Ratee Thai

Ratee Thai is a popular student eatery located inside Port Phillip arcade. Here it was popular with all the students from Baxter Institute.  We had to evacuate RMIT and so we ended up here for lunch.

You order and pay at the counter and they give you a number. And then you wait for your food to come.





















We had the Pad Thai for $12( $11+ $1 for egg). I had wanted more protein because I run a lot and would need the protein to keep up. Here this was alright but I did like the fried egg which was nicely puffed up.

It didn't look like much but there was a lot and there was too much fish sauce in there. There wasn't a lot of bean sprouts. The guys on the table next to us didn't like their meals much as they didn't finish them. They didn't even touch their cassava spiced chips. Dang I wanted to try some but they were $3 each and the waitress took it away. What a waste :(

Rating: 12/20--ok food. Will come back for the drinks and the chips next time.

Derby Place

RNIS was invited to Derby Place as guests of Mister Bianco.

Derby Place is a display suite in Kew about 200 metres up the road from Mister Bianco. They are right outside the number 48 line in the leafy suburb of Kew. In Kew you can find many good restaurants and Box Hill is nearby.

 All the apartments will come with brand new kitchen appliances such as this wonderful oven that cooks just about everything including pizza. Here we were treated to free antipasti, oysters, meatballs, aranchini, pasta you name it. And all worked well with red wine. All of these dishes were from Mister Bianco who does authentic Italian and many bloggers including myself have been down there.

All the apartments will be spacious and fully furnished which is great for a student. They will be building the apartments soon and afterwards students can move in. Right now they are looking for buyers. They can be students who have the money to buy their own property. If you do then that means that there is no rent to be paid and you could live by yourself or with friends. Or share with someone.

Do check out their site and prices. Most of the places have been sold already but there are still some. Do hurry up and buy yours

Ajisen Ramen in Highpoint

There is another Ajisen Ramen and this one is in Highpoint. They have been opened for a year and a half before I decided to try them out and compare the food to the one in Paramount centre in the City. They do have branches in Box Hill, Hawthorn and Camberwell as well as Melbourne Central. The menu is the same.

Except in Highpoint you order and pay at the front counter. Oh and they don't do AMEX either. They are looking for waitstaff so if you are on the hunt for a job do drop by with your resume.

The store in Highpoint has a window into their kitchen so you can see what they are doing. The meal didn't take long to come but other tables waited a while for theirs. They are said to be good at making ramen and gyoza but I really wanted to compare their Yasi bento which was on the lunch menu for $11 and their $1.60 green tea.

Unlike the city one, you help yourself to water.

The Yasai bento fared slightly better than the one in Paramount. The seaweed salad was store bought and they must have run out of the renkon chips as they gave me two seaweed salads. The tofu was fresh and the teriyaki sauce was light on the palette. Its good that they have Japanese garlic. I remembered that Paramount did not have.

The rice was a little bit bland but good. Some sesame seeds on top would be nice. I also enjoyed the miso soup. It had lots of seaweed and tofu and it was not the store bought ones. It was the real Japanese one.

The green tea was a little bit on the small side. I expected my cup to be a little bit bigger because that is what I got in the city. Some people had Asahi beer with their bento. At least its real Japanese tea.

Rating: 14/20- fared better than the city. I'll come back here any day. Do drop in with your resume if you have

San Churro releases a new winter menu

This new Winter menu is healthier and lot less sweeter.

I have been to the San Churros in Highpoint but it has never been written about until now. Here they have had a makeover. The place used to be drab but now it is open and inviting.

They seem to have had a change in management as well. Gone are the days that service was slow and unfriendly. These days service is more friendly and now you order at the counter. The store used to be a lot bigger but now it is small.

Their raw cacao drink ($6.50) was amazing. It was thick and you can have it either hot or cold. It was not sweet either and you can opt to have almond milk in your one.

Their filled churros (one for $4.95 or two for $8.95) was also amazing. Here you can choose between chocolate and caramel. I chose the chocolate as the caramel was too sweet for me and I was scared I would make a mess out of it. I only had one to tide me over to dinner but some people had a fair few.

Also really popular is the churros for one. It is three long churros with dipping sauce. These churros are deep fried with lots and lots of oil. I can't stand the thought of eating all that much oil and fattiness so if I am eating these alone I often get the kids sized churros as I can finish these quite easily and not feel guilty. However many people gouged themselves on the churros for one and a hot chocolate/latte. I've often wondered how they would fit that in and dinner as well unless they sweat it out at the gym or go for a long run. Its no wonder so many people are obese these days.

Rating: 15/20- love the churros but they would need to cut back on the quantity of churros for one as it is just too many (if it is after 3pm that is).  They also should for health reasons state how many calories are in their churros. I also like their hot chocolate and it is good that they now have a cacao one. Please put this on your proper menu.

Snagga's launch party

RNIS was invited to try the place and did not have to pay.

As part of Central Geelong's taste program there was a launch party where people tried the beers and snags and voted for their favourite ones as part of a new monthly thing where they do a different flavour each month.

We have been to Snaggas before and they were good. The buns were a little bit on the sweetish side but they were awesome.

The beers are from Southern Bay Brewing and Co and were quite nice. There were three different ones. Each of them had an alcohol level of 4.6%

Ok the snag that I liked the most was the oriental one. But I also enjoyed the Italian one which smelt like pork dumplings and were spicy and tasted like nonna meatballs. The first one which was morrocan was a bit strong in flavour for me.


Oh and by the way their coffee from DC coffee roasters is strong but chocolatey in flavour.
I hear that there is one going to be opening up in Melbourne city but they don't know where. Will keep you informed.