Glen Waverley – Page 3

Bread Kingdom – Mocha Cake

October 26, 2011 Posted in Food Reviews, Glen Waverley, KoreanLeave a comment

There are quite a few Bread Kingdom stores around Victoria. As per it’s name, it’s a bakery that sells a wide selection of sweet and savoury treats and snacks. It’s actually quite similar to Breadtop but with a Korean influence. I find that most of their breads lean on the sweet side, or their savoury items are mainly cheese products. Nonetheless, they do have an interesting selection. Their sweet Ugly bread may sound (and look) unattractive but it was actually quite good.

Like Breadtop and Cakeworld, this Asian Bakery also sells a variety of cakes in several sizes.

We tried their Mocha Cake and usually I’m not a huge fan of cream based cakes but this cake was surprisingly light. Some cakes have a very heavy cream filling, along with a dense cake mixture but this cake was overall pleasant to eat. With a nice coffee flavour to it that wasn’t overpowering at all. The syrup on top gave it extra mocha hit and to be honest it’s one of the few cream loaded cakes I would actually go back for. All it needed was some chopped nuts for added texture and it would be perfect.

Usually I visit their Glen Waverley store but they also have stores in Springvale, Hawthorn, Carnegie and Wantirna. The Hana Bakery in Clayton is also suspiciously similar to Bread Kingdom, not sure what the deal is there. If you’re looking for something slightly different to the usual Breadtop/Cakeworld selections and want something to satisfy your sweet tooth, give Bread Kingdom a go!

Bread Kingdom
Shop 11
52-54 O’Sulivan Raod Map
Glen Waverley VIC 3150

Saigon Light

September 27, 2011 Posted in Food, Food Reviews, Glen Waverley, Restaurant Reviews, Vietnamese2 Comments

Saigon Light is a new entry to Kingsway in Glen Waverley, it has moved into ABC Cafe’s old spot. This Vietnamese restaurant is, to my memory, one of the only (or very few) Vietnamese eateries on Kingsway after An An closed down.

It serves the standard varieties of Vietnamese cuisine such as Pho and a good selection of rice and noodle dishes that you will often find in your Vietnamese food hubs.

As mentioned in my previous post, I used to always go to Walrus for their Tomato Rice and Crispy Chicken dish. I don’t think I ever got sick of it. Since I seldom head to Springvale anymore, I had to find another place that serve great Tomato rice and chicken.

Saigon Light’s offering looks quite delectable but the flavour of their Tomato rice isn’t quite there. It’s slightly dry and a bit on the bland side. Walrus’s tomato rice was packed full of flavour since it was stir fried and was mixed with egg.

The fried chicken was decent, but I think I preferred Walrus’s version because the seasoning wasn’t as sweet, but it was crispy and cooked well.
Saigon Light’s Three colours dessert was also slightly disappointing. It was quite sweet but lacked flavour. It was also kinda difficult to mix around but it was still alright. I probably wouldn’t order it again, but it was nice to try.

Saigon Light is a restaurant I was hoping would satisfy my Vietnamese food cravings. Unfortunately it lacks the flavour that makes authentic Vietnamese food so good.

Saigon Light

109 Kingsway
Glen Waverley, 3150
(03) 9561 6888

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

Papparoti

July 11, 2011 Posted in Glen Waverley, Melbourne, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

PappaRoti is a popular franchise/bakery in Malaysia. Probably not as popular as RotiBoy but still these Mexican buns are sold in many shopping centres in Malaysia and now we have a couple of stores down here in Melbourne. The first one I’ve seen to pop up was on Kingsway, Glen Waverley but there is also another one that recently opened on Elizabeth St (Across from Melbourne Central) in the Melbourne CBD.

These buns have a sweet crunchy crust on top, and you can smell these buns baking in the ovens far away. The crust I believe has a coffee taste to it but it’s more delicate. It’s sweet, but that’s a good thing since it stops you from having too many!

Inside they place some butter before they are cooked, so when it’s done. The inside is nice and soft, with a rich butter texture to it. It’s actually quite nice but you definitely can’t have too many.

Compared to RotiBoy’s variety of buns, who sell these buns with butter, cream cheese and blueberry cream cheese, Papparoti only sells this one particular bun with butter. The store in Glen Waverley also sells coffee and ice cream but I haven’t taste tested them yet. I might try their ice cream once this winter finally passes.

Not everyone will like these buns, and for me personally, I’ve had my fair share for the year, but definitely try it because you just might like it!

Their ice-cream selection is actually quite decent. They have the usuals like Rum & Raisin, Strawberry Jam, but then they venture into the Asian favourites like Durian, Black Sesame, Lychee and Red Bean.

I tried Lychee and Black Sesame on my first go, and whilst the Black Sesame was too sweet and lacked the nice bitterness of black sesame, the lychee was an instant favourite. It had an authentic lychee flavour and was smooth and creamy. I haven’t seen many places that sell Lychee ice-cream, and one that tastes good too, so whenever I’m feeling like a cold treat (nearly always) this will be the first place I visit.

PappaRoti

105 Kingsway,
Glen Waverley. VIC

Mon-Thur: 9am-9pm
Fri-Sat: 9am-Late
Sunday: 10am-9pm

ABC Cafe

June 7, 2011 Posted in Food Reviews, Glen Waverley, Malaysian, Restaurant Reviews2 Comments

Update: ABC Cafe has closed its doors and I believe a Vietnamese eatery will take its place.

ABC Cafe is situated in the heart of Glen Waverley, on the popular Kingsway street, right next to Petaling Street.

It isn’t a very big eatery, and it doesn’t serve that many people but if you want good Malaysian food for a decent price it’s here.

What differentiates ABC Cafe from the other Malaysian restaurants is that it serves Mee Rebus on the menu. Not very many eateries cook Mee Rebus. As I don’t think it’s as commonly known and I think the many Australian Australians’ just don’t know what it is so restaurants don’t bother serving it and just stick with the Char Kway Teows’, Nasi Gorengs’ etc.

What makes Mee Rebus so good, and ABC Cafe’s is the sauce. The sauce is everything, it is like a viscous soup, and with the noodles, tofu, bean sprouts, prawns and garnish. It just makes a perfect combination. I probably don’t know what an ‘authentic’ Malaysian Mee Rebus is, as I’ve only eaten it a couple of times when I went back but it sure tastes good and that should be all that matters really.

Their Curry Laksa is also no too shabby, it packs the flavour, spiciness and slight creaminess that makes a Laksa appetising. Also, a great Laksa includes both the Hokkien Noodles and Bee Hoon Noodles which ABC Cafe do include.

Portion size is also quite decent, as is with the Mee Rebus.

Their Ice Kacang is also a winner, although it doesn’t have peanuts in there. The flavour and syrups used are just what it should be, just a word of caution even on a cooler day it melts quickly. I think it’s due to their fine ice shavings as opposed to larger ice shavings which seem to stay cooler, longer, and hence hold its form.

I would put the ABC Cafe’s Ice Kacang above Petaling Street and The Grand Tofu’s offerings. It just happens to tick the most boxes when it comes to flavour and the ingredients they used. Definitely like what I had in Malaysia.

I’m pretty happy to dine at ABC Cafe, I’m just not quite sure why it’s not as popular as the other Malaysian restaurants in the same area as some of their dishes taste better then the others.

ABC Cafe

109 Kingsway

Glen Waverley, 3150

(03) 9561 6888

Bonjouk Macarons

June 1, 2011 Posted in Confectionery, Glen WaverleyLeave a comment

Bonjouk is located near Specsavers and Thomas Dux Grocer in The Glen Shopping Centre. It mainly serves cafe style food and drinks, and have more recently started selling macarons in their small expansion.

The macarons definitely look appetizing, but they cost $2.70 so it’s a bit on the high end of what they usually go for but I just wanted to try them so I’ll become some kind of skilled macaron expert (jk).

The hulk looking one was a pistachio flavoured macaron with what looks like to be a green jelly. I can tell you, the pistachio flavour was lacking and it was just too sweet for my liking and well the shell is a whole another issue.

The Tiramisu macaron also looked promising, and the filling delivers a great example of how to create a tiramisu flavoured macaron but as noted the macaron shell issue is still here. The problem I have with this shell, is how it doesn’t even seem like a macaron. It is just crisp on the outside, with no real chewy marshmallow balance that most macarons I’ve tasted have. It is also hollow inside so it just lacks the macaron appeal. The shell looks really nice, and high, but that’s what detracts from the experience, along with the lack of almond flavour to it too.

So overall my issue with the shell is that, it just doesn’t taste like a macaron and that’s the biggest worry of all.

I won’t continue with the criticism of the shell, as it is present in the other two macarons too. I’ll just comment on the flavour.

This macaron, I believe, is strawberry’s and cream, and the cream with the strawberry jelly are nice just not very interesting and again, it’s just way too sweet.

This is a Blueberry cheesecake macaron, and the filling is quite nice. Although it was sweet, the cream cheese flavour just balances the sweetness enough to make it balanced. It also has a nice fresh blueberry jam bite in the middle so overall the filling is one of the better ones that Bonjouk sell.

Lasting impressions:

I won’t be trying them again for quite some time. The macaron shell is just way too sweet and the other issues with it really spoil the taste of the macaron as a whole. This is basically what a macaron shouldn’t be

Bonjouk at The Glen

235 Springvale Rd
Glen Waverley, VIC 3150
The Glen Shoppimg Centre

Claypot King

April 3, 2011 Posted in Food, Food Reviews, Glen Waverley, Malaysian, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Claypot King in the bustling Kingsway street, Glen Waverley is another popular Malaysian and Chinese eatery. I believe there is one in the city too, with a slightly different menu.

One of the best things about Claypot King is their sizzling dishes. Which I just had to order of course.
I ordered the Black Pepper Beef Sizzling Noodles. I’ve ordered the Salmon one before, which was good but the salmon wasn’t that flavoursome so I didn’t really want to eat it again. Although, it was still nice, just that black pepper is always good in anything.

I love it when it arrives and it is still crackling and sizzling about. It’s just one of those cheap thrills.
This dish had a pretty strong black pepper taste and combined with capsicum, Hokkien noodles and loads of beef. It was just an overall pleasant and tasty dish. However if you don’t like to have a black pepper overload, this is probably not the dish for you.

I’ve tried their Thai Fried Rice and that’s a pleaser too! Claypot King is definitely a eatery you’d want to go back for. Mind you, it’s slightly more expensive then the other Chinese/Malaysian eateries on Kingsway.

Claypot King
Kingsway
Glen Waverley
Victoria

03 9561 8884

Chinese New Year and Lantern Festival (Glen Waverley)

March 24, 2011 Posted in Festivals, Glen WaverleyLeave a comment

So it seems like I live in Glen Waverley since that’s all that I post about but I live 20 minutes away. It’s just the closest place to eat good Malaysian food.

I’m also very late with this post since this was held on the 13th Of February.

So I think in the last couple of years, the City of Monash has been holding and celebrating Chinese New Year with their own festival with food stalls and performances. Similar to the Box Hill, Crown Melbourne and China Town ones but for the South-East Melburnians.

Stalls are spread out all along Kingsway, one of or the only day where cars are blocked from passing through. There were several performances on the stage and on the street. It’s really great to see the Chinese culture here in one of the more populous Chinese/Malaysian suburbs in Victoria.

Check out the Lion dance pics below (With Vids at the bottom of the page)

Kevin Rudd came to visit and was welcomed by the Lion Dance performers.

I believe the man in the mask is some kind of traditional show thing but I’m not entirely sure.

The two lions do some amazing hops and jumps on those small pedestals. Check out my vids of it further down the page.

The ending where the lions catch the scrolls. I have no idea what it says on it, I’m completely Mandarin illiterate.

Fire Crackers! Many kids covered their ears. Hehe

Photo Op!

A lot more people than last year, it’s good to see everyone celebrating CNY and just having fun really.

Satays and more satays

Most stalls had Fried Rice Cakes aka Char Koay Kak, one had a huge line. Obviously the good stall or people are just sheep.

There were many other stalls too selling even Dutch Pancakes or Japanese sweet and savoury snacks and some drink stalls with the very sweet but delicious Sugar Cane drinks.

Check out my vids below (Sorry for the cut offs every couple of minutes, my camera does strange things)

All in all it’s always good to have some of the Chinese culture in Australia. I’ve never experienced an authentic Chinese New Year Festival in Malaysia so this is as close as we can get.

Many thanks to all the performers and participants in helping this Chinese New Year and Lantern Festival a success and I believe the Monash Council, I assume they have contributed towards this.

Looking forward to next years festival, and hoping it’ll get bigger and better every year.

ohdenny

Category: Glen Waverley