Cafe Review: Half Moon Café

Location: 13 Victoria St, Coburg
Phone: 03 9350 2949
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Overall Impression: 6/10

Therein lays the best falafels in Melbourne. Hard to believe? Well, it’s true.

In an unassuming little café, you would hardly suspect it but it is certainly a Melbourne gem.

Their  menu is a wonderfully fresh and works a treat.

Cooked to perfection, these Egyptian-style falafels are crisp on the outside and deliciously moist on the inside.

The first thing you notice is how green they are on the inside. No, it’s not some weird chickpea they are using. These falafels are made from fava beans and they are absolutely delicious.

Restaurant Review: Rae's Restaurant

Location: Melba Hwy, Yarra Glen
Phone: 03 9730 0774
Link: balgownieestate.com.au
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Overall Impression: 6.5/10

There is nothing quite like a lazy lunch in the relaxing Yarra Valley surrounds. Whilst being a mere 40 minute drive from the CBD, you feel a million miles away.

Balgownie Estate is one of J’s favourite wineries so visiting Rae’s Restaurant, the restaurant attached to the winery made sense. The locally sourced produce takes the dining experience to greater heights as these fresh ingredients are skilfully prepared.

Unfortunately, all this good work is undone by bad service. The service is irrefutably impersonal. We were treated like cattle, ushered in and out the door without being acknowledged whatsoever. It was clear that the wait staff were trying not to pay attention. It was far from non-intrusive. We were almost non-existent. The service that an older waiter delivered to us can only be described as service with contempt. After he put J’s bread down, he reached over J to put my bread down. It was incredibly rude.  

Soup of the day $15

with grilled sour dough

Grilled sour dough bruschetta $18

with whipped Persian feta, double smoked leg ham and tomato relish

Slow cooked Yarra Valley salmon $22

with capers, white anchovies sauce gribiche

Grilled free range spring chicken $32

with sage and onion stuffing, herbed cous cous and rocket pesto

Home made gnocchi $25

Tossed in tomato coulis with estate grown green vegetables and shaved parmesan

Fish of the day $35

Although the food served at Rae’s restaurant is consistently good. There is a clear disrespect for patrons. Such a pity given the calibre of the chefs!

Restaurant Review: Oriental Spoon

Location: 254 La Trobe St, Melbourne
Phone: 03 9654 9930
Cuisine: Korean
Overall Impression: 7.5/10

Oriental Spoon is a delightful Korean eatery in the CBD. Authentically good, it takes J and I right back to the time we spent in Seoul together.

The condiments are the part of the Korean meal that I love the most. Although they provide more of a supporting role, the humble Kim chi is what makes my meal.  

Megumi

Korean Casserole with dumplings, assorted vegetables, kimchi and tofu

Seafood pancake

Jap Chae

Clear sweet potato noodles pan-fried with thin slices of marinated beef and assorted seasoned vegetables in sesame sauce oil

Bulgogi

Finely sliced beef marinated in Korean Bulgogi sauce, cooked with vegetables and served on a hot sizzling plate

Korean Fried Chicken

Each dish was incredibly flavoursome. The portions were also incredibly generous. Those 5 dishes fed the 7 of us (with a whole heap of fried chicken left over which KC took home for lunch the next day). It ended up costing us less than $25 each including drinks, offering the soundest bang for your buck.

Restaurant Review: Great Northern Hotel

Location: 644 Rathdowne St, Carlton North
Phone: 03 9380 9569
Link: gnh.net.au
Cuisine: English/Irish
Overall Impression: 7/10

Hand pumped, cask conditioned beer. This is how beer used to be (before big corporations started pasteurising and carbonating it) and how beer should be.

After years of mass produced, artificially carbonated beer flooding the market and becoming the new ‘norm’ in Australia, hand pumped beer is beginning its resurgence thanks to breweries like the Holgate Brewhouse in Woodend, and temples of beer worship such as The Royston and the Great Northern Hotel.

Holgate ESB

This genuine, English style of beer shows greater complexity and depth of flavour than its artificially carbonated and pasteurised competitors. A pint of this brings J and I right back to the time we spent in the UK. We were glad to hear that they recently installed a second hand pump!

Apart from excellent beer, Great Northern Hotel provides good food at reasonable prices.

Asian Style Beef Salad

Marinated and fried beef strips, cucumber, chilli tomato, and bean shoots with a soy and sesame dressing

Veal Parmigiana oven baked and served with a choice of beer battered fries and salad or vegetables and baked potato.

Spaghetti Bolognaise a rich red wine and beef sauce, nestled in fresh cooked spaghetti and topped with shaved parmesan

Our visits are always satisfying so it is easy to see why Great Northern Hotel has been gaining a cult following in recent times.

Restaurant Review: Dessert House Eatery

Location: 313 Swanston St, Melbourne
Phone: 03 9663 2284
Cuisine: Hong Kong Cafe Style food
Overall Impression: 5/10

This place is great for their Hong Kong style cafe food. Of particular note is the Lemongrass chicken. With friendly service and a well-priced menu, the appeal is obvious.

Restaurant Review: Portofina

Location: 984 Doncaster Rd, Doncaster East
Phone: 03 9841 7922
Link: portofina.com.au
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Overall Impression: 4/10

My bosom buddy, G and I decided to catch up at Portofina, mainly because of my limited driving skills. Portafina is a few kilometres straight down the road from where she lives. I was picking her up in my car and I didn’t want to have to drive very far or make too many turns without my GPS because I have no sense of direction and cannot read a map.

After looking at the menu and deciding on what we would like, we made our orders to an incredibly impatient and rude waitress. G and I were immediately put off by the place (hence the thumbs down in the picture).

Quiche and salad

Chicken parma burger

Our food arrived and it was of a passable standard. The older lady that brought our food to the table was much nicer so I wouldn’t say that the service is bad all round. The food itself was at best ordinary. To the restaurant’s credit however, the menu is popularly priced, with none of their lunch items costing over $10. Unfortunately, that does not do much in terms of gaining G and I’s patronage in the future.

Restaurant Review: Taiwan Cafe

Location: 273 Swanston St, Melbourne
Phone: 03 9663 6663
Cuisine: Taiwanese street food
Overall Impression: 5/10

Celebrating Taiwanese street food, this little eatery has become increasingly popular. Having come to our attention due to the long queues we had been seeing, we were curious to see if the hype was justified.  

Pork Dumplings with Hot & Sour noodle soup

The dumplings in my noodles were pleasant but the hot and sour soup was neither spicy nor sour enough. It lacked that punch synonymous with Taiwanese street food.

Bento Box

As far as Taiwanese bento boxes go, this ticked every “box”!

All in all, this is a nice eatery that I would revisit but only if I could get a seat easily.

Restaurant Review: I Love Pho 264

Location: 264 Victoria St, Richmond
Phone: 03 9427 7749
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Overall Impression: 6/10

Boxing Day sales were upon us. It had been a tiring but productive day. J, with my help, (looking for sizes was a nightmare!) managed to get a sexy, well-fitting black suit for 40% off the RRP. We had also successfully “net-worked” randomly with another couple over pre-dinner drinks at a trendy bar in Southbank. This was particularly victorious on my part because I was born socially awkward. I’m not sure what happened but somewhere between finishing the first half of my glass of wine to heading off for dinner, we had exchanged business cards. It was reason to celebrate!

Not wanting to stuff our faces for the umpteenth time this week, we decided to have a light dinner to celebrate. Having heard of the aptly named “I Love Pho” (a sentiment I share) from food blogging circles, we decided to make our way there.

The place was buzzing with Pho-lovers.

Prawn and pork rice paper rolls

As customary in every Vietnamese restaurant that J and I have been to, we decided to start the meal with Pork and Prawn rice paper rolls. We were glad we did. These were the best that we have ever had. The beautifully thin and delicate rice paper encased fresh herbs and ingredients. The sauce was of particular note. It was incredibly scrumptious when eaten with the rice paper rolls. It had the perfect hint of spice from a chilli sauce that had been added right up the top. It was a great appetiser and a wonderful start to our meal.

Rice noodle soup: sliced beef and brisket

Rice noodle soup: shredded chicken

Both the Pho dishes were lovely. The broth was a lot more delicate and subtle in flavour in comparison to your run of the mill Vietnamese pho. The flavours appeared to be far less intense to our “local” Vietnamese eatery, Codo. That said, the broth tasted a lot more real (i.e. made of real chicken and beef stock as opposed to laden with MSG). It was certainly pleasant to eat.

Although slightly overrated, the appeal of I Love Pho is certainly easy to see. With a clear focus on rice noodle soups, it looks like a lot of heart and soul has gone into the food, making it a notch above the rest.