David & Camy Noodle Restaurant

Address: 605 Station St, Box Hill VIC
Tel: (03) 9898 8398
Trading Hours: Sun-Thur 11am to 9:30pm; Fri-Sat 11am to 10pm

#1 Peking Pork (pictured below) – nice, crispy on one side although can be too fried on the other visits

#64 Shanghai Mini Pork Bun (pictured above) – steamed too close together resulting in dumpling collapse/tear, not a lot of soup – if put enough chilli & vinegar it is quite palatable (Unfortunately Ding Tai Fung has set the benchmark for this style dumpling).

#36 Shanghai Fried Noodle (pictured below) – tasty, not hard/crisp noodle, strong sweet almost vinegary flavour enhanced by champignon mushrooms - suspect flavour is the trick to its glazed texture.

Note: Chilli is really hot & pungent - sensational! (Below)

Thanh Nga 9

Address: 160 Victoria St, Richmond VIC
Tel: (03) 9427 7068

Now before we get to the food - please be careful. Every 2nd shop on this road has the word "Thanh" in the shop title, and my friend who originally booked for this place accidently called up the wrong place and restaurants will claim to be Thanh Nga 9 even though it is not (that or they can't understand English very well).

A very clean cut, Vietnamese restaurant serving a combination of authentic dishes and some mixed in from other Asian regions to serve the masses (e.g. Honey Chicken, Mongolian Lamb etc).

For entree:


Signature Minature Pancakes ST Style - made from rice flour with crispy base filled with prawns, mung bean paste & sprinkled with crush prawns, served with fish sauce & coconut sauce. They are not really a 'pancake' but for lack of better description they are shaped as more like a hardened pastry cup which tastes like a deep fried fortune cookie.

Spring roll: miniature sized eaten with mint & lettuce leaf

Betal Leaf Beef: square of rice vermicelli – really pungent spicy meat, betal (dirt) leaf

Rice roll: really fresh mint taste (not bitter), smelly rice paper

Tangy Tomato Soup – strong tomato flavour even through broth, enhanced by shrimp flavour.

Chilli sauce – fried oily? texture, savoury

Coconut cake: similar to pancake, slightly sweet & enhanced by coconut dipping sauce

Thaila Thai

Address: 82 Lygon St, East Brunswick VIC 3057
Tel: (03) 9387 0659

This restaurant is no flash, fine dining destination (in fact it is shopfitted with a really authentic restaurant-in-asia feel) but the food is cheap, fast & generous.

The Pad Thai noodles pictured below are a particular standout - has a nutty, sweet flavour which is probably enhanced by the tamarind juice. The noodles are a slight chewy (but nice!) thin rice noodle which absorb the citric flavours well. Chicken has a really pleasant charred/smoky
flavour and is not too dry. Serving size can feed a family of 4, so make sure you ask for a takeaway box and have the rest for lunch tomorrow (there is no judgement here, everyone does it).

Chicken Yellow Curry - we don't know what this is because my friend just asked for their hottest curry. Wasn't send-all-your-senses into sniffling mode, but it contained some of the freshest and perfectly cooked zucchini ever. Usually people get zucchini very wrong and it becomes soggy and watery which is why most people hate the vegetable. The curry itself builds up to a gentle spice, but not overly chilli. The density of the curry is an authentic Thai one - not too thick, and not
too watery (as some restaurants can get it wrong, so when it comes out you think you ordered a broth soup).

In a nutshell this is a fantastic place. The staff are very courteous and efficient, don't let the outside/interior fool you (as it nearly did me). Thumbs up!!!

Bird Cow Fish

Address: 500 Crown St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Tel: (02) 9380 4090
Web: www.birdcowfish.com.au

I really love this cafe/restaurant but I do highly recommend booking for a table in advance (although who books for breakfast) to avoid having the catty waiters turn their nose up at the door.

Pictured below is the 'Poached eggs with grilled Bangalow ham, Montpellier butter & Sonoma
sourdough toast'.

Bacon – free range, not as salty, lean, not too dry, stringier in texture – a lot to do with cooking style, suspect it might have been baked.

Bread – buttery, oily, with a pesto/drier herb spread and cheesy flavour , perfect density for that brunch meal!

Croque Monsieur (Baked ham & cheese sandwich) – ham, lightly smoked flavour with the addition of mustard which is a nice twist.

Food takes a little while to come out, however the chefs' use choice ingredients and you can be sure the food is cooked with love.

3 Hippos Thai & Lao Restaurant

Shop 3/219 Canley Vale Rd, Canley Heights NSW 2166
Tel: (02) 9755 4688
Open 7 days, 11am-late

How I would have loved to have this place near work - a great
destination for a tasty, small portion-sized cheap lunch. I came here on
a Saturday night at about 9pm-10pm and they were still serving food.

Under the 'Specialties' tried the 'Tiger Tears' (grilled beef): the
waitress did warn us there was no fat on this (the butcher supplied her
with lean scotch fillet) but I thought it would be a blessing in
disguise - it wasn't. The dish needs more fat, preferably to be dripping
in its own oil in order to maximise the flavours and herbs/spices used.
It is served with a fish/sweet/sour but savoury dipping sauce which
rescued the dish, however in its 'no fat' form is quite a healthy
alternative.


Pad Kimao - rice noodles with really chilli hot, peppery flavour,
heightened by a special mint leaf derivative. Very tasty and adequate
portion size. Love it!

Kim Chi Grandma

Address: 125 Koornang Rd, Carnegie 3163 VIC
Phone: (03) 9569 2399

Goon – mahn – Doo (Panfried Dumpling): strong shallot flavour, oil glazed but vey fresh

Tak-Bulgogi (marinated chicken): juicy, mildly spicy pieces of chicken in a generous serve. Best rendition of this dish I have had.

Yuk-gae-jang (hot & spicy beef soup): a bit bland, spice builds up, beef is tender texture but the flavour was just lacking.

Amigos

Address: 92B Acland Street, St Kilda VIC 3182

Ph: (03) 9534 3322

Website: www.amigos.com.au

Opening hours

Sun-Thurs: 11.30am to Midnight

Fri-Sat: 11.30am to 1am

Pretty random for a Monday night at 10pm – decided to have dinner and this was the only place still serving meals after 9pm on Acland St, St Kilda (Melbourne).

We expected hairs in our food and poor service – but in fact received the opposite. I think we received better service because we were the only people there – 11pm dining for the win!

The menu is a very traditional Mexican fanfare – tacos, enchiladas, burritos and variations of the previously mentioned. I’m not a huge drinker but there’s several kinds of tequila and mixed drinks to sample.

Finally settled on the Fajitas – a do-it-yourself kit which is fun and allows you to sample each of the flavours individually, or together. The side plate consists of: soft rice& flour tortilla wraps (x3), shredded crisp lettuce topped with guacamole, mashed kidney bean “dip” & Mexican rice.

All of these came out fresh & independent (I point this out because some dodgy Mexican places will keep their condiments too close together which ruins the flavours). The main dish was a sizzling meat platter with a tomato-based sauce & a combination of beef strips, chicken & prawns. A very fresh, healthy & hearty serving of food.