Monday 18 April 2011

Beer DeLuxe

Federation Square, Flinders Street
Melbourne, 3000
www.beerdeluxe.com.au/index.php

The Lot ($9.00)

Look at that bad boy. After a week of eating really well, I was craving something greasy and meaty to undo the entire week of being healthy. Beer DeLuxe is situated right at the back of Federation Square, just behind ACMI. There are two parts to Beer DeLuxe – the restaurant/bar end, which, according to urbanspoon, serves pizza, Greek, and tapas. But we were more interested in the burger bar end today. You order over the counter, and the menu is short and sweet, looking more suburban milk bar than tourist hot spot. The beer list on the other hand is long enough to send the indecisive into a nervous sweat; thank goodness I don’t drink beer. There is no indoor seating, so make sure you arrive on a sunny day. The weather was on our side that day, so we enjoyed the sunshine and watched the giant fed square TV as we waited for our orders to arrive.
The Lot ($9.00)

 Believe it or not, this burger with the lot ($9.00) was my order. Stacked high with a large patty, (really crispy) bacon, egg, cheese, fried onions, and a mandatory handful of salad, it was all I could do not to unhinge my jaw whilst trying to bite into it. I originally wanted to get double patty as well, but I was grateful that Chris prevented me from making that move, or I would’ve had to dismantle my burger to fit it into my mouth.

Plain Inc. ($6.50)

It’s our rule (my rule) that the first time we visit any new burger joint, we have to get their most basic burger, so we can suss out how good the most important ingredient – the patty – tastes with minimal embellishments. And so in comes the plain inc. ($6.50), which as its name suggests, is about as basic as it gets. The patty was smaller, but it was also thicker, and it was nicely seasoned, though not mind blowing. It was more like eating a chunky meat sandwich than a burger but still pretty good.

In my opinion, if you’re going to eat at Burger DeLuxe, you may as well go for the lot. You don’t get much value for money with the basic, but the lot is another story. Or for $11.50, the double pattie with lettuce, bacon, onion, and cheese, served with fries, is enough to fill up even the emptiest of tummies. And if you do happen to be one of those people who love your beer (I know there are a lot of you out there), then take advantage of their square meal deal – at $9.50 for a burger and a beer after 6pm every Thursday, who says weekends can’t start early?

Rating: 13.5/20 – burger ‘n’ beer 

Beer Deluxe on Urbanspoon

Thursday 14 April 2011

Sheni's Curries

161 Collins St
Melbourne, 3000

Want a spicy curry? Sheni’s Curries delivers. Too often, when curries promise to be ‘three chillies’, they end up barely tingling my tastebuds. Not Sheni’s. Everything here is burn-your-pants-off spicy unless otherwise specified.  

The principle here is simple. Go up to the counter, choose one of the combos (regular, vegetarian, or one of two daily specials), give them 10 dollars, get your change, and your food will be dished out. Say yes to extra chilli on the side if you enjoy stomach-achingly spicy food, and dig in! The curries change from day to day, so you never know what you’re going to get. 

Small Vegetarian Combo ($7.50)

Today was a ‘vegetarian day’ for me, so naturally, I went for the small vegetarian combo (saffron rice, 2 vegetables, dhal, chutney, raita, and pappadum, $7.50). Now how deliciously wholesome does that look? And there was so much variety! The potato curry and the beans were good, but the cashew curry was the best. Mild and creamy with coriander to give it a lift, it was a lovely respite from the spiciness of everything else.

Small Regular Combo ($9.00)
 
A man has gotta have his meat (or so Chris says), so he chose the small regular combo (saffron rice, one meat of your choice, 2 vegetables, dhal, chutney, raita, and pappadum, $9.00). For the meat he had the chicken curry (the other option was butter chicken, which I immediately vetoed). His plate had everything I had, except instead of that amazing cashew curry, he had 2 pieces of tender flavoursome chicken thigh, still covered in the herbs they were cooked in. But still, how much better does my plate look? Proof that you don’t need meat to have a satisfying meal.

The space Sheni’s occupies is small, but not claustrophobic, and the wall-mirror adds the illusion of space and light. And because the curries here are Sri Lankan, not Indian, the curries are a lot less creamy, and there’s a lot less sauce, but it’s much more in-your face and robust. And even though both our plates looked somewhat small, we could barely finish them, and we were both pretty hungry too.

Rating: 13.5/20 – only if you like chilli


Sheni's Curries on Urbanspoon

Sunday 10 April 2011

Spicy Fish

209 Little Bourke St
Melbourne, 3000


At the centre of any Chinese celebration is a good meal. And so we’re here at Spicy Fish, to celebrate my mum’s birthday. The place may seem quiet on a Sunday night but it’s packed to the rafters almost any other time during the week. Plus, it makes a nice change to having to shout over the hubbub, and clashing elbows with your neighbour as you reach for the teapot. That said though, on the night we visited, they were playing western hip-hop/RnB on the plasma TVs mounted on the walls, and I have to say, eating Chinese food with Akon in the background is something of a new experience for me, and probably for most of the other patrons as well.

The menu here is long, divided into sub-categories such as entree, seafood, pork, vegetarian etc. The mouth-watering pictures of each dish didn’t help with the decision making either. 20 agonising minutes later, we settled on 4 dishes and a drink for my sister (the rest of us had tea, which was an above-average jasmine)

Eggplant in Claypot in Szechuan Chilli Sauce ($15.80)

The food came out quickly, most likely due to the lack of customers than it being pre-made, as each dish was piping hot. The Eggplant in Claypot in Szechuan Chilli Sauce ($15.80) came in, you guessed it, a claypot, shiny with oil and caramelised to the point of sticky sweetness. Each piece of eggplant slithered smoothly down our throats, and I would recommend this even to those of you who don’t like eggplant.

Stir-Fried Pork Tripe in Black Pepper ($17.80)
 
The next dish was the Stir-Fried Pork Tripe in Black Pepper ($17.80). A deceptively small tangle of tripe, onion and capsicum sat in the middle of the plate, with a pretty nest of shaved carrot on the side. The tripe and the vegetables made a wonderful contrast between chewy and crunchy, and there was a good, strong taste of black pepper. My only complaint is that it was a little on the salty side, but nothing a serve of fluffy white rice ($2.20 per head) won’t fix.

Meatball and Pickled Mustard in Stone Pot ($10.80)

And of course we had to try one of the chef’s specials. We had the Meatball and Pickled Mustard in Stone Pot ($10.80). We were expecting meatballs in a thick sauce, but instead, it was a soup, with meatballs, pickled mustard, and vermicelli in a cloudy broth. The soup tasted like a pork broth, and was flavoursome but light enough to let the meatballs shine, and shine they did. They were chunky and meaty with shallots and water chestnuts (which, in my opinion, is a devastatingly underused ingredient), adding a slight crunch to each warming, satisfying mouthful. I could totally have this instead of chicken soup when I’m sick in bed.

Pork Spare Ribs in Sweet and Vinegar Sauce ($18.80)

And for my 8 year old sister (and uh possibly me), we ordered a serve of Pork Spare Ribs in Sweet and Vinegar Sauce ($18.80). It was sweet, it was sour, it was meaty, and there was a heck of a lot of it – what’s there not to like? (Maybe my horrible photo but anyway)

Black Cow ($3.50)

And the Black Cow ($3.50) – really just a scoop of vanilla ice cream in coke but hey, who can resist a name like that?

Spicy Fish has something for everyone, and all of it well-executed. It’s also a perfect place to order a few more things to share. Sounds like a perfect recipe for a celebration.

Rating: 15/20 – well-executed


Spicy Fish on Urbanspoon

Monday 4 April 2011

Trunk Diner

275 Exhibition St
Melbourne, 3000
www.trunktown.com.au


Brunch is, without a doubt, the best meal of the day. It’s the meal for everything from French toast to baguettes to waffles to omelettes. It’s the meal where decadence isn’t just allowed, it’s ENCOURAGED. And after finishing all my mid-semester exams (though finishing is one thing, doing well is another), I felt like I deserved a bit of extra decadence. And where can you get brunch for less than $10 each that isn’t run of the mill? Trunk Diner.

Trunk Diner

Located next to Trunk, Trunk Diner feels like a halfway between a car port and a green house, in the best way possible. Besides, who cares if it looks like a green house when it’s nice and snug inside on a 15 degree day?

Table Condiments

Table service is friendly and casual, and there’s plenty to look at whilst waiting for our food to arrive. I was particularly impressed with the coarse black pepper and pink murray river salt they had sitting in a tiny dish, though I’m not quite sure how to get at it without using my fingers to take a pinch, which seems kinda unhygienic to me. There were also two types of chilli sauce (the same as the ones at ­MAMASITA!), tomato sauce, and BBQ sauce sitting on each table for your saucing pleasure. The number branded into each wooden table added to the effortless cool of the place.

Portabello Mushroom, Roast Corn, Fetta and Fontina Cheese Quesadilla ($10)

I smelt my food before I saw it coming. And it smelt AMAZING. Granted it might be because I was facing away from the kitchen, but that doesn’t change the fact that my Portabello Mushroom, Roast Corn, Fetta and Fontina Cheese Quesadilla ($10) smelt like the food of the Gods. As it was placed in front of me, my senses were assailed with the dark, earthy aroma of mushrooms. Really good mushrooms. And with  just a tiny forkful came a flavour explosion in my mouth. Meaty mushrooms with juicy popping kernels of corn, lifted by the pungent scent of oregano, held together by creamy, melted fontina, topped with crumbed fetta, and sandwiched in a crispy tortilla. Forget cutlery, I wanted to pick the tortilla up in my hands and tear into it like an animal.

The Breakfast Burger ($7)

In hindsight, I wished I had paid a little more attention to The Breakfast Burger – Toasted Brioche Bun,  Bacon, Free Range Egg and Melted Cheddar ($7), because it was pretty damn good. Served on a cute little wooden tray like the quesadilla, the bun was soft, sweet and fluffy, the egg was perfectly cooked, topped with a rasher of bacon, and completed with 2 slices of cheddar. It may have been on the small side, it may have lacked the OOMPH of the quesadilla, but it did leave Chris dreaming of waking up to this in the morning.   

We left entirely satisfied with our experience, though maybe not entirely full. But we will be back. Soon. And in the meantime, we spent some time walking off our brunch tummies, and we wandered into St. Paul’s Cathedral, resplendent with high ceilings and stained glass. What a way to finish off a fortnight of hardcore study!






Rating: 15.5/20 – excellent brunch at excellent prices

Trunk Diner on Urbanspoon

Sunday 3 April 2011

Ajisen Ramen

130 Bourke Street
Melbourne, 3000


For a self-confessed Japanese Food lover, it’s almost a travesty that I haven’t yet been to Ajisen Ramen, one of the biggest ramen chains in the world. They have locations world-wide, but I was surprised to read that they have more branches residing in China than Japan (thanks Wiki!). And being such a big franchise, it’s inevitable that you hear about them every now and then. Some reviews were fabulous, others, not so much. I have even seen it being called ‘the McDonalds of ramen’ at one point. And tonight, I was finally about to find out for myself just what this place is like.

For a restaurant specialising in ramen, the menu is jaw-droppingly long. A folder with pages upon pages of ramen, ramen variations, rice, bento boxes, Japanese snacks and more were handed to us. Thankfully we knew what we wanted – their signature Ajisen Ramen ($9.00). We spent a little longer deciding on an entree to share, and we settled on the Geso Karaage (Deep Fried Octopus Tentacles, $6.50), before handing the menus back to the efficient, but friendly waiters. 

Ajisen Ramen ($9.00)
 
Within no more than 5 minutes, the ramen was carried out of the kitchen, and to our table. The creamy broth and the fatty (but not too fatty) slices of char shu certainly looked the part, but I was disappointed with the over-boiled egg. A sip of the soup revealed a rich porky and garlicky flavours, though tasting more Chinese than Japanese. The noodles were delightfully springy, and there were also some black fungus swimming in the soup. Chilli powder and garlic powder sat to the side, should you wish to add more oomph to your noodles.

Geso Karaage ($6.50)
 
For $6.50, we got quite a lot of octopus. And in most cases, increased quantity leads to reduced quality. Not that these were terrible or anything; they were hot and crispy, but the octopus tentacles were leaning towards the ‘too-chewy’ end of things. But they also gave us Japanese mayo, and Japanese mayo fixes EVERYTHING.

Walking into the restaurant, you could immediately feel the chain-ness of the place, from the mascot standing just inside the entrance, to the tables lined up food-court style. But the space is far from tacky; as a matter of fact, it was spacious and dark, and dare I say it, moody? A view into the kitchen also helped alleviate the mass-produced feel of chain stores. And the food? Whilst more Chinese than Japanese, it was definitely nice tasting, and with a $14.50 lunch set that comes with a ramen and an entree of your choice (except the really expensive ones like sashimi), I can definitely see myself coming back on a cold winter’s day.

Rating: 14/20 definitely not a McRamen


Ajisen Ramen on Urbanspoon