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

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

The Butler's Pantry

The Butler's Pantry

There is not a great deal of good Cafe's in the Mulgrave / Rowville area but we had been told that this place is as good as it gets. Its a large cafe' that has not been open for very long but they have plenty of parking which is great.

 We arrived at about 10:30am and it was already busy, we waited about 5 minutes and got a table. They serve Toby Estate Coffee which is not normally good. I don't know what they do but it was not bitter so that was a bonus. The service was spectacular which we did not expect.

They had waffles on the menu and it sounded scrumptious and i also saw they had a crispy egg so i ordered that as well. The waiter said no one had done it before but i love my eggs and bacon.

The waffles where crispy but a little bit dry but the maple syrup fixed that and the bacon was not too crispy so i enjoyed it. The egg exploded as you cut into it and was beautiful, i will go back for it. The meal was great overall.

Kim had the Salmon breaky Salad, which had the crispy egg, Salmon, Pea, Avo. She really enjoyed her meal.

The Sad part is i am getting more allergic to Avo's which sucks as i love them so i had a little bit. We will go back again in the future.


Kind E-gards
Dale

Cultural Commons

Cultural Commons

Springvale is full of amazing restaurants  and has a large selection. You can get most type of Asian delicacies, from dumplings to crabs and lobsters, pho' and  noodles. They have cafe's as well. You can spend ages looking at all the different places. We wanted something different and normally if we want burgers we would go to Glen Waverley or Ringwood but we decided to go to Cultural Commons. It is a large restaurant that is still fairly new. Its menu selection is good and has a fair range of beers.

 I ordered a Budweiser and Kim got the Nutella Milkshake, the reviews i read said the milkshake did not have enough Nutella in it so i asked them to put lots in and it was amazing. So sweet, chocolaty and nutty. 

For dinner i ordered the Hot Chick Burger which was spicy buttermilk fried chicken, jalapeno and spicy mayo.

The batter was light and crispy, the chicken was moist and tender however the jalapenos are not really hot but i still enjoyed the meal.

Kim ordered the Shroominator burger which looked really good and she enjoyed it.

The chips are crispy and the Aioli was creamy. 

We enjoyed our meals will be back again .

Kind E-gards

Dale 

Wagaya

Wagaya

You know it is a strange location when it takes longer to find the restaurant than it does to find the parking. I walked down Little Bourke and could not find the entrance so then walked up Bourke St,it took me about 30 minutes from when i left the car to find the building and it is on level 3. You take the escalator to Level 2 and then the lift to Level 3

Once you leave the lift you see the name behind the cherry blossoms and the place looks very fancy.

At the end of the table they have a touch screen and that is how you order your meals. They have a big selection of food and it is a mixture of Japanese and Korean. It is pretty cheap to eat at.

The alcohol is cheap beers range from $6 to $10 so i was pretty happy with that. I had read about Kimchi pizza but never seen it anywhere is Melbourne so i thought i would give it a go.

The pizza base was crispy and the kimchi was a little bit spicy but juicy as well. The cabbage is soft and had a lot of garlic so i was happy. The pizza was a bit cold when i received it but i think because of the way you order, the food gets made in that order so i think it was probably sitting there while the other items got cooked. I was still happy with my pizza.

I really wanted some eel so i got the Eel Skewers and i ordered them last so i was just about done when they arrived so it was perfect timing.

The outside was crispy and the inside was soft and tasted like the teriyaki sauce. It was amazing and probably the best eel i have had in Melbourne.

The others ordered a selection of sushi and some pasta. It looked good but i was saving space for dessert.

Here are some more Instagram pics

I enjoyed it and may be back another time to try some more random meals.

Have you been here?

kind E-gards

Dale Stewart