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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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

The Brasserie by Philippe Mouchel

Location: Riverside at Crown
Link: http://www.crowncasino.com/site/load/1146/the-brasserie-by-philippe-mouchel

Cuisine: French

Bread to start off.

Entree: Calamari and prawn salad [$22.00]

I've just checked their menu and this doesn't appear to be on offer anymore =(

quick –seared, sweet cherry tomatoes, cucumber and basil

This was perfectly done. The calamari was chewy and delicious without being stringy at all. The texture was excellent and the prawns were very good as well.

Main: Gold band snapper [$37.50]

pan-fried, eringi mushroom, crushed potatoes

Main: Beef tenderloin (200gr) with braised wagyu ox cheek, parisienne mash [$40.00]

This was seriously the best steak I have ever had in my life. The wagyu ox cheek quite literally melted in my mouth. I'm not a big wagyu fan but having it sandwiched between two very solid (I'm not sure how else to describe it?) cuts of meat was just divine. The beef tenderloin was cooked to perfection. Medium, the way I love it =)

Side Dish: Oven-roasted vegetables Provençale [$8.00]

This was just so-so. Just tasted like veggies baked in cheese. Really, not very exciting.

Dessert: The brasserie’s dessert tasting plate [$17.00 per person] - checked their new menu and looks like its gone down to $12 per person!

We couldn't decide on what to order and everything on the dessert menu looked very very good so we decided to go with the dessert tasting plate. Everything was quite good but it wasn't spectacularly good. The best thing on the plate was definitely the nougat. I've never had nougat in ice-cream form before and this was delicious! Not sure what its called... but mMMmMMm..=)

Overall Impression: 7/10

A lovely night out. Extremely good service. Wonderful ambience. Well deserving of its '1 hat' status.

Remember to book though, I was there on a Saturday night and it was a full house.

Tao's Restaurant

Location: 201 Bulleen Road, Bulleen Vic
Link: www.taosrestaurant.com.au
Cuisine: Japanese, French, Fusion

Having been searching for an excuse to go try out Tao's we finally decided to go for H's birthday. Dinner is a $50 degustation (the menu states seven courses but they threw in a couple of additional ones in between - not that we were complaining!).

Complimentary Dish 1...

Bread sticks with sweet tangy dipping sauce

This was the first additional dishes not mentioned on the menu. The bread sticks were crunchy and tasted like poppyseed/sesame. The dipping sauce was a sweet, tangy and somewhat sticky sauce which clung nicely to the bread sticks.

Course #1: Starters...

Chef's Seasonal Assorted Platter

(from left: sardines with pickled daikon radish; scallop with lemon slice and garnish; tomato soaked in alcohol, with a peanut sauce and mint)

The starter was a mix of strange and new flavours. The pickled daikon radish was very nice and crisp, the sardines tasted like, well, sardines - nothing too special there. The scallop was very fresh and tasted great with the lemon and the strange stringy garnish. The tomato was quite odd-tasting - as though it had been soaked in some kind of alcohol. If not for the peanut sauce, it probably would not have been edible.

Course #2: Entrée...

Ice Age Sashimi

Tao's Style Prawn with Tempura Oysters

This was an amazing entrée. The prawns were fresh and nicely flavoured. They were hung in a little shot glass of fish sauce and vinegar, with the flavours seeping in through the prawn heads into the flesh. The shells came off very easily, indicating that they were cooked to the right extend. The batter on the oysters was light and crunchy, no trace of oil at all! The oysters themselves were quite large, fresh and juicy. The only thing I didn't like was the smear of wasabi between inside the batter (I'm not a fan of wasabi). However, it wasn't enough to put me off devouring the second oyster! The small dollop of smashed potatoes was a little out of place, but tasted quite nice nevertheless.

Course #3: Tao's Special Chawa-mushi...

Seafood broth covered with soft egg tofu and fish roe

Having no idea what this was until it reached the table, we were pleasantly surprised. The egg tofu on top was smooth and silky, with a slightly salty taste and the fish roe popped like it should. Underneath the tofu was a light seafood broth, with shrimp, baby scallops and small pieces of other seafood as well. It was like finding a gem at the bottom of the sea!

Course #4: Soup...

Teapot Style Bonitto

Creamy Pumpkin

Ginseng Chicken Herbal

Cream of Mushroom

When I first ordered this, I thought it might be a little risky that I was ordering a soup that would end up being Continental Cup-a Soup. I was proved wrong with the arrival of this. Smooth and creamy, and completely infused with mushroom flavour as well as very finely chopped mushrooms. I just could not get enough of it!

Complimentary Dish 2...

Salty plum shots

These looked odd, but actually did not taste too bad. Not normally a fan of salty plum, I sipped at it tentatively first and was pleasantly surprised. The shaved ice inside the shot glass actually made the salty plum juice taste light and refreshing.

Course #5: Mains...

Baked Ocean Trout wtih Avocado sauce

Rockling Sugiita-yaki with Miso Cream

This dish came on fire! The bamboo wrapped around the rockling fillet was flaming at the ends, allowing the nice smokey bamboo flavour to infuse the fish. The fish itself was soft and tender, cooked perfectly and strongly flavoured. The miso cream added a creamy texture to the fish. The accompanying sides were a little odd - broad beans, tomato, a shitake mushroom and some picked daikon slices - but strangely enough added some colour and nice contrasting textures and flavours to the rest of the dish.

Confit Duck Leg with White Wine Sauce

Inside the baking paper

The duck leg was served inside the baking paper - which kept the sauce together. Also served with an assortment of sides.

Course #6: Rice of the Day...

Japanese fried rice

The 'rice of the day' turned out to be Japanese fried rice - with shrimp and the usual other suspects in fried rice. It again had a nice wok-infused aroma, but wasn't really much of an exciting dish. It was quite fitting to have the rice served at the same time as the mains as it allowed a nice balance of flavours.

Course #7: Dessert...

Fruits Sago

Whilst everyone else chose the cream brulee, I opted for the fruits sago and was quite happy with it. There was an abundance of finely diced fresh fruit (mostly apple) and plenty of sago and coconut milk. To be honest, I ordered it for the coconut milk!

Cream Brulee

The other three were very very pleased with their cream brulee, with had a crunchy topping that had to be cracked to get to the rest of it.

~Atmosphere~

Fine dining at it's best. The restaurant is located in the suburbs and is generally quiet. There are large windows to let in the natural lighting as well as provide some nice view into the garden (and then the carpark beyond that). We went on a Thursday night, which would have been quiet had there not been a wedding reception on a couple of tables down. The little kids almost ruined the atmosphere especially when one mother decided to bring a crying baby back into the main part of the restaurant from the patio seating.

~Service~

The service was very prompt and professional. There was very little delay between courses which we particularly liked. One thing we would have preferred would have been for the waiters to actually introduce the dish they were placing in front of us - we weren't told what the two additional dishes and the components of the starter were (hence I have made up the descriptions above).

~Price~

Lunch is $38, dinner is $50. The main difference is that there are certain options available only at dinner time (including the prawn and oyster entrée, the rockling and the duck leg). Also the Chawa-mushi is only available at dinner time. Given the quality of the food, and the fairly decent sized servings, it was totally worth it!

Overall Impression: 10/10

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