Roast Duck Inn

Location: Carrington Road, Box Hill, VIC
Cuisine: Cantonese

It's been a while since I've been very impressed with a Cantonese eatery. New ones crop up all the time in Box Hill, only to disappear months later due to mediocre food, bad service, or simply just bad management.

So when I say I was impressed with the recently opened Roast Duck Inn in Box Hill, I was very much impressed.

It started from the moment we were seated. Polite waitresses brought out not only complimentary tea but also a bowl of complimentary soup each. Little gestures that don't necessarily cost the restaurant much, but can impress their patrons. Too many restaurants these days charge exorbitant amounts of money for tea that costs next to nothing to provide. The soup is a classic Cantonese starter and goes down a treat as we read the menu. 

Classic Cantonese starter soup

The menu is only 2-3 pages and sports all the classic roast meats (duck, roast pork, BBQ pork etc), as well as all the usual Cantonese noodle and rice dishes. We order a beef brisket noodle soup and a char kuay teow to share. About a minute or so after we order, the manager comes over to check if we've had our orders taken. The attention to detail is overwhelming for a little cafe like this.

Food comes out pretty quickly. The beef brisket noodle soup arrives and you can immediately smell the aromas of the herbs and spices that the brisket has been stewing. The meat is fall-apart tender, the tendon is cooked to perfection - soft, slippery and full of flavour. A nest of egg noodles, some greens and aromatic broth. Simple and brilliant.

beef brisket noodle soup

The char kuay teow is also beautifully executed. The all-too-famous wok-smell is evident as it hits the table, and the dish is loaded full of rice noodles, prawns, chicken, fish cake, cuttlefish and Chinese sausage. Just enough seasoning to lift the dish, but not so much as to overpower it. 

char kuay teow

And to top it all off, the meal came to approximately $20. This is the epitome of Box Hill food. Classic dishes, thoughtful management, attentive waitresses and generous serves at decent prices. I wouldn't hesitate to go again.

Overall Impression: 9/10

[someone needs to create an Urbanspoon account for this place]

Petaling Street Malaysian Hawker Food

Location: 600 Station Street, Box Hill, VIC
Phone: (03) 9890 0972
Cuisine: Malaysian, Hawker

One of the things I miss most about Melbourne is the hawker style food you get in Box Hill. So when we found out that the place we were heading to was shut, we popped into this place.

The setup of the restaurant was done quite nicely. They managed to renovate the open kitchen to show off the chefs at work (it used to be La Porchetta) and the tables have a cute little drawer were they place serviettes in.

Chicken nasi lemak 

My theory generally is that if you walk into a restaurant which specialises in a particular cuisine, it would be silly to not order something of that cuisine. Hence the nasi lemak - coconut rice with chicken sambal and ikan bilis (dried fish). Can't say much for the ikan bilis as I'm not a huge fan, but it was crispy and tasted like it should. The coconut rice was amazing and went superbly with the chicken sambal which was bursting with flavour and just spicy enough for my liking.

Ipoh horfun 

The Ipoh horfun was also quite good, although I was a little disappointed in the lack of 'things' in the noodle soup. The steamed chicken was tender and full of flavour, although it seemed very much like Hainanese chicken - even the dipping sauce was the same. Was not very impressed when I found a piece of chicken skin which had not been cleaned properly.

Pork ribs claypot rice 

When they warned us that this dish would take longer, I certainly did not expect it to arrive after we had nearly demolished the other two dishes. And it wasn't all that worth the wait. The ribs were well flavoured, but were quite dry and a little on the overcooked side. The rice was the biggest let down though. Claypot rice usually means you get nice bits of crispy rice from the base. In this case, we got slabs of overly sticky and semi-crispy bits of rice. I couldn't work out whether it was caused by the pot it was served in or the method they had cooked it in, but I won't be going back for more claypot rice - we'll leave that for Claypot King!

 Ice kachang

Following on the theme of Malaysian foods, we finished off the meal with a bowl of ice kachang, a generous serve of shaved ice with coconut milk, red bean, grass jelly and various other Malaysian treats. Amazing flavours and the only fault I could find was the fact that they buried all the 'goodies' underneath a tower of ice that kept falling onto the table when we dug into it. 

Service was reasonably fast given how busy they were, and the food was rather impressive (and each dish was less than $10!). Will be going back to try some more of their Malaysian fare next time I'm back in Melbourne!

Overall Impression: 8.5/10

Wang's Lucky Bar (旺旺辛运吧)

Location: 921 Whitehorse Road, Box Hill
Phone: (03) 9899 8558
Cuisine: Chinese

My parents had been talking about this lobster banquet deal for quite some time, so when I finally got back to Melbourne, we decided we would give it a shot.

The deal: $98 for a four person lobster banquet which involved lobster, three dishes and rice.

Shallot and ginger lobster with egg noodles

First up, the lobster was quite fresh and cooked just right. However, the sauce was a bit of a let down. It wasn't nearly as aromatic as I had expected - there was an obvious lack of the strong ginger and shallot flavours that are the champions of the dish. Noodles were just as they should have been.

As for the rest of the dishes, I was too fixated on my lobster to take photos. Not that it matters too much as they were a bit of a let down. I think it started with the poor choice in combination of dishes (the banquet did not offer us any choices, so the dishes were fixed).

The Hainanese chicken, which was supposed to be a key dish of the restaurant, was good but nothing fancy. The chicken was a little on the oversalted side but other than that, was moist and well cooked. The sauces (shallots, and sweet chilli) were quite good accompaniments.

The salt and pepper pork ribs were a completely different story. The batter, whilst light and crispy, was heavily ladened with oil. A sign that the temperature of the oil had not been hot enough to force out all the oil. There was also a distinct lack of flavour. Together this resulted in crispy oily bits batter hanging off some pretty tender but flavourless meat.

Stir fried Chinese broccoli rounded off the meal, Pretty standard but definitely needed after all the oil in the pork dish.

So value-for-money-wise, it was definitely worth it. You don't get cheap lobster all that often, and this was a pretty good deal (we even had leftovers from the dishes). However, if you're looking for quality in what you get, this would not be my first choice.

Overall Impression: 6/10

Fu Long: Lunch Specials

Location: 942 Whitehorse Rd, Box Hill [near Station Street]
Cuisine: Chinese

Dad and I went to Fu Long for lunch one weekday for their lunchtime specials. On weekends they have yum cha, but during the week they've taken to copying the surrounding restaurants and serving cheap and quick meals. Well, it was supposed to be quick.

We ordered a roast duck on rice and a pork and century egg congee with fried dough stick (for the congee). The lot totalled under $15 and we even had a bit to take away!

The only negative was that the congee took over half an hour to come out - we have a feeling they forgot about the order. In any case, it was worth the wait in the end because it came out in a little claypot and used roast pork instead of bland plain pork. I was an instant fan!

Am so going back for the specials again!

Overall Impression: 9/10

Sichuan Restaurant: Hotpot

Location: 65-67 Carrington Road, Box Hill
Cuisine: Chinese, Hotpot

There are quite a few hotpot places in Box Hill, Sichuan Restaurant is one I frequent the least, but ventured there for all-you-can-eat hotpot for a birthday.

For $25, you have pretty much unlimited amounts of food - you just keep ordering and the waiters will bring in the dishes (raw of course). There are also a couple of cooked dishes that count as part of it, including some type of jelly noodle, wontons and other somewhat strange dishes.

We ordered a double flavoured pot for nine of us (one side normal broth, one side loaded with fat red chillies). Service was a little below par when compared with other similar places but we pretty much got what we asked for so there were no dramas there.

They did try to charge us for an extra bottle of beer when we had kept tabs on how many had been ordered. After some negotiation they were more than happy to take the amount off the bill. It was disappointing that tea, a staple at most Chinese restaurants, cost $1.50 per person.

I think I have a preference for Beijing Hotpot and Dumpling Cafe or Little Lamb when it comes to hotpot. I should probably go back to them at some point and get some photos!

Overall Impression: 7.5/10

Fu Long: Now Serving Ice-Cream!!

Location: 942 Whitehorse Rd, Box Hill [near Station Street]
Cuisine: Chinese
Previous Reviews: Fu Long

The usual complimentary red bean soup and fruit has now been replaced with...

... choc-chip ice-cream and fruit!!!

Overall Impression: 10/10!!

Guai Wei He [怪味合]

Location: 951 Whitehorse Road, Box Hill
Cuisine: Taiwanese

Tonight we decided to try out a new restaurant in Box Hill. No English name, 怪味合 (Guai Wei He) in Chinese. Literally translated as 'strange taste box'. Why so named? Because one of their signature dishes is the famous 怪味鸡 (chicken) that you get when you're in Taiwan.

The place operated a little like hotpot and Korean BBQ places. You choose a type of base pot (beef, prawn, crab, pork, lamb, mushroom, bean curd etc) and a type of sauce (seafood, special soy, curry, sweet and sour) and the waitress cooks it in front of you. Not quite Korean BBQ (not barbecued at all) and not like hotpot either (no soup base). More like a pressure cooker - the meat and vegies soak up the sauce. You can either eat this with rice, cold noodles or on its own. We ordered a half-lamb half mushroom pot with special soy sauce and half a signature chicken. The pot came with a few small kimchi like dishes.

The chicken was amazing - full of flavour and smelt and tasted a little smokey, like it had been cooked over a coal fire. The sauce it came with was quite tasty too, fairly salty, but smokey and sweet at the same time.

[signature 'strange tasting' chicken]

The pot itself came with a mix of carrots, onions and bean sprouts at the base, which were completely soaked with the sauce by the time the pot finished cooking. The lamb was tender, and there were plenty of different types of mushroom. Exciting stuff!

[mushroom and lamb pot]

Pricewise, it was rather cheap. The pot was a 4-person pot for $27 ($26 for lamb, $28 for mushroom), the half-chicken only $10. Along with two bowls of rice, our bill came to $39.

Creative, tasty and cheap!!

Overall rating: 9/10

Indochine

Location: Carrington Rd, Box Hill, opposite Centro
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Company: Mark (and other people on various occasions)

~Food~
Lovely, fresh, clean Vietnamese flavours. It's one of my fav viet restaurants in Melbourne. I love their Bun (rice vermicelli dish), spring rolls and fish sauce. Their pho is not THE best but it's very nice as well. I keep forgetting to try their broken rice but i'm sure I'll be going back there very soon.

~Atmosphere and Service~
Lovely place, very pretty and the service is quick and efficient. They have one waiter who is a bit of a laugh- he also makes sexually suggestive comments to the ladies but you can't hate him coz he's so lame!

~Price~
Very reasonable. Lunch for 2 is generally around $20. In fact, it's a stretch to order $30 of food and finish it all.

~Overall Impression~
Definitely one of the best Viet places around! Try it out!
9/10

Little Lamb

Location: Whitehorse Road, Box Hill
Cuisine: Chinese
Company: family

~Food~
Little Lamb operates like any other typical hotpot (or as some like to call, steamboat) restaurant. You select a soup base (normal, spicy, herbal) and then select a range of raw meats, vegies and other typical hotpot additions such as glass noodles, tofu and fish balls. Then you get to cook it all yourself, to your own liking, whenever you want. We opted for the normal soup base as the spicy is generally extremely spicy and I'm not a fan of herbal soups. Even still, the normal soup base was a very nicely flavoured stock base with some goji berries and other spices and herbs floating around (although not as much as in the herbal one).

In addition, Llittle Lamb had a Mongolian roast lamb rack on the menu, so we thought we would give that a try.... and I absolutely loved it!!! It was very nicely roasted (although somewhat oily), and instead of being heavily coated in spices, was only lightly marinated, then served with small dishes of spices.

~Atmosphere and Service~
The place is quite a small restaurant, and it was crowded and busy. From the outside, you can see the steamed up windows and as soon as you step in, you can smell the aromas of the roast lamb (they do skewers as well) and the hotpot. The service was decent too, especially for a small Asian restaurant such as this was. The waiters were really attentive and efficient, and responsed quite promptly to any requests we had.

~Price~
$23 per person all-you-can eat, or you can order dishes separately to control spending.

~Overall Impression: 9/10~
Great place and food for a cold winter's night. Probably will return again the next time the weather goes cold again.

Fu Long

Location: 942 Whitehorse Rd, Box Hill [near Station Street]
Cuisine: Chinese
Company: family

~Food~
When I go to a restaurant, I aim to order dishes that appear to unique to that place [without going so far as wild game, crocodile or coral] or seem to be a specialty of the chef. As a result, we bailed out on the 4 person banquet - which appeared to be very good value for money but unsurprisingly boring in content - and opted for our own selection. Well, pretty much my choice.

So we ended up ordering

• Deep-fried spare ribs in prawn paste - light and crunchy on the outside, soft and juicy on the inside. The marinade was done very well and there wasn't too much oil.
• Fu Long ginger-spiced chicken - steamed chicken in a very nice liquid sauce, with shredded ginger and spring onions over the top. Plenty of flavour and the ginger set off a nice contrast to the slightly oily sauce.
• Seafood and bean curd claypot - lots of seafood, some vegies and bean curd in a sizzling pot. The seafood included prawns, scallops, squid and fish, and tasted quite fresh. The bean curd was a little bland, the sauce wasn't very strong - you could drink it like soup.

As with most restaurants of the same type, the meal came with soup, rice, red-bean paste soup and a fruit platter, not to mention the tea!

~Atmosphere and Service~
Service was pretty crap - the waitresses seemed disinterested and unorganised. One asked if we were ready to order, then wandered off saying that someone else would come... we had to hail down another waitress in order to do so. Then when she was talking to us, other waitresses would come and interrupt to ask her things - instead of patiently waiting on the sideline.

~Price~
The price was alright - the banquet would have been cheaper, but as stated, I wanted to try a few more unique dishes so we paid more. Our meal totalled to just over $60, with some take away for tomorrow.

~Overall Impression: 7/10~
The food was good but not enough to make up for the poor service or the price. I think the waitresses need to be taught how to smile and be more attentive.

Various

I'm lazy, so mini-reviews of random places I've been to. Company: various

BEST FOOD GALLERY
Location: Box Hill, Station St (next to Time Zone)
Cuisine: Chinese

~Food~
Large portions, always pretty filling. They have a family buffet which is $52 and which is soup, four mains and dessert. I never leave hungry. The 'spicy beef/fish' (la zhu niu rou/yu-no, i cannot translate from Chinese) is great (not too spicy unless you're from Northern China or Taiwan, and don't eat true cooking) and my brother likes the Sweet n Sour Chicken. Basically it's just the cheapest decent eat I know, pho restaurants aside. 3/5

~Atmosphere and Service~ 2/5
It's a Chinese restaurant and most of the waitstaff look like they're doing arts degrees.

~Price~
Mains around 12-15 each.

~Overall Impression~
6.8/10. Great value & portions, mediocre service, good location.


THE BRASSERIE
Location: Crown
Cuisine: French

~Food~ I loved the food. We chose from the pre-theatre menu which is two courses per person. (Choose from entree, main, dessert.) The entree was chicken liver and foie gras terrine with onion jam. It was a lot more appetising than it sounds. The jam was sweet and subtle and went well with the terrine. Mains were a fillet of John Dory with potato and balsamic vinaigrette and beef sirloin steak with fries. I ordered the steak medium and it was very, very tender. It was just a steak, i.e. nothing else except some bearnaise sauce (I have no idea what that is), but it was filling. Dessert was chocolate marquise (similar to mousse but not as whipped) with vanilla sorbet and some pistachio thingy. Probably the best dish. Small but pretty and very rich. The wine was also good, but pricey. 4.5/5

~Atmosphere and Service~ 3.5/5
There's downstairs & upstairs, inside and out. We ate outside which has a good view of the Yarra and the city's lights. There are heaters so it's not cold except for occasional gusts of wind. The maitre'd had an awesome russian accent and was very helpful, and the waiters were prompt, but very busy.

~Price~
Pre-theatre menu is $38 a person. Wines about 10-14 per glass.

~Overall Impression~
really liked it. 8/10

NOTTURNO
Location: Lygon (near Grattan)
Cuisine: Italian/skip
~Food~
I had the pizza, made with thin crust like the real thing, but without a whole lot of base. Pretty passable but nothing special. The desserts are quite nice, though, particularly the pancakes and ice cream. Servings are large. 3/5

~Atmosphere and Service~ 3.5/5
I just like the fact that this place is nearby, open till late and pretty relaxed. There're always enough people to have some atmosphere but not too many, and there's usually soccer on the TV. Service is prompt and tables are very comfy.

~Price~
About 8-14 a dish.

~Overall Impression~
7/10.

Lotus and Bamboo

Location: Carrington Road, Box Hill
Cuisine: Chinese, Taiwanese
Company: family

Having been there once before and quite content with their service, we headed there again after my dad saw new hotpot specials in the Chinese newspaper.

~Food~
We ordered a 4-person banquet as well as a hotpot... which was definitely over-ordering! The banquet was good as they were flexible with changing some of the meals. We ended up with:

• Entrees of seaweed ties, fried tofu
• Sliced belly pork with bamboo shoots and tofu
• Shredded chicken salad
• Stewed fish
• Vegies
• Rice
• Hotpot with lamb and assorted vegies

The vegies were a little plain in my opinion, but the rest was quite good. The banquet was very well balanced with a good contrast in flavours, and alone would have been more than enough for us, but given we had also ordered the hotpot, we took a lot of it home.

The hotpot was considerably cheap for what we got, and as with any good hotpot, the soup at the end is absolutely amazing! The lamb was very thinly sliced, albeit a little too fatty (even for me). They actually sliced the corn into around 5mm slices, enabling it to cook much faster and making it more convenient to eat.

~Atmosphere and Service~
Being a Tuesday night, it was rather quiet. The atmosphere is casual, much like many of the small restaurants in Box Hill. The boss himself was out on the floor, and was very flexible with us altering the menu

~Price~
Very cheap for the amount of food there was. The banquet was $48, the hotpot $15. We also ordered two drinks at the end, bringing the bill to $65. Not bad considering what we took home lasted another meal!

~Overall Impression: 9/10~Will definitely be going back again for another cheap and quick feed! For a small restaurant, the food was much better than anticipated and the service was quite good too.

Beijing Gourmet (东方水饺)

Location: Whitehorse Road, Box Hill
Cuisine: Chinese... as with most shops in Box Hill
Company: family, family friends

My dad wanted to shout some family friends dinner after they got back from Macau. Being over the whole large restaurant experience, we decided to opt for something a little different.

~Food~
The place is known for it's snack-like dishes, a similar approach to what you get at yum cha but there are no trolleys. The menu was quite extensive and we ordered a heap of dishes ranging from dumplings to kebabs. Some of the top dishes:

• Noodle salad - thin flat noodles with preserved carrots etc, the lot was marinated in a slightly spicy, slightly sour dressing...mmm...
• Dumplings - could be steamed or fried, and came in three or four different varieties such as lamb, seafood etc.
• Asian-ised sauerkraut soup - served with chicken and vermicelli in a little clay pot
• Xinjiang kebabs - these were awesome, made a mistake in asking for the spicy ones but still, so very very nice.

~Atmosphere and Service~
Box Hill is not renowned for it's service, and we didn't expect much. The waitresses were able to explain the dishes to us and we got everything we asked for. I consider that decent service.

~Price~
Some of the dishes were a little pricey in terms of the serving sizes but the dumplings and kebabs were quite cheap in comparison to other places.

~Overall Impression: 8.5/10~
The variety of food means that you can go there even when you're not really hungry, and just nibble on small dishes. It's a good alternative to yum cha if you're sick of it!