Ba Sar

Ba Sar is a Vietnamese place in Moonee Ponds. They are a tiny in the hole wall place. Here they had quite a few customers and a roaring trade.

They have been open for a few months now and they open for dinner and lunch. Here they have some Caucasians and Asians working there which I liked. At Mister Minh, they have been great. The lady that served us smiled.

Their soups and food have no MSG which I like. I had the lunchbox of chicken pho and rice paper rolls and my friend had the beef pho. We shared a plate of deep-fried chicken bites. These were tender melt in the mouth and my friend thought that they should have used the chicken thigh instead of the breast. I think the other way around and they should have made the bites a bit more salty like they did at Mister Minh's.

The pho was quite alright and I liked how they didn't put too much noodles in mine as there were lots of noodles in the rice paper rolls. The rice paper rolls were moist and not dried out like Roll'd ones. I loved the thinly sliced chicken and the onion. The bok choy didn't belong in there as pho doesn't have bok choy in there.

My friend's pho was quite alright although he would have liked more noodles in there.

Do come by for lunch if you are in Moonee Ponds. As they have the best Vietnamese there so far.

La Kuaizi

La Kuaizi is a popular cafe on Manchester lane in Melbourne and about a five-minute walk from my gym.

Here they do Asian cuisine as well as Australian. My friend Kristian liked it and when I saw his post on Instagram I wanted to give it a go. So much so I got a $9 voucher for a breakfast meal and juice.

Here I have heard that Brinner is a big thing in the states. Brinner is Breakfast at Dinner and this thing is really popular in the States. So much so I decided to give it a go.

As part of Healthyintstudents Meat free may I went without meat and got the tomato, chilli eggs, and poached egg combo. It took them a while to make but I did enjoy it. It didn't have a lot of chilli kick to it but it did have that Asian kick to it with the soy sauce.

As for my drink, I had orange juice. As an athlete training hard orange juice is a must. It is packed with vitamin C among other things like potassium. I could have got wine but with all that drinking the next day it wasn't such a good idea.

The ladies on the table next to me got some yummy looking dessert. Next time I'll have to come for the dessert, wine and roti.

Noda Grill

RNIS did not have to pay for their food but they paid for their drinks thanks to Dimmi Rewards!

Noda Grill is in Richmond outside the Epworth hospital and has been opened for about five months now.

On a mid-week night, they were not too busy when we visited. It was cold outside but not rainy.

The waitress was quite lovely and warm. The place is run by Koreans but it doesn't have many blog posts.

As I have promised Healthyintstudents that I'd participate in Meat free may, I ordered a dumpling and soba noodle salad and rice cakes.

They come with the banchan which I quite like. Although I would like kimchi, my dishes were quite spicy without it.

The rice cakes were cooked nicely and were mind-blowing. The sauce was addictive and the cakes were fried nicely.  I enjoyed these with a nice Pinot.

Soba noodle salad

I enjoyed the soba noodle salad. There were a lot of dumplings and vegetables for $17. This filled me up really easy. The vegetables were really fresh and the dumplings were cooked nicely. I haven't had a lot of Korean dumplings before so I can't say much about them.

Do come by to this Korean place and give them some love.

Michel's Patisserie in Moonee ponds

I received a free coffee voucher for this place and needed to spend it. But the cake I bought it myself.

I was going to go to the one in the city but they closed down a little while back and replaced it with Soul Origin. Hence I picked a hospital day to visit as that was on the way to the hospitals. And I had to change trams.

I'm glad the city one closed down as that one was really bad

This place is tucked away in Moonee ponds central where Coles is.  They have a dining in area as well as takeaway. I didn't want to get takeaway as last time I did, I burnt my hand and it was very embarrassing for all. And painful.

Service wise it was great.

But at least the coffee is good here. I'm not too sure about the cake as it was dry. It was a black Forrest gateau for $5.50. Black forest cakes are supposed to be moist and have lots of liquer and this didn't. I'm glad there wasn't a lot of cream in this.

If you do happen to have the coffee voucher and if you happen to buy the book from us you can visit this Michel's patisserie for good coffees and great service.

Mister Minh

RNIS was invited to Mister Minh's soft opening on Facebook and did not have to pay.

Mister Minh is one of our friends on Facebook. We first heard of them when they were in North Richmond. Now they had moved from where the druggies used to be to a much better place and they announced their soft opening on Facebook.

Beer

Someone brought this Champagne in for them

It took us a while to write this as we had been too busy with other stuff for Healthyintstudents.

The place is right on the number 48 and 75 tram lines.

The bathrooms are out the back and there are paintings outside the bathroom doors.

Many loyal friends and bloggers gathered at the new place and loved the cool fit out. We also loved the bar and watching the bartender make some wonderful cocktails such as the Vietnamese coffee espresso martini.

The owner and his staff are lovely and they will help you order what you want. They are also attentitive.

We also enjoyed the bespoke white wine which works well with a vegetarian pho or dessert of some sort. It was sweet and appley.

With the chicken wings, we got the sexy back beer which kicked a punch. The chicken wings were fingerlickingly good. I couldn't stop at just one.

The vegetarian pho was good but the broth was a little bit on the sweetish side. Some pickled onions would be nice to go with it. And the serving was huge. Two people could have easily finished this. It was a bit hard for one person to finish.

Do come by to this eatery at nighttime rather than those other drab Vietnamese places on Victoria st.

Killiney Kopitam

There is a new Kopitam in town and its in Richmond. Visiting the last two branches, I had high expectations for the third.

I wanted to try this one out when I saw the Entertainment book voucher for 25% off the total bill. Note it does not include the $15 sets. But I didn't want them anyway.

The Richmond one did disappoint me a bit especially with the roti prata. But their vegetarian nasi lemak was good.

There is a bathroom but its behind a wall. And yes it was a bit dirty.

The service here was friendly like it should be. The waitress talked to everyone and when someone asked her for recommendations for curry she gave some.

Oh and yes she gave everyone complementary tea which was nice.

The rroti prata was dry and very flaky. I love my roti to be oily and fluffy.

But the vegetarian nasi lemak was nice. Here I enjoyed the coconut rice and the tofu. The rice was just like the one that I would have done for Hari Raya at Malaysia Hall. I would have ordered meat but I promised Healthyintstudents that I would go meatless for the month of May and participate in their challenge for a healthier country.

The anchovies and the nuts were really crunchy and lovely.

I would order this dish again and maybe the kaya mantou and the toast if I was to visit here next time. Oh and do buy the Entertainment book of Healthyintstudents as you'll be supporting their charity.