Cha-T

Cha-T

Boxhill Centro Shop 53, Boxhill

(Ph) 9898 8900

After dinner we were so stuffed but just wanted to chill somewhere - what better place than a tea shop! By the window there's a round wooden shelf with lots of intricate ceramic and clay teapots and tea cups.

And inside the shop they sell lots of tea accessories - teapot sets, teas, teacakes.

They also normally sell the "pee pee boy" which they actually sold out of on this day =( But I've got some at my parents home and they are very cool =) They're little figurines made of clay, hollow inside with the only opening being it's pee pee! Chinese people use it to test the temperature of their tea water. Chinese people usually boil water in the morning and put the boiled water in a thermos throughout the day to use for tea etc. This pee pee boy is to test whether the water is still hot enough for tea =) You soak the pee pee boy in cold water for about 5 minutes, and then you pour the hot water over its head. If the water is hot enough for tea, a nice stream of pee pee will come out! The hotter the water, the further the stream goes =) These little clay figurines are actually very popular souvenirs from China these days - not that tourists would use it for this purpose =P

The shop is not that big but it was quite busy on this night.

On the wall there are really pretty paintings =)

There are a few very interesting looking tables and stools - caved from humongous roots of trees, though they're not the most comfortable to sit on =P

Look at the little Buddha carved into the table!

There are normal tables/chairs to sit at too but we choose to sit at one of the tree root tables.

Look at the crazy looking stool - seriously so hard and uncomfortable though =P The surface of all the root tree tables is slanted so all the liquid drains down this tube to a bucket underneath the table.

We ordered a pot of High Mountain Green Tea for $16. There is a whole ceremony that goes with tea drinking. There is a kettle filled with hot water which is constantly boiled sitting on the electric base. They pour the boiling water over the teapot first to warm it up, then they rinse all the tiny teacups with boiling water too - all handled with the chopstick-like forceps.

Then finally pour water in the teapot which already came with the tea leaves.

The teapot is very small - one full pot can only fill our 4 tiny teacups once. The tiny teacups seemed a bit silly at first, 'cause it's really just one sip. But we realised that Chinese people like to drink their tea very hot so if the teacups were bigger half the cup would get cold =P We were constantly refilling our teapot (so they had to constantly change our kettles), sometimes leaving the water in there longer so the tea is stronger. Other times when the tea was cold or dilute, we would pour it onto the table which would drain to the bucket underneath. Quite a fun experience =)

We didn't have anything to eat here, but they do sell some simple snacks like nuts and fried fruits etc so you could easily spend a good few hours here =)

Food~
7/10 - not really food here but anyway, they have teas ranging up to $68 a pot! maybe next time I'll try a more exotic tea =)

Atmosphere~
3/5 - very relaxing environment here, if only the chairs/stools were more comfortable but that's our fault for sitting on the tree stumps =P

Service~
3/5 - the owner came and explained to us some tea traditions and the girls kept coming back to change our kettle with more boiling water =)

C.
xo

Tien Dat

Tien Dat

3 Carrington Rd, Box Hill

(Ph) 9890 9699

Catching up with T and R =) I'm not usually a fan of Vietnamese food but P loves it so T suggested Tien Dat, apparently one of the best Vietnamese restaurants in Melbourne. Cheap Eats Guide gave it a rating of ☆☆☆! They are fully booked, especially on weekends, and do 2 seatings. We were seated at 6.15pm and were told we had to leave by 8.15pm - fair enough.

We started off with Tien Dat Spring Rolls - Regular (pork, shrimp, vegetables & mushrooms). Large serve 5 rolls (lettuce, herbs, vermicelli noodles & sauce) $11.45

Nothing too special, like any normal spring rolls so thought it was a bit on the expensive side. I like how Vietnamese style like to serve it with lettuce and vermicelli - makes spring rolls seem less unhealthy right? Their fish sauce is one of the best I've had though.

Next came the Steam Pancake Rolls (Banh Cuon). We got half serve pork (pork, mushroom & onion) and half serve prawns (prawns & onion)

It's like the Chinese steamed rice noodles except these are drier and served with fish sauce instead. The rice noodles were quite smooth and I like how it's served with garlic chips and bean shoots.

My favourite Vietnamese dish! Vietnamese Crepe (Banh Xeo) - pork, prawns, mung beans, bean shoots and served with lettuce , herbs & sauce $16.30

This was done very well - thin crispy omelette with lots of fillings, the mung bean paste is an interesting filling which went very well with the rest and actually acted like a glue so the stuff didn't all fall out! =P

Next came the Rice Vermicelli (Bun) - served with shredded lettuce, herbs, crushed peanuts and sauce. With grilled Lemongrass Pork $11.30

T mixed it up before I had a chance to photograph it =P Very refreshing dish and was delicious with the fish sauce, but after having fish sauce on every single dish kinda get a bit sick of the flavour =P The grilled lemongrass pork was done really well - one of the highlights of the meal =)

We were getting full already but still had 2 more dishes to come! We totally overordered but anyway =P Spicy Squid (salted & peppered squid) - squid lightly deep-fried, tossed with spices, onions and chilli. Served on a garden salad $17.80

Deep fried squid with some onions and capsicum. This is more like a Chinese dish than Vietnamese if you take the fish sauce out of it.

Last came the Sizzling Dish. Choice of Lemongrass & chilli, sate, hot or sweet chilli with fresh basil, mongolian, mild curry lemongrass & coconut cream, garlic and ginger, black bean or black pepper corn. We decided to go with the Lemongrass with beef $16.30

This was quite ordinary - I couldn't really taste the lemongrass, and I thought usually lemongrass is dry like the lemongrass pork? Was alright, more like a stir fry dish instead of actually cooked on the sizzling plate.

It was 8.05pm by the time we finished our mains and T said they had a really good dessert she wanted us to try (even though we were stuffed!) but the waitress said we had to be out of the restaurant and wouldn't let us order even though we still had 10mins to go. Apparently we were meant to be out by 8pm not 8.15pm, we pleaded her and said the group wasn't even here yet but she just said no =/

Food~
7/10 - was not too bad, my favourite was the Vietnamese Pancake =) Lemongrass pork is also good, the rest were quite ordinary or was more Chinese than Vietnamese.

Atmosphere~
2/5 - quite loud given it was fully packed

Service~
1/5 - food came quite quickly but I didn't like how they made a mistake with the leaving time and wasn't nice about it =/

C.
xo

Red Spice Road

Red Spice Road

27 McKillop Rd, Melbourne

(Ph) 9603 1601

Red Spice Road! I had been meaning to come here for so long - been to so many similar restaurants (Chin Chin, Gingerboy, Cookie) all with a Western-twist to South East Asian cuisine, fusion! I had read and heard so much about their famous Pork Belly here - could not wait to finally try it out =)

The interior decor is very unique here - the restaurant is only lit by large ball lanterns which line the restaurant to the back along the 2 very long communal tables. The lighting is very ambient here and be prepared to share tables especially if you're a small group or don't book - complements the whole sharing dishes experience. Up the back hangs 3 large portraits of young Asian women - adds to the fusion feel of the restaurant =)

There is also a bar area which has a different feel to the main part of the restaurant. Since we were a group of 8, they seated us near the entrance which was good had a bit of privacy =)

We decided to share 6 mains between us 8. Thought we should get 2 serves of their famous Pork Belly with Apple Slaw, Chilli Caramel and Black Vinegar $35.00

Heavenly goodness <3 The pork belly is cooked twice, then deep fried so the meat is soft and melt-in-your-mouth but crunchy on the outside. My first piece of pork was a bit soft and chewy on the outside, probably 'cause it was sitting in the gooey sweet caramel sauce but my second piece was perfection <3 The black vinegar is served separately so you add it to your liking, but complements the chilli caramel sauce nicely. And the apple slaw adds a refreshing touch to the fatty deliciousness of the dish =)

We also got 2 serves of the Soft Shell Crab stir-fried with Snake Beans, Wild Ginger, Basil and Black Pepper Sauce $34.00

Stir-fried soft shell crab? I've only really ever had soft shell crab deep fried but this meant it wasn't super crunchy but still with a slight crisp on the outside and you get to actually taste the meat! What a bonus they were very generous with the crab =)

We got one serve of the Duck Red Curry with Pineapple and Sweet Potato $37.00

The duck was very tender and fell off the bone easily. The curry was quite tasty full of flavour - red curry is my favourite with coconut milk =)

Last came the Crispy Skin Chicken with fragrant Cinnamon Broth, Sugar Peas and Corn $34.00

We thought we should get a chicken dish but this was a bit ordinary =( Crispy skin chicken yes but nothing too spectacular here.

They gave us 2 massive bowls of rice - definitely need rice to go with the many different flavours of the meal =)

Food~
8/10 - definitely go for the Pork Belly! It's the only dish on the menu that never changes =) Would like to try some of their entrees next time like the Twice Cooked Lamb Ribs with a Tamarind and Coconut Relish. Fine dining at a very affordable price especially with the Entertainment Card! =P

Service~
3/5 - waiters are very attentive here, kept refilling our water and asking us how our meals were =)

Atmosphere~
3/5 - quite nice that they seated us separate to the rest of the restaurant so had some privacy

Will definitely be back! Next time might try their banquets (lunch banquet for $25 each!)

C.
xo



Click here for a review of the QV store..

Wong's Lucky Bar

Wong's Lucky Bar

921 Whitehorse Rd, Boxhill

(Ph) 9899 8558

I had read lots about the cheap mud crab/lobster here so though should check it out with P. We were walking along both sides of the road before we realised the restaurant is actually in the middle of the road at the tram stop! There is also a cafe next to it which looked quite empty compared to Wong's.

It's quite a small restaurant - when we asked for a table for 2, the waitress asked us to go into the sideway. We looked at her blankly before we realised there's actually 3 tables of 2 in this little alley that you go in from the back of the restaurant. So you're sitting with this glass wall separating you and the main part of the restaurant. I wonder why they couldn't just knock down the glass wall and just expand the main area of the restaurant? There's an aircon right at the end of the alley so it was actually very cold sitting there =/ And the waiters have to squeeze past the tables to go to the back to clear tables/take orders - it's all very awkward =/

They have set menus for mud crab or lobster, or you can order the dish separately ($13.80 per pound of mud crab - pretty cheap!) but the smallest one they had for the day was 2.5 pounds which was a bit too much for just the 2 of us for lunch, and given P was slightly sick, we decided to give it a miss today and just come back with more people next time. I ordered their other famous dish here - Hainanese Chicken

Very good presentation for a quick Chinese restaurant! Comparable to the Hainanese Chicken at Coconut House =) The chicken pieces were all boneless and were soft and succulent - I didn't touch the chilli at the end but the spring onion mix was a nice accompaniment. The chicken rice was full of flavour and not too oily, and the soup was full of MSG but quite tasty nonetheless.

Since P was sick, he got the Fish Fillet Congee

Should have taken a picture of the fish fillets - they were quite generous with the fish and even though you know they just put the fish into some white congee and cook it just a little together, the congee wasn't too bland =)

Every time we walk past the food court at Boxhill P always eyes longingly at the shop that sells Asian street foods - in particular at the fried chicken wings. But every time after lunch, he's always too full for it so he's been craving it for ages. So when he found they had it on the menu here, even though he was sick, he ordered some Fried Chicken Wings =_______=

Soo soo oily but what do you expect of fried chicken wings? Still it was oilier than normal, like oilier than KFC - we were soaking them on the tissues =/ But it satisfied P's craving =P

Food~
7/10 - not bad for some cheap Asian food, definitely will want to be back for the mud crab another day!

Service~
2/5 - waiters are very prompt with orders and food came very quickly, but don't expect to come here to have a long relaxing meal!

Atmosphere~
2/5 - felt quite cramped sitting in the side alley but I guess it's a bit of privacy? =P

C.
xo

Firechief

Firechief

169 Camberwell Rd, Hawthorn East

(Ph) 9831 1700

After reading a lot about the awesome pizzas at Firechief, which has opened for merely a year, I was so excited to finally try it out for our end of year work dinner. The restaurant is like an old warehouse with bright yellow beams framing the room, and colourful rugs and wooden panels lining the walls.

The centerpiece of the restaurant is definitely the low-hanging brass chandelier which was actually swaying above us during our meal - a little scary =P

We came here on a weekday night, and it was packed to the brim! I like how you have an open view of the kitchen - seeing the chefs busily making your pizzas and the waiters rushing in and out. A nice family friendly atmosphere, only downside is the afternoon sun streaming in - we actually had to wear our sunglasses during the meal until the waiters decided to pull the blinds down!

Their menu is predominantly of pizza - no surprises there =P They do 3 types of pizzas here.

Authentic & original pizza from Naples - the pizzas in this column are made to the exacting recipe as stipulated by the "associazone verace pizza napoletana" in naples, italy. cooked in our wood fired oven for 2 minutes at 400 degrees

The modern artisan "hand style" pizzas - the pizzas in this column are cooked in a classic italian twin deck oven worked by hand & shovel, cooked on the stone floor at 360 degrees in around 4 minutes, they represent the most popular pizza in italy

The great australian family pizza - the pizzas in this column are cooked on pizza trays in a special conveyor oven from italy - we use the very best local ingredients. the average cook time is 6 minutes at 340 degrees

You know they're a serious pizzeria when they send their chefs to get the Associazone Verace Pizza Napoletana accreditation! So I thought I definitely had to try the woodfire type of pizza =)

I got the Special Woodfired Pizza of the week - San Marzano crushed tomato, chicken, avocado, fior di latte, capsicum, topped w rocket $21.00

Had all my favourite pizza toppings! Chicken, avocado and fior di latte! The crust was super thin and crispy with the nice smokey woodfire taste. Only downside was the toppings made my pizza really wet! Not sure what it was that made it so wet - probably the tomatos? =/ The middle of the pizza was soft and damp - I usually like to eat my pizzas with my hands, but it was just so sloppy and wet that I had to eat with knife and fork. The pizzas come on a piece of baking paper, but the moisture and the serrated knife meant I kept cutting the baking paper and nearly ate bits of it =/

And it wasn't just mine that was like that - B's Sopresso - san marzano tomato, fior di latte, gorgonzola, mild casalingo sopresso, basil & chillies $22 was also like that - wet and soft on the inside as well, must be the tomatos =( Though I quite liked the gorgonzola on her pizza =)

It's quite a large pizza, and I was actually getting full after half of it! I wanted to take the rest home but because it was so wet I thought it'd be best that I don't doggy box it so stuffed myself with it. Which meant I had no room for dessert =(

The others tried the firechief tiramisu - w coffee jelly, genois sponge, vanilla bean custard, creamed ricotta, toasted almonds & khalua $14

A different take on the traditional tiramisu - it's more like a custard/liquid tiramisu as opposed to an actual cake. Layer upon layer of deliciousness - best eaten all together especially with the strong coffee jelly on the bottom. Next time I'm here I'm definitely having one of these by myself! =)

Food~

6/10 - for a restaurant so hyped up for their awesome pizzas, little disappointing they couldn't get their toppings right so they wouldn't make the pizza sloppy =( Maybe next time I'll try one of their other types of pizzas (twin deck or conveyer oven)

Atmosphere~

2/5 - nice family restaurant, would have been nice if they had pulled the blinds down earlier though so we didn't need to wear sunnies indoors during the meal =P

Service~

3/5 - service was good and fast given it was such a busy night!

C.

xo

Izakaya Mizu

Izakaya Mizu

509 Riversdale Rd, Camberwell

(Ph) 9882 3618

We were having dinner around work one day and I found an Entertainment voucher for here so thought should check it out. Izakaya Mizu is the sister restaurant to Mizu at Prahran. It's like how Ocha2go is the sister restaurant to Ocha at Hawthorn. You'd think that being an Izakaya the menu would have more snacks and would be cheaper than the parent restaurant but it's actually quite similar =/ 

Mizu means "water" in Japanese - I'm not sure how that relates to the restaurant but anyway =P We didn't have too high expectations given it's a Japanese restaurant in a Western suburb, and after my disappointing visit to Ocha2go I thought this might be similar - but how wrong we were! =)

We got there at 6pm and found ourselves to be the only customers there - people started trickling in throughout the night but it wasn't very busy. 

The menu is a very colourful book with pretty pictures of all the dishes =) The waitress gave us a complimentary plate of marinated bean sprouts each - it seems more of a Korean dish but was quite refreshing and tasty.

There were so many interesting small dishes we wanted to try so decided to get the Mixed Entree - assortment of delicious appetizers created daily at the chef's discretion $15.50 

We asked the waiter what was on this dish today and she said it was the same as what's pictured and included -

Dengaku Tofu (tofu dressed with sweet miso paste sauce)

Ebi Shumai (steamed, home made prawn dumplings with dipping sauce)

Salmon Carpaccio (thinly sliced Atlantic salmon, dressed with Japanese vinaigrette)

Beef Tataki (thinly sliced, seared rare beef served with Mizu special sauce)

Kani Croquette (crab croquette with Tonkatsu dipping sauce)

Calamari (crumbed calamari served with a Japanese dipping sauce) 

The first box was the hot foods box.. The Dengaku Tofu was quite good - silky and smooth inside and slightly crunchy exterior, kinda like agedashi tofu. The Shumai was very Chinese =P nothing too special here but was different that they used prawn instead of the typical pork shumai. The second box was the raw foods box.. Quite liked the beef tataki with the Mizu sauce but the salmon carpaccio was a bit plain or maybe the vinaigrette wasn't as flavoursome as I would have liked. The last box was the deep fried foods.. The kani croquettes were really good - can never taste any crab in them sometimes I wonder how much they put in =P The calamari was good but nothing too special. Overall a very enjoyable entree dish with a bit of everything =)

We got another entree to share 'cause this looked very interesting. Yukke - chopped beef mixed with sauce served with raw egg $15.90

P doesn't like the idea of raw egg very much but I've been brought up eating it a lot and especially in Japanese food like sukiyaki so I didn't mind. Though in this dish, once the egg yolk is mixed with the beef you can't really tell it's there but it adds a different dimension to the dish =) The sauce was a bit peppery and spicy but in the end this was P's favourite dish =P

Last came our main dish. Sukiyaki - thinly sliced beef and vegetables cooked in sukiyaki sauce and served with a raw egg $22.90

They also have other pot dishes like beef/chicken/seafood hot pot but from the pictures they look like any typical Chinese stirfry but with teriyaki sauce instead of soy/oyster sauce =/ I liked the sukiyaki very much though P thought the soup was a bit too sweet - but that's what sukiyaki is like! It's not as "sweet" once you dip it on the raw egg as well but again, he didn't like the idea of eating raw egg. I wonder why the Japanese decided to dip sukiyaki meats into a raw egg? It is a very strange concept yet it works well and is very delicious despite it feeling a bit gloopy in your mouth =P The hotpot consisted of thin beef, vegetables, tofu, Chinese mushrooms - all on a bed of wombok. The wombok had absorbed all the flavours of the sukiyaki so was very tasty =)

Food~
8/10 - surprisingly very good genuine food here! Would want to try some of their other small dishes next time

Atmosphere~
3/5 - nice cosy restaurant =)

Service~
4/5 - very good and attentive service here, especially the very polite old man who opened and closed the door for us =)

Definitely recommend this place!

C.
xo

Dukes of Waffles

Dukes of Waffles
B46, Shop 10, 744 Bourke St, Docklands
(Ph) 9602 4838

Found a coupon on LivingSocial - $10 for 2 Dessert Waffles. How could I say no to waffles? =P Had read some so-so reviews about this place saying they weren't open when they were meant to and running out of waffles etc etc - we decided to try our luck on a Sunday morning. Whee they had waffles for us =)

We sat outside under the warm sun waiting for our waffles while the owner, an Asian man, came and asked us for our voucher code.

We got the 2 most expensive waffles =P P got the Strawberry Sensation

Looks pretty good aye? The waffles were a bit disappointing though - they were quite soft and lacked the crunchiness you'd expect of waffles =( P's strawberries weren't that sweet - you'd think they would be though given it's summer time!

I got the Apple & Cinnamon

Mine was better than P's but the waffles were still quite soft - how could they be soft if they came straight from the waffle iron?! My apple and cinnamon mix was quite delicious though.

Food~
4/10 - what a disappointment soft waffles =( Maybe they need to leave them in the waffle iron for longer or slightly change the batter recipe but waffles need to have a crunch! I guess for $5 each not too bad.

Service~
3/5 - waitress were quite polite and food came quite promptly

Atmosphere~
3/5 - quite nice sitting under the sun =)

C.
xo