Eat Like Ushi

Looking at the Zomato reviews around Footscray, I didn't expect to find such a highly rated hotel. By hotel, it infers pub, and good pub is hard to find, great pub food is rare. Considering it was the day of the Lunar New Year festival (which I had attended for lunch), I didn't feel like going back as the food there didn't inspire me (other than the banana fritter which was excellent). The reviews seemed to summarise the food as vegan/vegetarian Mexican. Interesting and relatively healthy?

Walking into the Rev, I saw several band members leaving carrying their instruments. Unfortunately I'd missed the live music which seems to be in the mid and late afternoon.

There's a solid selection of chilli sauces, of which the MHS chipotle & cayenne was my favourite, followed by the smoke jalapeno. There's also the widely found El Yucateco red and green versions but I find them a bit too spicy for my enjoyment.

- Street Style Corn (chargrilled corn on the cob with creamy dressing, the Rev's spice mix & lime) $6 - nice juicy and slightly charred corn with a paprika spicing. I think I still prefer the excessive coatings from Mamasita or my own homemade Thomasina Miers-inspired version, but this was very good;
- Nudist Burrito (spinach, tomato & red onion salad dressed with chilli & lime with housemade mock "pork", served with guacamole, salsa, pepitas, crunchy tortilla strips & chipotle lime mayo) $18 - I was reminded why a non-vegetarian would ever eat mock pork instead of the real thing. There was effort put into making it look pulled but the texture and flavour was clearly vegetable and did not appeal to me. The tortilla strips were very nice though;
- Smoky Tofu Quesadilla (in a flour tortilla with refried pinto beans, cheese, corn salsa, spinach & homemade BBQ sauce, served with salad & the Rev's spicy fries) $16 - I don't quite remember what the tofu burrito at Trippy Taco was like, but this was quite excellent. The tofu wasn't very "smoky" at all, but the overall flavour of the quesadilla with good particularly topped with chipotle & cayenne sauce. The fries were hot and crisp with a strong smokey paprika coating. The salad of the day had radish, charred corn, Spanish onion and greens which complemented really well.

This meal enforced a few things for me - there's good quality vegetarian in Footscray that isn't African, I shouldn't waste my own meals on mock meat when the real thing (or tofu) is available, I'll definitely be coming back especially considering how close and away from central Footscray hustle it is.

Next time I would order anything I haven't tried yet with the exception of mock meat. The list include empanadas, mesquite fried chicken, nachos, fish or pork belly tacos, beef burrito or Mexican beef pizza (I wonder how hot the Napalm Chili Napoli sauce is). I'll also try to catch some live music although I'm unsure if it will really be my taste...

02-2016

Tuesday night is taco night at The Rev. It seemed like a great idea to avoid cooking for an evening. The place was bustling with everyone ordering their tacos and drinking cheap cans of beer.

I'm not sure if the Tuesday tacos are specifically different to usual, but they didn't have the ones I was most looking forward to - beer battered fish, tofu or slow cooked beef. Nonetheless there were 4 decent ones listed on this evening. My favourites were the mixed bean and pulled pork. I thought the chicken was ok but thought the sweet potato was very plain. Of course the MHS chipotle & cayenne lifted all the tacos but the mixed bean and pulled pork had the best overall tastes.

Once again the fries were very tasty and a good snack for contrast.

This could become a regular Tuesday event for me.

At the Victoria Street Lunar New Year festival last weekend, one of the foods on offer that caught my eye were burgers. This was for 3 reasons - almost all the rest of the food places are Asian, they had black bun sliders on offer, and they gave out samples of their quite tasty housemade onion rings. On the day I had one onion ring, but didn't have the stomach space to try the burgers.

It seemed that on one of my last Victoria Street trips for a while that I'd try this burger place to see how it stood in the world/Melbourne. I also wanted to know what was added to create a black bun (I thought I read charcoal but that can't be right...)

Pistachio icecream/gelato is my favourite and my benchmark for taste in all gelato places in the world. I was really excited to see a pistachio shake available and expected it to be essentially pistachio gelato blended with milk and hopefully some crushed or whole roasted pistachios in there. Unfortunately the shake tasted like vanilla with minimal nut flavour (and that's me trying to convince myself it was there). I wonder if they forgot what flavour I ordered (my receipt says pistachio) or if it really is that subtle...

- Housemade Onion Rings with On It Sauce $6.90 - seemingly grilled then fried in thick crisp batter and really quite nice. Sauce was a tangy, mildly spicy sriracha mayo to me. It was probably a bit too much batter for 1;
- Blackbeard (soft shell crab, sriracha, slaw, coriander, tangy hero sauce, black bun) $13.90 - quite a small crab with a reasonably creamy body but legs that were very hard, crunchy and seemingly well overfried. The black bun itself didn't really seem to taste of anything much, certainly nothing special.

I think I made a mistake of ordering the Blackbeard considering there aren't many soft shell crabs that impress me these days (especially when they are in burgers or buns/baos), and I limited my selection just wanting to try the black bun (ordering something just because it looks cool is also not the best idea). The onion rings were fine but too much for me. The lack of pistachio flavour in the shake means I wouldn't order it again, as disappointing as that is.

I'd still go back once more to try what I think would suit my tastes better: the Classic (to check their baseline) or Popping Jalapeno Patty burgers with fries and a different shake (green tea, chai tea or even macadamia).

02-2016

Armed with the knowledge of my previous post, I found myself back at On It. The noisy roadworks along Victoria Street made the entire area devoid of customers but noisier than ever.  Luckily it was partially drowned out by the ambient music, which reminded me of early 2000s Next Blue with Jay-Z, Beyonce and Shaggy amongst others.

- Popping Jalapeno burger (popping jalapeno beef patty, American cheese, red onion, lettuce, coriander, hero sauce, hit me hot sauce) $13.90 - this burger was infinitely more enjoyable than Blackbeard. The bun was soft and lightly grilled for additional texture and the other flavours came together well including the nice tang of jalapenos. The sauce wasn't particularly hot, but that's ok by me. I'm not sure what a "popping jalapeno" patty is - it was essentially a thin beef patty with sliced jalapenos and held together by a blanket of melted cheese. The patty isn't particularly thick which goes against the modern trend of fatter medium-rare patties;
- Garlic & Basil Fries $3.90 - really good fries with crunchy outsides and hot centres seasoned with what I assume is salt, garlic oil and crispy flakes of fresh basil;
- Small Green Tea Shake $4.90 - definite green tea flavour made a big difference over the pistachio disappointment. It was reasonably thick and sweet enough.

Looking at the remaining menu items, today's meal would probably be my choice for next time. I'm curious about the smashed patty and fried chicken burger though. I think I'm happy to forego testing other milkshake flavours.

I was really tempted to make a booking at Aloft. It was relatively new and recommended/anticipated in a few online readings. The location at the end of a pier and the Asian-inspired menu appealed, but it seemed to not have much in the way of one thing I was looking for - Tasmanian seafood.

Looking for specialty seafood restaurants in Hobart was surprisingly difficult. Other than a few Chinese restaurants, a load of fish and chips and Mako fresh fish store, not much really showed up. Drunken Admiral was recommended to me by the hairdresser at Just Cuts (of all places) and I'm glad she did, because I was at a loss up until that point.

The reviews were a bit mixed, but generally positive and the menu was enticing. Unfortunately I called to make a booking and was told they had nothing available that night. Damn. The default was going to be Fish Frenzy down by the pier but enroute walking down Elizabeth Street, I called again just to make sure. They had two seats at the bar for walk-ins, but it couldn't be reserved. After arriving 10mins later the bar seats had been taken, but a table had become free - the condition was it had to be vacated in 45mins.

I couldn't quite work out why the 45min limit. When the time was up and we departed at 2045, there were a heap of vacant tables all throughout the back seating area. Maybe they had a large number of tables being filled at 9pm but surely that wouldn't be usual, even for a Saturday night...

- Fish Market Chowder $15.9 - very creamy and rich rendition, one of my favourites probably only behind that from Boudin in San Francisco;
- Sydney to Hobart $116 - chilled Queensland tiger prawns (quite nice and sweet), freshly shucked oysters (beautiful, large and creamy like all I had in Hobart), fresh mussels (decent size and flavour), smoked Southern ocean trout (mildly smoked), chilled marinated peninsula octopus (quite soft and not chewy), with a fisherman's selection of fried scallops, prawns, squid, fish of the day (overall decent with the scallops being the best) & shoestring fries (quite good but served unsalted). Served with caper mayo, cocktail sauce, lemon wedges;

It was a lot of food and certainly too much for 2 people to eat within 45mins.

The food quality was overall very good (as you'd expect for a seafood place attempting to utilise local produce). I guess when the ingredients are that good, you don't need to do a lot with it. 

Next time I would order quite happily some different a la carte options first confirming which were local: more Southern Tasmanian oysters natural and dressed up, fried scallops, chipotle calamari, or the Admiral's Fresh Fish Pot.

I've always grown up taught that high-end Cantonese food is a waste of money considering you can get much cheaper and basically as good. I suppose the major difference tends to be the setting, the service and otherwise the quality ingredients. I haven't been to Flower Drum despite the accolades, even since it had the dip and was reinstated recently again near the top by AGFG.

My dining experiences in London showed me that high-end Chinese may be worth it. I never made it to Hakkasan (as noone I knew would do the £120 per head banquets with me) but the exceptional two meals at HKK (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/hkk-london-04-2013) made me understand a potential difference between standard and fine.

Hobart seemed to have a surprisingly low number of highly recommended restaurants. Me Wah has a large number of accolades - multiple top Chinese or Asian restaurant and wine list in Hobart and Australia over the years. My airbnb happened to coincidentally be down the road and after 4 days in the bush and not being able to fork out $685 for the Tasmania Seafood Seduction cruise meant I wanted to look forward to the best of Tasmania's seafood.

I limited myself to Tasmanian seafood. The option was for either lobster or the scallops and squid. What would I do...

- Jellyfish and seafood salad

I can't see the cold dish on the menu, so perhaps it was on the specials list. Unless the usual crunchy cold dish salads I'm used to, this jellyfish was so soft my teeth slid through it. I didn't understand why this was - I'm sure what I like better but I'm definitely used to the crunch texture. The scallops, prawns and vegetables came together very nicely in a mildly acidic dressing.

- South Cape Tasmanian Crayfish 2.1kg at $25/100grams 

Do the maths. Yes it was ridiculously expensive for 2 people. I wanted a 600-800gram lobster (always taught those are the sweetest flavour from Japanese restaurants) but this was their smallest. After some deliberation, I said yes. YOLO... They sold it as not being too much by splitting into 2 courses (at an extra $25 expense which they didn't tell me about). Most of the time restaurants will show you (and maybe weigh) the live beast before taking it away to the kitchen.

1st course  was sashimi with soy sauce and wasabi. Unlike previous places (eg. Shoya in Melbourne) the lobster wasn't moving on the table. The soy accentuated the lovely sweet flesh which was a little less crunchy and firm and more soft than I've had previously.

2nd course was sauteed with ginger & spring onion, Shao Xing rice wine and two serves of e-fu noodles. This was the typical Cantonese style and the flavour was standard and perhaps a touch dilute, but the difference was the huge chunks of meat in the tail and claws. The e-fu noodles were a change from the standard egg noodles (both good in their own right).

- Double Braised Tasmanian Greenlip Abalone (served whole with braised flower mushroom, steamed seasonal vegetables, ormer reduction) $95

Beautiful abalone (which looked a tiny bit small in the shell) with a soft sliding texture that was lovely. My previous abalone experiences tend to be chewier or crunchier but this was remarkably soft. The flavour accented the mushrooms to form a nice juice.

We couldn't finish the lobster so took away the de-shelled remainder with noodles. Microwaved for breakfast at least the cost was split over 2 meals. Dare I say the flavour was better and more intense the next day?

The service was nice and sometimes a little over-attentive. There's only so many times a few mls of tea need to be refilled. But I suppose that happens when two people order a $525 lobster...

Next time I would order the local seafood but not the abalone or lobster (as I can't help partially agreeing with a review I read about Tasmanian seafood restaurants - the quality of produce is so excellent that the quality of cooking doesn't need to be standout). The XO sea scallops and spicy salt Bass Strait squid would be a must. I'd possibly finish it with local fish or meat (lamb, chicken, pork, beef) or a vegetarian main (such as tofu or eggplant).

I had to write one final post for Pho Phu Quoc. After eating Vietnamese food for the past 15 years (two Vietnamese girlfriends, their parents, going to Vietnam, living off Victoria Street, eating in Springvale, watching Luke Nguyen and owning all his cookbooks...), the homestyle excellent cooking of Pho Phu Quoc always made me happy.

Since my first visit there in the old premises (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/pho-phu-quoc-canberra-09-2014) to watching the mayhem of customers in the bigger and slightly more upmarket new location, I've found my staples in an excellent 3 colour drink (usually about 5-6 colours, although I'd prefer the ice to be more finely shaved), the exceptional fish hot pot and the delicious mussels. There are many other dishes I have enjoyed (such as big juicy prawns, tofu, green papaya salad, fried rice paper rolls) there but those are my favourites.

I tried the banh xeo once (difficult for me as only served at lunch but quite good) and the pho twice (nice and warming but I prefer the soup flavour from Fyshwick market and Bistro Nguyen) and can still recommend them.

I met Sue (the lovely owner) and her mum back at my workplace in early 2014 and she always remembers me and welcomes me back. I'll come again sometime...

I've now moved onto my next Vietnamese-ville in Footscray and I hope I can find somewhere as good.

I haven't actually eaten at Thanh Nga Nine before. Even after living in Abbotsford on & off for 4 years I've walked past countless times but never inside.

Other than Vietnam, before Pho Phu Quoc in Canberra (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/pho-phu-quoc-canberra-09-2014) I hadn't actually had a meal of shared dishes in a Vietnamese restaurant. But they changed this and I started to think about somewhere to go for this in Melbourne.

Recently Victoria Street had their annual lunar new year street festival and amongst the typical fare of bo la lot and the rice square dish with fried eggs was a little gem - spit-roasted pork with salad served on a roti. This was exceptional from the juicy flavoursome pork, the crunchy contrast of vegetable textures, the tart and salty sauce and the warm chewy roti.

I don't think they'll serve this on their restaurant menu but I'm going to have to try their shared dishes now and hope for the best.

It's been a long time since I've been to Vegie Bar. I remember a brief romance with their Mee Goreng starting back in 2000 under the influence of a girl who took me there. I never thought vegetarian could taste so good back in those days.

Fast forward 15 years later and the institution still stands, although much less niche and more standard. Because it was 330pm this day, a full meal was unnecessary, but a few snacks were ordered to tide things over before dinner later.

- Raw Malaysian Curry (daikon, carrot capsicum & vegies tossed in lemongrass & coconut raw curry sauce, served with bloomed wild rice & currants, snowpea shoots, coriander & lime) $17.5 - essentially raw vegetables with satay sauce. I suppose I underestimated what "raw" meant in this dish but I know this is not the type of "curry" I like to eat;
- Samosa (filled with mild vegetable curry, served with tzatziki & fresh chilli sauce) $5 - nice, hot and crispy;
- Rice Balls (blend of brown rice & finely chopped mixed vegies, topped with peanut satay sauce) $7.5 - excellent firm outsides and delicious chewy textures centres.

I wasn't hungry enough to experience all Vegie Bar has to offer so will have to leave it for another time to test my memory of mee goreng.

01-2016

After moving house and not having a fridge or cooking facilities for a while, eating out becomes a little tedious and a bit of a chore. As vegetables tend to be the least value for money or (in many places) the least exciting dishes, one becomes quite devoid of vegetable nutrition. Enter us back into the dinner realms of Brunswick Street.

- Mee Goreng (hokkien noodles wok-tossed with vegies, tofu, sauteed potato in a lightly spiced peanut sauce) $17 - as excellent as I remember with thick noodles and sauce and solid ingredients;
- Moroccan Stew (rich tomato & chickpea stew with roasted eggplant, currant & almond couscous, mint yoghurt, marinated cucumber, hazelnut dukkah & fresh parsley, served with warm pita bread) $16 - the dish mainly tasted of tomato to me with hints of other middle Eastern elements;
- Vegan Nachos (oven baked corn chips topped with vegan cheese, Mexican black beans, tomato salsa, spring onion, guacamole, jalapenos & vegan cashew sour cream) $16.5 - a nice snack but not overly exciting to me especially given the price. I suppose the vegan part makes it more expensive and unique (and difficult to make);
- Crispy Green Salad (blanched snow peas & green beans, toasted hazelnuts, pomegranate seeds & snap-dried mandarine with an umaboshi, tahini & orange dressing) $12 - great combination of textures and flavours.

These 4 with a serve of rice balls were too much for a hungry 3. Interestingly Vegie Bar do not allow you to take away leftovers (however they seem to allow takeaway orders - not sure how that works...)

They've stood the test of time and even though not many other dishes appeal to me, I'll happily go back for the rice balls and mee goreng. I've been meaning to try Yong Green Food nearby but each time they've been closed.

Finding a relatively nice place for a birthday dinner around Footscray was actually quite difficult. There seems to be a couple of token Italian and Singaporean restaurants, some nicer looking Vietnamese places and a smokehouse I recently saw, but the choice is not nearly as much as what I'm used to around Abbotsford.

Thonglor Thai is a relatively expensive but nice looking Thai restaurant at Edgewater, which unusually divides its menu into different Thai regions. It actually makes ordering decisions a little difficult, but I suppose if you wanted to theme your dinner to one Thai region then it would help.

- Eggplant Salad (grilled eggplant, pork mince, prawns, boiled egg) $27;
- Deep fried whole barramundi (mixed herb sauce) $37 - excellent quality fish cooked well and topped with herbs;
- Larb Duck $27 - shredded duck with herbs and the occasional hit of chilli;
- Dessert of delicious coconut icecream, sweet potato and tapioca balls with a warm coconut milk syrup.

No photo:

- Khua Kling Nuer (stirfried beef mince with homemade chilli paste, lime & lemongrass) $23.90 - I thought it was a little bland and found out that they intentionally reduced the amount of chilli paste (so as to not make it too hot, even though we asked for it to be made at normal strength) and therefore the flavour was reduced;
- Beef Massaman Curry (with coconut milk, potatoes & peanuts) $19.9 - mild creamy curry;
- Roti with peanut sauce $8 - standard;
- Coconut rice $3.9 per person - a bit expensive to pay $20 for rice but it was good quality at least.

The food is good, the flavours are nice, and my only criticism (other than the high cost) is that the first three dishes all had very very similar dressings - fish sauce, sugar, lime. I didn't get the chance to order my standard setters of tom kha or red curry duck, but I'll be sure to try those next time and see.

It's been a long time since I went to Samurai on Glenferrie Road, possibly the last would have been around 2006 or 2007. My first time there was probably around 2003 (I don't even know when they first opened) and one of the places I particularly started enjoying salmon sashimi. Back then the Samurai noodle soup for around $6 was a delicious meal of noodles packed with chicken on top and in a dense thick soup.

Fast forward to a time in 2016 looking for delicious affordable Japanese food. They apparently renovated last year and the decoration is now whiter, flashier and more modern. There is a back area or upstairs (I think) and the clientele remains the attractive private school students (albeit more trendy fashion these days) with some smatterings of others. I am proud to say I was there before (almost) everyone there.

The menu has expanded quite a bit too.

Firstly the green tea milkshake is exceptional. Very nice strong green tea flavour seemingly from a combination of icecream and milk. Probably the best version I've tasted.

- Takoyaki - not overly crisp but quite nice and with visible pieces of octopus;
- Tempura Soba $9.5 - nice chewy soba in tasty broth. Tempura served separately is a nice touch (as it should be to preserve the crisp batter) but the one prawn and odd vegetable medley were a bit average;
- Samurai Egg Noodles (fried chicken, egg noodles in miso base) $9 - the bowl has increased in size quite a lot since 10 years ago. The chicken is ridiculously tender and the noodles are perfectly cooked with some residual bounce. The broth is more watery and less rich than I remember.

The food isn't as exciting as I remember, but it's still very good. For the price and location (with relative ease of parking) it still can't be beaten for cheap Japanese food. Ocha-To-Go is another nearby one but my last visit 5 years ago was quite pricey and not as enjoyable.

I'm starting to explore my new neighbourhood and discovered the suburb of Seddon. A. Bongiovanni & Son was a nice local organic grocer that I'm sure I'll spend more time in. But the first cafe visited (and there certainly seem to be a few) was Seddon Deadly Sins complete with devil-looking images throughout. Funnily enough the menus are handed out in children's books and the dishes named after sins. The breakfast menu looked more interesting than lunch even though I went in at 3pm.

Coffee was reportedly decent and strong. Chai tea with milk was served in a pot with a squeezer of honey. The chai was nice but only very mildly spiced.

- Beer Battered Haloumi (with onion, fig & chilli jam, on baby spinach with bacon & two poached eggs) $17.5 - beer battered haloumi?? I can't say I've seen it before, but the haloumi is deepfried in advance, refrigerated, then re-fried for 3-4mins on order. The result is a very tasty crisp batter and soft cheese inside. The outside reminded me of the Chinese fried mantou bread (which is delicious). The rest of the dish fills space but the haloumi is the star;
- Sloth (housemade flourless chilli corn loaf with crispy bacon, guacamole & spicy baked beans) $16.5 - a local rendition of Irish cornbread with a hint of chilli and not dry like I've had elsewhere was excellent and I hoped there would be more. The guacamole is served cold and the baked beans could have used a little more seasoning but complete the dish.

Bacon overall was crisp and flavoursome, but I still have (Australia's best) Pialligo Estate bacon fresh in mind.

I was impressed with what I had and the Wrath (Spanish eggs), sweet potato latkes (whatever they are) and Envy (green eggs) will certainly be eaten at some point.