Dragon Boat Palace

Location: 149 Lonsdale St, Melbourne
Link: www.dragonboat.com.au
Cuisine: Chinese

For someone who doesn't enjoy Yum Cha, I sure do end up having it quite a lot. And this time, it was of the all-you-can-eat variety...

We went all out and ate til we had to unbuckle our belts!

Overall Impression: 5.3/10

I do apologize for the decimal place... but I liked Chinatown's Dragon Boat just a tad better. It just had a nicer ambience, I think. And the all-you-can-eat style yum cha at Dragon Boat Palace meant, everyone was engulfing everything pretty quickly so the waiters were under a lot more pressure. So, you end up being surrounded by really stressed people. And then you start feeling really stressed... So, maybe thats why I didn't think the ambience was as good.

Kitchen Workshop

Location: Ground Floor, Clarendon Street Entrance, Crown
Link: http://www.crowncasino.com.au/kitchen-workshop
Cuisine: International

I hate buffets. But due to several factors including undue influence, I went to Kitchen Workshop last night. There was a pretty decent selection of mains and entrees like roast, lots of random deep fried things, beef bourginon, calamari, fish, roasts, antipastos, salads, pasta, biriyani rice, an interactive teppanyaki station (where you get to choose what you want in your stir-fry). I was waiting in line at the teppanyaki station and saw them pour a ridiculous amount of oil on and chickened out, quickly leaving my position. My friends tried it though and they said there were nice flavours but nothing to shout about. There was also a generous selection of desserts (that included a chocolate fountain).

The mango pudding in particular was a winner. Simple and pleasant.

Overall Impression: 5/10
Delivers everything it promises but goes no further. Great value for money. An all you can eat dinner that cost us 23.50AUD per head. Relaxed ambience. Helpful staff.

Mesh

This review proudly brought to you by...Helen Lee

Location: Ground Floor, Crown Promenade Hotel

Link: www.crowncasino.com.au/dining/venue/1160/mesh

Cuisine: Modern Australian

• A seafood buffet consisting mainly of oysters and prawns with some sort of fish and squid salad

• This was accompanied by the usual salads and sauces (a thousand island and seafood cocktail)
• Dips and bruschetta (sic) were also a part of the buffet. They were eatable although the corn chips provided were too salty and would cause a heart attack to anyone who had a lot of it

• A main meal was also included with choice of lamb, chicken, fish , porterhouse steak and roast beef which was also accompanied with a choice of sauce
• Lamb: cooked nicely with the a bit of a pinkish tinge, however it was lacking in sauce and we had to ask for more which took a while so the meal went a little bit cold

• Porterhouse: according to reports, dry and not recommended although the mash on the side was very nice

• Chicken: according to reports, also dry and not recommended also

• Each person was also permitted to three drinks of their choice although limited to beer, wine and soft drink. They were a bit stringent on these choices, as I asked for tea and it was not allowed.

• Dessert buffet included a variety of small cakes (mango cheesecake, orange cake), jelly, mousse, Portuguese tarts, and ice-cream. Only the mango cheesecake was worth recommending.

• Cheese Platter: brie, blue and cheddar

~Atmosphere~

• There were quite a few birthday celebrations on the night which made it slightly loud and the place was packed
• Although a bit loud at times, we could still converse with each other.
• The only negative aspect of the crowd was that, at times, patrons had to queue up for the seafood buffet

~Service~

• Good overall
• Raman (sic) was our waiter, and informed us of the main meals and was kind when one of our party was eager in filling out the drinks sheet
• When the wait staff saw we had finished dishes, they did take them away, so this aspect of the service was good.
• But the second batch of drinks that we ordered did take a while to be served (approximately a thirty minute wait)
• The service was also quite slow on the extra mushroom sauce we ordered, and we had to remind them of our order a second time.

~Price~

• $42.00 per person
• For a seafood buffet, this is quite good value, because one only has to eat two dozen oysters and a main to roughly break even, and the cost included drinks and dessert
• Would return for a special occasion or large gathering

Overall Impression: 8/10

Shabu Shabu

Location: 380 Lonsdale Street
Link: www.shabushabu.com.au
Cuisine: Japanese, Hotpot

Another all-you-can-eat for $25 place! This time, it's Japanese hotpot. For those who don't know, hotpot involves starting with a pot of boiling stock with a choice of soup bases (here it is chicken or miso) and a choice of dipping sauces (soy, sesame or suki). The food comes around on a conveyor belt, you take what you want off the conveyor belt and add it to your pot.

[chicken broth soup base]

[sesame dipping sauce]

As the servings on the belt are quite small (to prevent wastage), a waiter literally stands at the end of the belt and reloads it continuously. The selection is quite extensive ranging from meats (chicken, beef, lamb and pork), through to seafood (prawns, scallops, mussels, octopus, calamari and fish), and plenty of tofu, fish balls and vegies.

[the conveyor belt of food - hint: if you see prawns or scallops, take them immediately, or you will never get any!!!]

The only negative point was that because we hadn't booked, we were told that we had a 1.5 hour time limit. That did not impress us at all, as we had wanted to make the most of our $25! However, that time limit drove us to consuming excessive amounts of mostly seafood in an attempt to break even with our expenditure! I have a feeling we succeeded!

[just a fraction of the plates we accumulated over the 1.5 hours]

But for the time limitation, the service was quite fast. Empty plates were cleared away quite often, although I would have liked a photo of all the empty plates we had!

Overall rating: 9.5/10

Kra Ta Ron

Location: On Lonsdale, Near Swanston
Genre: Thai
Company: Jenster

Decor & Atmosphere: Very typically Thai. Lots of Batik and scary masks and such. Started off a bit rocky with being seated in front of the door but progressed nicely. The owner/manager lady was so lovely. If i were her, I'd get a pissed off coz we were a bit demanding.

The Food: 8/10
We had Thai barbeque which is like hot pot but you can also grill your food. Heaps of fun. We overcooked our food a bit but, hey, you can't be too careful! The meats and squid were really yummy and the soup was delicious by the end. But the alloted portions for two were not quite enough (although Jen and I do eat a lot). We had to order a few additional plates (the additional plates were worth the money. The servings were quite big. Don't get the baby octopus. It wasnt as much fun as it looked and didn't taste so great either. I'd recommend get the beef and pork but not the chicken (it goes flakey) and get extra stock (i think it's free) coz the soup is delicious! And get lots of egg noodle/ rice noodle to soak up the stock. YUM.
The special Thai beverages weren't all that special though. Next time I'll stick to water.

Menu

The Price: Reasonable
At just on $60 for food & drink. So about $30/ person and you'll walk away VERY full.

Fructose friendliness: First let me say, the manager/owner was brilliant. She knew what fructose WAS and was very understanding. She explained there was onion in the soup stock but that they could make it for us without onion. I was like :O wow. She also said they could make the stirfries and things without onion also. Very impressed. The placed seemed clean too and all the food prep seemed exceptional. Of course, coconut curries cannot be changed so some of the menu is still off limits but a definite possiblity for the future.

Overall Impressions: 8/10
Definitely will go there again. Will recommend to others. Good food, lovely staff and not overpriced for dinner (even if we did cook it for ourselves but that's part of the fun)

JeanieEdit
Went back here about a week ago. Now hotpot is buffet only. You have to pay $25 and you get all you can eat of the ingredients provided. I dunno if it's as good value coz my parents and i decided to eat normal dishes.