Category: Melbourne

Honestly, Sydney people does not like Melbourne that much. However, Melbourne has become quite a destination for foodies.

Delhi Streets

Delhi Streets Review:

Our review this week is an Indian street food restaurant in Melbourne called Delhi Streets. We went there with my friend (he was the one recommending the restaurant) who used to live in Sydney. The restaurant was pretty full that day but my friend somehow managed to secure a booking. Apparently, quite a lot of them ordered the food for takeaway.
heal

Pani Puri – $9 – ‘Hands-on’ street food! – Crispy cracker balls stuffed with potatoes, chickpease, tamarind/mint/yoghurt chutneys and served with spiced water. MUST TRY!

You must pardon me but this was my first ever pani puri dish. I was very impressed with the dish.

When you combined the spiced water with the crispy cracker ball, the result was this explosion of flavours in your mouth. It was quite a mouthful tho!

Chicken Biryani – $13 – Indian Paella – Rice cooked with chicken, saffron, aromatic herbs & spices. Served with fresh Raita yoghurt

Chicken biryani is one of the staples we always had in an Indian restaurant. The rice was so flavoursome!

Mixed Grill – $12 – A succulent selection of tandoori chicken, chicken tikka & seekh kebab all char-grilled in the tandoor.

They served quite a lot of pieces for the mixed grill. I think the mixed grill and chicken biryani can be shared by three people for lunch. My friend and I could barely finish them.

Butter Chicken Thali – $14 – Butter Chicken heaven – large serve butter chicken served with rice, naan, pappadum and pickles

Butter chicken is my son’s favourite Indian dish. The serving plate for the butter chicken was actually bigger than our dishes. I would have enjoyed if it were the only dish that I had for lunch.

The final verdict for Delhi Streets

Delhi Streets is quite possibly one of the most exciting Indian casual dining restaurant I have ever been to. They served good quality food, fast and cheap!

Did you know?

Just like anything good in Melbourne, Delhi Streets is located in quite a small alley way, barely visible from the main street.

Rating for Delhi Streets:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $10 – $16 per main dish

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

22 Katherine Place, Melbourne 3000

+61 3 9629 2620

http://www.delhistreets.com.au/

Apr 25, 2017
Naughty Nuri’s Warung

Naughty Nuri’s Warung Review:

During our visit to Melbourne at the end of last month, we went to eat at an Indonesian restaurant with our friends from Melbourne. Historically speaking, Indonesian restaurants in Melbourne are never on par with Sydney ones. So, I did not put any expectations to this week’s restaurant, Naughty Nuri’s Warung.

A lot of the dishes in Naughty Nuri’s Warung are spicy… like really spicy by non-Indonesian standard (and by my standard). So, please be mindful of the two chilis icon.

Naughty Nuri’s 1995 signature BBQ pork ribs – $29 half rack – Nuri’s signature marinated pork ribs with Balinese spice, grilled to perfection.

BBQ pork ribs is the signature dish for Naughty Nuri’s. The difference with all of the other pork ribs in Australia is that this one was very spicy.

Ikan Bakar Jimbaran – $28 – Grilled barramundi fillet topped with Makassar hot sauce (made from ginger flower, lemongrass, shallot and chilli), served with placing kangkung, sambal hijau teri asin and sambal matah.

The grilled fish was also quite spicy. Somehow I could still eat it. It is wise to order the optional steam rice $2 or Coconut rice $3. Rice lessens the spice level.

Nuri’s Dirty Duck (half duck) – $29 – Nuri’s signature duck marinated then simmered in traditional Balinese spices, then deep fried until crispy.

Along with the BBQ pork ribs, this duck is why people visit Naughty Nuri. Please be mindful that this dish is for half a duck. So, it is quite a big dish!

This dish along with the next two also came with three chilli sauces and a choice of vegetables: plecing kangkung, Balinese lawar and plecing terong goreng.

Crispy pork belly with rice – $16 – Pork belly steamed and coated in our secret marinade. Served with pork crackling.

One of our friends ordered the pork belly dish. It looked quite small when compared to the ribs, fish and dirty duck.

Ayam betutu gilimanuk – $14 – Whole chicken maryland marinated in traditional Balinese spice, braised till tender and full of flavours.

My friend commented that the chicken in the Australian version was quite large when compared to Indonesian chickens.

Monster Bakso – $8 – Giant beef ball in traditional pepperish clear soup served with a side of sambal tomat terasi.

The monster bakso was my son’s order. Unfortunately they came in last and was probably forgotten until we asked them. It was quite different when compared to our usual Indonesian bakso.

Truffle fries served with sweet chilli mayo – $6

We ordered some fries to appease the little guy because of the monster ball fiasco.

Es Teler – $9 – The classic Indonesian fruit cocktail of avocado, coconut, nata de coco and jackfruit.

Es teler is probably an all-time favourite dessert for Indonesian people. Its literal translation to English is ‘Drunken Ice’.

The final verdict for Naughty Nuri’s Warung

Naughty Nuri’s Warung is one of the best Indonesian restaurants I have every tried in Australia. They could probably be amongst one of the best in my list. Unfortunately, their service is letting them down considerably.

Did you know?

Naughy Nuri’s Warung is originated from a small warung in Ubud, Bali. I have been to its original site, but I ironically I enjoyed the one in Melbourne better. It just lacks the Balinese scenery.

Rating for Naughty Nuri’s Warung:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 8.0 / 10

Price: $14 – $59 per main dish

Place: 8.0 / 10

Details:

Shop 317, Level 3, Melbourne Central

+61 3 9650 6828

http://www.naughtynuris.com.au/

Apr 10, 2017
2016 Top 100 Restaurants in Australia by Financial Review

This is the second year the Australian Financial Review published the Top 100 restaurants in Australia. Instead of being judged by food critics / food bloggers / some random people, the list was actually made by the top 500 chefs in Australia. Being at the top of the list means that your peers agreed that your restaurant is the best in Australia. I am pretty sure that’s the best recognition that you could possibly get.

Attica is at the top of this list of 2016 Top 100 Restaurants in Australia. Australia’s Top Chef award is given to chef Dan Hunter from Brae in Birregurra region in Victoria. On this occasion, Australian Financial Review also asked the public to vote for their top Australian restaurant with an award called The People’s Choice. The People’s Choice winner for 2016 is Akiba in Canberra. We went to Akiba last year and we were pretty impressed with the dishes that they served. Sepia, last year’s winner, was awarded Top Service award for 2016.

From the 2016 top 100 restaurants in Australia list, All About Food have only reviewed 10 of them:

Quay at number 4, Ester at number 5, Rockpool at number 8, Mr Wong at number 11, Bentley (at the old venue) at number 12, The Bridge Room at number 13, Tetsuya’s at number 22, est. at number 39, Marque at number 40, and Golden Century at number 60.

The number of top 100 restaurants by state:

NSW 46 (45 in 2015)
VIC 37
SA 5
WA 5
QLD 4
TAS 2 (3 in 2015)
ACT 1

They also have the more extensive top 500 restaurants in Australia if you are interested to know.

The full list of 2016 Top 100 Restaurants in Australia by Financial Review

1. Attica VIC
2. Brae, Birregurra VIC
3. Sepia NSW
4. Quay NSW
5. Ester NSW
6. Sixpenny NSW
7. Bennelong NSW
8. Rockpool est. 1989 NSW
9. Automata NSW
10. Franklin TAS
11. Mr Wong NSW
12. Bentley Restaurant & Bar NSW
13. The Bridge Room NSW
14. The Town Mouse VIC
15. Cumulus Inc. VIC
16. 10 William St NSW
17. Flower Drum VIC
18. Cutler & Co VIC
19. LuMi Bar & Dining NSW
20. Supernormal VIC
21. Tipo 00 VIC
22. Tetsuya’s NSW
23. Minamishima VIC
24. MoVida, Melbourne VIC
25. Fratelli Paradiso NSW
26. Billy Kwong NSW
27. Biota Dining, Bowral NSW
28. Cafe Di Stasio VIC
29. LP’s Quality Meats NSW
30. Momofuku Seiobo NSW
31. Porteno NSW
32. Rockpool Bar & Grill, Sydney NSW
33. ACME NSW
34. Embla VIC
35. Vue de Monde VIC
36. Firedoor NSW
37. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal VIC
38. Chin Chin VIC
39. est. NSW
40. Marque NSW
41. The Apollo NSW
42. Lake House, Daylesford VIC
43. Oscillate Wildly NSW
44. Saint Crispin VIC
45. Guillaume, Sydney NSW
46. Fleet, Brunswick Heads NSW
47. Africola SA
48. Orana SA
49. Restaurant Amuse WA
50. Silvereye NSW
51. Pilu at Freshwater NSW
52. Moon Park NSW
53. France-Soir VIC
54. Lee Ho Fook VIC
55. Bar Louinhã VIC
56. Icebergs Dining Room & Bar NSW
57. Ormeggio at the Spit NSW
58. Estelle by Scott Pickett VIC
59. Rockpool Bar & Grill, Melbourne VIC
60. Golden Century NSW
61. Spice Temple, Sydney NSW
62. Sean’s Panaroma NSW
63. Cottage Point Inn NSW
64. Gerard’s Bistro QLD
65. The European VIC
66. Monopole NSW
67. Long Chim Perth WA
68. ARIA NSW
69. Provenance, Beechworth VIC
70. Coda VIC
71. Lalla Rookh WA
72. Yellow NSW
73. Luxembourg VIC
74. Wasabi Restaurant & Bar, Noosa Heads QLD
75. Master NSW
76. 4Fourteen NSW
77. Clarke’s of North Beach WA
78. Esquire QLD
79. Muse Restaurant, Pokolbin NSW
80. Monster Kitchen and Bar ACT
81. Grossi Florentino Upstairs VIC
82. Cho Cho San NSW
83. The Long Apron, Montville QLD
84. The Press Club VIC
85. Lucio’s NSW
86. Ethos Eat Drink TAS
87. Anchovy VIC
88. Vasse Felix Restaurant, Cowaramup WA
89. Lume VIC
90. Tonka VIC
91. Mister Jennings VIC
92. Union Dining VIC
93. Igni, Geelong VIC
94. Sokyo NSW
95. Peel St SA
96. Hentley Farm, Seppeltsfield SA
97. Lau’s Family Kitchen VIC
98. Fino, Seppeltsfield SA
99. Epocha VIC
100. Il Bacaro VIC

May 4, 2016
Woodland House

Review:

Woodland House is a two-hat restaurant (based on 2016 Good Food Guide) located in the city of Melbourne – Prahran, to be exact. They have a 10-course, fixed-price degustation menu of $155. Since it’s quite a lengthy list, I will get on right away.

Purple potato chip

It was quite an interesting amuse bouche. Three purple paper-like things were neatly arranged on a log. We were quite hesitant to eat it at first – the risk of looking pretty stupid before we even ate anything. It felt like munching an edible paper – which was quite fun!

Danish and Sourdough rolls with butter

This is available throughout the course should you want them. The Danish is probably why I would want to visit the restaurant again in the future… They were just so good!

Foie gras, kiwi

It looked like a very tiny croquette with a little kiwi decoration at the top. Expectations were quite high after this strong start.

Charred abalone, wood ear, wasabi and ponzu

Well, nothing really wows more than having an abalone as your first course, doesn’t it? It was probably one of the best starts of a degustation course I have ever had. Having ‘abalone’ in your dish’s title usually guarantees an instant favourite. This was also my first charred (and/or grilled) abalone ever.

Rock flathead, puffed quinoa, toasted corn, pickled cucumber

There was a bit of theatrics when the waitress poured the toasted corn sauce (?) into the plate for the second course. There was also a nice crunchy texture from the quinoa. However, it was clearly overshadowed by the abalone.

South Australian marron, chicken liver, finger lime

Third course was quite simple and artsy. To be honest, it was quite small for my tummy to realise what it was. There was a little crunch from the veggies and a strong chicken liver flavour. The marron itself was nicely done.

Pea bavarois, lemon sorbet, almond

Fourth course was the in-between course. To cleanse our palate for the main course that was about to come. It was quite a complex dish with quite a strong lemon sorbet.

Master Kobe beef, roasted onion, nameko and miso

Just like the appetiser, the main course also started off with a bang. Master Kobe is the highest marbled beef that you can get, with a score of MB9+. To illustrate how special (and expensive!) it is, the plate was minimally designed with only three small slices of meat. It went really well with the miso paste and nameko mushrooms.

Kangaroo, grilled kohlrabi, quandong and native fruits

Despite boasting quite a number of native Australian ingredients, this sixth course was a miss for us. The dish was quite bitter and very sweet… quite interesting I must say, but unfortunately it was a bit too strong for me.

White rabbit saddle and leg, turnip, mustard and yeast, polenta

It was nice to see carrot in the same plate as rabbit. The polenta could use a bit more crunch, but it wasn’t as disastrous as the previous one. However, given that the standard of the first few dishes were so high, this one was more on the ‘average’ side.

Coolea, walnut and apple cider

We had a doubt about what was actually in our dish. It was listed as above, but couldn’t work out the walnut and apple cider in the dish. It was quite a heavy one before desserts… or was it a savoury dessert?

Milk chocolate flan, toasted rice, fairy floss

Having a fairy floss was always fun. Although I’m not really sure how you eat the fairy floss with flan and toasted rice. It was more of a decoration than the integral part of the dish.

Fig leaf and smoked coconut sorbet, candied ginger, wild fennel

Now this is a dessert which elements worked really well together. There were quite a lot of elements that were in-sync. It was cold, slightly spicy, crunchy, sweet and sour at the same time.

They also gave us three kinds of petit fours: a jelly, nutty chocolate, and something that looked like dutch pancake.

The final verdict for Woodland House

Woodland House showed some flashes of brilliance in their 10-course degustation. However, it was apparent why they fell short of their third hat. Specifically, the sixth course, kangaroo, was a tad too adventurous for us.

Did you know?

Woodland House used to be known as Jacques Reymond. It was an iconic restaurant that was a three-hat restaurant when the chef for 23 years, Jacques Reymond, retired in 2013.

They also serve vegetarian degustation menu that I have uploaded to our facebook page. The price for 10-course vegetarian menu is $140.

Rating for Woodland House:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 8.0 / 10

Price: $155 for degustation

Place: 9.0 / 10

Details:

78 Williams Road, Prahran, VIC 3181

+61 3 9525 2178

http://www.woodlandhouse.com.au/

Apr 4, 2016
2015 Top 100 Restaurants in Australia by Financial Review

This year, the Australian Financial Review started publishing the Top 100 restaurants in Australia. Instead of being judged by food critics / food bloggers / some random people, the list was actually made by the top 500 chefs in Australia. Being at the top of the list means that your peers agreed that your restaurant is the best in Australia. I am pretty sure that’s the best recognition that you could possibly get.

Sepia is at the top of this list of 2015 Top 100 Restaurants in Australia. Its chef, Martin Benn is also recognised as Australia’s Top Chef. On this occasion, Australian Financial Review also asked the public to vote for their top Australian restaurant with an award called The People’s Award. The People’s Award winner for 2015 is Catalina Restaurant.

All About Food have written a review for only eight of the top 100 restaurants:

Quay at number 3, Mr Wong at number 9, Tetsuya’s at number 10, Rockpool at number 12, Bentley (at the old venue) at number 13, Ester at number 14, Est at number 25, and Marque at number 33.

The number of top 100 restaurants by state:

NSW 45
VIC 37
SA 5
WA 5
QLD 4
TAS 3
ACT 1

They also have the more extensive top 500 restaurants in Australia if you are interested to know.

The full list of 2015 Top 100 Restaurants in Australia by Financial Review

1. Sepia, NSW
2. Attica, VIC
3. Quay, NSW
4. Brae, Birregurra, VIC
5. Cutler & Co, VIC
6. Vue de Monde, VIC
7. Cumulus Inc, VIC
8. Sixpenny, NSW
9. Mr Wong, NSW
10. Tetsuya’s, NSW
11. Flower Drum, VIC
12. Rockpool, NSW
13. Bentley Restaurant & Bar, NSW
14. Ester, NSW
15. MoVida, VIC
16. Momofuku Seiobo, NSW
17. Garagistes (closed April 2015), TAS
18. The Town Mouse, VIC
19. Cafe Paci, NSW
20. Cafe Di Stasio, VIC
21. 10 William St, NSW
22. Saint Crispin, VIC
23. Porteno, NSW
24. Supernormal, VIC
25. Est, NSW
26. The Bridge Room, NSW
27. Estelle, VIC
28. Lee Ho Fook, VIC
29. Rockpool Bar & Grill (Sydney), NSW
30. Lake House, Daylesford, VIC
31. Biota Dining, Bowral, NSW
32. Billy Kwong, NSW
33. Marque, NSW
34. Franklin, TAS
35. Fratelli Paradiso, NSW
36. Esquire, QLD
37. Golden Century, NSW
38. Monopole, NSW
39. Sean’s Panaroma, NSW
40. France-Soir, VIC
41. Chin Chin, VIC
42. Rockpool Bar & Grill (Melbourne), VIC
43. Coda, VIC
44. Magill Estate Restaurant, SA
45. Restaurant Amuse, WA
46. Bar Lourinha, VIC
47. Orana, SA
48. The Apollo, NSW
49. Lau’s Family Kitchen, VIC
50. Ezard, VIC
51. Pilu at Freshwater, NSW
52. Icebergs Dining Room & Bar, NSW
53. Wasabi Restaurant & Bar, QLD
54. Pei Modern (Melbourne), VIC
55. Yoshii, NSW
56. Moon Park, NSW
57. Fish Face, NSW
58. Guillaume, NSW
59. LuMi, NSW
60. Africola, SA
61. Spice Temple (Sydney), NSW
62. Provenance, Beechworth, VIC
63. Pendolino, NSW
64. Cho Cho San, NSW
65. Il Bacaro, VIC
66. Hentley Farm, Seppeltsfield, SA
67. Ormeggio at the Spit, NSW
68. Nomad, NSW
69. Tonka, VIC
70. Grossi Florentino, VIC
71. Urbane, QLD
72. Oscillate Wildly, NSW
73. Sokyo, NSW
74. Gerard’s Bistro, QLD
75. ARIA Restaurant, NSW
76. Gingerboy, VIC
77. Vasse Felix Restaurant, Cowaramup, WA
78. Luxembourg, VIC
79. Belle’s Hot Chicken, VIC
80. The European, VIC
81. Ms G’s, NSW
82. Bodega, NSW
83. Movida, NSW
84. Moon Under Water, VIC
85. Ethos Eat Drink, TAS
86. Izakaya Den, VIC
87. Print Hall Bar & Dining Room, WA
88. ACME, NSW
89. Spice Temple (Melbourne), VIC
90. Longrain (Melbourne), VIC
91. Epocha, VIC
92. Peel St, SA
93. El Publico, WA
94. Ten Minutes By Tractor, Main Ridge, VIC
95. Aubergine, ACT
96. Longrain (Sydney), NSW
97. 4Fourteen, NSW
98. Buon Ricordo, NSW
99. Da Noi, VIC
100. Lalla Rookh, WA

May 19, 2015
Shou Sumiyaki

Rating:

7 / 10

Taste: 7 / 10

Price: $160 or $220 set menu

Place: 7.5 / 10

Review:

This is our last review of the year and also last review in our Melbourne trip and we would like to wish you all a happy holiday!! For this festive season, I present you a grand banquet from Shou Sumiyaki Sake Bar and Grill. There was quite a few of us and we ordered two of its sets: Wagyu Sumibiyaki Set ($160) and Wagyu and Seafood Sumibiyaki Set ($220). So, did the ‘seafood’ bit worth the $60 extra value? You can be the judge by reading the review below.

Side Dishes

Let’s start with the boring stuff and the part with the least difference. You only received an additional Brocolli wrap for the more expensive one. The common dishes were: Steam Rice, Miso Soup, Lettuce Wrap and Mushroom Wrap.

Entrée

It was two very distinctive menus for the Entrée. For the regular sumibiyaki, you get Salmon Sashimi, Kani Tempura, Chilled Pickled Yuzu, and Octopus Salad with Daikon & Salmon Roe.

The seafood sumibiyaki offered more sophisticated names for the entrée: Shou Assorted Sashimi Plate, Kaisen Harumaki (Deep fried Japanese-style seafood spring roll) and Horenso no Gomeae (Cooked Spinach with sesame dressing and bonito shaving).

Strangely enough, I think that the regular sumibiyaki actually presented a better value when compared to the seafood one.

Sumibiyaki Dishes

The regular sumibiyaki was quite straight forward. The list was dominated by Wagyu beef: Rump, rib finger, scotch, oyster blade, and a Marble 8 wagyu chuck roll for a total of 650 gr and a pork scotch (substituted with Chicken for us – at 150gr)

There were definitely a lot more qualities in the Wagyu (according to the menu) than the regular sumibiyaki: rump cap, Marble 8 rib finger, Marble 8 scotch, oyster blade, harami for a total of 500 gr. From the cost point of view, a marble 8 beef can cost twice as much as a marble 6 or 5. In addition to those beef cuts, you also got Scallops (100gr), Salmon fillet (150gr), squid (4 pieces), and 4 large tiger prawns.

From the value proposition, the seafood sumibiyaki definitely came up top. However if you don’t really know how to cook marbled wagyu, it might be hard to judge what’s with all the fuss.

As my personal favourite, we have also ordered Wagyu Beef Yukke ($12.50).

The final verdict for Shou Sumiyaki Sake Bar and Grill

The price point might be a bit steep in Shou Sumiyaki, especially for a four-person sumibiyaki. For a non-seafood eater, it’s a no-brainer that they would choose the regular one.

Details:

160 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne

03 9654 3933

http://www.shousumiyaki.com.au/

Dec 21, 2013