Hog's Breath Cafe..

i'm thinking about sweet stuff at the moment. so i shall share with you a nice place for dessert, it's actually a nice place for steak as well. it's hog's breath cafe, in fact it's an australian chain of steak house restaurants. i had my first time in brisbane and i was overwhelmed with the nicely cooked steak. i guess i wasn't a fan of steak before that, cause i haven't tried really nice steak before back in malaysia. so it was definately unforgettable moment for me. there are a few around melbourne, the one which i normally go to is at 699 warrigal road, chadstone, vic 3148.

this is the hoggies loaded potato skin the classic. this one is really interesting and yummy! it has crispy grilled bacon, melted cheddar cheese with honey sweet chilli sauce. $11.95 for that.

their famously known 18 hrs slow cooked prime rib steaks. remember to get the medium cooked one for traditional cut of 300g, cause it'll definately taste awesome with the tenderness and juicyness of the steak. this is with calamari rings, hog tail fries and vegetables. $32.95.

this is the lite cut of blackened prime rib, it's coated with the in-house blackened seasoning with adds a strong flavour to it. it costs $21.95 with extra pepper sauce of $2.

the reason for the lite cut steak is for the beloved dessert, the mississippi mud cake for $8.50. honestly the mud cake is just mouth watering. there's no reason to say no to this awesome dessert. it comes with hot chocolate sauce, vanilla ice-cream and fresh cream. putting a piece of cake with the sauce and ice cream into your mouth, it'll just complete the whole meal with a totally prefect ending note. i'm missing that lots!

Han Guuk Guan..

one of the famously known korean restaurant in melbourne city is han guuk guan. it's at 13a, victoria street, melbourne. it's near the corner of exhibition street. they serve really generous portion with reasonable price. alot of students like to dine there. i went there a few times and i brought along visitors to try out too and they love it! their 'zha jiang mian' is quite famous too but i haven't tried it before. let me know if it's good.

anyway there were only three of us and we were greedy enough to order three dishes with rice and with free side dishes as well.

we had the sweet potato noodles. for me, it was cooked in more of chinese flavour. i've tried the more authentic ones at other place. but still it was good with lots of ingredients, i think it's vegeterian.

nice and hot kimchi stew. it's not a huge serve, and it comes together with a bowl of rice. it was pretty good.

lastly we also had a huge plate of sweet and spicy fried chicken. it was really a massive portion for just the three of us. but guess what, we managed to finish the whole plate cause it was really yummy! two thumbs up for this dish. all in all, we paid for around $60 for the three of us and with really full tummy.

Coco Lounge..

i've been busy with work and studies lately but the best cure is definately food. i've been to coco lounge, at 93 kingsway, glen waverley for early breakfast. anyway the menu in coco lounge is rather similar to the one is mocha jo's. they also have a lounge upstairs for drinks. love the environment and design of the place. it has a cosy feel when i stepped into the restaurant.

alot of varieties there.. took me a while to digest all of them.

the best! freshly squashed orange juice. good healthy choice to start out my day.

or probably you can go for a cup of hot latte. it's rather average.

hot pancakes with bacon and egg. well it's a good choice if you're after something other than bread.

if i'm not mistaken this is the eggs begs with extra mushrooms at the side. chef's recommendation according to the menu.

my friend had the atlantic smoked salmon with poached eggs on toast. looks delicious indeed. i guess it's a better choice for a lighter breakfast.

this is what i had. starvin marvin. looks like a huge serve but it was still alright. there was mushrooms, tomato, spinach, bacon, sausages and fried eggs. i personally think that it's too oily. the sauce was pretty good in balancing out the flavours. overall i still enjoyed myself having a nice meal at coco lounge. lately i've been exploring quite a few places for nice breakfast and so far i still love mart 130.

Fishmonger Seafood Restaurant..

the other day my sis recommended us to fishmonger cafe restaurant, it's located at 66a doncaster road, balwyn north. the seafood there was so yummy, absolutely mouth-watering. i was taking photos during the whole dinner and i felt awkward when the waitress asked me if i was a photographer. opss.. but the waitresses are really helpful and friendly. no doubt that they have really good service. nice and quiet environment with delicious seafood. main dishes price range around $20 per plate. the price is quite reasonable for seafood.

their menu. they even had a short story about their restaurant and how it was started.

firstly we had entree. it's fried calamari with garlic bread. the calamari was so fresh and tender and it was fried to perfection. honestly i haven't tried such good fried calamari before. it's different from what we normally have. absolutely love it! the garlic bread was really good too, crispy and flavoursome but not too oily. fantastic way to start a meal.

dad had the seafood pealla. and i should say that it was really delicious, the seafood was alot in there too. good value for money. and he enjoyed the meal so much.

i tried barramundi the greek. it's spiced grilled and topped with chunks of fetta cheese served on a bed of capsicum rice. love the rice alot, it's really light and refreshing. the fish was so fresh and sweet, can't taste the fishy smell at all. went really well with the rice.

we had a plate of half dozen grilled tiger prawns with half cooked with peri-peri sauce and half cooked with cajun sauce. the peri-peri one is the best! i think the sauce is one of the in-house specialities. it has bit of spicyness to it, and the flavour just blends really well together with the prawns. and of course also to mention how fresh and huge are the tiger prawns. totally amazing! mouth watering even just thinking about it.

sis had the grilled hake with vegetables. simple and healthy meal. there are a varieties of fish that you can select from. just mix and match with your own preference and of course the waitress can do the recommendation too.

we also ordered half a dozen of cheese baked scallops to share. well for me, this was just average. although the scallops were really fresh, the flavour was too mild. probably cause the other dishes tasted really flavoursome.

mum had the baked curry sweet lip snapper. it is baked in a wrapped aluminium foil. but sadly it was kind of tasteless for this one. probably cause we are so used to malaysian kind of strong curry flavour.

we also had chicken parmagiana with chips and salad. it tasted really yummy too! the chicken was fried right on the spot, so the meat was kept tender and with the thick layer of cheese on top, it can be a really fulfilling meal. for the whole meal we paid for around $180 for 5 people.

Nobu Japanese Restaurant..

happy easter everyone! had lots of easter bunnies? for me, i was happy like a little kid cause i was finally there in nobu. it's located at lower level, 8 whiteman street, southbank, inside the crown entertainment plaza. it's a famous japanese restaurant in town. the service was awesome and with the food, absolutely perfect and well balanced. i was totally blown away by it, not because it's 'nobu'. oh okay, probably it is cause it's a branded restaurant. well they serve japanese peruvian fusion food, so the menu is really interesting and innovative.

we were seated at the bar and lounge area for some drinks before getting our seats downstairs. lucky enough to get a table without a booking for a public holiday. or you can have some tapas at that area with some drinks to chill out. it was really cool how all the waiters and waitresses greeted us when we went downstairs. looking through the menu, we've ordered one entree, two mains with rice and also one dessert.

for entree, we've ordered the salmon tataki with karashi su miso. i just simply rolled the salmon with the spring onion inside and with some of the sauce. the flavour just blossomed in my mouth. not too sure what is in the sauce, but it was definately yummy with a bit of spicyness, probably some wasabi.

this is the tempura baby tiger prawns with creamy spicy sauce. we actually wanted to ordered the tempura dinner but thanks to the waiter that introduced us to try this one instead. it was a good choice, the flour coatings was not too much and you can taste the freshness of the prawns.

the highlight of the dinner. undeniably the signature dish that they have, the black cod with miso. the miso sauce has this sweetness and at the same time balanced up with bit of saltiness. the black cod was cooked perfectly, and the fish was just soft and fresh. it just melts in your mouth with all the flavours blended so well together. it went really well with the rice as this dish has a strong after taste. you can have the ginger pickles after that to cleanse the after taste in your mouth.

for dessert, we tried the tofu cheesecake with green tea crumble, berry compote and tuile. the tofu cheesecake is so soft and fluffy that you can't realise there's tofu in it. it's a really interesting one and the best part is the it's not too sweet. love it! all in all, we paid for $120 for the dinner. great experience!

Bushaw & Hooey Cafe..

the other day i went to have a quick lunch with a friend during my lunch time and we headed to little bourke street, a quirky and retro kind of cafe restaurant called bushaw & hooey, it's at little bourke street, melbourne. you can find that it's really small but very cosy environment. there's not many varieties on the menu and the price ranges around 15 dollars.

i tried the chicken and mushroom risotto, and i have to say that it was the best risotto i've tried so far. it's really rich and flavoursome, but yet not overwhelming. it was really awesome!

my friend had their chicken sandwich with potato wedges. i think it is their in house special. it was pretty average and bit too dry. overall i had a great time enjoying the environment there and nice place for gatherings. sorry that i got the name of the cafe wrongly before that!