American

Third Wave

30 Cato St, Prahran 9510 2991

Russian Sampler Plate

Reuben Sandwich

Thoughts:

Russian Sampler Plate – the perfect choice for those who want to try a little bit of everything from the Russian menu. This sampler plate included:

Russian Salad – a deliciously tangy salad that consisted of roast chicken, potatoes, hard boiled eggs, peas, pickles, carrots and a dijonaise dressing = Good
Blintzes – soft yet crispy crepe-like pancakes that were filled with the choice of either mushroom, meat or cheese. The mushroom blintz was filled with fried mushrooms, plenty of cheese and spices; while the meat blintz was filled with pork, chicken, carrots and herbs. These were scrumptious! = Excellent
Meat Dumplings – served with sour cream, these dumplings were bland and needed a sauce of some kind = Not Bad
Syrniki – soft creamy cottage cheese pancakes that were served with organic blueberry jam and sour cream = Not Bad

Reuben Sandwich – fall apart slow smoked beef brisket, pickles, Swiss cheese and coleslaw, between lightly toasted Rye bread. This solid sandwich was served with pickles, crunchy on the outside soft on the inside chips, and a zesty barbecue sauce = Good

Overall:

I was rather impressed with the extensive menu that they have here. Apart from the classic breakfast/brunch options, there are quite a few American and Russian inspired dishes. The main problem was simply trying to decide what to order as everything sounded terrific! The portions at this place are quite generous, and even their drinks are quite large. The dining area is a light open space with an interesting vertical garden growing on the back wall. The staff are friendly and the atmosphere is very casual. This newly opened cafe is a great place to go to if you want to try some tasty food that isn’t on your typical breakfast/brunch menu. And what’s great is that this place takes bookings.

*Disclaimer: I dined as a guest of Third Wave. All food ratings & review are purely based on my own experiences and how I felt about the service, food and quality at the time of visit

The Beaufort

421 Rathdowne St, Carlton 9347 8171

Deep fried pickles with ranch sauce

Country fried chicken

The Beaufort Butt sandwich

The Out-N-Out burger

French dip roll

Thoughts:

Deep fried pickles – crispy batter, tangy pickles, tasty ranch sauce = Not bad

Country fried chicken – super crispy chicken served with pico de gallo and a bowl of shoestring fries = Good

The Beaufort Butt sandwich – juicy pulled pork, kimchi, sririacha sauce, lemon and ginger aioli in a soft white roll, served with shoestring fries = Good

The Out-N-Out burger – meat, cheese, french mustard, ketchup, tomato and spanish onion in a soft white bun, served with shoestring fries = Not bad

French dip roll – slow roast beef in a french roll with sauteed onions and hot English mustard. This dish came with some onion dipping gravy and shoestring fries. I now feel that all rolls should come with some dipping gravy. They just make the roll extra delicious! = Good

Overall:

Good food, average service, poor dining atmosphere (it was so dark that we couldn’t see our menus or even our food without using the light from our phones).

Joe’s Bar and Dining Hall

64-66 Acland St, St Kilda 9525 3755

Greenvale Farm Pork Sliders

Bucket of JFC

Harissa chicken salad

Romsey range beef burger

Sausage sizzle kransky

Mac ‘N’ Cheese

Thoughts:

Greendale Farm Pork Sliders – pork, pickled cabbage, BBQ sauce and apple puree. The hint of sweetness from the apple puree completed the taste of these yummy sliders = Good

JFC – four huge pieces of crispy (boneless!) chicken served with chipotle mayo = Excellent

Harissa chicken salad – tender harissa chicken, beetroot, goats cheese, rocket, pepita seeds and quinoa. I normally don’t order salads but I’m so glad that we did because it was surprisingly fantastic! = Excellent

Romsey range beef burger – deliciously juicy Romsey range beef, lettuce, cheese, red onion, pickles, mustard mayo and tomato sauce. A tasty no frills basic beef burger = Good

Sausage sizzle kransky – salty kransky served with cider onions, vermont cabot cheese, bourbon mustard and cabbage = Not bad

Mac ‘N’ Cheese – macaroni pasta with vermot cabot cheese and a sage and garlic crust = Good

Overall:

It’s a shame that this place always seems to be quiet whenever I pass by because the food here is something worth talking about. Not to mention that you get also get complimentary chipotle popcorn! The staff here are great however service from the kitchen can be a bit slow. The atmosphere is average but if you go on a friday or saturday night, there is a house DJ (who is awkwardly placed on the far side of the room near the toilets) that plays from 9pm till late.

Big Boy BBQ (Caulfield)

764 Glenhuntly Road, Caulfield South 9523 7410

The New Yorker

Big Boy Smoked BBQ Meat Platter

Sides

Peanut butter cream pie with chocolate ganache

Condensed milk and banana ice cream

Thoughts:

The New Yorker – layers of salty herb infused beef pastrami, melted swiss cheese, mustard and pickles on toasted rye bread = Good

Big Boy Smoked BBQ Meat Platter – beef brisket, pulled pork scotch fillet, pulled lamb shoulder, beef pastrami, ½ rack of pork ribs, ½ rack of lamb ribs and chicken wings. So this menu option comes with 3 jumbo sides but for some reason we got 5 sides (not that I’m complaining). The sides we got were crunchy chips, onion strings, coleslaw, potato salad and corn bread. Now the menu said that this platter could feed between 1-6 people. Imagine one person eating all of this by themselves. Yikes!

So all the meat at this place is slow cooked and as a result has a salty smoky flavour. Apart from the pulled pork scotch fillet (which was quite spicy compared to the rest of the meat), everything tasted very similar after a little while once it was covered in the sweet BBQ sauce. As for the sides, the crunchy chips were extremely crunchy (in a delightful way), the onion strings were mostly just deep fried batter, the coleslaw was fairly average, the creamy potato salad had a nice tanginess to it due to the pickles and the corn bread was quite sweet (which I suppose is normal for cornbread) = Not bad

Peanut butter cream pie with chocolate ganache – deliciously creamy with a great balance of peanut butter and chocolate ganache = Good

Condensed milk and banana ice cream – came prepackaged in a little container and tasted like condensed milk mixed with banana Nesquik (ie. had a very artificial taste to it) = Not bad

Overall:

The place to go to if you want to have a break from eating vegetables and instead indulge yourself in a lot of meat. Although the food here is not exactly amazing, the concept of having slow cooked food that is served fast is different and interesting. (Their meat is smoked at low temperatures for up to 16 hours, hence the food isn’t hot but warm when it is served). The staff here are young and friendly and the atmosphere is very casual.

Phat Brats

320 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy 9419 5526

Chilli fries with cheese sauce

Raw slaw

Wagyu beef and black pepper

Superfood dog

Cheesy smoked kransky

Chilli dog

Thoughts:

Fries – fantastically fiery! Will leave your mouth burning afterwards but is totally worth it! The way that the fries are seasoned, they taste almost like wedges. They come with sour cream, house chilli sauce, jalapeños and either spicy ground beef or beans (we decided to get the beef and it was very tasty) = Excellent

Raw slaw – cool crunchy coleslaw that went well with the fries (cool vs hot) = Not bad

Wagyu beef and black pepper – wagyu beef and black pepper sausage with house gravy, raw slaw, shallots and horseradish cream. Good quality sausage, strong horseradish taste = Good

Superfood dog – sweet potato, quinoa and tamarind ‘sausage’ with chilli lime mayo, minted peas, alfalfa, coriander and sour cream. They are generous with the alfalfa and the minted peas, but not so much with the vegetarian sausage = Not bad

Cheesy smoked kransky – cheesy smoked kransky sausage with german potato salad, dill pickles and mild mustard. Delicious cheesy sausage, great mix of flavours = Good

Chilli dog – wagyu beef sausage with spicy ground beef, house chilli sauce, cheese sauce and spring onion. This hot dog tasted like the chilli fries, minus the fries = Good

Overall:

I was absolutely devastated when I found out that their dessert hotdog was no longer on the menu. I had heard that this amazing creation was a donut bun with double chocolate ice cream ‘sausage’, berry coulis, toasted coconut, crushed pistachio nuts and whipped cream. Devastated.

Nevertheless the hot dogs that they do have on their are pretty fantastic, as are their fries (I must go back and try all their other fries). There are 3 choices of hot dog buns on offer: gluten free, wholemeal and seeded. Unfortunately the size of the hotdogs are a bit small, so eating one hot dog alone may not fill you up. That being said, this is absolutely one of the best hot dog places in Melbourne.