Eat Like Ushi

The award of most obscure alleyway in Footscray (that you'd actually want to visit in the evening) has to be the one behind Conway, where halfway down a doorway leads you to a pizza place and a bar above it. There's no sign from either end of the street - you have to brave your way down and hope for the best, or wade through the smoke of people outdoor polluting the air.

Nonetheless it's pizza and drinks. With a Spice Girls theme.

Wannabe Warrick (napoli, shaved ham, mozzarella, artichoke hearts, olives, mushrooms, baby capers & oregano) $13 reads well but the flavours were quite mild. The crust is crisp like flat bread and could use a bit more thickness and chew. The ingredients were also skewed so one side had clearly more than the other - I wonder if this is because a large one was made then split between several orders.

More interesting (and disappointing) was the tabouleh $12 which I expected to have a large amount of parsley to turn it into the salad accompaniment. Instead it was filled with bulgur wheat and mixed with a few things but no (or barely any) discernible parsley. It was confusing.

Overall I don't think I had the best food experience here. If I were to go back, I'd try the Zig A Zag Ah with salami, fired peppers, chilli flakes and jalapeños (why didn't I get that this first time?)

A friend of a friend opened this place whilst also owning a Vietnamese restaurant in Paris. I suppose that doesn't necessarily mean it's good (there are many substandard pho places around the world and the Viet restaurant in Geneva left a lot to be desired...) but given the French influence on Vietnam (read Indochine for more), they must have at least a partially discerning palate.

It's difficult to compete with all the cheap similar clones on Victoria Street, so good on them for being a bit different and having more Northern and Middle/Hue dishes.

The highlights for me were these three:

Four treasure salad $14 - green papaya with grilled prawns, mango salad with grilled fish, grilled apple salad with grilled beef, grilled chicken with shredded cabbage. There's so much variety here to easily be a full meal.

Beef campfire/bo quanh lua hong $24 - overcooked beef but made up for by the lemongrass marinade and combined with other ingredients to wrap in mini rice paper.

Lau Canh Chua & Ca Kho To $65 - I expected a big sized canh chua ca (catfish usually or in this case barramundi cooked in a sour tamarind soup) but it also came with claypot grilled fish, a classic savoury Vietnamese fish dish. The combination of the two is well enough to feed several on its own.

The cut up rice paper rolls were a waste. The signature Dac San Bonjour Vietnam of prawn tempura, zucchini and crab or fried bread crumb squid was ok. The grilled rockling with dill is a Vietnamese/French staple and quite good although the fish was very thin and so heavily cooked. The fried noodles were rice noodles rather than expected egg noodles and the dish wasn't that good.

I would stick with the top 3 for next time. Order carefully - it's easy to over-order.

After the closing of Nahm, I think London has really missed modern Asian food. Yes there are a few ones around but I can't yet think they are that great. Maybe in my 3 year absence things have changed a lot. But I doubt it. At least I'm pretty sure they won't have something as memorable as Nahm must have been in its heyday or Longrain remains now (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/longrain-melbourne-10-2012).

After so many years, the menu has barely changed, but each time I go the flavours still wow me. All washed down with a Red Dragon cocktail (chilli infused Ketel One vodka, peach liqueur, raspberries, coriander, cranberry) which combines berry flavours with an afterglow of chilli burn - fantastic.

- Betel leaf with pomelo, green papaya, peanuts & coconut $5 - so many flavours and textures rolled into one leaf;
- Chargrilled cuttlefish with a roasted shallot & prawn relish $26 - haven't tried this before. Very tender pieces served with a pungent shrimp paste sauce;
- Caramelised pork hock with five spice & chilli vinegar $23.5 entree ($33.5 main) - still incredible. Nothing else to say;
- special of deep fried soft shell crab - crisp outsides surrounding soft juicy crab meat and topped with an exceptional herbed salad;
- Salt & pepper silken tofu with fried eschalots & sweet soy $10 entree ($16 main).

I seem to order the same things each time although I resisted the red curry on this occasion.

Still my favourite. I'll see you when I return.

Who has heard of Travancore? Most Melbournians wouldn't have either. It's a small area next to Flemington and has it's own cafe culture building up (not the mention apartments too, lots and lots of apartments...)

This place has apparently been there for a while and I hope the influx of hipsters and apartment dwellers really picks up its business, although I think there is a little way to go before it can compete with the ultracool cafes in the surrounding suburbs.

I had The Miner $15 - two very solidly baked eggs with an underseasoned red lentil dhal served with a green yoghurt dressing. I wanted feta but they hadn't received their morning supply and the dish really missed that hit of salt and powerful flavour emphasis.

In the final week in Melbourne, there was a spate of North Melbourne cafe-eating. Within 7 days, Twenty & Six, Auction Rooms and Fandango were all visited and Auction Rooms easily won the food award in my mind.

The menu is a little different now to the online one from 12/2016 - for example the pressed pork shoulder with morcilla isn't there anymore. But that disappointment faded as it gave me other (vegetarian) options to try.

- Grilled eggplant (with stuffed paratha bread, freekeh + brown rice salad, smoked hummus, preserved lemon, poached egg) $17.5 - a beautiful display of food combining many flavours and textures into an exceptional dish;
- Arepa e’huevo (Colombian corn pancakes, fried egg, poblano peppers, straw mushrooms, baby squash, goat’s curd, piquillo + walnut salsa) $18.5 - the corn pancakes exceeded those set by standard pancakes and had a nice corn/salt flavour to it. The other bits were fillers but the pancakes were the standout.

The servings were very generous and in the end finishing left us very very full. At least it was good and worth it.

Given the expense and general poor quality of seafood in the UK (I accept Europe isn't far away), I snuck in a final Japanese(ish) meal during my final days at work. I remember my one and only experience at Gaijin very favourably when they had an all-you-can-eat rolls deal many years ago.

- Agedashi tofu (deepfried soft tofu in dashi soy sauce with bonito flakes) $10 - the tofu was ok but not crisp enough, however the broth was overpoweringly and undrinkably salty;
- Prawn tempura cha soba (prawn tempura served with green tea cha soba, shredded nori, Gaijin special mayo & mentsuyu dip) $19 - tempura was simple and tasty, the soba was ok but couldn't tell there was green tea in it at all;
- Gaijin platter $36 - decent salmon and kingfish with standard tofu sashimi, a tiny bit of fluorescent green and tangy seaweed and a bit of diced salmon. The chosen half rolls were Spider vs. Dragon (a brilliant flavour and texture combination of soft shell crab, tempura, cream cheese, unagi and teriyaki sauce) and South Yarra (tuna, tempura and shrimp).

$36 is expensive and when you break it down you get two half rolls ($7 each) and a tiny bit of salmon salad (entree $13), seaweed salad (entree $7) and 9 sashimi ($10 for 8 otherwise). If there was full entree size salmon salad and seaweed salad it would be worth it, but it definitely isn't. Forget the platter and go for the dishes on their own.

There was also a 10% public holiday surcharge but they wouldn't accept the Entertainment Card on Australia Day (it isn't one of the exclusion days).

It's been a while since I've visited Hellenic. The first was in Brunswick way back probably around 2010. Since then I've been Kew once and otherwise satisfied myself with a heap of Jimmy Grants experiences.

The leaving Melbourne-meal couldn't have a chosen a better place with iconic Melbourne/Greek food. They don't do this in London. I don't think they even do this in Greece (that I've seen).

- Taromasalata $10 - an eggplant dip with pita;
- Stuffed zucchini flowers, lemon herb ricotta $20 for 4 - decent sized flowers, mild stuffing;
- Grilled octopus, fava, capers $25 - lovely tender and delicious;
- Cypriot grain salad $13 - delicious as always, better than Jimmy Grants because you get the essential pomegranate here;
- Barramundi, charred leek, skordalia $27 - fish cooked nicely with crisp salty skin;
- Pastourma beef shortrib, byzantine dressing $25 - reasonably tender with some chilli and spice in the rub;
- Lamb shoulder, burst cherry tomato $35 - a beautifully tender and luscious joint with a good amount of meat;
- Chips, oregano, garlic oil, feta - saltier and less tangy (no lemon perhaps?) compared to the outstanding Jimmy Grants one;
- Haloumi loukoumades, lemon curd $13 - mild cheese in a bready ball;
- Nick's Galaktoboureko, semolina parfait, walnut filo, fresh mango $18 - not a fan of the wafer but the parfait was refreshing.

An excellent meal as expected. The grain salad, grilled octopus and lamb shoulder would be the highlights for me. Beef rib, chips and loukoumades a close second. All they have to do is make an octopus and beef rib souvlaki, then I can just stay at Jimmy Grants forever.

After looking around Footscray, Seddon, Yarraville, Maidstone and Newport, the cafe circle in the West had me extending further out. The Premises in Kensington has a beautiful interior strangely located around a corner block with another shop wedged in the corner itself. Odd.

Nonetheless the menu with Middle Eastern influence appealed to me as did exploring a new area a little more. The lamb ribs I had were nice and flavoursome, and they weren't too overly fatty (perhaps the fat had been rendered out) but I could have used an extra rib or two. The underlying salad with chickpeas, fresh herbs and pomegranate was delicious and balanced well.

I didn't try the porridge but it looked good.

Considering there is no website, I'll have to remind myself to snap the menu next time, and I hope there will be a next time.

There's been a few articles recently about the best dumplings around Melbourne. The city choices basically seem to be HuTong, ShanDong Mama, Tim Ho Wan and Din Tai Fung. I've heard mixed reviews about THW and their prices, DTF tends to have big queues (but great dumplings in chilli oil) and I don't mind XLB but it isn't my favourite of the dumplings. SDM is at least something different, and after visiting Mama Mini last year, I've always wanted to try the original (https://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/shandong-mama-mini-melbourne-12-2015).

- Fish dumplings (mackerel fillets, coriander, ginger, chives into a smooth mousse) $16.8 for 10 - these huge dumplings were served boiled and I asked for the chilli garlic sauce. The dumplings still remain unique in my eyes and may even be healthy...;
- Little Rachel dumplings (prawn, calamari, salmon, chives, Chinese cabbage & sesame oil) $14.8 for 12 - funnily enough they only list it in the boiled section but on this day they said they only have it available fried (I've been told that probably means they were frozen not fresh). The filling had nice chunks of flesh which was reassuring for the quality but otherwise wasn't anything particularly memorable; 
- Stirfry Crispy Prawns in Duck Eggyolk Sauce $24 - salted egg or duck eggyolk sauce seems to be a coating for squid, fish or prawns that I've enjoyed at Sichuan places recently. This one was far from being salty, but the creamy yolk texture and flavour added an extra great element to the medium sized and numerous prawns. One to eat with plenty of rice.

There are many other dumplings to pick from and I'd happily be back for these (need to ensure I try something different to Little Rachel next time). The other dishes are only to complement the rest for some variety. I'd stick to fried (where available) but accept steamed if it wasn't.

I've been meaning to try the icecream here for a while but due to it always being late or too cold or closed over winter, opportunity keeps passing. However I finally managed just before closing time and had pear and pistachio. In both, the main flavour was rather mild. For fruit I do tend to enjoy more tartness and I like my pistachio quite strong. For those reasons, I was a little disappointed. The texture was very smooth and seemed creamier more like icecream rather than gelato, and I do know I prefer gelato over icecream.

I'll definitely drop back to try some other flavours next time.