Satu Produk Durian - Midcity Arcade, CBD

This cafe confused me a little.  The name suggests Malaysian or Indonesian origins but this is a franchise from Macau?  I didn't think Macau was famous for durians..

The cafe serves mainly durian or mango desserts. We ordered one of each just to be safe. The verdict?  Durian mille crepe wins hands down for me! After eating the mille crepe, the mango pancake was tasteless to me.

Portions are small for the price paid but I am happy with the amount of durian in the mille crepe. When I burped later in the evening, I could smell durian and relive the experience!

Shandong Mama - Midcity Arcade, CBD

I have heard so much about Shandong Mama that I just had to try it out. Last weekend, I invited a girlfriend for lunch at the restaurant. 

We ordered the famed mackerel dumplings and Daryl noodles. 

If it was not described in the menu, I would not have guessed they were mackerel.  I guess I expected more mackerel and less flour in the filling. It was a bit salty as well. On the other hand, the filling is original and not fishy.

Daryl noodles is a dish of wheat noodles with a sauce of potato cubes, little prawns, and veges. It was a tad salty, and not as special as the dumplings.

There are some unique dumpling fillings being served in the restaurant like salmon, lamb, and tofu. It is definitely good for a change from the usual pork and prawn dumplings.

Paco's Tacos - Eastland Ringwood

We visited Paco's Tacos on it's opening night last week. Even though Eastland was busy as, and throngs of people were roaming around looking for food, Paco's Tacos looked unfazed. In fact, they coped quite well in the face of the crowd. 

Except for running out of some dishes and some staff not knowing the food they are serving,  everything else seemed to run smoothly. 

We ordered chicken enchilada, which paled in comparison to some of the awesome tacos we had.

We ordered three types of tacos (at Paco's Tacos these are soft corn tortillas) - Crumbed blue grenadier, calamari and beef.

The fish and beef tacos were amazing. Strong flavours, good texture, and oh so tasty. But the calamari did not match up. There were not many calamari in the taco and it felt like I was eating salad rather than calamari taco.

One thing about the tortilla skins, they are not soft. I am not sure why but I prefer softer tortilla skins.

At $6.50 a pop, they are quite reasonably priced, although I will need more than 2 to fill me up.

Vamos, Lt Bourke St

We arrived at Vamos very early in the dinner service, so early that they had not even finished prepping. The waiter was setting up tables, fine tuning the stereo and probably did not expect anyone turning up so early in the evening for DINNER. Drinks, yes. But dinner? It was only 5:30pm. And Vamos is not the type of restaurant that attracts elderly people who have their suppers at 5:30pm then go to bed at 9pm. 

Vamos is a vibrant restaurant, with a live band playing Latin American music on the weekends, serves tapas with cocktails to their customers who would then presumably be so intoxicated by the zing in the music, food and drinks that they would dance unabashedly near their table (or perhaps on the table). 

We are not the typical 5:30pm diners either, but we had an appointment at 6:30pm and I was not willing to have fast food meant that Gaz had to do his research and dine me at a reputable restaurant before our appointment.

We ordered the wagyu beef skewers with roasted eschallots and roja salsa ($17). The beef was tender, and we really liked the accompanying sweet eschallots. 

Paprika and lime free range jerk chicken ($15). The amount of chicken was just nice in this dish.

Seared scallops on avocado ($15). The avocado suited the scallops well.

The waiter was very pleasant and asked about our evening ahead. The food was delicious and we had the whole restaurant to ourselves. Maybe there is merit in eating and going to bed early after all!

Bankara Ramen, Doncaster

My friend suggested that we try the newly opened Bankara Ramen in Westfield Doncaster recently. Her friend's friend from Japan mentioned that he really liked the ramen and thought it the best in Melbourne. It seems like everyone has a 'friend's friend'...

We were warmly greeted by various waiters and waitresses shouting Japanese greetings to us two non-Japanese speaking females as we walked into the restaurant. They could have been shouting rude words to us and we wouldn't have known. But judging by the smiles on their face as they greeted us, it was highly unlikely. Oh wait.... but that's what I do to my boss in Chinese. Just joking. Spiked his tea, yes. But never say rude words to a colleague at work. That would be bullying :) 

I ordered the signature Bankara Ramen ($14) without the extra trimmings. There is the Premium option which includes pork belly, onsen egg, bamboo shoots and so on for $20. 

My ramen came with pork, bamboo shoots, scallions, and a piece of seaweed. The soup was rich and salty, but I had expected the salt and richness. I have had the real McCoy in Japan (incidentally cooked by a Japanese chef who had travelled Australia while working as a fruitpicker) and knew what it was meant to taste and look like. What I didn't get was a depth of flavour to the soup. This was not what I expected to a long braised pork soup. I also found the soup very oily, with lots of pork fat floating around the broth. 

Bankara serves three soup bases - their signature Bankara which is pork bone broth plus soy sauce; Tonkatsu which is pork bones boiled over high heat for long hours; and Chuka Soba which combines seafood to the broth. My friend ordered the chuka soba (not pictured) and declared I should order the Chuka Soba next time I visit since I was unimpressed with mine. Maybe next time....

South Society, Mt Waverley

My friend and I have a club going... It is the 'Let's go for a good lunch when we feel disillusioned about work' club. We meet up at least once a week, which probably tells you a little about my work...

Anyway, recently we tried a new place. We went to South Society on my suggestion. I had read about it in the papers, which introduced it as a hip, modern joint in the suburbs. It certainly did look hip. Minimalist furnishing, hard cement floor which did nothing for the noise levels, and a nice coffee machine humming right at the front of the cafe which gives an indication on the type of customers they would like to attract.

The cafe serves an all day breakfast menu, but we picked two items from the lunch menu being soft shell crab burger and chicken with bacon burger. 

This is my soft shell crab burger, served with chips ($22). The soft shell crab was fresh, it didn't have the frozen kind of taste that I have tasted elsewhere, and it was crispy perfection. 

My friend's chicken burger ($20), similar to BLT. Kudos to the cafe for serving a moist, juicy chicken breast, but the bacon did not have enough taste. The sweet potato chips were delicious. They had done a good job with the chips as sweet potatoes could easily have been over caramelized but these ones were crispy and tasted delicious.

The burger buns are home made as are the chips. The ingredients novel (my soft shell crab certainly was) but awere they worth the price tag? I'm not quite sure... but still, South Society is a good choice to have in the suburbs.

Maha, Bond St CBD

What is worse than committing a mistake? It is not admitting to the mistake. No one likes eating humble pie. It does not taste good. The pastry is soggy and most times it seems too big for one to finish.

If I have to imagine what the pie is like, it'll have a filling of large chunks of semi cooked bitter melon, with a mismatched sweet and sour sauce that is more sour than sweet encased in a dense wholemeal dough pastry case. Unsavoury as it may be, sometimes one just have to eat it, and with a smile on one's face.

So what has all these got to do with Maha? Read on.

I have been thinking of going to Maha for some time, ever since our company deemed it a suitable place to take our corporate customers there for lunch. I was thrilled when Gaz announced that has booked our next lunch at Maha.

Lunch is a set menu consisting of four courses and yes, we get everything as presented on the menu. No need to pick one of each plate for each course. I was already salivating over the thought of getting so many different plates of food.

The first course consists of little plates of (from top to bottom) chemen cured swordfish, truffled fava, village style borek, chickpeas with chicken.

The best dish here was the truffled fava which was so, so delicious. The aroma of the truffles was intoxicating. I could easily eat another ten bowls of this dish. It also had the sweet taste of the prawns in the dish. Shane Delia in his tv show used lobster meat, but prawn meat is good enough for me..

The second favourite dish in this course for me was the cured swordfish, though Gaz thought it was a little slimy for him. I thought it was different, and I like it with the kewpie mayo on the side.

Next up was the braised goat, and jerusalem artichokes (served separately in a little dish). The braised goat was not bad, but I really liked the artichokes. It was a good substitute for potatoes.

Next began the waiting game. We waited about 45 minutes for the next course, all the while watching as other tables got their courses before us. When we complained about the wait, the food was brought to us within 10 minutes, but by then we had already lost the mood and desire to eat.

To make matters worse, the waitress who brought our food did not seem to think it was strange that we should be waiting 45 minutes between course in a SET menu. When she came a little later to check on how we were doing, Gaz told her the truth and said that we did not expect to wait so long between the course and that we would probably not be able to make our next appointment because of the wait. Her response was decidely strange. She said to us that we should have told her that we have another appointment to go to, so that she can speed things up. Like it was NORMAL to wait 45 minutes between courses?

Here we have (from top to bottom) 12 hour roasted lamb shoulder which was very oily, salad and cracked wheat pilaf. Not pictured was the salmon, which was very delicious. The temperature of the lamb shoulder dish was not hot, as if it had been sitting on a bench for some time. After a time the oil congealed at the bottom of the dish, making it rather unappetizing. We did not manage to finish the pilaf and lamb, having lost our appetite during the wait.

Thankfully, our experience of dining at Maha was saved by one of the head waiters who was very apologetic and offered to bring us more beverages, and told us he will put our existing drinks on the house. We did not take up his offer for more drinks  and after a while, noticing this, he offered again. Finally we asked if in lieu of drinks, could we have something from their gift shop, which he very kindly complied.

We really liked the way he handled the situation and felt he was really genuine in his approach. If the other waitress had admitted to the mistake and not tried to cover it up by shifting the blame to us, we would not have felt as bad. Luckily her colleague recovered the situation well.

The last course was dessert which was orange blossom cake, chocolate fondant and doughnuts. We were too full, but we did enjoy this course a little more than the bitter third course.

Ringwood Chinese Restaurant - Ringwood

Remember your first day at your very first job? Did you feel excited? A bit nervous?

I certainly remembered mine... my mom dropped me off at the workplace and we had lunch together.

That would have been ok if I was 13 working a casual job in a supermarket... but no. I was 21 and it was a full time, beginning of a career kinda job.

Mom was reluctant to have lunch with me that first day of work. After all, it wasn't primary school I was going to.  But I am thankful she was there for me.

I never needed to have lunch with mom during a work day after that first day. And I don't think she minded at all. I found my feet, and a bunch of the most awesome people I have ever worked with after that.

Anyway, what has this got to do with the Ringwood Chinese Restaurant?  The waiter serving us was wearing a white business shirt straight from the package, complete with fold marks. It just reminded me of a high school kid going to work at his first paying job.

He did pretty alright for a newbie. The food was not bad as well. We ordered seafood and tofu hotpot. It had a generous amount of basa fish, prawns, cuttlefish, tofu and veges. The sauce was good with rice.

Cantonese beef fillet. The beef was tender and delicious.

The prices are a little higher than other chinese restaurants, but the ambience is good and the chef cooks good food. The portions are generous.

We did have a discount coupon which made the prices more reasonable. Overall I think the food is good, only that perhaps the prices need to be rethought to attract my patronage.

Tina's Noodles - CBD

Each time I pass by this restaurant, there is a line of customers waiting to enter the restaurant. The restaurant in Box Hill is also always full.

One weekend, my friend and I decided to give it a try.  The only caveat was, if there is a line outside,  we will move on to the next restaurant.  We went a little earlier than 12pm, and were able to get in without waiting.

The bowls were large, and my noodles were full of tasty bits. It had meat balls, quails eggs, luncheon meat, deep fried fish cakes, tofu, veges in a tasty broth. It was tasty but rich and could have fed two small eaters.

My friend ordered the fish slices with pickled veges. There were generous servings of fish slices in the bowl.

Overall, we enjoyed the food but it would be better as a smaller portion with a corresponding reduction in price. Alternatively, we could have shared one bowl of noodles!

Wantilan Bali - Hawthorn

Having been to Bali without Gaz, I wanted him to try the Balinese cuisine that I enjoyed so much while in Bali.

My family took me to try the famous Babi Guling dish in Bali, crispy deep fried whole duck, BBQ ribs so tender they fell off the bone. They were all so delicious!!

Wantilan Bali served all three dishes in their restaurant, but we only ordered two of them. Maybe one day we will return for the third dish!

Babi guling with crispy crackling. I liked the crackling,  which is better than the original dish I had in Bali but where the spicy vege was much more delicious.

BBQ beef ribs with spicy sauce.  The ribs were sweet and sticky, so tender and delicious.

We enjoyed both dishes, but Gaz thought they were not enough for him to fill his tummy. I think he was too hungry that day, but maybe we should have ordered the duck as well!

Hank's Fancy BBQ, CBD

We were so hungry after half a day of shopping. First, we shopped for clothes then we shopped for groceries at Queen Vic Mart. We were so engrossed in shopping that lunch was just a quick meal on the run.

So, when we went to Hank's, it seemed that the portions were disappointingly small for our hungry tummies.

Brisket sandwich, $12. We waited ages for this but was disappointed that it was only half a sandwich.

Mustard, pickles, it was tangy and only half a sandwich.... with crisps from a packet.

Buffalo wings $12 equating to $2 each wing... these wings couldn't fly.

I suppose the dishes would be good with a pint and a game of pool. But without the pleasure of a cold beer, the food seemed inadequate on their own.

We wanted to try their BBQ meats but they were sold out. The price per gramme of meat was quite expensive but it would have been nice to try it out to see if it's as fancy as the restaurant name suggests!

Email Peepers

Sometimes people stop by my desk at work when I happen to have an email open on my computer and they proceed to read whatever that is on screen in front of me.

I get it that there should not be anything personal anyway on my work computer but I still think it is quite rude of them to do so.

I especially dislike those who while speaking to me, looks with interest at the pop up notification box for new emails in the inbox. Were they there to speak to me or be an email monitor?

There really is no point to this post, not unlike my other posts!

Tsukiji, Prahran

When a restaurant is too cozy, that becomes a problem... who would like to sit next to a stranger while enjoying a meal? Especially if the person suffers from halitosis?

And what could be more awkward than sharing tables with a couple bent on showing how close they physically can be in public or have some hand action going under the table?

Do you find that the conversation stops for both the table sharer and table sharee because neither party want to reveal too many details of their lives? Or if there is a conversation going on at one side, the other side suddenly becomes quiet... eavesdropping perhaps?

What if the table sharee spots an empty table and abruptly leave? Would you as the table sharer be curious if there was more to the migration? Do you suddenly wonder if you were the one with bad breath, body odour or gassy stomach?

There is one benefit I can think of if one is sharing tables with a stranger.. and that is discretely snapping pictures of their food so one has more pictures to put on one's blog!

Let me end with some food pictures (all my own food!) from our visit to Tsukiji at High St, Prahran.

We bought prepacked pieces of fish from the shop which they then slice for us. There was salmon, trout and clam. Prices are reasonable for the amount and quality. It was delicious!

Tsukiji also serves hot food, such as the tempura udon we ordered, but the star is really the sashimi.

My Train Commute

After many years of working in the suburbs, it was most difficult to adjust to the long train commute to the city.

Seasoned commuters would argue that half hour or forty minutes on the train is not that long but hey, any journey more than twenty minutes is considered long for me these days. The last time I took the train to the city for a concert, I had back ache from sitting too long. 

I had almost forgotten what it was like squeezing with the crowd in a train, fighting for standing space next to a handrail because I am too short to reach the handles that hang from the top. Not to mention stepping over bags and feet during my hasty exit at my stop. 

These days, almost 90% of the people use some form of tablet and touch phone during their journey. The rest are sleepers, catching up on their sleep. No one reads a physical book anymore. So when I took out a book, the paper kind, the 90's kid sitting in front of me made no effort to hide her puzzlement. A book?! Which era are you from?!

Some things do not change though. Like the two trains which were cancelled last week, and causing a delay or more than 15 minutes to my journey. I also saw a familiar commuter. We never spoke but I have a strong memory of him because he and his girlfriend used to exchange their declarations of love very publicly in the station while waiting for the train. His girlfriend is nowhere to be seen, but he is still wearing the blue jacket he used to wear from years ago. 

Fat-a-Touille, Brunswick

Fat-a-Touille's slogan is 'Let's get fat together' but after our visit there, I have to ask why the accumulation of fat is all one sided - tipped in favour of the diners! 

We visited on a weekday, and was greeted by a friendly waitress who provided very good service throughout our meal. 

The menu is not extensive, only four or five items each in the entree, main, and salad category and two selections in dessert but to an indecisive person whose eyes are bigger than her tummy, it was wonderful!

As entree we ordered chicken momo. The dumplings were deep fried with sweet black bean sauce. There were also capsicums stir fried together with the sauce. The dish came out piping hot, and was very tasty. I liked how the dumplings were fried, it was crispy throughout, and if you liked it a bit softer then let the sauce do it's job before eating.

My choice of entree was the spicy lamb salad. There was a generous serving of lamb slices, maybe even more lamb than salad leaves in this dish!

My main of slow braised goat masala was delicious. Here, a funny thing happened. A diner next to me leaned across and asked me what dish it was, and after I told him what it was, and that it was delicious, it turns out that he did not order the dish! So, why would you ask what dish it was? Did he wanted to make sure what it was so he can ensure he doesn't order it? Or was it that he couldn't trust my taste when I told him it was delicious?

Main of crispy pork belly. It was served with potatoes, carrots, and apple pickled in balsamic vinegar to provide some acid to cut through the fat of the belly. The crackling on the pork was crispy, but the pork had been fried during the process to obtain the crispiness so the meat was not as juicy. Given the size and turnover of the restaurant, they had probably finished roasting the meat before dinner time and re-crisped it upon order, which seems the most logical thing to do.

We ordered both the desserts on the menu, and both of them were good! The crepes were thin, and delicious with maple syrup.

The panacotta was wobbly but held its shape. It was not too sweet, perfect!

We enjoyed the Eurasian flavours, and the generous servings in this restaurant.

Organ Pipes National Park

Organ Pipes National Park is located close to the airport. The driver of the family (read: Gaz) was consulted about going to the park about a year ago, but the idea was quickly shot down due to the distance.

This year, we finally decided to make a visit to the park en route to Bendigo. 

 The organ pipes were formed by cooled lava. It actually looks more impressive on camera because it fills up the whole frame, but not much in reality. As a Chinese saying goes, ' One eye sees all'.

This is the Rosette stone. It looks mossy and I dubbed it the monkey head mushroom. Doesn't it look similar and sound more interesting?

There are a few tracks to the few attractions in the park but nothing too difficult. The way out of the park is the most difficult as it is uphill the whole way.

It was good exercise, in fact we saw a couple in lycra gym gear making their way along the track while we were there. Perhaps it is the 1000 Steps of the north west.

There was a small creek with gushing waters which sounded very relaxing. I also enjoyed the area where there were cobble stones, only these were formed by cooled lava.

There are picnic tables and chairs in the park, two toilets and water fountain facilities in the park. A good place for a picnic then a walk uphill to burn off the calories.

Our Trip to Bendigo in Three Stories

It had been ages since we went anywhere for an overnight trip together, that is the reality for someone with a spouse who works on weekends. So my excitement was unbounded when we could make an overnight trip to Bendigo. Here are three stories from our trip.

Those are not fruits hanging from the trees, but bats. We were walking through Rosalind Park, a big park in the centre of the town when I heard some noises and wondered what sort of bird would be making such sounds. I looked up and saw so many bats on the trees! I had a Batman moment, specifically 'when he fell into a well full of bats when he was younger' Batman moment. I was terrified, and we avoided that area of the park after that.


Our visit to the Central Deborah Mine just minutes from the CBD was most educational. We paid $30 each to join a tour that took us to Level 7 (why don't they call it Level -7, that would have been more accurate!). I think the deepest is Level 22 in the mine. We learnt many things that day, among them were about the conditions the miners worked in, the dangers of working in a mine, and the astonishing fact that it only takes the discovery of a tablespoon of gold to break even for the whole mine. After the tour, we climbed up that tower in the picture where the combination of too much walking over the two days and my fear of heights made my legs cramp up. What's funny was a small child and her father was also climbing the tower, and they were looking at me with a mixture of pity and disbelief.

 This was the view of the centre of town from our table where we had lunch. We could see the Talking Tram waiting for the lights to turn, and the fountain which brought back memories of Europe for me. We were waiting quite a bit for our food, which was why I had plenty of time to snap randomly away. The waiter was probably feeling a bit resentful and frazzled at being the only staff on the floor on a public holiday. We heard cutlery banging away in the kitchen, our orders were mixed up, and when our orders were finally right, it was delivered to the wrong table before it landed on ours. We were as frustrated as the waiter, who banged on the counter without warning (probably beating himself up over his mistake) which made us both jump up in our seats. Penalty rates... aren't they great?

We met many tourists during our stay in Bendigo, who were there for the Easter parade and festivities. Bendigo has certainly transformed itself into a busy town. I hope it will continue to prosper and be even more exciting for tourists in the future.

Stalactites - Lonsdale St

My friend and I lamented over lunch at Stalactites how we have put on weight during the festive season in December, January and March (Chinese New Year) which cannot seem to come off. 

Stalactites was probably not the best place to be commiserating about our weight, being surrounded by yummy plates brimming over with succulent meats and hot chips.

Nevertheless, we discussed the crazy diets we had heard friends are on, and the outcomes of those diets. Someone was doing the 6 day fruit and vegetable diet, and lost 2 kgs. Someone else was doing the paleo diet, weight loss total unknown. We decided to go with a balanced diet diet.

To start, we ordered the vegetarian platter. There were trio of dips, cheese, spanakopita, dolmades and potatoes. The hummus, eggplant and tzatziki dips were delicious.

We also ordered a mix gyros of chicken and lamb. I thought I would like the lamb better than the chicken, but it ended up being the other way around. The chicken was juicy and tender.

Stalactites is the only restaurant I know that is open 24/7 and serves delicious food. We enjoyed our conversation and the food there.

Niew Amsterdam - Hardware Lane

We already knew what we wanted to order even before setting foot in Niew Amsterdam. I wanted the clam chowder and pork belly, while Gaz will just eat the bits and pieces I leave on the plate!

We were both looking forward to enjoying a rich, tasty clam chowder and biting through a crunchy crackling. Unfortunately, the restaurant had run out on quite a number of dishes that afternoon, including the clam chowder.

But what the restaurant didn't tell us was that they had run out of crackling as well!! Well, either they had ran out, or someone forgot to add the crackling onto the tray before they brought the dish out. Either case was not good.

Since there were no clam chowder, we ordered the Reuben sandwich which came with salad and chips. Gaz thought it was well seasoned and the corned beef in the sandwich delicious. Indeed, the dishes here are not for the 'skim milk' or 'lite yogurt' people.
The salad is well dressed, chips well seasoned, beef tender. Read oil, salt and fat. Aren't all delicious food unhealthy?

This is my tray of pork belly.  As can be seen, there is no crackling. Where are they!! The pictures on the net for this dish all had crackling. On the tray were two cubes of pork belly, pickled veges, salad, potato salad and four pieces of bread with sauce.

Lots of carbs here, no crackling. The pork was tender and delicious, albeit a little porky smell. I enjoyed the potato salad. I would have liked crackling though. Did I say I missed the crackling?

I appreciate the American style cuisine and I enjoyed the dishes we had. But I felt 5 kgs heavier leaving the restaurant!

Circa - St Kilda

Circa has long been on our list of restaurant to visit and we are glad that we were able to visit it a few weeks ago.

We ordered:

Spanner crab salad. This entree was beautiful to look at and tasted wonderful. Each bite was a different taste and texture. There is the saltiness of the spanner crab, creaminess of the dressing, sweetness of the greens. Pretty perfect.

Burnt octopus with beef jerky. What a combination, right? The octopus was cooked beautifully. It was tender and very flavourful.

Cobia with cucumber. Another entree we enjoyed very much. The fish was done ceviche style, it was very refreshing.

Flinders Island lamb with celeriac puree. The lamb was cooked medium rare. The meat melted in the mouth, it was good. We avoided the fatty bits which haven't rendered.

Wagyu and mustard powder.

Blood plum ice cream. Very sour. Would not order this again. Was also quite surprised that the wait person did not mention anything about the dessert being sour.

Overall dinner was wonderful. We were seated by the window so we could admire the sunset views. Unfortunately, the dessert was too sour for us but there were plenty else to praise in this restaurant.

Monk & Me - Camberwell

We went for an advanced screening of a new movie titled 'What We Did on Our Holiday' this week. It is a BBC comedy film and will be released on 12th February in Australia. I thoroughly enjoyed the film. It was funny and poignant. The three child actors in the movie performed very well and I especially liked the youngest. She is such a natural, and the script was nicely done too.

After the movie, we went to Monk & Me for dinner. It was just as well that we already had something to eat before the movie because the portion sizes in Monk & Me are quite small.

We ordered Char Kuey Teow and Seafood Laksa. With my seafood laksa, I wondered if it was a collection of bits and pieces of leftover noodles from half eaten laksas. I had difficulty finding more noodles to eat after just two mouthfuls. The broth was tasty but there was a bit too much coconut cream. There was a decent amount of seafood in the laksa. There were prawns, squid, and fishcakes.

The char kuey teow had a good smoky smell, almost similar to the hawker fare one gets in KL. It was spicy but not too spicy for us.

The prices are higher than other Malaysian restaurants but I suppose that is normal for the Camberwell area. The restaurant is not enclosed rather, it has large doors that are entirely opened up during opening hours giving a true blue Malaysian coffee shop feeling,  especially on a balmy day.

Monk and Me certainly has the ambience and portion size of a malaysian coffee shop, but unfortunately the price is about 8 times more expensive.

Vegetarian Roll

These vegetarian rolls are so yummy that I want to make them more often than what I do. Now that I have a julienne peeler, it is a lot easier to make these rolls.

You'll need:
1 pack of dried beancurd sheet (they come in one big sheet all folded up and breaks easily so be careful when unfolding)
2 carrots, julienned
100g of enoki mushrooms, separated and cut in half
About 10 pieces of dried cloud ear mushrooms, rehydrated and cut into thin slices
About 5 pieces and dried shitake mushrooms, rehydrated and cut into thin slices

Stir fry all the vegetables in a non stick pan with two teaspoons of oil, and a tablespoon of oyster sauce (or vegetarian oyster sauce). Add salt if needed.

Beancurd sheet

Stir fry until vegetables are cooked, then let cool.

Unfold the dried beancurd sheet, and cut into rectangles of around 15 by 22 cms. Wet a towel and wipe both sides of each rectangle before wrapping the rolls. The reason for this step is firstly to make the beancurd sheet pliable for wrapping, secondly to clean the sheet and lastly, to wipe away excess salt from the manufacturing process of the sheet.

Lying the sheet flat on a board, pile about two tablespoons of filling on the end closest to you, fold the sheet over the filling once. Fold the the two sides upwards and inwards then continue rolling until you reach the end of the sheet (you should be able to roll about 3 or 4 times before reaching the end of the sheet).

Shallow fry all sides until golden. Alternatively steam to minimise oil usage.

This dish involves quite a bit of preparation, but it is delicious and beautiful to look at.