Supermax Eatery

What was previously known as Cafe de Kikaku recently changed it's name to Supermax Eatery. Being a big fan of the former, I had rather high expectations for its replacement, particularly as it continues to serve the same cuisine.

The beauty of this place is that it's one of the few decent eating spots on the Vic Harbour side of Docklands (Pok Pok and Nine Elephants are two of my other recommends) and only a few minutes walk from work.

The interior hasn't changed much since my last visit. One of my favourite quotes still adorns the back wall: "Sleep until you're hungry; eat until you're sleepy". The menu has changed in content but retains that quirky, almost fusion style of food.

The boys are drawn straight to the KFC (Korean fried chicken) burger but unfortunately 1pm is so late that they've run out of burgers already! Luckily the KFC is still available as a main dish served with rice.

Korean fried chicken

I opt for the galbi Angus short ribs, which are fall-off-the-bone tender and have a subtle smokey chargrilled aroma, while the other two go for sticky honey chicken. The dishes are served with rice, salad, pickled cucumber and kimchi.

galbi Angus short ribs

honey sticky chicken

the 'bold ice-cream collection'

And to finish off - if you're into obscure ice cream flavours, you'll find a good selection including sake and wasabi here. As can be seen from the above photo, the ice cream comes in a cup, on a cone, or in an ice cream burger - your choice! We didn't get around to trying any, but the blackboard certainly made us curious. Too bad the weather's start to cool down, this would have been a nice escape for ice cream in summer.

Supermax's food is just as good as the predecessor's, everyone is full and happy and the proximity is most definitely a bonus.

Overall impression: 8/10

Pok Pok

Location: 801-803 Bourke Street, Docklands VIC 3008
Phone: (03) 9620 4580
Link: www.facebook.com/POKPOKMELB/info
Cuisine: Thai

Pok Pok isn't the kind of restaurant you'd expect to find in the Docklands. It's nothing like the restaurants over on the New Quay side, and more like something you'd find nestled down in Flinders Lane in the CBD. It's got the vibe of Chin Chin, Mamasita and Cumulus Inc rolled into one.

The menu is extensive, ranging from curries to noodle and rice dishes to more traditional street food. Lots of dishes jump out at me, but fellow bloggers have raved about the lamb curry, so my decision was pretty easy. 

massaman lamb curry with crisp roti bread - massaman curry of slow cooked
lamb shank, waxy potatoes, onion, fried shallots and crunchy cashew nuts
served with freshly cooked roti bread

Unlike your typical curry, this was a slow cooked curried lamb shank. The meat was tender and flavoursome, and the meat almost fell off the bone - it possibly could have done with just that little bit more cooking. The massaman itself was mild and creamy, the chunks of potatoes were cooked perfectly and the fried shallots and cashews added a nice texture to the dish. 

The roti looked pretty good, although I was skeptical as to why it was served rolled up. It lacked the crispiness (explains how it was roll-able) and smokiness I had hoped for - not the best I've had.

That said, for a meal that costs less than $15, I have no complaints. If you happen to be out Docklands-way and after a quick cheap lunch deal, Pok Pok is the place to go. And there's plenty more things on the menu I still need to try.

Overall Impression: 7.5/10

Woolshed

Location: t18/161 Harbour Esplanade, Docklands
Phone: (03) 8623 9640
Link: www.woolshedpub.com.au
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Overall Impression: 6/10

Had the opportunity to try their Christmas dinner menu. This gastropub dishes up delicious food. Everything was plated up beautifully and tasted just as good as it looked! Great for a group function.

BlueFire Churrascaria Grill: Super Tuesday!

Location: 477 Docklands Drive, Waterfront City, Docklands

Phone: (03) 9670 8008
Link: www.bluefiregrill.com.au
Cuisine: Grill, Modern Australian, Brazilian

Wandering around Docklands in search of a good Tuesday deal, we stumbled across BlueFire (which I had been wanting to try for quite a while but had almost forgotten about) and had a quick skim of the Super Tuesday deal. We were very impressed with the half-price Churrascaria and dessert (bringing the price down from $65 to $32.50) and decided to give it a go.

Tasting platter: marinated olives, dips (corn, eggplant, spinach & fetta), roasted peppers and warm flat bread

The Churrascaria started off with a tasting platter to share consisting of three dips (spinach and fetta, eggplant, and corn), warm flat bread, marinated olives and roasted peppers. The dips were very good - particularly the corn dip which was sweet, juicy and fresh tasting. The flat bread was warm and slightly fluffy inside, cut into perfect sized portions to go with the dips. The olives were very salty (as olives should be but I guess I'm not a huge fan) and the roasted peppers were sweet and had a nice smokey roast aroma.

Grilled seasonal vegetables

Sauces: tomato, honey mustard, caramelised onions

After we were done with the tasting platter, the waitress brought out the grilled seasonal vegetables and condiments. The vegies were extremely well done. The corn was notably the best part - much like the dip, it was sweet and juicy. The batons of carrots were soft and sweet on the inside, with a slight crispiness on the edge from the grilling. The wedges of potatoes were also very soft on the inside,crisp on the outside and seasoned with a variety of herbs. The sauces a bit on the average side. The caramelised onions were very good - nice caramelising and sweet jus. The honey mustard was pretty good too but I found it didn't work as well with the way the meats were marinated. Tomato sauce was, well, tomato sauce.

Plasma screens in the dining area

A 'passador' slicing meat at our table

Finally, we were ready for the meat and seafood. The 'passadors' brought around huge skewers of meat/seafood and sliced it at the table. As it was all-you-can-eat, I took a little too much of everything at the start. By the second round, we knew what tasted good and what we didn't like, so stuck with just getting the meats we had liked. You can even watch the meat as it cooks on the plasma screens in the dining area.

Each type of meat and seafood was marinated differently, although most were quite subtle flavours.

Pork (smoked tomato and chilli marinade)

One of the best cuts of meat we had. The pork was tender and moist, and had a nice form with a good balance of the fatty bits and the leaner bits. The flavour was a little bland, but the meat was cooked perfectly and the meat juices and caramelised onions worked well.

Chicken (five spice marinade)

My favourite meat of the day - the chicken was moist and cooked very well (it looked like it would be a lot drier than it turned out to be - and it was very well flavoured. No need for sauce for this piece!

Fish (lemon, garlic and herb)

The fish looked good, but tastewise was a bit of a disappointment. The fish was rather tough and dry (not in terms of chewing, but I judge fish by how soft and tender the inside it). It also lacked flavour which could have made up for the dryness (it was grilled after all).

Calamari (garlic, herb and paprika)

Looking quite dry, the calamari was actually very nicely cooked and soft to chew. However, there was a slightly fishy aftertaste indicating the possibility of not being fresh, and not enough of the marinade to cover it up. Would have been nicer had it been fresh or salted.

South-American spiced sausage

This one was also a winner. The sausage was bursting with flavour and had a nice spicy kick to it. However, the spiciness meant we didn't consume as much as we would have liked to of it.

We finally gave up and turned over our coasters to the red 'no more' sign. The waitress cleared our table and brought out our desserts (normally $15 each, at half price).

Black and white Baileys and Valrhona chocolate mousse

Beautiful soft and airy chocolate mousse, with a hint of Bailey's flavour. Nothing to complain about. I liked the added touch of the little wafer roll. Cute.

Chilled chocolate tart with vanilla ice cream & warm chocolate sauce

I was almost hesitant in ordering this dessert after the chocolate tart at Mecca Bah, but the description was so simple and tempting, so I thought I'd give it a go. I was very glad I did try it. The chocolate inside the tart was smooth but was soft like ganache and went amazingly with the ice-cream. The tart was a little too solid - would have been nicer had it had more of a crunch. The little crisp on top added a nice crunchy texture to an otherwise very smooth dessert.

~Service~

The service was generally top notch, as one would expect at a restaurant of its class. The waitresses were polite, the passadors were friendly and the food came out quite quickly (or in the case of the meats, sometimes a little too fast!). The one thing we were annoyed at was having to pay for water (we were given the option of 'still or sparkling' and no 'tap'). Other than that one issue, we had a very pleasant time and came out extremely full!

Overall Impression: 9/10

Mecca Bah

Location: 55a Newquay Promenade, Docklands

Link: www.meccabah.com

Cuisine: Middle Eastern

Mecca Bah dips & bread

The dips were very interesting and quite tasty too. The bread was warm and crisp. The only problem was that the dips should have been served in individual dishes to avoid them merging into each other.

Prawn and salmon kibbeh

These were amazing. The seafood was soft and juicy, and very well flavoured. The outer casing was crunchy but also a little chewy. The mash that it sat on was very smooth and creamy, with just the right amount of salt and butter. By all counts, best dish of the night!

Spicy lamb kofte with carrot, onion, spring onion and yoghurt sauce

The lamb was soft and well-flavoured, with a little spice giving it a nice bite. The yoghurt sauce complemented it nicely.

Turkish pizza: tiger prawns with artichokes and lemon rocket salad

One thing to note - Turkish pizza is not like normal pizza. And this one wasn't even cut up into pieces. The base was different, more like Turkish bread, but the prawns on top were beautiful.

Turkish pizza: spiced chicken with eggplant, rocket & tahini sauce

This one was a little odd - the chicken had a strange taste to it, but it was edible.

Chicken with tomatoes, almond, sesame seeds & honey tagine

This was a new dish that none of us had ever had before, and it was, to quote the majority of the table that night, 'interesting'. The sauce was sweet and sticky, and went quite well with the chicken. However, the chicken served as one large piece - making sharing hard and also preventing the sauce from coating the chicken properly. I quite liked the sesame seeds and almond in the sauce, as it gave the dish a different texture and added some bite to the sauce.

Moroccan spiced calamari with Turkish bean salad

One member of our table decided to opt out of the tapas style eating and ordered his own dish. The main complaint was the serving size - something we found with most of the dishes at Mecca Bah was that you get a lot less than what you would expect for the price paid.

Turkish coffee

Reports were that the coffee was very good indeed, worth a try if you're a coffee fan.

Chocolate nut tart with chocolate sauce, vanilla ice-cream and sesame tuile

Description got your mouth watering? It's not quite the same when you try it. I expected a soft creamy chocolate and nutty centre, but was surprised with a solid centre and rock-hard tart casing. It had obviously been left in the fridge for too long. The tuile did not fit the description on Masterchef - there was no 'snap' and it was just a little bit too hard - perhaps too long in the fridge?

Vanilla pannacotta with raspberry coulis

I didn't try this one, but it looked pretty good as the pannacotta held its shape.

~Service~

I initially had a bad impression - we had booked but somehow they had managed to lose a booking for 6 people (even after Stace had called up to confirm numbers). Luckily for us, the waitress was able to set up a table for us after a 15 minute wait. The service throughout the night was generally lacking in friendliness and it was hard to catch their attention. YC had an interesting incident with one waiter regarding the glass his water had been served in.

~Atmosphere~

Very loud and busy. We were lucky to get a table towards the back against the window which overlooked the water and was slightly quieter.

~Price~

Very pricey given the serving sizes, but the food was generally good. I'd probably save this for special occasions than a regular eatery.

Overall Impression: 7.5/10

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Kouzina - Lunchtime Mezedes

Location: Level 2, Westfield Doncaster, 619 Doncaster Road, Doncaster (also one at Southgate)
Link: www.kouzina.com.au
Cuisine: Greek

The lunchtime menu at Kouzina seems to sport more mezedes (tapas style dishes) than mains, and feeling like a variety of food, we decided to order a few to nibble on.

Mini lamb kebabs with tzatziki and onions

From the 'mezedes from the land' list, we decided on the mini lamb kebabs. I assumed (and would have preferred) that this would be kebabs of threaded with gyros (Greek spit roast lamb). I was rather disappointed when the kebabs were loaded with large chunks of lamb. The meat itself was quite well flavoured and went very nicely when smothered with tzatziki, but was a little on the overcooked side (especially given the thickness of it). The onions gave a good contrasting bite.

Mixed dips with pita bread

From top: eggplant dip, feta cheese, caviar, roasted peppers, tzatziki, olives, feta and capsicum dip

J was craving the caviar dip from our last Greek feast at Stalactites so we ordered the mixed dips as the first of our 'mezedes vegetarian'. We were very surprised at the number of dips that were on the dish - especially at the extras (roasted peppers, feta cheese and olives) that accompanied the dish. The eggplant dip was a little odd tasting, and the feta and capsicum was a little too salty (due to the feta I believe) but the caviar and tzatziki were smooth, creamy and very tasty indeed. I also particularly liked the roasted peppers which were nice and sweet.

Kalamarika - Salt and pepper calamari, ouzo aioli

From the 'mezedes from the sea' list, these were very nicely flavoured, but lacked crunch. The crumbs on the outside were a little soft and tasted like the oil hadn't been properly dripped out before they served them. The lemon and dipping sauce went very well with the salt and pepper already on the crumbs.

Spanakopita - Yufka filo pastry rolls with spinach and feta, served with walnut-pepper coulis

We needed one more dish and I saw this on the 'mezedes vegetarian' list and immediately thought 'Masterchef!' One of our best choices as it came out looking exactly like a miniature version of Alex Lloyd's version on Masterchef. Cutting into it, there was plenty of the spinach and feta inside the spiral shaped pastry. Perfectly crispy on the outside and nicely flavoured on the inside. I want some more now!

~Service and Atmosphere~

We went for lunch on a Thursday and thus it was very quiet - we nearly had the whole restaurant to ourselves. There are some very nice window seats which would look very nice at night. We had one waitress serve us for the entire meal, and she was pretty helpful when we were ordering, and was very friendly. Dishes came out as they were prepared, with most out in a reasonable time, except for the spanakopita (although that was well-worth the wait!).

~Price~

A little pricier than we were expecting to spend (each mezedes was around $8 - $12) but for the experience, it was well worth it.

Overall Impression: 9/10

Bopha Devi

Location: 27 Rakaia Way, New Quay, Docklands
Link: www.bophadevi.com
Cuisine: Cambodian

At Stace's recommendation, we headed down to the Docklands to give Bopha Devi a try. Having never been to a Cambodian restaurant, I was surprised to find that the inside was quite modern and somewhat westernized.

Table settings

The bar / counter

Between the five of us, we ordered one entree, four mains and two desserts. What a feast!

Pork spare-ribs - twice cooked & coated in a caramelised palm sugar sauce

These were beautiful! The tiny morsels of pork were tender and juicy, slipping off the bone quite easily when pulled. The palm sugar sauce was tangy, sweet and very sticky. The accompanying ginger was also quite sweet and went well with the pork (but did not taste so good one it's own).

Amok - traditional steamed fish curry with coconut cream, lemongrass, turmeric, and lime-leaves, served with rice and fanning cucumbers

Close up of the curry

Our first main was the 'amok'. A delicious creamy coconut curry with soft and tender pieces of fish with not much else except the herbs and spices for seasoning. The curry was served in a very clever cup of what looked to be banana or some other leaf. The curry itself was light enough to eat on it's own, and not spicy at all.

Mee galar - steamed rice noodles lightly glistened with garlic oil and soy sauce, snuggled with shredded dried shrimps, pickled cucumber, crushed peanuts, chopped pickled radish, bean shoots and a boiled egg

Our next dish tasted a bit like pad thai from Tasty Thai but fresher and with more flavour. The noodles were a little hard to separate at the start (very well 'snuggled' said Emma), but they were cooked al dente and managed to grab onto the sauce and the flavours well. I'm not a huge fan of dried shrimp, so that was a negative for me as it was everywhere in the dish, but the pickled radish and peanuts gave the dish a bit of crunch, whilst both added their own to the flavours in the plate.

Char kroeung - wok cooked beef with lime leaves, lemongrass, turmeric, onion, bean shoots, and capsicum. Served with fresh mint, cucumber, lettuce, vermicelli, sweet fish sauce and crushed nuts

This dish was very Vietnamese-like, both in looks and in taste. The beef was wok-fired, and had a a very slight smokey chargrilled flavour. The dish was probably the least flavoured dish as the fish sauce seemed to get watered down by the water still left in the vermicelli the beef and vegetables rested on. Bad drainage skills of the chef.

Mouan ng - char grilled chicken and onion meatballs served with vermicelli, lettuce, mints, cucumber, crushed nuts and fish sauce

This was my favourite dish of the nigh, followed very closely by the curry. The chicken meatballs surprised me as I had just expected mediocre meatballs, but these were very well-constructed - crispy and smokey on the outside, and sweet and juicy inside. Again they sat on a bed of vermicelli and was served with fish sauce. This time the vermicelli had been better drained and the flavours remained in the food.

And then it was time for dessert...

Black-rice crumble topped with grated coconut caramelised with palm sugar

I had never tried black rice before and was apprehensive about ordering this dish. It turned out the that the rice was slightly puffier rice, which tasted just like normal rice, but was served with palm sugar and coconut to sweeten it. The crumble really lived up to it's name but managed to partially hold its form as we divided it up between us. The coconute was finely grated and the palm sugar was nice and sweet. The rice pieces were not as sticky as I had feared, and I actually quite enjoyed it!

Char-grilled sugar banana rolled in sweet sticky rice and grated coconut

To be honest, I found both desserts to taste quite similar - except that one had a banana. The banana in itself was not as large as the 'roll' appeared. This was because the banana was coated in layers of sticky rice and coconut. It did not survive the chopping up and crumbled on the plate more than the black rice had. Neverthe less, the flavours were amazing. The sweetness of the banana, and the coconut worked nicely with a not-so-sweet sticky rice.

The place itself is nicely set and the service is very attentive and friendly. They changed our plates and even our cutlery between courses (even though we only shared one entree between five people). The place is not very loud so is good for talking. The only let down was the fact that some of the dishes tasted sub-standard Vietnamese good, but I already know what I'll be ordering next time!

Overall Impression: 9/10