Korean BBQ @ Wooga, Melbourne

Every few months, the craving for Korean barbeque hits. When it does, we always go to West Melbourne to one of two restaurants. On this occasion, because we were catching up with a couple of friends and needed to book, we went for Wooga instead of Donwoori (where you can't book—although I'm fairly sure they're both owned and run by the same people).

Delish kimchi stew

 

The reason we favour these joints is because of their quality and value—nice meat, cheap drinks and insane value for money in the form of their set menus. Because there were four of us, we chose Set B, which for $68 gets you plenty of meat and a delicious kimchi pork and tofu stew.

Kimchi pancake

We also ordered a kimchi seafood pancake but I could have taken or left that—reasonably tasty but doesn't match up to the other stuff.

Free banchan

For me, the best part about it is that you get as much banchan (the pickled side dishes) as you want! For a kimchi fiend like me, this part is very important. Their kimchi also happens to be homemade and ridiculously tasty, much better than the stuff you buy in a box.

 Beef rib

Scotch fillet

I know other people feel differently but the meat at Korean BBQ is almost secondary for me. Nonetheless, for those interested, in Set B you get good quality beef brisket, rib, scotch fillet and my favourite—marinated flank. They also help you cook it but if you prefer to take the reigns, they are happy with that as well. Like all good Korean BBQ, Wooga also has an excellent ventilation system installed, minimising the choking smoke and inevitably smelly hair and clothing that comes with such outings.

And the verdict? Inviting decor, friendly service (unless you try and cook the poached pork belly from Set C on the grill—apparently that is a big no no), amazing prices (on this occasion it came to $25 pp including drinks) and great food. A fantastic place to bring friends and catch up over mountains of meat and kimchi.

Tom Toon Thai Noodle Cafe, Melbourne

After unsuccessfully trying to get a booking and subsequently trying to walk into Jinda Thai without success, we decided to head around the corner to Tom Toon Thai Noodle Cafe—a restaurant we'd walked past many times but never ventured into.

Like at Jinda, the service is friendly and inviting but unlike Jinda, the place isn't packed, which actually makes for a nice change.


M and I chose a dish for ourselves and a couple of others to share. We also each got a glass of our favourite Thai milk iced tea. I chose a bowl of boat noodles (although they call it something else on the menu), something I get whenever I see it on the menu at a Thai restaurant. He went for the crispy pork with Chinese broccoli, one of his favourites. My boat noodles were pretty good, flavoursome and generous. Even though the stewed beef in it was delicious, I didn't touch the sliced beef which was bland and not the greatest quality. I couldn't detect any blood added to the soup, which while a bit disappointing, isn't a deal breaker for me. M's pork was tasty and a very generous serving of nicely crispy pork belly, but the capsicum was a bit of a confusing addition which didn't add anything to the dish.


To share we got a spicy beef salad which was abundant with the same sliced beef which I was ignoring in my noodle soup. However, the salad itself was very tasty with plenty of spice and herby flavour. The dish I was perhaps most looking forward to was the Thai fermented sausages, something I had been wanting to try for ages and something that (I don't think) is on the menu at Jinda. These were very yummy, tangy and nicely flavoured meat (and rice?) in a crunchy sausage skin.

For dessert M got his favourite pandan layer cake which he thoroughly enjoyed. Although I had been wanting to their sticky rice with mango, alas even my stomach has its limits so we'll save it for another visit.

Photo of the week: salted caramel cronut @ Ricardo's Cafe, Canberra

Salted caramel cronut $5

Invented and subsequently trademarked by Dominique Ansel in NYC, the cronut (a croissant-donut hybrid) has been sweeping the world and leaving a path of flaky crumbs in its wake. One of the few places that does a cronut in Canberra is Ricardo's cafe and patisserie (fortunately for them, I'm not sure Ansel's trademark extends beyond the Land of the Free) in Jamison Plaza.

Walking into the cafe, it looked very unremarkable and decidedly un-hip, very much like your average suburban cafe. Although I had been wanting to try their donut with injectable jam, their solitary jam flavour of berry didn't at all excite me. The cronuts, however, piqued my interest. While it was without a doubt decadent, the oil and oozed out as I bit into it was a big turn off. I don't mind eating fats—they are now considered a healthy part of a balanced diet and by many accounts, animal fats like butter and lard are much better for you than say, transfat-laden palm oil. I love a good croissant, the butterier the better. However the fat in this cronut was not butter but just oozing vegetable oil—not my idea of pleasant.

Quick review: Can Tho, Canberra

By now you've probably detected a bit of a pattern with my eating habits, a not insignificant aspect of which is that I eat a lot of Vietnamese food. Canberra doesn't have very many good restaurants, but I'm fortunate to have a good Vietnamese restaurant not too far from my nest.

Weirdly enough, despite having been here on a few occasions, I've never actually tried their pho. I've heard pretty good things about it though. What I have here every time is their pork chops—be it with a noodle soup, with rice, in a bun, or on this occasion with cold rice noodles and wrapped with herbs and lettuce. A little word of warning if you're squeamish like I am about big chunks of animal fat, you may want to pry apart these little pork parcels because inside you'll find slices of unadulterated pork fat. I have no idea if this is traditional, but I take out the fat before I eat it. However, you won't have the problem with the actual pork chops...no hidden fat there. What I also love about the pork chops at this place is that they give you two of them, most Vietnamese places nowadays will only give you one. Most importantly though, the flavour is good, the service is friendly enough and the prices are very decent by Canberra standards.

Post-graduation dinner @ Cutler & Co, Melbourne

The reason I had come back to Melbourne earlier than originally planned was to make my graduation ceremony. After spending 3 hours of my day sitting down and listening to (amongst other things) academics wax lyrical about the Rothschild Prayer Book, I got my certificate, smiled for the cameras and eventually made my way to nearby Cutler & Co for dinner. The fit out of the place very much reminded me of places like Cumulus Inc (owned by the same people who own Cutler) and Saint Crispin (another favourite of ours)—unassuming shopfront, minimalist and bare but nonetheless chic. If I had to describe it in one word, it would be 'trendy'.

Soon after being seated, we were offered the choice of still, sparkling or tap water. While this may seem like a stock standard question in many restaurants, it's one that raises my ire. I had noticed a recent trend in restaurants (both up- and down-market ones) away from trying to sell you wasteful bottled still water. Instead, more and more places simply offer their diners (free) tap water as you take your seat. While I don't expect every restaurant to offer me free house-made sparkling and still filtered water like Pizarro in London (review to come) does, I can't help but sideeye a bit when a restaurant tries to push bottled water onto you.

However, this little hiccup aside, the rest of the evening went well. The food, particularly two of the seafood dishes we got, was pretty spectacular.

Appetisers: anchovy pastries; and pork scratchings with kimchi
We weren't entirely sure what the anchovy pastries were going to be but I know I had anticipated something like boquerones en vinaigre made with fresh anchovies. Instead what arrived were narrow cigars of a deep fried canoli-like pastry encasing preserved anchovies with salsa verde. They weren't terrible but they were quite salty and altogether pretty uninspiring. We however enjoyed the pork scratchings immensely: glorious puffed up sheets of pork skin which fizzed and crackled as we doused them with the kimchi mayo. Delicious.

Entrées:  Hervey Bay scallop, abalone, soy milk custard & oyster broth; and smoked duck breast, salsify, prune & radicchio
Even though it sounded amazing, I opted out of getting the scallop entree as I was already choosing a seafood main. However, as soon as M's entree arrived at the table, the green-eyed monster emerged. His dish looked and tasted amazing, raw thinly sliced scallops and abalone, baby king oyster mushrooms, wakame and soy milk custard (like an eggy tofu) swimming in the most flavoursome and enticing broth you could imagine. For me this was the highlight of the meal.

When I managed to tear myself away from M's bowl I also enjoyed my duck entree. The smoked duck, although the skin was lacking crispiness, had a super smokey flavour which was right up my alley and as I've already mentioned on this blog, salsify is definitely up there with my favourite vegetables and I wish more Australian restaurants would serve it. The radicchio wasn't at all bitter and the prune provided a nice contrast to the saltiness of the duck. Overall though, I still think the dish veered a little too far towards the land of salt.

Mains: Dry aged lamb saddle, confit belly & garlic sauce; and John Dory, seaweed, grilled octopus, shiitake & eggplant
People who know me reasonably well will know that I'm not a lamb person (except when it's slow cooked) as I find the flavour far too musky. The lamb/mutton in China isn't at all like that but for some reason (some people have suggested that it's the feed the animals are given, others have said it's because the animal isn't bled properly upon slaughter) Australian lamb (unless it's slow cooked) has that overwhelming animalic, faecal note to its flavour. Anyway one bite of M's lamb was enough for me but he really enjoyed the dish and offered that it was some of the nicest lamb he'd ever had.

As much as M likes lamb, I like octopus 100x more. In fact, this dish was the reason I chose to come here instead of Ezard and why I chose to go à la carte instead of with the tasting menu (lest I wouldn't get a big enough portion of this dish). The verdict? Pretty fucking yum, as my friend T would say. The eggplant puree was smoky and smooth, the fish was sweet and nicely cooked while the octopus was tender and flavoursome. Admittedly it wasn't quite as good as the scallop entrée but still pretty amazing.

After all of that (plus the potatoes we had as a side) we were suitably stuffed and so had no room for dessert.

As good as the food here was, I can't overlook the most disappointing element of our dinner, the service. While the other service staff here seemed perfectly content and competent at their jobs, our waitress for the evening seemed intent on projecting her misery onto us. Perhaps she was just having a bad day or perhaps she really was that vexed at my daring to ask to swap out grapefruit (my mortal enemy) from a mocktail in favour of elderflower and soda (the answer was 'no'). All in all though, it wasn't enough to ruin an enjoyable evening.

Quick bite @ Casa Ciuccio, Melbourne

Because I had to go early to the Royal Exhibition Building to pick up and be fitted for my regalia, we didn't have time to stop for breakfast beforehand. But after the fitting we had a spare 40 minutes before I had to be seated, so we sneaked over to nearby Gertrude St for a quick bite. After walking up and down the street a couple of times and spotting our dinner destination that evening (Cutler & Co), we settled on Casa Ciuccio, a cute little (what appeared to be) Iberian themed cafe-restaurant.

Because we were in a bit of a hurry, I chose a bocadillo/sandwich, the Kick Ass—described on the menu as Wagyu pastrami, horseradish and rocket—after making a last minute change from the Cubano (spiced pork chipotle and coriander). After a bit of a wait, it came to the table toasted and looking like a panini. While the ingredients were fresh, the product definitely didn't match the description on the menu. The promised rocket was instead pea shoots while the beef didn't look to me like wagyu pastrami—it was brown and dry rather than pink and supple and there was next to zero marbling in sight. I wouldn't have actually minded as the beef was tasty enough—decently flavoursome and pleasantly peppery—but the biggest problem with the filling was that there wasn't enough of it. I can understand a thin layer of filling when it's something ultra premium and intensely flavoured like jamon iberico, but they definitely should have been more generous with these fillings. The result was that the sandwich was just rather dry and bland. M got the free range baked eggs and added (and paid for) bacon. After a very long wait, it came to the table sans any sight of bacon. Because we were in a hurry we didn't bother to complain about it. The baked eggs were actually quite tasty; just would have been better with ya know...bacon.

#throwbackthursday reviews: Pho @ Phu Pho, Perth & The Pho Chu, Melbourne

Phu Pho
I was back in Perth for a few weeks after returning from the UK and China. I hadn't seen my old friend Dr ST in yonks and as per our uni days, we found a time to meet up over food. We had wanted to go to another Vietnamese place along the strip in East Vic Park but it was closed that night. So instead we went down the street to Phu Pho. While it's not something I would normally order, for entree we've decided to share a salt pepper squid. I normally prefer this made the traditional way with the squid tentacles but this was still tasty—very tender and flavoursome.

Unfortunately, though, the pho was pretty disappointing. The soup wasn't very aromatic, the beef wasn't wafer thin and raw as it hit the table and the noodles, perhaps the most disappointing element for me, were rehydrated dried noodles rather than the much tastier, chewier fresh noodles.


The Pho Chu
This visit to the Pho Chu was the start of my quasi tradition of post-flight pho dinners. On this occasion, my friend P picked me up and to thank him, I took him to Victoria St, Richmond for some hot noodle action. The Pho Chu is definitely one of the most popular restaurants in the Vic St precinct and on the night we went it was packed. I was feeling greedy so I got a large bowl ($10) and we decided to share some rice paper rolls ($8?). I didn't even get to really touch the rice paper rolls because I was struggling enough with my bowl of pho. While, as with all bowls of pho, it was tasty and satisfying, it definitely isn't the best you can get in Melbourne. The broth was very mellow and underwhelming while the noodles were definitely too soft for my liking. The decor and service is however amongst the best of the pho restaurants along Victoria Street.

Gelateria Primavera , Spring St Grocer, Melbourne

Medium gelato: $7.20 for three flavours

I'll start this post with a caveat: I'm not a fan of gelato. I can totally understand why others dig it but for me it just doesn't measure up to proper ice cream. The reason is the very nature of gelato itself—the milk fat content necessitates a higher amount of sugar to avoid gelato crystalising—usually rendering it a watery, sickly sweet, albeit very smooth, mess to my palette. While I appreciate that this often brings out the flavour of the ingredients, it just doesn't do it for me personally. I prefer my ice cream super creamy, and not very sweet. I think gelato definitely suits being made in the traditional Italian way, where the flavours are mostly fruity and 'sorbet' like. For example, the strawberry gelato I had in Florence was delicious. 

Anyway, there is nothing really wrong with the gelato at Gelateria Primavera (admittedly a clever and catchy name) at Spring St Grocer. From most accounts, they do a fine gelato. I had been here before and had the gelato but couldn't remember whether I liked it. This probably pointed to a 'no' being the likely answer as I so seldom find a gelato I like that  I remember it when I do. But alas, since we stopped here I wanted to give it another go. We got a medium with three flavours: fior di latte, pistachio and salted caramel. I had one taste of the salted caramel and left the rest to M. The fior di latte and pistachio, however, were really well flavoured. I particularly enjoyed the honey undertones to the pistachio. However, after the first spoonful the sickly sugariness hit me and I remembered why gelato and I are a terrible couple.

 Cuban sandwich $11

Our friend wanted something a bit more substantial so opted for the Cuban sandwich upon M's (who works nearby) recommendation.

The Cuban Sandwich from the Spring Street Grocer is M's pick for one of Melbourne's Best (and best value) Sandwiches. Swiss Cheese, pickled peppers, generous helpings of moist pulled pork, slathered in good mustard and doused in spicy hot sauce. The flavours are perfectly balanced and the quality of the ingredients is exceptional (as would be expected from the Grocer). Rich and indulgent, the Cuban is the perfect lunch on the run when you're in this end of town.

Hien Vuong Pasteur, Melbourne

It's become a quasi-tradition for me to go for a bowl of pho soon after landing in Melbourne. This fine tradition was continued on Thursday night when we headed over to Hien Vuong Pasteur (I joked that given the name, we could at least be certain it was salmonella free dohoho) in Footscray.

I've been on a large and arduous quest for the best bowl of pho in Melbourne for years and had heard good things about HVP's. Thus far, my personal favourite is from Ninh Kieu on Victoria St in Richmond and so it remained after trying HVP's.

M went for the braised beef brisket noodles which while the brisket was nicely soft and unctuous, the soup itself had a overtly sour and quite unpleasant flavour. My rare beef pho (what I always get), while better, wasn't anything to write home about. As discussed in my review of My's in Canberra I look for a few things when judging a bowl of pho. While the noodles and the beef here weren't bad, the broth kinda let it down. It was one of those pho broths which don't possess much flavour beyond being sweet and MSG-laden. No richness or depth of flavour from spices was to be detected. The spring rolls were just kind of your stock standard spring rolls...tasty enough but utterly unmemorable other than somewhat of a pong from the pork filling.

While the meal was tasty enough (pho is almost always tasty and satisfying to me) I definitely wouldn't rush back.

Photo of the week: hog roast roll from Oink, Edinburgh

A hog roast roll has practically become a must eat in Edinburgh and for good reason...it's bloody delicious. The roll consists of meltingly tender pork (basically pulled pork) from a slow roasted whole pig sandwiched in a soft and chewy white roll. Add crackling and chilli relish (you can choose between that, haggis, sage & onion stuffing, cheese sauce or apple sauce) and a liberal dousing of pepper and you have the perfect quick and cheap (£3.95 for the regular size) lunch.

Quick review: Grand Trailer Park Taverna, Melbourne

We had been talking about coming to this place for a few days now and finally found a time to do it, having missed an opportunity the day before as it was closed for a private function. Perhaps because it was a weekend, the place was a lot emptier than we expected: the inside tables were practically empty and even the al fresco area wasn't filled. So we chose a table outside and straight away I was excited by the condiments station at the table: ketchup, mustard, tabasco and wet towels! For some reason I love it when you can help yourself sauce at the table; it's probably a large factor behind my love for Vietnamese restaurants. Unfortunately, though, the meal went pretty well downhill from there.

Firstly, the chips ($6.50 for a not very large 'large' size) were disappointing—oil laden and not particularly crisp. M and I both chose the McDowell (which seems like their analogue of the Big Mac—double beef, double cheese, lettuce and a creamy sauce) burger and added bacon. Because, ya know, bacon makes everything better. At $17.50 each, it definitely doesn't come cheap, so we were expecting something pretty spectacular. Biting into it, the initial reaction was good enough—cheesy and flavoursome. After subsequent bites though we quickly cottoned on to the mediocrity of the burger. The patty, while flavoursome, was excessively ground up so that it almost had that foamy sausage consistency. As M pointed out, it was the kind of patty you used to get from your 90's fish & chips takeaway. The extra processing might help the patty if the meat you're starting with isn't spectacular but GTPT describe their beef as 'premium'...hmmm. The bread was also a big downer as it was dry and rather unpleasant, whereas to me, a good burger bun should be chewy and spongy. So while the burger was tasty enough, it definitely didn't justify its premium price tag. The search for the best burger in Melbourne continues...

Quick reviews: Ostani Bar & Restaurant and La Rustica, Canberra

Ostani Bar & Restaurant

To celebrate submitting the final assignment in our course, a few of us from work headed over to Ostani at Hotel Realm for a quick bite. I got the club sandwich because I'm quite partial to the things. I guess because hotels are so inexperienced with making club sandwiches, I finally got it (what felt like) half an hour after ordering it. This one was OK but I did find it a quite bland and the sourdough rather dry and uninteresting. TBH I don't think sourdough is the best bread to use for a club. Aioli in lieu of the ketchup I got with my chips would have also been a god send. At the end of the day you don't really go to Ostani for the great food but for a relaxing drink close to work in a nice setting.



La Rustica

La Rustica pretty much epitomizes my perception of the average Canberra restaurant—very mediocre food (and that is putting it nicely), overpriced and just, well...stale. Yep, La Rustica is the kind of experience I would have expected to get in a solid neighbourhood cafe in 1998, if that neighbourhood cafe charged you 2014 Canberra prices.

Their grilled vegetable salad (which promised grilled eggplant and zucchini on the menu) comprised of mostly leaves with literally one slice of zucchini, one of eggplant and a couple of meagre morsels of artichoke and semi dried tomatoes straight out of the jar. This was after they tried to serve us a plain green salad in lieu of the grilled one we had actually ordered. To accompany this stellar creation we got an antipasto platter. Half of it was wild rocket while the other half was filled with bread (of the quality you'd expect at your local Vietnamese bakery), a small amount of prosciutto and salami, and... MORTADELLA. Don't you just love it when the dominant cold cut on your antipasto platter is effectively Italian Polony? Don't get me wrong, there isn't really anything wrong with Mortadella per se, it's just that I expect the antipasto platters I get at restaurants to have things like bresaola, duck liver parfait or rillettes.

All of this may have been forgiven if the pizzas were good; spoiler: they weren't. I'd describe the quality as up there with my local Domino's, with Domino's probably marginally ahead especially given they charge about a fifth of what La Rustica charges for theirs. By now I'm probably beating a dead horse but for anyone who cares: the bases were too thick and nowhere near crispy, the Margherita was VERY bland. Even Stevie Wonder could have seen that there was definitely no buffalo mozzarella in sight. While I don't expec this in every 'gourmet' pizza (a nice fior di latte will suffice), the $30 price tag per pizza justified at least some premium ingredients. I will say though that the Santa Vittoria lemon iced tea they served was delicious!