PappaRich Doncaster

Location: 540 Doncaster Road, Doncaster 3108
Phone: (03 9848 1572
Link: www.papparich.net.au

Cuisine: Malaysian

So the Pavilion closed down and in its place up popped Pappa Rich, a relatively casual and family friendly restaurant chain that has only recently come to my attention.

We're there on a Thursday evening without a booking and, despite the place been packed out, we're seated almost immediately. We soon find out why - the tables are tiny and all crammed together. Typical Asian restaurant.

The food soon demonstrates why the place is already so popular. We order an assortment of dishes to share and somehow manage to juggle these on the small surface area of the table.

roti canai with curry chicken

First up is a roti canai with curry chicken. The roti is crisp and flaky on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside. It soaks up the curry and various dips brilliantly.  As an added bonus, the chicken is 'fall-off-the-bone' tender and full of flavour.

crispy fried chicken skin

This is a bit of an odd dish, and ordering it turns out to be a bit of a mistake. We had somehow envisaged crispy and juicy pieces of chicken skin much like that found on grilled chicken wings, but alas these are dry and overcooked. The redeeming feature is the sweet chilli dipping sauce, which adds a nice fresh hit of spice and moisture to the dish.

Ipoh horfun with chicken and shrimp

Another Malaysian classic, Ipoh horfun is a rice noodle in soup dish, accompanied by various proteins and vegetables. This one comes with pieces of juicy prawns and slices of chicken. Simple ingredients with a flavoursome soup base.

Pappa char kway teow with cockles

When we saw cockles on the menu, we had in mind cockles still in their shells. Despite the dish coming out very much shell-less, the char kway teow is everything a char kway teow should be. A mix of soft rice noodles that have been slightly charred in the wok, crunchy fresh bean sprouts, chewy cockles and a range of other vegetables, all brought together with a wonderful wok smokiness.

nasi lemak with fried chicken

Nasi lemak is traditionally served with a curry base. But given we'd already had curry chicken with our roti, we went with the fried chicken.

Not your typical KFC chicken, but the skin is crispy and the meat inside still tender. The coconut rice is deliciously sweet and aromatic, and the sambal, ikan bilis and peanuts round out the flavours and textures in the dish.

In terms of ambience, this is not the place to go for a nice quiet dinner. The place is loud and abuzz with the chatter of patrons and waiters racing around taking orders and delivering meals. A great vibe for a casual dinner.

Overall Impression: 8.5/10

Happy & Lucky Family Chinese Restaurant: Yum Cha

Location: 23-25 Anderson Creek Road, Doncaster East

Cuisine: Chinese, Yum Cha

After an unimpressive visit a while back, we decided to give this restaurant another go following rumours that the ownership had changed.

How wrong were we?

We arrived for a late lunch and were terribly disappointed by yet another bad experience.

The first of the trolleys arrived at our table, and the waitress  asked us what we wanted without telling us what was available. We had to point and ask about each individual steamer. We ended up with a range of dumplings and some braised beef tendon.

It later turned out that that was the one and only trolley circulating. The rest either came out on trays or had to be ordered (without a menu).

clockwise from left: scallop dumplings, prawn dumplings,
chive dumplings, braised beef tendon

The dumplings were rather average. The scallop and prawn dumplings had nice thin wrappers, but were lacking in actual seafood content and tasted like they were predominantly filled with some floury base. The chive dumpling was a little better, with a strong chive flavour. The beef tendon had a nice gelatinous texture, with the exception of a few pieces that were slightly underdone.

left: rice paper crispy prawns; right: chicken feet

The biggest disappointment was the crispy rice paper prawns. We should have guessed from the lack of colour that they wouldn't be that crispy, but we didn't expect them to be borderline soggy. It was as though the oil wasn't hot enough when they were deep fried, so instead of frying, the rice paper wrappers just soaked up all the oil. The dipping sauces were the only redeeming features, and they were stock standard sauces.

Unlike the other dishes, the chicken feet came out smoking hot and were cooked well. Nice flavour, actual pieces of black bean and soft chewy gelatinous pieces of chicken feet.

The only other dish we ordered was the fried turnip cake, which had a nice crispy finish, but was a little underseasoned.

The lack of quality in the food was one thing. On the way out, I noticed a dead fish in their 'live seafood' tank. I'm not sure I'll be returning anytime soon, and definitely won't be ordering any live seafood from there.

Overall Impression: 4/10

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

Wealth Garden Chinese Seafood Restaurant

Location: 862-866 Doncaster Road, Doncaster East
Cuisine: Chinese, Yum Cha

Previously called New Panda, this restaurant has recently come under new management and has since changed it's name. Apparently one of the chefs is from Taipan - a good sign!

So somewhat curious about what this new restaurant would be like, we headed there for dinner.

Snow pea sprouts stir-fried with garlic

I love snow pea sprouts - they have a texture that other greens just can't mimic. The older sprouts are very stringy and are nearly inedible, so it's very easy to differentiate between good and bad. These were quite good, very little stringiness with a slight crunch and very strong garlic and smoky wok flavour.

Crispy pork with sticky orange sauce

We ordered this dish at the waiter's recommendation without actually knowing what it was as it had a very fancy name in the menu. We were slightly surprised when the dish arrived as it just looked like sweet and sour pork with random orange slices placed around the plate. But it was amazing. The pork was perfectly cooked, the batter was crispy and the meat was tender and juicy. The sauce was heaven! It tasted like orange and honey combined, sweet, tangy and sticky. I am so ordering this dish again!

Steamed barramundi with ginger and spring onions - after de-boning

I'm generally not a fan of ordering steamed fish when eating out because it can often be overpriced for something we can make ourselves at home, but we opted to give it a go this time. I was quite pleased - the meat fell off the bone (when the waiter de-boned it in front of us) and was very soft and smooth. There was also plenty of sauce to spoon over the fish and the finely sliced ginger and spring onions added a good strong flavour to each bite.

Fried stuffed pipa tofu

Another simple dish that can go terribly wrong at a restaurant and this place did it beautifully. The fried tofu was studded with what tasted like water chestnuts and spring onions, and had a very familiar taste I still can't put my finger on. The sauce was nicely thickened to cling to the tofu and broccoli pieces.

~Service~

Overall, the service was very pleasant and friendly. The dishes came out quite promptly and there were a few familiar waiters from other nearby Chinese restaurants (these waiters tend to work for any number of restaurants on different days of the week) who were clearly very good at their jobs and knew how to cater to customers.

The one negative was when we asked for the bill and someone had randomly added banana fritters (which we never ordered) to our bill and also charged us for tea (no decent Chinese restaurant will charge you for tea during dinner)! When we asked about it, the waiter immediately took it out the back and had the fritters removed, but said he could not remove the charge for tea. It wasn't until we mentioned this to the lady at the counter on paying the bill that they agreed to remove the charge.

~Atmosphere~

It was one of the nicer of the Doncaster group of Chinese restaurants. Tables were well spread out and not too cluttered. There wasn't much of a noise level (we went on a Wednesday night) but given the spacing of tables, it probably wouldn't be all that loud on a Friday or Saturday night either.

Overall Impression: 9.5/10

Kam Fook: Dinner

Location: Level 2, Westfield Shoppingtown, Doncaster
Link: www.kamfook.com.au
Cuisine: Chinese, Yum Cha

Having loved the yum cha at this place, we decided to give it a shot for dinner. And it was so worth it!

Table setting

Sliced pork and jellyfish

A very simple classic dish, the sliced pork was well marinated and cooked just right. The meaty part was salty and the rind was chewy but not tough, more like a stiff jelly. The jellyfish had a slightly weird taste that showed it hadn't been marinated enough. The sauce was nice and tangy, with a bit of a kick from the chilli. I really liked the presentation - they managed to make a simple dish look pretty interesting!

San Dong Chicken - chicken with shredded nori and crushed cashews

Strange things happened with this dish. The menu stated it as "shredded chicken [in some sauce] with cucumber and crushed cashuts (sic - they meant cashews)" but when it arrived, the chicken wasn't shredded, instead it was de-boned and portioned. And then, instead of cucumber, it was covered in shredded nori flakes. The cashews were there though, and the meat was definitely chicken. When we asked for the menu again to double check, there was no other dish that matched the description of ours! The waiter later confirmed for us that it was the correct dish and that it has always been done in this way. TRANSLATION FAIL!

In any case, the dish was delicious. The chicken was well-marinated and tender, with a nice crispy skin. It could have been left to crisp just a little bit longer, but it still tasted excellent. The nori flakes was something I've never had on chicken and it gave it quite an interesting flavour. The cashews were just cashews, partially c

Deep fried mushrooms stuffed with prawn mince with a salty egg yolk and fish roe sauce

Hands down the best dish of the night! There was so much work put into these tiny mushrooms. When reading the menu, I envisaged a pile of giant mushrooms, stuffed then rolled in egg yolk batter and then deep fried, and certainly not what it turned out to be! Firstly the mushrooms were soft and aromatic. The prawn mince inside wasn't exactly fresh prawn, more like prawn and flour mixed together, but was quite tasty and matched the texture of the mushrooms well. There were some tasty bits of salty egg yolk mixed with fish roe clinging to the mushooms, and floating around in the sauce. Personally, I would have liked to see more of the egg yolk/fish roe combination, as weird as it sounds. And even the brocolli was nice, and I'm not a fan of brocolli!

Fortune cookies!

An interesting way to end the meal - we're used to some sort of sweet soup and a plate of fruit from most other places.

Atmosphere: spacious and classy - table cloths and fancy table settings

Service: absolutely perfect - the waiters and waitresses were incredibly polite and friendly (especially for a Chinese restaurant inside a shopping centre) and the food came out in a rather timely fashion

Price: pretty decent value for money. We paid $76 for the meal, which included rice and tea for 4 people. That's not even $20 a person!

Overall Impression: 9.5/10

Kouzina

Location: Level 2, Westfield Doncaster, 619 Doncaster Road, Doncaster
Link: www.kouzina.com.au
Cuisine: Greek

Early Bird Land Mezedes for two
Clockwise from top-left: beef and lamb keftedes, chicken souvlaki, lamb lady fingers, pork souvlaki
Center: loukaniki

This was one of the early bird specials for $30. At first glance there didn't seem to be all that much food there, but once we started eating, we realised that there was more food than we had thought there was!

Beef & lamb keftedes - char grilled Greek style meatballs, tzatziki

These were quite tasty. The meatballs were juicy on the inside, and nice and crispy on the outside. The tzatziki was fresh and tangy.

Chicken souvlaki

The chicken was a little on the dry side, although the sauce it came with was quite nice.

Lamb lady fingers - filo pastry rolls filled with lamb, raisins & feta, yoghurt-sumac sauce

The lamb lady fingers were very interesting and new to me. I quite liked the mix of the savoury lamb and feta, the sweetness of the raisins and the tang of the yoghurt. Unusual combination, but it worked.

Pork souvlaki

Like the chicken, the pork was also a little on the dry side, but the caramelised onions and the sauce that went with it was brilliant.

Loukanika - char grilled spicy Greek sausages, green olive sauce

These were very tasty too - slightly spicy and bursting with flavour on the inside. The sauce was a bit odd, but it also worked well with the sausages.

Kalamaraki

We eyed the table next to us get a serving of this in their degustation, and decided we wanted some too. It turned out not as good as it looked - the crumbs on the outside weren't anywhere near crispy and it was pretty obvious that it hadn't been drained properly of the oil from the deep fryer. Other than that, there was enough flavour.

Overall Impression: 8/10

Kam Fook - Yum Cha

Location: Level 2, Westfield Shoppingtown, Doncaster
Link: www.kamfook.com.au
Cuisine: Chinese, Yum Cha

Having quite enjoyed ourselves the last time we had Yum Cha at Kam Fook, we decided to go there again for Father's Day lunch. I've also thrown in some photos from the last time we went.

Fancy little teapot for soy sauce

Prawn dumplings

The prawn dumplings are a staple to any yum cha meal, and these were probably the best dish of the day. The filling was tasty and had the right amount of the flavour. The pastry was slightly thicker than usual, but it didn't play too much of an impact on the overall texture.

Eel and glutinous rice parcels

The parcel consisted of a layer of glutinous rice and a slice of eel over the top. Not a fan of eel, I only tried some of the rice inside. The rice on the edge was a little crispy and tasted quite nice, the rice closer to the centre of the parcel was softer and tasted too much like eel for me to enjoy.

Shark fin dumplings

Fried stuffed capsicum and eggplant

Double mushroom in glutinous rice dumpling

This was one of my least favourite dishes - the glutinous rice wrapper just did not taste right, and it broke eaily, emptying out all the contents. The filling itself was not all that special either - it was merely filled wiht some corn kernels, two types of chopped mushrooms and some random other bits and pieces. Never getting this one again!

Vegetarian dried bean curd roll

These were again rather average, the bean curd was slightly tougher than expected, and the fillings again quite bland.

Century egg and pork congee

This one was very well done. The serving was bigger than you get at most other yum cha places. There was plenty of century egg (and you should all be less intimidated by it after Poh's dish on Masterchef) and not too much of the meat. The crunchy bits (like asian croutons) were quite nice and helped to break up the texture a little. Could have done with a little more salt and pepper, but on the whole was very enjoyable.

Marinated beef tendons

Not everyone's cup of tea, but these tendons were done extremely well. We didn't find a single piece that was too overcooked or too tough to eat. The sauce was very nice - sticky, salty and slighlty spicy too.

Prawn rice noodle roll

This was pretty good but not as good as expected. The prawns were nice and big, the rice noodle roll well cooked through and soft. The only problem was that the sauce. It wasn't completely off track, but it lacked a very obvious sweetness compared to the all the other restaurants I've had this dish at. My conclusion is merely that either used the wrong soy sauce, or didn't add enough sugar to it.

Shredded duck and preserved vegetables dumpling

This glutinous rice dumpling also disappointed, mostly due to the wrapper, but also that the filling was pretty tasteless. The duck meat was somewhat crumbly, dry and bland, and even the preserved vegetables did not add any extra flavour or moisture.

Tofu with sweet ginger syrup

One of my favourite desserts, and it was done extremely well. The tofu was cooked just right, so that it was soft enough to break easily but strong enough to hold itself together when not disturbed. The syrup was perfect - neither too much nor too little of the sugar or ginger. Left a very nice sweet and tangy taste in the mouth after eating it. Awesome way to end a meal!

The service was quite good, the waiters were attentive and quick responders. Well, all except one waitress who made the mistake of telling us that the deep fried calamari was deep fried white bait fish instead. Upon pointing out her mistake to her, she proceeded to tell us that it was calamari (well yes, that is what we just told you!) and asked if we still wanted it (if we did, we wouldn't have bothered pointing it out to you would we?). We had to repeat our request for her to take the dish away and remove the marking from the order sheet. I think she avoided outrtable for the rest of the meal.

I just love the set up of the restaurant. The tables are nicely spaced out, the chairs are all wooden and a little traditional looking, but huge! There are also a couple of private function rooms which can be joined together or split up as needed.

We will be back one day to try out the dinner menu.

Overall Impression: 8.5/10

Kum Tong

Location: 19-21 Andersons Creek Road, Doncaster East
Link: www.drinkeatweb.com/kumtong
Cuisine: Chinese, Yum Cha

One of our worst dining experiences out in the suburbs. This place was not just slow, but also rude and also very very average. So not worth the wait or the money.

Complimentary soup

The night started out quite pleasantly. We ordered a 4 person banquet which included oysters and abalone and our complimentary soup came out quite soon after. The soup was also quite nice, with turnips and pork bone broth.

Then the waiting began...

The remains of our steamed oysters with black bean sauce, and abalone with spring onions and ginger

As one can tell, I did not get a photo of the dish when it first came out. Why? Because we waited for half an hour after the soup before the food came out - and this was after giving numerous prompts to the waiters. And in stead of just apologising and being polite about it, the head waitress (who I believe is married to the head chef and owner) stated that the reason it was so slow was because we had taken so long to order! We just could not believe she even said it, because we ordered well over half an hour ago, and the soup came out almost immediately - soup does not arrive until you have ordered. That aside, the food itself was quite good (albeit somewhat overcooked), but we were too hungry, too angry and too short of time to care so much.

Special baked salted chicken $21.80

The chicken was quite tasty, and very salty indeed. Again there was a considerable wait between the oysters and abalone and the rest of the dishes coming out, but not as long as the first wait. The chicken could have done with more of a smokey baked smell and taste, but the dipping sauce of ginger and spring onions was the perfect accompaniment. However, it tasted just as good as what you might find at a Chinese roast house - nothing spectacular, and ridiculously expensive for what it was.

Stuffed bean curd in special soup claypot $16.80

This was not what I had expected this claypot to turn out. First I expected some sort of thick sauce, and I also expected the beancurd to have more flavour. Much more flavour. The mince meat that was used to stuff the beancurd had been over cooked and was tough and bland. The beancurd itself was also tasteless. I tried to drink the soup, but wasn't a fan of the nearly absent taste.

Stir fried snowpea leaves with garlic $15.80

Normally, I love snowpea leaves done at Chinese Restaurants, however, this one was a complete disappointment. The veggies were stringy, the stalks were tough and had some form of husk covering most of it - indications that these had exceeded their picking/harvesting time. Mind you, the garlic made the dish smell so much nicer than it actually was.

Service: rude, abrupt, slow, especially from the head waitress

Atmosphere: what a pity, because the atmosphere was quite nice, and there were two birthday celebrations on the other side of the room - identified by the happy birthday song being played quite loudly over the PA system

We are never going back again - we can get the same 'average' food from cheaper shops in Box Hill, or pay the same price and get decent food at the other restaurants in the area,

Overall Impression: 2/10

Happy and Lucky Family Chinese Restaurant

Location: 23-25 Anderson Creek Road, Doncaster East
Cuisine: Chinese, Yum Cha
Previous Reviews: 12/04/09

Complimentary Soup

As with most Chinese restaurants in the suburbs, the meal starter is a complimentary bowl of [what you would call] 'house' soup. This one was the same as most others.

3.5pound crab with noodles in garlic and ginger sauce

At $14.80 per pound, the crab was quite fresh and the sauce nicely done. Not quite enough meat on the crab itself though, as the shell was quite thick and heavy.

fish fillet with vegetables

A simple dish with simple flavours, fish fillets were tender and fresh, stir-fried with carrots and Chinese broccoli.

Lamb Casserole

One of the special highlights of the restaurant. The casserole was brought out with a camping stove and a plate of fresh bok-choy. Soup was full of flavour, and there was endless lamb and dried bean curd. Having the vegies separate means that you can literally blanche it before you eat it, or have it soaked in the soup for as long as you like. Serving was huge. Price was around $27.

Happy and Lucky Special Chicken

We were a little disappointed about this dish - not because of the flavours, but because of the service. By the time this dish came out, we had pretty much finished our meal, and then when we saw the chicken (which was meant to be half a chicken), it didn't even look like half a chicken's worth. In fact, it seemed to be missing certain types of pieces, such as the thinner sections from the chicken's back, to the point where it was almost as though they had run out of whole chickens and just threw in bits and pieces of chicken breast meat, a wing and possibly a drumstick (I didn't see one, but someone may have eaten it).

Apart from that, the chicken skin was extremely crispy, and the golden brown topping of fried garlic, shallots and some chilli was aromatic and crunchy too.

Overall Impression: 7/10