Tom Phat, Brunswick

I've seen this place, Tom phat , on review a lot of times.but never gotten around to go there, because , as the name suggested, I''m not really a big fan of fusion thai and western food.I mean in the description it said, omelette served with chinese sausage is one of their most popular dishes. I mean how awkward does that sound... nevertheless.. 

So when A asked me to pick a place for lunch, I went thru my " brunch secrets " melbourne pocket guide, and came across Tom Phat again!!  I pulled the card out and thought, yeah why not give it a try since it was only a short 8 minutes drive away from my place. 

to my pleasant delight, the place looks very sheek and nice, with wooden furniture emblazoned the place ( to be honest, I have a thing for woody furnitures. it gives a place it's masculinity, yet homey and clean touch) . and not only that, I waited for A for an hour. i didn't realise I waited for him for that long, because they had lounge- music on. So i was just sitting there chilling out , and as usual read my newspaper while waiting!! it's pretty atmospheric, especially for someone like me who just finished exams, and couldn't be bothered doing anything else apart from chilling out. 

anyway back to the food, 

This is their top dish of the year, and it was voted 2007 Tom phat's best dish in the cheap food guide. it's roti & omelette. and yes roti, is indeed roti canai served with free-range egg omelette, with bacons, mushroom. this dish was $10.90 

anyway, it was the other dish i was trying to show in this photo, but i dug in to quick, and ate it before i took a photo. ( pardon me , can't really blame someone who hasn't had anything to eat for the last 12 hours.. )I had big breakfast: nice big portion of 2 poached eggs served on top of toasts, baked tomatoes, mushrooms, rockets.. and did i miss out anything.. hmm.. This was $14.90. 

anyway , i'm very impressed with the photo quality. they were taken using my phone!! lol:P) 

Tom Phat 

184 Sydney road,Brunswick

Shira Nui

I heard of this place from a friend,B ,who visited Melbourne a while ago. As he was only here for a visit, he didn't remember the exact location quite well. and all that I could gather from him was how great the food was.

So, when L invited me for his birthday dinner last week, I went ecstatic when he mentioned that we were going to Shira nui. cos it sounded exactly like what B pronounced!

Shiranui is located 30mins out of the city in a suburb called Glen Waverley. Glen Waverley is not new to any Melbournians arounds. as it's famous for its cafe strip which opens till late.and some of the asian restaurants there are pretty good too. 

Shira nui won a one hat award last year, and is famous for its omakase menu. Omakase means the chef will dip into his impressive sushi repertoire to feed you. and all that he requires is for you to tell him that you're full. It's especially good for someone like me, because i'm always pretty indecisive when it comes to food. 

so we had 8 dishes altogether that night... 

tuna belly sushi : apparently considered as the wagyu part of fish.    

                                                               salmon sushi 

beef sushi 

'

mackerel under white sea weed 

 ark- shell clam sushi 

                tempura sushi  

and well, as you could see, I did not label the last two. I didn't quite remember what they were but one of them was king fish! the bill came up to $366.00 for four people.

Shira-nui

247 Spring vale road

Glen waverley. 

Westin hotel balcony

If ever you're in the city one day and not knowing where to go when the sun is shining brightly outside. 

May i kindly suggest Westin hotel's balcony? It's the best chill out place you can ever have in the city. The balcony opens to a view of Collin street, Swanston street. On top of all,They have quite an exensive list of drinks on the menu too!! 

Westin hotel

Swanston Street.

Greco's Cheesecake!

It's that time of the year again. this blog is getting some love finally! 

 Greco's  is my favourite place for dessert. There are two Greco's in melbourne, one's located in Crown casino, and the other one on Chapel street. frankly speaking, I prefer the one on Chapel as it is less crowded,less busy and as you would expect, the service is much better. On top of that, there's a lot of one hour free parking spot along Chapel street. the one in crown casino is always really packed, and I rememebr the last time i was there, I was asked by the waitress a zillion times if my friends were going to arrive any time soon ( I had a big table to myself while waiting for my friends to rock up) .

 Greco's is very popular at night because of the late opening hours, (11-12a.m on weekdays, and 1-2am on weekends).I normally go there for dessert eventhough they have a tapas bar  and serve lunch and dinner.  In terms of dessert, they have almost everything to satisfy your insatiable appetite. e.g meringue,  sticky date pudding ,baklava,various type of cheesecakes.

 As a cheesecake lover, I must say the cheesecakes are immaculate. My top favourites are Mars Bars cheesecake, Honey comb cheese cake, Mixed berry cheesecake and Sticky date pudding served with Ice- cream. 

 a little tip though, is that the takeaway price and dine-in price for cake differs by $2.00 . well, at times like this, I guess it's better off taking away desserts! 

Greco

Crown casino or Chapel street. 

Il Solito Posto

It was a lovely day with the temperature peaking at 33 degree yesterday, and I simply could not justify having dinner at home, eventhough I probably should have as exam's round the corner. Il solito posto is located in the city, and the place itself is small but gives off an english cottage home  feeling. 

this hub is separated into two sections: fine dining/bistro. Bistro only serves a handful of pasta dishes, entrees and desserts. the pasta I had last night, was probably the best I've ever had. I had Cassercia served with chicken, mushroom, pancetta, spring onion and cream at a price of $ 27.50. and It was absolutely amazing.

Tiramisu is a must have too! 

Its definitely the"must go place of the month!". This has also made me realized that there are a lot of hidden gems in Melbourne city itself. 

Il solito posto

113 Collin street,Melbourne 3000

Rockpool Melbourne

orange creme brulee

brussel sprouts in burnt butter

four taste of the sea sashimi

36 months aged rib eye on the bone wagyu beef

What better way to spend a significant day than having a wholesome meal at the world reknown Rockpool, Melborune.

Rockpool, Melbourne is located at Crown casino. There's also another one in Sydney located in The Rocks. Being well known for its signature waygu beef steak, I went in with rather high expectation.

The place is dimly lit, with tall wine racks adorning the walkway towards the main dining hall.High ceiling, dark wood wall panelling, the place looks absolutely wonderful and filled with elegance.All Tables were decorated with a table lamp, and the leather seats were amazingly comfortable.

Below is a little description of what we had

1) Four taste of the sea : appetizer portion, a bit small for sharing. the sashimi were very fresh

2) brussel sprouts: well flavoured, and portion went well as a side dish to wagyu beef

3) aged rib eye on the bone wagyu: we ordered "for two "portion. meat was amazingly succulent, juicy, cooked till medium rare. and serve with own choice of condiments. I had it with squeezes of lemon juice. D let out sighs of contentment everytime he chews his meat, It was amazingly satisfying.

4) creme brulee: orangy zest taste, very nicely caramelised. not too sweet, and the texture was soft.

5) portugal wine: somelier helped us with this, it went very well with the beef, dry and smooth.

customer service: absolutely amazing.

It was a great dining experience, and I absolutely love this place. Bill came to $174.50. A bit pricy but for world fine dining standard, and the fond memories. It's totallly worth it.

Rockpool Melbourne

walk in reservation is feasible, but prior reservations are highly recommended to avoid long waits.

for more info:www.rockpool.com

little crew's rating : worth five chef hat ratings!

McDonald breakfast

I know i shouldn't be writing about food all the time. but I really can't help it, as food is probably the biggest indulgence i have at this present time.

Just a little insight to my life, A very good friend of mine,D and I drive around Melbourne every sunday to source for the heartiest breakfast. However, recently, Since he started working on Sunday, We haven't had much time to wander around. a perfect example would be today, Kept in mind the fact that D is a bit unreliable when it comes to time, I've pre arranged a breakfast venue which is near his work place so that we could enjoy breakfast and coffee quickly before we disembark in our separate ways. As it turned out, Bistro D'Orsay is closed on sunday, and none of the restaurants nearby were opened.As we were pressed for time,  We had no choice but ended up in McDonalds.

McDonalds, is definitely a great place to grab a quick coffee, muffins ,burger and hash brown. Actually that said, I think it would only be a great fast food place in most of the asian countries, where Western breakfast is hard to get. In Melbourne, streets are filled with worthy cafes. 

Sadly to say however, My MacBreakfast was not a very emotionally fulfilling breakfast. The muffin is a bit too soft, too moist and crumbles too easily. The cappucino that I had was decent but it could have been better. The good thing about is is that it's everywhere. On the contrary, the quality is not as fine, 

little crew's rating: i'll leave that up to you. :)