A couple of months ago my work had a team lunch at the Melba Buffet. We each paid $28.50, which was reasonably priced (at the high end of the scale) and was quite enjoyable.

Louis’ Birthday came up recently and seeing as he loves seafood, I couldn’t think of anything better than a buffet of seafood to feast upon. We’d already been to (and been let down by) the Conservatory, so Melba sounded like a good bet.

Coincidently being Fathers’ Day, reservations were scarce - we were able to book the last table they had available. The buffet price varies depending on the menu and the day of the week (and time of year). When I went with work colleagues, we paid $28.50 p/p for the full lunch buffet on a Tuesday. The Weekend Dinner price was slightly higher, at $69.50 per person. We figured we’d just eat a lot to get our money’s worth.

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Ambience, Asian, Chinese, Ethnicity, Expensive, Formal, Funky, Indian, Pricing, Western | 1 Comment »

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of Louis’, David, took us to dinner at Loi Loi, in Richmond.

David is a self-confessed foodie, and describes Loi Loi as one of his regular haunts - so we had some reasonable expectations that we’d have a good meal.

Being a Friday night, getting from one side of the city over to Richmond was no easy feat. We were to meet at 7.00, but by the time I got through the traffic, it was about 7.15.

Parking wasn’t hard to find as Loi Loi is situated sort of down the ‘forgotten end’ of Victoria St (forgotten by me anyway, as i’d never ventured beyond Church St for food).

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Ambience, Asian, Casual, Cheap, Chinese, Ethnicity, Pricing, Vietnamese | 2 Comments »

Last weekend, the weather here in Melbourne decided to do its best to keep people at home. Drizzly rain and wind. Undeterred, we met up with a few friends and ventured upto King St, where there are more than a few restaurants popping up.

Amongst them, Taste of Malaysia beckoned with its bright red sign, a few doors down from the corner of Lonsdale St. Not yet having found a Malaysian restaurant we’d recommend to being on-par with real Malaysian food from a Malaysian mamak (despite obvious currency differences), we decided to give it a go.

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Affordable, Ambience, Asian, Casual, Chinese, Ethnicity, Indian, Malaysian, Pricing | 4 Comments »

Lately, the quality of city yum cha seems to be a bit lacking, so last Sunday we ventured out to the suburbs with John & Robert for a decent feed.

We’d booked a table at Tai Pan in Doncaster for their morning session. As we got there on time right on 11, everything was already in full swing. As soon as we were seated, we were being offered goodies off a trolley - before our tea had even arrived!

Due to the design of the restaurant, the main eating area at Tai Pan is raised - which is the best spot to get a seat if you can, as the trolleys don’t go downstairs to the small eating area, so down there you rely on waitresses with hand platters walking around.

Even though we were on time, the main area was filling up fast. About 10 minutes later, the place was full.

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Ambience, Asian, Casual, Chinese, Ethnicity, Family, Medium, Pricing | 4 Comments »

We recently visited The Conservatory, for their “Rasa Malaysia Feast”, which was a Malaysian-themed food banquet on offer from the 11th to 25th July.

Here’s the official marketing spiel;

As Malaysia celebrates 50 years of nationhood, Conservatory welcomes celebrity chef Ismail Ahmad and master chefs Chiew Yean Teng, Lam Teck Seong, Sharun bin Ramil and Md Zamri bin Awaludin.
They will present a range of Malaysian specialties on the buffet, spanning Chinese, Indian and Nyonya cuisines.
Diners may also enjoy performances by a Malaysian dance troupe, who will perform during lunch and dinner.

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Ambience, Asian, Ethnicity, Expensive, Malaysian, Medium, Pricing, Trendy, Western | 1 Comment »

No trip to Sydney would be complete without sampling the local yum-cha on offer, so on Sunday we headed to Marigold Citymark with two of Louis’ friends.

Having very limited internet access I was unable to check up to see the general reviews on Marigold, but judging from the crowds packing into the lifts, it seemed to be quite a popular place.

We squeezed in with everyone else and alighted at the 4th floor, but evidently the 5th floor is the main restaurant level.

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On friday night, Sydney was bustling. People, and cars, everywhere. We were going to meet a couple of friends of mine for dinner, but car parking was going to be a problem.

Instead of eating in the city, I told Ray that i’d let him choose a restaurant - a sensible choice seeing as they live here and should know a few good places. After a 15 minute drive, we ended up in Haberfield, outside Dolcissimo, a large Italian restaurant. Ray recently had dinner here, and said it was very good.

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Ambience, Ethnicity, Family, Funky, Italian, Medium, Pricing | Add a Comment »

Building on our successful dining experience at The Rocks last night, we decided we’d head down there again to find out what other hidden gems we could find.

I finished work later than usual, so I freshened up at the hotel, and then we walked down George St again. We hadn’t ventured far when I spied a small sign above a doorway, simply titled ‘Sailor’s Thai‘.

As I looked through the window, it seemed quite busy - which is always a good sign - and despite the single long bench type seating, the interior looked cosy and inviting. We decided to give it a try.

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Ambience, Asian, Casual, Ethnicity, Medium, Pricing, Thai, Trendy | 1 Comment »

A different view outside a different window, although the weather is very similar. Hello from Sydney, where i’ll be working for the next week.

The day was busy, and the time passed quickly. After asking a few co-workers about a restaurant they’d recommend, I decided that tonight we’d try out Nakashima Japanese Restaurant, at The Rocks.

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Affordable, Ambience, Asian, Casual, Ethnicity, Japanese, Pricing | Add a Comment »

On Saturday we went to Shark Fin House with two friends, Jin and Kian.

I rang up at 10am, expecting them to be booked out, but they had some room available for their late (1.30) session.

The only trouble with having yum-cha on a Saturday is finding a park. Most parks are 1 hour limit, and you normally need at least 1 1/2 hours to have a nice relaxed yum-cha. We were lucky and found a 2 hour park at the top end of Exhibition St, and filled the $3.50-per-hour meter with coins.

We got to Shark Fin on time, and joined the queue in the (cramped) foyer. Then, once the lift arrived back at ground, we were told to go to L2. So we crammed in the lift with everyone else.

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Affordable, Ambience, Asian, Casual, Chinese, Ethnicity, Family, Pricing | 2 Comments »