Johnston st Festival

The Hispanic/Johnston st festival was on again this year and it was fun to salsa. It was also fun to try new foods such as the cheese empanda and a Spanish corn cake dish which I cannot remember the name of. It had salsa on top and it was a thick corn cake dish (see the picture). The salsa was really nice.

The vegetarian taco ($3) was alright but it broke in my hand. The taco shell was a little undercooked.

Vegetarian taco

Casa Iberica deli

The empanda was good and the cheese was oozy. It was $4. Its a pity that El Almo was not there. But Casa Iberica deli was and Meld did a good write up about them. In fact they stayed open until about 8pmish.

Of course this free festival had a huge turnout and it was hugely popular for latin dancing. If there was a fee involved maybe all the freeloaders would not come and it wouldn't so crowded.

Most people took the tram up to the festival but there were a few cars around on Brunswick st.

The churros was the highlight. It was $6 for 4 but it was so good.



For next year do go to the festival but bring plenty of cash with you as there are not many atms. Do bring some water as drinks were expensive at $6 a pop.

Veludo

Veludo is a café/bar in St Kilda and they have $15 all you can eat after 6pm specials and are featured in the Entertainment book. They have an upstairs, rooftop bar as well as outdoor seating. We chose to sit outside as it was a nice sunny day.

They have a menu displayed outside which the tourists were looking at and some went in.

The service was really slow and uninteresting. Staff looked like they wanted to go home. They do have a breakfast menu but it was finished by the time I got there which was 1pm. The lady forgot to tell the two customers behind me but the male waiter did just fine.

And they forgot my chilli. Since service was so slow I couldn't be bothered reminding them of it.

Veludo are offering a 25% discount in the Entertainment book. Seeing as there were no vegetarian dishes I chose a rockling with chips instead of quinoa. It was overcooked and the chips eventhough they were beer battered were the frozen kind. But the tomato and avocado puree were the highlights of the dish. The avocado puree had a little bit of olives in there which I liked.

This dish was $25.

Rating: 10/20- not worth it for slow service and mediocre dish. I have had better. And thankfully I booked the place on Dimmi and they hadn't answered my email.

Never again for meals, but maybe for drinks.

Donna Angelina

Donna Angelina is a new Italian place in Prahran and RNIS was invited to it by the owner on Zomato.

Here a few two other bloggers went and that was Escort and the Thief and Gastrology. They enjoyed themselves. They are known for their pizza and pasta and consider themselves to be an osteria.

The table setting is quite modern

The manager was a lovely man. But for a Friday night I was surprised that they were quiet.

The foccachia was nice but a little bit too oniony and I couldn't finish it all. I loved their sweet potato fries as they were so addictive. They were also healthy in the form of veggies.

But that pasta dish of speck, mushrooms and onion and fettucine had too much cheese sauce in there. After a while a struggled to finish this. There was not a lot of onion but there was a lot of other herbs in there.

The pasta was al dente though and was handmade.


I wanted dessert but I was too full. They also do brunch as well during the weekdays.

Rating: 18/20- love it. Do come by for a great Italian meal or a celebration.

Tequila

Tequila is a Mexican restaurant in South Yarra right past Chapel st and about a five minute walk from the station. I would have caught the tram but they were doing tramworks that week and it would have meant buses for some of the way.

The place is very Mexican inside and there was this sign which say "we don't supply the women". I found it was a little bit offensive for some, but a joke for others. I did however like the homely touch. The service was really slow for a less than packed restaurant and the food was not that great. Luckily though I bought a Groupon for it which is $19 for $40 worth of food and drink.

The cute sign on the door

The smoked salmon taco for $5.40 was really soggy and a let down. The salad was good and the salmon but not together on a soft taco shell. I can get better at Taco Bill in South Melbourne.














The burrito for $17.50 was not too bad, but I would have liked the rice to be on the plate. The guacamole was good though. The burrito was small and there wasn't a whole lot of cheese which is good for those that dislike cheese. The salad was just ok.



















We were meant to get some corn chips and salsa to start off with, but it appears that they forgot all about it. That is until I gently reminded them. Even then chips tasted like they were store bought but the salsa was just alright. But then again who could stuff up salsa.

The extra mango chilli salsa was good though. It was so addictive though that I just could not stop.

Rating: 11/20- Tequila and I are not friends. I can get much better food and much quicker service at Taco Bill anyday. You guys have to try the South Melbourne branch.

I had a feeling that all the positive reviews online were either paid or written by the restaurant staff themselves.

I waited 26 minutes to be exact for sub par food. Sorry but never again.

Linx Cafe

Linx cafe is a Chinese takeaway shop in South Melbourne Market. I had passed the place numerous amount of times thinking that they serve just meat and nothing vegetarian.

 Turns out I was wrong. They have plenty of vegetarian food there including vegetarian buns. This is a cash only hole in the wall place which made me wonder if the workers were being paid legally.

The toilets are inside the market

Here the bbq pork bun was overcooked meaning that everything fell apart. The rice noodles and vegetables were drowning in sauce and no wok hei to it. In most Chinese restaurants they put the chilli sauce on your table. In here you have to grab it yourself.

They use all of the fresh produce in the market and they handmake their dumplings. But everything is soooo overcooked or drowned in sauce.

There were a lot of Caucasians in here all wanting take away foods.

Rating: 10/20-ok. I have had better Chinese in the city.