Twenty & Six Espresso: It’s a yes from me

I came here with Big Sister on my ADO on Monday for lunch. Almost every time I walk into the CBD, I stop by here for a takeaway coffee – they make it nice and strong, just the way I like it. This is the first time eating here, and I must say the food is impressive for a cafe. 

Being rather small, it was almost full when we arrived a little past 12pm – fairly busy for a weekday, and I can see why. We managed to snag the last couple of seats on the communal table.

We were served Proud Mary’s beans, and while mine was good, Big Sister’s latte was not – large flecks of coffee grounds were distinctly noticeable through the latte glass. She said the flavour was okay.

I ordered The Russian, which consisted of vodka & lemon house cured salmon tartare, a free range poached egg, with dill & lemon creme fraiche, and seeded sourdough. Loved the presentation, and the taste was just right. Salmon was not too salty, egg perfectly poached, and the sourdough was buttery and delicious.

Big Sister had The Shepherd, which was a slow roasted lamb shoulder with spiced cauliflower and barley. I don’t eat lamb, but tried the barley and cauliflower. Big Sister said her dish was very good, though the barley could have been cooked for longer.

 Cappuccino

The Russian 

The Shepherd

In my opinion this is one of the better cafes in the area. Small and cosy, decent coffee, great food. Eyeing the dishes ordered by the ladies across from us, I noticed each dish was peculiarly presented – definitely different from the usual boring styles adopted by most cafes these days. Will definitely be back to try other items on the menu, and it will continue to be a regular stopover for me on the days I walk into the city. 

Ratings (based on my own experience, on this occasion):

Food – 8 / 10

Service – 7 / 10

Value for money – 8 / 10

OVERALL CONSENSUS: 4 bags (out of 5)

Sushi Hotaru: A Train of Goodies

Melbourne is seriously lacking in sushi trains. I’d heard good reports about this new one in the CBD, so on Tuesday night I headed there with a couple of girlfriends, Dumplings Lover and Fellow Foodie. 

Aware of their notorious long lines, we tried to get there early, leaving after work at 6. Unfortunately we didn’t arrive until 6.45pm, and were told there were 13 tables ahead of us. We decided to give it 30 minutes, before deciding on somewhere else. 

Luckily, we noticed that quite a few numbers were called, and skipped when there was no response. We were seated within 25 minutes, which was not too bad. 

There was an iPad ordering system, as well as self-select from the sushi train. What can I say? There were lots of options – a variety of nigiri, maki and uramaki rolls, temaki, sashimi, tempura, fried wonton, ookonomiyaki, takoyaki, etc.

We ordered green tea and black sesame lattes off the iPad, as well as agedashi tofu, unagi, udon, and ice cream for dessert. Everything else you see is picked off the sushi train. 

The standard plates off the train were $3 each, except the sashimi platter, which was $7.90.

 

Takoyaki

Tuna salad and corn roll

Jellyfish and noodle roll

Prawn tempura

Ookonomiyaki 

 

 Salmon uramaki w cream cheese

Tempura prawn uramaki roll

Salmon and avocado uramaki w fried lotus root

Agedashi tofu

Unagi temaki

 

Tobiko and cucumber roll

Unagi roll

Udon noodle soup

Crab and corn roll

 Green tea mousse w red bean

Green tea ice cream

Black sesame latte (cold)

Overall I enjoyed the experience, and once the hype dies down and waiting times reduce, I would come back. Perhaps the quality of the sashimi is not the best, but it’s not bad considering the cheap price tag. I liked the variety of selections available on the train, and the iPad ordering system is very efficient. They need to rethink the waiting system though – perhaps a paging system, or even a phone call when the table becomes available. Our wait wasn’t bad, but this was on a Tuesday night. I can only imagine the wait on a Friday or Saturday. 

Ratings (based on my own experience, on this occasion):

Food – 6 ½ / 10

Service – 6 ½ / 10

Value for money – 8 / 10

OVERALL CONSENSUS: 3 bags (out of 5) 

Moroccan Soup Bar: Hearty vegetarian

We went here for The Boy Vegetarian’s birthday last Sunday night. Supposedly it is very popular, so we arrived at 5.40pm, 20 minutes before they open. Good thing too, because we were second in line and by the time the doors opened there was a queue of about 20 people waiting behind us. 

I really liked the warm mint tea that we received as soon as we sat down – I wish there were refills. There were no written menus – most likely a lot of the patrons are regulars and already know what’s usually cooking. There were quite a few takeaway orders – they have a BYO container policy for takeaway. We were offered the regular banquet of 3 courses (plus tea/coffee) for $20, or the specials banquet of the same 3 courses plus an array of small dishes for $25. Since we had no idea what the regular menu items were, the specials banquet sounded like a good option. 

Out came the entrees, which included a platter of pita bread and dips (hummus, yoghurt, eggplant) and antipasti, as well as several smaller bowls or tapas (chickpea, beetroot, haloumi, potato, eggplant, falafel). This was probably the best course out of the 3 – the haloumi and eggplant dishes in particular were quite nice, while I thought the falafel was too dry.

The mains consisted of 3 larger dishes – lentil curry with saffron and tomato rice, chickpea bake, and a vegetable tagine with couscous. My favourite was the chickpea bake – it was basically a layer of chickpeas and yoghurt over a bed of crunchy tortilla chips assembled over a pool of sweet syrup at the very bottom. Goodness. The vegetable stew was so-so, as was the lentil curry – although I did like the two types of rice. There was A LOT of food. I would recommend to bring some Tupperware to da-bao. 

Dessert was a small platter consisting of Turkish delight donuts, date ball, baklava, and a citrus custard. The custard was the highlight here, with all the other items being quite ordinary (and perhaps a tad too sweet). 

Overall, I thought there were some good dishes and some which were so-so. Don’t come here with the misconception that because it is vegetarian that you’ll receive a light and healthy meal – everything was quite rich and heavy, and we were super-full by the end – even our birthday boy, who’s one of those annoying-people-with-ultra-fast-metabolisms-who-can-eat-five-times–the-amount-that-normal-humans-eat-and-still-be-skinny (yeah, you know the type I’m talking about). Hence for $25, this banquet is very good value. 

In terms of service, it’s very casual and brisk – being first timers (to Moroccan food, as well as to this restaurant), we probably would have benefited from a menu of some sort – even if it was just a verbal menu. Each and every time a course was brought out, we had to ask what was what – I mean, I didn’t expect a full description of every element of every dish, but I thought a simple statement of ‘this is...(vegetable tagine, etc)’ should be done routinely, especially if there was no menu. 

The place was quite loud, but felt homey and genuine. I’m not sure I would wait in line or go out of my way to eat here again, but it was a good introduction to Moroccan food.

NB. There is no soup served here. 

Ratings (based on my own experience, on this occasion):

Food – 6 / 10

Service – 5 / 10

Value for money – 7 / 10

Gyoza Douraku: In preparation for Japan, Part 4

It’s becoming more and more difficult to find a decent place to dine on a Saturday night, if you’re unprepared and didn’t book...

It was Saturday night, and one of my besties had just officially ended things with her man, and was in urgent need of TLC. So another girlfriend and I took her out for dinner. Our initial destination was Red Spice Road, but the wait was over an hour, so we took a stroll through the CBD to see if anything caught our fancy. After a couple more fails (Sushi Hotaru had 19 tables in the waiting line – there are only 14 tables in the restaurant), we ended up at Gyoza Douraku, a cute Japanese Gyoza bar.  

The sauce tray was SO CUTE – the bear reminded me of Kung Fu Panda. It comprised of garlic, sesame seeds, sesame oil, chilli oil, and vinegar dumpling sauce. 

Agedashi Tofu

Tori no Karaage “JFC”

Spicy kimchi pork gyoza, Miso eggplant & duck gyoza

Kurobuta pork mushi pan

I really liked the casual setting of this izakaya. The prices were cheap. The food was okay, probably nothing too special – we didn’t order many dishes, but none of the ones we ate were super amazing. I thought the gyoza flavours we picked were a bit different from the usual pork or beef gyoza, but  they tasted a tad bland, to be quite honest. The skin was crispy (we opted for the fried rather than steamed option), but the fillings were sparse and lacked that oomph. I couldn’t taste any kimchi in the pork gyoza, nor much miso in the duck gyoza.

Overall, this place is quite good as a cheap eat and a casual bar to hang out and have drinks and nibbles. Food is standard, drinks menu quite decent. They’re open late and are easily accessible.

Ratings (based on my own experience, on this occasion):

Food – 5 / 10

Service – 7 / 10

Value for money – 7 / 10

OVERALL CONSENSUS: 2.5 bags (out of 5)