Kan Eang, Flinders Lane

A friend had just came back from Japan, where she narrowly missed the earthquake on the 1st day of 2024 and the domestic flight mishap in the airport. So I arranged to meet at a least Japanese place, a Thai restaurant. There is a plethora of Thai restaurants these days and it was quite difficult choosing one. Eventually I settled on Kan Eang, on Flinders Lane. 

It has a lunch special which offers lots of promise, only to be told that it is not available on the weekends but a sign on the outside still advertising its existence. The restaurant was kind enough to still offer the lunch special, without the special (which was a free drink). It was a relief because we would have just been able to order one main dish to share between the two of us. Or ordered two main dishes and take away the leftovers.

We settled on watermelon and plum sprinkles (exorbitant at $18 but it was also dessert, kinda).

Crispy pork belly (not very crispy) stir fried with brocolli and lashings of sweet oyster sauce ($19)

Pad See Ew Stir fried flat rice noodle with beef ($22)

They were delicious, especially the stir fried flat rice noodles. Although pad thai is synonymous with Thailand, I prefer the flat rice noodles compared to the dried noodles used in pad thai. The flat rice noodles are fresh and taste better. 

We ended up staying at the restaurant until closing time, at 3pm. We chatted about her trip, cosmetic products and upcoming holidays. We truly live from one holiday to another holiday. I cannot wait for the next public holiday where we will spend a long weekend in Sydney.

Fish by Moonlite, Anglesea

Some people like it grilled, some people like it crispy. How do you like your fish and chips? If I am trying to be health conscious, grilled it is. But I cannot resist a good fried fish especially when the batter is light and crispy. 

 

The epitome of a light and crispy fish AND chips are the ones produced by Fish by Moonlite at Anglesea. They are so crispy, the fish is fresh and the cooks are not stingy with the portion. Even the chips are delicious and stay crispy. They are thin fries (sorry, fat fries lovers), and one can choose to season with chicken salt, rosemary salt or sea salt at the counter.

We got a fish pack ($18) which was battered flake with chips, and battered fish of the day (blue grenadier $16 on its own). The blue grenadier was a small one so they threw in another half. It was very fair and customer minded of the cook to do that.

The batter on the fish was like the lacy crispy ones on the roadside pisang goreng (banana fritter) found in Malaysia. It was light, ultra crispy, and did not have too much visible oil oozing from the batter.

The shop only offers a pretty basic menu. Fish, battered or grilled and chips or salad. Calamari rings and potato cakes on the side. It does not need a long winded menu when the main attraction blows everything else off the table.

We were at the Anglesea shopping centre at opening time, 12pm and there were already a queue waiting for the shop to open. Be mindful to take as little time ordering when approaching the counter - look up the menu online while queueing, make up your mind and articulate the order well, otherwise the cashier will be grumpy!

Song Huong, Springvale

Happy New Year 2024! The best is yet to come, says one of the standard NY greetings I have been sending to my friends. And indeed, on the 5th day of the new year, I found a restaurant that serves $8 meals!

A restaurant offering $10 meals is a rarity, so to see a restaurant offering $8 meals is a miracle! 

The restaurant is called Song Huong in Springvale. There are a number of dishes that are on the $8 menu like crispy chicken on rice, beef brisket on rice, and goat curry on rice. Missing from the menu is the beef pho that has become synonymous with Vietnamese cuisine. Though it is not on the special menu, one can still order it and bun bo hue for $13 (medium size).

 

We ordered the crispy chicken on rice and salt and pepper pork on rice. The chicken was a whole maryland and came with tomato rice and a bowl of soup. The pork were pieces of boneless pork fried to crispy perfection with a dashing of msg. Hey, nothing wrong with msg every now and then.. it is a naturally occurring  spice.

The soup that accompanied both dishes were a bit oily and sweet. I suspect it is the water that was used to poach the chicken for hainanese chicken rice. It has a chicken and msg flavour to it.

For $8, it is a good value and passable meal. The restaurant is clean and tidy, another tick on my books. The service is very efficient and no nonsense. There is free hot tea but with the savings from the meal, you will have money leftover to buy a three coloured drink or a cold dessert as well!