Year of the Rabbit

Chinese New Year is almost upon us. In fact, there is only 2 weeks to go. Are many of you celebrating with family?

I love how multicultural Melbourne is. I have noticed that Chinese New Year is always a big event, with multiple locations throwing massive street festivals with food, drinks and entertainment. My favourites are Victoria Street in Richmond which is good for Vietnamese food, Box Hill for Taiwanese and Hong Kong food, and Crown's Riverside Hawker stalls which has a good mix of Asian fares to try.

Update! - a new decade no longer the nought-ies

Happy New Year everyone!! I can't believe it is now 2011. I am still signing off 2010 at work and can't seem to adjust.

It's been so long since I have even looked our blog that I didn't even realise my fellow blogger Shopaholic has updated the look of the site.

It's been ages, but it's also time to revamp this blog.

Will have a think about the next steps in the coming weeks - hopefully will sort things out and reviews will start again by the end of Feb '10.

Until then!

I Scream for Ice CreamLicketty Licks Shop 3, 372 Mt Dandenong Tourist Rd, Sassafras.

It was a beautiful Saturday. The sun was out and not a cloud was to be seen in the sky. Without a doubt, my one really free Saturday would be wasted if I just sat at home infront of the tv whilst there were so many things going on this weekend. In Box Hill stalls were set up to celebrate the Moon Festival, in Mt Dandenong the annual tulip festival is on, and my other "to-do" list includes the Pixar exhibition at the NGV.

Michael suggested a drive up to Mt Dandenong in his beloved wife aka Integra. I suggested afternoon tea at Miss Marple's but, Miss Marple's being extremely popular, had a loooong waiting time. As soon as we walked out though, any disappointment disappeared as my ice cream radar worked overtime. I'd sniffed out a woman who was walking past with the last bit of her waffle cone.

A few shops down the road, there was an ice cream shop called Licketty Licks selling the "world's best". We stepped inside to find an extremely welcoming and friendly shop owner who immediately made us try 2 types of vanilla ice cream. One was of the Mototo dairy and gluten free variety which wasn't very sweet or tasty. The other was a rich and creamy vanilla ice cream that made my mouth go "oooo i want more!!".

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* . . . .

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.

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.

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.

Teppansan Japanese Cafe179 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!"

Mrs Parmas
25 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne
http://www.mrsparmas.com.au
A micro brewery and a specialist parmagiana bistro in one? Mrs Parmas is Melbourne's one and only. They claim that their parmas are crumbed daily; never frozen, never processed and never deep fried.

There is a choice of chicken ($18.50) or eggplant ($16) and an interesting selection of toppings for the parmagiana. You can choose from the original topping of ham, napoli and cheese OR you can be more adventurous and give the Matriciana, Pizza Parma or the Aussie Parma a go, just to name a few.

Shark Fin Inn (Keysborough)
328, Cheltenham Rd, Keysborough
Tel: 9798 8788
www.sharkfin.com.au
BYO & Fully Licensed

Been meaning to write a review on this restaurant for a while now, but procastination got the better of me! We ate at this restaurant for a friend's farewell dinner.

The restaurant was pretty empty since we ate during the middle of the week at an odd hour of about 8 something at night. Service was decent, and it helped that TJ saw his friend working there! Food came pretty quickly, and we didn't even get to finish camwhoring!

The Chocolate Bar @ Aria Lounge (Langham Hotel)
http://www.langhamhotelmelbourne.com.au/restaurants/aria.php#article87
The Chocolate Bar hosted at The Langham Hotel's Aria Lounge serves gourmet sandwiches, scones and coffee and tea alongside its chocolate dessert buffet.

Between 1-4pm on the weekend, chocolate lovers or lovers of all sweet things can indulge in an afternoon delight of chocolate cakes, mouses, fondue, soufflé and other scrumptious desserts for $45 a head.

After taste testing our first round of cakes and mouse, the sandwiches provided a good break from the sweetness of the desserts and trust me, you will need something savoury to neutralise the sugars! Tea and coffee is free flowing however, other drinks or food items can be ordered from the Aria Lounge menu.

EQ Cafe
Melbourne Concert Hall
100 St Kilda Road
Southbank VIC 3000

Located just a few minutes walk from the Concert Hall in the Arts Centre, EQ Cafe seems like your typical pricey European restaurant. However, I thought the trendy front of the restaurant was a nice "I look expensive but I'm not really" touch.

Firstly, many apologies for the long absence!
We're now officially awakening from our long, relaxing slumber..
With both Le & I's schedule, we should be able to provide you with food reviews at least once a week.

MakanMakanMelbourne is on the lookout for contributors though, so if you've got some time and would love to write, leave us a comment and we'll get back to you asap!

As usual, any complaints/criticisms/suggestions/love notes, please leave us a post under the "Comments" link.

Enjoy the reviews for the weekend!

Hiatus Announcement

lack of photos, updates ... but certainly not food!

MMM is going through a bit of a hiatus right now - the writers are full to the brim with other commitments (including immensely slow connections) to update this site 'regularly' at the moment, so we do ask for your patience and a million apologies to food lovers out there!

MMM should be back in full operation by March at the latest, so keep checking back!

Back in action...
Call it lazy, unmotivated, distracted, preoccupied...it all describes me. This is not really an excuse for having no write ups, but I've recently had my wisdom teeth taken out. I only had to have 3 out but the experience reminded me of how much I really LOVE food. Whilst I was swollen, in pain and starving due to the fact that I kept to a liquid diet, images of yummy things just kept popping up in my head. It doesn't help that people decide to eat steak in the middle of my ordeal just to remind me that I have to stick to boring soup and porridge.

A Sydney Food Post!

okays. for those who read my blog, ull know i headed up to sydney a couple of days back and i gathered some food reviews of places i went so here it is!

Food review - Ocean King Restaurant
Location: Glen Waverly
Meal: Dinner for 7 girls

Menu for the night:
- Fried chicken in orange sauce
- Honey soy chicken
- Seafood tofu
- Oyster sauce stir fried vegies

Izu Izakaya
64a River Esplanade Yarra's Edge (70 Lorimer St, Sth Melb) Docklands
ph: 9646 2400
http://www.ikuizakaya.com.au/

Tucked away in a quiet little area of Docklands, Izu Izakaya took a little time to get to, partly because the restaurant was hidden behind a building. Parking was rather tight along the service road as there were apartments/condos nearby which probably utilised these parkings as well.

Hellooo~

I'm back! With really old and outdated food reviews, its time to blog! haha. I haven't been able to reply comments in the last entry though, so if you still have comments, err..comment again? =) thaaankew.

Okies. so this time. two reviews! long outdated because it was during the Easter break. =p