BBQ

Dexter

Fried Chicken Bun

The green chilli slaw tasted very Asian-like (in a good way) and complemented the juicy fried chicken.

★★★☆☆

Burnt Sriracha Corn

Nicely charred and smoky tasting.

★★★☆☆

Shoestring Fries with BBQ Rub and Aioli

Light, crisp, non-greasy, addictive.

★★★★☆

Hot Meat Donuts

As soon as I saw these on the menu, I was intrigued…

Would the flavours of the pulled pork and the sweet crispy donut go together? Well they sure did! What was great was that the donut’s sweetness didn’t overpower the pork, and that the sweet and mildly spicy accompanying sauce made these donuts taste even better.

★★★★☆

Kurobuta Pork Loin with Mash, Pickles and Slaw

Perfectly cooked flavoursome pork.

★★★☆☆

Cured Beef Brisket with Mash, Pickles, Slaw and Charred Sourdough

Enjoyable beef but I still prefer slow cooked brisket to cured brisket.

★★★☆☆

Overall:

Bright and inviting space, prompt service, great food.

Dexter

456 High St, Preston, VIC

(03) 9973 3577

http://www.dexter.melbourne/

Carnegie Korean BBQ

What’s better than Korean BBQ? The answer is all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ!

Pork Belly, Mushroom, Onion, Sweet Potato

Pasta Salad, Bean Sprouts, Kimchi, Fish Cake

Mandu

Beef Bibimbap

Soy Bean Soup

Green Tea and Black Sesame Ice Cream

Overall:

There are 2 all-you-can-eat options: the Standard Buffet ($31.90) and the Gourmet Buffet ($35.50). For a few dollars more the Gourmet Buffet offered a greater selection of meats, soups and dessert, so we ended up opting for this. We initially wanted to try all the different meats however this turned out to be impossible as there was simply too much food! The meats that we did manage to try included the LA Beef Ribs, Beef Brisket, Marinated Beef, Diced Beef, Non Spicy Chicken, Pork Belly, and Spicy Pork. The only meat that did not take our fancy was the Diced Beef as it was super tough and extremely difficult to chew. The staff were friendly however unlike some other Korean BBQ places, they don’t help out with any of the barbequing (which was fine with us). In any case, the all-you-can-eat options here are perfect for all you carnivores out there.

Carnegie Korean BBQ

Shop 2, 23 Koornang Rd, Carnegie, VIC

(03) 9563 6608

Kuku Mama

Cheeseburger Dumplings – beef, pickle, cheese, Bobby John sauce

Although these are not your typical dumplings, this is certainly fusion done right. Within each dumpling was perfectly cooked beef and plenty of melted cheese, which was delicious when eaten with the pickle and the sauce. The dumpling skin was a bit chewy though and needed to be steamed a tiny bit longer.

★★★★☆

Vegetarian Dumplings – sweet potato, shiitake, enoki

Unsurprisingly sweet and mushroomy.

★★★☆☆

Bao – Peking roasted duck, pickled cucumber, hoisin

Soft pillowy steamed buns with a decent amount of tasty duck.

★★★★☆

Tacos – blackened salmon, herb crema, chicharron

★★☆☆☆

Mac & Cheese squared with Bobby John sauce

★★★☆☆

Crinkle cut chips, honey, soy, sesame, chilli, spring onion

A great mix of sweet and savoury.

★★★☆☆

Bao – soft shell crab, kewpie mayo, Kuku kimchi

The soft shell crab had good crunch but lacked any actual crab taste.

★★☆☆☆

Balinese coconut seafood curry with herb rice

The curry was a little on the bland side, while the herb rice (ie. the coriander rice) was a little salt heavy. So I suppose the flavours balanced out when you ate them together.

★★☆☆☆

Bao – southern fried chicken, slaw, BBQ sauce

The crispy tender chicken combined with the slaw and BBQ sauce made for terrific baos!

★★★★☆

Overall:

This was such a cool place. From the vibrant decor to the comfortable booths and couches, Kuku Mama is a fantastic place to eat, drink and simply hang out at. Service was quick while the food was creative and reasonably priced. Make sure you come with a few people because there will be lots of things on the menu that you’ll want to try.

Kuku Mama

105 Chapel St, Windsor, VIC

(03) 9529 6900

http://kukumama.com.au/

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).

Meatloaf

Recipe from: Taste.com.au

Overall:

I’ve always wanted to know what meatloaf actually was and what it tasted like. Turns out that it’s pretty much like a beef patty but in loaf form.

Alterations that I made were:

adding two cloves of chopped garlic, a decent amount of tabasco sauce and a handful of chopped coriander (I love coriander!)
omitting the BBQ sauce

It was something different but nothing incredibly amazing.