Thursday 28 March 2013

Firechief

169 Camberwell Rd 
Hawthorn East, VIC 3123

Full time work is bad for me. After days of working more than I’ve gotten to sleep (it was that unpaid placement time of year again), the last thing I can be bothered with is budgeting and eating healthy. If any of you have tried working full time for 23 days in a row, you’ll know that all you want at the end of the day is an indulgent meal, and maybe something alcoholic to drink. 


I was too short to see over the banister, shuddup.

Firechief, a new-ish pizzeria in Hawthorn, has commanded my attention for a while now. Most of their appeal lies in the fact that they serve pizzas on three different bases:

Authentic and Original Pizza From Naples – these pizzas are made to the exact recipe stipulated by the ‘associazone verace pizza napoletana’ in Naples, Italy. Cooked in our Valorani wood-fired oven for 2 minutes at 400 degrees

The Modern Artisan ‘Hand Style’ Pizzas – these pizzas are cooked in a Moretti oven – a classic Italian twin deck, worked by hand and shovel, cooked on the stone floor at 360 degrees in around 4 minutes, they represent the most popular pizza in Italy.

The Great Australian Family Pizza – these pizzas are cooked on pizza trays in a special conveyor oven from Italy – we use the very best local ingredients. The average cook time is 6 minutes at 340 degrees.




There’s plenty to like about Firechief. I was fond of the brightly coloured knives, but I was even fonder of the hefty wooden tables and tall ceilings. With tapestries hung on the walls and a medieval-styled chandelier, I felt as if we were eating in the dining halls of a great lord. It’s also a very family friendly space, but don’t get me wrong – it’s no La Porcetta. 


Margherita D.O.P ($22.5)

Margherita D.O.P ($22.5)

The Margherita D.O.P ($22.5), made on the traditional Naples base, was a delight. The crushed tomato was unbelievably flavoursome, and the sparse handful of wilted basil leaves added a pungent fragrance to the creamy cheese and summery tomatoes. The base was impressively thin and crispy, but I do prefer my crust puffier and more burnished by the oven.


Capricciosa Classica ($22.9)

Capricciosa Classica ($22.9)


Chris on the other hand had the Capricciosa Classica ($22.9) on the modern artisan base. This was a much more gourmet take on your usual cappriciosa, bursting with flavour from the incredibly meaty and woody mushrooms, augmented with tender artichoke and the occasional black olive. And as to be expected from a thin-based pizza with a generous amount of topping and someone spending way too long taking photos of it, it did get a bit soggy in the middle, but all in all it was delicious.

Firechief is a very enjoyable place for a night out, with good nosh and a fun atmosphere. However I feel that, as casual as it is, Firechief is more of a special occasion place. Their pizzas, whilst great, are pricier than any other I’ve come across. And if a small girl and a skinny guy can polish off 2 pizzas with ease on a hungrier day, imagine how much 4 ravenous blokes would end up paying.

Rating: 14/20 – pizzachief. 

Firechief on Urbanspoon

Monday 25 March 2013

ChangGo

70 Little La Trobe St
Melbourne, VIC

I eat like a man. Yes I do love fresh salads and daintily made desserts, but most of the time you’ll find me scoffing at the people in a restaurant sipping soup for lunch, whilst ordering myself a burger and wishing I had room for the steak.  And it’s been a while since I’ve had a heavy meat-centric meal, so off I went with Ethan to ChangGo for some delicious, delicious Korean BBQ.




By day, ChangGo’s big wooden doors are closed and there’s no indication at all that it’s a restaurant. But by night they’re thrown wide open, delicious smells wafting out of the cavernous entrance. The cave-like entrance is suiting too; upon entering you’re greeted with wooden booths and bronzed smoke vents that are reminiscent of branches, all against a lovely backdrop of autumn trees.





ChangGo is a Korean restaurant and BBQ but their real drawcard is their Palsaik BBQ Set, which includes a whopping 8 flavours of pork belly. But for some reason, when I’m craving a protein hit, I always end up with the bovine. Ethan agreed, so we regretfully left the piggy for another day in favour of the Beef Combo ($48.8).




We started out with banchan, which came with the usual suspects of Kimchi, Pickled Vegetables, and Pickled Daikon, as well as slightly dressed scallions to eat later with the beef. They were ok but all leaning a bit too much towards the sweet side for my liking.


Marinated Flank Beef

Premium Beef Rib

Topside Beef


The beef combo came with three serves of meat – Topside Beef, Marinated Flank Beef, and a third beef of our choice, which on that night was Premium Beef Rib. To be honest none of them stood out to me; they were all faintly sweet and tender enough, but there was nothing too amazing or too awful to warrant a special mention. The charred, beefy taste however did assuage the protein craving that I’ve been having.


Soybean Paste Stew


Alongside everything else came two serves of rice and a pot of Soybean Paste Stew. Like most Korean soups, it’s a lot less vicious than it looks. But there was a little bit of heat that slowly built as we made our way towards the bottom of the pot, finding all manner of seafood – crab, prawn, calamari, mussels – in the process.

ChangGo didn’t amaze me but it’s a decent little spot for Korean BBQ, albeit a bit pricey compared to other places around town, and their 8 types of pork belly will definitely have me coming back. It does get very busy though, with queues by 6pm and a booking system that doesn’t quite work on account of the disconnected number that’s listed as their contact. But rock up early enough and you could be up for a night of smoking beefy goodness.

Rating: 12.5/20 – smoking beefy goodness.

ChangGo on Urbanspoon