Calia

Calia

Now our girl is 5 months old and needs all the attention it takes anywhere from a week or a month to complete a blog so while i have 10 minutes free hopefully i can complete this review in one go. Last week our friends invited us to go to Calia for dinner and because it said Michelin star i expected it to be expensive or have tiny serves. It is a beautiful small restaurant with a Japanese shop attached to it.
The menu is simple yet elegant. The alcohol prices are not over priced either.

 For Starters we he had fresh raw scallops with a wasabi sauce. The scallops made me feel like i was back in japan, so fresh and juicy. They melted as you ate them and it had a sweet but tangy taste from the wasabi and lime. After the first few i really wanted more. We also had the truffle fries because why not right? They were so crispy and the truffle just added some extra flavor. It was not over empowering but just added some extra wow to it.

For Mains I had the premium 9+ Wagyu sliced  beef with an egg and rice. It was absolutely amazing as the meat was tender and juicy and i loved the sauce that it had. Best beef in Melbourne by far. 

For dessert we had the highly recommended matcha lava cake. The matcha just added another level of awesomeness to it. As you cut into it the sauce oozed out and it melted like it should. It was the perfect mix of chocolate and matcha.

It is an great restaurant and worth a visit. We will be back for sure.
Kind E-Gards
Dale Stewart

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

400 Gradi

400 Gradi

Last Tuesday our friend got a promotion at work so they decided we needed to go to 400 Gradi for dinner. This restuarant was good enough to win Marrgherita of the year 2104.

We did not know where we were going for dinner as it was a surprise. We arrived at 8:15pm for dinner and it was packed, I ordered a malt beer.

 

 We ordered the arancini balls which is Crumbed rice balls made with Bolognese, pease, saffron with a sauce. It was really flavoursome and tasty and not dry. The second was Crocchette Di Patate and is potato with sheep cheese. It was very creamy and smooth, for starters the flavours were yum and tasty.

We ordered 3 pizzas, the world famous Margherita Varace Pizza,  San Marino Tomato, buffalo mozzarella and basil. After the first mouthful you just want more, the tomato was sweet, the cheese was creamy.

The second one that i ordered was the Mais Pizza using San Marzano tomato,  tuna, zucchini, corn, cherry tomatoes and i wanted hot salami so i added it.Strange i know but i wanted it.

Its was random having the spicy salami and tuna. But i really enjoyed it.
The third Pizza we had was the Caserta Pizza using again San Marzano tomato, prosciutto and rocket

For Desert we ordered Cannoli's and they had 3 different types, vanilla, chocolate and orange.

 After  the  dinner we ordered coffees , Vittoria was the only option  and as normal, it was bitter (unless you like that?).

The Food Was fantastic and apparently as close to Italian Pizza's as you can get.

 Thank you for reading,
Kind E-Gards
Dale Stewart

Random Meal

Random Meal

We are starting to cook at home more often and try to cook random meals, we bought random veggies and decided to make a Korean type soup. We bought a tub of sesame and garlic bean paste.

We put about 2 liters of water in.

Once the water started to boil add your paste and mix it in. It does not matter what veggies you use just cut them up small so it cooks faster.  We took 500 grams of premium mince  and spooned them into meatballs.

After putting in our meatballs we let it cook for a few minutes then added the veggies. We added this chili sauce to add some spice

It was a great meal to warm you up and is cheap to make.
Have you tried using random to sauces to make a meal?
Kind E-gards
Dale

Hakata Gensuke Ramen Professionals

Hakata Gensuke Ramen Professionals

Two days in a row we went to Glenferrie Road for dinner but we went somewhere completely different this time. We have not had ramen from this place before but our friend suggested it so we thought why not as usual?
Its a smallish restaurant but the staff are polite and it does not do a huge selection of food but what it does it does well.

You pick what you want and mark the sheet of paper. I ordered the black tonkotsu which was a broth with black sesame paste. I have not had a black tonkotsu before and it was different. The flavor was not what I expected, it was a strong sesame flavor with garlic and spring onions.

 I ordered the special toppings option but they forgot to put it in the broth so they brought it to me in a separate bowl, the egg was runny in the middle and the pork was a good texture but a bit cold but once it heated up in the broth it was great.  We ordered the hakata gyoza which was pork I think but it was light and juicy.

The other dish was special fried chicken and it had a msg / chicken salt type mixture with it which was addictive but made you really thirsty. The chicken was tender and the batter was crispy but not over done.

The food is fresh and worth a visit, we will be back.
Kind E-gards
Dale

Dandenong Festival Of Lights

Dandenong Festival Of Lights

Last night we caught up with some friends and we had some dinner then decided to go to the Chinese Lantern Festival, it was a cold windy night with patches of rain but that did not stop us.We arrived at about 8:30 pm  and it was fairly busy but as the rain started it emptied out quickly. Its good when its quieter as no one gets in your way when taking photos.

As you entered there was a row of moons on each side and each moon had a different facial expression.

The castle was made up of plates and cups which must have taken a long time to make which is worth a visit to see.

They had a Finding Nemo section which i did not expect.

 

The man turned around and would "pee" at certain points which was random and funny, I have never seen children being so excited about being peed on.

They had plenty of Pandas.

 The African section was random but that's what i like anyway.

I was not a fan of the Australian section.

The zodiac section made us all laugh.

I am not sure why but the rooster they called it cock not cockerel but this is not the first time. My friend had a animal chart that has animals on it. It also says the name of the animal like cat, dog, fish, bird and also says cock.

 The festival had a mystical section

Did you go or have been to a festival like this?

Kind E-gards

Dale Stewart