Kenji (Revisit)

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

I love the Japanese food at Kenji and go there regularly for a fix.  See previous Kenji post here. Since I have been clocking up the Kenji miles lately, a little update is in order.

Unagi bento is one of my favourites out there.  For $17 you get a generously stuffed bento with big slabs of melt in your mouth unagi (eel). Accompanying the bento is a cup of miso soup, side salad with a sesame dressing, edaname beans, chicken karage (fried chicken), gyoza, tempura prawn, fried squid on a stick and a corn and potato croquette.  Phew!  That's a lot of eating.

Miso soup

Fried squid on a stick

Gyoza!

Corn and potato croquette

Tempura prawn

On a separate occasion, I stopped by for a sushi snack ($6.80) and a couple of hand rolls as a take away.  My favourites are the spicy chicken and the avocado hand rolls ($2.80 each)

Spicy chicken and avocado handrolls

Sushi pack

All the ingredients were very fresh.  I would recommend the sushi here over any food court sushi any day.  If you haven't been to Kenji's yet, it is definitely worth a look-in.  Go here for Kenji's contact details.

Until next time...

Food Travelogue - Singapore part 2 - Rise at Marina Bay Sands

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

Whilst in Singapore I stayed at Marina Bay Sands renowned for the highest infinity pool in the world over looking the skyline of Singapore. But at ground level of this hotel is a very splendidly laid out buffet, Rise.  We went there for dinner on two occasions.  The prices were a bit on the ex-y side (S$88 per person on a theme night) Further pricing details and contact details here.  Despite the cost,  the quality was second to none, especially the oyster bar.  Oh, the oyster bar!  They were the creamiest oysters I have ever eaten.  Continue reading...

Food Travelogue - Singapore part 1 - Red House

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Everyone but everyone talks about the famous chilli crab of Singapore.  But I have on good authority (Info segment on Qantas flight) that the lesser known pepper crab is equally as awesome.  So I had to try.  Am so pleased I did as in my humble opinion, it is waaay better - less sweet and not as spicy, so it caters well for chilli wimps, children and people with a sugar aversion (like myself).

We did a bit ground work to locate an authentic experience.  Our taxi driver and several other randoms we accosted during our stay all recommended the East Coast which is a district in Singapore for the best crab experience.  Our taxi driver personally recommended Red House.  So Red House we went.  Continue reading...

Omeros Bros Seafood Restaurant, Gold Coast

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Omeros Bros Seafood is touted as one of the upmarket restaurants at the Marina Resort.  I found it reasonably priced with pleasant ambience and friendly service.  For a seafood restaurant, it served one of the best steaks I have ever sunk my jaws on - juicy and charred well.  The said steak was part of the Surf and Turf ($44.90) which consisted of an eye fillet with Moreton bay bug tail, king prawns in a light mustard sauce.  Continue reading...

Until next time...

Fisherman's Wharf Tavern - Gold Coast

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!  

Every so often, the caveman in me craves a nice juicy steak.  As the State of Origin was also on that day, Fisherman's Wharf was a-buzzing and it was the ideal ambience for a chow down pub meal.  

The 400g Scotch Fillet was calling my name.  It was $28.90 and the extra mushroom sauce was a rather exorbitant $2.90 extra.  I'm not sure why some establishments don't just charge a flat $31 for the steak inclusive of sauce.  I would have happily paid that.  Separating it out like that was a bit irksome.  Aside from the that, the fillet was wonderfully executed - it was an above average steak...juicy and tender.  

Scotch fillet and mushroom sauce

Other friends ordered the New York pork ribs, seafood basket, lemon pepper calamari and the eye fillet mignon. Everybody was satisfy with their choices which is always a good sign. All mains we had were between $18 and $29.

New York Pork Ribs

Lemon Pepper Calamari and Chips

Seafood Basket

Eye Fillet Mignon

For dessert, the choices were not as extensive as the mains.  We all had either the sticky date pudding or the chocolate mud cake. Both were served with ice cream. They were both $8.50 with and extra $1 for coffee. Both dessert were on the very sweet of sweet.  Perfect for sweet tooths but not so good for the health conscious. 

  

Great night and great food. Unfortunately the Maroons lost by four points and there were some very disappointed Queenslanders around. 

Until next time...

Peter's Fish Market, Gold Coast

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

A trip to the Gold Coast landed me in one of my favourite eating joints for lunch - Peter’s Fish Market where you can either order cooked seafood or simply buy fresh seafood. It is also a great spot to have a quick and cheap meal by the water after a jaunt to Seaworld.  

On this occasion, I did a variation on the fish and chips theme. I ordered half a serve of chips (how very restrained of me) for $3 with calamari, prawn cutlets and scallops.  All this totaled $13 plus $2 extra for the tartare sauce which I thought was a very reasonable price given we are in a touristy hot spot.  The prawn cutlets got a double thumbs up.  

Tucking into good seafood waterside, basking in the warm sunshine with squawking seagulls overhead is an epitome of the good life in Queensland.  *sigh*  That is my 'happy place' which I conjure up when faced with dreary Melbourne winter ahead.

Same waterfront at dusk.  *sigh*

Until next time...

Melba's Brasserie @ Langham Hotel Southbank

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My elasticised waisted pants got another airing today when I gorged at the buffet at Melba Brasserie situated within the Langham Hotel.  Needless to say it was dining in a very opulent setting.  You get to work up a wee appetite just by going up the meandering staircase to the restaurant replete with the sounds of a waterfall.  We had the week day lunch buffet which worked out to be $57 per head.

The preamble

To give you an idea of what is on offer, here are a few gratuitous food shots:

Prawns

A selection of sushi and sashimi

Made to order pasta station 

A looong row of carvery and accompaniments

The ubiquitous chocolate fountain and associated candy

A selection of dainty sized desserts - so you can feast on more than just one

 As far as week day lunches go, this is considered very decadent.  A few things in particular which stands out at Melba Brasserie are:

• there is all you can eat Peking Duck.  Seriously, I can just stop here.  
• the desserts are miniature sized which allow you to sample endless (!) amounts.
• the view onto the Yarra is spectacular.  
• the sushi and sashimi are really really fresh.
• if you have a Gold Entertainment card, you can get a discount.  Bonus!

Until next time...

Lefkas Taverna

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Lefkas is one of my favourite Greek restaurants in Brisbane.  When I first discovered the place a few years back, it was all about simple but well cooked meals, generous in size and cheap in price.  Back in ye ole days, you had to go next door to the bottle shop to get your drinks, it was that pared back.  

Flash forward to today, Lefkas has undergone some changes.  The restaurant itself is two to three times bigger post renovations and has a more up-market feel.  The meals are half the size and twice as much as it was yester year but fortunately the taste is still the same.   Continue reading...

China Bar Signature, CBD Edition

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

I recently visited China Bar Signature in Burwood East and gorged on their dinner buffet.  See waist line bulging review here.  This time, I checked out the CBD version for lunch.

In writing this post, I thought I would take a slightly analytical approach reminiscent of exam questions in my youth:  Compare the differences between Burwood East and CBD China Bar Signature with particular reference to the lunch and dinner buffet menu.  

Ok, let's kick off with a few pics to paint the overall vibe:

A nice array of sushi, prettily done up

All the old faves from yum cha presented here: shark fin dumpling, siu mai, prawn dumpling

Usual fried nibbles eg spring rolls and wantons - popular with the young and old

More fried nibblies

Chocolate fountain [- say no more

Freshly squeezed OJ for kiddo

Green tea for me

Salad bar which hardly anyone touched.  Really, why waste valuable tummy real estate?

Little wee eclairs and ice cream cones

First and foremost the main difference between the lunch and dinner menu is the price.  The weekend dinner session at Burwood East was an ex-y $63 per person compared with the $29 per person cost for a weekday lunch buffet in the CBD.  Dinner is twice the price.  You do however get what you pay for if your stomach can cram it all in.  The dinner menu has the following extras to make it more of a luxe experience:  Peking duck; seafood bar; grilled meats to order; a bigger range of custom cooked noodles; sashimi.  The poorer cousin aka the lunch menu does not have any of this.  Also the range of custom cooked noodles is smaller, or rather there was no range.  They make a char kwai teow for you and that is it.  You can select your ingredients to go in the char kwai teow but I found despite this, the chef throws in whatever he wants anyway.

The difference between CBD and Burwood East?  The CBD version struck me as more stylish.  It is across two levels whereas the Burwood East version is a giant sprawl.  The cutlery and little cups/glasses at the CBD China Bar Signature are more upmarket looking.  I found the Burwood East one more congenial in the sense they kept topping up my tea, making sure we were happy with our meal, helping us select items from the buffet if we looked a bit bewildered, etc.  Also with the suburban Burwood East version, parking is free.
All in all, I would prefer the Burwood East version better for customer service and ease of parking.  Even though dinner is twice the price, it is an awesomely abundant buffet.  I would rather pay that and have a gluttenous experience to remember than a so-so lunch buffet which although is nicer than my average workday lunch, the experience would soon be forgotten.



Until next time...

China Bar Signature, Burwood East

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

I have been gorging myself at China Bar Signature, the Burwood East edition.  It is an Asian themed all you can eat buffet.  Hang on a sec, I'm loosening up my belt...ahh...that's better...I can't even write about it without feeling like an overfed fois gras duck.

The problem is this - I have no self restraint.  So when presented with endless supply of sashimi, Peking Duck pancakes, oysters, century egg congee, dim sums, hawker style noodles, HK style bbqs, stir fries, curries with a seafood bar thrown in - I go into a competitive eating mode.  Here are a few pictures to illustrate what ultimately sent me into a food coma:

Seafood bar. I think I scoffed down at least a dozen oysters

Dim Sum selection.  Yep, knocked back a few baskets of those

Sushi bar.  Kiddo chommed through a wide array of these. 

Custom stir fry.  You select your veggies and the chef stir fries it with a sauce of choice on the spot for you.  He was very nice and accommodating. I requested my sauce sugar free and he obliged without rolling his eyes.  

Custom noodle making.  You select your noodle tidbits and soup base and they boil it up for you as you wait.  

Dessert bar.  Such a wide selection of wee little pavlovas, mousses, slices, caramels, etc

Asian flavoured icy poles!  Red bean, durian, coconut, taro - all found here. 

Custom made curry laksa with heaps of seafood

Congee with century egg.  OMG,  the congee was so creamy and smooth...ultimate comfort food

Little tea pots of Japanese soup with a wine base.  Loved how it was served.

The food were all very fresh and overwhelmingly abundant.  They were very well executed and all the good old Asian favourites were featured.  However, yes there is a 'however', there was definitely a load of MSG in the food.  I was so thirsty afterwards and it was the almost unquenchable thirst of MSG laden food.

China Bar Signature is not cheap eats.  The prices vary depending on day of the week and time of the day, etc.  But it is averages $63 per adult for dinner and kiddo being eight years old was $43.  The seafood and the Peking duck are only available at dinner so that is a consideration if that is what you are hankering for.  Also price does not include drinks.  Having said that, China Bar does do 'pre paid vouchers' whereby you purchase a booklet of meal tickets for $300 odd dollars and receive vouchers for entry worth $700 odd dollars.  We did just that and promptly forgot we had a booklet of vouchers.  We are now frantically trying to eat our way through $700 worth of pre paid meals before expiration in a few weeks.  So let me forewarn you - I will be doing a few more posts on the various China Bar Buffets dotted around Melbourne in an epic eatathon.  I better start pulling out my elasticised waistband pants from the back of the cupboard.  

Until next time...