Suzuki Night Market

Location: Queen Victoria Market

Link: www.qvm.com.au/night_market.php
Cuisine: various
Company: everyone!

Apart from the annual Chinese New Year festivals, I've rarely been to any night markets in Melbourne. Melbourne has a fairly disappointing night life compared to most other countries, so when Jenn decided to organise a group outing to the Suzuki Night Market, I jumped at the opportunity.

We got there early in order to get seating, and luckily there were almost 20 of us, as it meant we had enough people for half to guard seating while the other half got food. Mel and I shared a Mauritian dish of 'hot plate bread' with potato curry, a burrito, Spanish seafood rice [thanks Shu for getting it for us!!] and a nutella and ice cream crepe. The Mauritius dish was fantastic, and tasted twice as good as it looked. I'm feeling hungry now thinking about it!! The burrito was somewhat disappointing. The rice was soggy and unflavoured, and the filling not mixed very well. The chicken and the beans weren't too bad, but not enough to entice us for more. The Spanish rice was good, but I was a little disappointed as I had expected it to be fantastic - given the line of some 50 people waiting outside the stall. The crepe at the end...was beautiful!! Loads of nutella, two scoops of ice cream, and soft, light crepe... I also tried the traditional lemonade, which I thought was pretty good, despite Stace preferring her soft-drink version! There was also heaps of other food, including pasta, pizza, corn in a cup, tacos, nachos, noodles, dutch pancakes, curries and the list goes on.

top: hot dog
bottom: hot-plate bread with potato curry

Atmosphere wise, it just couldn't quite compare to the night markets I have been to before. Perhaps because the food was still slightly expensive, and the crowds just weren't quite the same - most were newbies at night markets and didn't understand the concept of navigating through crowds, and found themselves causing roadblocks everywhere! At least the number of friends there made up for the atmosphere, and it was particular fun seeing what food other people came back with.

Pricewise, it was still pretty expensive. Crepes were $5 - $8. The Spanish rice was about $13 and the Mauritian dish and burrito cost almost $20 together.

Will I return? Maybe sometime before the summer ends and the market stops running. But like this time, will have to wait for a bit of a crowd to maximise the experience!

Oriental Spoon

Location: 254 Latrobe Street

Cuisine: Korean
Company: various

I've been to this place multiple times, each time is a slightly different experience. I remember Mel took us to this restaurant the first time and we ordered a casserole [Korean casseroles are very soupy, but full of flavour] and a few other dishes between four people. Have been back a couple of other times for lunch of simple rice dishes, but it was the last that was the most memorable.

I met Jie after work one Saturday night and headed to Oriental Spoon for dinner. We ordered a beef cassarole and a pancake to share. We underestimated the size of the pancake and ordered a main size, rather than an entree sized, and had half of it leftover. The pancake itself was quite nice, and full of seafood, but could have had a stronger flavour, or a sauce that would cling to the pancake better. The casserole on the other hand, was bursting with flavour, especially by the end. It worked pretty much like hotpot, except that the broth itself was highly flavoured, before the waitress added the raw ingredients to a small camping stove at our table. The waitress would return at intervals to mix the soup and contents up a bit more, and we ate the beef and vegies with rice.

Beef casserole

Like most Korean restaurants, the meal also came with a number of complimentary sides, which were mostly quite tasty.

Pricewise, the meal cost us about $30 each, including drinks. A fairly decent price given we walked out of there overly full! We now know that one entree sized will be sufficient for two people!

Ten Ren Tea Time

Location: 146 Swanston Street [between Little Collins and Bourke Streets]
Link: www.tenrentea.com.au
Cuisine: Taiwanese
Company: Mel

After our unsatisfying meal at Equinox, Mel took me to a little Taiwanese place called Ten Ren for their 'crispy fried chicken'. At first I thought, crispy fried chicken? I might as well go to KFC, but then Mel explained to me that it was the famous Taiwanese fried chicken [盐酥鸡] and not typical KFC food so we ordered it [on the menu it's called 'spicy pepper chicken' even though it's not spicy at all].

The chicken was well flavoured, the batter itself appeared to have a very slight sweetness hidden in amongst the salt, pepper and other spices. The chicken itself was moist and full of flavour too. The chicken pieces were about the same size as KFC popcorn chicken, and we used toothpicks to eat it. For $4.80, we got more for our money than we had at Equinox!!

My second trip to Ten Ren was almost just as good. Having spotted oyster noodles and oyster omelette on the menu from the previous time, Mel and I went back to Ten Ren for lunch on day. I ordered the oyster noodles, which turned out reasonably decently, although cannot compete with the real stuff in Taiwan. It came with a free drink [ice/hot green/red/oolong tea]. Mel ordered a fried pork chop with rice, which also came with salad and fruit [a couple of pieces of watermelon] and for $1 extra, she got a pearl milk tea. The meals themselves were $8.80 each, which was ridiculously cheap for the amount of food Mel got! Lunchtime deals are very useful money savers!

I've still got a third trip planned to try the oyster omelette, and no doubt will be going back for the chicken again!!

Cafe Vue

Location: 430 Little Collins Street
Link: www.vuedemonde.com.au/cafe-vue.aspx
Cuisine: French, Modern Australian
Company: Jie, Jenn, Helen

After listening to Jie and Helen harp on about how fantastic and cheap the infamous Cafe Vue burger was, Jenn and I finally got a chance to try it out. With very high expectations, we all ordered the burger.


And the result? A fairly disappointed lunch.

The bun was sweeter than I would have imagined for any beef burger, which is surprising since apparently McDonald's burger buns have loads of sugar, and put me off the burger. According to Helen, the lettuce tasted different to all the other times she had been there. The best part of the burger was definitely the wagyu beef, but I have a feeling that it was because it was wagyu rather than because they did it well.

The fries on the other hand, were quite good, and I finished them off happily.

Overall Impression: 6.5/10

The Emerald Hotel

Location: 415 Clarendon Street, South Melbourne
Link: theemeraldhotel.com.au
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Company: BD Tax team

Located within walking distance from Albert Park, the Emerald Hotel very much had your usual pub-like atmosphere. We were seated in the courtyard, where they had set up two long tables for us. Being a cold rainy day, I would have much appreciated being seated indoors, but what can you do with Melbourne weather?

We had our own set menu:


For entree, I chose the calamari:

Which was rather crisp, and the salad was fresh. Unfortunately, there was not enough flavouring in the calamari. Had they added a decent amount of salt & pepper, the dish would have been better off as salt & pepper calamari.

Since it was a Christmas function, I opted for the turkey breast as main course:

After tasting it, I regretted not choosing the fish. The dish was pretty much a game of stacks-on, with some turkey breast, a piece of honey ham and stuffing, with the roasted vegetables scattered around the mound of food. The vegies themselves were quite sweet and tender, and the cranberry sauce was strong and sweet. The turkey breast was the let down. There wasn't enough sauce to flavour the turkey, which was dry and a little tough. I've had better tasting turkey breast from the deli section at Safeway!

Still hungry as I didn't finish eating the turkey, I ordered the chocolate torte for dessert.

Beautiful and very very rich indeed! The ice-cream balanced the richness of the torte and ganache very well, and the freshness of berry coulis added just a slight fruity taste too.

Overall Impression: 6/10

Equinox

Location: Melbourne Central [corner of Elizabeth and Little Lonsdale Streets]
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Company: Stace, Mel, Jane

Equinox is a bar and restaurant located near Chillipadi at Melbourne Central. It has two floors, with an upstairs function area and bar, and a integrated downstairs cafe and dining area. The drinks were reasonably priced - $3 each. Stace and I ordered a latte and hot chocolate, and occupied the table and comfortable couches for two hours before we were joined by the others for dinner.

The food was very cheap indeed. The mains were priced $8 to $15 each, with an average of $6 desserts. However, the food was completely reflective of the price. My steak was the worst I have ever eaten: dry, stringy and almost odd tasting. The salad wasn't very fresh either. The only things I found edible were the chips and the mushroom sauce. Stace's marinara pasta came with a surprise spiciness. Mel's grilled pacific dory was given an 'okay' but the serving size was tiny. Only Jane's burger was considered 'good'. You get what you pay for I guess.

Rump steak with chips and salad

Pasta marinara

Beef burger

Grilled pacific dory with steamed vegetables

On the other hand, the place itself is quite nice. The music was very agreeable to us, and they had a balcony where the breeze was allowed in. Very casual, relaxing and probably a good place to hang if you're after a drink, but I would not recommend this place for dinner.

Overall impression: 5/10

Bluestone Restaurant Bar [Lounge]

Location: 349 Flinders Lane [between Elizabeth and Queen Streets]
Link: www.bluestonerestaurantbar.com.au
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Company: Stace, Alex, Ed

The thing to note with this place is that it is split up into a restaurant [upstairs] and a lounge/bar [downstairs]. The menu for the restaurant is twice as expensive as the menu for the lounge.

~Food~
The lounge menu has an extensive range of pizzas, and a few mains and share plates. I had the 'greek style marinated lamb skewers, pilaf of rice, tzatziki dressing'. The lamb was a little on the dry side, the rice was cooked really well, and the tzatziki was fresh and you could taste the cucumber in it. Stace had the char-grilled tuna steak, which came with salad, Alex had the schnitzel and Ed had a pizza. The serving sizes were all fairly generous, and I didn't hear of any complaints regarding the food. Stace has all the photos on her camera.

~Atmosphere and Service~
Being a lounge/bar, the place had dim lighting and the atmosphere was very casual and relaxing. The service was a little slow, but very friendly.

~Price~
The mains and pizzas ranged from $17 through to $25 depending on what was ordered. If you have the entertainment guide, there's a voucher in there for 25% off.

~Overall Impression: 9/10~
Very impressed with the service and the atmosphere. No doubt we'll be back again.

Terra Rossa

Location: 87 Flinders Lane [between Russell and Exhibition Streets]
Link: www.terrarossarb.com.au
Cuisine: Modern Australian, Italian, Tapas
Company: BD Clerks

~Food~
We didn't get much of a say in terms of what to order as everything had been pre-ordered for us, but the food that came out was fantastic! We had a series of pizzas, including a lamb one, which all had perfectly crisp bases, and lots of topping.

The menu also has a range of tapas, pastas and other mains, and for the drinkers, a very extensive drinks list.

~Atmosphere and Service~
The place was bustling on a Monday lunch. Being one of few decent restaurants in the Paris end of Collins Street / Flinders Lane, it tends to attract a lot of suited up people. The service was pretty ordinary, although I admit I was impressed with the way they handled a group of twenty-odd clerks spread over two long tables. The only main flaw was a waitress snapping at one of the clerks for asking for an 'ice chocolate'. Since the meal had already been pre-arranged and paid for, only soft drinks were covered. This wasn't an issue, but the waitress snapped and said 'you can only choose soft drink' instead of just informing us that it wasn't on the set menu.

~Price~
The pizzas were fairly large and cost between $15 and $20 each. The tapas seems a little more on the expensive side, but then again, I haven't seen the serving sizes yet.

~Overall Impression: 8/10~
I was very impressed with the pizza, and will probably go back and try out the tapas one day.

Tazio

Location: 66 Flinders Lane [near Exhibition Street]
Link: www.tazio.com.au
Cuisine: Italian
Company: BD Tax Team

~Food~
The menu contains a wide variety of pizzas and pastas, as well as foccacias, salads and the like. I ordered a small pizza called the 'veneto', which had pancetta, roasted peppers and goat's cheese. Beautiful!! The pizza base was thin and crispy, and not solid like some places tend to make it. The pancetta was also crispy and very strongly flavoured. The roasted peppers were soft and sweet, and the goat's cheese was smooth and creamy. There could have been a little more cheese though, since the roasted peppers and tomato base made it quite sweet.

~Atmosphere and Service~
Very friendly, although going with a larger group can make it a little more crowded than usual. The service was fairly prompt, especially for gourmet pizzas like the ones we ordered.

~Price~
Very decent. A small pizza was about $14, larger pizzas were around $18. Drinks were a little overpriced though [bottle of coke was $4.50].

~Overall Impression: 9/10~
Very impressed. The food was delicious, the service was fast and friendly and the prices decent. Will definitely be coming back some day!

Coffee Coffee Coffee...

I've recently discovered a number of little coffee places around the eastern end of Collins Street in the city thanks to a clerkship I'm doing in a building in the area. Here are a few:

~Breadwell~
135 Flinders Lane
The staff are friendly and the place can accommodate larger groups along the side booths. Service is moderately fast and prices are fairly standard.

~Recorded Music Salon~
Level 1, 11 Collins Street
You can easily pass the entrance and not even realise, as there is no street front. Instead, you enter through a small door off Collins Street and head upstairs. The place is nice and space, with both long and short tables. Service is quite fast and very approachable. No idea about the price.*

~Cumulus~
45 Flinders Lane
Whilst the window is visible from the street, the door itself is tucked around the corner in a little lane coming off Flinders Lane. Service was friendly but slow, although the place was pretty busy when we went in. Again, no idea about the price.*

~Mini~
145 Flinders Lane
Located a little further away than Breadwell, the entrance is even harder to find as one has to walk down an old cobblestone looking lane way to get to the front door. Inside the room is partially divided in two, with standard tables and chairs down one half, and a larger table with high stools surrounding it in the middle. The service was average, the waitresses were rather slow in bringing out glasses and water, and the drinks took quite a long time to come out. On the positive side, the waitresses did pour our water and one impressed me by asking if I had a nut allergy when bringing out my hot chocolate [although I thought it would have been a bit more logical to ask when taking the order!]. And again, no idea about the price.*

*One of the benefits of a clerkship is that you get taken out for coffees all the time, and the bill is usually covered by the lawyers or the firm's recruitment budget.

Stalactites

Location: 177-183 Lonsdale Street
Link: www.stalactites.com.au
Cuisine: Greek
Company: YC, Darren, Qiao-Lin, Anna

~Food~
The menu is quite extensive for a place that appears to only specialise in souvlakis. Actually, to be honest, they seem to pretty much make the same sorts of things, in varying setups and with different accompaniments. Regardless, I ordered the lamb giro and absolutely loved it. The was well marinated and grilled to perfection. YC's moussaka, Anna's souvlaki and Darren's mixed grill looked quite tasty too.

~Atmosphere and Service~
Given that the place is always packed, the service was quite commendable. The food took a little whlie to come out, which was somewhat annoying since the others only had one hour's break.

~Price~
Quite decent for the amount of food piled on each plate. Souvlakis cost around $12-$15, while the mains were about $20 each.

~Overall Impression: 8.5/10~
I'll be back next time I feel the need to eat more meat!

Eat Drink Bento

Location: 115 Hardware Street [between Lonsdale and Little Lonsdale Streets]
Cuisine: Japanese
Company: the law crew

This one was a while ago too...

~Food~
Typical Japanese meals. Most of us opted for bento boxes, which were a pretty good deal. Most notable part of the box was the deep-fried sushi. Not tempura on the inside, but the entire sushi piece dipped in tempura batter and then deep-fried!

~Atmosphere and Service~
Very quiet. When we first got there, there was no one in the restaurant but us. The service was quite good although there were some minor issues with the waitress's limited grasp of English. The food came out in average time, probably slower than expected given we were the only ones there for a while.

~Price~
The bentos were between $20 and $25 each. There was a range of other mains around the same price but with less variety.

~Overall Impression: 6/10~
Pretty stock-standard Japanese food at a slightly higher price than I would be happy to pay. For food like this, I would rather go to Yamamitzu or Yoyogi.

Bear Brass

Location: Southgate
Link: www.bearbrass.com.au
Cuisine: Modern Australian, Tapas
Company: law crew

We actually went to Bear Brass quite a few months ago. On checking the menu just then, it appears that some of the mains have changed.

~Food~
Having seen the menu the night before, I knew they had a dish called 'gumbo'... which seemed somewhat interesting at the time. After doing a bit of Wiki-ing and listening to YC's description of it, I decided that I would order a gumbo...

Basically it was a South American dish of thick soup and lots and lots of seafood. It even had a soft-shell crab, which was quite small, but still very tasty. The soup was full of flavour, and would even have gone well with rice. From memory it came with some crusty bread.

~Atmosphere and Service~
The atmosphere was very casual. Seating was quite open, although it did get a little cold as it got later as we were seated next to a gap in the tarpaulin used to block out the wind from the back courtyard. Service was minimal, and somewhat slow.

~Price~
Whilst the gumbo tasted fantastic, the serving was rather conservative and it cost $30! Quite a rip off for the amount fo food we got. On the other hand, the other mains didn't like quite as expsnsive. Must have been the seafood.

~Overall Impression: 7/10~
Although I loved the gumbo, it was just that little bit too expensive for the small bowl it was. Since they have now removed it from the menu, I don't think I'll be back there in much of a hurry.

Blue Train Cafe

Location: MRS Landing, Southgate Landing, Southbank
Link: www.bluetrain.com.au/
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Company: law crew & friends

~Food~
Pretty extensive menu ranging from steak to pizzas, pastas and burgers. Mel and I shared a pizza ('hot stone pizza w thinly sliced prosciutto over napoli & mozzarella w black olives & baby spinach, shaved parmesan and semi-dried tomatoes') and the pasta special of the day (fresh salmon pink peppercorns and white wine cream sauce). The pasta was pretty nice, the salmon tasted fresh and the sauce was just right. The peppercorns were one too many and we did tire of them quite easily. I found the pizza quite nice too, although Mel thought the prosciutto could have been fresher.

Dessert was limited to the cake window. We ended up with three slices (berry, toblerone and caramel) to share amongst the nine of us. Toblerone was the best in my opinion! The rest of the cakes were rather average.

~Atmosphere and Service~
The place was rather casual. Being nice weather, our semi-outdoor seating was cool and relaxing. The service was also friendly and quite fast. The waitresses had a no fuss attitude, took our orders and left us alone. Food came out quite quickly, especially for the latecomers who ordered after we had already gotten our food.

~Price~
The mains were relatively well-priced (most were between $15 and $25). The desserts on the other hand, were quite expensive, with each slice of cake being about $8 each!! Lesson to be learnt, eat mains there, then go elsewhere for dessert.

~Overall Impression: 8/10~
A great place for a random gathering to relax and just chill. We didn't book as we didn't know how many people would show up but we were able to score a decent table thanks to Stace who got there early!

Indochine

Location: Carrington Rd, Box Hill, opposite Centro
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Company: Mark (and other people on various occasions)

~Food~
Lovely, fresh, clean Vietnamese flavours. It's one of my fav viet restaurants in Melbourne. I love their Bun (rice vermicelli dish), spring rolls and fish sauce. Their pho is not THE best but it's very nice as well. I keep forgetting to try their broken rice but i'm sure I'll be going back there very soon.

~Atmosphere and Service~
Lovely place, very pretty and the service is quick and efficient. They have one waiter who is a bit of a laugh- he also makes sexually suggestive comments to the ladies but you can't hate him coz he's so lame!

~Price~
Very reasonable. Lunch for 2 is generally around $20. In fact, it's a stretch to order $30 of food and finish it all.

~Overall Impression~
Definitely one of the best Viet places around! Try it out!
9/10