Fried Rice – ohdenny

Mama’s Buoi

July 7, 2017 Posted in Chadstone, Food Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, VietnameseLeave a comment

Mama’s Buoi opened in Chadstone Shopping Centre’s new wing. Mama’s Buoi also has stores in Melbourne’s GPO and in Sydney. They offer a diverse selection of Vietnamese dishes, ranging from the traditional Pho to a Vietnamese Coffee Crémé Brûlée, and they also offer a ‘Feed Me’ banquet menu if you can’t decide on what to order.

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Their Special Crab Fried Rice, is actually quite nice with the fragrance and taste of crab, served with a lime dressing on the side. The fried rice itself was a little bit too mushy but overall it was a tasty fried rice, especially with the sunny side up egg.

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The Pork had a lovely charred flavour, it was tender and comes with a fresh Vietnamese salad. The salad here is slightly different to the one served with the Lamb, where I believe this one had more of a subtle chilli seasoning to it.

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The Twice Cooked Marinated Lamb Rack’s were delicious, it’s served with a fresh Vietnamese apple kimchi salad. The lamb was tender and has a nice roasted flavour to it. The salad had that perfect balance of sweet, sour and salty.

Last words

While the food at Mama’s Buoi is pretty good, price-wise I find it leaning towards the pricier side of things. Especially their Pho which comes to $18 a bowl.

Mama’s Buoi
Chadstone Shopping Centre
1341 Dandenong Road
Chadstone VIC 3148

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Shanghai Street

February 3, 2017 Posted in Asian, China Town, Chinese, MelbourneLeave a comment

Shanghai Street is famously known for their Xiao Long Bao. It’s one of the very popular eateries in Chinatown. While Shanghai Street is known for their Xiao Long Bao, their menu is extensive with a variety of Dim Sum offerings, dumplings, wontons, noodles, rice dishes and soups as well.

Their Xiao Long Bao has an incredibly tasty filling. It’s similar to that off a traditional Chinese dumpling, with the subtle taste of ginger. However, the bun is likened to that of a BBQ Pork Bun, which is light and fluffy. The combination is great, juicy pork filling with the fluffy exterior. Winner.

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Shanghai Street’s fried rice is also very good. It has this very salty taste to but it’s very flavourful.

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The Pork & Prawn Dumplings with a peanut and sesame sauce is quite interesting. A different combination that I’m used to and not entirely sure I like the mix of peanut sauce with dumplings. To be honest, I’d just have the dumplings with the standard vinegar/chilli oil instead. The filling was pretty good though, as it usually is with pork and prawns.

Last words

Shanghai Street excel in dumplings and they’ll have me as a returning customer.

Shanghai Street
146 Little Bourke Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
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Shanghai 1930

August 26, 2016 Posted in Box Hill, Chinese, Food Reviews, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

From the outside, Shanghai 1930‘s appearance can be a bit deceiving. However, once you enter its doors you’ll find that it has a lovely contemporary yet traditional aesthetic. Shanghai 1930 offers traditional Chinese cuisine, with Shanghai influences on the menu as well. Their menu has a variety of dumplings to choose from, and many chicken, beef, seafood and vegetarian options as well.

Their Crispy Noodles with Beef was actually quite tasty with tender beef. The sauce that it comes with, however, is quite strong, and leans on the salty side but nonetheless the combination of crispy noodles and beef and vegetables, is a winning combination.

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Shanghai 1930 offer what they call “Grandma’s Secret Fried Rice”, and it’s apparent that it isn’t your typical fried rice. The use of chives and I believe spinach adds to the flavour of the fried rice, and it’s cooked with the traditionally used Chinese sausage.

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If you ever walk past this restaurant, you may notice the image of these dumplings. These are the Steamed Shanghai Dumplings that are fried on the bottom with sesame seeds. The pastry (or dough) reminds me of the dough used in Pork Buns, but a bit thinner. The crispy bottom with the traditional pork and ginger filling is an amazingly tasty combination and I’m so glad I tried it.

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Their soups you can order as one serve or for sharing. The Hot & Sour soup is what you’d expect, and has that lovely balance of heat and sourness, and just enough sweetness that nothing overwhelms the other. Yum.

Last words

While, Shanghai 1930 may not be one of the “cheap eats” in Box Hill, it certainly makes up for it with its delicious dishes on offer.

Shanghai 1930
959 Whitehorse Road
Box Hill VIC 3128

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Gyoza Gyoza

November 27, 2015 Posted in Chadstone, Food Reviews, Japanese, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Gyoza Gyoza in Chadstone Shopping Centre is the sister outlet to the CBD store. It distinguishes itself by being more of a tapas style Japanese eatery with small little dishes, with a number of gyoza fillings to choose from and a selection of drinks as well.

While gyoza is its specialty, the other selection of dishes aren’t left behind in terms of quality. The Hot Soba noodles soup has a very clean tasting soup stock, and simply tastes fresh with the added spring onions. Subtle flavour, but has all the right elements for a nice noodle soup.

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The Fried Chicken (Tori Karage) isn’t too memorable. It’s crisp-crunchy but its very dry on its own, so the Japanese mayonnaise is much needed.

The Crab claws are crunchy, not too fried and have a nice moist crab filling. It isn’t anything special, I quite prefer the crab claws in Waya in Glen Waverley just for the crab taste but it’s actually very similar.

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Mince garlic and pork Gyoza has a lovely taste to it. Subtlety of the garlic and pork flavour work well.

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The Wagyu and red onion is an interesting idea but in terms of flavour, it comes out quite bland. Not a big fan of it but it isn’t a disaster by any means.

Last words

While the food at Gyoza Gyoza is fairly decent, service wise it isn’t anything special and the small venue I feel detracts from the whole ambience.

Gyoza Gyoza
Chadstone Shopping Centre
Upper Level, 1341 Dandenong Road
Chadstone VIC 3148

Shizuku Ramen & Craft Beer

October 30, 2015 Posted in Abbotsford, Food Reviews, Japanese, Restaurant Reviews, Richmond2 Comments

Shizuku on Victoria St, is another Ramen place making its mark in Melbourne and spreading out from the CBD. While ramen is their specialty, it also prides itself on the craft beer offerings, with of course, a large range of Japanese beers, local and worldwide varieties. Ramen doesn’t come cheap though, with an average ramen costing $15 plus, however if you are able to dine there during lunch you are able to select one of their lunch specials.

Their Tonkotsu Miso Ramen comes with bamboo shoots, cha shu pork belly, Japanese style eggs with a very flavourful miso pork broth. I found it to be quite reminiscent of the many ramen shops in Japan in terms of flavour but more sparse in ingredients here.

Shizuku’s Fried Rice also is quite flavourful, and the spring onions add a nice freshness to it.

The gyoza filling is also tasty with the hint of ginger and pork flavour with crispy skin.

Shizuku’s Shoyu Ramen with cha shu, bamboo shoots and egg in a lovely clean tasting soy sauce broth again hits the mark. It’s quite a tasty meal and decent for their lunch special.

Last words
Value for money during lunch but questionable for dinner. Delicious Ramen dishes and would be fantastic with a cold one during warmer weather.

Shizuku Ramen & Craft Beer
309 Victoria Street
Abbotsford VIC 3067

OldTown White Coffee

September 25, 2015 Posted in Food Reviews, Malaysian, Melbourne, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

OldTown White Coffee opened its first restaurant in Melbourne earlier this year. Old Town already has a presence in Australia through its 3 in 1 White Coffee sold in quite a number of Asian grocers across Victoria. Originally from Ipoh, Malaysia, it has spread across Malaysia and into parts of Asia as well. It’s similar to PappaRich with its prominent drinks menu and wide variety of Malaysian dishes to choose from.

Oldtown’s Nasi Lemak comes with a number of sides, such as fried chicken, satay skewers and seafood sticks and of course sambal. The sambal is quite fragrant, although is sweeter than I would like. I still would say PappaRich’s sambal trumps it but it’s not far off. I found the satay to be warm, and not hot, which indicated to me that they pre-cook it. I suppose that’s to be expected as to speed up the order to serving time. The fried chicken, however, appears to be cooked to order. The coconut rice leaned towards the mushier side of things, and the fried seafood sticks were interesting things but I wasn’t a big fan of it. Overall, it’s a nice dish with many accompaniments which is a plus!

Their Balacan Seafood Fried Rice is delicious. It has that lovely fragrance of spices and it was spicier than expected.

I simply adored the Roti Canai, it’s fluffy and crisp. It’s my favourite Roti Canai in Melbourne. Every other Malaysian restaurant does it the typical square shape and although it’s crispy when cooked on the stove, it lacks this lightness to it that Oldtown’s has. It’s served vegetarian with a Curry, the typical Dahl curry (without the Dahl) and sambal. Mamak’s curry probably beats it in terms of flavour but its all pretty similar in my books. I’d go back just for this Roti though, it’s that good.

Their Ice Kacang looks exceptional but leaves a lot to be desired in terms of taste. It’s overly icy, the shaved ice is too rough for my liking. It lacks the red syrup (usually like a rose syrup), but does have the brown sugar or palm sugar syrup. The cendol jelly is a nice bonus but once you get the syrup, condensed milk mixture wrong, it really lets everything else down.//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Oldtown’s Ice Teh Tarik has a wonderful strong tea taste, though just a tad too sweet for me. One of the better ones in Melbourne.

Impressions

The reviews for Oldtown make you really question whether you would want to try it out. Maybe, I dined on a good day when service was pretty fast, although not particularly friendly but that’s pretty much expected at most Malaysian/Asian restaurants. Taste-wise it’s definitely above average and I can’t really understand the poor reviews it has received apart from the pricing which is a $1 to $2 more than most Malaysian restaurants. I’d go back.

Oldtown White Coffee

303 Elizabeth Street
Melbourne VIC 3000

Jaidee Thai

July 25, 2014 Posted in Richmond, ThaiLeave a comment

Jaidee Thai is one of the numerous Thai restaurants towards the Hoddle Street end of Victoria Street. Jinda Thai, iSpicy 2 and Ying Thai are also located around these parts of town. Jaidee Thai is the newcomer on the block and what they offer isn’t too different from the rest.

Jaidee Thai’s Pad Thai looks great with its combination of chicken, fresh bean sprouts and chopped peanuts. However taste wise it falls a bit short compared to the likes of Jinda Thai’s Pad Thai and even iSpicy’s. The aroma and flavour of the sauce used isn’t as strong, and if you have ever tried Jinda Thai’s version, you’ll instantly be able to tell the difference. Over there, it’s fragrant as it arrives in front of you, with the nutty smell of the chopped peanuts. Although that is not to say Jaidee Thai’s Pad Thai isn’t good, it has its pros but with so many Thai eateries around, a dish like this needs to stand out.

Jaidee Thai’s Thai Fried Rice (Chicken) served with a slice of lime smells and tastes great actually. The chunky tomato adds depth to the fried rice, along with the greens. The let-down of the dish is that the rice is on the wet side of things, which makes the fried rice feel soggy. I definitely prefer my fried rice to be drier but this might be the Thai style of Fried Rice as I recall dining at Tom Toon Thai Noodle Cafe and it was quite similar.

Impressions
Although I haven’t been left impressed by the dishes I’ve tried, you’ll still end up with a decent meal at Jaidee Thai. I’d probably give it another go sometime in the future, but Jinda Thai is still the one to beat.

Jaidee Thai
112 Victoria Street
Richmond VIC 3121

Shophouse Kitchen

February 28, 2014 Posted in Chinese, Food Reviews, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Restaurant Reviews, WesternLeave a comment

Shophouse Kitchen in QV, Melbourne is one of the many new Hong Kong restaurants that have been popping up around Melbourne in recent times. What makes Hong Kong cuisine stand apart from either Taiwanese or Chinese dishes is their fusion of Western and Eastern such as eating a pork cutlet with rice or spaghetti but Hong Kong cuisine of course still retains the Chinese influence and has many Chinese dishes without Western influences.

This dish is not one of those distinctly Chinese dishes, instead this dish is called a Baked Chicken Chop on Rice. This dish is basically Fried Rice topped with a cheese and tomato sauce bake with a Crumbed Chicken Chop. You can also order this with a creamy sauce, akin to that of a Alfredo sauce or creamy garlic sauce. You can instantly tell this is Hong Kong style food, and the fusion here actually works well. The Fried Rice flavour is quite muted, which allows the flavour from the tomato sauce and cheese to come through. The generous serving of chicken is crisp and moist which is the centrepiece of the dish. Overall, I liked it but I didn’t love it.

Here we have the Grilled Chicken Chop Rice Set served with blanched bok choy, a fried egg and white rice dressed with soy sauce. I found the grilled chicken here to be overcooked, and over charred which is unfortunate. The lack of sauce also is a disappointment as with dry meat, almost dry veggies and egg lacking in any sauce as well, it makes for a poor dish as a whole with nothing to gel everything together.

The Fried Chicken Chop Fried Rice dish is as the name suggests, Crispy fried chicken with veggies and served with Fried Rice. Again the Fried Rice lacks flavour and here would be a downside to the dish as there is nothing that really defines the fried rice here with steamed white rice. On the plus side, the crispy chicken was moist and yet extra crispy with plenty of seasoning.

On the dessert side of things, I was intrigued by the Signature Durian Tofu Pudding but was sorely disappointed by the end result. You can instantly tell from the first mouthful that the durian here is just flavouring and not real/pureed durian to provide the flavour. The durian extract or flavouring here was used sparingly and it’s almost just a pudding with a hint of durian.

Impressions

Although the impression you may have here is that the dishes aren’t fantastic, I would say it’s only the Western/fusion style dishes that come up a bit short as they are not either exceptional Western dishes nor are they tasty Chinese dishes. On the other hand, the more Chinese styled dishes such as their BBQ Pork and Fried Wonton (Dry La Mian Noodles) or their Asian Roast on Rice are tasty without question and would actually come back for.

Shophouse Kitchen
Shop 29, 210 Lonsdale St
Melbourne VIC 03000
Inside QV Square

KL Bunga Raya

October 12, 2011 Posted in Food, Food Reviews, Malaysian, North Melbourne, Restaurant Reviews, ThaiLeave a comment

KL Bunga Raya is located on Errol Street, North Melbourne, close to the North Melbourne Town Hall. When we went there on a Sunday afternoon, it was very quiet. I’m not too sure if that was a one off or if it’s always like that but I’m guessing it just has very low foot traffic around there.

By it’s name you may be able to guess that it’s a Malaysian eatery, serving all your favourite and commonly known Malaysian dishes such as Char Kway Teow, Curry Laksa and Nasi Lemak. Plus a couple of interesting dishes like the Thai influenced Pineapple Fried Rice. There are actually a few Thai styled dishes to choose from but mostly they do serve the typical Malaysian food.

I tried Pineapple Fried Rice in Malaysia from a Thai restaurant and it was surprisingly good. It was actually served inside a pineapple! So I ordered the Pineapple Fried Rice here to see if it could match or better the one I ate in Malaysia but unfortunately it lacked a bit of taste and seasoning. That’s not to say it was bad, but the pineapple had little flavour and the rice was more wet than I’m used to for Fried Rice. So let’s just say it was interesting and leave it at that.

Char Kway Teow

I tried a bit of the chicken here and it was quite tasty. Packed full of flavour. I can’t recall what the dish was called to be honest.

My verdict would be to give it a try. The food may or may not be to your liking but you wouldn’t know unless you taste it for yourself!

KL Bunga Raya
34 Errol Street
North Melbourne VIC 3051