Thymes Five, Ashburton

Before our walk along Gardiner's Creek, we stopped by Thymes Five cafe in Ashburton. This cafe is modern and clean, and is located along the main street of Ashburton. It was bustling with activity when we arrived. We were shown to a table opposite the service window so we could glimpse into the kitchen and see what the chefs are doing. 

Gaz ordered the waffle with chicken. This is an American concept, mixing savoury with sweet and it is not my style, just like bacon and maple syrup isn't but I enjoyed this dish. It also comes with some fruits (strawberries and blueberries) and a serving of chilli soy sauce which has a kick to it. A very strong kick. It was an instagrammable dish. 

My only comment is that the waffles are a little dry and hard and the sauce was too spicy for me. 

I ordered the soft shell crab with chips and salad without much thought. When it was served, I realised we had ordered two deep fried food! The batter was a little too thick for my liking but the chips were very nicely cooked. It was crispy and crunchy, perfect. The salad dressing was a little oily but I liked that I was still eating some green leafy vegetables to feel less guilty about the deep fried food I was consuming. Both dishes were around $21-22

After lunch, we walked all the way to Holmesglen train station along Gardiner's Creek trail (which really isn't that far away) and went to Tung Wo restaurant. Gaz was too full to eat anything else so I took away some of their famous prawn dumplings in soup for snack later at home. $13.50 for 6 dumplings is quite steep but they are most authentic tasting sui kau I have found in Melbourne so far. 

They changed their name from Niko Niko to Tung Wo a while ago, which is the name they used when they were located in Glen Waverley. Personally I think it is a much better name to stick with, because Niko Niko made them sound like a Japanese restaurant, which cannot be further from the truth.