Middle Park Hotel

RNIS was invited by Dimmi to try their burger but paid $7 for their own drink.

Middle Park Hotel is in Middle park which is a suburb between Albert Park and St Kilda. It is a quaint little suburb with the beach nearby. It is on the number 96 route.





I saw that Middle Park had many great reviews on Zomato and I was keen to give their burgers a try.

The pub itself was really busy on a Friday night. This is a good sign that things are going well. They had a few large groups that day.

The other table's Mac and Cheese looked really good but I would have been too full for it.

To start with I got a Little Creatures Pilsner. I have been to the Little Creatures brewery before and enjoyed this Pilsner.

It went well with the Wagyu burger. But that burger was so big that I couldn't finish it and I was full afterward. The wagyu pattie had that nice soft juicy flavor and I enjoyed the egg on top. The brioche bun was a little bit dry though. But I enjoyed the burger though.

And I loved the chips that went with it. It was nicely salted with that chicken salt. It was nicely fried.

Do come by to this pub when you can as the service and the food is great. I would love to try the Mac and Cheese next time I'm here.

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.

Queen st Rescue

RNIS was invited by Dimmi and did not have to pay.

Queen st rescue is a nice place to relax after work. They are in fact a gastropub which has a lot of wine and alcohol. Here they have some weight watchers friendly meals such as Mushroom risotto and pasta. They also have specials such as $12 pizza and $17 curry.

I saw other people's meals and they were huge. I had too much snacks and beer at a launch event just before so I decided on something light.

The place is busy on a Friday night and you do need to book ahead.

The bathrooms are out the back and they have these cute doors: ladies is pink and men is blue.

The mushroom risotto was nice and I could have had cheese in there but since I had lots of cheese before I went without. But the truffle oil was the glue that held it together. This really did fill me up



I could have had ice cream but since I had it earlier today I decided not to have. The next time I come I will have to enjoy a drink and some fried goodness.

Hecho En Mexico

RNIS did not have to pay for the food but they paid for their drinks.

Hecho En Mexico is in South Yarra and it's their second store. The first one was in Fitzroy and it was not as good. The atmosphere there was really dark whereas South Yarra the atmosphere is quite nice and open. And they do have outdoor dining.

Oh at the bar it is really lively and the bartender seemed to know what he was doing.

For a Friday night on Chapel st they were really busy. Therefore it's a good idea to book ahead. We did that via dimmi. And for this restaurant Dimmi awarded us with a $20 food only voucher.

The bathrooms are out the back where the carpark is and they are always busy.

Here they have combo deals for those that love to try everything and Hecho's promo Tecate. And you can add either onion rings or chips and Tecate for $10. They have their usual burritos. A Tecate is a Mexican strong beer and the Mexicans like it with their burrito. Their Tecate was strong and I really enjoyed it with my fish burrito

I had the fish burrito with the onion rings. It was a huge portion. Here I really enjoyed the crunchiness of the batter and the fish burrito although cooked well, was not made properly. Some of the rice and fish filling fell out of the tortilla casing. It was really messy to eat. And I would have liked a little bit more of the onions and salsa in there. Or have them as a side. Oh and there weren't a lot of black beans in there which was disappointing as GYG I have had a lot of black beans and guacamole in mine and BayCity burrito was the same.

Do come by for a drink and I would love to try the Margheritas on offer.

Caffe E Cucina

RNIS got a $20 from Dimmi but spent the rest of it themselves.

Caffe E Cucina is a really small place in South Yarra. Running past I really wanted to go there. So when Dimmi offered me the opportunity I jumped at it. The inside of the restaurant reminds me of being in the tramcar as the ambiance was dimmed and it was cozy inside.

The toilets are out the back and are the cool and cozy place. It reminded me of the countryside.

The service was friendly and like an old school place they open your wines at your table. Nowadays they open the bottles at the bar. Hence I was able to see the bottle itself.

The complimentary bread roll was lovely and soft. The EVOO and balsamic was just as nice.

My gnocchi was just fine. At first they brought out the wrong dish, but then I casually reminded them of it. It was a beetroot flavoured gnocchi with pork crackling and walnuts on top which was quite nice.

Desserts were expensive and I'm not much of a dessert fan so I left without.

Altogether my bill was $23.90 which was not so bad for a pricey place. Thanks Dimmi for the voucher.

The Louden Restaurant

The Louden Restaurant is in Mercure in the city. And they are a part of the Le Accor hotels program (a program which rewards guests in many different ways for their loyalty).

Here they don't offer much in terms of vegetarian food but they do have some meals which are locally sourced. And all of their wines are locally sourced.

Oddily the bathrooms are outside the restaurant. Turn right after the exit and you'll find them. You'll also find all of their awards on the wall.

The service was just ok. They did forget to record my booking (and I booked via Dimmi). And they forgot my wine until I had to remind them. It was a quiet night (it was a midweek dinner).

I had the vegetarian gnocchi. It was nice and the chickpeas gave it that crunch. It had that very subtle hint of pumpkin and it would have been better with feta and not the other grated cheese.

I loved the offering of lots of vegetables though and that lovely EVO did it justice. I love simple dishes like these.

The wine that I had was a chardonnay. This went well with the pasta and it had that light, fruity taste to it. It also smelt fruity.

Not bad for a hotel restaurant and my first one being a Le Accor Member.

Nik @ Nicholson

RNIS received a $20 voucher for food from Dimmi but paid for the rest themselves.

Nik @Nicholson is a new place opened on Nicholson st and is outside a tram stop. Here they were not too busy for a mid-week dinner.

The service here was slow. They seemed understaffed. To their credit, they know their customers well.

Here I tried their burgers with a fried egg. This was quite filling. And I wanted to try the chips too. But the chips were underseasoned and they were the frozen sort.

I really loved the patty. It was full of mushroom goodness. There was lots of lettuce in this and it looked massive when it came to the table. The brioche bun was really good and it had that cheesy goodness to it.

To go with the burger I had the Jim bean coke. Here the alcohol content was really strong. It worked well with the burger. The drinks are really cheap here. It's like $7-$9 per glass whereas in the city it is about $10-$12. There are no cocktails.

The next I come I would love to try a salad or a pizza! And dessert!

I wonder if they do happy hour. If so do lets us know.

O'Connell's Hotel

RNIS was invited by Dimmi to spend $20 and they paid the rest themselves.

The O'Connell's Hotel is in South Melbourne and it's behind the South Melbourne Market. It took us a while to find and we did a run around it earlier so that we were not late. During my first year of the marathon, I learned that coming on time to everything is important. And it's not too late or too early.

The O'Connell's Hotel is like being in the tramcar restaurant. It has that fine dining feel to it. Here they have a huge wine list and a lot of good wines. I sampled a couple whilst there.

They do cater for functions and they have a lovely area outside.

To start off with I had the granita oyster ($4.5). Here they were really lemony and small and they had that lemony tang to it.

The complimentary bread was freshly baked and I really enjoyed the creaminess of the butter.

Then the main which is gnocchi ($22) was very cheesy and I liked it. Here they had a bit of kale in there to give it that crunch. The mint was very lovely in there.

And of course, to finish off I had the basil ice cream ($4.50). Here it was very minty and full of goodness. It was not too sweet.

Do come by O'Connell's Hotel when you want to celebrate something special. Oh and happy new year!

Criniti's in Carlton

RNIS had received a $20 dining voucher from Dimmi and all thoughts are their own.

Crinitis is in Carlton and they are an Italian place. They are featured in the Entertainment book at a 25% discount and if you buy from us you'll be supporting the Salvation Army and the good work that they do with the homeless.

The service was friendly and they were not mean.

Their meals are mammoth and I found that their pasta was hard to finish in one sitting. Their marinara was $24.90 (down from $35). They do have one metre pizzas though but you would have to share them. I could smell the pizzas cooking.

Their pasta was ok. It was not that great and it did smell a little bit fishy. The spaghetti was al dente and it normally doesn't come with bread. But the seafood was a little bit overcooked and they put too much tomato in there to make it like Spaghetti O.

The bread though was really good. It was that great sourdough bread with butter.

Rating: 14/20- its ok. I would come here for a drink though. I still can't understand why they have such a bad rating.

Do buy the Entertainment book from us here.

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.

Pintoh

Pintoh is a Thai eatery which has been opened for about six months on Bourke st. At first it looked too expensive and then came the lunch menu which I have never had a chance to try. And now the  Scoopon for $25 for $50 to spend I bought.

Here it was a busy mid week dinner and although I came at 7:30pm I did not get food until about 8pm. The kumquat drink was the first to arrive and that was super refreshing. Here the waitress shook it really well and the other drinks also looked good. They use authentic Thai ingredients for their drinks and food.

Here I started off with an oyster ($5). For $5 it was not fresh but the ingredients were good.

And then came the Pad Thai and the roti. Here they were made freshly and I loved the thin noodles that were used. The tamarind sauce worked well in this dish and was subtle. The roti was thin and buttery.

Do come by to Pintoh. Some of the other tables had the Feed Me option which was $55 per person like Chin Chin