Chicken

Grill Me

357a Hawthorn Rd, Caulfield 9533 0550

Spicy Melbourne burger

(grilled lean beef patty, havarti cheese, roasted peppers, dill pickles, lettuce, red onion, peri peri aioli)

served with chips, herb aioli and peri peri aioli

= Not bad

Chicken Delight burger

(grilled marinated chicken breast fillet, crispy bacon, havarti cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion, herb aioli)

served with chips, herb aioli and peri peri aioli

= Good

Overall:

Great value for money as the burgers here are enormous. The thick beef patty was well cooked however was lacking in flavor, while the chicken fillet was deliciously juicy and tender. The chips were crunchy and well seasoned, and you can’t really go wrong serving aioli with chips. A nice burger place but nothing outstanding.

David & Camy Noodle Restaurant

605 Station St, Box Hill 9898 8398

Taiwan Beef Noodle Soup

A tasty combination of soft noodles, tender beef and tart pickled mustard greens

= Not bad

Peking Pork Dumpling in Spicy Sauce

Sizeable dumplings filled with a juicy pork filling, covered in a very spicy sauce (which I wasn’t a fan of as it had some sour bits in it)

= Not bad

Fried Chicken and Prawn Dumpling

= Not bad

Overall:

If you are in the mood for dumplings, steer clear of this place. Yes the dumplings were admittedly big however the fillings were so-so and the dumpling skins were lumpy, thick and chewy (we ended up just eating the fillings and discarded the dumpling skins). Service was stony and unfriendly, and our dishes were plonked on our table without the staff members even looking at us. I’m not sure what the rest of the menu is like but I doubt I’ll return to find out.

Takumi

32 Bourke St, Melbourne 9650 7020

Edamame and Sake

Takumi’s Special Wagyu Beef

(thinly sliced wagyu eye fillet grilled on the outside topped with finely diced onion and lightly dressed in refreshing citrus seasoning)

Tsukune

(grilled chicken meatball skewers)

Salmon Carpaccio

(salmon sashimi infused in tangy carrot, onion and soy sauce seasoning)

Jo-hire eye fillet steak and Karubi wagyu beef bolar blade

Mixed salad, Squid, Salmon

Sweet red bean ice cream and Green tea ice cream

Overall:

The quality of the food here was fantastic. Everything tasted fresh and the flavours were superb. I found the usage of lard/fat to coat the grill plate quite interesting. No wonder the meat here tasted so good. We came with a Groupon voucher and definitely felt that we had snapped up a terrific deal. The staff were efficient and the “smokeless” grills that they use here are great as it meant that you could leave without having that strong grill smell attached to your clothes and hair.

Mr Ringo’s Pizza (plus your chance to win Menulog vouchers!)

Shop 1/127 Jacksons Rd, Noble Park North 9790 0122

Ringo’s Super Special

(ham, salami, capsicum, mushroom, olives, prawns, pineapple, garlic, oregano)

Aussie Pizza

(ham, bacon, egg)

Satay Chicken

(satay sauce, chicken, onion, pineapple, cheese)

Overall:

There was no food in the house and the weather was wet and horrible outside, making it the perfect night for getting takeaway food delivered to our doorstep. I had recently been invited by Menulog to try out their service, which turned out to be super easy to use. In case you have never heard of Menulog, it is Australia’s Number 1 online takeaway service that hosts over 3500 restaurants. The way it works is simple:

Head to the Menulog website
Enter your suburb or postcode
Choose from a list of restaurants who are a part of your local Menulog community
Order your meal from the online menu
Decide when you would like your meal delivered, including the time you would like it to arrive. (You can also choose to pickup your meal in person)
Checkout and pay.
You will then receive an SMS confirmation as to when your order will be ready

What I also liked about Menulog were the promotions on offer (eg. 10% off your first online order at certain places) and the accessible reviews that have been written about each place.

And thanks to the generosity of Menulog, I have two $10 vouchers to be given away! Simply click on the link below for your chance to win! (entries close 4th July)

WIN 1 of 2 $10 Menulog Vouchers

Now back to the food. We decided to have a pizza night and chose Mr Ringo’s Pizza because of all the positive reviews on the site. This was definitely a good choice because the pizzas we ordered were pretty good! Not only were they delivered on time, they arrived hot, had a nice crispy base (which wasn’t too oily), and had an ample amount of topping on each pizza. I will certainly be ordering pizza from this place again in the future.

Charlie & Co Burgers

Emporium Melbourne, 287 Lonsdale St, Melbourne 8609 8136

Southern Belle Chicken Burger (Southern spiced chicken breast, tomato, cheese and chilli coleslaw)

Classic Charlie Burger (Wagyu patty, tomato, gherkins, garden leaves, aioli, Charlie’s tomato sauce, brie)

Parmesan & Truffle fries

Overall:

After reading such complimentary reviews I found the burgers to be disappointingly average. The bread was rather dry and the burger fillings unexceptional. There are definitely many other places out there that serve better burgers. On a positive note, the fries were quite good and I liked the buzzer system (akin to Chemist Warehouse) that they have in place here.

Almazett

208 Balaclava Rd, Caulfield North 9509 8959

Pickled turnips (stained pink with beetroot), Pickled carrots, Hommus, Baba Ghanouj and Tabouleh, served with warm pita bread

= Good

Fatayer Bi Jibneh (filo pastry with feta cheese and herbs) and Fatayer (filo pastry with spinach and pine nuts)

Crisp golden pastry filled with tasty fillings.

= Good

Falafel

Deep fried mixture of chickpeas, broad beans, crushed wheat and spices, served with Tahina.

Slightly dry, so be generous with the Tahina.

= Not bad

Chicken wings

Char grilled chicken wings with garlic and lemon. Simple yet AMAZING.

= Excellent

Roast potatoes with herbs

= Not bad

Whole grilled fish with Tahina, walnuts, coriander, garlic, pine nuts and chilli

= Not bad

Shish Tawook (barbecued skewers of chicken fillets with a garlic sauce)

= Good

Lubia Bi Zeit (green beans, tomato and olive oil) and Riz Moufalfal (rice with pine nuts)

= Good

Rahet El Halkoum (traditional Turkish Delight) and Baklava (layers of filo pastry filled with crushed nuts in blossom syrup)

= Good

Mahalabiya (milk pudding served with pistachio nuts and blossom syrup)

= Good

Overall:

I love the Almazett Mezza Menu that they have here. You are served a set menu but can go back and order more items from the regular menu at any point in time, essentially making this an ‘all you can eat’ menu option (which always leads to me devouring plate after plate of delicious chicken wings). The atmosphere is comfortable and the service is fantastic (accommodating, efficient and very friendly). Note that this place only opens for dinner and that a belly dancer performs on Friday and Saturday nights (so be prepared for some up-close staccato hip movements, belly rolls and plenty of shimmying!)

Popol Nah

171 Lygon St, Carlton 9347 3293

Empanada vegetariana

Chickpea, sweet potato and silver beet in baked pastry with crema fresca

= Good

Patatas bravas

Crispy baked potatoes with tomato sauce and aioli

= Excellent

Anafre de chorizo

Cheese fondue, chorizo and corn chips

= Excellent

Albondigas

Lamb and beef meatballs in a tomato sofrito

= Good

Ensalada de vegetables

Shredded zucchini, kale, cucumber and extremely sour pickled vegetables

= Not bad

Pollo con adobo

Fresh baked chicken breast in adobo with grilled corn and pumpkin

= Not bad

Arroz en leche

Rice pudding, caramel and banana

= Not bad

Prana chai with agave syrup

= Good

Overall:

Popol Nah (The People’s House) offers a tasty selection of fresh Latin American food as well as Latin American drinks. I sampled their Chicha Morada (a drink made from purple corn, pineapple, cinnamon and cloves) which tasted strange at first but turned out to be delightfully refreshing. Service was lovely and the decor was funky and artistic. All in all I was very happy with this Groupon voucher purchase so I will definitely be coming back to sample the rest of their menu and devour more of their terrific cheese fondue.

Nieuw Amsterdam

106-112 Hardware Street, Melbourne 9602 2111

House baked sourdough

Black kingfish ceviche

Chicken waffles

Smokey beef brisket

Rabbit meatballs

Grits fritters

Baked eggplant

Peanut butter sandwich

Pumpkin donuts

Thoughts:

House baked sourdough – tasted more like regular bread than sourdough as it did not have that mild sour taste. However this bread did have a crispy yet oily crust reminiscent to that of pan fried pizza base = Good

Black kingfish ceviche – served with daikon, dashi dressing, crunchy quinoa and finger limes. A fresh and cool combination of flavours and textures = Good

Chicken waffles – strong flavoured pate, terrine, crispy chicken skin and orange caramel = Not bad

Smokey beef brisket – juicy pieces of beef served with carrot remoulade = Good

Rabbit meatballs – dry gamey meatballs, undercooked tagliatelle, sofrito, and roast tomato sauce. Note that this dish is no longer on the menu = Bad

Grits fritters – marvelously fluffy fritters served with a variety of sweetcorn and heirloom beetroots = Good

Baked eggplant – served with grilled tofu, mushrooms and spiced yogurt = Good

Peanut butter sandwich – served with cherry ripe ice cream, peanuts, salted caramel and chocolate sauce. It’s such a shame that this dessert is no longer on the menu as it was delicious! = Good

Pumpkin donuts – crispy deep fried donuts served with Kentucky bourbon whipped cream. The donuts by themselves are quite dry so need to be eaten together with the cream = Not bad

Overall:

Great food, good service, dark and sleek atmosphere. This place is absolutely worth visiting.

Noble Calzones

238 Railway Parade, Noble Park 9791 2699

The Sweet Hot Chick

Pepper Steak with Goats Cheese

Choc Berry Double Bliss calzone

Thoughts:

The Sweet Hot Chick – sweet chilli chicken, capsicum, onion, fresh chilli (that is actually hot) and herbs = Good

Pepper Steak with Goat Cheese – sliced steak (bland and chewy), onion, capsicum, chevre (goat cheese) and peppercorns = Not bad

Choc Berry Double Bliss calzone – chocolate fondant and berry calzone served with vanilla ice cream. Although the photo I took of this is not particularly appetising, this calzone was actually quite tasty. The sweet butter dough reminded me of donuts and the fondant itself had the right amount of sweetness to it and was not overly rich = Good

Overall:

The terrific thing about this place is that all the meat and dairy used here are certified halal products and that no pork products are used or kept on the premises. The menu items that contain ham and bacon are in fact beef ham and turkey bacon (I had no idea that turkey bacon existed!). The service was incredibly warm and friendly, and the food tasty and exciting.

Blue Chillies

182 Brunswick St, Fitzroy 9417 0071

Lohbak

Curry laksa

Thoughts:

Lohbak – spiced chicken mince and carrot wrapped in fried bean curd skin (that was very salty), served with a mild sweet chilli sauce = Not bad

Curry laksa – egg and rice noodles with bean curd, fishcake, fresh crunchy green beans and pieces of chicken. I could not get enough of this! Best curry laksa that I’ve had in Melbourne so far! = Excellent

Overall:

Great atmosphere, friendly service, amazing laksa. So I came here with a few girlfriends and after we had each ordered a bowl of laksa, we all agreed that it was better here than at Laksa King (sorry Laksa King). So if you are a fan of laksa (like I am), come and give this place a go (and let me know what you think).