Maker and Monger

Maker and Monger is a cheese cart based in Prahran market. They haven't gotten many reviews since its inception but I had always wanted to try their cheese sandwiches and cheeses. They do have samples of cheese.

On the busiest of days there always seems to be a queue as everyone loves cheese

Their Pimento grill toastie was really good ($11). It is not too spicy and they use Sourdough bread. They also use the best French cheese hence it was really creamy. Here they use Cayanne peppers and not a lot of salt which is good. This toastie had onion, peppers, spices,  garlic, cheese and sourdough bread

I loved the gherkin which looked good with my toastie. They were more than happy to put gherkin on my plate when I asked

They also sell take home cheese and condiments for $10 each. The condiments look lovely.

Maker and Monger should invite some bloggers out there to try their food. I'm thinking of Sweet and Sour fork.

Makoto at the Emporium

There is a new sushi train at the Emporium on the same level as Sushi Hon. They have been open for about two weeks now and at 1pm on a Tuesday lunchtime it was steady. Since it was school holidays the place was brimming with families and kids. Most of them were Caucasian and some did not know which fish is which.

But luckily I know my Japanese food well. The lady who sat beside me didn't like some of her food and her tea- she left some of it on her plate. She had prawn sushi and mustn't have liked it.

Here all the sushi is priced from $3.80-$5.80. They didn't have my tamago one but they had salmon. This one had not much taste to it but the fish was fresh. Here I saw the chef ( I think he is Japanese by the way) do the cuttlefish which was fresh. The family next to me (before the lady came) didn't know which sushi that was ( they took the octopus by way which isn't a fish but seafood. It just looks like fish because of the way that they cut it which was thin).

Nigiri

pumpkin sushi

But I did enjoy the gyoza. The gyoza was not too meaty for me which is good as I don't like to eat a lot of meat. Rather it had prawn. I took it after seeing the guy's gyoza and it looked good. The salad was fresh and not dressed which I also liked.

The pumpkin sushi was great and the family and I really enjoyed this even without the sauce. Some people may say that its too bland but its not. Its great with the eggy mayonaise which I don't know if the boys liked.

The kitsune udon ($7.50) was great but the broth was a tad bit sweet. Its good that it does not have too much noodles and the noodles were silky smooth. the bean curd pouch was lovely and soft.

Then I came again on Friday night and they had more varieties of food such as the tamago sushi and the inari, plus a weird squid sushi which I didn't like at all.

I also had agedashi tofu and it filled me up. Same as the udon.

Rating: 13/20- its ok, but limited sushi. And the service was just meh. At least we can feel to ask the friendly chef anything we like.

On the Friday night they lost one lady's order and she had been waiting for a while. She could have at least had the food on the train.

But it is good that they take EFTPOS for purchases over $20 and it worked just fine.

Update:

This time RNIS was invited and they went with friend Akira

This time it was Friday night when the restaurant was really packed. It was packed with Caucasians and some Asian girls after a VAMFF event at Myer.

This time RNIS ordered sake just to try. This cool sake was fruity and had a lot of punch to it. Here it worked well with the gyoza which was fresh and not too oily.

I loved the jellyfish salad. This was freshly done and with a Thai influence. Here it was not too spicy.

The wagyu sushi was a bit too chewy for my liking. It has been sitting on the train for some time.

The fried fish croquette was ok.

The burdock salad was quite nice but too vinegary.

We had some other food and they were all great including the tamago with spring onion.

Akira liked his ramune and cream cheese sushi.

As for the takeaway I think my housemate thought that it wasn’t enough for him. He had more food afterwards. It was seaweed salad and another sushi box.

Hash Speciality Coffee roasters

Hash Speciality coffee roasters has been on my radar eversince Meld has written about how good their coffees and hot chocolate is. Ever since then I have seen people's Instagram where good hot chocolate shows.

I went there with a friend who loves lattes. He was a bit late but they let me wait patiently for him. It was before 12pm and it was steady but not busy. It was hidden in Hardware lane so it was a bit hard for him to find. Not so much for me. I know where most things are. But being the health freaks we are we wanted to give this place a go. I had read about the fact that they use local organic produce, hence the price rise.


So I got my hot chocolate and he got his latte and we both got a chocolate crossaint to share. Well I know that a whole one to myself is about 300 calories and so to be healthier it was shared. And it was a nice crossaint. The hot chocolate was expensive but it was nice to watch the fairy floss on top disappear and melt once you pour the hot chocolate over it.

This took a while to come but it was all good. Here they say that they have 85% dark cocoa and they mean it.

Oh Deer Korean Fusion

Oh Deer Korean Fusion is in Tivoli arcade where the old RMIT business building was. Here they cater for all uni students as well as the locals. This place is a real restaurant and you can book via Dimmi which is a online booking service.


The restaurant was quiet and the service was very slow. It was also unattentive. The waitress had forgotten my kimchi. I ordered it and she forgot until I reminded her. Also all the takeaway orders were all on the table waiting to be picked up by that one driver

Here I had the bibimbab for $14. This one was the fish roe one which cooked quite nicely. The bowl was massive and they had one whole egg yolk which is good for a runner like myself. The kimchi was an added $2 when in other restaurants it is free.

Do come for the bibimbab and don't mind the slow service. I wonder what it is like when they are flat out busy.

Lord of the fries at Southern Cross

There is a Lord of the Fries and that is at Southern Cross on the DFO side of the station. RNIS did not pay for the chips as they got a complimentary voucher, but we paid for all other things.

They are a takeaway store outside of DFO. Here you order and then they call your name when your order is ready.

Here the chips were great and nicely fried. It was also crispy as well. But I did have to wait a while for them so I had Phoenix's new lemon and lime bitters drink which was very sweet. In tfact too sweet for my liking.

Then the next time I had their sweet potato fries in a kid's size as it was after 8pm and I was not that hungry. I was more hangry as I had just finished my training and burnt a measly 422 calories. Here I had their sauce of the month which is mustard with the sweet potato fries. It was ggood but a little bit too creamy for me.

This was just ok, but if you do work or shop nearby and want your vegetarian goodness then do come here.

Deliveroo a food ordering app

Deliveroo is one of the latest food ordering apps around. Here you can order your food and then wait about 30-40 minutes for it to be made and delivered to your house. So no need to get out of those PJ's to get your food. Or cook.

When Deliveroo were having their free burger day, I chose Thailinger. I heard about this place from a friend of mine Nathaniel. He was saying how good that place is. Thailinger are known for their black burgers.

But there was a long wait for delivery though as a lot of others got theirs free. At least a courtesy message was sent out but it took a while to get to my phone. Luckily I was in the city at that time and so I went there and picked up my order.

I had a prawn croquette burger with egg as always. This was really nice. I enjoyed the deep fried prawn croquettes with sweet chilli sauce and not mayo. I really liked the fried egg in there as it added lots of much needed proteins and fats. The bun was pretty good though. And I saw some of the others having their sweet potato chips.

Hmm I m not sure that I would order from their app again as they seem to have many complaints about long waiting times online. But would be happy to visit them again in store.

Madame Squint

Madame Squint is a cheap lunch place outside of Shape up in the city. I have passed it many times but never had the chance to go in. I had really wanted to come but I was really busy or went to Shape up.

Here they do rice burgers and baos. They also do sandwiches and coffee. They have these make your own sandwiches but they are not available during the lunch hour. The service was quick and friendly and place was very busy during the lunch hour.

I had the tofu rice burger which came wrapped up. It was hard to eat with my hands so I ate it with chopsticks and it seemed to be a lot less messy. The tofu was nicely fried although I thought that the batter was too thick for my liking so it seemed a little bit heavy. But it was tasty though and it filled me up.

With that came French fries for $3.50. Here they were nothing much home to write about. At least it is not heavily laden with salt like the McDonalds one.You can choose the sauce but I chose neither as I hate sauces and seasonings. They have too much sugar in it, something which I am trying to cut back on.

Do come by during the lunch hour for your quick feed. Many people got takeaway.

95 degrees in St Kilda

95 Degrees is in St Kilda and they have been around for a while. It is cute kitchy café with lots of homely decorations.

It is rated one of the best coffee and tea places in Melbourne. Here they do filter coffee which I enjoy. Many of the locals would tell you its a good place.

The service was friendly but it can be disorganised when they are busy as I saw in one case. They forgot to put in a lady's order for two hot chocolates and meringues.

The first time I came here I had green tea and just relaxed. I was going to order food but the kitchen was closed (It closes between 3 and 4pm). The green tea came in a cute jug which makes it cool. I really did like the tea whilst here. But they are also a bar. Here they have a list of cocktails and martinis that they will make for you. I sat at the bar last time and had a lemonade. I was just in one of those moods after losing my running mojo and only burning 266 calories.

I wasn't in the mood for their cake just after having a huge ramen meal in the city and just burning a tiny amount of calories. But a lot of people went for their cakes and good ole fashioned apple crumble.

Do come by for your Melburnian espresso. Oh and btw they have $15 burgers for lunch.

Hakata Gensuke in QV

There is a new Hakata in town and that is the one on QV, Here it only can seat thirty people and they don't take bookings. Hence there was a long wait to get in. On Friday night it was worse-some people pushed in and they did not care. The lines took forever so we gave up then. But Sunday everyone moved and the place was not so packed.

Today because they have just opened its 50% off everything. Some people were lucky and got the free ramen.

They specialise in chicken ramen and everything else chicken. You won't find this at the other place. Here I had the chicken ramen shoyu style with an extra egg to help me boost my fats. And I also added in lots and lots of ginger, garlic and others to aid my cold. You can choose the type of noodles you want from soft, normal or hard. I went for the normal.

After you order- the order takes about three to five minutes to come. They have a production line and there is a lot of yelling of "Iradashimee" meaning welcome. I can hear it from outside in the queue

Here they make their own ramen and it is super good. The broth was light and great and the chicken was a tad bit overcooked for my liking. But the egg was yum and freshly poached. The ramen was real Japanese ramen and the gyoza looked really good.

The ginger that they used was the real Japanese one and I think you can buy this in Daiso for $2.80. I really liked this ginger. The other Hakata didn't have the real ginger

Rating: 15/20- do come by and don't mind the line. If you don't want to wait in the line come early leave satisfied.

EC Kitchen

This place is in Caulfield outside Platform 4 of the train station. We had just finished our run at the Tan and were looking for a cheap student eats and then Katherine remembered wanting to try EC Kitchen in Caulfield. We heard good things about it from Curious Charlie who wrote about their Peking Duck Groupon deal and how good it was.

As this was a last minute thing and it required bookings I thought maybe not. As a Chinese restaurant I thought that they would have dessert and custard buns. But how wrong was I on that? Charlie really liked the custard buns and we really wanted to try them. But they were not on the menu :(.

We were by an older waitress who was surly and probably the manager. She did however treat the table of Caucasians well though.

The other table's Peking duck looked good though and they had quite a feast over there. They were all Caucasians who didn't know which is which and how to eat their Peking duck pancakes. In many Chinese restaurants the waiters would serve the duck pancakes. In here, you do your own. This is good as we can choose how much sauce and duck we want in there.

They also didn't know what the plate of greens was- it was Chinese Gai Lan (broccoli). But they liked their food.

Our beef with scrambled eggs and rice noodle dish was good ($12). However we liked more greens with this and a lot less sauce. We had to order $2 worth of rice to mop up the sauce and leave us feeling full.

There also wasn't much beef- there was a little bit.

Rating: 13/20- its ok. Where are my custard buns? It is great value for a student although next time we should get the dinner set.

Oh and by the way there are replacement buses from Caulfield to Mordialloc for a few weeks so you might as well avoid the crush and come here for dinner.