Dine with Dimmi: The Mill House

The Mill House is in the city and RNIS got a 50% off the total food bill from Dimmi.

This place is in the city and is uber cool. They just opened last year and already people love the entertainment.

Here you order at the bar. As I had booked on Dimmi I got a bar tab card which I did not know about and they should have told me when I made the booking. As usual I don't bring ID and some people don't. Luckily they were apologetic about this and they let me pay straightaway. Or otherwise I would have to wait a while.

The range of beers on offer

The basin which is really cool

The place was busy for a Wednesday night but the food came out rather quickly. Here I had their $12 burger special which was fish burger and that came with chips. As well as their locally made beer. Their beer was really strong, smokey and dark which reminded me of a winters day.

Their beer is just like their bar which is old and rustic.

As for their fish burger with chips it was rather small but  tasty. They used a sweet brioche bun and they grilled the fish which is even better. Fried fish has a lot of oil and I don't need all that oiliness. I needed some other things to go with it and that is their sweet potato chips. Their sweet potato chips was not crunchy but bland. The other chips were just great, crunchy and nicely seasoned.

Rating: 14/20- thank you Dimmi. Do visit them for drinks and maybe pizza. Its best to book a table via Dimmi so that you can earn points and maybe a reward.

Dumplings Plus in Emporium

Dumplings Plus is now a chain store. There used to be just one in the city but now they are all over the place and I wanted to try out the Emporium store which is big and on the lower ground floor.

The place was steady at 3pm with many people wanting dumplings from the bain marie.

I had the pan fried pork dumpling and the wontons in chicken soup with noodles. The wontons were a little bit pink in the middle. The broth though was fragrant. The noodles were just alright.

But the pan fried dumpling was too oily. It had a pool of oil underneath. Now I understnad that they are supposed to be fried but not this oily. I got a little bit of diarrhea from these foods.

Rating: 10/20- I just got diarrhea and don't understand the wait for mediocre noodles. The service was ok.

For Chinese there are better places in the CBD.

Taco Bill turns 50

Taco Bill has been around for a long time and they have been serving some great Mexican food for generations. Here they are famous for their soft shell and hard shell tacos.

There are many Taco Bills all over Melbourne. Here they are featured in the Entertainment book for a 25% discount and have so for many years. Here they do some great vegetarian things and the Taco Bill that we went to was in Kensington. This place is across the road from the train station.

For their free taco day they were not too busy. It was a Thursday night and we wanted to see how they coped with a lot of customers and free tacos to give out. Well it is two per person and people ordered other things.

For a start their Fishbowl margaritas seemed popular. Everyone wanted to buy the big bowls to share. That and their burritos.

But I had their Mexican rice which was so spicy. That and their quesadillas. Their vegetarian ones were quite good but filling. I just got an entree size and it was enough to fill me up.  Their tacos were quite messy and the chicken one was really bad. The chicken was plasticky in taste. But the Yucatan was good.

The salsa was mind boggling as always. I loved it in the rice and in the Quesadilla.

Happy Birthday Taco Bill from RMIT Newintstudents and here is to another 50 years in the making.

Schnitz at Airport West

There is now a Schnitz at Airport West in the newly refurbished food court. Friend A paid for me and I did not have to pay. But Friend A mentioned that they are expensive for a burger. Really? Come on? Grill'd is expensive and they don't do much.

You order and pay and they give you a number. Like the other Schnitzes in the city you wait whilst they make up your burger. I had wanted to see how this one fared compared to the others. Since A always complained about the food in the food court this seemed better.

A had a American dream which he reckons that it is ok. It comes with cheese, pickles and onion. I thought that A would have enjoyed it.

My Thai the knot did not have too much sweet chilli sauce which was nice of them. I hate burgers which have too much sauce in them. The carrots were good and the schnitzel was nicely crumbed. It was also really crunchy which is good. At least this is not bland.

Friend A and I both liked the russet chips. They were done with lots of good potato and were nicely salted. It was also crispy. The dips cost extra and they have extra sugar that we can do without.

Friend A complains "A bit expensive for lunch!". I say "Oh well, Melbourne burgers are a little bit more expensive, especially all the good ones!"

Do come by to Schnitz at the new food court in Airport West when nothing else suits you fancy.

South Melbourne Mussel Fiesta and Greek

South Melbourne Mussel Fiesta was on this weekend and whilst entry was free, food was not and alcohol was about $5-$10 a pop. Most bowls were $10 and very small. It was a 33C degree day and most people got alcohol and other sweet fizzy drinks but I was happy with my kombucha from Happy place. This was $5 but it was healthy and sugarless. A lot of other people got smoothies.

Kombucha

A sleepy dog

Mussels being washed

Mussels being cooked

Stage

Wine tasting

There was no where to sit at the market as there were not enough chairs provided and I did not know until I got there. People brought their happy furry friends.

I had ordered food on Menulog for Ela Re thinking that I would be able to eat it at the market. Turns out that there is no such luck so I ate my food at the place. The place is across the road from the market. They kept calling me four times, each time I was on the tram or running.

I ordered a feta and oregano chips for $6.90 (it was a big serve, but bland). The chips were the frozen sort.

The lamb souvalaki was good but the lamb was too chewy and for $9.90, I expected better. It was overcooked.

Rating 10/20- don't bother with Ela Re but do come to South Melbourne Market. And do enjoy the mussels on offer

Glenferrie road festival and Grilld

Glenferrie Road festival is a festival about wine, arts, crafts, food and coffee. But it is also about community with many of the gyms and community organisations taking part. In recent years I have heard that there is a waffle stall but not this year. This year they featured cakes and desserts in a jar, all of which look yummy but I can't eat it. Why you ask? It is because I'm trying to quit sugar.

So instead I take a look at all the non sugary options and there were a few except for the ones that have a lot of BBQ sauce to it. I tried Oporto's chicken and chips as they were samples and it was good. I really didn't like the sauces as they have no taste.

Getting there was no problem, there were trams, trains and the walk from Gardiners creek and Merri trail for those that are more adventurous. There wasn't any free water tank for people to refill their bottles. People had to buy their own drink which was $1-$3 and on a hot 26C day you would want to have water available.

Grilld had their beers for people to try as well as free avocado chips for those that bought a burger. So I went in and they were flat out busy. Here I had their field of dreams. I wanted to add an egg in it but the.y were flat out. And eggs cost an extra $1- $2. All the drinks they had were sweet except kombucha.

Inside Grilld 

The burger was good, but the lady's on the table beside me looked even better. It was a Mighty Melbourne.

Lulo 

Dog outside Lulo

Grilld had beers but I liked Lulo bar's sangria offer of $7 per cup and I was curious to try it. It is a red wine fruity drink. It is also really sweet and alcoholic just like Spain. This drink is a very popular Spanish bar drink. What I didn't know was that it has 16 grams of sugar in there.

Menu for a Japanese restaurant

Connect 4

$3 pizza slices

Another dog

On the top end of Glenferrie road there were more bars and craft stalls. Restaurants advertise their wares and promotions. Many dogs were out enjoying the fine sunshine.

Do go to next years one as this one was a lot of fun.

Ilya Frozen yoghurt

There are two stores one in South Melbourne and the other in Elsternwick. RNIS bought a Groupon for $9 to spend $15 at this place for one visit and the other visit they paid for it themselves

Here not only do they do froyos, the South Melbourne store has salads and other raw and vegan desserts. Plus they use stevia which is a sweetener for those health addicts. They use real fruit and the less sweetened pearls unlike the bubble tea places in the city.

Front counter 

Froyo 

Mantra  

Both the times the service has been friendly. But the second time, the waitress did not smile. In fact she wasn't that friendly.

The Chia dessert was good, it was not too sweet and was light and refreshing. However I did add cacao in there. All the mango was down the bottom. It worked a treat with the kombucha. For those that don't know what it is, it is a less sweetened soft/fruit drink with all the fizz. This is the trend with all the health professionals.

Do read the other review on this place too.