Dessert Story – Glen Waverley

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Suddenly there are a multitude of Dessert Story stores across Victoria. I don’t know what sparked this craze but this Taiwanese Dessert franchise is everywhere. My first thoughts were DESSERTS YES! MORE PLEASE! However, I was hesitant to try it  gawking at the prices of their desserts. Alas, it seems like it’s the trend here where desserts are almost as expensive as a main meal. So I might as well give up that fight. We tried the outlet in Glen Waverley were it sadly took over Claypot King, one of my favourite Malaysian eateries on Kingsway.

For some reason we tried two variations of red bean desserts. The red bean soup with palm seeds and coconut is quite interesting. I definitely enjoyed the palm seeds, well I like it in any dessert really. The red bean soup here really is a soup, as it’s quite runny. It still retains the red bean skin which gives it an added texture from the smooth and silky toppings of the coconut and palm seed. The flavour of the red bean soup was good, it wasn’t too sweet which is good in my books .

One thing I would prefer was if our hot dessert was actually hot! It came out luke warm, and to top it off, it was an extremely cold day where a steaming hot dessert was sorely needed. All in all, it was decent, the warm nature of the dessert certainly left a cold taste in my mouth though.

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We also tried the Red Bean and Black Sesame dessert, which basically is just one side with red bean soup and the other side with black sesame soup. The soups here are thicker and more akin to those you’d find in Malaysia.  The red bean soup was nice, still having the beans in there for taste, but again it was just warm, borderline reaching room temperature. I’m not sure what goes on in the kitchen  but warming the dish up to a higher temperature certainly wasn’t on their minds. The red bean soup was pleasant, it had a very comforting flavour, bringing me back to the the tastes of Malaysian desserts.

Strangely enough though, the black sesame soup (almost paste like) was super hot. It was a very odd to taste both the red bean and black sesame together and get this mix of hot and cold. A bit off putting to be honest, luckily the black sesame soup was hot enough to make the red bean warm enough. What I loved about the black sesame soup, yes love, was that it was bitter like it should be. Not overloaded with sugar to butt heads with the bitterness, but enough sugar to complement the black sesame. A real joy to eat.

Impressions

The range of desserts at Dessert Story is quite extensive. They have a wide variety of combinations of fruit and ice cold  desserts. With a smaller, yet varied selection of hot desserts. Their execution on this desserts is what was lacking and that, unfortunately, played a huge part in the overall impressions. Had it been hot enough, I’d be in praise mode but with both dishes coming up almost cold, there is really no excuse for that.

Unfortunate mistakes? Yes, definitely. I just hope that it won’t happen again. Give it a go, I dare you. Haha, seriously though, it should be good for a nice treat all things considered.

Dessert Story on Urbanspoon

Dessert Story
72 Kingsway
Glen Waverley VIC 3150

 

Pho Hung Vuong

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Pho Hung Vuong has been around ever since I can remember.  Located in Springvale, the South East’s bustling Vietnamese community, has one of the most popular Vietnamese restaurants in Victoria. Not only is it always packed full of people, but is well known for its delicious and authentic Pho. It used to have a few other restaurants, one on Victoria Street, Richmond, I think it’s called Pho Hung Vuong 2 (Original!) but I’m not too sure if there are owned by the same people.

Pho Hung Vuong doesn’t go out of its way to impress you, the place looks like it hasn’t been maintained since the shopping centre opened way back when. Although it’s not the most pleasant experience, the food does more than make up for it.

Everybody that visits Pho Hung Vuong comes for their famous Pho. In three different sizes, like most Pho eateries, small, medium and large, with your choice of chicken, beef, mixed or even with added sausage. There are quite a few other ingredients you can add to your order but the above mentioned ones are the most popular.

What makes their Pho so good is the soup. It is packed full of flavour, I don’t know if it’s also packed full of MSG (Probably) but it is one of the best tasting soups around so it’s hard to make a fuss about it. The chicken/beef are perfectly cooked, with the beef gently cooking in the hot soup while you eat. It’s tender and delicious, what more could you ask for.

Of course they just don’t serve Pho, as it is a Vietnamese restaurant you can get the Fried Pork/Chicken dishes with Vietnamese salad/vegetables and rice, and all the other standards you would normally find in a Vietnamese eatery. My lack of discussion over their other food isn’t meant to be an indication of the quality of their other dishes. It’s by all means quite good. It’s just when you come to Pho Hung Vuong, you definitely come for the Pho.

You really would be hard pressed to find a better Pho restaurant in Victoria.

Pho Hung Vuong on Urbanspoon

Pho Hung Vuong 

Shop 2 / 15 Balmoral Avenue
Springvale VIC 3171

03 9558 5147

Straits Cafe

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Straits Cafe near Knox is a popular Malaysian eatery, mostly known for it’s tasty Char Kway Teoh and overall good food. It’s extremely difficult to get tables during the weekend as the place doesn’t cater to many people (space is small) and well, people just enjoy going there to dine.

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Sometimes Straits has specials on posted at the back whether it be main dishes or entrees. We ordered their Friend Chicken with Sambal seasoning. It was served fresh and straight from the fryer and was quite tasty. The skin was crisp and crunchy, and the chicken was cooked well. I couldn’t really taste the, I presume, spicy seasoning but for Malaysian Fried Chicken it was tasty nonetheless.

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I believe they are quite well known for their Char Kway Teoh because of it’s authentic Malaysian flavour and one of the more spicy offerings around. There is just something I can’t really put my finger on it, that gives it that extra hit. It’s that special “wok” flavour but it’s so vague and indescribable that it’s best not to talk about that any further. You really are hard pressed to find a Char Kway Teoh as flavourful, spicy and overall tasty as this. I’d say Claypot King in Glen Waverley had nearly or even just as good of a offering as Straits but they no longer operate so the crown goes to Straits.

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Their Char Hor Fun has stir fried hor fun noodles which are always a delight. The egg sauce is delicious, and I believe they put in the deep fried  diced lard but I can’t be certain. Everything here was tasty, the seafood and chicken cooked nicely, and a good serve of vegetables. My only criticism, even if, ever so slight, is that they put the preserved (vinegar) chopped green chillies on the plate as well. So if you don’t like your sauce a tad sour, it can make the sauce kinda strange as somehow the chilli flavour spreads throughout the whole sauce. Again, nothing to make a fuss about, but it may not be to people’s likings.

IMG_9110One of their main specials was the Tok Tok Mee, which is apparently Penang Style. I can’t vouch for that as I have never tried it in Penang but this dish sure looked delicious. It had a wide selection of toppings from the steamed chicken, char siu pork, crumbed chicken, boiled wontons and vegetables. It really had it all.

IMG_9106Straits’ Teh Tarik was a slight letdown as it was overly sweet and lacked the pulling tea flavour. It also wasn’t frothy enough but still may please some people.

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For a sweet warm dessert, Pulut Hitam hits the spot. My mother does an excellent Pulut Hitam, that is much less sweet and actually tastes better as a result (Go figure) but for a restaurant offering, it’s quite nice. It has those black sticky rice that give it that added texture and the coconut cream provides the creaminess that is much required. Overall, it’s a pretty good Pulut Hitam as many places don’t offer it, although slightly too sweet for my tastes but maybe I’m just spoilt with my mother’s delicious cooking.

Impressions

Straits Cafe offers a good variety of Malaysian dishes and most of them do hit the spot. The authentic Malaysian flavours is what people come back for and you can certainly see why. On weekends it was definitely is preferable to book ahead as without a reservation you may be waiting for quite some time.

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Straits Cafe
241 Stud Rd
Wantirna South VIC 3152

Fumi Japanese Cafe

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Fumi Japanese Cafe in somewhat a new restaurant in Chadstone Shopping Centre. It replaced the Seafood and Chips shop near Aldi and Sushi Sushi. Previously their food was decent, nothing overly exciting but their grilled salmon, salad and chips were large and reasonably tasty. Although like most places, salt ladened.

There is quite a large variety of dishes at Fumi, from hot and cold noodles, rice dishes and soups.

As shown above we ordered the Salmon Teriyaki, which was decent. The salmon was cooked well, still pink inside. The sauce was as you would find in the standard Japanese food court places.

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One of things you hardly find in Japanese restaurants is Yakisoba. Fumi’s Yakisoba, wasn’t what I expected though. I never thought it be so green tinted? I usually find them to be darker and slightly brown in colour but taste should be the deciding factor.

It basically reminded me of a vegetable and noodles stir fry, which Yakisoba technically is but taste wise it didn’t really set my world alight. The muscles were kinda tough and rubbery, similarly, the calamari was too chewy. Overall, I felt fell flat. Passable

 

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Their Chicken and Rice dish hardly had any taste. However, this is often the case with Japanese chicken and rice, that isn’t teriyaki.  You’d find that the seasoning is barely there, however here it seemed it was lacking even more so! Soy sauce and chilli oil were definitely needed to de-bland this dish,

Impressions

Fumi Japanese Cafe attempts to tackle the many Japanese dishes known and unknown to most, however on almost all occasions comes out short. I’d like to say this was a wondrous experience with amazing dishes, but it just wasn’t the case.

PappaRich (Melbourne City – QV)

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PappaRich QV was the first franchise to open in Victoria before the Chadstone and Doncaster stores and since its opening earlier this year. I avoided the restaurant for months because usually the curiosity factor is high and the management work out the kinks of the service and etc. Even after many months, the QV store is extremely popular.

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We ordered the Ipoh Hor Fun with Prawns & Chicken Strips, and it was quite pleasant tasting. The soup was seasoned well, and with the large chillies and chicken pieces, it all came together nicely.

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Their Roti Canai with Curry Chicken is a departure from the usual Roti Canai’s you would find elsewhere or from those frozen packets in Asian Groceries. What makes it so different is that the Roti here is extremely dry, but crisp and crunchy nonetheless. The ones you would find in most other Malaysian restaurants are layered, oiled and although crisp on the outside, it would be soft and pull-apart inside.

The Curry Chicken accompaniment was reasonably tasty, but with the chicken being all bones and skin it was a tad disappointing. The Dahl is surprisingly good, but nothing really out of the ordinary from what you may find in ChilliPadi Mamak in Flemington.

The real highlight of this dish is the sambal, as I mentioned in the Chadstone review, it has all the right things. A bit sweet and a huge kick of heat. Probably could eat that all day.

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Their drinks menu is extensive with a lot of variety, we ordered the Soya Bean with Grass Jelly and it was extremely delicious. Not too sweet, and just the right amount of creaminess. Would order again!

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Their Iced Red Bean drink was also quite nice, with their sugared Red Beans at the bottom with shaved ice. Not overly sweet but still sweet enough for those sweet tooths.

Impressions

Service here was decent, food came quick enough. My main issue here is that when we requested for some extra sambal, they wanted $3 for basically one spoonful. I’m not sure if this is consistent with the Chadstone and Doncaster stores, but when we did ask fore more sambal in Chadstone, and we were not asked to pay for it. We did mention this to the staff at the counter when paying, and he said that this was something the management from the PappaRich franchisor have decided upon.

Can’t say I’m that impressed with this decision to be honest. Not the best way to treat your customers when you start micro-charging them. Alas, can’t do anything about it though. Will see if Chadstone have started charging next time we visit. Would I go back to PappaRich QV? Maybe not. We didn’t have the best experience here, the food was a slight letdown, definitely less tasty compared with Chadstone. Plus there are plenty of Malaysian restaurants to choose from in the city.

PappaRich QV on Urbanspoon

PappaRich QV
Level 2, Shop 11, QV Square
210 Lonsdale Street
Melbourne VIC

Jalan Alor

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Jalan Alor is small Malaysian restaurant in Melbourne’s China Town. It’s part of the renovated walkway that once held Village Cinemas, if you can remember that far back! At times you might be hard pressed to find seating as this restaurant seats is extremely low. If you do get a chance to eat here, it is worth it.

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Their Curry with King Prawns tastes just as good as it looks. With the tomato and eggplant giving it a nice flavour, along with the pleasant curry taste. It is a surprisingly good dish to order.

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I found the Char Kway Teoh on this occasion to be slightly overcooked. It had a slight burnt taste to some of the noodles but it didn’t spoil the whole dish so I set the few strands of noodles aside. Other than that, it was quite tasty. It had the crispy lard that not many places cook with so that sets it apart from other Malaysian restaurants. I asked for spicy but it was not spicy at all so not sure what happened there. Overall, it was nice but there are some let downs as I mentioned before.

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Their Char Hor Fun was quite nice. There are some varying styles of this dish, some don’t cook the kway teoh in the wok as much (or at all) but I prefer it when they do. Jalan Alor does this and it’s great. It has that nice “wok flavour” as some puts it. The egg base sauce is also tasty. It is definitely hard to do a bad egg sauce though.

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Iced Red Bean Drink with Coconut Milk is also another winner. It’s not too sweet, nice and chilly on a warm day. The red beans add the sweetness to the drink, and the coconut milk add that creaminess. I’d order it again!

Impressions

The food at Jalan Alor is quite good, along with their drinks. However, I found their service to be slightly lacking. The waitress’s didn’t know what fresh chillies are. For a Malaysian restaurant, I feel that’s severely disappointing. When we asked for a plate to put the rice on for the Curry with King Prawns dish (the bowl was too small!), she didn’t know what we were talking about and had to ask another one of the staff. The other staff asked if we would like a small plate and it seemed like it was a lot of effort for them to bring one out.

Other than that, I’d go back again. I have been there a couple of times, but this was my most recent experience.

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Jalan Alor

7/206 Bourke St
Melbourne VIC 3000

Van Mai

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Van Mai is another popular Vietnamese eatery along the bustling Victoria Street, Richmond. In my attempt to seek out and try many of the Vietnamese Restaurants in Richmond, Van Mai on Urbanspoon seemed like a very popular place to try. They have a wide selection of dishes to choose from but of course, I had to choose my favourite Vietnamese dish  (or as close to).

I love Crispy Chicken with Tomato Rice at Walrus (Springvale) and so my adventure to try out a dish that matches or even possibly tops that dish begins. Van Mai doesn’t have Crispy Chicken withTomato Rice but they do have Diced Pepper Beef with Tomato Rice dish.

I absolutely loved the flavour of this dish. The beef was packed full of flavour, it was slightly sweet, nicely marinated and had a pleasant pepper taste that didn’t overwhelm the natural beef flavour.  One little con was that it was a tad too salty but eaten with the fresh lettuce, tomato and cucumber it balanced things out.

I pretty much only order Crispy Chicken with Tomato Rice because of the Tomato Rice. At Walrus it’s a vibrant red colour with stir fried with egg, at Van Mai it’s slightly darker and oilier.  However, the taste is almost identical. Again, my only complaint is that it’s a tad too oily and I was wiping my mouth with a napkin constantly.

Other than the oiliness, the food they serve is delicious. Would definitely come back to try their other dishes.

Van Mai on Urbanspoon

Van Mai

372 Victoria St
Richmond VIC 3121

Lone Pine Bistro (Phillip Island RSL)

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We often go to Phillip Island to bring our guests to the Penguin Parade, but since we’ve seen the penguins so often, it isn’t worth it to buy a ticket for ourselves. So instead, we take a little detour to the main town centre (Cowes) of Phillip Island. One of the few restaurants/things to do at night is the Lone Pine Bistro, and the Phillip Island RSL that are connected.

I was quite surprised that they close early, I think it was 8:30 but the RSL/Pokies still remains open. Luckily we got in time and was one of the last few orders before the kitchen closed.

I ordered the Lamb Burger with Chips and Salad. I was a tad bloated because I ate some Korean Corn Chips (Delicious) an hour or so before, but after tasting this. I couldn’t resist.

I loved the burger, it had a slice of beetroot, well seasoned lamb mince patty, salad and cheese. It was a traditional combination but nicely cooked. The bread was crispy but soft on the inside, and overall the burger just hit the spot. Usually you’d find the burger to be dry, but this one was perfectly cooked.

The salad had a nice tanginess that helped with the fattiness of the chips. The chips required tomato sauce to go down, it was a tad too dry with the potato having that chalky texture. On the positive side, it was nice and crunchy.

I was pleasantly surprised with RSL/Bistro food after eating this, usually “pub” food can be overcooked and quite pedestrian. Although this doesn’t stray too far from the norm, what it does, it does well.

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Their Roast Beef and Vegetables dish wasn’t as fantastic as their Burger. Most places cannot serve perfectly cooked carved beef or turkey. I think it’s because they cook the entire beef/turkey/pork and just leave it to “keep warm”. So eventually the meat just loses all it’s juices and overcooks. This is what happened here.

The meat is quite tough, and the gravy tries its best to assist with the dryness, but ultimately cannot overcome the fact that the meat is severely overcooked. On the plus side, potatoes are always good, and the vegetables served are pleasant enough to eat.

I’d be disappointed if I was served this, and it’s a stark difference to how well cooked the Lamb Burger was. I can see why it was disappointing, and it would definitely be difficult to cook the meat perfectly all things considered. Probably would be better if they served a steak but alas this isn’t what they offered.

Impressions

Lone Pine Bistro serves traditional Australian food, they also have a wide range of desserts and cakes. So if you’re travelling to see the Penguins, a stop here for some tucker isn’t a bad idea at all.

Lone Pine Bistro on Urbanspoon

Lone Pine Bistro – Phillip Island RSL
Phillip Island
Phillip Island RSL 225-243 Thompson Ave
Cowes VIC 3922

Cinta Raya

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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.

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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!

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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.

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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.

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Cinta Raya

1381 Ferntree Gully Rd
Scoresby VIC 3179

Marquee Restaurant

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If it wasn’t for those “Deals” websites, I probably would never dine at Marquee Restaurant. Well, I wouldn’t say never but not in the foreseeable future perhaps. I think I’ve heard of Marquee before, but I seldom ever go to Toorak  so it was never on my list of “must do’s”

However I took up one of those deals where you could order a certain value of food for a discounted price. Marquee offers around four different courses, from Tastings, Entrees, Mains and Desserts. Primarily Marquee Restaurant serves European food, with a large mix of French dishes.

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We first ordered from the Tastings menu with their Roasted Scallops with garlic and truffle butter wrapped in puff pastry. I love scallops, and pastry so this was always going to go down well with me. The scallop was perfectly cook, not tough or chewy at all. It simply melted alway in your mouth, as best as a scallop could do anyway. The garlic and butter add the nice flavour to the dish and with the crunchy and thin pastry on top it works nicely together.

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These little burgers from the Tastings menu are Petit Wagyu Burgers with quail egg, baby beetroot, lettuce and tomato relish. This tiny things were so cute, just look at them! Almost too lovely to eat, almost. I loved these little burgers, they were absolutely delicious, with the ooze from the egg yolk making the burger moist and the wagyu wasn’t try either. I loved it.

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We ordered an entree too, this was the Hand-made crab and salmon raviolo, tomato consommé and baby basil cress. This was a bit disappointing to be honest, the crab and salmon filling in the raviolo was kinda bland and almost tasteless. Even the tomato consomme didn’t help with the flavour. Overall, I couldn’t find many redeeming qualities in this dish at all.

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One of the mains we ordered was the Baby snapper fillet with smoked prawn bisque and grilled prawns. The snapper was nicely cooked, and the spinach had nice tangy flavour. The sauce was quite good, a tad on the salty side though. The seafood was supposed to be the highlight or the centrepiece of the dish, however, the prawns were somehow bland and lacked prawn flavour. Overall, it has some good points but would I order this again? Probably not.

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I’ve always heard good things about Duck and Orange together. So I was so excited to order the Honey glazed duck breast on confit duck leg with chive mash and orange and balsamic jus. This was so good. The duck was amazing, so delicate and soft, just perfectly cooked and just melts away. The orange peel was slightly candied, and added a really nice different taste to the duck. I loved the balsamic jus too, I don’t think I’ve actually ever had jus before but my golly was it strong and tasty. Slightly salty, sweet and all things good. As you may know, I love potatoes, so the mash will always end up on a positive note. Overall, I loved this dish. The duck and the jus made this dish.

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I wanted a lighter dish to end my night at Marquee, so we ordered the Eton mess with strawberries, chantilly cream, smashed meringue, ice cream, strawberry coulis and mint. I quite liked this, the meringue was nice and crunchy but light, and with the strawberry coulis (it’s just a jam) it was tasted quite fresh and summery. The slightly sour strawberries worked well with the sweetness of the coulis and sweet meringue, and the cream added a nice richness but not overpowering. Overall, it was good, but not a “must order” dessert.

Impressions

Marquee Restaurant offers a nice selection of dishes, with plentiful that are tasty and satisfying. Would actually make me want to go there full price now that I’ve tasted their food. If you go to Marquee Restaurant, the duck is a must. I fine the prices to be on average slightly pricey, but I think that’s just the norm with these kind of restaurants. Marquee would now be on my list of places to dine on special occasions so I’m definitely glad to have dined here.

Marquee Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Marquee Restaurant (Menu)
445 Toorak Road
Toorak VIC 3142

Tuesday – Saturday 5pm – late

T: +61 3 9827 7938