YUZU

RNIS received a 25% discount of their total bill via the entertainment card. Hence they only had to pay $20.80 for the whole meal.

YUZU is a Japanese izakaya style place in the heart of the city where all the offices are. Here they were busy after 1pm and I went in after the meditation class wanting a healthy style lunch and wanting to use my discount.

The service was firm but attentive. It is run by real Japanese

Miso soup

The place is clean and reminds me of Japan. I loved watching the sushi chef do their thing behind the sushi bar.

Here I had the chirashi zushi and inari. The miso soup that came with the chirashi was stock standard and was quick to come. The rice was really warm in chirashi and it was a little bit too vinegary. But I did like the fresh fish as it was done with some firenese. I did like the wasabi as it was real Japanese wasabi.

As for the inari I loved the mushroom in there. Normally I get Agedashi tofu but because I am running that day I did not want anything too heavy.

Rating: 13/20- good but not great. It could be a bit better. But I do like their happy hour deal of beer and appetizer for $10-$15.

Beer Deluxe in Hawthorn

There is a new Beer Deluxe in Hawthorn. I have been wanting to go to this Beer Deluxe for a while. I have passed it a few times but they always seemed expensive. Here they are renowned for their beers and beer food. And the footy. I had a voucher for this place.

This place is a favourite for the locals with their beer sales on Mondays (all beers are $6) and their $12 lunch specials. They also have trivia night on Wednesday.

I had their fish and chips for $22. This was quite pricey seeing as it was a small plate. But at least with the card the cider was free. And the cider went well with the fish and chips. The salad was small and the fish was whiting.

I really enjoyed the subtle beer batter on the fish and the fish was not overcooked. It was fresh though.

At least the chips were good. They really didn't need the tartare sauce with them though as they were good on their own.

Rating: 13/20- love that cider. Do come for the cider and the burgers. The burgers were huge!

The Pancake Parlour at Glen Waverley has a few highs

The Pancake Parlour has been around for a while and they have quite a fair few stores all over Australia. They are an Australian business which pays well. Curious Charlie gave me a free voucher for a short stack pancake and I paid for the tea.

The place is cleaner than most but the service leaves a lot to be desired. The Asian lady was lovely to her customers, but the brunette was a bit cold and really slow. It was hard to get her attention. She probably was working all day.

A short stack pancake consists of ice cream and two buttermilk pancakes. There is free maple syrup on the table so you can add some into your pancake. Maple Syrup is an American food. It is a natural sweetner and the pancakes were great with it.

The mother and the kid on the table next to me didn't finish their malts. I think that they didn't like it. The mother said it had been awhile since they last went to pancake parlour so the waitress suggested the pavlova which is a special one for the month of March and I suggested the short stack seeing as it was that good.

The tea was just alright for $5.20. I would have expected a better quality organic brand be used for that price as my tea was not strong

Rating: 14/20- good pancake, marred by slow service and ordinary tea. Oh well at least I was hydrated  for a while.

Snippet: Kakalima

Kakilima has opened up just near RMIT and on its grand opening it had a huge line of students. They don't have much in terms of seating but what they do have is good.

They are renowned for their spicy Indonesian food but what I got for $8.90 was two small pieces of fish and rice and not much vegetables. We the Asians love our vegetables a lot. For free I got a can of Sprite but couldn't finish it all.

I did enjoy their samples of the pork noodles and the roast pork with red onion and chilli. This is the type of spicy dish that I like.

Do try this place if you love lots of spice.

Snippet: X2 Expresso

This place is in Carlton just around the corner from uni and I keep on passing this hole in the wall Vietnamese joint. This place is a hit with the students at Carlton Campus.

You order and then they will make your roll for you.

Here they specialise in banh mi. I love a big banh mi and this was small. It was $5.50 but they used the fresh tofu rather than the grilled one. But they used the fresh Saigon chilli. The bread roll was crusty and the roll was still intact after 10 mins.

Do go by for your cheap eats

Serotonin Eatery

RNIS was invited here and they did not have to pay.

Serotonin Eatery is near Burnley station and is a health food place. For now they are doing lunch and breakfast but during the winter months they will be doing dinner too on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. At the dinners they will have sweet potato fries, lasagna etc.

The seating area which has cool swings

Juice

Everything here is vegetarian and it is a happy place for the dogs to hang in the courtyard. Moreover the service is laidback. We met up with Emily the owner and Emily loved having me here.

They use all fresh and organic ingredients as evidenced in my organic grapefruit juice which was cold pressed.

Deconstructed sushi. Image courtesy of chiukatherine on Instagram

The deconstructed sushi ($17+ $3 for the poached egg) was just as good and was very filling. I added a poached egg to it for some good fats. There was a whole heap of avocado in there which I liked. And I loved the idea of soy sauce in a test tube.

The rice and quinoa was not too vinegary which I liked.

Last but not least that magnum dessert ($11) was good but very healthy. This was a raw vegan dessert with a hint of agave.

Rating: 16/20- healthy goodness and friendly staff. Come in for your morning meals and juices before the workday. Oh and its suggested you should give up coffee or have it once a day.

La Lot

La Lot is a new Vietnamese restaurant in Richmond in Victoria st. It is right near the tram stop. I had been wanting to go to Victoria st for some time but due to the roadworks could not.

They had just opened last month and they were offering all diners 10% off the total bill. I saw the big sign on the way in and thought to myself, "I have to take my friends here one day". The place was very clean and open. And it was huge.

I loved the shelf and pictures. It gave the place a very homely feel.

They were busy in their first week of opening. Here a lot of Asians and Caucasians came. The service was a bit slow and they forgot my onions. But I can forgive them as it is their first week.

But the pho tasted good and it was msgless. Here the beef was fresh and so was the chicken and it was only $10.

I also had their three colour drink which was $4.50. I saw this on display and wanted it.
Rating: 12/20- it was ok. But loved the drink though. Hopefully they will have adjusted by now. I hope that this place stays open for a while

Funkfish

Funkfish is a place in Victoria Market in the free tram zone. This is great for tourists and for the locals alike. Here they have $6.90 snack pacsk as well as regular meals and sushi. I'm not a fan of their sushi just looking at it and seeing how it was made. its usually dry.

They are in the food court and the service was nonchalant. They weren't really happy about having to wake up at 5am (or ealier) to get to the market. The market opens at 6am.

They serve wine with fish. Something which the rest of the market does not do.



This fish was good. I think it was a flake, but they were a bit heavy on the batter. I really didn't like the tasteless chips though. They were from the bain marie and had been sitting there for a while. I think they were the Birds Eye type.

Rating: 10/20- once is enough. I won't be making that same mistake again when there are other fish and chip shops around Melbourne.

Izakaya Jiro

This place is in Glenferrie and it is about a ten minute walk from Swinburne main campus. I have heard many good things about them so I wanted try them for a healthy meat free lunch. It was really warm day so a light lunch was also warranted.

Izakaya Jiro had been mentioned a few times in The Age Good Food Guide.

Here the place was clean and had that cute Japanese décor. It is renowned for their skewers but since it was lunchtime there were none. Rather there were the bento boxes which I love. I get to try everything all at the one price.

The service was very attentive but the female manager although friendly did not smile one bit. But she did offer me free tea which was a bonus. And this was the good Japanese green tea which is supposed to be cleansing. Nowadays no other Japanese place offers this: you usually would need to pay.

The bento was sufficient for $15.80 This was a vegetarian bento and I loved their organic tofu which was silky and fresh. I also loved the sweet sauce that went with it. It went well with my rice.

The vegetarian sushi tasted like it was mass produced. The rice was the wrong one and it was a little bit dry. But the tempura was great though. Not too oily. If you didn't eat it whilst it was hot then it would get soggy. Unlike what one reviewer mentioned on Zomato, the tempura was not bland at all.

I also loved the homemade miso soup with the big piece of seaweed. That was nice.

The pumpkin parcel was also lovely and so was the seaweed.

Rating: 15/20- would come again. And it would be good if they had some sort of foodie/dinner events for everyone to try Japan's regional delicacies.

What would be nice is that they have a proper tip jar not just a plate. I thought that a customer had left behind her change when I saw the change on the plate at the cashier.

Leftbank has a new beer range

Leftbank has released a new White Rabbit range which is from Geelong. They are known for their flavoursome apple like crisp taste. And that is what I found in most of them.

And RNIS was invited to try and got very drunk very easily. But luckily they caught public transport on the way to and from. And no they don't recommend drinking all three butt rather a sip.

Pork Belly skewer

The launch started at 7pm  and there we were given a card with all the three samplings and skewers. The bar was really busy and each time we were served two skewers. But someone had too much much to drink in terms of their hops as they were one glass each.

They all went well with the food. Here we had the fish skewer which we loved and the pork belly one. The beef teriyaki one we thought was too sweet. We were full from all that food and beer so we did not order anything else.

The schooners are normally $7.50 and they work well with the skewers. They are only available on Thursday from 5pm-7pm.

Sushi House: Ben K

Sushi House: Ben K has been known to sell their food at the Japanese festivals and they looked really good. So I thought that I would try this cheap student eat

I had an assignment in Hawthorn for Mystery Shopper and I thought that I would come by. The place is run down and looked a little bit dirty on the outside. But it was warm and welcoming on the inside. Here the service was not too bad. There were more caucasians than Japanese and the waitress spoke in Chinese.

Here I ordered their tofu terriyaki lunch specials for $9 which came with rice, four tofu cubes, salad in some sort of weird dressing, miso soup and fruit. The fruit was on the same plate as the rice. I expected it to be in a small parfaitcup like the other lady's lunch as it looks much nicer.

The tofu was good, but the rice was lukewarm. And the salad had that weird dressing. What is up with the pasta? It does not belong on the plate as Pete and Manu would say.

I did like the miso though.

Rating: 14/20- alright for a cheap eat but let down by the cleaniliness of the restaurant.

Snippet: Captain and Co Fish Bar

Captain and Co fish bar is a new place in Brighton. Here they focus on good health in terms of salad and fresh fish. Here they use local seafood and fresh fish and the service was very quick. They were also friendly. Here I was served by a very friendly lady who knows her seafood well.

Here I had the grilled salmon as well as the snack sized chips.  The coucous salad was also quite nice not too overdressed. The grilled salmon was small but this is good for a 7:30pm meal after a run. The potato cakes and the bowl of chips looked good on the other table.

Do come here for your fresh fish and chips near the railway station.

The Greek festival- what you missed out on

This is a photo essay of the lovely sights that we saw and the free yoghurt that we tasted. No Greek party would be a party without all the noise and shouting. And it would not be the same without the food and the ouzo.

Ouzo is a Greek wine and there was ouzo a plenty as well as other Greek wine.

This party like festival was held in Lonsdale st with thousands of people turning up and large lines

Greek dancing

Wines on offer

Free wine tasting

At the cooking demo

The lively atmosphere

Juices

The Greek drinks

Stay tuned for next years one as it is said to be just as amazing as this.