Dec 8, 2007
♥
Eleonore's @ Chateau Yering
42 Melba Highway, Yarra Glen
Victoria
As you can see from the nice and european style interior of Eleonore's, I can't help but imagine that i was walking into the restaurant dressed like THIS
Me and my imagination. Could really imagine e guys in curly wigs, frilly "fungus" shirts and pointy boots.Talking about the food. Seriously there's not much to talk about. Just look at the pictures and salivate.The Entrees
Atlantic Salmon w some refreshing lemony-limey white foam, w caviar, cucumber n coconut jelly
Seared Red Mullet (Fish) w creamy sauces (Can't remember what sauce la)
Anyway, this is super duper nice! the fish is really crispy and fragrant on e outside, but the juices and sweetness of the fish remain. I really SHOULD have ordered this for myself. DAMMIT.
Rolled Loins of Rabbit, with Alfafa Puree, Potato and kidney roll, and some little pieces of belly pork n olives in a sweet caramelised oniony sauce (See that fork there? yeah me and my impatience, sliced e rabbit up before realising i need a pic...)
The Mains
Smoked Saddle of Lamb, with White Eggplant Puree, Sweet Bread Croquette, Artichoke Barigoule, Vanilla jus. The lamb had this faint burnt/chaota charcoal smell (Cos it's smoked) which went really well since lambs have a funny BO at times. Sauce tasted a little like miso and it's soooooo shiok with the artichoke bits . 
Coffee Roasted Duck Breast, with potato pie, apple puree and cherry jus. One very out-of-this-world dish. Who eats duck with coffeE?? but anyway, who cares as long as it's nice . 
Poached Red Emperor (FISH), with seared scallops and garlic mash. Honestly, i SHOULD have ordered this. haha Must say the chef is quite an expert at seafood. The fish and scallops were quite chinese style, with black bean sauce and garlic. Scallops were burnt on e outside but e juice OOZES out with every bite.
Up till this point, quite full already. but there's ALWAYS room for dessert!!
Iced Summer Melon Dome- CUTE RIGHT??those little balls and cubes u see are honeydew, watermelon, and rock melon. Green patches = Midori foam. and of cos the melon dome with the pointy tip!! really refreshing dessert, imagine cold cold cold and lite honeydew sorbet, goats milk yogurt and watermelon sorbet melting in ur mouth all at the same time!!!!
Even the inside of the ice dome is so cute!! red part = watermelon! some how this reminds me of some of those jap cartoon characters. i dont know why...
Creamy Mango Semi-Fredo Sphere - Iced Malibu Centre. Guava sorbet, Coconut Jelly, Passionfruit Caviar and fresh seasonal fruits.
Another delightful summer dessert, esp e guava sorbet but it's one big dilemma. Wanna enjoy it slowly, but yet afraid that it'll melt.
Cheese, Fruit and Cracker platter. NOt my cup of tea. was offered a little blue cheese on a cracker. had gag reflex when it arrived 1cm away from my nose n mouth. sorry cheesy fans, but it smells like SAI (REAL shit- not in a metaphorical sense pls)NO matter how nice e food, how good e service all you are bothered about is the price. 3 course meal came up to $59.50 per head. quite worth it since the portions are huge and there's a variety of food in each course. MUST VISIT if you intend to travel to yarra valley!!Labels: European, Outside the city, Value for Money
Dec 6, 2007
♥
-If there's one place for you to splurge, This is it-
Taxi Dining Room
Level 1, Transport Hotel
Federation Square
Melbourne
Rated: 17/20, 2 hats
This is one place that won my heart entirely, serving contemporary Japanese food.
Dined here on my 22nd birthday and had the extravagant 9 course degustation menu all for only $110!
1)Tuna Sashimi with sesame oil and special sauce
2) Baby Abalone with some delicious sauce and tempura shiso leaf
3)Sichuan duck soup
4)Baby scampi tortellini with tomato salsa
5)Pan fried Barramundi fillet with Mushroom sauce
6) Porterhouse wagyu fillet with horse radish and potato medallions
7) Creme Brulee with vanilla ice cream
8) Chocolate semifredo served with strawberries and a scoop of Mascapone and Dark Chocolate
9) Petit Fours with Tea
The night view from Taxi Dining Room is breath-taking. Depends on where you're seated, views range from the city skylines, flinders station and the yarra river, 
Taxi plays the beats of St Germain ( one of my faves), but manages to prevent an excessive clashing of noise coming from the music, talking and the drama from the open-concept kitchen. At Taxi that different people in the kitchen would be serving up different dishes, 1 end of the kitchen's the sushi bar to the other end - dessert! Only goes to show that everyone at Taxi only does what he's good at and nothing can go wrong.
Service at Taxi is indeed impressive! Nothing arrogant, just very sincere and honest recommendations. Well we were talked out of the wine degustation ($70 per head) since we aren't exactly hard core wine-oholics. The waiter serving us made conscientious effort to find out our preferences so that the mighty chef could whip up a storm for us in the kitchen. The service attitude here is a worthy example for every single restaurant out there. After every dish, the waiter would come back to our table to ask for our comments - HONEST comments. Fortunate for them, EVERYTHING was good. I must also say that the sommerlier at Taxi made a really great recommendation - Barrossa Valley Torbreck, The Struie, 2005 (Fans of red wine have to try this!!!!) Can't exactly describe in words how it felt to be drinking this. But i can tell you this is definitely my favourite red!!
There's really no point in me blabbering on about how good Taxi is if you dont try it. If i say it's GOOD. It really is GOOD. If it's bad, I'll go vegetarian and i mean it!!!! =P
Labels: Jap Fusion, Value for Money
♥
16/20, 2 Hats??
Cecconi's Cantina
61 Flinders LaneWell well well, if you ask me, 16/20, 2 hats for Cecconi's Cantina must be some kinda joke of the year. This is probably one of the worst restaurants in melbourne apart from Nobu. As you can tell by now, not only am i a picky person when it comes to quality of food, SERVICE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF DINING OUT!
On my FIRST AND LAST visit to Cecconi's, I ordered a seafood linguini dish. HOW WRONG CAN U GO? I take back my words. Not only were the seafood not magnificently fresh (For the amount i'm paying), this dish totally lacked flavour. In other words, not salty, no seafood flavour, no fragrance, but yet a boost to my confidence that my cooking isn't that bad after all!! Adding truckloads of chilli flakes to my linguini to make it more appetising didn't seem to work at all. Other dishes ordered included beef steak, lamb and a risotti dish. Nothing worth further mention. Shall move on to the service - always the juice of the story isn't it?
Ray asked for a wine recommendation to go with his steak and the waiter did.
Basic rule of thumb for serving wine would be to SHOW YOUR DINER THE WINE LABEL so he knows what's being served. NOPE. Nothing of that sort.
Rule No. 2 when serving wine, make sure the wine when poured into the glass, it's not supposed to touch the sides of the glass. He ended up with a glass of anonymous wine, with stains all over the side. Well that's not the worst of it all......
As we all know, wine and steak are a match in heaven provided u get the right combination. The wine is supposed enhance the flavour and "sweetness" of the steak and make you feel like you're in heaven. According to ray, this anonymous wine made his steak taste dry and a little sour. HMMMM strange. It was then we concluded that the dude who made the recommendation knew NUTS about wine and steaks.
If there's a vote for the TOP 5 most racist restaurants in melbourne, i must say that Cecconi's is well qualified to join the ranks! Service that night on the whole was slip shot and we waited a full hour for our food to arrive while other diners who arrived later were all digging into their food while we looked like hungry chinese monkeys waiting for their meals!! ASSHOLES! THere was a mysteriously long wait as we settled our bill and waited for our mediocre change of $9 for a table of 10. I wonder why... So we approached one of the waiters and demanded for our change, we were told to wait for 5 mins. fair enough. now comes the horrific scene. Jo saw that same dude putting his hands into the tip box and taking out some $$$. The next thing we knew....our $9 arrived.
Lesson learned: Tipping is an act of generosity and appreciation for great service and food. If you've got none of the above, DONT ever dare assume you've been tipped and DONT get caught taking back the $$ from the tip box!Labels: BAD service, CHEATS
Dec 5, 2007
♥
* A Hidden Treasure *
Crystal Jade Restaurant
11 Waratah Place
Vic, Melbourne 3000
This is currently a hot fave of mine in terms of quality of food and service. Unfortunately, i'm baffled as to why it isn't in the good food guide at all! As to why it's a hidden treasure lies in its location, tucked away in the little alley opposite Maxim Cakes at Chinatown. The dining atmosphere is pretty pleasant, the food is good and prices are reasonable. THis is one place to visit when it comes to seafood, and always listen to the manager's recommendations. I almost killed myself for not heeding his advice to order the crab or lobster fried with foie gras TWICE. YES. FOIE GRAS!! You're probably thinking slimy grimy pieces of goose liver...but NO. On the 3rd time when i finally gave in and took the plunge, it was delightful, sheer bliss. The foie gras adds a salty inexplicable fragrance to the crabs that keeps you wanting more. The combination of the crabs juices together with the fragrance of the foie gras is somewhat a divine experience i must say. Other must tries include the asparagus stewed in flavoursome superior stock with little shreds of hunan ham. Though a simple dish which looks pretty mundane, the beauty lies in its simplicity. Another favourite of mine would be the stirfry chicken with wine and basil leaves in a yam basket. it's surprising that Crystal Jade manages to make their yam crispy on the outside and fluffy the inside as most places have their yams pretty rich and creamy which makes me sick after a while.
Apart from that, other dishes worth trying would be their cold dish (jelly fish, duck's tongue, duck's web and duck's giblet), oyster omelette and desserts! I've finally found a place that serve's authentic chinese dessert such as herbal jelly, almond cream, double boiled birds' nest, double boiled hasma and glutinous rice balls coated in crushed peanuts. Another point worth noting - Crystal Jade makes a conscientious effort in serving quality chinese teas with exceptional flavour and a hidden sweetness, not the typical ones u get at Shark Fin House or any other chinatown restaurant.
Service at Crystal Jade is extremely attentive, with no snobbish airs nor any grumpy waitresses. Isn't that a great consolation for all of you??Labels: Chinese, Value for Money
♥
~ Just Another Pretty Face - NOBU Melbourne @ Crown ~
This place is officially on my BLACK LIST of restaurants in Melbourne. It's up to you to believe whatever I've got to say. Well as we all know, this NOBU is an international brand, owned by Robert De Niro, famous in the US and Hong kong blah blah blah. Well it's probably already in The Age 2008 Good Food Guide, but if it's not YET in there, i'm praying it NEVER will.
The basic criteria to be part of a good food guide is to obviously serve GOOD FOOD. Well sashimi's a staple when dining jap and a basic criteria for sashimi would be for it to be FRESH and served cold ( not in the icy sense but chilled, guess u all know what i'm saying). Unfortunately, Nobu has a rather "creative"/unorthodox (sense my sacarsm here please) way of serving their sashimi LUKE WARM. Yes i'm talking about sashimi at a temperature of about 25deg celcius? However I must commend their ideas in terms of putting in different sauces to complement the sashimi but sorry guys, doesn't really help much since I totally hate sashimi served LUKE WARM (ie, left at the sashimi counter for too long because the restaurant's too busy??). I believe sashimi fans would agree with me.
A signature dish of Nobu - Miso Black Cod, by far is the best dish of Nobu and probably the only one worth mentioning. The Cod is baked to perfection with a layer of crisp on top, while the flesh remains juicy and flakes of piece by piece. Unlike the usual cod fish i've tried at other places, this is not the least greasy, and I actually regretted not ordering 1 more portion! Other dishes I ordered included a grilled beef steak with wasabi salsa, grilled chicken ( can't really remember what it exactly was) were pretty normal to me and therefore not worth much mentioning here.
Call me demanding. THe food at Nobu on the whole wasn't outstanding enough but at least it wasn't as outrageous as the attrocious service. On my first visit, it struck me that NOBU only hires pretty faces to front their restaurants as the receptionists in my opionion pretty HOT. Upon entering the place, I informed them I had a reservation and my parents had already arrived and so I asked to be taken to my table. The receptionist in a "are u sure they're already here u yellow thing" tone told me that no one's arrived yet. hmmmm strange. dude I just got off the phone with my mom and i could hear the NOISE of the restaurant in the background!! Not tolerating this stupid arrogant attitude, I told her " hmm you MUST have missed them!" and so she instructed me to WAIT while someone else would come take me to my table. Pardon my impatience but after 1 minute, sensing that NOBODY"S bothered about this random YELLOW-skinned person, i decided to just venture my way down to look for my parents. VOILA. they were all sitting at the table scrutinising the menu. Now i Wish i brought all of them up to the reception and make them parade in front of the receptionist. Bitch.
As for my second visit, well not exactly 2nd since i DID NOT officially dine there, THANKS TO THE RECEPTIONIST AGAIN (not the same person as the previous time). I seriously doubt these guys hired by Nobu have ANY EXPERIENCE in PR nor MANNERS!! I decided that to truly test the so-called service of any restaurant would be to appear as no-frills as possible - ie. t shirt and jeans!! As we walked into Nobu without a reservation, we were told by the receptionist that the lounge area was available but the restaurant level was full. so WHY NOT? well nobody told us that the lounge area was a "first come first serve" - ie find your own table and seating area and so we ventured like fools into the lounge, hoping that someone would come along and show us to a table or even present a menu to us. NO. We stood there like idiots for almost 2 mins. Sensing something amiss we made our way back to the reception to find out how this dumb ass restaurant works. After asking WHY no one attended to us, the other receptionist explained that the lounge was on a first come first serve basis. So i told her " well you did not inform me of that just now" In my humble opinion, THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!! Instead of apologising for that LITTLE mistake, she went on and on about how it's first come first serve. LADY!! that's not what i want to hear. I want an apology. We decided that instead of listening to her blabbering on, we decided to throw a fit and walk out of the restaurant. As we walked out, I turned around and caught the 2 bitches giggling to themselves about how we DID NOT know what first come first serve is!!!!!! Giggle all u want bitches. The next time you see me at NObu, I'd be a connoisseur reviewing your restaurant and your pretty face is not gonna impress me!! Somehow it felt more comfortable to be having a simple dinner at the food court in Crown casino rather than to be abused by these receptionists. Oh well, if there's 1 theory that Nobu has to get correct in terms of service, it'd be CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT.
As for Nobu's ambience, I am not impressed. Despite the typical dim and uber lounge meets traditional japanese interior, I was totally put off by the noise level in the restaurant. A cacophony of lounge beats, talking and laughing is too much for my faint heart. I had to yell across the table to make sure my mom could hear what i was saying. The Air-conditioning at Nobu is probably non-existent. The heat in the restaurant level made us all frustrated that we finished our meal in less than an hour. Enough said, the mere mention of NOBU now makes my blood boil. It is up to you to believe whatever i'm saying here. No harm visiting them just for the experience.
For the amount of money I'm paying, I'm better off at Taxi Dining Room where the service is by far one of the best i've encountered.Labels: BAD service, CHEATS
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For an opening appetiser, This aint no blog about fashion or anything like that. It's about Food. Yes Food but not only food. IT's about unveiling both the ugliest and best side of restaurants, especially "WORLD RENOWNED" ones or relatively famous ones ( ie, members of THE AGE GOOD FOOD GUIDE) which will be elaborated in detail later...
We at tee shirt and jeans do not doubt the reliability of any GOOD FOOD GUIDES as they have been proven to be pretty credible. Instead, tee shirt and jeans helps you try them out and provide an absolutely FAIR AND UNBIASED view of these restaurants in terms of ambience, quality of food and service. YES. SERVICE IS IMPORTANT, but unfortunately the ultimate downfall of a restaurant. Back to why tee shirt and jeans is the name of this site...that's because true blue quality service ignores what the customer is wearing, how the customer looks, whether the customer is white or yellow. Our belief is that as long as we walk in that door, we are your customers and you jolly well provide us with the service you guys claim to provide whether we're in frilly lacy dresses and sharp suits or simply tee shirt n jeans!!!! which is why when it comes to testing out a restaurant that's been "raved" about, we'd try to appear as simple as we can, no frills to see if it's that great after all. Unfortunately, many have failed. The next entry would be a great shocker for you guys as u read it....
P.S. All restaurants in our reviews have been personally visited and evaluated by our connoisseurs and therefore all information is reliable!!
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We Love FOOD. We hate over-rated restaurants and feel sad for under-rated ones. We'll uphold justice, to reveal the truths of who's good and who's not!
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Dec 8, 2007
♥
Eleonore's @ Chateau Yering
42 Melba Highway, Yarra Glen
VictoriaAs you can see from the nice and european style interior of Eleonore's, I can't help but imagine that i was walking into the restaurant dressed like THISMe and my imagination. Could really imagine e guys in curly wigs, frilly "fungus" shirts and pointy boots.Talking about the food. Seriously there's not much to talk about. Just look at the pictures and salivate.The EntreesAtlantic Salmon w some refreshing lemony-limey white foam, w caviar, cucumber n coconut jellySeared Red Mullet (Fish) w creamy sauces (Can't remember what sauce la)
Anyway, this is super duper nice! the fish is really crispy and fragrant on e outside, but the juices and sweetness of the fish remain. I really SHOULD have ordered this for myself. DAMMIT.
Rolled Loins of Rabbit, with Alfafa Puree, Potato and kidney roll, and some little pieces of belly pork n olives in a sweet caramelised oniony sauce (See that fork there? yeah me and my impatience, sliced e rabbit up before realising i need a pic...)
The Mains
Smoked Saddle of Lamb, with White Eggplant Puree, Sweet Bread Croquette, Artichoke Barigoule, Vanilla jus. The lamb had this faint burnt/chaota charcoal smell (Cos it's smoked) which went really well since lambs have a funny BO at times. Sauce tasted a little like miso and it's soooooo shiok with the artichoke bits . Coffee Roasted Duck Breast, with potato pie, apple puree and cherry jus. One very out-of-this-world dish. Who eats duck with coffeE?? but anyway, who cares as long as it's nice . Poached Red Emperor (FISH), with seared scallops and garlic mash. Honestly, i SHOULD have ordered this. haha Must say the chef is quite an expert at seafood. The fish and scallops were quite chinese style, with black bean sauce and garlic. Scallops were burnt on e outside but e juice OOZES out with every bite.
Up till this point, quite full already. but there's ALWAYS room for dessert!!
Iced Summer Melon Dome- CUTE RIGHT??those little balls and cubes u see are honeydew, watermelon, and rock melon. Green patches = Midori foam. and of cos the melon dome with the pointy tip!! really refreshing dessert, imagine cold cold cold and lite honeydew sorbet, goats milk yogurt and watermelon sorbet melting in ur mouth all at the same time!!!!Even the inside of the ice dome is so cute!! red part = watermelon! some how this reminds me of some of those jap cartoon characters. i dont know why...
Creamy Mango Semi-Fredo Sphere - Iced Malibu Centre. Guava sorbet, Coconut Jelly, Passionfruit Caviar and fresh seasonal fruits.
Another delightful summer dessert, esp e guava sorbet but it's one big dilemma. Wanna enjoy it slowly, but yet afraid that it'll melt.Cheese, Fruit and Cracker platter. NOt my cup of tea. was offered a little blue cheese on a cracker. had gag reflex when it arrived 1cm away from my nose n mouth. sorry cheesy fans, but it smells like SAI (REAL shit- not in a metaphorical sense pls)NO matter how nice e food, how good e service all you are bothered about is the price. 3 course meal came up to $59.50 per head. quite worth it since the portions are huge and there's a variety of food in each course. MUST VISIT if you intend to travel to yarra valley!!Labels: European, Outside the city, Value for Money
Dec 6, 2007
♥
-If there's one place for you to splurge, This is it-
Taxi Dining Room
Level 1, Transport Hotel
Federation Square
Melbourne
Rated: 17/20, 2 hats
This is one place that won my heart entirely, serving contemporary Japanese food.
Dined here on my 22nd birthday and had the extravagant 9 course degustation menu all for only $110!
1)Tuna Sashimi with sesame oil and special sauce
2) Baby Abalone with some delicious sauce and tempura shiso leaf
3)Sichuan duck soup
4)Baby scampi tortellini with tomato salsa
5)Pan fried Barramundi fillet with Mushroom sauce
6) Porterhouse wagyu fillet with horse radish and potato medallions
7) Creme Brulee with vanilla ice cream
8) Chocolate semifredo served with strawberries and a scoop of Mascapone and Dark Chocolate
9) Petit Fours with Tea
The night view from Taxi Dining Room is breath-taking. Depends on where you're seated, views range from the city skylines, flinders station and the yarra river, Taxi plays the beats of St Germain ( one of my faves), but manages to prevent an excessive clashing of noise coming from the music, talking and the drama from the open-concept kitchen. At Taxi that different people in the kitchen would be serving up different dishes, 1 end of the kitchen's the sushi bar to the other end - dessert! Only goes to show that everyone at Taxi only does what he's good at and nothing can go wrong.
Service at Taxi is indeed impressive! Nothing arrogant, just very sincere and honest recommendations. Well we were talked out of the wine degustation ($70 per head) since we aren't exactly hard core wine-oholics. The waiter serving us made conscientious effort to find out our preferences so that the mighty chef could whip up a storm for us in the kitchen. The service attitude here is a worthy example for every single restaurant out there. After every dish, the waiter would come back to our table to ask for our comments - HONEST comments. Fortunate for them, EVERYTHING was good. I must also say that the sommerlier at Taxi made a really great recommendation - Barrossa Valley Torbreck, The Struie, 2005 (Fans of red wine have to try this!!!!) Can't exactly describe in words how it felt to be drinking this. But i can tell you this is definitely my favourite red!!
There's really no point in me blabbering on about how good Taxi is if you dont try it. If i say it's GOOD. It really is GOOD. If it's bad, I'll go vegetarian and i mean it!!!! =P
Labels: Jap Fusion, Value for Money
♥
16/20, 2 Hats??
Cecconi's Cantina
61 Flinders LaneWell well well, if you ask me, 16/20, 2 hats for Cecconi's Cantina must be some kinda joke of the year. This is probably one of the worst restaurants in melbourne apart from Nobu. As you can tell by now, not only am i a picky person when it comes to quality of food, SERVICE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF DINING OUT!
On my FIRST AND LAST visit to Cecconi's, I ordered a seafood linguini dish. HOW WRONG CAN U GO? I take back my words. Not only were the seafood not magnificently fresh (For the amount i'm paying), this dish totally lacked flavour. In other words, not salty, no seafood flavour, no fragrance, but yet a boost to my confidence that my cooking isn't that bad after all!! Adding truckloads of chilli flakes to my linguini to make it more appetising didn't seem to work at all. Other dishes ordered included beef steak, lamb and a risotti dish. Nothing worth further mention. Shall move on to the service - always the juice of the story isn't it?
Ray asked for a wine recommendation to go with his steak and the waiter did.
Basic rule of thumb for serving wine would be to SHOW YOUR DINER THE WINE LABEL so he knows what's being served. NOPE. Nothing of that sort.
Rule No. 2 when serving wine, make sure the wine when poured into the glass, it's not supposed to touch the sides of the glass. He ended up with a glass of anonymous wine, with stains all over the side. Well that's not the worst of it all......
As we all know, wine and steak are a match in heaven provided u get the right combination. The wine is supposed enhance the flavour and "sweetness" of the steak and make you feel like you're in heaven. According to ray, this anonymous wine made his steak taste dry and a little sour. HMMMM strange. It was then we concluded that the dude who made the recommendation knew NUTS about wine and steaks.
If there's a vote for the TOP 5 most racist restaurants in melbourne, i must say that Cecconi's is well qualified to join the ranks! Service that night on the whole was slip shot and we waited a full hour for our food to arrive while other diners who arrived later were all digging into their food while we looked like hungry chinese monkeys waiting for their meals!! ASSHOLES! THere was a mysteriously long wait as we settled our bill and waited for our mediocre change of $9 for a table of 10. I wonder why... So we approached one of the waiters and demanded for our change, we were told to wait for 5 mins. fair enough. now comes the horrific scene. Jo saw that same dude putting his hands into the tip box and taking out some $$$. The next thing we knew....our $9 arrived.
Lesson learned: Tipping is an act of generosity and appreciation for great service and food. If you've got none of the above, DONT ever dare assume you've been tipped and DONT get caught taking back the $$ from the tip box!Labels: BAD service, CHEATS
Dec 5, 2007
♥
* A Hidden Treasure *
Crystal Jade Restaurant
11 Waratah Place
Vic, Melbourne 3000
This is currently a hot fave of mine in terms of quality of food and service. Unfortunately, i'm baffled as to why it isn't in the good food guide at all! As to why it's a hidden treasure lies in its location, tucked away in the little alley opposite Maxim Cakes at Chinatown. The dining atmosphere is pretty pleasant, the food is good and prices are reasonable. THis is one place to visit when it comes to seafood, and always listen to the manager's recommendations. I almost killed myself for not heeding his advice to order the crab or lobster fried with foie gras TWICE. YES. FOIE GRAS!! You're probably thinking slimy grimy pieces of goose liver...but NO. On the 3rd time when i finally gave in and took the plunge, it was delightful, sheer bliss. The foie gras adds a salty inexplicable fragrance to the crabs that keeps you wanting more. The combination of the crabs juices together with the fragrance of the foie gras is somewhat a divine experience i must say. Other must tries include the asparagus stewed in flavoursome superior stock with little shreds of hunan ham. Though a simple dish which looks pretty mundane, the beauty lies in its simplicity. Another favourite of mine would be the stirfry chicken with wine and basil leaves in a yam basket. it's surprising that Crystal Jade manages to make their yam crispy on the outside and fluffy the inside as most places have their yams pretty rich and creamy which makes me sick after a while.
Apart from that, other dishes worth trying would be their cold dish (jelly fish, duck's tongue, duck's web and duck's giblet), oyster omelette and desserts! I've finally found a place that serve's authentic chinese dessert such as herbal jelly, almond cream, double boiled birds' nest, double boiled hasma and glutinous rice balls coated in crushed peanuts. Another point worth noting - Crystal Jade makes a conscientious effort in serving quality chinese teas with exceptional flavour and a hidden sweetness, not the typical ones u get at Shark Fin House or any other chinatown restaurant.
Service at Crystal Jade is extremely attentive, with no snobbish airs nor any grumpy waitresses. Isn't that a great consolation for all of you??Labels: Chinese, Value for Money
♥
~ Just Another Pretty Face - NOBU Melbourne @ Crown ~
This place is officially on my BLACK LIST of restaurants in Melbourne. It's up to you to believe whatever I've got to say. Well as we all know, this NOBU is an international brand, owned by Robert De Niro, famous in the US and Hong kong blah blah blah. Well it's probably already in The Age 2008 Good Food Guide, but if it's not YET in there, i'm praying it NEVER will.
The basic criteria to be part of a good food guide is to obviously serve GOOD FOOD. Well sashimi's a staple when dining jap and a basic criteria for sashimi would be for it to be FRESH and served cold ( not in the icy sense but chilled, guess u all know what i'm saying). Unfortunately, Nobu has a rather "creative"/unorthodox (sense my sacarsm here please) way of serving their sashimi LUKE WARM. Yes i'm talking about sashimi at a temperature of about 25deg celcius? However I must commend their ideas in terms of putting in different sauces to complement the sashimi but sorry guys, doesn't really help much since I totally hate sashimi served LUKE WARM (ie, left at the sashimi counter for too long because the restaurant's too busy??). I believe sashimi fans would agree with me.
A signature dish of Nobu - Miso Black Cod, by far is the best dish of Nobu and probably the only one worth mentioning. The Cod is baked to perfection with a layer of crisp on top, while the flesh remains juicy and flakes of piece by piece. Unlike the usual cod fish i've tried at other places, this is not the least greasy, and I actually regretted not ordering 1 more portion! Other dishes I ordered included a grilled beef steak with wasabi salsa, grilled chicken ( can't really remember what it exactly was) were pretty normal to me and therefore not worth much mentioning here.
Call me demanding. THe food at Nobu on the whole wasn't outstanding enough but at least it wasn't as outrageous as the attrocious service. On my first visit, it struck me that NOBU only hires pretty faces to front their restaurants as the receptionists in my opionion pretty HOT. Upon entering the place, I informed them I had a reservation and my parents had already arrived and so I asked to be taken to my table. The receptionist in a "are u sure they're already here u yellow thing" tone told me that no one's arrived yet. hmmmm strange. dude I just got off the phone with my mom and i could hear the NOISE of the restaurant in the background!! Not tolerating this stupid arrogant attitude, I told her " hmm you MUST have missed them!" and so she instructed me to WAIT while someone else would come take me to my table. Pardon my impatience but after 1 minute, sensing that NOBODY"S bothered about this random YELLOW-skinned person, i decided to just venture my way down to look for my parents. VOILA. they were all sitting at the table scrutinising the menu. Now i Wish i brought all of them up to the reception and make them parade in front of the receptionist. Bitch.
As for my second visit, well not exactly 2nd since i DID NOT officially dine there, THANKS TO THE RECEPTIONIST AGAIN (not the same person as the previous time). I seriously doubt these guys hired by Nobu have ANY EXPERIENCE in PR nor MANNERS!! I decided that to truly test the so-called service of any restaurant would be to appear as no-frills as possible - ie. t shirt and jeans!! As we walked into Nobu without a reservation, we were told by the receptionist that the lounge area was available but the restaurant level was full. so WHY NOT? well nobody told us that the lounge area was a "first come first serve" - ie find your own table and seating area and so we ventured like fools into the lounge, hoping that someone would come along and show us to a table or even present a menu to us. NO. We stood there like idiots for almost 2 mins. Sensing something amiss we made our way back to the reception to find out how this dumb ass restaurant works. After asking WHY no one attended to us, the other receptionist explained that the lounge was on a first come first serve basis. So i told her " well you did not inform me of that just now" In my humble opinion, THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!! Instead of apologising for that LITTLE mistake, she went on and on about how it's first come first serve. LADY!! that's not what i want to hear. I want an apology. We decided that instead of listening to her blabbering on, we decided to throw a fit and walk out of the restaurant. As we walked out, I turned around and caught the 2 bitches giggling to themselves about how we DID NOT know what first come first serve is!!!!!! Giggle all u want bitches. The next time you see me at NObu, I'd be a connoisseur reviewing your restaurant and your pretty face is not gonna impress me!! Somehow it felt more comfortable to be having a simple dinner at the food court in Crown casino rather than to be abused by these receptionists. Oh well, if there's 1 theory that Nobu has to get correct in terms of service, it'd be CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT.
As for Nobu's ambience, I am not impressed. Despite the typical dim and uber lounge meets traditional japanese interior, I was totally put off by the noise level in the restaurant. A cacophony of lounge beats, talking and laughing is too much for my faint heart. I had to yell across the table to make sure my mom could hear what i was saying. The Air-conditioning at Nobu is probably non-existent. The heat in the restaurant level made us all frustrated that we finished our meal in less than an hour. Enough said, the mere mention of NOBU now makes my blood boil. It is up to you to believe whatever i'm saying here. No harm visiting them just for the experience.
For the amount of money I'm paying, I'm better off at Taxi Dining Room where the service is by far one of the best i've encountered.Labels: BAD service, CHEATS
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For an opening appetiser, This aint no blog about fashion or anything like that. It's about Food. Yes Food but not only food. IT's about unveiling both the ugliest and best side of restaurants, especially "WORLD RENOWNED" ones or relatively famous ones ( ie, members of THE AGE GOOD FOOD GUIDE) which will be elaborated in detail later...
We at tee shirt and jeans do not doubt the reliability of any GOOD FOOD GUIDES as they have been proven to be pretty credible. Instead, tee shirt and jeans helps you try them out and provide an absolutely FAIR AND UNBIASED view of these restaurants in terms of ambience, quality of food and service. YES. SERVICE IS IMPORTANT, but unfortunately the ultimate downfall of a restaurant. Back to why tee shirt and jeans is the name of this site...that's because true blue quality service ignores what the customer is wearing, how the customer looks, whether the customer is white or yellow. Our belief is that as long as we walk in that door, we are your customers and you jolly well provide us with the service you guys claim to provide whether we're in frilly lacy dresses and sharp suits or simply tee shirt n jeans!!!! which is why when it comes to testing out a restaurant that's been "raved" about, we'd try to appear as simple as we can, no frills to see if it's that great after all. Unfortunately, many have failed. The next entry would be a great shocker for you guys as u read it....
P.S. All restaurants in our reviews have been personally visited and evaluated by our connoisseurs and therefore all information is reliable!!
Atlantic Salmon w some refreshing lemony-limey white foam, w caviar, cucumber n coconut jelly
Seared Red Mullet (Fish) w creamy sauces (Can't remember what sauce la)
Even the inside of the ice dome is so cute!! red part = watermelon! some how this reminds me of some of those jap cartoon characters. i dont know why...
Creamy Mango Semi-Fredo Sphere - Iced Malibu Centre. Guava sorbet, Coconut Jelly, Passionfruit Caviar and fresh seasonal fruits.
Taxi plays the beats of St Germain ( one of my faves), but manages to prevent an excessive clashing of noise coming from the music, talking and the drama from the open-concept kitchen. At Taxi that different people in the kitchen would be serving up different dishes, 1 end of the kitchen's the sushi bar to the other end - dessert! Only goes to show that everyone at Taxi only does what he's good at and nothing can go wrong.