Dinner @ Ezard

http://www.ezard.com.au/

Tel:  +61 3 9639 6811187

Flinders Lane,
Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Lunch Mon - Fri, 12pm - 2:30pm
Dinner Mon - Sat, 6pm - 10:30pm

Ezard wins The Age Good Food Guide 2013 Diners' Choice Award

Rating:
Customer service: average, leaning to poor
Comments:
Reason I rated this restaurant service is not up to expectation is because I was not allowed to use the washroom at 5.55pm because the restaurant is only open at 6.00pm, and I was about 5 months pregnant at that moment and I really need to use the washroom.
However, they were quite considerate and they did change some of their menu to suit me as I was pregnant at that time.

Food: Japanese Thai fusion (Good , but not outstanding)
Comments:
Overall, the food is very Thai influence and I did not see much of the Japanese side of it.
If I to compare the food to other Thai restaurant, we can get better Thai food somewhere else. However, the dessert was really the highlight of the night.

Some of the dishes were replaced by other ingredient due to

 Japanese inspired oyster shooter
 (replace by tafu shooter)
The shooter taste good like what an oyster shooter should taste like. However, there is nothing outstanding about this entree.
Score: 6/10

Steamed spanner crab dumpling with yarra valley salmon roe, chervil cress and tom kha
I think this is the best dish of the night. The dumpling was juicy and it goes very well with the tom kha. I find that this dish taste good, but I was hoping for something different, something more creative. Overall, it is a dumpling dish with soup.
Score: 7/10

Crispy skin baby barramundi with caramelised eggplant, tomato and lime salad, yellow curry dressing                                           This is the most disappointing dish of the night. It is a fried barramundi with rice and curry. It is a very sinple dish and you don't need to go to a restaurant to have this dish. I was very dissappointed with this dish. It did not show any creativity at all. However, I must give them credit on the baramundi as it is cooked as described- crispy skin barramundi. Other than that, I was not amazed. Score : 5/10                                         

 

 

 

 

 

Slow cooked pork belly, five spice pear pudding, fennel salad, pressed apple, pedro ximenez jusAnother Asian dish, it is similar to the pork belly dish you can get from ChinChin (http://www.chinchinrestaurant.com.au/) except that at this restaurant you only get one pice of the pork belly whereas in ChinChin you can get more of it. However, I have to compliment on the pork belly is cooked to perfection. It melts in your mouth. Score: 6/10

However, I am looking for something outstanding from this restaurant. Not just about the food being cooked well, but something that can differentiate this resstaurant from others. Something that I can share with my friend and tell them that they only can get this from Ezard. But, so far none of the dishes really amazed me.

Eight score sher wagyu beef, white polenta, morels, red wine jam, sticky shallot jus and mache saladThe beef is well cooked,(well, you cant go wrong with an eight score wagyu beef, can you) the sauce is good. The best dish of the night. This is the last dish before we moved on to desset. However, this dish did not wow me at all. But, still a good decent dish. Score: 7/10

 

Ezard dessert tasting plate to share



I have to admit this is the best dish of the night. The dessert. This really wow me! I never been to any restaurant that serve such varieties. Not Jacque, not even Vue. I have to say I am pretty impressed with the dessert. It looks nice and it tasted great! Score: 9/10

Overall, I cant recommend my friend to go Ezard just for dessert, can I?

I have to comment, after all the awards and talks about this restaurant, in my opinion, it does not live up to my expectation.

Gypsy & Pig (Japanese restaurant), Melbourne

Gypsy & Pig (Japanese) Restaurant
Shop 3 391 Little Lonsdale St
Melbourne, VIC 3000
Tel : 03- 9640 0731

This is a Japanese restaurant that specialised in Kurobuta. Kurobuta, sometimes refer as black pig, is bred in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Unlike commercial pork, which lends itself favorably to a variety of sauces, kurobuta has its own intrinsic and distinctive sweetness.
Sweetness and juiciness are two factors that distinguish kurobuta from run-of-the-mill pork. This sweetness and rich flavor come from the high levels of intramuscular marbled fat – the very thing that pork producers have dramatically removed to produce pork that can be marketed as "the other white meat" for the health-conscious.This high degree of subcutaneous marbling is a result of special breeding techniques that are not very different from those applied to raising wagyu cattle. The only difference, perhaps, is that there is no massaging of the pig with sake as is the case with wagyu.

I think that should be enough for the "Kurobuta" history and what type of flavour and texture you are looking for when eating this meat. To be honest, what attracts me to this restaurant is the "black pig" as I never tried this meat before. I was suprised when I was served a white meat instead of a black one! Well, after further reading about Kurobuta, it is only the pig hair is black in coulour, and if the pig is bred in England, it will be called Berkshire pig instead of Kurobuta.

Well, the good thing about this pork is that it does not have the "pork" smell. In my opinion, the pork in Australia and Malaysia is very different. Correct me if I am wrong, a little birdie once told me it is the method of killing the pig that cause the smell. Somehow, the way the Malaysian way removes the pork smell. (Well, if you are in Malaysia, please try some of the Malaysian pork, and vice versa)
Like wagyu beef, because of the intense marbling, the way to prepare juicy and succulent kurobuta pork is to not overcook it. The good news, however, is that unlike wagyu,kurobuta lends itself more favorably to heat.

Tonkatsu style filled with cheese sauce - yum!

With kurobuta pork, you don't need much seasoning or thick barbeque sauce, the best way to savor it is to eat it on its own, with perhaps a dash of salt and pepper.
A traditional Japanese favorite is to eat it tonkatsu style – sliced thin, breaded and deep-fried, for which Kagoshima kurobuta pork comes highly recommended by top chefs in the preparation of this dish.

We ordered the pork to be cooked in different style; deep fried; braised; boiled in kimchi soup, and kimchi fried rice. The best of all is just plain deep fried style (first picture from the second row). The pocket cheese tonkatsu style shown on the picture above is good too. I find that the kimchi soup and the braised pork did not show off the quality of the meat. In fact, it kind of masked the original texture and flavour of the meat. Don't get me wrong, the food still taste good, but just not what I expected. It tasted like ordinary dishes we had in other restaurant.

Breakfast @ Auction Rooms

Looks might be deceiving

http://www.auctionroomscafe.com.au/

103-107 Errol Street, North Melbourne

Open Tues - Sun, 7am (8am weekends) - 4pm

Tel: 9326 7749

Auction room has been voted as one of the best cafe in Melbourne. They are famous for their coffee and they have a special counter with a barrista that serve their specialty coffee for all coffee lovers. I love food and I love coffee even more. Despite how busy this place is and how long I have to wait, I marched to Auction room to try out their food and coffee.

As Madison saying goes,

" Awesome breakfast will brighten up your day, and with a combination of a good cup of coffee, you will feel like paradise."



I went to Auction room on fine Saturday morning/afternoon, it was packed, I have to wait for 20 minutes to get a table. The customer service was alright, I heard rumours about their customer service, therefore, I did not expect much from them. Well, as I expected, their customer service on that day confirmed the rumours. (Unlike their neighbour, Fandango- my current favourite place, the customer service there is awesome. A friendly smile will really brighten up your morning). The floor staff looks so gloomy on a Saturday afternoon.

I ordered a cup of mocha. Well, it taste like a normal cup of mocha. It is not bad, but it did not make me jump up and down. It is really very normal standard cup of mocha that is not going to give you "paradise". (Unlike the one I had in Hardware Societe, just thinking about it makes me happy, they melted chocolate in the coffee tasted so good. It is like the combination of good and evil, the sweetness of the chocolate and the bitterness of the coffee, it explodes in your mouth)

I ordered the eggplant dish. It is like a grilled eggplant with chickpeas in tomato relish and topped with some "Kapai Puku".
Well, it really taste like how it looks. There is a lack of texture in this dish. It will be better if they could add a toast in it to contrast the texture. It leaves you feeling something is lacking and it is a really simple dish. If you asked me will I order this again. NNNNOOOOOO... not in a million years. Looks like ratatouille(Australia style). 

My husband ordered the duck eggs which he said it is alright. It really looks like fancy sausages on eggs with toast. It looks really simple and it taste like what it looks like. "Simple"
Nothing much can be commented on this as how hard is it to cook sausage and eggs with bread, even a 5 years old can do this. We saw this in Junior Masterchef, didnt we?











My friends, Cinvin ordered a chicken wrap and Tim ordered a pork dish. Cinvin dish looks like a normal chicken wrap that can be bought over the counter, nothing spectacular, not even worth to be post on a picture cause really, it just looks like a wrap from Mcdonalds cafe.
Poor Tim, he is a well built man and about 6 feet tall, ordered some pork dish. Well, we did read some blogs before ordering, and they did warn him about the portion. It was so small and I think he has to drive-thru Mcdonalds later to fill his stomach. Not just about the portion, but that dish look and taste weird too.

All in all, despite this cafe being well-known famous, my personal opinion and experience, I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone. To be honest, I don't think I will be visiting this cafe again.Unless, it is by force.  Melbourne has tonnes of good brekkie places, why torture your wallet and your tummy on things that aren't worth it. But, dont get me wrong, the food is edible and the coffee is "averagely" good. It just that I personally think that it is not worth the money. Chinese doesn't mind spending, but it has to be worth spending.

 BREAKFAST @ FANDANGO

http://fandangocafe.com.au/fandango/fandango.html 

Address
97 Errol Street, North Melbourne, VIC 3051
Telephone
03 9329 0693

Monday - Saturday  7:30am - 3pm

Sunday 9am - 2pm

I have heard about this place from my friends about how fabulous this place is. I finally manage to try this breakfast place yesterday, and I never looked back since then. It is the best breakfast joint I have eaten so far. I would rank this place above Tom Phat (http://www.tomphat.com.au/) to be my favourite breakfast place. (Btw, their roti omellete is my favourite - It is awesome too!!!) In my opinion, I prefer Fandango coffee to Tom Phat. Even though, their coffee art is not the best, but they taste good. Sometimes, we can't judge a book by its cover.



Vanilla pancakes with bacon

I ordered the vanila pancakes with bacon. The pancakes were served with fresh strawberries, raspberries, strawberry and plum jam (I think it is plum), instead of fresh cream, it is serve with honey cream cheese with sprinkle of icing sugar. I ordered add-ons with bacon. They serve with maple syrup on the side too.

It is the best pancake I ever taken in Melbourne. The pancake is so soft and fluffy. It just melt in your mouth. The best thing is when you combined the ham with the honey cream cheese and the strawberry jam on the pancake and fit all these into your mouth. The combination of the sweet and savoury flavour just exploded in your mouth.

I have compliment on the home made strawberry and plum jam. I am very particular about jam and this jam is one of the best I tasted so far. I like the way they kept some of the big chunk plum slice in the jam and it added extra texture to it. 

I would say, in my humble opinion, the chef really knows how to cook good food. This is a winning breakfast dish with good pancake and awesome jam. 



My partner ordered the beetroot eggs. It is toasted breads serve with 2 poached eggs, spinach, and the beetroot sauce. It is one of the popular selection in the menu.The beetroot eggs are awesome. It is not as good as my pancakes but it is a good dish. I would definitely recommend this dish for those who doesn't have sweet tooth. 

All in all, these are the two selection that is highly recommended by a lot of other bloggers and I definitely will recommend these two selections to all the first timer who is visiting this Fandango.

GETTING READY FOR THE SNOW

 

This winter is far worst than the last winter in Melbourne, it is freezing cold and I have to wear gloves almost eveyday to keep my hands warm. I kept 3 pairs of gloves in my bag for different circumstances.

 

 The fingerless gloves

 This type of gloves is good for indoor. I normally use this gloves when I am in my office or at home so that I can work and keep my fingers warm. Also, this is great when I am using my Android phone.

 

I also kept another pair of fingerless gloves, with sleeves, with me in case I am wearing short sleeves shirt. This will keep me warm throughtout the day.

These fingerless gloves are really good when you need to work as the tips of your fingers are expose.

However, one bad thing about fingerless gloves is that when you go outdoor, your fingertips will be freezing.

Therefore, I brought a third pair with me in case I am going outdoor. But, I find it very dificult when I am answering my phone. I have to remove my gloves to answer the phone. 

This amazing new invention has saved my life, the Amazing Winter Touch Screen Gloves, as the conductive material is woven onto tips of the fingers, it allows me to use touchscreen devices while keeping my hands warm. Therefore, when I am up at Mt. Buller, I will not be scared that my hands will get frozen. This pair of gloves looks awesome and it only cost me AUD7.00 from Catch of the day. What a bargain!

i Spicy - The Authentic and Exotic Taste of Thailand
http://ispicy.com.au/index.html

Last weekend my husband and I went to try this Thai restaurant in Richmond, i Spicy. We walked in without expecting a lot from the restaurant as we just want to fill our tummy before going to Ikea which is just around the corner. We were greeted by a pretty young Thai waitress and she ascorted us to our table. The restaurant looks chic, with cute grafitti of their signature dishes. It looks different from the other Thai restaurants, this restaurant has a cheeky side.     
The restaurant has 2 menus, lunch and dinner. But, I think it is because we arrived at about 3pm, the waitress gave us both menus. The menu is different from the other typical Thai restaurant menu. Some of the food they offered reminded me of the Thai restaurants I had in Penang, Malaysia. (eg: Deep fried Kang kung with Spicy sauce). I had search high and low in Melbourne for this dish, and finally I found it here. I was impressed!

Chu- Chee prawns in young coconut
Creamy red curry paste with green bean, lemongrass, garlic, kaffir leaf and prawn placed inside the young coconut.

This is the winner! The curry was smooth and sweet, the sweetness of the coconut juice goes so well with the curry.Wow! It was like a curry smoothie. Thinking of it makes my mouth water.
 

Tom Yum (Prawn) Most famous traditional Thai soup cooked with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf, coriander roots, flavored with fish sauce, lemon juice and chili.

Well, the tom yum is good. But, I wouldnt say it is great. But definitely better than Ying Thai (@ Laigon)   

Well, rice is a must for Asian especially when we are eating Asian food. ( Rice for Asian is like bread for Caucasian ) We ordered cocout rice to go with our delicious curry. Both of them compliment each other so well, they are like an old married couple. The coconut fragrant from both entites just burst out like I am tasting a real coconut. It tasted so fresh and the curry does not feel thick/creamy at all. It is just perfecto... light and smooth.  

BBQ Stuffed Calamari Marinated minced chicken, stuffed in calamari grilled served with ispicy lemon sauce

One word to describe this, YUM!!!!
The calamari, (fresh and bouncy), stuffed with the marinated minced chicken and a quick dap on the sweet chilli sauce, the flavours just burst in my mouth. WOW!!! This is awesome!!!

How we long for a big jug of  Thai Ice Milk Tea (Home Made Drinks). The milk tea tasted great and they did not stinnged on the milk at all. The milk tea tasted great.

MY OVERALL EXPERIENCE:
I would say, this is a place I will definitely recommend to my friends and families. Love it!

Chinese Laundry

Shoe Style: Hotline
Description: Achieve feminine elegance in the Chinese Laundry Hotline shoes. Team them with a flowing pleated dress and an envelope clutch for a special occasion. For a party appropriate look pair the Chinese Laundry Hotline shoes with a batwing blouse, bodycon skirt and statement bib necklace.

I bought this gorgeous pair from Iconic (http://www.theiconic.com.au/). The retail price is AUD74.95 and I received AUD25 discount from the original price. It was quite a bargain! I ordered it on Wednesday night and I received it yesterday.  I have to comment Iconic is a pretty good e-shop. Good service and value for money. The shoes's quality is good, not like some websites where the shoes looks top notch and when you received it, it looks cheap anf tacky. Will definitely shop @ Iconic again!!!