Beef

The Town Mouse

312 Drummond St, Carlton 9347 3312

Goat’s cheese profiterole, caraway, thyme & honey

Crisp beef cheek, whipped white soy cream, black garlic, parsnip & yuzu

Slow roast red cabbage, prune, parmesan & red apple

Duck breast, caramelised yoghurt, sprouted wheat, elk leaves & wild mushrooms

Thoughts:

Profiteroles – creamy goat’s cheese encased in crisp pastry accompanied by the sharp taste of caraway and thyme. Regrettably, these were served cold = Not bad

Beef cheek – a combination of exotic ingredients that unfortunately resulted in an okay but unmemorable dish = Not bad

Red cabbage – who knew that you could serve cabbage this way? The sweetness of the cabbage, prunes and apples together with the saltiness of the parmasean resulted in a unique cabbage dish = Good

Duck breast – the duck was a bit chewy but everything else on the plate was delicious. The sprouted wheat provided an interesting texture = Good

Overall:

The menu is small (with everything fitting onto one page) but the ingredients that the chefs use are interesting and adventurous. The food here tastes fresh and is beautifully presented, while the service is good but can be a bit slow at times. The place itself is quite small with all of the seating being bar stools, and the decor feels cool and modern with its shiny black tiles and low hanging lights.

Zagar’s Charcoal Grill

9 Royton St, Burwood East 9884 4067

Homemade beef sausages

Continental potato salad and coleslaw

Scotch fillet steak

Eye fillet steak

Thoughts:

Beef sausages – a blend of eye fillet, scotch fillet and porterhouse trimmings. Succulent mouthwatering sausages that will put any other beef sausage that you’ve ever had in your life to shame = Excellent

Potato salad and coleslaw – creamy potato salad, crunchy tangy coleslaw, both are satisfying accompaniments to the main courses on offer = Good

Scotch fillet – tender, well-marbled, full of flavour. I just couldn’t get enough! = Excellent

Eye fillet – top quality piece of steak that was tender and had a well balanced flavour = Good

Overall:

What a fantastic surprise this place turned out to be! The meat they have on offer is simply delicious! An authentic Mallee Root charcoal grill is used here to give all of their meat a wonderful wood smoked flavour. The menu is small and simple, but the food that they serve up is marvellous. The atmosphere is cosy and the service is great (our waitress was prompt, really friendly and gave us helpful recommendations as to what to order). The only downside to this restaurant are the limited opening hours: Wednesday to Friday 7pm until late.

San Telmo

14 Meyers Place, Melbourne 9650 5525

Beef, egg and olive Empanada

Humita (Polenta, corn and basil chips) with chipotle mayonnaise

Ceviche – Peruvian style lemon cured white fish with chilli, sweet potato and onion

Mejilla de Cerdo: Braised Berkshire pork jowl ‘cheek’ with crackling

Bife de lomo: Riverina black angus eye fillet (150 day grain fed)

Hinojo: Fennel, chicory and orange salad with malbec vinaigrette

Flan: Dulce de leche crème caramel with salted peanut praline

Thoughts:

Beef, egg and olive Empanada – really good Traditional Argentine fried pastry. Note that the portion size is tiny so you may not want to share this and have one all to yourself = Good

Humita – Dense chips that have a interesting flavour, great chipotle mayonnaise = Good

Ceviche – fresh raw fish that had a sharp and spicy taste = Good

Mejilla de Cerdo – marvellous melt-in-your pork (as most of it was fat) with super crunchy crackling = Good

Bife de lomo – a tender, juicy cut of beef that had a nice smokey flavour to it = Good

Hinojo – we originally did not want to get a salad but became persuaded by our waiter who insisted that we needed something to accompany our steak. It was an okay salad, light and citrusy = Not bad

Flan – Heavenly! Rich crème caramel, crunchy salted peanut praline with a huge dollop of caramelised dulce de leche = Excellent

Overall:

A bustling place that serves exciting Argentine food that is designed for sharing. Be sure to try one of their steaks so that you can experience the unique smokey flavour that comes from their authentic parrilla (Argentine charcoal grill). The decor here was definitely bovine inspired: cowhide and leather everywhere! Service was quite good, with our waiter being highly knowledgeable of all the dishes on offer.

Wooga Korean Restaurant

270 Victoria St, North Melbourne 9328 1221

Top grade beef rib

Spicy kimchi and pork soup

Seafood pancake

Thoughts:

We ordered the Combo A set menu ($39 pp) which included:

Top grade beef rib (I found this to be extremely tough and chewy)
Top side with salt and pepper (tender and delicious)
Beef brisket (just okay)
Bean paste soup (which we swapped for kimchi and pork soup, which turned out to be good)
Rice (2 bowls)

Seafood pancake – contained lots of egg and not that much seafood, so was just an average pancake. HOWEVER the dipping sauce that comes with it is fantastic! = Not bad

Overall:

Among the multiple Korean BBQ restaurants along Victoria St, I found this one to be so-so. The food overall was average with nothing standing out (apart from the seafood pancake dipping sauce, which I’m not going to count). I found the portions to the Combo A set menu to be on the small side, so unless you eat very little, this set menu will not fill you up. Service to this place was standard with the waiter coming around every now and again to turn our meat on the BBQ. What I did like about this place was that they used good exhaust chutes for each table which made the place less smokey compared to other Korean BBQ places. Having said that there is still no escaping the strong BBQ smell that seeps into your hair and your clothes, that lingers with you once you leave this place.

Kluska

161 Foster St, Dandenong 9793 2154

Nalesniki z miesem (Polish pancakes with mince beef)

Pyzy z grzybami (Silesian dumplings with mushrooms)

Bigos (Traditional meat stew)

Kopytka (Polish gnocchi with beef goulash)

Thoughts:

Polish pancakes – delicious crepe-like pancakes filled with minced beef, served with a side of sauerkraut = Excellent

Silesian dumplings – loved the silky texture and flavour of these glutinous dumplings. Also came with a side of sauerkraut = Excellent

Traditional meat stew – sour! The sauerkraut in this was very overpowering! Hardly any traces of the stew’s other ingredients could be detected (ie. diced beef, pork sausage, dried prunes) = Not bad

Polish gnocchi – quite similar to Italian gnocchi, very filling. Beef goulash was richly flavoured with tomatoes = Not bad

Overall:

The experience was like dining at someone’s house, except that you’re being served by waitresses wearing wianeks (flower wreaths) on their heads. The atmosphere at this restaurant was intimate and cozy, and the decor was folksy and nanna-like (think fruit printed table cloths). Although the menu is quite small, what they do have to offer is delightful genuine Polish fare.