Mountain Goat Brewery

Location: Corner North St & Clarke St Richmond
Link: www.goatbeer.com.au
Cuisine: Beer, pizzas, beer and more beer

Ever wondered how beer is made? On top of serving great beer and delicious pizzas, Mountain Goat Brewery runs free tours!

The bar:

The pizzas were delectable! Thin and crispy crusted and simply delicious! Overall Impression: 7/10

Delicious beer, great pizzas! The tour of the factory was really cool too. =) Great atmosphere.

Co Do

Location: 196 Victoria Street, Richmond
Cuisine: Vietnamese

I have been to Co Do a few times and don't remember ever being disappointed. It does a great Pho when I am feeling less adventurous and when I feel like trying something different, its menu serves up an array of delights that include a variety of noodle dishes [dropped rice noodles, rice vermicelli, egg nooodle etc etc etc), rice dishes and stir-fried dishes.

There is such a delightful buzz about this place.

I decided to order one of my very favourite dishes! Steamed mini pancakes with minced prawn and green bean paste.The steamed mini pancakes were soft and delicate. A very flavoursome dish that will set you back a mere $6.50.

Overall Impression: 7/10

Casual dining. Very good Vietnamese food. Entrees $5.50-$9; mains $9-$20.

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

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

Thanh He

Location: Victoria Street, [near Hoddle Street] Richmond
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Company: Dad and aunties

~Food~
My dad took my aunties and I out to Richmond for lunch at a place called Thanh He. He had been hanging out to try this ‘seven course beef feast’ for almost a year and finally had an excuse to go. It was awesome, basically beef cooked in seven different ways. From memory they were:

1. Rare beef with lemon juice: basically really thinly sliced beef with carrots and onions marinated in fish sauce and lemon juice. I still think that this was the best dish of them all.
2. Beef in betel leaves: minced beef wrapped in leaves that tasted very much like banana leaves
3. Beef on skewers: well, there was no stick, but it looked like it was only one skewer. Can’t remember if the menu had it as plural or if I had just assumed it was another fobby typo.
4. Beef quiche: well, that was the English translation; the Chinese version called it a beef ball. Apparently the Viet version was something different yet again. I don’t think any of them could really describe it though. Basically it was a flattened ball of beef mince with peanuts and other stuff, covered with some other leaf.
5. Vinegar-dipping broth: weirdest name but essentially it was a small steam-boat filled with vinegar and sugar. We were given a plate of raw beef and onions, rice paper rounds, lettuce leaves, cucumbers and dipping sauce, and left to our own devices to cook the beef in the broth and then make rice paper rolls out of it…mmm….
6. Sizzling beef: the usual sizzling plate, but this time empty and with a plate of raw beef and butter. Basically we were supposed to grill the meat and eat it in whichever way struck us fancy. I ended up making more rice paper rolls.
7. Beef congee: typical viet style congee with beef… nothing spectacular but good to wash down the meal with

~Atmosphere and Service~
Service was a little gruff, but the focus was all on the food. Will so be going back there one day for more.

~Price~
Quite cheap. The banquet was $20 per person, but between of the four of us, we ordered a three person meal, and had leftovers. Well worth it.

~Overall Impression: 10/10~
Was very impressed by the variety in the ways the beef was cooked. And very surprised I managed to try all of them, given my pickiness with foods.