Asian

Twee’s Hut

Shop 26 343 Little Collins St, Melbourne 9917 2017

Twee’s Soul Bowl (dry)

Classic Pork and Prawn Grenade and Freshly Pressed Juice

Thoughts:

Twee’s Soul Bowl – egg and rice noodles, pork, prawn, quail egg, lettuce, fried shallots, spring onion, coriander and peanuts. There are 2 options with the Soul Bowl: dry (which comes with soup on the side) or soup (which comes with soup already in the bowl). This dish is their very own version of Pad Thai and would have been terrific had they toned down the amount of sweet chilli sauce that was added = Not bad

Classic Pork and Prawn Grenade – essentially a pork and prawn rice paper roll. In addition to the pork and prawn there is vermicelli, cucumber, lettuce, mint leaves, coriander and sesame seeds. This was fresh and tasty but needed more meat = Not bad

Freshly Pressed Juice – I tried the ‘Island Kiss’ which comprised of pineapple, orange and apple juice. I like how the juices here are freshly pressed on order, and that no sugar is added = Good

Overall:

Opened in November last year, this bright and cheery place is run by a husband and wife team who have created a menu inspired by family recipes. What’s great about this place is the location. Situated in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD, Twee’s Hut is the perfect place for city workers to drop by for a quick and tasty lunch. I found a few things different about this place compared to other Vietnamese restaurants that I have been to. Firstly, this place is VERY clean (eg. gloves were used when the baguettes were being put together, no sticky tables, no sticky floors), they do not offer any free hot tea, and the way that dining in here works is also different. So when you dine in your name is taken down, you go and find yourself a table, and then your name is called out once your order is ready to be picked up from the counter. Different. Note that the current opening hours are 11am – 3pm.

*Disclaimer: I dined as a guest of Twee’s Hut. 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.

Palms Restaurant

213-215 Blackburn Rd, Mount Waverley 9803 9668

Cheese roti

Paneer Masala Thosai

Chappathi and Thosai

Garlic Naan, Paneer Naan, Aloo Paratha

Beef masala curry

Thoughts:

Cheese roti – simple and scrumptious = Good

Paneer Masala Thosai – savoury pancake with a paneer, potato masala and vegetable filling = Good

Chappathi and Thosai – two chappathi, one plain thosai, one delicious vegetable curry, sambar, chutney and vadai (an interesting savoury doughnut made from ground lentils) = Good

Garlic Naan = Not bad

Paneer Naan = Good

Aloo Paratha – wholemeal bread stuffed with spicy potatoes and peas = Not bad

Beef masala curry – tender pieces of beef cooked with capsicum, onion, tomato, ginger and spices, topped with coriander = Not bad

Overall:

Four different types of cuisine are offered at this restaurant: Malaysian, Chinese, South Indian and North Indian. Once you have perused through the extensive menu, you head up to either the Chinese/Malaysian ordering station at one end of the room, or to the North Indian/South Indian ordering station at the other end of the room to place your order (Make sure to remember your table number, as the food is served to your table when it is ready). This place is set out like a food court in terms of appearance but don’t let that fool you. The service is good but more importantly the food is delightful and is great value for money.

Samurai

804 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn 9819 4858

Green tea milkshake

Takoyaki

Gyoza

Samurai sashimi

Steak teriyaki

Thoughts:

Green tea milkshake – essentially green tea ice cream in a cup which meant that it was super thick, super sweet and super fantastic = Excellent

Takoyaki – slightly crunchy on the outside, soft and creamy on the inside = Good

Gyoza – strong aroma of ginger, and I found parts of the dumpling skin to be thick and chewy = Not bad

Samurai sashimi – fresh slices of tuna and salmon = Good

Steak teriyaki – tough pieces of slightly overcooked steak drizzled with teriyaki sauce, served with rice and salad = Not bad

Overall:

This busy little place attracts quite a crowd as the the service is quick and polite, and the food is quite reasonably priced (especially the lunch and dinner boxes).

When I was in Hong Kong and Macau…

Here are some of the things I sampled in Hong Kong and Macau:

Bak kwa (sweet-salty sheets of dried barbecue meat, similar to jerky)

Portugese egg tarts

Siu mai dumplings and cha siu bao (barbecue pork buns)

Har gow dumplings

Cheung fun (steam rice noodle rolls) filled with pork

Steamed eggs with soy sauce

Tofu soup

Rice noodles with fish cakes in soup

Black glutinous rice and taro paste

Durian cheesecake

Gai daan ja (eggette)

When I was in Chiang Mai, Thailand…

Influenced by neighbouring countries (particularly Myanmar/Burma), the food in Chiang Mai is truly distinct. Here is some of the food I sampled, including a few of Chiang Mai’s most popular dishes (eg. khao soi, sai ua, kalamae, kaeb moo, nam prik noom):

Khao soi (curry egg noodles)

Khanom jeen nam ngiaw (fermented rice vermicelli noodle soup)

Sai ua (grilled herb sausages), Kaeb moo (crispy pork rinds) and Nam prik noom (roasted green chilli dip)

Kalamae (sweet sticky candy made from palm sugar, rice flour and coconut milk , wrapped in palm leaves)

Massaman chicken curry

Prawn and mushroom Tom Yum soup

Roasted sesame seed cakes

Roti with condensed milk

When I was in Bangkok, Thailand…

Thailand is without a doubt my favourite holiday destination. Part of the reason is of course the food! There is an enormous variety of both Thai as well as non Thai food that is fresh, delicious and unbelievably CHEAP! Here is just some of what I ate:

Spicy pork sausage (moo yor), crispy rice cakes (eaten with the peanut/coconut sauce), Thai fermented sausage (sai krok Isan), spicy papaya salad

Goi See Mee noodles

Satay rice with pork and chilli jam

Tom Yum pizza

Gelato

Pad Thai omelette

Duck and egg noodles in Tom Yum soup

Waffles (pandan, chocolate, strawberry)

Thai boat noodles and fried dumplings

Spicy pork ramen with egg

Suki dry noodles (suki haeng) on a sizzling plate

Green curry stir fried rice with tuna in an omelette

Bean curd sheet rolls (filled with an assortment of meat, these get freshly deep fried on order)

Hot Pot train

Dahon Tea Lounge

Shop 5, 111 Cecil St, South Melbourne 9696 5704

Mango and Passionfruit Tea, Berry Tea, Pandan Sago Drink

BBQ wings with java rice

Kalabasang may gata

Boneless bangus (milkfish)

BBQ skewers (chicken inasal and pork tocino)

Sans rivals

Ube macapuno

Thoughts:

Gourmet Iced Teas – all tasted very sweet and very artificial = Not bad

BBQ wings with java rice – well marinated, crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, smoky BBQ chicken wings that went really well with the java (tomato) rice = Good

Kalabasang may gata – prawns, fish, pumpkin and vegetables in a creamy coconut sauce, served with steamed rice. I liked the fact that even though this dish contained a creamy coconut sauce, it wasn’t heavy = Good

Boneless bangus – tasty pieces of fried milkfish served with a simple salad = Good

BBQ skewers – marinated in lemon and kumquat, the chicken inasal skewers were surprisingly moist and citrusy. The pork tocino (Filipino sweet cured pork) skewers on the other hand were sweet and a bit more harder to chew than the chicken skewers = Not bad

Sans rivals – cashew meringue that reminded me of the inside of a Snickers bar, but with cashews instead of peanuts. Sticky and sweet, this is a dessert that is best shared = Not bad

Ube macapuno – purple yam and coconut cake. A soft, light, airy cake that contained small pieces of coconut in the middle. This was quite eggy and unfortunately had no yam flavour to it at all = Not bad

Overall:

A casual place where the service is very prompt, and the food is terrific value for money and is somewhat unique (as Filipino restaurants in Melbourne are not very common).