Gold Leaf BBQ Docklands

I love smorgasbords. I have the urge to go to All You Can Eat's regularly. I try to suppress them, but every now and then I give in (more importantly, I persuade my friends and Gaz to go with me) and without fail, I roll out of the restaurant with regret. Regret because yet again I have submitted to the sin of gluttony... and I did not make full use of the event to gorge myself even more!!

Today my friend and I went to Gold Leaf BBQ Docklands for an all you can eat steamboat feast. For $23.80 per person (lunch, no matter weekdays or weekends), we each get a mini abalone, two oysters and countless steamboat type dishes such as sliced beef, sliced lamb, home made prawn balls, fish balls, fish fillets, veges, noodles, etc.

We ordered more scallops and prawns than for our own good (could feel my cholestorol level creeping up) so we balanced it up with some healthy options like fish fillets, fish noodles, fish balls and veges.

My friend ordered the spicy supreme stock which came with dried chillies and pepper flotsam while I had the much milder pork bone stock. We both had our own individual single pots of soup.

Service was superb as the waitpersons carefully explained to us how to order, and our teapot was always filled without us asking.

Towards the end of our meal, the soup became very salty because of the food we'd put into the stock. I also became very thirsty, however it's to be expected as processed food such as the dumplings and fish balls etc would have a little 621 to them.

As we rolled out the door, I swore to my friend I would not enter another smorgasbord ever again to subject myself to such torturous eating. She just smiled (or was that a smirk?) knowingly...

Seabuzz, Caulfield

This restaurant is not close by the sea but there certainly is a buzz to it! Gaz and I visited this Caulfield restaurant with a 9 course dinner voucher. Parking on a shared car & tram road such as Glenhuntly Road is always a nightmare but luckily we got a spot right opposite the restaurant.

From the outside, you wouldn't give it a second look but once you entered the restaurant it felt like you're in a whimsical world of fantasy. The wall and ceiling of the first part of the restaurant is carpeted with artificial grass and vines. We were shown to the second part of the restaurant where a red glass chandelier hangs in a rustic looking brick room. There were many plaques on the brick walls with witty captions which entertained Gaz no end.

Our 9 course meal started with these prawn spring rolls and crumbed avocado with chilli jam. I liked the chilli jam, it was not spicy at all and I felt like eating mint jelly. It did not suit either the avocado or the spring rolls which were good on their own (probably needed some sauce to offset the dryness of the two course).

 The third and fourth dish were five spiced chicken wings and tandoori chicken (with a dollop of mayo). The chicken wings were ordinary... while the chicken patty was... At first I could not make out what it was and had to look at the menu. It reminded me of Thai fish cakes, but fish cakes would taste better. Not my favourite two dishes of the night.

The fifth dish was half a soft shell crab each, served with apple coleslaw underneath the crab. One plus is that the crab was meaty and did not have the frozen smell or taste like some does. The apple slaw was a little too acidic for my liking but some acid at that point was sorely needed to remove the oil of the five fried dishes we've had so far!

 Now comes my favourite 3 dishes of the night... a bowl of butter rice served with almond crisp (a few flakes of fried almonds), salad leaves with sesame dressing (both not pictured) and slow braised beef atop mash. The beef was tender, and nicely seasoned with salt, and the mash was creamy and heavenly. We hardly talked to each other while eating these three courses which came at the same time, it was so good.

 The last dish was dessert - a trio of panacotta. The first one is topped with sesame and salt, the second pistachio and the third berry compote. They all tasted equally good, with me biased towards the berry compote.

The voucher also entitled us to a glass of wine or soft drink. Sure, the first five dishes were a selection of fried foods (not complaining, hey it's fried food!) but we reasoned that for a restaurant to be participating in a daily deals scheme for a reasonable price ($59 for two) they must find a way to make some profit while offering reasonable, easy to cook/assemble food to patrons. The service was excellent, the waiter topped up our water glasses even without being asked. The beef really was the star of the night and if the rest of their menu are as good as that then there is a good chance we will be back.

Update: This restaurant is permanently closed.

Noir, Richmond

Recently I have acquired a taste for French food. So, Gaz chose Noir in Swan St, Richmond for us to visit one night.

The interior is dark, as is befitting the name of the restaurant. The waiter who ushered us to our seat was very professional. He pointed out the degustation menu - 5 courses for $85 per person, wine pairing for an extra $60.

We decided to order a la carte off the menu. These were what we ordered:

Crispy pork belly with prawns, peas and mash. The pork belly meat was tender but the skin was not crispy and sticks to the teeth. One of the prawns (pictured) was a little dirty - it still had the digestive tract in the prawn. The mash was beautiful though... must have been made with lots of butttterrr!

Prawn in lobster bisque. The prawn was delicious... bouncy, juicy and retains a strong prawn taste. The bisque was poured separately into the bowl at the table. The bisque was absolutely DELICIOUS!!! Had a very nice lobster taste and nicely seasoned. We were given an extra piece of bread roll to sop up the bisque if we wanted to but I find that licking the plate does the job nicely :) .... no, I did not really do that!

We also ordered a side dish of lettuce, peas and bacon ($9). It was a little greasy but the vegetables were fresh and provided a good crunch to our dish.

This is the main I ordered - Moreton Bay Bug tortellini, confit of salmon belly and seared salmon atop pea puree. The tortellini on the left was absolutely delicious. I kept nodding to Gaz like a waving cat statue, murmuring 'delicious, this is so delicious, very good, delicious'. It had tons of flavour, was juicy and nicely seasoned. The confit of salmon belly was equally as good. It was not the oily belly of salmon that I thought it would be. The texture was a little like smoked salmon but it retained all the freshness of salmon. It is topped with a crust of crushed macadamia nuts. Oil of the nuts and the belly... smart. The seared fillet of salmon atop asparagus was ordinary. I much preferred the other two. Even the pea puree smeared on the dish like an afterthought was better. The puree had the unadulterated taste of peas... very delicious.

 

This is Gaz's main - eye fillet done medium rare with braised beef rib and a potato tartin topped with fried eschallots. Gaz totally loved the beef rib. It was sticky, sweet and melts in the mouth. No deconstruction needed, the bone has already been removed. We find that eating here is so easy, no bones, no skin, nothing that need fancy utensil maneuvering. I liked the steak better... look how well cooked it is, medium rare but no blood seeping out of the meat.

We also ordered a chocolate pot for dessert but no pictures of that as Gaz hijacked it before we thought to take a picture. It was a little pot of chocolate mousse, salted caramel and a 'surprise' ingredient of pop rocks. Very Blumenthal, I like!

I totally enjoyed our visit here. Although the food was in little portions, we had quite a lot to eat (in addition to 2 1/2 pieces of warm bread roll with the awesomest butter) and were full after the meal. I really enjoyed the quality of food, and the service. I have to thank Gaz for his good taste and skill in picking this restaurant for us to try!

Update: This restaurant is permanently closed as at 28/3/24

Tofu Dinner

On my visit to Enlightened Cuisine, I noticed that the restaurant also sells frozen mock meats such as fish, duck and beef. Since the quality of the mock meats I had tasted in their dishes that night was good, I wanted to buy some. Some mock meats are too sweet, or the texture not right. The ones at Enlightened Cuisine were just nice. Gaz spotted a 'cod fish' fillet which he thought we should buy. Since the real cod fish is $42 a kilo nowadays, and the 500g 'cod' was about $10, I decided to buy a pack to try it out.

This is how it looks like, on the night I steamed them with some ginger. It would be better if I had a thickened sauce base to pour over it after steaming, but it tasted just as good without. Texture wise, it does not have the slippery buttery texture of a cod. Perhaps it should be more aptly named 'Mackerel fish' but taste wise, it was just as I expected of mock fish.

In keeping up with the soy theme of the dinner, I made chicken nuggets. Yes, but where's the soy, you ask? I mixed firm tofu with minced chicken breast to form these nuggets! Ingenious... as the tofu blended really well with the coarser chicken breast and made it juicy and soft. Just 1:2 tofu:chicken breast, mixed with some flour, salt & pepper then crumbed with panko and shallow fried to golden perfection!!! Gaz gave these his thumbs up!

Enlightened Cuisine, Southbank

It is not easy to find a good Chinese vegetarian restaurant in Melbourne. Nowadays, it is easy to find a few dishes on the menu in any Chinese restaurant that caters to the vegetarian taste, but I have been trying to find a restaurant that serves only Chinese/Cantonese vegetarian fare. This includes mock meats, tasty meat substitutes made from mushrooms, gluten and soy.

There are a couple of restaurants nearby our place that I have tried, only to find the food too greasy (somehow vegetarian restaurants always seem to try to compensate for meat with oil!) or not reasonably priced.

So when we happened to be around the Crown Casino area, I did not think twice about dining in Enlightened Cuisine. I have had my eye on this place for quite some time. In fact, the restaurant has been opened for a long time, but since the timing has not been right we have not been able to visit this restaurant at least one year since I knew about it's existence.

 The interior of the restaurant is bright, clean and neat. Big plus sign!! We ordered two dishes:

Duck with Mushrooms - Pieces of mock duck in a claypot with three types of mushrooms (enoki, straw and shitake). It was really delicious. There was a good balance of 'meat' and mushrooms. The mushies were fresh and really tasty. I really liked this dish.

Stir fried fish - We expected a whole 'fish' fillet but these 'fish' tofu were quite good. The tofu was not laden with msg, and it retained some tofu flavour which was fresh on the palate. Again, we really enjoyed the balance between the mock meat and the vegetables.

The prices were very reasonable, however we were informed (on the menu) that there is a 5% surcharge during dinner time. In a way, this is a 'tip' for the efficient waiters and waitresses who served us during the night.

I really like this place and would return in a heartbeat. However, as the Driver does not want to travel too far away for dinner, I am at his mercy!!!