Man Mo @ WTC

River side of World Trade Centre, 38 Siddeley St, Docklands 9077 9598

Prawn Dumplings

Tasty filling, soft thin dumpling skin

★★

Cantonese Roast Duck

Deliciously crispy skin with tender juicy meat. If only the portions were bigger.

★★★

Curry Laksa

★★

Overall:

As soon as we entered Man Mo we couldn’t help but be impressed by the refined decor. This place was without a doubt one of the more fancier Chinese/Malaysian restaurants that I’ve dined at. There was initially a bit of confusion with our booking but the staff here were very helpful, and sorted everything out in no time. A wide selection of dishes are available here however the dishes are somewhat pricier than your typical Chinese/Malaysian restaurants. Note that parking rates at the World Trade Centre during weekdays is outrageous. If only diners at Man Mo could get their parking validated.

manmo 2

*Disclaimer: I dined as a guest of Harvey Publicity. 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

Cafe On Eaton

12 Eaton St, Oakleigh 9568 4668

Open Pork Yiros Plate with Greek salad, Pita bread, Tzatziki and Chips

Generous portions however the pork was slightly dry and salt needed to be added to the chips.

★★

Chicken Yiros Souvlaki (wrapped in lightly grilled pita)

The chicken was deliciously moist, the yogurt sauce was terrific and the fresh salad gave the souvlaki delightful crunch.

★★★

Overall:

Quick service, simple decor, tasty souvlakis. Note that orders here are taken at the counter.

Micheli’s Wood Fire Pizza & Pasta

21-25 Heatherdale Rd, Ringwood 9873 7079

Prosciutto Wood Fire Pizza

(garlic and herb base, fresh fior di latte cheese, fresh rocket, prosciutto crudo, olive oil, grana parmesan)

Generous toppings (especially the prosciutto!) served on a delicious garlic and herb base

★★★

Spaghetti Marinara

(selection of seafood pan fried in garlic oil in Napoli sauce)

Well cooked spaghetti, watery sauce

★★

Overall:

Great pizza, speedy service, simple and relaxed atmosphere.

Richmond Hill Café and Larder

RHCL grilled cheesy toast with eggplant & chilli pickle

I simply cannot describe how amazing this was! The toast was perfect, the cheese was unbelievable, while the eggplant and chilli pickle added delicious zing and was a fantastic contrast to the heavy cheese.

★★★★★

The Lot

(two eggs any way with toast, bacon, baked beans, mushrooms & roasted
tomatoes)

★★☆☆☆

Potato & spring onion rosti with smoked salmon, two poached eggs, spinach pistou sauce, Cantalet cheese fondue & grain mustard

The crispy rosti was tasty but could have been finished within two bites. Okay maybe three bites.

★★★☆☆

Baked Eggs

(two baked eggs with RHCL sausage ragu, toasted pinenuts, feta & fresh coriander)

The feta was fantastic! If only there had been more!

★★☆☆☆

Baghdad Eggs

(two fried eggs with lemon & garlic, sprinkled with cumin & mint on homemade flat bread)

Super simple, super marvellous!

★★★★★

Overall:

Terrific food, warm atmosphere, prompt service (although we did feel a bit rushed when our bill was presented as soon as we had finished eating and before we had even asked for it). Richmond Hill Café and Larder even have their very own cheese room which offers an impressive selection of local and imported cheeses, many of which they mature in-house. I am so looking forward to my next visit. I already have my eye on the cheese platter…

Note that this place takes bookings.

Richmond Hill Café and Larder

48-50 Bridge Rd, Richmond, VIC

(03) 9421 2808

http://rhcl.com.au/

Twenty & Six

594 Queensberry St, North Melbourne 9329 0298

Bounty Bar Hot Chocolate with Mörk, coconut and almond milk (left)

The almond milk ruined this potentially terrific drink, making it extremely thin and watery

★★

Mörk Hot Chocolate (right)

Balanced and full of flavour, not exceedingly sweet

★★★

Brioche roll with beef brisket, kaiserfleisch, chilli, cabbage slaw, Swiss cheese and seeded mustard aioli, served with hand cut chips and rosemary salt

★★

Wild mushrooms with soft polenta, roasted shallots, endive, two poached eggs, parmesan and pomegranate molasses

★★

Overall:

The only thing impressive about this place was the outhouse they had at the back. Food was average and portions were small, while the service was so-so. The staff here were very strict about their menu and refused to serve us chips on their own as it wasn’t on the menu. To be honest I’d much rather head around the corner to Auction Rooms for a bite to eat.

Ilya Frozen Yogurt

277 Glenhuntly Rd, Elsternwick 9077 1080

I seriously love frozen yogurt. So you can no doubt imagine how excited I was to be invited to Frochella, Ilya’s very own music themed frozen yogurt event.

What separates Ilya from other frozen yogurt places is the fact that their frozen yogurt is kosher, 100% natural, 99% fat free, 97-99% sugar free and doesn’t contain any refined cane sugar. Instead natural sweeteners stevia and erythitol are used, which compared to sugar contain a fraction of the calories. In addition the flavours are all natural and the milk used is organic.

We sampled A LOT of frozen yogurt that night…

…and tried many delicious toppings. It was awesome!

But if I had to pick a favourite, it would have to be the deliciously fruity and crunchy Berry Coconut Crumble.

I didn’t get the chance to try any hot caramel or hot chocolate though. Next time!

The taste of the sweeteners was quite distinctive however it took all but two bites to get used to. The frozen yogurts I enjoyed the most included the Churros, Soy Chai, and Earl Grey Cranberry (this one was definitely my favourite). The one I enjoyed the least was the Coffee (very tart and tasted like cheap instant coffee), while the one I found the most interesting was the vegan Virgin Mary (spicy, creamy, tomatoey).

Ilya Frozen Yogurt is a bright friendly place that strives to create frozen yogurt that is innovative, healthy and tasty. A great place for those who are vegan and for all those who want to treat themselves with frozen yogurt minus the guilt.

*Disclaimer: I was invited as a guest of Ilya Frozen Yogurt. 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

FOF Rotary Hotpot

481 Victoria St, Abbotsford 9023 6672

Although this wasn’t my first rotary hot pot experience (my first being in Thailand), I still found the colourful plates of food gliding around the room captivating. FOF Rotary Hotpot is the first of its kind in Melbourne and is currently offering all-you-can-eat for $28.80. How this place works is that each person has their own pot directly in front of them. The first step is to choose a soup to cook all your hot pot ingredients in. The soups available include Nutrition soup (plain clear soup with Chinese mushroom and goji berries), Miso soup, Tom Yum soup and Chinese Spicy soup (be warned, this soup is VERY spicy). The next step is to grab whatever meat/fish/vegetable/noodle dish that takes your fancy and cook it in your soup. Once you’ve finished eating, grab more food and repeat.

An extensive hot pot menu was also given to us so that we could order items that weren’t coming around often enough or those that didn’t seem to be coming around at all (eg. quail eggs).

A large selection of prepackaged condiments were available to have with our hot pot. (I can’t believe that people feel the need to add extra MSG to their already MSG enhanced food)

The hot items available were either extremely dry or extremely oily. Don’t waste your stomach space on these items.

The sushi was unexceptional and had been sitting in the fridge for a while before being served.

Overall:

A fun experience (especially for those who have never tried hot pot or rotary hot pot before), a large variety of food (except for dessert as there was only coconut tapioca pudding) and quick friendly service (empty plates were promptly taken away and there was always someone around offering to refill our soup).

Brother Burger and the Marvellous Brew

413 Brunswick St, Fitzroy 9419 0088

Croquettes

Light crispy shells with soft creamy centres of spiced potato, corn kernels, polenta and cheese,

served with their fiery house made chilli jam

= ★★★

Butterscotch milkshake

Sweet, creamy, buttery. Happiness in a tall milkshake cup.

= ★★★★

Oh, Brother (double 100% Wagyu beef patty, double cheese, jalapenos, lettuce, American mustard, ketchup, pickled onion)

= ★★★

The Plain (100% Wagyu beef patty, lettuce, pickles, mustard mayo, ketchup)

= ★★★

Fat Chips served with house made mustard mayo and ketchup

= ★★

The burgers here were without a doubt mouthwateringly delicious! The soft juicy Wagyu patties were cooked to a perfect medium, the homemade sauces and pickles were delicious and the burger buns (which are baked in-house daily) were nicely toasted. Everything simply tasted fresh and amazing. I wasn’t surprised to discover that the beef that they use is hormone, growth promotant and GMO free, and that free range chicken and eggs are used. Alcoholic milkshakes can also be found on the menu here, with each milkshake having a double shot of booze (eg. chocolate house-made marshmallow vodka milkshake). Service was quick and friendly, atmosphere was very casual, and takeaway orders receive a 10% discount.

Waffle On

Shop 9, Degraves St Melbourne 0401 408 168

Canadienne Waffle

Overall:

I had a massive waffle craving the other day so headed to Waffle On to grab one of their delicious waffles. The light crispy Canadienne waffle was served with cold vanilla ice cream, maple syrup and icing sugar. Service was quick but seating very limited (there are only two). We also noticed that the baguettes were very popular here. Something for me to try next time.

O.My

23 Woods St, Beaconsfield 9769 9000

House-made bread with cultured butter

Fabulously soft bread, and the cultured butter was absolutely delicious as it had a noticeably fresh, tangy and of course buttery flavour

= Good

Pastrami cured salmon in pork broth with radish and watercress

Fresh salmon, fantastic pork broth

= Good

2.5 hour roasted cauliflower, leek, red wine gel, fresh grapes

Cauliflower is one of my least favourite vegetables but this dish was seriously amazing.

= Excellent

Homegrown leaves, King Prawns, King Prawn powder

The King Prawn powder was rather salty and overpowering so only a tiny bit was needed and the rest just got pushed to the side

= Good

Dehydrated and powdered mushrooms, dehydrated jerusalem artichoke

= Excellent

Pork, dehydrated carrot, parsnip puree, oats, jam

= Not bad

Honeycomb, caramel, Italian merigue, crème fraîche, sticky date

= Not bad

Buttermilk gel, buttermilk foam, coffee gel, honeycomb, chocolate mousse tart, chocolate sorbet, sweet potato gel, dehydrated sweet potato, fresh grape

An odd assortment of items that tasted fine on their own but not so fine once they were combined together

= Not bad

Overall:

Three brothers (Tyson, Blayne and Chayse Bertoncello) own and run this family business, and it is a business that they should definitely be proud of. The food here was innovating (we noticed that the chef had a fondness for food that was dehydrated, in powder form and in gel form) and was genuinely fresh. The menu here constantly changes according to produce that is in season and the produce that they use is locally grown. They even use herbs and vegetables that they grow organically themselves! After our meal one of the Bertoncello brothers (not sure which) enthusiastically showed us the beautiful garden that they have out the back. He informed us that this was one of many gardens that they owned and that the plan is to get a beehive and possibly some chickens (for fresh eggs) some time in the future. He also mentioned that during the warmer seasons they have a few tables available in the garden so that diners are able to enjoy their meal amongst the greenery.

Throughout the night service was fantastic however the ambience was somewhat dark and moody. The intimate dining area (which seats no more than 30 people) was predominately black, and the artwork here can best be described as eccentric (particularly this one painting of a pig that had bright red blood seeping from its gouged eye). Note that O.My also have a private dining room at the back that can seat 10 or so people, and that they are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.