Travel – Page 22

Sambal Kampung

June 12, 2011 Posted in Food Reviews, Malaysian, Melbourne, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Sambal Kampung is located in the heart of Melbourne’s Chinatown. It is one of the few Malaysian restaurants that have opened up in recent years on Little Bourke St. It’s probably my most visited Malaysian restaurant in the CBD as there aren’t many Malaysian restaurants to choose from in the city.

I believe there have been changes in menu and cooking over the years though so it can be a bit inconsistent and well, I went there a couple weeks ago and it definitely wasn’t as good as before.

The image on top is of their variation of the Mee Goreng, and to be honest, it was actually quite good. I’m not a big fan of the sweet and strong tomato tasting Mee Goreng’s, and in this dish it isn’t overpowering. It also has hints of chilli with it too, so that’s a plus. Squeezing some lemon juice on top also gives this dish an added layer of freshness over the slightly oiled noodles so overall it’s a balanced Mee Goreng.

We ordered a Tom Yum Nasi Goreng, with seafood. I expected it to have a a really fake tom yum taste but again I was pleasantly surprised with how it tasted. It wasn’t too overpowering but you could definitely taste that it was tom yum and it had a great balance between the spicy, sweet and sour elements of tom yum. Matched with the nicelycooked seafood, it was quite a nice dish.

Their satay snack dish is one of their newer menu items and it was again, surprisingly tasty with loads of flavour.

The few negatives I would say about this was the actual meat was overcooked and a tad dry, and since there wasn’t really enough satay sauce to dip into, parts of the meat went without sauce and it didn’t taste as good.

Also the fresh cucumber was soft when it should be crunchy with some bite to it. You could tell it was probably not at its peak ripeness.

However, the satay sauce was the hero of the dish. It was packed with flavour. It had a strong nutty flavour, slightly sweet balanced against a great nutty and slightly viscous texture.

I was a bit disappointed with their drinks menu. The black jelly drink had no sweetness to it at all, and was just ladled with ice so you didn’t really get your monies worth.

Same goes for the Three Colours drink, which had red bean, cendol, syrup and ice. It didn’t have the sweetness to make it nice, as the red bean and cendol aren’t sweet at all. The loads of shaved ice also made this a difficult drink to well…drink. It just made what sweetness was existent disappear when the ice melts and so it was just kinda bland.

As mentioned before, we ate here again and it was disappointing to see that their dishes just lacked the flavour that it used to have.

Sambal Kampung

234 Little Bourke Street
Melbourne, 3000

(03) 9663 2666

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

Spudbar

May 14, 2011 Posted in Australian, Doncaster, Food, Food Reviews, Restaurant Reviews1 Comment

My love of potatoes knows no bounds. I’ll eat it mashed, grilled, fried, boiled, cut up into wedges or fries and then deep fried or oven baked. I don’t think I’ve stopped loving potatoes and their versatility. So when a baked potato store opened, my sister (Also a potato head) found it and got me to try it. It was just simply perfection.

The name of the store is Spudbar, and it’s been a firm favourite ever since I went there a couple of years ago.

They have a number of stores around Victoria, and when I went to get my Macbook replaced in Doncaster Shopping Centre, I just had to go back there.

On this occasion, I tried their Tuna Melt Spud, there are plentiful dishes you can order and you can also make your own spud selection but just for convenience sake I chose the Tuna one. They used to have one called ‘Hot Stuff’ which included, kidney beans, a nice spicy sauce and vegetables but over the years I guess people weren’t interested in it.

The Tuna Melt Spud, is quite tasty. I doubt anyone can ruin potatoes for me, anyway. The only downside was that the dressing and tuna are cold, and well it makes the warm spud just a bit too cold for my liking. Nonetheless, it was still delicious. I added some chilli flakes, and tabasco sauce just for some added kick and it was great.

The mixture of the cheese, peas, carrots, corn, dressing, tuna and of course the potato all worked really well together and it’s really filling so you know you got a good meal out of it.

If you love all things potatoes, this is the dining experience you’ll not want to miss.

Spudbar

Westfield Doncaster Shopping Center
619 Doncaster Rd,
Doncaster VIC
Phone: 03 9840 2007
Fax: 03 9840 2007
Email : doncaster@spudbar.com.au
Open 9am – 5pm Sat – Wed
Open 9am – 9pm Thurs – Fri

Casey-Berwick Farmers’ Market

May 7, 2011 Posted in Attractions, Berwick, FoodLeave a comment

On every fourth Saturday of the month, the Casey Farmers’ Association (Berwick Rotary Club) hold their monthly Farmers’ Market for Casey residents and well anybody that wants to support local farmers’, grocers and the local community in general.
It’s also a place to get fresh food and produce or just to try the different foods on offer.

It’s located in Berwick at the Old Cheese Factory, and with many merchants and things to try while you’re there and even though we arrived at around 9am, it was surprisingly busy already.

It costs a few dollars to enter but supporting the Farmers’ in your area, it’s nothing to complain about.

At the front, near the car park, they sell large quantities of fruit and once you enter there are a variety of berries on offer too.

On the left of this image, they sell a variety of breads from sour bread to wholemeal. It’s all reasonably priced too.

The merchants on the left sell fresh seafood, while the one on the right sells a great selection of wines.

Homemade sauces are sold here, quick a few might I add.

Fresh garlic from Dannic Garlic. Chemical free, and grown on the Mornington Peninsula.

Quite a wide selection of fresh fruit and vegetables, all packed to store in their freshness, straight from the back of their van. Hehe

Our second purchase of the morning, the first being some nice sourdough bread, was Spicy Venison sausages. We cooked them at home, it’s quite lean and with a hint of spice. It wasn’t too bad actually, might try their other Venison cuts next time.

Mornington Peninsula Ice cream, it looked really nice but wasn’t in the mood for it. Looking back, I would have gotten a tub.

More fresh food, if you look closely you can see the prices. It’s probably more than you’d pay at your local supermarket but I feel the money goes straight to the farmers and not split between farmers and the conglomerate.

The smell of sausages in the morning is quite an appealing thing. So by the smell we were lead to the Alloway Buffalo stall and just had to purchase a roll.

Here it is, in all it’s glory. Buffalo meat. A buffalo hot dog with a really tasty sauce. It had a hint of spice and was just nicely cooked, as was the sausage.

There were also quite a few meat sellers, and places to buy fresh juices and drinks too.

Check it out, it’s quite a nice experience. Or check out your local Farmers’ market instead, it’s worth it.

Casey-Berwick Farmers’ Market

8am to 12.30pm

The Old Cheese Factory

34 Homestead Rd

Berwick

Victoria

(The next one in May is on the 28th, June on the 25th)

Pie In The Sky

May 2, 2011 Posted in Australian, Baking, Food Reviews, Olinda, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Pie In The Sky is one of Victoria’s premium Pie restaurants. Famous for it’s award winning pies and their ‘Pie In The Sky’, a pie floating on top of a soup. It is quite a tourist attraction in itself.

Located in Olinda, it’s nestled away near The Dandenongs and for a small regional town it surprisingly brings many people from all around Victoria and possibly Australia here. I guess it shouldn’t be that big of a surprise if you have had the chance to eat here. The food speaks for itself really.

Having a great variety of pies, from your customary Meat Pie, to the more adventurous Curry Pies and their gourmet Guinness and Steak Pies. It truly is hard to pick what to eat and with a wide selection of sides, such as salads, chips, and your very English mash, peas and gravy. You can always have a different meal experience every time you visit.

After a very lengthy time deciding, I finally chose the Guinness Pie with Mash Potatoes, Gravy and Peas. It’s reasonably price too for what you get and tastes great too. I don’t think I really have anything bad to say about the pie, the pastry was light and crispy and the Guinness flavoured steak was delectable and just cooked nicely.

The ‘Pie In The Sky’ looked interesting too but as I’m not a big fan of celery flavoured soup I don’t think I would have enjoyed it as much. It certainly has a great ‘home cooked’ aroma too it though. It’s definitely worth a try.

Pie In The Sky also serves desserts and teas, with many varieties of cakes and another English classic, Devonshire Tea. I think I mentioned before the scones here are really tasty, light and fluffy as they should be. The second time we tried them, it just wasn’t as good but maybe it was just an off day.

You don’t necessarily have to dine in to try it out, they also sell many of the pies ‘to go’ and as I mentioned in my Stay Fresh Scones post, they sell a really good Raspberry Jam part of the Mornington Peninsula association I believe, they also sell Strawberry Jams too but I’m more of a raspberry fan nowadays.

Pie In The Sky is well worth the drive over, and it’s a great way to support our local communities too. If you ever come down this area, check out the candy store which has a great selection of lollies from the UK and the US, and also the chilli store with their famous death sauce.

You can check out their website below and peruse their menu, that way, when you arrive you can order straight away without having to take ages to decide!

Pie In The Sky

43 Olinda – Monbulk Rd,

Olinda 3788,

Victoria, Australia

Chilli Mama – Roti Bar

April 15, 2011 Posted in Chadstone, Food, Food Reviews, Indian, Malaysian, Restaurant Reviews, Travel2 Comments

Picture above taken by avlxyz

We came across this Indian/Malaysian store whilst trying to find something decent to eat in Chadstone Shopping Centre. I believe it has recently opened, and when I mean recently I mean the last time I shopped at Chadstone which was a couple months back (We went there in November I think) So anything Malaysian, I just have to try it out.

It looked pretty good for a food court eatery, having a wide selection of savoury and sweet Roti dishes but also various noodle dishes like Mee Goreng and Fish Head Curry. Plus the commonly served, Char Keow Teow. First time around we had the Curry + Rice dish, with those curries served at front and not cooked to order. It was pretty good for a food court meal and not very expensive either, surprisingly. This time around we ordered the Mee Goreng and Char Keow Teow.

Both were on the slightly small side for their price, well compared to what I’m used to but it was by no means over priced.

Served on a nice banana leaf, the Mee Goreng was tasty and didn’t have a strong sweet and tomato taste like some other’s I’ve eaten but my mother’s home cooked Mee Goreng with added chilli probably tops it, just because it’s spicy.

The Char Keow Teow was decent too, not too oily but might just be a tad over oiled and had all the ingredients to make it tasty. Just that I like it spicy, and we ordered it spicy, but it wasn’t at all. Probably they forgot, as a couple of their curries were slightly spicy.

Anyway as mentioned multiple times, it’s very surprising to come across a really decent food court meal for a reasonable price, and a Malaysian/Indian one at that. So we probably would eat there every time we go to Chaddy but probably won’t go out of our way to get there.

Chilli Mama – Roti Bar

(Urban Spoon Link)

A: Shop Lower Level

P: (03) 9568 2263

OPENING HOURS

Mon – Wed 9am – 5.30pm

Thur – Fri 9am – 9pm

Sat 9am – 5pm

Sun 10am – 5pm

Public Holidays 10am – 5pm

Lindt Chocolat Cafe

April 8, 2011 Posted in Chadstone, Confectionery, Food Reviews, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Lindt, famously known for all things chocolate have opened two stores in Victoria in the last couple of years. Situated inside Chadstone, the fashion capital, I believe this is the second Lindt Cafe in Victoria after the first one opened on Collins St in the city.

It doesn’t look as impressive as the City one as it has that ‘I’m in a shopping centre not a cafe’ feel to it. Alas, it’s the closest one around for the South East Melburnians.

As a lover of all things macarons, I had to try them. Obviously. I’d tried them before when my cousin came to visit in October, I tried the Champagne Vanilla flavour and it was good. Not too sweet and the cream filling was quite nice.

I think the yellow one was a Salted Caramel, the brown one was Hazelnut and I have no idea what the pink one was. Strawberry maybe? with a vanilla filling? My memory is already fading.

Salted Caramel was pretty good because it’s not overly sweet like some macarons can be, it has a slight bitter tinge to it that I quite enjoy.

I think the hazelnut macaron was a let down, I haven’t had a strong hazelnut flavoured macaron yet so I’m still waiting. Unless I make a spectacular one. Jokes aside, Lindt Cafe have a tasty selection of macarons, like Pistachio and Passionfruit but none of them stray to the odd and strange side like Zumbo’s creations in Sydney. They are also quite a decent size compared with Cacao and Le Petit Gateau which are a little on the small size for a similar price.

Their cakes also looked quite appetising but it was 11am and after already ordering macarons, it probably wasn’t a good idea to order a slice.

I had a Mocha, and boy is it chocolately good. Might be a bit too sweet , had to add a bit of hot water into it and it was perfect.

Check it out if you’re shopping there.

Lindt Chocolat Cafe
Shop B193, Lower Ground Level
Chadstone Shopping Centre
Tel: (03) 9568 2444
Mon – Wed 9am – 5.30pm
Thur – Fri 9am– 9.30pm
Sat 9am – 5.30pm
Sun 10:00am – 5.30pm

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

Kokoda Walk and Mt. Dandenong

March 31, 2011 Posted in Attractions, DandenongsLeave a comment

I’ve always wanted to try the 1000 steps (Officially known as the Kokoda Walk) but just never took the opportunity to. So when my sister came to visit, we thought as a family we’d all just go for fun and then eat pies later.

There are various ways to climb to the top, I believe there are actual steps and just one long steep dirt path. The steps weren’t open when we got there so we took what looked like a endless path to nowhere.

I must say it’s quite a arduous task, I never thought it’d be so strenuous. But I know it pales in comparison with the real thing, plus the soldiers did it for days and days. Where we only did it in an hour? Definitely not for the faint hearted. It can be quite a struggle but we were definitely determined to reach the top and say ‘Yep, we’ve done it’.

Still, it was a good experience to see just a glimpse of what it was like for our ANZAC soldiers and what they had to do to protect our country and the will power, dedication and spirit needed to get through it all for all us Australians. It truly makes you appreciate what they have done.

We went to see the Mount Dandenongs Park, SkyHigh. It’s a small, quiet place but at times you can get quite a good view of Melbourne from here.

Very hard to see here with all the clouds and with my poorly zoomed camera but where the green flat land meets the sky is where the City of Melbourne is.

Everyone should at least try this out once in their life times. The 1000 steps and the Dandenongs should be on everyone’s list of things to do.

Kokoda Track Memorial Walk

Burwood Highway and Mt Dandenong Tourist Road
Upper Ferntree Gully 3156
Ph: 131 963

SkyHigh Mt. Dandenong

26 Observatory Road

Mount Dandenong

General Enquiries
Ph +61 3 9751 0443
Fax +61 3 9751 0442
info@skyhighmtdandenong.com.au

ohdenny

Category: Travel

Sambal Kampung

ABC Cafe

Bonjouk Macarons

Spudbar

Casey-Berwick Farmers’ Market

Pie In The Sky

Chilli Mama – Roti Bar

OPENING HOURS

Lindt Chocolat Cafe

Claypot King

Kokoda Walk and Mt. Dandenong