Fiesta Malaysia returns

Fiesta Malaysia is an annual event which happens in late May. Here it is free at Federation Sqaure and it attracted spectators from the Geelong and Collingwood match.

At the Periwaikian Melbourne stall

Weaving

I love the smell of the fish

Many of them was interested in the food. Here they loved the rending and so did I at the Sambal Kampung stall. At that stall they sold their traditional fish.

The motto of the festival is: sharing the culture and that is what they did through the food, games, music and other things.

It was a pity that there were no samples of the food but after the durian eating competition I was inspired to try a durian pancake and that I did. It was really nice and it did not have the smelliness of the durian. Also it was more like a crepe.

Here I had fun in doing the weaving which was really hard to begin with. There were other competitions too such as the durian eating and the instant noodle one.

See you next year Fiesta Malaysia!

Guzman y gomez

Guzman Y Gomez is a chain store and we love them for all things Mexican. So when they popped up at South Yarra outside the station, we'd thought we'd try in two visits. One was during their opening day and the other one was during dinner after a run at the Tan.

They have been open for about a month now.

On their opening day they were busy because everyone wanted their free burrito. But at dinnertime during the mid week at 7pm they were really quiet. I wonder why.

The store was clean no doubt and they are always featured on the Mystery shopper lists. I was served by one not so pleasant, but attentive lady. It was probably a student.

For both times I had the fish burrito. On their opening day I had it naked which was quite nice and healthy. But for dinner I had it in a whole wheat wrap (extra $0.50 per burrito). Here can go crazy with the jalepinos and the habenaro sauce as it was free. But they were really stingy on the water. I would have thought that they would have a glass bottle of water for the table. But no they only had a cup.


The fish in my burrito was dry and it was lukewarm. The rice was not too bad and the beans were good in there. Pity there was not a lot of salad like there was in the burrito bowl.

On opening day they had the salsa and the chips which I really enjoy. I would have ordered some but I thought that it was too much for me. And its not worth the extra $5 where the people are most likely being underpaid.

For an extra $3 you can buy a churro or two but I think its not worth it. The burrito already filled me up and I didn't need any more food after. Luckily I went for a run before. On Myfitnesspal a burrito is about 800-900 cal so you can only have this every so often.

Cafe Boutique

Cafe Boutique is a cafe specialising in coffee in Edgewater Boulevard Maribynong. It is right near the park and it is hidden from the main road. But there is a lovely view though.

"Recently not many people liked it, but did we agree with the reviews?," as they say on Dancing with the Stars (US version).

Not exactly. Some things we did agree with. For example we had the salmon with eggs ($18) which came with one piece of dry brioche toast (or should I say bread if that is the case), too much salad, salmon, sorrel and two poached eggs. The poached eggs were good but cold. The salad was a bit too much and I loved the cheese and sorrel. It gave it that nice acidic taste to the dish.

I would have liked them to use real roasted beetroot for the dish. I was disappointed with the canned version. But I did like the salmon though.

The dish took a while to come.

The coffee was alright. But I saw that the barista stuffed up another lady's coffee order. She wanted a latte got a mocha instead. The barista was lovely to her regulars but not so nice to the non regulars. My coffee did come out promptly though.

The cakes did look good though

Rating: 13/20- have to agree with some of the reviews. Next time I would come for their coffee and cake. Wouldn't return for their food as I can find much better in Footscray

Beluga

Its a weird name for a fish and chip shop but I like this name. This fish shop although opened for eight years popped up recently when I went past it from the botanical gardens to the station. So I went after my run one day for dinner.

This is a small fish shop nestled in a street where there are many fine dining places.

They were really busy on Saturday night with their regulars who love footy as much as I do. Here we talked about hawthorn.
I was served by an older lady and her young daughter. The older lady didn't smile a bit but she was friendly towards her regulars. The older guy (her husband) liked everyone including me from the west side. Which is why I have not known about this fish shop until recently.

I had their regular fish pack for one which included the South Melbourne dim sim, a piece of fish (usually the fish of the day), a whole mound of chips and a potato cake. All for $10.50. They also do salad and fish. The fish of the day was a John dory and it was really fresh.

My dish did take a while to come though

The chips I really struggled to finish this. There were just so many of them. Now I am not a meat eater and I don't like dim sims a lot so I left this aside.

The potato cake was good though. It was a good thing that they did not put a lot of salt on my dish as I hate eating too much salt.

Rating: 13/20- comfort food.  I wonder why many other bloggers have not discovered this place. Please Beluga, please invite them around.

Hahn releases a new beer

Hahn is a well known beer company which uses the best ingredients to make their beers. They are an Australian beer company which started about two decades ago.

Hahn are always thinking of some cheeky ways to promote their beer. This is just one of them

This beer smells like apple and works well with pretzels. It has only 0.2% of alcohol. This is great for people that can't tolerate too much alcohol. This is super light and is healthy. This is not sweet at all. It also works well with barbequed meats and pulled pork rolls.

This beer is available at all BWS stores and Dan Murphys so do get yours now.

Snippet: Pacific BBQ House

Pacific BBQ House is in South Yarra and they supposedly serve the best BBQ roast duck. But today I was not given a lot of meat. I loved the soup that came with the meal. It was pork and carrot soup. For $12 I got a lot of rice but not much meat and bok choy. As well as free tea and soup.

Do come here if you like roast pork and the service which was just alright. They do have EFTPOS but it is extra.

The place is a stones throw away from South Yarra station.

Gramercy Bistro

Gramercy Bistro is a bistro in South Yarra and we used our Entertainment card. With it we got 25% off the total bill which was $32.50. What that meant was that we got the drink for free.

Gramercy Bistro is in a hotel and its right on a tram line. It is about five minutes from Prahran station. It is in front of the market and we can see the signs of a new market coming.

Lemon lime and bitters

Crab spaghettini

There is ample parking at the place. The parking is outside Woolworths.

The service was fast and friendly.

The pasta was $28 and it took about five minutes to come. When it did it was good with the cheese. The pasta was al dente but it was Barilla pasta. For that price I expected homemade pasta and bread. Many places offer free bread. There wasn't much seafood in this and I would have liked more.

The breadcrumbs added another dimension to the pasta. It added that crunchiness.

The lemon lime and bitters ($4.50) was really good and drinks are their specialities.

Rating: 16/20- great but could have done more.

Fergusson Plarre Bakehouse in Moonee Ponds

There is a Fergusson Plarre and that is in Moonee Ponds, near the tram stop. I had been wanting to check this out for some time and when I saw the $2.50 custard sign and my stomach grumbling I thought I would try.

The store was clean and old fashioned. I was served by a grumpy old woman with no glasses. The younger one was wearing glasses and she was friendlier. The older one I think was the manager and she did not smile a bit. But I did appreciate the warning of I'll put this in the microwave for you. I did take a while to order and the lady did not mind.

The older lady managed food with her bare hands which I don't know whether they were clean. I only found out after ordering and paying for the food.

I ordered a chunky vegetable pie for $5.70 which was really soggy. It was microwaved and the pastry was still a tad bit doughy. Also it was bland and sauce was an extra $0.20. The filling was good though but I would liked some more cheese in it.



Rating: 9/20- I prefer the one in Queen Victoria Market as they have the best pasties and pies and their staff are friendly not grumpy

Juicy bao

Juicy Bao is a place in Chinatown which rated for one of their great xiaolong bao and noodles.

The place is clean and small and they have cheap, comfort food. Most people like them for their dumplings and buns.

The place has a no bookings policy and was busy on Friday night. Like what one other reviewer said you have to wait for the whole party to arrive before they seat you. This is true in many Chinese and Asian places.

The service was very quick though. I got my food within ten minutes and it was piping hot.

They do have BYO and someone brought in champagne. I thought that champagne and dumplings was a really odd mixture. I would have liked to have white wine or a riseling with it.

I had the noodle with mince pork and spring onion. The noodles were springy and the pork was nicely ground. The noodles were homemade.  I really don't know what those black dried things were though.

Also the buns were homamde and they were $4.80 for four. But they didn't have a lot of filling in them.

I was left feeling full and satisfied.

Rating: 18/20- do come by for a cheap and fast feed.

Hophaus revisited

Hophaus is a German bar in which you may remember that we went there for their birthday party last year. Their food and drinks were really good but expensive.

Well it seems that we had our hands on the Entertainment book. With the 25% discount we had $1 drinks and a very filling lunch. They have $20 Arbiter lunch specials but our deal was not valid then. It should have been valid seeing as this is an everyday deal and most people would get a bit confused.

They seemed understaffed. There was only one waitress and my food was waiting on the pass for a while. But the lady that served me was really lovely and she was very friendly.

But anyway we felt like having Bratwurst and beer since German bier brings out the best in German food. Here this was served in a 300 ml glass and it was really strong in taste. It had this strong apple and winey taste and smell. A smell which brought out the best in the bratwurst. Here the bratwurst was yum and the brioche roll was sweet but not too sweet. It was not dry like someone else said on Zomato.

The french fries were just ordinary.

Rating: 14/20- good food let down by the slow service. Do here for your traditional German fare

Do buy your Entertainment book from Meld Magazine this year if you want this deal and more!

Snippet: Toast Kitchen Cafe

Toast Kitchen is an old favourite of many of the locals in North Melbourne. Here they are rated for the best coffee by the Age. Their coffee beans are supplied by Vittoria. It is right outside a tram stop.

Here I had their omelette with meredith's feta, onion, chickpeas,  tomato, sumac. This was nice but for the $16 price tag I expected some bread to go with this. But all the same it was still lovely

The short black was really nutty and it worked well with that chocolate. It was acidic and bitter.

Do go by for your coffees and breakfasts and do enter their monthly Instagram competition where you'll win $100 dining voucher for the best photo.

Sam Sam

Sam Sam is a new Korean eatery which replaced Claypot King. Here they have two levels and a whole lot more seating.

Sam Sam specialises in chicken and value meals and just that. I was disappointed that they didn't have any entrees, just mains. And they didn't have the pork dumplings that you would find in many Korean restaurants and festivals.

Coming in one night after a run I was really hungry. Here they were really busy with the students who love Korean food on a winters night. Here many of the students ordered the fried chicken but I was not in the mood for that. I was in the mood for some bibimbap.

The tofu bibimbap was $13. It was in a bowl but not as big as the one at Oppa. Also there were no appetizers. However the kimchi was free and that was pretty good. There wasn't much rice in there and nor was there any burnt bits. I love eating all the burnt bits. But there was heaps of tofu and egg which is good. The tofu was fried perfectly.

Rating: 14/20- the food came out way too fast. Another minute or two might have worked. A good thing though is that the staff are very friendly.

Shifty Chevre

RNIS tried the cheeses as part of the Brunswick st All In festival but they paid for their own drinks in a separate visit. This festival is a free festival for all and it featured many activities and events for everyone along the shopping strip.

The service staff are amazing and the place is very cozy.

This one was a very intimate cheese tasting event which went on for about half an hour. Here we sat at the same table with Rukmal from the Plus ones who were also checking out the event on their own accord. We tasted four cheeses each with a very different personality. Some people enjoyed a wine or two. I generally like the saltier cheeses as they were more flavoursome. I loved the blue vein cheese at the end as it was strong in flavour. This would work well with the fig

The French triple brie which we had at the start was creamy and didn't have a strong flavour. This would work well with the quince paste and a little bit of apricot. The champagne rind cheese which was the second one was a little bit stronger and it reminded me of jaffles. The cheddar works well with the red wine and a baguette and some grapes.

Later on I came back and enjoyed a seat up the back where the books are. I enjoyed a pot of green and a lemon mineral water from Hepburn springs. This is one of the newer flavours from Hepburn springs. Here it was not as carbonated as the normal lemonade but it was sweet.

Rating: 18/20- DO BUY THAT CHEESEBOARD FOR $20-$23!!! They include five different cheeses, quince paste, dried fruit and water crackers and share it between two.

I shall be back one day. Please do invite more bloggers Shifty Chevre to try.