Seafood

Suga Korean Restaurant

Tofu Canape

(pan fried homemade tofu topped with Suga’s seasoned rice balls and fried lotus chips, served with wasabi mayo)

★★★☆☆

Side Dishes

★★★★☆

Seafood Pajeon

★★★☆☆

Original Fried Chicken

Sadly dry.

★★☆☆☆

Handmade Kal-Gook-Soo

(knife-cut wheat noodles boiled with egg in fish broth, flavoured with seasoning, onions, garlic, topped with carrots and dried seaweed)

★★★★☆

Spicy Soft Tofu Stew

(soft tofu stew with seafood, mushrooms, zucchini, spring onions and onions in spicy hot soup topped with a cracked egg)

★★★★☆

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Soondae

(Korean style sausages stuffed with pork blood, sweet potato glass noodles, carrots, onions, spring onions, seasoned with ginger, salt, garlic and pepper)

With so many other ingredients mixed in, these didn’t taste like your typical blood sausage (ie. they didn’t have that livery iron-rich blood taste)

★★★☆☆

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Cold Noodles

(thin buckwheat noodles served icy cold in beef broth topped with cucumber, beef slices, half a boiled egg, served with vinegar and mustard)

★★☆☆☆

Tofu donuts with vanilla custard and ice cream

There was tofu mixed throughout the batter which made these donuts extra soft on the inside.

★★★☆☆

Overall:

You will find a huge range of traditional and contemporary Korean dishes at Suga, many of which I have not seen served anywhere else. The must try item however is their delicious home-made tofu which is prepared daily on site! Staff were friendly but service was slow. I just have to make sure that I’m hungry but not ravenously hungry the next time I come here.

Suga Korean Restaurant

269 Huntingdale Rd, Chadstone, VIC

(03) 9888 1001

http://www.sugarestaurant.com/

Richmond Oysters

Seafood Platter and Garden Salad

(natural oysters, smoked trout rillettes, Morton Bay bug, prawns, mussels, baby octopus, local scallops, soft shell crab, salt and pepper calamari, grilled fish)

★★★★☆

Golden Gaytime

(honeycomb parfait, peanuts, chocolate)

★★★☆☆

Creme Brulee

(macaroon, salted caramel, chocolate)

★★★☆☆

Overall:

I was truly impressed with the newest branch of Richmond Oysters (which is unexpectedly located in Oakleigh). Spacious and modern, this place emanated a sophisticated yet comfortable feel, and I loved all the live seafood that was on display. Service was excellent (friendly and attentive), and the food was fresh and tasty. We came here with a $99 Cudo voucher which made this meal a bargain (a bottle of wine was also included!), and we left feeling extremely full and content.

Richmond Oysters

66 Portman St, Oakleigh, VIC

(03) 8592 4676

http://richmondoysters.com.au/

Bibimfresh

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Bibimfresh Signature Bowl

(kale, oak leaf, onion, pear, red cabbage, carrots and sashimi served with chojang sauce)

Fresh and healthy!

★★★☆☆

Kim Mari

(deep fried seaweed rolls filled with glass noodles)

I had never come across anything like this before so was curious to try these out. These little parcels of deep fried goodness had great crunch but needed the dipping sauce as they were quite bland.

★★★☆☆

Ddokbokki Carbonara

(rice cakes served with Korean style carbonara sauce, mushroom, prawns and bacon)

Small portion aside, I really enjoyed this carbonara dish! And the combination with the ddokbokki wasn’t anything extreme so this dish worked well for me.

★★★★☆

Spicy Seafood and Tofu Soup

(spicy soup with soft tofu, vegetables, and seafood served with white rice)

Mildly spicy with lots of tofu.

★★★☆☆

Kimchi Fried Rice

(kimchi fried rice, pork, fried egg)

The runny yolk mixed with the spicy fried rice made this really tasty.

★★★☆☆

Matcha Cake

This delicate sponge cake wasn’t overly sweet (which was nice), and had a distinctive matcha taste.

★★★★☆

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I loved all the awesome air plants that they had on each table.

Overall:

Bibimfresh isn’t your typical Korean joint. This place is bright and spacious, and offers a unique menu of delicious fusion food. From customised quinoa bibimbap and green juice to fried chicken and poutine fries, there is definitely something here for everyone.

Bibimfresh

Shop 9, 108 Bourke Street, Melbourne, VIC

(03) 9654 2371

https://bibimfresh.com/

The Garden of Good & Evil

Baked scallops with garlic and chilli butter

Well cooked but tasted purely of butter.

★★★☆☆

Street Corn

★★☆☆☆

Twice cooked pork belly with Asian slaw and micro herbs

Great flavours except the pork belly skin was extremely chewy and difficult to cut/bite through.

★★★☆☆

Soft shell crab tacos with smashed avocado, salsa fresca and chipotle aioli

Crispy crab with a delicious combination of ingredients.

★★★★☆

Beef brisket sliders with smoked hickory BBQ sauce

★★★☆☆

Seafood paella with tiger prawns, calamari, mussels, barramundi and saffron rice

This was in the ‘something bigger’ section of the menu so I was expecting something well…bigger. This dish was a little salt heavy otherwise the flavours were good and the seafood plentiful.

★★★☆☆

Trio of vegetable crisps

An interesting mix of sweet potato, potato and red cabbage.

★★☆☆☆

Overall:

The inside dining area was poorly lit so we decided to grab a table in the lovely back courtyard. Service was friendly and the food enjoyable. Note that the $10 paellas are only available 12-4pm on Sundays.

The Garden of Good & Evil

13 Station Rd, Cheltenham, VIC

(03) 9585 6067

http://www.thegardenchelt.com.au/

Pacinos Italian Family Restaurant

Linguini Marinara

(a selection of fresh seafood, butter, white wine, garlic, parsley)

Generous amount of tasty seafood, al dente pasta, a little bit salt heavy for me.

★★★☆☆

Rosemary Potato Pizza

(mozzarella, bocconcini, potato, rosemary, garlic, caramelised onion)

I was pleasantly surprised with how good this pizza was. Yes the toppings were good, but the stand out was in fact the pizza base: not too thick, not too thin, not too oily, not too dry, perfectly crispy and very tasty.

★★★★☆

Overall:

A terrific family restaurant that offers great service and enjoyable food. Note that parmas are $10 here on Monday nights. Bargain!

Pacinos Italian Family Restaurant

300 Epsom Rd, Flemington, VIC

(03) 9376 4888

http://pacinos.net.au/

Bazaar

I rarely go to buffet restaurants these days due to my somewhat defective satiety centre, however this place certainly impressed me and I am glad that I went. The dining area was sleek and modern, while service was surprisingly outstanding for a buffet restaurant. Our cheery waiter was efficient and very observant which meant that we had fantastic table service.

There was a considerable variety of food and everything was fresh, colourful, and of great quality.

Unlike many other buffet restaurants, the dishes here are not labelled which encourages you to interact with the friendly chefs and ask questions about their creations.

There are daily tapas and steaks available that are made to order. These are brought to your table once they are ready.

The tapas were delicious but my steak was a bit overdone unfortunately.

I lost count how many scallops I ate while I was there…

…but I’m pretty sure I had 3 slices of pizza…

…and I sampled almost every single dessert.

I quite liked the macarons…

…and the dulce de leche I had with my donut was pretty good.

Check out their colourful Sundae Station!

Overall:

A buffet restaurant that I would gladly return to.

Bazaar

7 Staghorn Ave, Surfers Paradise, QLD

5584 1200

https://www.qtgoldcoast.com.au/food-drink/bazaar/

Big Mama

466 Swanston St, Melbourne 9347 2656

Spicy Chicken Bento Box

Korean style marinated chicken served with rice and side dishes

= ★★

Seafood Pa Jun (Korean seafood pancake)

Soft pancake with crispy edges, filled with a generous amount of seafood

= ★★★

Cream Garlic Prawn and Kimchi Fried Rice

This should have been called Cream Garlic Seafood as there was more squid and clams rather than prawns. The creamy seafood was terrific in any case, and went very well with the mildly spicy kimchi fried rice.

= ★★★

Yakisoba

Wok tossed Japanese udon noodles with beef and vegetables

= ★★

Overall:

A great place to go to for a quick, tasty, decently priced Korean/Japanese meal. No wonder Big Mama is so popular among university students.

Note that this place is closed on Sundays and is cash only.

Haru Haru

315 Glenhuntly Road, Elsternwick 9532 9644

Okonomiyaki

Tuna tataki

Agedashi tofu

Beef bulgogi don

Rainbow roll

Sushi (small)

Thoughts:

Okonomiyaki – Japanese pancake with vegetables and squid. A bit too much sauce was added which made the pancake very soft = Not Bad

Tuna tataki – lightly seared tuna with home-made yuzu dressing = Not Bad

Agedashi tofu – deep fried bean curd and dried bonito flakes in dashi soup = Not Bad

Beef bulgogi don – beef bulgogi with rice and vegetables = Not Bad

Rainbow roll – lobster meat, avocado and cucumber inside the rolls. Prawn, avocado, salmon and tuna on top of the rolls. As soon as I saw the word ‘lobster’ I knew that I had to try this. Unfortunately this dish did not taste very fresh and the lobster meat was questionable = Not Bad

Sushi (small) – salmon, tuna, prawn and sweet fried tofu = Not Bad

Overall:

Friendly service, pleasant atmosphere, lacklustre food.

Coco Lounge

93 Kingsway, Glen Waverley 9560 9705

South Carolina tacos

Falafel burger

Seafood spaghetti

Thoughts:

South Carolina tacos – 2 soft shell tacos with dry shredded pork shoulder, spicy BBQ sauce and plenty of coleslaw = Not bad

Falafel burger – warm brioche bun with an extremely thick home made falafel patty, caramelised onion, tasty cheese, beetroot, tomato, lettuce and chilli aioli. A really filling burger = Not bad

Seafood spaghetti – pan seared prawns and scallops with preserved lemon oil and lots of baby peas = Not bad

Overall:

I have been to this place numerous times and have always found the food at dinner to be nicely presented but merely average tasting, whereas the food served at breakfast is quite good. The service is friendly and the atmosphere is casual. There is also an upstairs lounge bar which opens every evening from 5pm until late. Note that this place is in the Entertainment Book.

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.