Skybar, Glen Waverley

Skybar is a rooftop bar and restaurant in Glen Waverley. This place is on level 8 of the building which gives it an expansive view over the Glen Waverley and surrounding area. Being a rooftop bar, I was afraid that it would be cold and windy because it was a particularly windy night when we visited this restaurant, but the outdoor dining area was well covered with clear plastic tarp which made it windproof. 

We went as part of a Groupon offer which offered good value otherwise it can be a little pricy. I guess part of the price goes towards paying for the view too. 

For entree, there was a mix of 4 items - chicken karaage, deep fried calamari, arancini balls and watermelon salad. The watermelon salad was refreshing after all the deep fried items on the plate. It was a good balance. 

This is the main I chose - pan fried salmon with beurre blanc sauce and sweet potatoes. The fish was well cooked, but the beurre blanc and fatty salmon was quite rich but a squeeze of lemon soon set it right.

Gaz chose the steak and potato chips. That's typical isn't it, fish for the ladies and meat for the gents.. we get half of each other's plates though so I didn't need to miss out on the steak.

Lastly, green tea panacotta which was so yummy that we practically scraped the bottom of the glass over and over again to make sure we didn't leave anything behind. Delicious!

We found the food to be on the oily side, and I think there is some refinement to be made overall. Service wise, the waitpersons were courteous, almost with an air of fine dining in the way the dishes were presented and explained which was welcomed. This is a nice place for a special occasion that demands a view or for the international visitor.

Uchiwa, Vermont

Uchiwa is a new neighbourhood restaurant serving Japanese food. Don't expect authentic Japanese food here, but the flavours are good. I saw some reviews on the net questioning why jasmine rice is used when short grain rice is usually used in Japanese cuisine. I didn't mind it at all, because the price is very reasonable for the flavours and portions served.

We ordered the fried oysters ($7). There are 3 pieces and they are fried perfectly. I love deep fried anything but deep fried oysters are especially delicious because of the crispy outside and buttery soft insides.

Teriyaki beef bento ($13) which comes with salad and three pieces of sushi. There were lots of beef slices, and they were good quality slices, not the ones with more fat than meat. Or gristly meat. There was even some 'wok hei' or in this case should I say 'breath of the teppan' instead of 'breath of the wok' in this dish. And this is why I have no complains over what type of rice is used.

I ordered the katsu don ($11) which came with egg and onions and a chicken (or pork) cutlet on top of rice. The deep fried chicken cutlet was moist (I've had the pork cutlet as well, it can be a bit dry) and well fried. The dish was seasoned well, again no complains over what type of rice it was as I would be happy to eat the whole bowl, Jasmine or short grain rice!

This is a small place located in the Vermont South shopping complex. Many of their orders are from takeaway or Uber Eats but there is a comfy enough seated dining area for their eat in diners. The waitpersons are polite and they even offer free tea at dinnertime.

ONDA, Richmond

ONDA is one of the best restaurants I have been to recently. We stumbled upon this place and was glad that we found such an amazing place. ONDA serves Latin American food. The flavours are vibrant, new to me, and bold. 

We ordered the black prawn dogs with salsa picante ($14) as a snack. I think this is a similar concept to the American corn dogs, only with prawns and charcoal. The prawns were crispy and goes well with the green chilli salsa which is not as spicy as it sounds. 

For entree, we ordered the house cured ocean trout ceviche with blood orange, toasted hemp seeds, puffed rice and amarillo mole ($16.50). It was served on house made crisps. Isn't the colour and presentation just so beautiful? Amarillo means amber and I take it to be orange chilli mixed with mayo. The combination of the trout, refreshing blood orange and amarillo mole was so delicious. It was not easy to get everything on a chip but it was well worth the fiddly factor when it does.

 
For mains we ordered the swordfish with carrot polenta, roasted heirloom carrots, tomatillo salad and puffed buckwheat ($29). I love how the chef has thought about the texture and always incorporates something crispy into each dish. I loved the puffed buckwheat crispiness in this dish. The swordfish was cooked really well, juicy even though swordfish is a meaty and can be dry if overcooked.

Gaz ordered the grilled wagyu striploin with monfongo, chimichurri, beef fat croutons, beetroot puree, pickled beetroots and beef jugo ($29). Wow, so many things happening on this plate! Monfongo is deep fried plaintain mashed together with other ingredients e.g. pork or seafood. You can see it underneath the wagyu, a thick big slab. It tasted a bit like yam, and was very filling. The beef fat croutons was very nice, again a crunchy element on the plate. And now I know why it tasted delicious, because of the beef fat!

And now, for dessert ONDA presents to you black sesame and chocolate cigars filled with dulce de leche and banana mousse, puffed buckwheat and aromats ($15). The cigars are presented in a sealed cigar box, layered with smoked coffee beans so that when the diner opens the box, the smell of the coffee beans creates an unforgettable experience. The cigars themselves were crispy, decadent and delicious. I don't normally like bananas but I didn't mind it with the chocolate and dulce de leche.

We loved our dining experience and the new exciting flavours at ONDA. I think the snacks and small plates are a good way to sample what the restaurant has to offer. The mains may cost more but they are filling and are of good quality, and definitely don't skip the cigars for dessert. I just hope I haven't spoiled the surprise for you!

Thoughts on How to be Environmentally Friendly - Use Soap

With a glut of plastics in our landfills on land and in the oceans, it has become more urgent to tackle reduction of single use plastics and unnecessary plastic packaging. In our household, I have tried to make some small changes and re-think our habits to reduce use of plastics. 

For example, we try to avoid the use of cling wrap by storing food in reusable glass containers in the fridge, or covering bowls of food being microwaved with glass plates. We also bring our own bags to the supermarket including those for bagging loose fruits and vegetables.

A new idea came to me the other day - maybe we should use soap instead of body wash and hand wash. Soap lasts longer, and comes in less packaging usually in paper (albeit waxed paper) than body and hand wash. Body and hand wash comes in plastic containers, its refills comes in plastic containers as well. 

So I have bought some bars of soap to be used in the shower and in the sink. So far, it has worked just as well. In fact, we used to use soap as kids before liquid soap with fancy smells and colours took over. Not to mention the disaster that was micro plastics parading as 'moisture beads', now they are all over the ocean, in fishes and probably in our stomachs as well. 

There are still lots to do to reduce my use of plastics, but every little bit counts!

Studfield Dumpling House, Wantirna

Studfield Dumpling House is a place where you want to like it, but you would struggle to do so. This newly opened restaurant looks neat and clean, the menu contains a variety of dumpling, rice and noodle dishes at very reasonable prices. This is what we ordered when we visited:

Deep fried chicken ribs on rice. I think it's difficult to go wrong with deep fried foods. This tasted similar to what you would find in a generic Cantonese restaurant. Lots of rice, and even some blanched bok choy on the side for a balanced diet.

Fried chicken and prawn dumplings. Unlike some other stores where their dumpling fillings consists of a mystery mash with no discernible prawn meat, I can see actual prawn meat chunks in the filling, a very good sign. They weren't oily like the rest, but taste wise, was a little underseasoned. 

Stir fried rice noodles with beef slices and egg gravy. Liked the egg gravy, liked the rice noodles but the beef was a little tough but edible. I like how this is a generous serve.

The restaurant looked clean, generous serves, food was OK.. so what was the let down? The service. I don't expect to be waited hand and foot, this is a Chinese restaurant after all. But I do expect intuitive service. For example, you don't bring a dish with gravy and only a pair of chopsticks to eat it. What will the customer scoop the gravy and pieces of slippery rich noodles with?

Although there were only two other tables besides us in the restaurant, we had to ask for water and cups after being seated for some time. I don't think it occurred to the waitstaff to bring us any. And no, this is not a restaurant where customer can self-service.

Another dish was delivered to our table without any eating utensils until we asked for it. All the while, the staff was chatting to their friends/relatives on one table, or milling about.

All in all, it was a very frustrating experience because we wanted to enjoy the food hot when it arrived on the table but couldn't do so. It's really too bad, because the strip would benefit from a dumplings place.