Samwon Gardens

Samwon Gardens

I have not done a food blog in a few months, its not that i haven't gone to new places its just been hard to find time to upload them. The other night we went to a Korean restaurant and it was hidden in a strip of Greek restaurants . It had a mixture of Japanese and Korean dishes but we decided to eat there anyway.

We ordered the Korean dishes because on many occasions when you order dishes from other cultures it can be disappointing. When ordering we always have favourites to try and these are them.

Tteokbokki  is sweet chili dish using vegetables and soft rice cake. Is never is super hot but always juicy and tasty.

Jap Chae is made of sweet potato noodles with vegetalable and either beef or chicken but we always go beef. Its a fun dish to eat with all the noodles as they stick together and it makes it harder to pick up.

Bibbimbap  is a mixed rice dish and normally you get it a ceramic type bowl and the rice gets very crispy. You get a chili sauce to mix in. It  has sliced vegies and a cooked egg on top. You wait a while for the rice to crisp up then add the chili sauce and mix it altogether.

Spicy fried chicken we decided to order the sweet chili chicken and it was deep fried chicken with an amazing sweet chili sauce. The chicken was very tender and juicy. It was not overcooked but just amazing and we will come back for this dish.

For a random Korean restaurant we really enjoyed it and will be back.
Kind E-gards
Dale Stewart

Fab Food and Great Friends

Fab Food and great friend's

Before the new chapter begins in our life we have been trying to save as much as we can but also catch up with all our friends as the next few months will be hectic. Its not long before our little Burrito enters the world and we need to care for her, but that's part of Kim's story.
 Last month our friends took us out for dinner for Kim's Birthday and we went to a beautiful restaurant called Rosetta. Its an Italian restaurant in the city and it was amazing, I have never had chips and crab that tastes so fab.

 

 

We have not done Fine Dining since Narisawa last august and it was great to do it again. The deserts are fantastic We had the chocolate, peanut and coconut semi-freddo. I would go back for potato and the desserts.
   
That following Sunday we did YumCha with a group of close friends. We have been to about 10 different YumCha places and this one is my favourite as it does the chicken feet so well. Its called Crown palace. The chicken feet have so much flavor. It has a variety of dishes and they are always hot. We also ordered the crispy crab claw balls and they are superb, tender and juicy. If you like Tofu fa you should go to the early session as it had sold out by the second session.

 

 

 

Have you had chicken feet?
Kind E-gards
Dale

Poppy's Thai

Poppy's Thai

You know when you want to go to a restaurant and it is empty but fully booked and then you have to find some place else. This was one of those times and i forgot to check the reviews. As you enter they have a door in the middle which was a bit odd but the decor' was cute and they tried to give you that feel you are in Thailand.

 

The staff are polite and they gave us some prawn crackers to start with. The prawn crackers tasted like they had been freshly deep fried whereas some places give you old stale ones.

For mains i ordered a Beef Gang Dang which had Beef, red chilli curry, coconut milk, bamboo, zucchini and pumpkin. The beef was not the best cuts but still tasted alright, the pumpkin fell apart  so i could not complain about that but the curry was a bit bland. It was not a thick curry but a bit watery but i did enjoy the bamboo as i don't think i have had it before. If it had better meat i could have ignored the curry consistency. Was it the worst curry i have ever had...No it was not but not the best by far. Melbourne has such an amazing selection of Thai restaurants that if it is not up to scratch it will get left behind.

My wife ordered a whole fish with hot and sour sauce. We still are not sure what fish it was and i don't think she knew as well but we did not get sick or die so it could not have been that bad.  The fish was cooked well and fell apart but it was not De-boned. I don't knoq what i could tell you about the flavour because it was nothing mind blowing but as i said the fish was cooked well.

Thank goodness the staff are friendly and the place is clean.
Kind E-gards
Dale Stewart

Baotime

Baotime

Last night we wanted to try something new for our usual cheap(-ish) Tuesday dinner with friends. Our friend was heard about Baotime through a friend who thought it was different and pretty good. A quick Urbanspoon search yielded a reasonable rating so we decided to give it a whirl. The area is annoying to find parking and after circling around we found a spot about down a side street a short walk away. It wasn't too far but i was really hungry and i am lazy.

Baotime was empty, there was another group and our group. Its a moodlit restaurant with cute street-style art on the wall. The drawcard for us was the bao loaded menu. Bao is Chinese for buns usually filled with meat, or even sweet fillings like red bean. The buns are made using riceflour.

We all shared two serves the Mister potato fries between four of us. They are french fries covered in melted butter so they were a bit crunchy but also a bit soggy, still tasty though. I don't think i have ever had fries tossed in butter... first time for everything.

First I had the Cuckoo Bao which was filled with chicken with spicy mozzarella cheese. The chicken was tender and it had a little bit of spice to it.

Then I had a Captain Bao which was Pork belly with crushed peanuts and special sauce, the special sauce tasted like plum sauce with something else. It was tasty but i still wanted more when i finished.

Our attendant was really nice and happy that we had come because our friend suggested it so she gave us a free sample of the Deep Fried Ice cream, the ice cream went well with the chocolate drizzle but the bun was very crispy and heavy. I think the bun could have been a bit lighter to complement the dense ice cream patty but was still very good.

I love Durian but a lot of people don't as it smells quite bad. I really enjoyed it as it was fresh and creamy.

 It was nice to try something different but it was not enough food for myself. It was enough for Kim.  We spent $47 for our dinner so it ended up not being as cheap as we hoped and i was still hungry. If you don't eat a lot, or want a light snack i would suggest giving it a go if you're curious.
More photos on their Instagram 

Kind E-gards
Dale Stewart