M Yong Tofu revisited

M Yong tofu has been around for some time now. I have heard from a friend that they changed management and that the food is much better.

One Saturday night I went with Friends A, B and C. There it was really busy but then after 6:30pm it really quieten down. Most of the tables had vacated by then.

You order and they bring your food out for you within a few minutes. They also give you free tea which they never used to in the first time that I went. That free tea was really good.

There is a bathroom but its out the back and behind a door. Its only just one single unisex one so if the restaurant is busy and there is someone in there then you have to wait behind the closed door for that person to come out.

I really liked the spare ribs. They were nice and sticky and very garlicky. The ribs were tender. If alcohol was to be served here, I think it would work well with something like a sauv blanc or a pinot noir.

The chicken in salt and brine also was very addictive. But it was also very tough. Friend B seemed to like the sauce.

The gailan or was it mixed vegetables? Was ok. There wasn't a lot of that and if there was some oyster sauce even better.

The yam and taro basket with the chicken inside was quite nice. But the chicken was a little bit gristly.

The rice was the normal Australian type and not the Asian one

Rating: 13/20- me likes the cheap Malaysian fare.

Free coffee at Donut King

RNIS recieved their latte free but they paid for the donut.

This Donut King is in Highpoint. In fact there are two Donut Kings in Highpoint. One which is near the cinema and the other one is near Crunch. They both are in a food court.

Donuts on offer

I have wanted to take a break from study.

Here the coffee was milky but burnt and unlike what Facebook said about the hot chocolate they did not actually offer hot chocolate. The barista was friendly and she put an artwork on top of my coffee. It is important that the barista is friendly and knowledgeable about their coffee.

But their traditional cinnamon donut was good. It was piping hot and was only $1.20 each.

Do buy the Entertainment book here and you'll be helping the Salvos. Moreover there is a buy one coffee get one free for Donut King in the book.

Honey Bar revisited

Honey bar is in South Melbourne and you may recall the first time that I went there with the Voices bloggers a few years ago. Well they have been there for eight years and things have changed. No more expensive meals but specials and yes I can drink alcohol.

Which means trying their Kiwi cocktail which is nice for a summers day and it goes well with the mac and cheese bites. I loved that awesome apple sauce which had a hint of wasabi in it. My mate who came very late liked it.

The service was a tad bit slow but I think they had a function on upstairs thats why. Back in 2009 they never had many functions but now they seemed busy with their functions. Last week they had the Crosbie crew's function.

The panfried fish with potato balls reminded me of the Maori Chief's meal where the fish was fresh and the balls of ricotta and chive were just perfect. Add in a fried egg and its all good to go. The only thing that they need is spinach or brocoli and then it would be much healthier. I did like the tomatoes on top.

I loved those Mac balls for dessert. They worked well with the champagne which I think is a Moet. These were not too sweet but they were frozen in the middle. I loved that ricotta- it worked a treat with the honey. Now I see why they are so Instagrammable and popular.

Rating: 14/20- good food but slow service. The service at the bar was friendly though. Oh well perhaps we should try coming on a weekday dinner then and not Friday night.

The Good Food and wine show and what restaurants should do to survive

This year's Good Food and Wine show had many ideas some of which are brand new like the Winescream. People really enjoyed that. It was $25 (normally $35 but with a discount from Wine selectors- restaurants should offer an incentive for people to go).

 Restaurants need to have some innovative business cards to promote their business. A black circle for a bar is a great idea as it screams exciting.

 Some sort of wine tasting on a quiet night is a great idea and restaurants should import some exciting new wines on to their menu to keep people coming back for more.

 A new toothpaste from Colgate is a great idea for those with sensitive teeth.

 A cider tasting night is a good idea for bars to get people in the door

 This paella was $5 and small samples like these will keep people coming back for more bigger dishes.

Sampling

Cheese tasting

More cheeses

The sampling was really great. People had a lot to choose from, from healthier items like the quinoa Tuckers crackers. I would go for this. Restaurants should have a few healthier, gluten free options for people that can't have gluten.

 The discounting of stock is also another thing that restaurants should do to bring customers back. Customers like to save money. The buy 2 for the price of one or for $10,$20 or $30 is a great way to save money and I loved that the tea stall did this.

The Instagram competition is another great idea where people had the chance to win a $100 prize each day for the best photo. Restaurants should do this if they have the money and the Instagram app. By the way most restaurants do. If you don't get on board today.

Colgate have released this new toothpaste for sensitive teeth. This is a great idea for those that have such teeth and go out a lot. Now these people can enjoy their food without the sensitivity. No need to worry about losing sales.

I didn't go away empty handed. I had Admona's new canned tomatoes, Colgates new toothpaste, Tuckers crackers, prunes and ABE's new bagel crisps.

Newmarket Hotel's launch party

RNIS was invited and they did not have to pay.

Newmarket Hotel has been blogged about extensively by many foodies about their good food and wine service. But they have been too expensive for some.

Some sort of vegetarian pizza

I had wanted to try out their cocktails and cocktails I did. I loved their gin and tonic and their Aperol spritz which has champagne and liqueur. My friend had two rounds of orange juice and complained that there was no burgers. I in fact came early and got all.

First up was the chicken parma on a stick. This was cooked really well.

Then there was the cheese balls with the sweet sauce. I really enjoyed that sweet sauce. It worked a treat for a lot of people.

The two pizzas that we tried were a simple margherita and a ham one. I loved the simple margherita with onion in there.

Most people loved the chicken wings and that sauce. Ooh man they were the bomb.

The calamari was a bit a small and a bit oily.

The lamb was really good. I loved the harissa spice in there which gives it that nice kick.

The mac bites were fingerlicklingly good. So good that I had a huge bowl of cheesey goodness.

Do come by to the ever popular Newmarket Hotel and thanks for the invite Newmarket Hotel.

Temperance Hotel

Temperance Hotel is in South Yarra and they had some amazing deals. But lately most of the Southside has been really quiet. The shops here are struggling and some of the restaurants here are the same.

Bar where the drinks are being poured

But the Temperance has had many people coming back and many functions going on. In fact their bar is always busy and the bartenders are always smiling. They never are pretentious. When the new guys don't know something they always ask. People are happy to ask the bartenders questions about the wine and beer and they should.

My pint was the Pure Blonde which is light in taste and calories and as for the food I had fish and chips. Friday is their local $15 fish and chip night. Here I had a huge plate of fish and chips. The fish was just alright but the chips were soggy.

The tartare sauce was good and the tomato sauce was even better. Normally I don't like tomato sauce but it worked well with the fish. Oh and the salad wasn't too overdressed. I could taste the freshness in the vegetables.

Rating: 13/20- darn the soggy chips! Oh well I'd come for a drink and a meetup with the Crosbie crew once in a while. That's if they do decide on holding it there.

Three Little Dumplings

Three Little Dumplings is a new place which has opened about six months ago.  Here they were not so busy on the dining front but they were busy with orders from Uber Eats and Deliveroo.

Here they are a cheap Chinese place with no msg in any of their stuff. But they microwave stuff as well as cook. Since I am going meat free this May I couldn't have any of the stuff at South Melbourne Market's night market as well as most of the meaty stuff here.

Here I had the prawn and chives dumplings and the tofu omelette. These meals came with free soup and tea or water. I loved them both but the prawn dumplings were a little bit on the smallish side.

The free soup was egg and corn with a bit of chicken soup. This was quite tasty. They should have brought that out first but she forgot.

The tofu omelette was moreish and it had a nice serve of rice underneath. They really do take care of their presentation.

Do come by this place when they are open. 

I love Pho Express

I love Pho Express is in Emporium in the food court. Here they have a lot of foot traffic but at Friday at 3pm there was not many customers.

You order and pay and then they give you buzzer or rolls if you ordered them. There is a nice dining table with a tree on it.

There weren't many vegetarian dishes to begin with except for the pho and rice vermicelli which I picked tofu instead of meat for no meat May. The tofu in there was the only good thing about this dish and this dish was $10. Everything else had waaay too much sauce and the vermicelli was too soft and watery for my liking.

It also had a bit of msg. For Vietnamese food I expect no msg. I can get better in Footscray and Richmond and others have reported that the rice paper rolls were no good. They were huge for starters. And they had so much noodle in there.

Anyway don't bother going here, there are much more other places in the city and Footscray and Richmond that are better than this.