What do you do at 3.30pm, on a relatively warm and windy day?
When you only have half an hour to walk around?
With no one to go around with?

. . . . *thinks thinks thinks* . . . .

You go out and try snacks and drinks from other countries of course! So off I went into one of the many Asian Groceries in the city and got myself this:


I must admit I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I was worried I might have to toss it out after a sip or two...

Verdict: The "Sweet Taro" in the drink was exactly the same as Yam-flavoured Bubble Tea; or more precisely - the same as Malaysian/Singaporean yam-flavoured ice-cream. The milk tea also tasted similar to Lipton's Boxed Milk Tea (which I will put up a pic of once I find it!), making the drink sweet and thirst quenching! Mmm.. Priced at $1.40 a box, I have a feeling I'm going to get addicted to this drink very soon..
Repeat Factor: 9/10 - Can't wait to try it again!



The first thing to note is that this snack is oily. Beware. You have been warned.

Verdict: Aside from that, the snack itself is pretty good in my opinion. It starts off salty but when you start crunching, you end up biting the honey drizzles, leaving a sweet after-taste. The only downside to this snack would be that it's so oily you might feel a bit queasy after a few pieces. Make sure you have access to water/tea/drinkable liquid when you eat this one!
Repeat Factor: 6/10 - An occasional indulgence that is not so great on the cholesterol levels.

Note: Comments on this new 'Snacks + Drinks' section would be very much appreciated!

Labels: Snacks + Drinks

Ten Ren's Tea Time
146 Swanston Street, Melbourne
Tel: 9653 3268

After reading Iron Eater's post on TenRen, I decided to head there for lunch with Andy.I was tempted to just go for their snacks, but my greediness hunger got the better of me, and I ended up with one of their lunch sets.

The ambiance of the place was pretty casual as the layout was pretty simple. The front of the shop was dedicated to tea-goods and the restaurant was a few steps behind. I was seated facing the kitchen, and noticed the chef repeatedly coming out from the kitchen to scoop rice from the rice cooker located outside the kitchen. I found it amusing that after he scooped the rice into the bowl, he had to go back into the kitchen to ring the bell indicating that the food was ready to be served.

This is what my lunch set looks like -

The extra side dishes were a pleasant surprise, and the egg and mixed vege combination wasn't all too bad.

The chinese cabbage tasted as how stir-fried chinese cabbages would normally taste. The tofu/preserved vege combination was a strange one though. The tofu didn't quite taste like tofu and when I asked Andy what did he think the dish actually was, he told me that maybe I should just to stop eating it. haha. That was probably the only odd dish in the whole set.

The pork in itself was quite hard to chew, and quite salty. To their credit, they did try to ease up the biting challenge by cutting up the pork into chewable sizes. Taste-wise I have a feeling it may have been marinated with fermented beancurd, which probably explains the saltiness.

I almost forgot about the jelly till they placed it on the table.It was tea jelly with honey drizzled on top. It reminded me of the Pasar Malam "Taiwanese Healthy Jelly" (I think it's called "Ai Yu Ping" Jelly) they sell back home. The jelly on its own was pretty tasteless, so the honey complemented it well. I have been having jelly cravings; so I was very satisfied with the dessert.
: Ratings :

• Service: 7/10 - The drinks came pretty much 3-5 minutes after we ordered, and the food didn't take too long to come either. The best part was probably when the waiter smiled and said "Thank you, have a nice day!" when we paid. Either he was really nice, or he perhaps, fancied Andy... haha XD


• Food: 6/10 - I didn't quite like the pork, but I really enjoyed the jelly so I'm a bit torn on grading this category. The food's not superb or anything, but it is decent, so it shall get a decent grading of 6.


• Layout: 6/10 - As mentioned, the place is pretty casual, and there's nothing too fancy about it aside from the numerous tea products you get to browse at the front of the store.


• Overall: 6.5/10 - I'm sure Ten Ren has more potential that I'm grading it for, and with the relatively low prices, it makes a pretty decent eating destination.
  

p.s: A BIG Thank You to Andy for paying for lunch!

Labels: Chinese, City

T.G.I.F
1239 Nepean Hwy,
Westfield Shoppingtown,
Southland
Tel: 9584 9597

Eating in TGI's always brings me down a trip to memory lane. I've always felt that the TGI concept here is slightly different from the one back home, although their level of service, (sadly) is the same.

For appetisers, it was a toss up between half a dozen of Loaded Potato Skins or Chicken Nachos. After repeatedly asking one another "Why don't you choose the appetisers?", we settled for playing Scissors, Paper, Stone whereby the winner has to choose. We ended up with this -

TGIF's Three-For-All

So I did end up having some Loaded Potato Skins, which I thought were pretty average. TJ was disappointed to find that the bacon bits have been tossed unevenly to one side, although you can't really tell from the photo.

The Pork Riblets were not bad, and the amount of sweet glaze was just nice. I thought it was a bit odd how they served it with BBQ Sauce though. I would've very much preferred a serving of their glaze so I can add more flavour to the ribs :B

I've always enjoyed TGI's Bleu Cheese dips. Friends have always complained that it smells really bad, but when you dip the Buffalo Wings and celery in it, it's simply sensational! Yum! My only complaint here is that the dip was lumpy this time round. It's not meant to be like that :(

Before we could finish the appetisers, our mains came. I decided to be a bit more adventurous this time round and tried the Buffalo Chicken Salad. The dish was essentially grilled buffalo-glazed chicken breast served over crisp romaine, topped with Colby cheese, pico de gallo, and a Jalapeño Bleu Cheese dressing.

Buffalo Chicken Salad

I must admit that the salad was rather.. interesting. The salad was drenched in dressing, which made it a challenge after a few bites. On a random note, I only managed to spot 1 jalapeño in the whole salad. Ok, I know it said Jalapeño dressing, but you would've thought there'd be more jalapeños than that! The grilled chicken was on the dry side, which helped since everything else was soaked.

World Famous TGIF's Peppercorn Burger

TJ ordered a Peppercorn Burger, which is supposedly 'World Famous'. The chips were not bad, but the burger was slightly distorted. The meat patty is much smaller than the onion/bacon/lettuce toppings which made the burger resemble an hourglass. The burger was disappointing, as it was quite dry.

When we were finished with our meal, the waiters promptly came over to take away our plates and offered us dessert. We were sorely tempted, but too full to stuff anything else into our mouth and politely declined.

We sat around for a while before deciding to pay the bill, and this is the one thing that I can never quite understand about TGI's. Almost everytime when we wanted to pay up, no one seemed to come by to give us the bill. We literally stood next to the POS machine just waiting for someone to come and punch in the bill, but waitresses who saw us just casually decided to dismiss us and serve existing customers. The number of times we could've gotten a free meal by walking out.. too bad I have a conscience :(

TGI's Booth Area

: Ratings :

• Service: 6/10 - It was ok, but I wish they'd pay a bit more attention to us at the end.
• Food: 6/10 - The appetiser was not bad, but the mains were a bit of a tough call. TJ had the Peppercorn Burger elsewhere which was actually pretty good, but they didn't do it so well in this outlet. There's also a healthier version of my salad which opts out one of the dressings, so it might be worth trying! (unless of course you like really drenched salads)
• Layout: 6.5/10 - The decor in general has always had the same TGI's touch which gives off a fun and unique touch. My only gripe here would be that the booth tables are too small! We had to eat so carefully with the appetiser and 2 mains on the table to make sure nothing falls off..
• Overall: 6.5/10 - IMO, TGI's could have performed much better, but the inconsistency of the service and food may be a bit of a turn off!
  

The Waiters Restaurant
20 Meyers Place, Melbourne

A colleague invited a few of us to join her for lunch on her birthday. She took us through some back streets where she then led us to a dodgy looking doorway and up with a small flight of stairs. We entered an old school looking dining room where it's as if time had stood still. Apparently there has been renovations but the decor was still 1960's with faded photo prints and old school curtains hanging off the windows.

After being seated at brown laminex tables, we ordered off traditional Italian menus written on blackboards on the walls. The waitress asked if we would like garlic bread or bruschetta to start with and we chose to have a mix of both. The garlic bread was nice and crispy however, the bruschetta had too much olive oil. I ended up having a trickle of oil running down my arm after I had eaten mine.












We all settled for pastas. On our table were lasagnes, and spaghetti bolognaise, marinara and carbonara. The servings were generous and my tomato based spaghetti marinara had lots of fat prawns, scallops and mussels.

We didn't have time for desserts but I've heard their tiramisu is one of their top desserts. They also do pancakes, chocolate mousse, creme caramel and cheese and greens (we couldn't work out what the last one was).

: Ratings :

• Service: 8/10 - Fast and friendly service especially during lunch rush hour makes this place a winner.

• Food: 7/10 - Pasta was al dente, not overly oily and had a perfect amount of sauce. For around an average of $15 for a pasta you get a simple yet generous serving. The bruschetta was nothing special. I would opt for garlic bread next time.

• Layout: 6/10 - The dining area is not very large but the owners have made good use of space. The positioning of the tables and chairs seemed a bit cramped, but it can fit up to 60 people cosily.
  

• Overall: 7/10 - I would definitely go back again for some generous home-cooked style pasta. The simpleness of the restaurant does not detract it from the prompt service and good food.

Teppansan Japanese Cafe
179 Russell St, Melbourne
Tel: 96631938

With low funds and a big sign advertising lunch specials for only $5.80, the first thing that came into mind was "Yay! Cheap food!"


There are a number of options under the $5.80 range, and if you pay a bit more, you get a bento range for $10-12. All meals come with a free bowl of miso, but if you order the bento meals you'll be able to select either Harumaki (spring rolls) or Takoyaki (octopus balls) as an entree, and you get to order a wider selection of mains, which includes a variety of Okonomiyaki. You can also order an Ice Lemon Tea or Soyabean Milk for an additional $1.50 with these set lunches.

The first time I was there I ordered Chicken Teriyaki with rice. It was quite a big bowl and surprisingly had quite a lot of meat. In fact I was struggling to finish it!


I had Fish Teriyaki with vegetables and rice on the second visit. This time round the meat serving was much smaller, and the amount of rice they gave also shrunk. I finished lunch and was still hungry!


Taste-wise, the chicken teriyaki was very home-made and was not at all authentic. They did have a fair bit of sauce on the rice, although that was a little bit starchy. As for the fish, they actually pan-fried it till the outer layers were crispy (which was nice!) and drizzled the teriyaki sauce on top. The veges were stir-fried, and was there solely (in my opinion) to compensate for the size of the fish.

: Ratings :

• Service: 6/10 - They seat you quickly and pass you the menu at once, but depending on who you get service is very average. There is a guy that looks like Yamino from Ragnarok Loki though, and he's always smiling, bowing and saying thank you or welcome. If he was the only waiter who served me I would've given him a 7.5! XD
  
• Food: 6/10 - Home-cooked rather than authentic, the food tastes okay, but don't expect the fish/chicken teriyaki to knock your socks off. If anything, when you start eating you'd probably be thinking "Hmm.. I'm pretty sure I can whip up something like this.."
  * Note: When I went there again the 2nd time, the selections had changed, and the $5.80 range seemed to have downgraded.
  
• Layout: 6/10 - The restaurant is long rather than wide, and they have figure drawings of Japanese people on the wall.
  
• Overall: 6/10 - Overall this restaurant is reasonable, considering its cheap lunch prices. It's a must-go if it's lunchtime; you're hungry; low on cash and/or food supplies; and the kitchen's worst nightmare. * Just an additional note though, that this review is based solely on the lunch specials. IMO Teppansan's not really somewhere to go and pay full price for..
  

Labels: City, Japanese