Noodle Kingdom at swanston st

You might recall me going to the other Noodle Kingdom branch in Russell st. Well this time Friend A and I went to the new branch that just opened a few months ago. There were lots of Asians there which is a good sign that the food is good. I don't know why only 47% of people liked it on Urbanspoon.

Here you can see all the appetisers. I know that they look like plastic boxes but other bloggers told me that they are not and they have tried the kelp and stuff

This is exactly the same as that one, except for cleaner premises and better staff. They had better English. Although I got to admit water did take a while to come. We had to ask for it for the second time. The food didn't take long to serve but it was yummy.
 And also better food this time around.
We had:
1) Vegetarian spring rolls. ($4) These were okay and I loved the sauce for it.
2) 2 Plates of dumplings, one in spicy soup and one that is just plain boiled. We liked them both except the ones in the soup always kept breaking. And the soup wasn't spicy enough for me and Friend A. They were $8.50 each.
Takeaways are $0.20 extra, so if you are a cheapie like me try and finish the massive serves of food and always share your food with someone else because the plates are huge for such a small price.

woolworths fresh food fair

The Woolworths Fresh food fair is on this weekend and there are many chances to grab a sample of fruits and be in the know about cooking meals. At the city one there is fondue, orange juice and oranges to be had.

Oh and there are lots of discounts too. Watermelon for $0.69.

Boost juice

Boost Juice is a chain store. They are located all over Melbourne. Here you can get some really good juices and coconut water depending on where you go.
Here they employ many young Australians rather than International students. Most of them probably get good pay hence the good service. You order and pay and then they will call your name when its ready. You can see them making it.

I went to the one in Melbourne Central today and got their new pocket rocket juice. Normally $5.80 for a medium size. I only had to pay $0.80 because I had a $5 gift card from a friend which needed to be used up.
My juice was pretty good in curing a cold. It had orange, banana, chia seeds, pineapple, a booster of some sort and passionfruit. Yum. Now I wish summer was here again.

Scams and watch out for them

"Recently I was scammed by a con artist for an employment job somewhere in the city. I found this ad on Facebook. I applied not knowing it was a scam.They emailed me asking for interview  I had to pay money for the interview and application process in which I was told that there would be a job for me. The process costed about $191 and my personal details.  But in the end there was no interview and I looked at the legitimate sites such as Careerone.com.au and found that no such company existed.  I tried to contact them but they didn't not exist. So I felt ripped off!!!" says a friend of mine.

Sounds true??? It probably happens to all of us by some stage. The lesson learnt is to watch out for scams like these.

I also heard that another friend of mine fell victim to a housing scam. Fortunately they didn't lose any money over it.

RMIT has a housing database where advertisers can place ads and they advised that students should see the house first before paying any money and always get the receipt.
You can get more information about scams here: www.scamwatch.gov.au

If you get any scam emails delete them. Do not read them as they are spam. ignore all the Facebook job ads as they too are scam.
https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/scams/companies-you-should-not-deal-with/unlicensed-companies-list/g - you can also check the company here.

Be Careful as you may not be able to get all the money back.

Koko black the second visit

You might remember reading about it first here.
Here I went with a friend and actually tried their handmade chocolates at $1.95 a pop. I got four pieces as well as a hot chocolate ($6.00) a mug which was not too bad. My friend loved her cappucino.
I loved the little handmade chocolates. Oooh lalala. They looked so good and tasted good.  I loved the crystallised orange, almond, walnut piece, passionfruit piece and mango piece. Yummm.

This really did satisfy my chocolate cravings. Yummy.

And the staff were all so lovely. Thanks for making my day.

Hanaichi @ QV Square

This is a really cheap Japanese place which is well loved by students and workers. I went just after lunch and this place was full as always. This chain of stores oringinated in Queensland by an actual Japanese chef. One of my friends work at the Hanaichi chain in Chadstone and he said that this was good.
Here they only do Japanese curries and other hot meals. No sushi or bento
Not so...
The place was chaotic with many people finishing their shifts at lunch time and not really helping customers out. I did put my hand up for someone to help me with opening my soup but they jsut whizzed by.
The waiters yelled to the kitchen staff rather than writing the orders down.
The upstairs area was full of litter and someone hadn't gone around and cleaned it up yet.
They always require staff.
Hardly any service. You just order, pay and they call your name when the food is ready.
And  when I got my food (tempura with rice- $6.70 and miso soup $2.20) it was:
crunchy but too much rice and not enough tempura. And all the vegetables were hidden in the rice so they went all soggy
Loved the pickles and they used the correct rice this time. And I love that it was not oily but fresh.
Loved the miso soup just wished it had tofu in it. For $2.20 its a bit expensive without.

I think next time I'd go for the ramen and come a little bit earlier say 11am. Then that way they are cleaner and much more ready to help me if needed.