From the category archives:

casual dining

Beer deluxe presenting Shinobi Japanese Secret Beer Garden

by jeroxie March 19, 2010

For the month of March 2010 and in support of the official Melbourne Food and Wine Festival , Beer DeLuxe, at Federation Square, will showcase Japanese culture, beers and food as part of the Shinobi Japanese Secret Beer Garden. Just in case you are wondering, Shinobi means Ninja in Japanese. Also in support of L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival and promotion of young creative talent, this secret garden is especially designed by Tokyo-born and Melbourne-based graphic designer, Nami Kano and University of Melbourne Master’s of Architecture student, Olivia Fielding.

I was thrilled to receive an invite from Beer Deluxe to the garden and had a taste of some of the Japanese offerings that is served here for a short time only. I had been to Beer Deluxe a couple of times before after work when I used to work in the CBD. They have a big repertoire of beers from around the world and I believe about 8 – 10 different beers on tap. And I was totally surprised how the outdoor area facing Flinders Street has been transformed. It is such a pity that this set up will be taken down early April as it’s a great outdoor area for beer lovers.

18 comments Full article here

Golden Harvest Seafood Restaurant

by jeroxie January 31, 2010

Richmond and Prahran has Pacific House and South Melbourne has Linx to provide the community with delicious Chinese roasts. Living in the North West, we have Golden Harvest that caters to our needs. We do regular visits to Footscray on the weekends to pick up Chinese/ Asian groceries. And sometimes, we will take away a box of roast duck, crispy pork belly and/or BBQ pork.

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Chun Po

by jeroxie December 15, 2009

Being away from family means that we miss the big family gatherings and dinners. With only 2 of us here and our families are far away from us, we are always up for a big Chinese dinner together. I cannot remember how the twitter conversation started but I believed someone mentioned pork hock and Chun Po came up and somewhat made a decision to catch up for dinner. Bizzare but I do love these adhoc but spontaneous decisions.

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Yim Yam

by jeroxie November 30, 2009

Yim Yam was discovered by Mister about a month ago. He was quite excited to try it as Matt Preston has named the crispy rice salad as one of the 5 dishes that a person should try in Melbourne. That is a big call and I was equally curious to try it out as well.

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Pacific Seafood BBQ House

by jeroxie November 22, 2009

We arrived back in Melbourne early Sunday morning. We headed home to have a look at the state of our renovations. This was a picture of what it looked like on Sunday. But since then, the walls are up and the fittings will be going in soon. We are really excited about this whole transformation. We have still been living like students ever since we finished school and it is time to move on and be all grown up now.
Pacific Seafood BBQ House is one of those Chinese restaurants that we go back from time to time. It is our usual haunt for crispy pork, BBQ pork and roast duck. The other place that does it really well is Linx (South Melbourne market). It has been awhile since we have eaten other dishes here so we decided to dine in.

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Street Smart – Helping the homeless

by jeroxie November 9, 2009

Street Smart Australia has been around since 2003. It is an organisation that helps the homeless and all donations received are distribution in form of grants. Please take some time to read more about their work and contribution by visiting the StreetSmart website. To all tweeters out there! Lend a helping hand to Street Smart [...]

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Oldtown Kopitiam

by jeroxie October 18, 2009

The name, OldTown Kopitiam, derived from a small coffeeshop in Ipoh (Malaysia) called Old town. This is where white coffee originates as well. White coffee is roasted mixing modern technigues and old skool Malaysian practices. It ends up with a lighter colour and hence the name.The aromatic coffee beans are well known and theymade it on the shelves of supermarkets in Malaysia. They later opened a modern kopitiam (coffee shop) and the rest is history.

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Horoki

by jeroxie October 6, 2009

I am a big fan of Horoki. To me and many of my friends, Horiki never seem to fail us. Despite its name and a Japanese owner, this isn’t exactly the usual Japanese joint. Ingredients like olive oil, parmigiano reggiano, light soya sauce & cappers are used in some its dishes. This restaurant is a like a melting pot of cultural tastes. So very Melbourne. So very Australian.

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Yemeni – The new kid on the block

by jeroxie September 27, 2009

We knew of this place before the raving review from Matt Preston. It is almost a stone throw away from us. I was curious but I had doubts. So what stopped me?

Most of us are quick to judge on first impressions. It is a habit that is hard to break. We will walk past Yemeni (124 Union Road, Ascot Vale) on countless occasions when we walk the dog. I never fail to look in. Hmm… front bit looks empty. A computer is plonked on the left hand side of the dining area. Very simple furnishings. I would wondered if there were any punters in the back. And I will walk away. So what finally made me decide to try Yemeni?

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A Korean delight – Hallah

by jeroxie September 6, 2009

Another great night out with the girls and Mister. We started out at Miss Libertine where Ms K’s man was DJ-ing that evening. And it was the first time I caught up with Ms C since she came back from Singapore 5 weeks ago. After a couple of bottles of wine, we were hungry and decided to take short walk to North Melbourne to check out this Korean restaurant – Hallah

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A timeless French experience – France-Soir

by jeroxie August 22, 2009

Walking into France-Soir was like going back in time. Old fashion dark wood & brass bar & service counter. French waiters in black & white outfits weaving gracefully through the small & narrow dining area.

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A Thai experience – Chat Thai

by jeroxie August 10, 2009

It may be my ignorance but what is it about Sydney and long queues for dinner? Many dining places do not accept bookings and have hugh queues that could take almost an hour to get in. We got to Chat Thai and there was a huge queue infront of the restaurant.

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Melbourne Hwaro Korean BBQ

by jeroxie August 6, 2009

It was only Tuesday night and this place is packed. More than half the crowd here are made up of Koreans. I love the dining experience at Hwaro (562 Little Bourke St, Melbourne). The place is filled with lots of chatter and lovely aromas from the grilled meats! It was the perfect choice to catch up with old friends that has came back for a visit. Eating grilled morsels of meat, drinking soju and having long chats.

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