South Society

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South Society is an all-in-one cafe, bar and eatery, located close to Pinewood Shopping Centre in Mount Waverley. With the amount of new cafes coming up around town, it certainly stands out with its all day breakfast menu, and seasonal menu.

When we dined at South Society we ordered the maple bacon, with avocado and poached eggs. It’s certainly a lovely combination of the sweetness from the maple syrup, the richness from the bacon, creamy avocado and just right poached eggs.

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Their Chilli scrambled eggs with goats cheese and olive crumb is an interesting combination. While not being a big fan of olives, it complements the soft and strong flavour of the goats cheese, and the subtle spiciness of the chillies. I wouldn’t say it was amazing by any means, but definitely something different.

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Last words

And with the changing of the seasons comes new menu options. Their current menu still has their Smashed avo and bacon but made slightly differently, and their Chilli scramble turning into a Basil Pesto scrambled eggs which sounds like a winning combination. The menu at South Society has it all, baked eggs, burgers, wings, salads, and seafood. So one thing is for certain, is your spoilt for choice.

South Society Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

South Society
435-437 Blackburn Road
Mount Waverley VIC 3149

YOMG

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YOMG has a few stores located in the South and South East of Melbourne, and in Cairns! The Glen Waverley outlet is an immensely popular burger and frozen yoghurt joint that gets packed full of people on most nights.

While most people come for the burgers, YOMG also offer a variety of sides such as fries, wings, chicken bites, and to wash it all down they have milkshakes and of course, the self-serve frozen yoghurt for dessert.

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The 12th Hour burger is filled with slow cooked pulled pork, Asian slaw and basil mayo. I loved the flavours, pulled pork is tender, and with the slightly zingy slaw it complements the pork well.

The Bergerk is made with Southern Fried Chicken, cheese, lettuce, tomato and dressed with chipotle mayo. All the ingredients for a great burger.

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The Chilli Cheese fries is basically their fries topped with cheese sauce, chilli sauce, shredded cheese and spring onions. The chilli sauce packs a respectable amount of heat, and with melted cheese it’s a real winner.

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YOMG do burgers well, and you can see why it’s so popular. Along with the American style sides and drinks and the frozen yoghurt that can be ordered by weight, or as a cone, it has everything you’d want.

YOMG - Yo My Goodness Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

YOMG – Glen Waverley
Ground Floor
65-67 Kingsway
Glen Waverley VIC 3150

La Burgery

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La Burgery opened its doors last year, replacing Nandos on Whitehorse Road, Box Hill close by to the Box Hill Town Hall. It offers an extensive variety of burgers, with beef, chicken, lamb, fish and vegetarian options as well as wraps and salads if you are not feeling like a burger. They also offer a few sides, like fries (obviously) and onion rings. All their ingredients are locally sourced with their bread and meats delivered daily.

Their Mexicano is served with a free range beef patty, jalapenos, rocket, avocado, cheese, chunky salsa and sour cream and seasoned with habanero spice. The burger is flavourful and fresh, although the beef patty was fairly dry.

The chips we ordered were also a bit disappointing. Not crispy enough and lacking seasoning. A herb seasoning would be great on these fries.

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The Antipasto Bellissimo burger is served with chicken breast, red capsicum, roasted pumpkin, feta cheese, semi-dried tomatoes, basil pesto, rocket and herb aioli. The chicken was more moist, and the basil pesto flavours comes through well. Although, both burger buns were harder than expected.

Last words

There aren’t too many places to grab a burger in Box Hill, apart from fast food joints so La Burger fits nicely into the Box Hill food scene. The burgers weren’t amazing by any means, but they were slightly above average which sometimes, is good enough.

La Burgery Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

La Burgery
5/1031 Whitehorse Road
Box Hill VIC 3128

On It Burgers Abbotsford

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Richmond has recently become more vibrant with the ever increasing amount of apartments being built near the Yarra river and especially so on the traditionally rundown Victoria Street. On It Burgers has two stores, one in Ferntree Gully and the other in Richmond/Abbotsford so their inner city location is conveniently accessible by train and tram.

On It Burgers has around ten burgers to choose from, and for sides you can order onion rings, fries, with dips as extras and variety of milkshake flavours. Being someone that loves trying something a bit different, I ordered the Spicy Chick which is basically deep fried crispy chicken with Sriracha mayo, slaw and lettuce with a black bun. It’s very reminiscent of those KFC burgers but with the added spicy kick. Honestly, there isn’t much excitement from deep fried chicken but the flavours overall work together. On It Burgers also offer burgers with soft shell crab, vegetarian options (mushroom), jalapeno beef, and beef and bacon together, together.

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You can choose Sea Salt or Garlic and Basil as seasoning for your fries. The Garlic and Basil seasoning is nice,  but nothing like my favourite seasoning for fries from Grill’d. 

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On It Burgers don’t reinvent the wheel with their burgers, there’s some interesting fillings but overall it’s your mostly standard burger joint done relatively well.

On It Burgers Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

On It Burgers Abbotsford
349-351 Victoria Street
Abbotsford VIC 3067

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Huxtaburger Eastland

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Eastland Shopping Centre’s new Town Square is a lovely space for restaurants and the Sunday market as well. Eastland managed to persuade popular burger joint Huxtaburger to open up a new eatery east of Melbourne. Now with five outlets around Melbourne, Huxtaburger offers American style burgers, snacks and drinks.

The Clair Burger has one huge piece of southern style fried chicken, plus jalapeno mayo and coleslaw with a sweet bun. It’s quite a tasty burger, I loved the spicy kick from the mayo and I love the flavour from the coleslaw with the crunchy and moist chicken. Though for the price, it is on the small side of things.

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The Chipotle seasoned chips are an interesting take on the standard fries. It’s not for the spice-averse though because it is has quite a kick to it. I’d say it has a bit too much seasoning, even for me who loves spicy things. 

Last words

Huxtaburger does burgers and fries well but it doesn’t offer value for money.

Huxtaburger Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Huxtaburger – Eastland
R03 Town Square, Eastland
171-175 Maroondah Highway
Ringwood VIC 3134

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Oneworld Knox

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Oneworld Knox is located in the O-Zone section of Westfield Knox Shopping Centre. Their name aptly describes the variety of cuisines on offer, and by perusing their menu you can definitely tell that is the case. There’s African, Japanese, Thai, Chinese, Mexican, Indian, Italian and Spanish influences on Oneworld’s menu so there’s pretty much something for everyone. We were invited to dine at Oneworld, and one thing I noticed was that they go by the Farm to the Table philosophy, sourcing local produce for their dishes which I am a big fan of!

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Oneworld have recently renovated and their fit out is cozy and welcoming, with overhanging plants and vibrant artwork on the walls. We were greeted by some friendly staff and of course, had to have a coffee to start off with. Their organic coffee is sourced from Healesville and has a lovely aroma to it but not too strong.

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We ordered the Buffalo Wingettes and the marinade on the wings was very flavourful with a subtlety of spice that carries through it. Tender chicken that goes nicely with the sour cream, fresh diced tomatoes and alfalfa.

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The Fajitas were the standout at Oneworld. We ordered the chicken fajitas but you can also order it with beef, prawns or just vegetarian. What I loved about this dish was the fantastic flavours of that salsa and the chicken was perfectly cooked. Often, you’d find chicken to dry out, especially breast meat but here it was very well cooked. The puree of cherries, capsicum, onions, and celery that when combined create this pink puree was something I hadn’t had before, but what a great combination that adds a bit of sweetness to the dish. I wish I could make that so I could have it as a dip! This dish you could probably even feed two people with just a few more tortillas.//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

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I like trying new things, so when I saw Camel Burger on the menu I was instantly drawn to it. Their camel meat is from South Australia, and it’s served with tomato sauce and fries. Surprisingly enough, it was actually quite tasty, camel meat tastes like a more robust beef or veal but just different. The Oneworld sauce that goes with it pairs well, with it’s slight creaminess. Though, the downside is that camel meat seems a bit more lean, so I found it just a tad dry even with the sauce. Overall, it’s a pretty decent burger!//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
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The Porterhouse Steak you can have your choice of garlic butter, mushroom jus or chimichuri sauce. If you choose the garlic butter, they actually provide you with a very generous serving of it in a small bowl. I’d have preferred a garlic butter sauce but the garlic butter was quite nice, though you probably don’t feel like having so much knowing how rich it is. The steak was also cooked to our request of medium and the salad gives the freshness it needs.
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Oneworld Knox has an extensive menu with a great variety of tasty foods on offer, and with friendly staff which is a major plus to me! Open for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, or just for some desserts or drinks, if you so fancy. Try the Fajitas!

Oneworld Knox Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Oneworld Knox
Knox O-Zone
425 Burwood Highway
Wantirna VIC 3152

T: 03 9801 8962

Opening Hours
Everyday – 10am to 10pm

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Meat in the Middle

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Meat in the Middle on Kingsway in Glen Waverley offers an selection of souvlaki dishes and burgers. It’s a cute little place, that is buzzing in the evenings.  You can order your souvlaki in a wrap, or open platter and all their menu items have interesting names to go with them.

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The Kingsway, is their fusion souvlaki with a side of chillies to eat with your pork gyro and pita bread.  It’s a very filling meal, and I love the freshness of the Apple slaw, which I didn’t find to be too rich in dressing.

Last words

Tasty dishes and decently priced. I’ll be baaack!

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Meat in the Middle Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Meat in the Middle
86 Kingsway
Glen Waverley VIC 3150

Junior Tan Hawker Kitchen

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Located in Bayswater, Junior Tan Hawker Kitchen adds to your list of Malaysian restaurants to choose from in Victoria. The decor inside Junior Tan has this colourful 1920’s Chinese era imagery on the walls that I haven’t see done before. On their menu, some of the items have a slight twist to it like Eggplant chips, Balachan chic-a-wings or even a ‘Malaysian’ burger. However, they do also offer the more traditional dishes such as Nasi Lemak, Laksa, Char Kway Teow and Nasi Goreng.

Junior Tan’s Nasi Lemak looked quite appealing, it had all the essential parts to a good Nasi Lemak. However, I found the beef in the curry to be very tough, presumably not cooked long enough. The sambal was also a bit average, it doesn’t quite have that punch of flavour and spice.

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 The Char Kway Teow had a lovely wok flavour, and spiciness! Although, it was overly oily and wet as a result and the choice of the thin noodles I felt was a bit of an odd choice but overall I was quite happy with it.

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Junior Tan’s Murtabak had this nice crispy exterior and flavourful filling. The curry sauce had just enough creaminess and spice to it, and goes well with the murtabak. My only con with it, is that is looks very barebones (styling is leaves a lot to be desired).

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Still on my mission to try all the Teh Tarik’s around Melbourne, so how does Junior Tan’s drink stack up? Well, it has that lovely foamy top that is very essential to a good Teh Tarik. A tad too sweet for my liking but tea flavour is just strong enough with the condensed milk.

Last words

If I were around these parts of town, Junior Tan would probably be high on my list of places to dine at. However, is it worth the extra effort? Not particularly for me, when there are plentiful of choices around me and in the CBD but as I usually say it’s worth a try.

Junior Tan Hawker Kitchen Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Junior Tan Hawker Kitchen

Shop 25, 7 High St
Bayswater VIC 3153

Two Hands Bar

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Initially I wanted to try Shizuku Ramen on Victoria Street, Richmond which is just next door. However, my poor eyesight lead me to Two Hands Bar which interestingly also serves Japanese cuisine. Their menu is a mixture of Western and Asian, also offering a breakfast menu for locals and workers in the area, burgers and also even Korean  but in addition as the name suggests it’s a bar as well.

Their lunch menu comes with complimentary soft drink or seaweed soup. One of their menu items is their Teriyaki Chicken with rice. The chicken is tender and marinated nicely, and comes with potato salad and interestingly dressed shredded carrots. The seaweed soup has a lovely seaweed flavour that isn’t too bold, but I found it just a tad oily.

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Another lunch item is their Deep Fried Chicken (Karage), the chicken is tender and crispy but requires the combination of mayo to accompany it to bring it all together. Otherwise, it’s particularly dry on its own with rice. As with the Teriyaki Chicken, it comes with the potato salad and carrots. Overall, it’s a decent deal with a drink.

Impressions

Two Hands Bar doesn’t set the bar high with its food, however,it is quite decent. I haven’t yet tried their burgers, but will definitely try them sometime in the future just to see how they taste like.

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Two Hands Bar
311A Victoria Street
Abbotsford VIC 3067

Ki – Toronto Series

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Ending my Toronto series with Ki Modern Japanese and Bar located on Brookfield Place Bay Street, in the Toronto CBD. Ki meshes the Western culture with Japanese cuisine in which you end up with dishes such as burgers but with a slight twist or sushi with spicy tomato salsa or mango.

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For those looking for a more traditional Japanese meal, at Ki they do offer a variety of freshly made nigiri, sashimi and maki sushi rolls. As a modern Japanese restaurant, they also serve slightly different sushi rolls, some with bacon or sweet potato which make for interesting combinations and especially on your palette.

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Impressions

Overall, the food quality here is fantastic. The sushi, tempura sushi and even the burgers are all delicious. However, I found the dishes leaning more towards Western style to have very minimal Japanese influences as such it would appear like eating it in any other upmarket cafe or the like.

Ki do Japanese well, although it comes at a price because the dishes here aren’t exactly cheap.

Ki Modern Japanese and Bar on Urbanspoon

Ki
181 Bay St
Toronto ON M5J2S1