Chang Go, Little La Trobe T

I'm such a control freak. Anything that was out of my control freaks me out a little which is why I wasn't too happy about going to a BBQ place in the middle of a work week. I would have to cook my own food and go home to wash my hair again which is a bit of a fizzer after a dinner out.

 But I was pleasantly placated by the quality of the beef that made it to our grille. The same can't be said about the mound of pork belly slices, which was fatty and smelt of pork stink. And I didn't have to do much cooking because the staff sensed our helplessness and came to our rescue!

The set was about $90 and came with kimchi jigae, salad, grilled tteokbokki, side dishes, leaves for ssam, and rice.

The highlight was the beef and the kimchi jigae. The beef was very tender. The stew was hot and comforting in a cold winter's night. It was just what I needed. I still had to wash my hair that night but it was better on a happy stomach.

Seamstress, Lonsdale St

I met with someone I haven't met for a long time and we went to Seamstress for dinner. It was a very light dinner, only a few cubes of meat and beansprout salad ala fusion Asian style. 

Pork belly in plum sauce $32

Beef ribs $39. You would not know but there are 4 cubes of meat hidden under the beansprouts.

 The drinks were about $20 per serve but because they were driving, we did not end up ordering any. 

The waitpersons made us feel welcome and was friendly. The space was small and cramped, located in an old shop house previously used as a knitting mill hence the name of the restaurant, or as my friend said, was an old prostitute house, I'm not sure which to believe!

The service was very good, it was the highlight of the night. It was nice to dine in a place with cloth napkins, heavy cutlery and clean glasses which are attentively refilled. The prices reflect the privilege.

I had a wonderful time catching up on all the news with my companion. It turns out I'd missed quite a number of milestones much to my regret. Another covid casualty that need to be healed. 

Buddha Day, Federation Square

Melbourne is a very diverse and multicultural city. The city is always abuzz with one festival or another, each celebrating a different culture. There is a festival almost every weekend. I remember listing out the number of festival in the city one particular weekend to a tourist I'd met on a tram, and he had a brief chuckle to himself. 

Every May close to or about Wesak Day, Federation Square will be filled with stalls and activities for Buddha Day. This year, they had decorative balloons in the shape of lotus flowers, figurines of Buddha's parents and Buddha describing his life from birth to death. 

I missed the food stalls selling vegetarian food that they had in the past. There were some interesting stalls selling prayer beads, books and others but food speaks the loudest! 

Shangrila Inn, Brentford Square

 Brentford Square felt like a dero centre that day. We had just returned the hire car and wanted some lunch so dropped by Shangrila Inn. It was a new restaurant to us and we had some moderate to high expectations since there were some good reviews from a Facebook group. 

The restaurant is an older style suburban Chinese restaurant. The type that is a gem to those who live nearby but not one you would drive especially to. A bad service from either the wait person, cashier of the owner was a given sort of place. In many instances they would be the same person, hence the dour service. It is so easy to be overworked and burnt out in the restaurant business.

We ordered the sar hor fun and the weekend special, which was pork knuckle dry noodle.

The food arrived speedily, the waitperson was professional and congenial. None of the typical Asian hospitality here! He even offered us extra chillies. 

The portions looked small, but that's because the plates were small. The food literally were falling off the dishes. 

The sar hor fun was average, not much wok hei. There were fish fillet, chicken, squid and lots of veges which I liked. It's a dish that tries to fulfil the recommended food pyramid. I'm happy to report that there doesn't seem to be msg in the dishes, because it was quite bland, which is OK for me and I did not have to drink copious amount of water afterwards.

The weekend special of pork knuckle on noodles turned out of be a good decision on our part. There were lots of meat on the knuckle, not like some of the 'all bones no meat' places that valued presentation over food. 

Again, I like how much vegetables there are on the dish. At last, a restaurant that do not stinge on vegetables! Taste wise, it is the usual dry noodles sauce with soy sauce and is a familiar taste to me. 

While we were there, we had a chuckle over a lengthy phone order that was going on in the background with the owner of the restaurant. Some snippets to share, just like good food must be shared, 'you want then I cook for you, if you don't want then I don't cook loh.. you already ate salted fish yesterday, you want it again today?' I think it must have been a regular customer or perhaps a family member to deserve that level of familiarity.

While we were eating, we observed a person going around out the shop asking for money. While it was a weekend, most of the shops were closed and some were for lease. Hence why I thought it was a rough place around the area. Perhaps it is busier during the week days.