Kampung Story [at] Point Cook, VIC

The first time we ate here I wasn't terribly impressed. I had thought the prices were a bit too steep for what we were getting; from what I can recall, I think each dish was around the $12 mark. The Husband didn't mind the place as he enjoyed the Roasted Chicken Rice, though I wasn't particularly keen on it.

We gave it another shot one afternoon when we realised they had begun offering a lunch deal; $9.80 for a main meal plus a drink and a chicken + sweet corn soup. Now that, I think, is a way more appropriate price point. I think with the lunch deal, you choose one main meal from around 6-8 choices.

 Roasted Chicken Rice

The Husband, of course, ordered the roasted chicken rice (again), but this time he wasn't as impressed as before - although edible (rice was flavourful), somehow it didn't taste as authentic, he said. By the way, the roasted chicken rice was not part of the lunch deal.

Nasi Lemak with beef rendang

I ordered the nasi lemak, and given the choice to have it served with beef rendang, chicken curry or fried chicken, I opted for the rendang. Not a fan of the sambal served with the nasi lemak, but everything else was pretty decent.

Overall, value for money for a decent malaysian meal, if you have the lunch deal. I have been back a couple of times for the lunch deal since, and wouldn't mind the occasional dinner here if I am really craving for Malaysian food without wanting to travel far.

Sanctuary Lakes Hotel Cafe [at] Point Cook

$2.50 coffees before 12pm on weekdays. Normally skeptical, but a friend had recommended that coffee and breakfast weren't too bad at all.

Came by on a weekday, and the weekday breakfast menu was a bit sad. Just whatever you see in the glass display - muffins, quiche, etc. Ordered a coffee, which was actually pretty good.

That brought us back on a weekend to try their cooked breakfast. A relatively small menu, but definitely enough to cater to all tastes.

Big Breakfast

The Husband decided to ordered the big breakfast with scrambled eggs; definitely worth having it again. The eggs were fluffy, bacon were thick-cut; it was all quite lovely actually.

Rustic Baked Eggs w/ chorizo

I opted for the rustic baked eggs with chorizo; came served with sourdough bread. The eggs were poached well, eggs were runny. I did enjoy it, but couldn't eat the whole serve by myself.

Great little cafe; there's a lovely fireplace to sit by. The only negative thing is that the cafe is only open until 12pm everyday, and cooked breakfast is only served on weekends. Kind of a bummer. But overall, I'd be keen to come by for breakfast on the weekend again.

Evolution of Veni-Vidi-Voro

A bit depressing, looking at my two previous posts - from Cutler & Co. in Fitzroy to Little Mekong in Laverton.

sigh.

Little Mekong [at] Laverton, VIC

We decided to have dinner here about a week ago, when I craved for some rice paper rolls but didn't want to travel to Footscray. A few work colleagues had recommended this place, so we decided to give it a go.

The restaurant does have street frontage on Triholm Avenue, however you can ONLY enter via their back entrance. For some (possibly security) reason, they leave their front entrance door locked. There is parking behind the restaurant, so it was easier to access via the back anyway.

Remember I said we went to dinner because I craved rice paper rolls?

Well, there weren't any on the menu!
Ack! I can see someone had posted photos of rice paper rolls on Urbanspoon  in January 2013. Where were my rice paper rolls in July?!    :(

We settled on some Cha Gio (Vietnamese spring rolls, $6 for 6) instead. They were freshly fried, but I thought the meat filling was just too lean. Wasn't bad tasting, but the filling wasn't very flavoursome - just tasted like lean minced pork marinated in fish sauce and white pepper.

Whenever we want to give a Vietnamese restaurant a try, we normally order the same dishes as a benchmark - the broken rice  (Com Tam Bi Suon Cha Trung - Steamed broken rice w/ marinated pork chop, homemade meat loaf, shredded pork, fried egg with a side of pickled vegetables - $10) and beef pho (Vietnamese beef noodle soup - $10).

The rice itself tasted like plain steamed jasmine rice, fluffy and soft, instead of the slightly firmer grains that we normally get in Footscray or Richmond. Pork chop was a tad dry, but overall, it was okay to eat.

Pho was again edible, but not-quite-comparable to the likes of my beloved Footscray.

Service was great - staff was certainly friendly and courteous - lovely people.

Overall, we didn't leave disappointed, but chances are that we would continue to trek up to Footscray whenever we crave for some Vietnamese food. I probably wouldn't oppose to returning, if someone suggests dining here - I'd probably be keen to try the shared dishes to see how things go.

Most importantly, nothing seemed as if it had been sitting there for ages - everything did seem freshly cooked, for which I am always thankful!

Cutler & Co. [at] Fitzroy, VIC

Just photos from our dinner on my birthday in January 2012. The place didn't look too "fine-dining" - not a place you'd go to have a quiet meal before offering a marriage proposal though. Overall, food was great.

Sorry for the abruptness of the post - this just fell into the "I'll blog about this later" pile and got forgotten for 18 months. whoops!

 

 

The pièce de résistance, of course, the reason we were there, was for the pork. omnomnom.

Dessert:

 

Cafe Indigo [at] Point Cook

Cafe Indigo really does not look like a cafe I'd even consider stepping into. Decor-wise, it was really unimpressive; it really just looked drab and boring - kinda like those places that serve kraft 99% fat-free overly-sweet mayo in their salads, or "free-form" lasagne, or unidentified/unspecified "meat" pies... you get the picture.

It was only because I was on the way to the loo at the Sanctuary Lakes Shopping Centre in Point Cook, and walked past the cafe and came across its menu. Words like "Meredith Dairy Goat's Feta" and "wagyu" and "pulled pork" jumped out and surprised me. I couldn't believe my eyes! Could this really be true??? The guy at counter also mentioned that if I didn't like the coffee, they would give my money back!

They print out their menus on 'normal' paper and so I could just take a copy home. The menu stuck on our fridge and we planned to go give it a try "no matter what".

I really really wanted to like it!

And so the verdict?

We popped over for lunch on a Saturday. The Husband felt like the lamb burger, and I wanted to give the pulled pork sandwich a go.

I would have liked the pulled pork sandwich to have been a bit more moist. The pork was a tad dry and I felt there wasn't enough sauce. Would've like it if the coleslaw had just that little bit more dressing.

The Husband was reasonably happy with his lamb burger; I felt it needed a little more salt, and my homemade burgers are probably yummier.

That said, for $10-11 per dish, it was very reasonable and we were happy enough to not mind trying the other items on the menu next time. I was more than happy to pay $10 for the meal, but certainly not if I had to pay the same price as what you'd get in the city (~$17).

Chips were fresh - so score one on that! Coffee was drinkable, surprisingly.

Overall impression: The menu definitely sounds more impressive than the actual dishes. But if I was in the area and needed to have lunch out or a coffee, I really wouldn't mind dining here again. But it'd need quite a bit of work before I could call it a 'great cafe'

All the best!

Wonderbao [at] Melbourne CBD

I had visited Wonderbao AGES ago, and realised this blog post was still unpublished in draft form. And what do I see on Urbanspoon today? That Wonderbao is now the second most talked about place in Melbourne - Ooohhhh - i was there first (kinda, not really; but I was there before ALL the recent hype!) - well done wonderbao peeps!


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Finally got the chance to try out wonderbao. At $3.8 per special bao it's not terribly expensive. We ordered 2 different kinds of pork belly bao, and a vegetarian one, as well as a pork da bao and a chicken one.

My favourite bao was the pork belly bao with pickled vegetables. Sorry- didn't take the time to note down the actual description on the menu. I also thought the pork da bao was pretty good too. A noticeable difference from the $2 ones u get from your local Chinese takeaway shop or the frozen ones from the Asian grocer (uhm, come to think of it, perhaps the ones you get from the local Chinese takeaway shop ARE the frozen ones from the grocery). Anyway, THESE ones actually taste of pork and the meat was juicy.

Overall, a like! Would be happy to grab a quick bite from here again!



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