a post and two reviews

okiees. i have had a lack of updates on reviews! been so busy and did so much eating over easter break. its already over! boo-hoo~ e life of a student it is.. look at jaayne's hardwork though..loooookkkk! e site is soo nice n yummiliciously strawberry-pink. =)

so yes, there are going to be two reviews here.. both short and sweet i hope. coz theres just somuchthingstodo and yes. not enough time! grrz. im gona take jayne n hide her with me to start studying soon. okays. enough rant and back to foodies.


Yumcha at Gold Leaf Restaurant
e housemates at no11 had this quite a while ago, so its pretty backdated. but oh wells, here goes:

Location: Springvale Shopping Centre. i nv knew a chinese yumcha restaurant existed in springvale so yeaaah. this was my first time there. e session we went to was e later one at ard 1.15pm. had to make a booking for it, coz lk all other yumcha sessions, its always packed.

the inside of Gold Leaf looked lk a normal chinese yumcha place..although its elevation on e 2nd floor did somehow make me feel lk we were near e ocean.. (i thk it was coz there were grey dark clouds outside tt made me feel e ocean was right below us like in a kelong) so yes. anyways, it was usually-packed with pple.. and we were sitting somewhere near e centre of the restaurant but more towards e entrance of e place..

Menu: Yumcha usuals - siew mai (assorted with scallop, mushroom and crabmeat), har gao, century egg porridge, char siew soh, fried paper tofu, soft shell crab, egg tart, mango pudding, some coconut lined dessert with sweet stuffing inside, tau huay, assorted fruit salad. there were more food that we ordered i believe coz we were so stuffed after we walked out..but i jus cant rem wad else we ordered right now. things we definitely did not get however were: char siew baos, red bean baos, what ever form of baos; and real prawns in har gaos.

yes. so actually wad we had there was pretty disappointing for yumcha. i didnt have my all-time favourite baos and har gaos! e har gaos there were like minced prawn. not a whole, full prawn at all! so disappointing. phleh.

Rating: On the whole, 6.5/10. the desserts helped improve e rating a little coz at least they were proper desserts that were good.

recommendation if you were to go Gold Leaf: apparently e egg tarts there were good..although i didnt try them myself for personal reasons..=p and the tau huay there isnt all that bad too.

that's e girls after yumcha. yes e table looks empty but that doesnt mean e food was reallie good. we were just hungry. =p



Dinner at Niko Niko
Niko Niko!


for those who know my email address, this place will actually strike some similarity due to its name. i was intrigued by the place when jayne first mentioned it to me.. furthermore its called niko niko! sth dear to my heart already! =)

Location: eerm. not sure exactly, but near Chadstone and beside Holmesglen TAFE.

so yes. i found out that it was a HK style eatery near Holmesglen TAFE which sold cheap good food to students. it had a very nice ambience with nice soft lighting, wooden furniture against warm amber-shaded walls.. nice chinese paintings hung on e sides and e music was nice reminiscent songs u used to hear when you were in ur teens.. so yes. already a good impression!

Menu: this is the best part yet. it has food that i crave for when im not in Sg and its cheap! one of e cheapest ive seen around, and definitely not a place that stinges on its quality!

The menu we ordered for that night was Yin Yang tea, Spicy Pork with noodles, Wanton noodles and my favourite - Wanton noodles (lk those they sell back home with char siew!). okays, so in all my current excitement, i would actually only review the wanton noodles that i had..coz well, basically i only had this that night!

Yin Yang Tea, cold. i only tried a sip of this, and its not really to my liking but i shallnt rate it. basically coz i thk i duno how to appreciate tea and coffee together.


Jayne's dinner. looks yummy doesnt it? really good picture btw.


the review for today. Wanton Noodles, Singapore style. Only thing missing was the extra tomato sauce mixed with e black sauce for the noodles, and green cut chilli.


First thing you'll notice is that here in Melbourne, when you order Wanton noodles, they DO NOT serve it with char siew. back home they do, but of coz, the sizing of e meal is totally different. this is like. huge. so yes, i had to add wanton with the char siew noodles. niko niko charged different prices for the noodles when they were with soup or dry. char siew, ie bbq pork, with dry noodles was $7 i believe, while e addition of wanton was about..$3? so in total it was $10 for that big plate of wanton noodles. it may seem expensive, but when you look at it, that one plate does look like three servings back home..

Next thing that I observed in glee when my wanton mee arrived was that e soup was really good. e soup on e side was not super laden with MSG but it had a nice sesame oil feel with it. i dumped my wanton in it to make sure they didnt dry out and e effect reminded me all e more of home. =) e noodles. ohmygod. best noodles ive had in melbourne thus far. very good meekia for those who know wad im talking abt. its not soggy or soft, but very Q and chewable to the right texture. good taste too, not powdery or hard and it had a nice aroma to it too. e char siew. again. perfect with e noodles. abit fatty around e edges but enough to make it really nice n fragrant. wasnt of e fake, artificial red colouring and it was well done right down to e centre of the sliced pork. e wanton. WHOLE prawns inside! really good for wantons. huge as well. quite a mouthful when you put them in ur mouth but its all bitesized that it oozes out enough juice from its inside when you chew into it. and finally, e greens on e side. nicely blanched in hot water, topped off with soya sauce.

Rating: 8.5/10 Best Wanton Noodles I've had yet! and e closest style to home! =)

A definite must-go when my cravings for Sg food act up again. =)