Chinese – Page 3

Loi Loi (Take-away)

October 5, 2012 Posted in Chinese, Food Reviews, Malaysian, Restaurant Reviews, Richmond, Thai, Vietnamese1 Comment

Loi Loi has become one of my favourite Chinese-Vietnamese eateries on Victoria Street. They serve a wide variety of rice, fried noodle, noodle soup dishes and main meals for dinner even with a mix of Asian inspired dishes that probably isn’t authentic but still offerings something different.

During lunch time, if you eat in or take away as I did this time, they provide complementary sweet corn soup which is a nice starter or finisher to your meal. Service tends to be pretty snappy too even during peak time, but of course, if the food isn’t good why bother? Luckily, the food in general does make you want to go back again.

I ordered the Thai Fried Noodles, and it uses the bee hoon noodles stir fried in a sweet, spicy and salty flavour, coating the noodles just gently. The flavour is a departure to what I usually eat, but nonetheless it is a satisfying dish. With the fish balls, prawns as your main protein, it complements the noodles well. The fried dried onions as a garnish definitely add both texture and a toasty flavour to the dish. You also get the pleasant surprise of chopped peanuts which again just come together so beautifully. I really can’t fault the dish, Loi Loi’s dishes are generous in size, but maybe just one criticism is that its a bit oily. If it tasted this good as a take-away dish, I can’t imagine how much better it would have been fresh from the wok.

As you would, when you go to a Vietnamese restaurant is to order their Crispy Chicken on Rice. As this was a take-away dish, the chicken wasn’t as crispy, sadly. The chicken was also a tad dry, but with the sweet chilli sauce, it makes a perfect combination. I usually prefer the Crispy Chicken and Tomato Rice but I don’t think Loi Loi has that as an option. This dish doesn’t meet the high standards of some of the Springvale restaurants but I think it’s a decent offering. Probably much better if it was served hot and crispy.

As mentioned before, you get a nice Sweet Corn Soup with your meal if you order for lunch. It doesn’t look as appealing here, but it’s tasty and lives up to its name. You probably can find this in many Chinese Food Court eateries, and it’s pretty much the same everywhere. I don’t think you can make a bad Sweet Corn Soup. All in all, nothing too flashy but it’s lovely of Loi Loi to serve this to customers free of charge.

Impressions

Loi Loi doesn’t stray too far away from its Chinese-Vietnamese roots, but still has a few other South-East Asian dishes for added variety. Food is generally above average, and depending on the dish, can be fantastic. Really, if you’re in Richmond, wanting a good meal, Loi Loi is the place to go.

Loi Loi

364 Victoria St
Richmond VIC 3121

Dragon Cookies

August 10, 2012 Posted in Baking, Chinese, Cooking, Malaysian, Recipes3 Comments

Once a year, in late January or early February, Chinese New Year comes along celebrating the next animal. Chinese New Year isn’t as extravagant in Australia but in recent years, the festivals in the Chinese dominated suburbs have gotten larger and larger. I have never experienced an “authentic” CNY in Malaysia, where my parents were born, but they have certainly tried to bring their Malaysian/Chinese culture to Australia. One of the things I love doing is making treats and snacks to celebrate CNY and one of the tastiest treats is the Dragon Cookies. These cookies are so light, it should practically melt in your mouth as soon as you put it in there! It should be crispy and easy to break. It has such a pleasant, slightly buttery flavour but I can’t really describe it. All I know is, it tastes good. Check out the recipe from Home-made Cakes & Pastries – The Best of Patsie Cheong, it’s so easy to make!

Dragon Cookies

Ingredients

150g Butter

150g Icing Sugar

2 Egg Yolks

1 Egg White

300g Cornflour

30g Milk Powder

60g Plain Flour

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method

1. Place the softened butter, icing sugar and eggs (yolks and white) in a bowl.

2. Beat until creamy and light.

3. Slowly stir in the sifted cornflour, milk powder, plain flour and then stir in the vanilla essence.

4. Put it in a piping bag and press out the pattern. This mixture can get quite soft if it’s humid, so it’s best to do this part quickly.

5. Put in oven, bake at 150C for 15 mins or until hard all the way through. (Should come out light yellow in colour) Leave to cool.

6. Enjoy!

Impressions

This is a really simple recipe, but the “Dragon Cookies” can be easily to overcook if you don’t keep watch of them in the oven. As you can see, a few of mine are a tad too golden brown. However, they still taste good, it’s just doesn’t melt in your mouth as well. I have made this every year for the past couple years, and if you have kids it’s great fun for them to pipe and try different shapes, letters, or anything you can think of.

Cinta Raya

June 8, 2012 Posted in Chinese, Food Reviews, Malaysian, Restaurant Reviews, ScoresbyLeave a comment

Cinta Raya is a newly opened (a year or so) Asian Restaurant that primarily serves Chinese/Malaysian cuisine. I believe it started off with more Asian-wide varieties of food, however they went through a change and now it serves mainly Chinese and Malaysian dishes. I too questioned why they had Vietnamese food on their menu, but now they they narrowed their focus, the food has turned out for the better. They are located in Scorseby, not too far away from Knox Shopping Centre and close by to a Woolworths and a few Asian Grocers. So if you’re exhausted from all your grocery shopping, you can take a short walk to Cinta Raya to serve a wide selection of Chinese/Malaysian dishes.

I ordered their Curry Laksa, and it was quite nice, slightly milder but rich enough. I found you could taste the spices through the soup so not too mild, but it’s not packed full of flavour. They include eggplant which adds a different taste to the base but also texturally it’s pleasant. I’m not sure if they still serve it with broccoli and carrots, but I thought it was an odd choice of vegetables to add. Definitely not your standard Curry Laksa ingredients, but nonetheless it was nice with all the tofu and chicken. Overall, it was nice, nothing standout and no disasters which is good. Portion size is also quite good, nothing to complain about.

Their Seafood Hor Fun was quite good too, I think mainly with Hor Fun noodles they need to have a bit of that “Wok Flavour”, slightly charred and fried before adding in the egg sauce. This does just that, and it has all the usual ingredients you would fine in a Hor Fun. Well, apart from the broccoli and cauliflower. I haven’t been there too recently, so this might have changed. Overall, the egg sauce was quite good, definitely one of the better cooked dishes around town.

At Cinta Raya, they also have a selection of main dishes you can order from. We ordered the sweet and sour crab dish. I found these again to have a good balance of flavours, not overly sweet and nicely cooked. The meat wasn’t overcooked at all, so I would order this again if I had the chance.

We ordered the deep fried chicken pieces. I’m surprised it wasn’t drenched it oil, they managed to lightly (as light as you can imagine from deep frying that is) fry it with a nice thin crisp batter surrounding it. I think it’s pretty much your standard Chinese dish, and well, you can’t really go wrong with deep frying.

I love this Balachan Chinese Spinach dish. They sauce is so good, it packs a good heat to it but not overly spicy. You get a nice tangy, sweet and sour flavour to the sauce with the spice that adds another element to the dish. I’m a big fan of this, and it’s just vegetables!

We ordered their soy sauce duck dish with mushrooms and vegetables. I found the sauce to be a tad too salty for my liking, it was also not that great that the duck was a bit too tough and chewy. Duck should never be overcooked, it needs to be moist and tender. A slightly disappointing dish to be honest.

They used to serve complimentary Red Bean soup when they newly opened, however it appears they have stopped providing this, I’m not sure why. I found it to be slightly too sweet, and it masks the red bean flavour a bit. However, it was pleasant to be served this, it was like eating home cooked food.

Cinta Raya doesn’t stray too far from the normal Malaysian/Chinese cuisine, but what it does do, is cook delicious food for everyone to enjoy. It’s a popular restaurant, be warned, it is a small place. It can only fit under 10 tables, so either get it quick or you just might have to wait. Both their lunch and main meals are great, with a few low notes, but overall, I’d give Cinta Raya an overwhelmingly positive review.

Cinta Raya

1381 Ferntree Gully Rd
Scoresby VIC 3179

Lynbrook Hotel

November 16, 2011 Posted in Australian, Chinese, Desserts, Food, Indian, Italian, Lynbrook, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

I came across the Lynbrook Hotel after browsing Urbanspoon’s top Melbourne Buffet Restaurants. Having already tried China Bar, Consevatory and Kitchenworkshop (3 of the top 5), I was surprised to see Lynbrook Hotel so far up the top. Lynbrook? Lynbrook has a hotel?

After my initial shock, I checked out the official website, it said it had a International Buffet Bistro, offering European, Asian and Australian cuisines. This piqued my interest and afterall their prices were quite reasonable too.

We went to try it out for my father’s birthday, and booked the earlier session to avoid the large cohords of people (I expected anyway). Their eating area is quite spacious and clean. It makes for a welcoming dining experience.

The food is grouped into several categories, from Asian (Chinese), European (Italian), Australian, and Indian with a bit of Thai, and of course Desserts.

The Food

While I didn’t take photographs of the food itself (I was too busy eating), the food was decent and there was a great variety of dishes.

In the Asian corner, they have Fried Rice, and a few stir frys which were surprisingly decent for a restaurant primarily served by Indian chefs.

There was a good selection of seafood, from fresh prawns, to steamed fish and a few of your standard ‘Fish and Chip shop’ items, and also roast items like roast beef and potatoes, vegetables in another area.

In their European flavoured area they served mostly Italian food, i.e pastas, lasagne and pizza.

Their Indian area took me by surprise, as it smelt great. A few different styled curries, and bite sized snack food. As I mentioned before they served Thai fish cake, which was spicy! However when my parents when again for a friend’s birthday celebration, they didn’t have these on offer. So it seems their selection of food varies slightly per week.

Their dessert menu consisted of a lot of cakes and sugary treats. My favourite was the warm almond cake, and the chocolate mousse. Of course, they served ice-cream for the kids, which was running empty by the hours end. I’ll admit their selection of desserts was great, but nothing can top soft serve ice-cream at Kitchen Workshop.

There were a couple of downsides, their pizzas weren’t cooked long enough so the bread was still doughly. Perhaps their second run of pizzas were better, I didn’t attempt to try it again.

As mentioned earlier, their 3 tubs of ice-cream were probably sitting there for a while so it wasn’t replaced as quickly (or at all) during our session. Some of their dishes were slightly overcooked but I can overlook that as it wasn’t terribly bad.

Overall impressions

The Lynbrook Hotel serves a great selection of food, for what you pay for, you do get your monies worth. Compared to Kitchen Workshop which is roughly the same price, I’d prefer Kitchen Workshop but if you’re looking for some tasty Asian dishes Lynbrook is your best bet.

Lynbrook Hotel

550 South Gippsland Highway
Lynbrook

VIC 3975

Bistro Prices and Sessions Here

Chillipadi – Waterfront City

October 19, 2011 Posted in Chinese, Docklands, Food Reviews, Indian, Malaysian, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

The Chillipadi name has been around for many years. It’s first store that I remember was, and still is, near Melbourne Central. It serves a mix of Malaysian/Chinese style food, with a taste of Thai as well. When we tried it out it seemed like the dishes were mostly catering to the Western food palate and so I never really bothered to venture there again.

The Chillipadi Mamak Kopitiam stores are the newest entries to the Chillipadi brand, it predominantly serves Indian/Malay-Malaysian food and their versions of the popular Chinese-Malaysian cuisines too. What I like out their Mamak stores is that they serve tasty and spicy food, with all the favourites and rarities at decent prices.

We recently stumbled upon their small store in Waterfront City, Docklands. Located opposite the still-not-opened Ferris Wheel. We hadn’t had a chance to go to their store in Flemington/Newmarket so this was our first taste of it. At their Waterfront City store they have a limited menu because of the size of the restaurant but nonetheless the staples are here.

They have Nasi Kandar dishes which looked delicious.

I tried their Curry Laksa, and I have got to say it was quite good. I actually prefer it to Laksa King’s or Chef Lagenda’s versions as their laksa contains more coconut cream, and for me, it’s way too creamy for my liking. Chillipadi’s Curry Laksa, balances the creamyness and spicyness quite well, making it an overall very satisfying dish. It’s definitely one I would go back for.

We also tried their Teh Tarik (Both Cold and Hot varieties) and it was also surprisingly good. If you have ever tried Old Town Kopitiam Mamak in QV, you’d notice the very big size difference when they are in fact similarly priced. Not only that but Old Town’s is incredibly sweet. Tek Tarik of course is a sweet tea drink but when you lose the whole tea flavour in favour of just sugar, it isn’t Teh Tarik.

I’d definitely recommend this place for those who want to try something different from your usual Chinese-Malaysian dishes. Their Flemington store serves an even wider variety of foods that you probably won’t be able to try elsewhere.

Chillipadi Waterfront City
Harbour Town Shopping Centre, Waterfront City
Star Crc
Docklands 3008 VIC

First Taste

September 21, 2011 Posted in Chinese, Food Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, Springvale1 Comment

I don’t go to Springvale that often anymore, but when I used to there were two places where I usually ate. Walrus and First Taste. First Taste is a Chinese Cantonese eatery, where one of its delicious specialties is Claypot rice.

Their Claypot rice is cooked to order, so there is usually a 10 minute wait for your meal to be ready. They have quite a few varieties of their claypot rice.

The one I always order is their Black Pepper Beef rice (pictured). I love the slightly sweet sauce that they put on top. It’s the much needed gel that brings the whole dish together.

What I love about their Claypot rice is the crunchy rice that’s all along the edges of the bowl. I wish the whole dish was like that! The nicely seasoned pepper beef is tender and not too chewy, and with the coriander and spring onions on top, it brings a much needed freshness to the whole dish.

The only warning I have for people is that you’ll probably have to wait a little longer once your meal arrives because it is burning HOT.

I usually can’t wait so I usually burn my tongue or throat, but I still say it is worth the pain afterwards. Maybe I’m just too impatient but I can’t help it.

First Taste also have a good selection of noodle soups that people seem to enjoy too but if I want to eat at First Taste, it’s always Claypot rice for me.

First Taste

2C Windsor Avenue
Springvale VIC 3171
(03) 9546 7283

Kingsway Seafood Restaurant

August 9, 2011 Posted in Chinese, Food, Food Reviews, Glen Waverley, Restaurant Reviews1 Comment

Kingsway Seafood Restaurant is a recent entry to the heart of Glen Waverley. Opening earlier this year, if my memory serves me correctly. There aren’t that many Chinese restaurants where you can have a nice dinner on Kingsway or near the train station. Maybe, the Hakka Teahouse across from Glen Waverley train station but the more the merrier I suppose.

It also isn’t a bad thing that the prices are reasonable for what they serve and well the last Chinese dinner I had was at Eastern Palace in Rowville, and the bill left an unpleasant taste in our mouths.

We orderd a fish and tofu dish for dinner and it had a nice taste to it, with cooked but crunchy carrots, vegetables and mushrooms. Overall it was quite pleasant. Nothing really to run home about, it basically is the standard flavours you may find in your typical Chinese restaurant.
We also ordered another vegetable dish (Kai Lan with beef), and that was great but I didn’t managed to take a picture of it. Not that it was picture worthy anyway since it was quite simple, but I love kai lan so we had to order it.

However, this prawn dish was the standout. The prawns are covered in a salted egg batter and my golly was it something special. It had a great saltiness to the prawns, but the prawn flavour wasn’t overpowered by the salted egg batter. The batter thinly covered the whole prawn, and was light and crisp, and definitely not heavy that you feel you’re eating a great deal of oil. I think I would go back here just to order this delicious and surprisngly delightful dish again.

I would probably only come here on special occassions though since if you eat regularly here, it would take quite a big chunk out of your food budget!

Kingsway Seafood Restaurant
100 Kingsway
Glen Waverley, 3150
(03) 9562 2688

Khe Sanh

July 30, 2011 Posted in Chinese, Food Reviews, Malaysian, Restaurant Reviews, Springvale, Vietnamese1 Comment

Khe Sanh has recently had a management change and renewed some interest into this long standing restaurant.

Originally opened in 2001, it has changed hands I believe late last year and serves a variety of Vietnamese, Chinese and Malaysian style food.

Khe Sanh is located in the south eastern suburbs of Melbourne and with so many eateries around Springvale, it definitely is hard to compete. Although, tastes are what matters.

I ordered the Nasi Lemak, and surprisingly it was quite nice. I recently became a Nasi Lemak fan after having it constantly when I vacationed in Malaysia. You’d think I’d get sick of it already, but interestingly enough I now keep wanting to try every restaurant’s Nasi Lemak.

This Nasi Lemak had all the ingredients, the egg, peanuts, anchovies, sambal, beef curry and coconut rice. What I was surprised by was the preserved vegetable which although I’ve been served before, I didn’t intend on eating it. This time, I gave it a try and it was actually decent but I’m not a big fan of cold vegetables so I wouldn’t be annoyed if it wasn’t on my plate.

The combination of flavours worked quite well together, and the curry whilst a tad too sweet, was flavourful and slightly spicy so it did its job.

Overall, for the price, it was actually a pleasant meal and I have nothing really bad to say about it.

My parents ate these two wonderful looking dishes, Chicken stir-fry and the Crispy chicken (or pork, I can’t remember). Try the crispy chicken, or whatever it was called, it had a really nice taste to it.

I would definitely come back to Khe Sanh if I was wanting to eat around Springvale, but I don’t regularly eat there since Glen Waverley’s variety of restaurants satisfies me. I give it my thumbs up!

Khe Sanh
792 – 806 Heatherton Road
Springvale South
(03) 9540 3017

ohdenny

Category: Chinese