Borsch, Vodka & Tears

173 Chapel St
Windsor VIC 3181
Ph: (03) 9530 2694


An email from Sarah about meeting up for a dinner at Borsch, Vodka & Tears got an immediate response of yes from me. I haven't eaten much Polish food before so was really excited at trying some.


Being on Chapel Street, the restaurants try to carry off a relaxed hip vibe. I'm not sure if they achieve that. The loud dance music pumping in the background is at odds with the old fashioned interior and the traditional food being served.

The service too has the problem of being a bit too relaxed. The waitress was friendly but her super slow movements and reactions to requests were a tad irritating. She did finally manage to give us suggestions on how many tapas to share.

Sarah and I shared three tapas of Bigos, Chicken Stroganoff and Kopytka. Sandra decided on the Chicken Schnitzel, which she was adamant she would not share. However, she did soften up on her stance and let us try some. I thought the schnitzel was ok but the cabbage was fantastic.

The three tapas that Sarah and I shared were more than enough as they were served with bread and were all tasty. The Bigos was both our favourite, with large chunks of smoky meat mixed together with some wonderful sauerkraut. The Chicken Stroganoff was initially good but got quite heavy after a while due to all the cream. The Kopytka was gnocchi type dumplings with wild mushrooms. The gnocchi was a bit heavy I thought but the flavours of the savuce and mushroom was excellent.



Clockwise from top: Kopytka, Chicken Stroganoff, Schnitzel and Bigos.

Despite being full, we all seemed to find a spare stomach for dessert. We shared some Russian Honey Cake, Pecan Pie and Flourless Chocolate Cake. The desserts all looked great, especially on those fantastic plates, but unfortunately the taste was not that great. The Honey Cake was overpowered by the honey, while the Pecan Pie was extremely heavy and sickly sweet. Even the Chocolate Cake tasted funny, with whatever substituting the flour giving a strange flavour.



The atmosphere, as I mentioned, was a bit disjointed. The extremely loud music meant we had to talk quite loudly, even though the restaurant was sparsely seated at the time. The service is a bit too relaxed for my liking. However, the food is good enough that I would go back to try more dishes, as there aren't too many Polish restaurants around in Melbourne.

Overall Rating: 13/20, Fairly good Polish food in Melbourne, which is not very common, so worth a try.

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.

Petaling Street

111 Kingsway
Glen Waverley VIC
Ph: (03) 9561 1388

After reading the review on Tummy Rumbles, I just had to visit Petaling Street. I love Malaysian Hawker food and was able to taste some of the authentic stuff on the actual Petaling Street in Malaysia. I wondered how this restaurant's food would stack up.

Petaling Street is located in the extremely busy Kingsway stretch of restaurants. It's got the typical look of most Asian style cafe, with a long room divided up by booth seating on the sides and tables in the centre. Large mirrors dominate one side of the room, reflecting back a massive orange mural on the other wall of Petaling Street as it was back in the 1920s or some early era.


I've been to Petaling Street quite a few times and can say that the food is quite good. It's not as good as the hawker food on Petaling Street but it's not bad compared to other mild affair in Melbourne.

On one particular occasion, I shared dishes of Pork Belly with Taro, Fish Ball with Noodles and Beef Rendang with friends. The Pork Belly was as you would expect, soft, smooth and unctuous. It's extremely fatty so don't order it if you want something lite, but I love the gelatinous fattiness combined with the soft taro.


The Home Made Fish Balls with Noodles were ok. The fish balls were better than average and is a soothing dish.


The Beef Rendang with Roti is full on fire. They don't hold back on the chilli and it hits you right in the face. I liked the rendang but did find it a touch oily and also the beef a bit tough.


At other visits, I've tried the Char Kway Teow and Won Ton Noodle soup. The Char Kway Teow also packs a punch in terms of the chilli component but that's the way I like it. It definitely has a good "wok breathe" to it.

Service is acceptable, with the waiters going about their job routinely. The atmosphere is good, with a buzz in the room. I would recommend a visit to Petaling Street as the food is good honest food at very good prices.

Beachcomber

10-12 Jacka Bvd
St Kilda VIC 3182
Ph: (03) 9593 8233

It was Esther's birthday and she had organised a dinner at Beachcomber at the St Kilda Sea Baths. It didn't start well when they informed us that we could only order from an extremely limited menu due to the large number of people. Despite our claims that we didn't care if meals came out at different times, they still refused to let us order off the normal menu. Worse still, a special they had that consisted of two courses for a special was again denied to us due to the group size. I really don't understand this. Can someone in the industry please explain this second part to me. If we had gone as two groups, we could have got the special, but we can't because we went as one group. What is the difference?


What the restaurant has going for it is the wonderful location. The views are spectacular, and as the day grew into night with the sun setting, it is a stunning restaurant to dine in. However, due to numerous service and customer issues, I don't think any of us will be going back. More on that later.


Ross gave us an impression of Matt Preston while we waited for everyone to arrive. Jessie was running so late that we had to start without her. She eventually arrived when everyone finished eating, prompting her to vow to buy a GPS.


The food itself was the usual ecletic mix from these new age cafes that try to be all things to all people. Therefore you get things such as Soft Shell Crab, Sanganaki and Oysters Kilpatrick for entrees. I had the Oysters Kilpatrick and they tasted good. The entrees for everyone was probably the highlight.



The mains were again all over the shop, with Lobster Mornay, Fish and Chips, Duck Risotto and Seafood Marinara. I had the lobster and it was overpowered by the mornay. The mornay was extremely heavy and really flour-y.


Desserts were definitely forgettable. In fact, they were regrettable. The Tiramisu was awful, with heavy stodgy cream covering a generic sponge cake. My Chocolate Fondant was so dry, with no oozing chocolate in the centre at all.


Look how cute the little kids were. I love these two photos. On the left, Hien with Chi and Phi. And on the right, the triplets of Mark, Nathan and Lachlan, with a cameo from Rick with the bunny ears.


As I mentioned earlier, the strength of this place is it's fantastic view. It is indeed relaxing to stare out at the beach. However, it falls flat on all other factors that matter for a restaurant. The food ranged from ok to passable to terrible. The prices are way too high for the quality of food.

Despite their information that we could not order the full menu, they must have somehow forgot and we took advantage and ordered off the full menu. Their timing of the dishes was ridiculous. Entrees were served for some while others received their mains. Then some other entrees didn't come out till much later, when everyone had received their mains.

The service was also shocking. Despite the number of staff hanging around the bar talking, it was impossible to get any service. We had to request water at least half a dozen time throughout the night. They mixed up our orders as well.

The ambience in the actual restaurant is actually quite good, with the lighting giving a nice glow to the place and the floor to ceiling glass windows a treat.

I would not be going back despite the great views. I think for the money they charge, better food and service can be had in Melbourne.

Overall Rating: 11/20, Great views but disappointing food and service.

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.

Samurai

804 Glenferrie Rd
Hawthorn VIC 3122
Ph: (03) 9819 4858

It was Nelly's birthday, and since she had already done like one hundred different birthday dinners with various friends (she's so popular haha), we decided to go and do a simple dinner. Samurai came up as a suggestion, as a few people had been and had confirmed that it was good.

Samurai is your small takeaway/dining restaurant in the 'burbs. It sure has a good following, with a no reservation policy meaning there are literally people queueing up to get in. I can see why after having dined there.

So while Nelly got there nice and early to bag a table, the rest of us slowly trickled in. Most of us were quite good and I was actually one of the last to get there, being only 10 minutes late. I had an excuse as I brought in a massive tub of Magnolia Bakery's Chocolate Cupcakes for Nelly. Elliot however, had no excuse, going to Sakura in Glen Waverley instead of Samurai. Apparently, he even got there early and waited twenty minutes to find no one had arrived. We ordered for him while he drove from Glen Waverley.



The menu has quite a few options, with the best value being the dinner set, which at $15 gets you food and drinks/dessert. Go for the drink, as it's basically a massive cup of green tea ice cream, which is deesert but a lot more of it. Here's a tip, ask for it in a takeaway cup as you definitely won't finish it during dinner. You then get a choice of soup, an entree and a mains. What fantastic value is that.

The food itself is really good. I chose the miso soup, gyoza, teriayki chicken, green tea thickshake for my meal. We all had some sushi and sashimi to share. The soups all had nice clean flavours. The entrees, such as gyoza, potato croquettes, tempura prawns, tofu and chicken skewers were all good. The mains varied from ok to excellent. The Seafood Udon was delicious, with the Beef and Chicken Teriayki passable. However, the Curry Chicken was sensational. I must get that all to myself next time. We all sucked on our ridiculously thick drinks and got brain freezes.




After the meal, Nelly was generous enough to share her cupcakes with everyone. We must have looked so silly, standing around in the street eating cupcakes and talking for an hour.


The service in the restaurant was good for such a busy place. Requests for more napkins, cups, chopsticks and tea were quickly met. The atmosphere in the small restaurant is buzzing. The noise level is quite loud but not so that you can't hear. It's not the place that you would linger around for a long time as others are waiting for a table, but it's fantastic for a short-ish meal.

Food, as I mentioned, is good and for the price, excellent value for money.

Overall Rating: 14/20, Good Japanese food giving excellent value for money.

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.

Mount Dandenong - Part 2

So one day while we were bored, Dennis and I just decided to do an impromptu trip to Mount Dandenong. We have both been there numerous times, but it's always a great relaxing day trip.

Obviously, most visitors go to visit SkyHigh Mount Dandenong, where there are some brilliant views of Melbourne to be had. I've gone to the top of the mountain a few times, and you can read about one occasion here.

This trip, we wanted to visit the various shops in the towns around Mount Dandenong. The first stop was in Olinda, where we firstly had lunch at Pie In The Sky. They have won numerous medals for their prizes. But with these advertisements, take it with a grain of salt. There is usually little context as to how important these awards are. Dennis and I had a chuckle when we saw their last winning meat pie was back in 2001.

Anyway, we both got a pie with chips. I got the Classic Meat Pie. The pie pastry was really good, flaky and buttery. The filling was nice, but nothing too special. The chips were ordinary and nothing to write home about.


We walked around the town and looked at the various shops, selling antiques, homewares, toys, food and all sorts of other things.




Having partially burnt off the pie (as we deluded ourselves), it was off to Sassafras to enjoy some more food. While we put our name down on the Miss Marple's Tearoom waiting list for a table, we wandered around the town. I liked the Tea Leaves shop, which apparently has the largest range of teas in Victoria. It was quite a small and cramped shop and I was conscious not to bump over any tea pots while squeezing past people. I bought some green teas to enjoy later at home.

Finally, after about 45 minutes, it was our turn to dine at the ever busy Miss Marples tearoom. There is a queue there year round, at all times of the day. We both wanted to eat the fingers and scones and desserts, but wwas still quite full so settled on scones and tea. The scones are definitely good, being the perfect combination of a soft fluffy (sponge cake like) scone with rich luscious cream and a wonderfully tart home made raspberry jam.

Don't you love how old fashioned charming the restaurant looks like.


Finally, within a few metres from Miss Marples, you can wonder for a walk through some cool and calming rainforests. Perfect.


And that, wraps up a comfortable relaxing day at one of Melbourne's natural attractions, Mount Dandenong.

Nuffnang Melbourne Food Bloggers Event: Grand Hyatt Collins Kitchen Dinner

Nuffnang was hosting a food bloggers meetup at the Grand Hyatt for the newly opened Collins Kitchen. Sarah from Nuffnang sent me an email asking if I wanted to attend, ummm, hell yeah. I love meeting other food bloggers and love to eat, so I was eagerly anticipating the event. A few exchanges with Lucy, Grand Hyatt's Marketing Communications Manager, who kindly helped me secure another spot for my friend to attend as well.

The newly fitted out Grand Hyatt hotel cost a whopping $45 million dollars, with Collins Kitchen taking pride of place in the first level. It is definitely one of the most stunning restaurants/open kitchens that you will see in Melbourne. You can't help but be wowed (is wowed a word? all you grammar police out there let me know) by the scale of the kitchen combined with the floor to ceiling glassed dining area and the polished wooden floors.



The concept of Collins Kitchen is explained on the Grand Hyatt website:

Featuring open kitchens and five different dining concepts, including Grill, Wok, Sushi, Deli and Patisserie, the priority at Collins Kitchen is offering simple, authentic global cuisine using the finest local and organic produce. Guests will be able to interact with chefs for a dynamic dining experience.

As Executive Chef of Collins Kitchen, Jason Camillo, reiterated on the night that Collins Kitchen is about letting the diners be more involved in the cooking process. The diner can choose something off the menu and then wonder up to the kitchen to watch it cook right before their eyes. They will be able to see and then taste the freshness of the locally sourced produce. The key to Collins Kitchen, Jason explained, was to use the freshest locally sourced produce.

Jason took us on a tour of the kitchen, and it was sure impressive. Can you imagine rolling out pastry on that huge gleaming slab of marble, or having those glass display style fridges to hold your wagyu. No? Well I can't too, but one can dream big, can't they?


Look at all those food bloggers armed with their cameras, snapping away at anything that moves or can be devoured. I loved the look of that massive tub of seafood, made me drool and wanting to eat it immediately. Jason explained to us about the oysters, how these oysters were asexual and didn't spawn, as it wasn't oyster spawning season. See how you can learn about biology whilst also talking about food.



The Sushi Station had a chef skillfully preparing sushi and sashimi. How beautiful is that glass cabinet to display the fresh fish. One of the young chefs at the Grill Station was happy to pose for a shot for me. Look how proud he is of his area.



I absolutely love my cured meats and the Deli Station was to die for. All those beautiful prosciuttos and wagyu hanging in the glass fridges. The slicer was a thing of beauty too, drawing the attention of all the bloggers, who just had to enquire about the price. For the record, it's somewhere in the ten thousand dollar range. The Wok Station was super impressive with the "turbo jet" burners. Danny and myself were agreeing that noodles cooked over that burner would sure have "wok breath". The huge extraction fans were so fantastically shiny that Neil asked how they cleaned it. It turns out that professional cleaners come once in a while to clean it. It must be so hard to get all that oil off the extractors. The Patisserie Station smelt so good that I was inhaling all the smells and actually didn't even take a photo. Such is my love for pastry.



There are two special dining areas, a Chef's Table, which was a private area in the corner of the dining room, and the Kitchen Room (as in the photo above). This was a sealed off room behind the kitchen, and could be made soundproof when the doors are closed or have the atmosphere of the kitchen when the doors are open. I would love to have a party there one day.

So after all that walking around, we were ravenous and got seated awaiting to eat. I had a chat with Jason about the restaurant and his experience in cooking before being seated. Also, as I'm a chef groupie, I got a photo with him too.


The waiters were very attentive and topped up our water and wines all night. We were seated at two tables, with Sarah from Nuffnang at my table and David from Nuffnang at the other table. Also sitting at my table was the beautiful Lucy. In the photo we have on the left, Kylie Kwong, ummm, I mean Sarah from Sarah Cooks, sitting with Lucy on the right. Sorry about the red eye Lucy.


So while we sat down and got to know each other better, the food started coming out quite quickly. And as is customary, all bloggers respectfully waited while everyone took turns taking photos. Shellie sitting next to me got really professional, whipping out the Gorilla Pod even during the night.

The first dish was a Sushi and Sashimi Platter. Can you say delicious? I love sashimi, especially really fresh stuff. Eaten with the freshly ground Tasmanian wasabi, it was joy. My favourites were definitely the sea bass and the scallops.


A plate of Antipasto and Focaccia closely followed the Sushi Platter. The focaccia was nicely crisp but the Antipasto was where all my attention was heading. The San Daniele Prosciutto was perfectly paired with some rockmelon. My favourite of the dish, the liverwurst was sinfully fatty paired with some cornichons. Wagyu bresaola was a close second, having the rich flavour of wagyu. As regular readers would know, I'm not a huge fan of vegetables so only tried a bit of the grilled vegetables with fetta and the buffalo mozzarella with tomato. Both were good.


The Wok section comprised of a mixture of Roast Meats. There was Crispy Pork (which wasn't crispy enough for my liking), Soy Chicken, Roast Duck (great crispy skin) and Char Siu (which I don't like so didn't try). I could have used some plum sauce or hoi sin, but the house made trio of sauces (soy, ginger/spring onions, chilli) were also good. The fried rice, for the "ang mor" as Sandra and Jordan commented were very good. Again, I stayed away from the Chinese greens.


We were all getting quite full by this stage, so thankfully the food was well timed so that we rested a bit and revived our stomachs with more wine. Then the Porterhouse, aged 30 days, arrived right in front of my face. Whilst others wanted a slightly more cooked steak, I was delighted with the medium rare steak and happily ate that with some bernaise sauce. I preferred the bernaise over the jus, which didn't have much flavour. Brocollini, the richest mash and sauteed mushrooms accompanied the tender steak.


The Grilled Seafood Platter was also pure heaven. I attacked the plump scallops, cooked well so that the centre was still slightly raw, just how I like it. Grilled Salmon and Tuna were ok, but the Moreton Bay Bugs were again another favourite. Since I don't really like prawns, I steered clear of them.


By this stage, I was well and truly full, but I always reserve my spare stomach for desserts, as that is my favourite part of any meal. And the dessert was well worth saving my stomach for. From left, we have a Peach Melba, Rhubarb Crumble with Custard, Ice Cream (strawberry, pistachio, passionfruit and vanilla), Chocolate Fondant and a Banana Millefeuille. The melba failed for me, being the wrong consistency and flavour. The rhubard crumble was so homely, with the crumble being fragrant and crunchy, offsetting the rhubarb. The ice creams were all good, but surprisingly, the vanilla was the absolute standout. The chocolate fondant was luscious and rich, served with chocolate ice cream, it was decadence at it's peak. Finally, my favourite dessert, the banana mille feuille had the flakiest pastry sandwiching layers of smooth custard and caramelised banana, perfection.


Teas and coffees were enjoyed with a final biscotti. It was a great night, full of great conversation, food and laughter. Thanks to Nuffnang, David and Sarah from Nuffnang, Lucy from Grand Hyatt, Jason from Grand Hyatt and the Grand Hyatt Hotel for organising and hosting us for that great dinner. I hope I get invited to more meetups like this.

And in alphabetical order (because I'm that anally retentive), the following people attended the night

Adrian from Food Rehab
Agnes from Off the Spork
Billy from Boys For Noise
David from Nuffnang
Jordan as my guest
Joyce from Jetsetting Joyce
Maria from The Gourmet Challenge
Neil from At My Table
Melissa and Danny from Tummy Rumbles
Penny from Jeroxie
Sandra as a guest of Sarah
Sarah from Sarah Cooks
Sarah from Nuffnang
Shellie from Iron Chef Shellie
Suzanne from EssJay Eats

*Note: supplimentary photos provided courtesy of Jordan. I'm sure you can pick his good DSLR photos from my point and shoot camera photos.*