Pescare

Pescare is located in the Century City Walk cinema area of Glen Waverley. It is sort of tucked in strangely a bit further back between Pancake Parlour and Yokohama Teppanyaki. Hence I've never really thought about going there. But since we didn't know what to eat, we decided to give it a try.

I don't really like the decor of the restaurant. It's all a bit strange, from the lighting to the colour scheme. We choose a booth seat which were really comfortable.


For an entree, we got the Antipasto. The highlight of the antipasto was the grilled calamari. It was really tender still and had a great flavour to it.


Jo got the Linguini Marinara. It was actually surprisingly good. The sauce had a slight chilli hint to it, which I liked. The mixture of seafood was fairly good quality too.


Phuong got the Roast Duck, which was a whole half a duck with a cherry sauce and some flour things. I don't know if those floury things are suppose to be gnocchi, but whatever it was, it was terrible. The duck was ok. I'm not a huge fan of duck and am rarely impressed with it. There have been a few exceptions.


The Steak that Kin and I both got was really good. The meat was done medium as we asked and had a lot of flavour. Mine with the pepper sauce was much better. Kin went for the red wine sauce and they put too much (cheap) red wine sauce on and ruined the steak a bit. The steak is huge, along with heaps of chips and salad.


After eating as much as we could, we were all totally stuffed. Despite saying she didn't want dessert as she was watching her weight, Phuong ended up getting the Baked Berry Cheesecake. I tried a bit and it was good, but not in the same league as the Baked Cherry Cheesecake that I made.


This place really surprised me. I was expecting them to be another terrible Italian restaurant. However, all the food was good and very cheap. Now there is another option to eat at Glen Waverley as we have tried all the restaurants twice over at least already. The service was good, althought it was ultra quiet since we were earlier than dinner time.

Overall Rating: 14/20, Food is good and inexpensive.

Scores: 1-9: Unacceptable, don't bother. 10-11: Just OK,some shortcomings. 12: Fair. 13: Getting there. 14: Recommended. 15: Good. 16: Really good. 17: Truly excellent. 18: An outstanding experience. 19-20: Approaching perfection, Victoria's best.

Wine Making At Brumfields

Last June, we had gone to some wineries in the Yarra Valley region. One of those wineries was Brumfield At The Oaks, run by husband and wife team David and Anda. We had a great time there and David and Anda explained so much about wine to us. When they mentioned that they had a wine making day, we put our names down. I didn't really expect to hear back from them, but true to their words, they sent an email about their wine making day. So we all signed up and went for a fun day.

We left nice and early. After a quick stop at Maccas for some breakfast, we arrived at Brumfields at about 10am. There were a few other people already there, but we were one of the early ones. We were each given a pair of snippers and instructions. Then it was off we went with our buckets and start cutting down grapes.


We took it fairly easily (we were working for free) and chatted away while I also snapped photos. The grapes we were picking were Cabernet Franc. David instructed us to try some and keep chewing to bring out the flavours in the skin. After chewing for a bit, it did have some nice flavours.


When we reached the end of the row, we stopped for a photo. From left is Kin, Jo, Phuong and myself.


There was also a horse in the next paddock. It was very tame and let us pat him. Horse breath does smell of grass. The horse did this massive blow of it's breath on mine and it didn't smell good.


In one of the vines, there was even a nest and some eggs. We cut around it and left it where it was. One egg had hatched but there were still four eggs unhatched.


After two hours of "hard work", it was time for a free lunch. There was some very delicious burger patties (meat and vegetarian) that Anda had made herself. She had also made some of her own relish and the ultra delicious garlic sauce. Salads and bread rounded out the BBQ. Oh, how could I forget the wine. David opened so many bottles of wine and we all drank up. I liked the Cabernet Sauvignon the most, although the Chardonnay was nice too.


After lunch, it was time to crush the grapes. Look how many buckets we all picked.


The grapes were thrown into the crushing and picking machine. The machine pulled the grapes from the stems and ejected out the stems. It also crushed them.


When we finished crushing all the grapes, it was back into the house for some more wine tasting and buying. We each bought a few bottles of wine to take home. We thanked David and Anda for a very fun day. If you're out in the Yarra Valley region, why not stop by Brumfields and try a few wines. David and Anda are very nice people and will help explain things to you if you don't know much about wine, like me.

Yar

Yar, no it's not how a Swedish person says yes. It's a Japanese and Korean restaurant along Southbank near Crown Casino. We headed off to eat there before going to see Eason Chan in concert. Hence we needed a quick meal so we could get to the concert in time.

Supermodels Candy, Jasleen and Kevin pose for the camera.


Here I am with my newly shaved head for charity.


Anytime I see a restaurant that lists two types of cuisine, such as Chinese/Vietnamese or Malaysian/Indian or Thai/Chinese, I'm already have bad feelings. These places are rarely any good. So when I saw this place listed as Japanese/Korean, I was feeling worried already.

I needn't have worried. The food here is actually quite good. The waitress actually sounded Korean so maybe the chef may be Korean who just happens to do some Japanese dishes as well.

We ordered a Beef Bulgogi and Beef Teriyaki. The Bulgogi was alright but the Teriyaki was surprisingly good. In fact, it's one of the best teriyakis that I've tried. It wasn't overly sweet and had a nice chargrilled flavour to the meat.


The sushi and sashimi platter was also fresher than I expected. Everything was nice, and not expensive either. I guess the restaurant wouldn't survive in the southbank area if it was really bad.


The Pork Leg with dipping sauce was nice too. But the plate was humungous. I only managed to finish half of it. In fact, all the dishes are huge here. I suggest ordering a bit less here to start and ordering more when needed.


Service was ok. It was fairly empty at that early time of the night. Hence, there were a lot of waitresses standing around ready to serve us. But when you didn't need them, they tended to be standing around. But just when you need a waiter, no one can be seen in any direction.

Overall Rating: 14/20, Food was surprisingly good and not expensive.

Scores: 1-9: Unacceptable, don't bother. 10-11: Just OK,some shortcomings. 12: Fair. 13: Getting there. 14: Recommended. 15: Good. 16: Really good. 17: Truly excellent. 18: An outstanding experience. 19-20: Approaching perfection, Victoria's best.

Chocolate Cake....Again

If you haven't worked it out by now, I'll fill you in. I love chocolate. There are so many recipes on this blog for chocolate things, especially chocolate cakes. I made another chocolate cake for Hien's birthday using a Chocolate Mud Cake as the base.

Then it was just a matter of decorating it differently. Hien loves the colour purple and wears it almost everyday to work. So I tried to do a purple frosting. However, I didn't have red food dye and only had pink, so it came out a very light purple. Add a few fruits and you have a birthday cake.


Here is Hien in a different shade of purple.


And look at me eyeing off the cake. I didn't pose for this photo, its genuine. Hey, I love chocolate cake, especially ones I make myself. And look, you know this is from a few weeks back because I still have hair.

BBQ Installation 101

I used to have a tiny Asian hawker style BBQ. I love the flavour that the coals produced on the meat, but it was so much effort to fire it up. So finally, I decided to get a gas BBQ. I bought a four burner BBQ, which is more than enough. It was really cheap as the shop was having a weekend sale.

Despite asking whether I could pay for installation of the BBQ, they still said they didn't install. Hence I had to do my own installation. The instruction manual was quite light, with pictures of the steps. Step 1 already had errors in it, with more screws displayed than was actually used. Not to worry, I pressed on.

First the legs and base went together.


Then the burners and side panels.


Three and a half hours later when it was all done, it was time to eat. The food tasted fantastic. It still had that taste of meat over flames. The best part is that its so easy to get started. The chicken wings also didn't burn like using the coal since I could control the heat. Now I won't be envious of the neighbour who fires up the BBQ every weekend. I too can have a BBQ every weekend.

World's Greatest Shave - The Aftermath

Well here are the results after the World's Greatest Shave. I managed to raise over $200 so thank you to everyone that sponsored me. It's still not too late to put in a sponsorship. If you want to donate some money to the Leukaemia Foundation, follow the link.

Donate Money To Leukaemia Foundation

So here I am with a full head of hair.



And then there was none.




And in between I had this happening mohawk.

Basque Tapas and Wine

Basque Tapas and Wine is located on Chapel Street but at the Windsor end, towards Princes Highway. I went to Basque Tapas and Wine at lunch time and it was extremely quiet. It was extremely hot that day.

We walked into the restaurant and asked for a table. The waitress said we could choose any, so we chose one near the window and inside a bit so it was cool from the air conditioning. The interior would feel very cool at night, when its full of people and noise. It is defintely more like a bar than a restaurant. I could imagine live music in there and people standing at the bar drinking.

A look at the menu showed lots of tapas and some racion. Quite a lot on the menu sounded good so we decided to try the tasting plate, which the waitress said would contain a lot of the tapas on the menu. We also ordered a couple of tapas and fortunately, those did not double up on the tasting plate.

The Twice Cooked Pork with Apple was delicious. The crunchy skin contrasted with the very moist soft pork. The Lamb Meatballs was good too, with spiced meatballs covered in a tomatoe puree.

The Tasting Plate contained a lot, some were hits and others misses. I liked the Slow Cooked Beef so that it was still very pink. It was nice and moist. The prosciutto was good. The Fried Baby Squid was not good. It tasted very salty and chewy. Goats cheese was nice. My favourite thing were these Falafel type things with a chilli sauce. It totally worked and was the best thing on the platter. The Fried Squid was too oily. The Soft Shell Crab was also too oily and the red cabbage lettuce under it smelt and tasted like it had been doused with sulphuric acid, totally disgusting. Potatoe cubes and a corn ball were good. I don't like olives so didn't touch those.


The desserts were quite good too. The churros were good if you totally doused them in chocolate. Otherwise, I could taste the flouryness (ok I made up this word but you get what I mean) of it. The churros had also exploded (not the right temperature of oil causes this I think) and all looked like pregnant seahorses. The other three items on the Dessert Plate were all too sweet and not that good.


Service was good, as they weren't many customers. There wasn't an atmosphere to speak of due to it being lunch time. The price is a bit too expensive I thought, for lunch anyway. I think I might come back for a dinner, as there are definitely some good dishes on the menu.

Overall Rating: 13/20, Some good dishes.

Scores: 1-9: Unacceptable, don't bother. 10-11: Just OK,some shortcomings. 12: Fair. 13: Getting there. 14: Recommended. 15: Good. 16: Really good. 17: Truly excellent. 18: An outstanding experience. 19-20: Approaching perfection, Victoria's best.

Little Lamb - Part 3

I suggested a dinner with my work mates. It needed to be fairly close and cheap, so I suggested Little Lamb. It turned out to be a very good choice. Everyone enjoyed the food and it was nice and cheap. For a thorough review, go read my first post about it. I'm happy to report that service is still excellent. They brought out the food really quickly and requests were quickly fulfilled. Only a slight mix up with a baby being charged was the only problem of the night. It is a huge contrast to Sichuan Restaurant on the other side of Box Hill. The service at Sichuan was terrible, the choice of food so limited, no deesert, and to have a private room cost $15. We had a private room at Little Lamb since there was 10 of us and it didn't cost any extra. There was also air conditioning in that room which we could control so didn't get too hot. Such contrast in food and service and Little Lamb is cheaper even. So do yourself a favour, if you want all you can eat hot pot, go to Little Lamb and avoid Sichuan Restaurant.

Lygon Charcoal Grill and Steakhouse

My friend had told me about the great Wagyu steak he had at Lygon Charcoal Grill and Steakhouse. Shortly after hearing about it, I tried a Wagyu steak at Ishiya Stonegrill and totally loved it. Hence, while I happened to be in Lygon, I met up with my friend to try some of the Wagyu at Charcoal Grill.

Despite what their online menu says, they do serve grade 7+ Wagyu steaks in two sizes. The 300g steak is $60 while the 400g size is $70. It is a lot for a steak, but we are talking Wagyu here. Rockpools grade 9+ Wagyu is $110 for only 200g as a comparison.

It was a very warm night so we asked for a table outside. Strangely, the outside area has plastic surrounding the tables so you didn't the full effect of the atmosphere of the street. This is good and bad. Good because it isolates all the noise outside, but that is also the bad side. I would prefer to have all the noise of the street given a choice.

A quick look at the menu and none of the entrees really captured me. Steak was going to be the highlight so we both got the Wagyu, done medium. A serving of chips was ordered, as well as some diced uncooked onions. My friend said that the onions really bring out the flavour. I rarely eat raw onions, although strangely I love it with Beef Tataki. Hence it never really occurred to me to try it with cooked steak.

Our waitress was fantastic. She had a strong Irish accent so we had to concentrate to understand what she was saying, but otherwise she was efficient and friendly. Also, when she noticed me snapping photos, she asked if she could help us take a photo. Now that is good service, noticing a need from the customer and addressing it without needing to be asked. She helped us take a photo and then went to get our meals. The other times when a waiter had shown some initiative were at Madame Sousou when a waiter got my friend a free honey and lemon drink since he was coughing really badly and at Isthmus of Kra where again the waiter offered to help take a photo. Why can't more service be like this. Service should be good at all places, not just restaurants where you pay a premium for the food.


Our steaks were served very simply with a mash and some chargrilled vegetables. We both didn't want any sauce as we wanted to taste the steak. And boy was the steak good. It was melt in your mouth stuff. The charcoal flavours gave it some more ooomph. But otherwise, the meat with its oils was so yummy. A little bit of salt on it just brought out more flavours. I tried some of the raw onions and again it helped to lift the steak even more. The steak was very filling, probably the fatty parts helped to make you full quite quickly.


We drank our wines and soaked up the residual taste of the steak and the atmosphere. It was Grand Prix time and I have never seen so many Ferrari's in my life. There were red, yellow and black Ferrari's zooming up and down Lygon street.

As we walked back towards the car, my friend said I had to see this bar on Faraday street. I immediately knew the bar he was talking about. I said "it's the one with all the gold statues right?". So we walked to Il Duce Si Diventa. I had never been in, nor had my friend, so I said, let's go in and have a drink. Before our drink though, we went downstairs to look around, then to the second ground level room and finally upstairs. Then we got our drinks and settled in the room upstairs. It really is sensory overload. You don't know where to look. At every corner there is something strange to look at. We even managed to find and read some books about Dictators of History. Totally ecletic place that you can't help but smile at. I even posed for a photo with a headless statue. I looked so silly and sheepish in that photo, so I'm not showing it.


Back to Lygon Charcoal Grill and Steakhouse. The steaks were delicious and the service was very good. I don't know what the atmosphere inside is like but it was slighted muted outside for my liking due to having those plastic around the perimeter of the tables. Otherwise, a very enjoyable dining experience, enhanced by good friendly service.

Overall Rating: 15/20, Steak was very good and service friendly and efficient.

Scores: 1-9: Unacceptable, don't bother. 10-11: Just OK,some shortcomings. 12: Fair. 13: Getting there. 14: Recommended. 15: Good. 16: Really good. 17: Truly excellent. 18: An outstanding experience. 19-20: Approaching perfection, Victoria's best.

Korea Gardens - Part 3

I have been to Korea Gardens quite a number of times and have blogged about it twice already. To read a more thorough review of the food, read my previous post. Basically the food is good and cheap and I have yet to have a bad meal there.

Kin and I arranged to meet up with our uni friend Clayford who I hadn't seen for a good year. Jo joined us as she was just working down the road. Here is Clayford doing his best "stare into the distance" look. Clayford hasn't changed at all. In the 7 years that I've known him, he still looks exactly the same. In that time, I've gotten so fat.


We ordered some dishes, like Japchae, Sweet and Sour Chicken, Mixed Vegetables and BBQ Meats.




Here is the wonderful Jo cooking all the meats for us.


While we slowly ate our food, we all caught up on everything, especially reminiscing about the days of old, our uni days. We must be getting old, because only old people reminisce. There were retelling of many hilarious uni stories and discussion of who is doing what and where now. We also talked about where our careers are currently and how it is going much slower than we had hoped. The thing that everyone fully agreed on was how good it would be if we could go back to our uni days and redo that all over again. We were so naiive then about how the working world works. It was a simplier life where our biggest worries were during exam times. Other than that, it was a lot of socialising and being around friends. There wasn't the worry about money or responsibilities.

I think the BMW or Mercedes ad is quite right. If only life worked backwards. You start off old and fragile and not having to work. Then as your mental abilities improved and you got stronger and fitter, you work hard. But you are already rich and can afford to do the things you also want to do. Then as your life progressed, you got younger and fitter still. You became poorer, but you already knows what it feels like to be rich. Instead, youth and vitality meant you don't care as much about money. You are having the time of your life socialising and making friends. Finally, as you have had all your fun, you become an innocent child again. You end your life on the ultimate high where you literally don't care about anything except having fun. You get looked after and finish off your life being totally cared for as a baby. Now who wants that life? I do.

Anyway, I am dreaming away again. Back to reality. So we all had a great night catching up and promised to see each other more often as usual. Even if we don't, the beauty of good friends is that when you do catch up, it's like no time has ever passed and you all click along so easily again.