and P had initially ordered a milkshake but then decided he wanted the same thing as L!

So the chef just made 2 serves of the same juice at once - the first cup poured out would have 100% juice while the second cup would have the remaining juice plus the frothy fruit residues. P got the more juice cup and L got the juice + frothy residue cup - poor L! =( You can fully see the difference =P Though the frothy residue should have some fruity goodness right?

They should have broken the mint leaves apart more, couldn't really find the mint taste, and the watermelon was quite overpowering over the other fruits - but was quite a nice refreshing juice =)

Both L and I ordered the Beetroot Cured Salmon - corn, pea & fetta fritter, avocado, rocket + dill sour cream $16.50

Doesn't look too big but was so filling! And delicious =D The fritter was super crunch on the outside - I love ordering fritters at brunch (see St Ali and Mart 130)! Something that's not easily and deliciously made at home =P The beetroot cured salmon was very interesting - the beetroot taste is quite subtle and to one side of the salmon only which was good 'cause i'm not usually a fan of beetroot. The dill sour cream was very tasty with the rocket - tastes kinda like tzaziki but better!

P, of course, ordered the Big Breakfast - eggs, bacon, tomato, spinach, mushrooms, cheese kransky, relish + toast $18.50. He ALWAYS orders Big Breakfast (see Grandma Funks, Tango Charlie..)

Wow they were so generous with their mushrooms - and they're not lousy little things but giant mushrooms! <3 Too bad P doesn't like mushrooms - he gave them all to me and L, and his plate had reduced in size by 1/3 lol. Mushrooms are expensive! The cheese kransky was only half a sausage and looked a bit lousy on the plate even though it was quite tasty =/ The tomato relish was quite good though - pretty sure it's homemade. And I've taught P well - he's finally ordering poached eggs instead of fried eggs - it's so dumb to order fried eggs at a restaurant, you can easily make tasty fried eggs at home but you can't easily make tasty poached eggs! Maybe one day P will like mushrooms too... maybe =P

Food~
8/10 - very delicious and original ideas!

Atmosphere~
3/5 - typical Melbournian cafe atmosphere - communal table, lucky the other customers weren't too loud =P

Service~
2/5 - food took like 30mins to come though, we were soo hungry! =(

Definitely worth coming back for!

C.
xo

Meshiya

Meshiya

200 Lonsdale St, Melbourne

(Ph) 9654 6242

We've walked past Meshiya multiple times before but had never set foot inside, it's always filled with people so thought it must be decent. P's friends were in Melbourne so P suggested we come here for dinner =)

The restaurant is quite a strange long place, and it's quite small with only about 10 tables. It was quite empty when we came -  they sat us at the back alongside the wall of Japanese wines.

I came a bit late so P had already decided what he was going to get - Tempura & Sushi Teishoku - assorted tempura and sushi $23.80. I couldn't really decide what I wanted so P said I should get the Chef's Special Bento - steamed savoury egg custard, assorted raw fish, tempura prawn, eye fillet steak teriyaki, skewed (think they mean skewered? =P) chicken teriyaki $22.80

A few sides came for me first - miso soup, steamed egg custard and my tempura sauce. We thought maybe only I got miso and steamed egg custard so I so very kindly shared my egg custard with - it was very smooth and delicious with bits of scallop inside =)

The rest of my meal came - so much food!

Though it looks better than it tastes - the teriyaki beef and the teriyaki chicken were both very salty =( My tempura was quite good - prawns, eggplant and.. broccoli?! Strange lol. The sashimi was quite fresh and no tendons or anything - quality =)

P's massive plate came - turns out he got a steamed egg custard as well! And miso and a salad! P enjoyed his meal very much though I realised his was pretty much the same as mine except withoi

P also got a Ramune - marble bottled lemonade. He was so fascinated by the marble which he had much difficulties pushing through the bottle =P Though this one didn't taste very nice =/ I used to love these drinks as a kid! Homebrand?

D got the Unagi Bento box - the unagi looks so juicy and thick! I love unagi but would never be allowed to order it 'cause P hates it =(

L got the Tempura Soba set - I took the photo after he started eating =P For some reason his set came like 5 minutes after we got ours - you'd think soba would be very quick but anyway - L said it was quite good. His tempura plate was a bit sloppy though - they gave a massive piece of broccoli and fried it whole, like they were too lazy to cut it up into a more Japanese delicate size =/

Food~
6/10 - the teriyaki was quite salty but the steamed egg custard was good =)

Service~
3/5 - service at Japanese restaurants are generally quite decent with their cute waiters =P

Atmosphere~
4/5 - it wasn't too full on this Saturday night so was quite nice sitting at the back

Don't know if I'd come out of my way to come here again but was alright overall..

C.
xo

The Cupcake Bakery

The Cupcake Bakery

495 Collins St, Melbourne

(Ph) 9639 5203

(and various other locations..)

I had bought a voucher from Ouffer - $20 for a dozen cupcakes from Cupcake Bakery! They're normally ~$4 each.. bargain! I had actually bought the same voucher about a year ago and loved their cupcakes so wanted an encore =)

They let you have 6 deluxe cupcakes and 6 standard cupcakes.

We got the following -

Standard ~

Vanilla Strawberry

Red Velvet

Carrot

Lemon Poppyseed

Sticky Date

Vanilla Choc <-- would have got Banana instead of this but they had run out on the day =(

Deluxe ~

Custard Tumble

Molten Choc

Lemon Meringue

Tiramisu

Rocky Road

Peanut Butter <-- "new" so not on the menu even though it's been available for more than 1 year lol..

Our box of goodies! ^____^

I won't talk about all of them individually but I gotta say this time round it was slightly disappointing - some of them were quite dry and crumbly =( The Molten Choc was the last one so we had expected it to be dry but some of the other numerous ones were like that too =(

The profiteroles on top of the Custard Tumble cake were super tasty - barely any cream inside just how I want it! I prefer them compared to the thick-super-sweet icing on top of most of the other cupcakes =P

The Lemon Meringue was a slight disappointment though - the meringue was soft and wasn't crunchy at all =(

Red Velvet was surprisingly moist and tasty! Apart from it looking a bit lop-sided this was super good =P What exactly is in the Red Velvet cupcake?

This Rocky Road was a bit weird (P cut it up before I could take a photo!) - I thought the actual cupcake was just chocolate but it had a strange alcohol taste =S was rather strange!

Lemon Poppyseed was good and the icing was soft and not too sweet unlike the other ones =)

Tiramisu actually tasted like tiramisu! The cake is like the tiramisu sponge - soaked in coffee! And topped with mascapone - delicious! =D

Look at the discrepancy in sizes! How small the carrot cupcake was =( and it was one of the best ones - super moist! The icing on the sticky date and peanut butter was a bit hard but these 3 were some of the best tasting ones =)

Definitely would not spend ~$4 each on any of these but for $1.67 each - definitely worth it! =D

C.
xo

Hong Kong Dim Sim

Hong Kong Dim Sim

22 Cambridge St, Boxhill

(Ph) 9890 1815

After our not-so-pleasant lunch at Jade Cafe last time, we had walked past this restaurant next door - looked pretty good so wanted to check it out. Plus P loves yum cha foods so that's a plus =)

I thought P was gonna order his typical yum cha dishes but he didn't feel like it on this day =____= all he ordered was a 叉燒包 (bbq pork bun) $3.80 which was actually quite good - soft bun and juicy bbq pork!

I wanted a 芋頭糕 (taro cake) $3.80 - I never order it when we go yum cha but it's one of my favourite dishes. 

It was a bit too salty and a bit too dense though - slight disappointment =(

P also got a Pork Chop Roll $5.50

Was so much bigger than the Jade Cafe one! Kinds looks like the New Age Cafe one with the 4 pieces of pringles =P though this is more like a burger not like a foccacia. This was surprisingly good - crunchy pork chop, mayo and cucumber on grilled bread =)

I also got a 炸兩 - rice noodle roll wrapped "oil stick" - those deep fried sticks eaten with congee normally =)

Was yum! Rice noodle was very smooth and the oil stick was very crunchy - slightly too crunchy actually. Think they buy pre-fried sticks and oven them so they get a little bit too crunchy - it's what we do at home anyway =P

Last time at yum cha, P wanted to order some deep fried wontons - so he got some here.

Why do they have to have prawns in them =( Otherwise I would have enjoyed them more =P Normally it's good they give you big prawns but I don't like prawns haha - P liked them though =)

Even after I told P not to, he wanted to order a Seafood Chowder

And he should have listened to me xP The soup was bland and watered down and very unpleasant =( The lousy little piece of garlic bread was stale too. It was so bad we really couldn't finish it - should have really come here for the dim sims not their chowders lol =P

And I'm pretty sure their other dim sims are very tasty - mainly buns and dumplings. Lots of people come here to buy frozen dim sims to bring home - there's a whole wall of fridges filled with dim sims on sale. They have all sorts of things - even 3 types of 燒賣 (pork dumplings - well normally anyway) - pork, beef and scallops!

Food~
5/10 - just come here for the dim sims! and the pork chop roll =)

Service~
2/5 - there was a scary lady (think she may have been the manager?) who was shouting at the waiters but the waiters were quite good and quick

Atmosphere~
2/5 - typical Asian cafe feel

C.
xo

Ajisen Ramen

Ajisen Ramen

130 Bourke St, Melbourne

(Ph) 9662 1100

We were going out for dinner in the city with some friends - didn't really have anywhere in mind so flipped through the Entertainment Book and found 25% off Ajisen Ramen =) Ajisen Ramen is a Japanese chain store serving obviously ramen and other Japanese goodies. I had been to Ajisen in Hong Kong before but never in Australia - figured it can't be too bad since it was a chain store right? P always likes ramen and since he didn't get to come to Ramen Ya last time, thought it be a good idea to try this one =)

The Ajisen girl greets you at the door with her bowl of ramen =)

I got the Tonkatsu Ramen - Ramen served with Deep Fried Bread Crumbed Pork, Egg and Vegetables $11. I asked them to serve the Tonkatsu separately so it wouldn't get soggy in the soup =)

Tonkatsu Ramen

In the picture, the pork looked so much more substantial - thicker and bigger piece =( The ramen was quite good - not too chewy but not too soft either! <3 the soft boiled egg! Too bad they gave us so much of the seaweed stuff and spring onion - was a bit of overload! You don't get to choose the soup base here unlike Ramen Ya but it was very tasty I drank all of it =P

P ordered the Ajisen Ramen - Original Ramen from Kumamoto, Japan served with Chasyu, Egg & Vegetables $9

Ajisen Ramen

They were pretty lousy with their toppings - should have ordered the Chasyu Ramen instead for $11 - gives you "extra chasyu" although I doubt it'd be more than 2 extra slices =P They're always very stingy with their chasyu slices like at Ramen Ya =( And they didn't give him any vegetables (cabbage) - not that he likes cabbage anyway but they jipped him!

P also ordered a Gyu Takaki - lightly seared Beef served in Ponzu Sauce $8 - which was lucky or he would have starved of lack of meat =P

Ponzu sauce is like a vinegary soy sauce commonly used for dipping things in Japanese cuisine. The beef was quite tasty with a bit of spring onion and a bit of garlic in each mouthful. This had a Chef's Recommendation star next to it and it was indeed quite good =)

I gave P some of my ramen so he was full at the end - but the meals are quite small in general. But then again, you can't expect to be massively full on ramen so it's not their fault =P You can add extra ramen for $1 but I'm not sure how much they'd give you, and it'd be quite bland eating more ramen with no meat/toppings to go with it.

Food~
6/10 - ramen and soup were quite good but could have been more generous on the toppings, or at least more realistic like in the pictures =P


Atmosphere~
2/5 - seats are stools with no backs but quite a nice restaurant


Service~
3/5 - food came super fast and cleared quickly too

C.
xo

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16/06/12

A new Ajisen Ramen opened at Melbourne Central! I don't remember what was there before... was it some other restaurant? It feels more spacious compared to the Bourke St one =)

After much dilemma-ing, I decided to not get a ramen this time but to try a Bento box! This menu highlights chef's recommendations and top 3 most popular of each type of dish - I don't remember if they had it on the menu at Bourke St... I got the 2nd most popular Bento box which was also a chef's recommendation =)


Beef Bento - sliced beef with yakitori, wafu salad, seaweed salad, gyoza & rice.

It came very quickly - much quicker than E's ramen (which took surprisingly long to come =/) I enjoyed this bento box very much, got a bit of everything =) Though the gyoza weren't very crunchy and weren't hot - think they were fried already and had been sitting there for a while =( The yakitori was tasty and I liked the 2 types of salads - many different flavours in the box =) Would recommend the bento box if you don't feel like ramen here! Though why would you come to a ramen shop if you don't feel like ramen, right? =P

Manchester Press

Manchester Press

8 Rankins Lane, Melbourne

(Ph) 9600 4054

E loves bagels so we wanted to find another bagel place to brunch at =) Last time we went to Jungle Juice Bar which was quite a nice experience. I searched online and came across Manchester Press - apparently the bagels are delicious and they have very cool coffee art here! =)

It's very hidden in a little lane - lucky we had the GPS's on our phone to direct us =) Even once you get to the lane, there isn't really any big sign for it - all it has is this "MP" sign... secret goodness =)

We got here at 11am on a weekday - there were a few tables filled, but gradually got full as we sat. Very interesting decor with a massive bowling pin at the corner =P

The menu is all Dymo labelled - looks pretty cool but kinda hard to read and some of the letters had come off =P like hot chocolate became "ho cho" lol - but you get the general gist of it =)

We ordered our coffees first - E got a cappucino and I got a latte. The barista behind the counter working hard drawing faces =)

How AWESOME is the coffee art! I'm so amazed I don't understand how they draw it in separate strokes like that?! And the chocolate powder just at the sides without covering the face?!

Looks so cool we really didn't want to drink it! AMAZING =)

 I got the Soft Egg Bagel with Salmon or Avocado $12 - I got salmon. You get a choice of Poppy Seed, Plain, Sesame Seed and Wholemeal - I got Poppy Seed =)

I made a bit of a mess breaking my soft boiled egg and cutting the bagel. The bagel actually felt a little bit empty - like it was missing some sauce/liquid - cream cheese! The butter wasn't good enough =P The bagel was quite good but I think I would have liked the Salmon, Dill Cream Cheese, Capers one more. The egg was just right - soft boiled =)

E ordered the Chorizo, Cheese, Capsicum, Tomato, Tomato Chutney $12

Lots of goodies! Think I would have liked this more than mine actually with all the melted cheese =P

Food~
7/10 - awesome coffee art! bagels are good - would love to come try the other ones!

Atmosphere~
3/5 - love these Melbournian cafes!

Service~
4/5 - very good, we sat for 2+ hours and didn't get shooed out of the cafe =)

Definitely will be back!

C.
xo



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Came back here a few months ago for more wonderful coffee art and delicious bagels =)

So talented!

Look they have proper menu's on paper now instead of the Dymo tape! =P

I got the Baked egg scramble with salmon, fetta, cherry tomatoes and dill $16

Yummy goodness! I'm used to having poached eggs in baked eggs but I liked how this was scrambled eggs but still a bit raw so it was very creamy and delicious! The salmon were bits of salmon meat instead of smoked salmon so was a nice alternative =)

P got the 12 hour roasted pulled pork with lettuce, BBQ sauce and homemade appleslaw $14 with poppyseed bagel

This was also very good,  the pulled pork was delightful - tender, sweet and juicy and just delicious =) Definitely recommend this dish - seems like their new menu is much better than their previous one! I wonder how often they change the menu?