On Saturday night we went out with some friends for some Korean food. There are a surprising number of Korean Restaurants here in Melbourne, although lately I noticed a few have disappeared.

After discovering Seoul Garden on Exhibition St is no longer open, (and the building has probably been flattened by now) we walked back a block and spied the sign for Seoul House, upstairs on the corner of Lonsdale and Russell.

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Ambience, Asian, Casual, Ethnicity, Funky, Korean, Medium, Pricing | 2 Comments »

Last week we were in the City around dinner time, so we wandered upto Red Silks, in Bourke St, for dinner. Well known amongst Melbournes’ student population for its large menu and fairly cheap pricing, it’s always busy.

Red Silks is situated upstairs in the Mid City arcade (above BreadTalk), so it’s pretty easy to find.

Upon entering we were shown to a table in the sunken ‘lounge’ area inside, (outside on the balcony is the smokers’ area) and were given a menu each. I noticed they’d just introduced a new menu, and were offering 10% off for their birthday special until the 7th. Bargain!

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Affordable, Ambience, Asian, Casual, Cheap, Chinese, Ethnicity, Funky, Indonesian, Malaysian, Pricing, Taiwanese, Thai, Trendy, Vietnamese | Add a Comment »

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 »

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 »

Once again, we set out in search of a decent place to have dinner. Tonight, we visited Golden Orchids, who proclaim to have been the first Malaysian restaurant in Melbourne.

This two-storey eatery, open since 1973, boasts three claims to fame: Its ’signature dish’, the Malaysian Chilli Prawns, its range of Malaysian Curries, and its Satays.

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Affordable, Ambience, Asian, Casual, Chinese, Ethnicity, Malaysian, Medium, Pricing | 13 Comments »

Last night, we went to Spicy Fish in Little Bourke St. We’ve walked past a few times lately, and it always seemed packed. So we thought either the food must be good and customers keep coming back, or a lot of people go there wondering the same thing as ourselves.

After being shown to our seats near the rear of the restaurant, we were presented with a substantial menu, and a laminated ‘Specials’ leaflet. The waitress fetched us two glasses and a bottle of chilled water, and left us to decide.

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Affordable, Ambience, Asian, Casual, Chinese, Ethnicity, Pricing | 6 Comments »

Last Tuesday we went to Spaghetti Tree for dinner. Situated close to the top of Bourke St, this restaurant has been open for many years, and has a regular clientele.

I’d previously been here a couple of years ago with some friends on a Friday night, and they had a guy playing the piano as the live entertainment / background music. I’m not sure if they still do that, or maybe it only happens on the busy nights.

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Ambience, Casual, Ethnicity, European, Family, Italian, Medium, Pricing, Western | 3 Comments »

As we were pondering what to cook last night, my friend Kenny rang to tell me he was in Melbourne, and asked us out to dinner. Problem solved! I decided we’d take Kenny to Ye Shanghai, but this time we would sample a nice selection from the main menu.

We got ready, and headed into the city. After driving around in circles for a while looking for a park, (Damn busy for a Sunday night!?) we finally found one. Then we made our way to Ye Shanghai, where Kenny was waiting outside.

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Affordable, Ambience, Asian, Chinese, Ethnicity, Funky, Pricing | 6 Comments »

Post-Mao Cafe is a quaint, brightly painted restaurant situated toward the top end of Melbourne’s Chinatown. Normally, we stay clear of places that have someone out the front trying to coax people inside - as I figure if they need that, they can’t be very good.

But a few groups of people seemed to be heading in without needing any persuasion, so we decided to give it a go as well.

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

For our first review, we wanted to pick somewhere we hadn’t been before, and I remembered this place.

Ye Shanghai, a Chinese restaurant in the heart of the city in busy Swanston St, has been open about a year or more, but we just hadn’t gotten around to visiting. So today was the day.

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Ambience, Asian, Cheap, Chinese, Ethnicity, Funky, Pricing | 1 Comment »