Hung Vuong Saigon

128 Hopkins St
Footscray, 3011

This was one of the first Vietnamese restaurants we visited when we moved to Footscray, and although we'd had a good bowl of Pho, we hadn't been back for ages, probably because it's always looked really busy!

We decided to try it again on a Sunday evening, and it was busy, although we did get a table straight away. Inside it is quite modern, I guess it must have been one the earlier venues on the Hopkins/Barkly Street strip to get a refurb. The menu is pretty straight forward, mostly consisting of various beef and chicken noodle soups...

We had some spring rolls which were fresh and crispy and came with a mild dipping sauce and lettuce leaves.

The pho ga was huge for a medium and came with plenty of chicken. The broth was good, but lacked a bit of punch.

We'd be happy to pop in again, if there is a spare seat!




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Night Market @ Vic Market

Elizabeth Street, Melbourne Victoria 3000

The night market runs from November to March on Wednesdays at Queen Victoria Market.

As well as various stalls selling clothes and other items there are several rows of food stalls.

We weren't too adventurous, I went for a double veggie curry, one dahl and a Malaysian chickpea. They were both fine, but just a bit gluggy, maybe too much potato?

I managed to resist the ice-cream, but I was assured the rum and raisin was good!

It was getting pretty busy by 6:30...

It was a fun place to go and eat, only slightly dented by the over zealous security, who seemed to not even want people to arrive on bikes and use the bike racks!




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O'Connell's Centenary Hotel

407 Coventry Street (Corner of Coventry and Montague Streets),
South Melbourne

 

We had dinner with friends at O'Connell's, which is a gastro pub, with a mix of high end Aussie Pub standards and some higher end dishes on the menu.

As with many South Melbourne pubs, the building is impressive, and inside it was bright and nicely decorated.

 

Amongst the entrées tried were spring rolls, wontons and the quail, which got positive comments.

I had the prawn penne, which actually had a lot more pumpkin then prawn...

 

The medium porterhouse steak was rare if not blue in the middle, and had an inedible portion of gristle.

 

We had a nice time, but the food wasn't really worth the prices being charged.




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Camy Shanghai Dumpling

25 Tattersalls Lane
Melbourne
3000

I'd read about the service at Camy Shanghai Dumplings before going for lunch. We got there fairly early 12.15 on a Monday, and got a table quickly, but it did fill up as we were there. Ordering took a little while and the waiter taking the order seemed like he'd never seen the menu before, it's one thing to have trouble with the language, another not to know what the restaurant serves!

I ordered the prawn and spinach dumplings in the chicken broth, and Mr Hatch went for the beef dumplings, we both went for the 12 dumpling option.

Both of our meals were incorrectly described when handed to us, but we managed to work out they were for us - it was quite easy to tell which were mine, as they had a distinct green tinge.

I'm not sure if I actually got the prawn and spinach dumplings, there were also spinach dumplings on the menu, and I couldn't detect any prawn! The bill also indicated I'd been mis-heard...

The dumplings were nice, but could have been prawnier! The broth was pleasant too.
We had to find our own tea and plastic kids cups to have it in too, but overall the meal was great value at about $12.50 for both of us! I'll have to go back for the prawn and spinach dumplings.

Update 4/2011:

Back again on a Sunday lunch time and started with spring rolls which were crunchy fresh and tasty.

Mushrooms and vegetables dumplings in chicken stock, with a distinct nutty mushroom flavour coming through.

The steamed beef dumplings were also apparently good...

 The service in general seemed better and more under control, all our dishes came straight to us in a reasonable time.




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Cafe Lalibela

91 Irving St
Footscray, 3011

We've eaten at Cafe Lalibela occasionally, but not that often, as M isn't a big fan of the injera bread on which everything is served. We decided to give it another go, and we do like the restaurant atmosphere, on of the nicest vibes in Footscray, whether we've been 2 or on a table of 15...


I'd tried Ethiopian food once before I had visited Lalibela, and have tried one other restaurant serving food from this part of Africa, so it is hard for me to say how authentic it is... The menu starts with a description of the cuisine and how it is presented and eaten.

We ordered the mix of vegetarian dishes and a lamb curry, as can be seen these were served on the injera bread. We ate it with our hands following the tradition (and because you don't get any cutlery). Both the meat and vegie curry's were tasty in a distinctive way. Grabbing the food with the injera bread is a great way to eat in my opinion, but once the bread starts to get soggy and cools it can put people off.

Cafe Lalibela is a great place to eat, and pretty keenly priced, our meal came to $31 including corkage, there are good imported Ethiopian beers on offer too.






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Pho Tam

1/7-9 Leeds St
Footscray

We've been to Pho Tam a few times, but some times forget about it because it is tucked out of the way on Leeds St, kind of behind the Little Saigon market. It is located on a corner and has windows all the way down both sides, and with wooden chairs and tables inside and chairs and tables set up outside, it has an almost cafe feel. Well I guess that could be because there are a lot of people drinking Vietnamese style coffee's outside.

It was quite busy when we arrived for a late lunch, with a youngish crowd.

We had the mixed spring rolls to start. They came with the usual lettuce and herbs with a spicy dipping sauce. Both the prawn and pork fillings were tasty, and the rolls were crispy and well cooked, and the whole package wrapped up in the lettuce leafs worked well, the sauce was really quite spicy!

Of course we ended up going for the Pho Ga, which as you can see had plenty of chicken! The stock was pleasantly flavoured, but not too strong. There were plenty of herbs and bean shoots served on the side.

The food lived up to its normally high standards, and all up came to $27.50. For some reason there always seems to be plenty going on at Pho Tam, and I'm sure we will keep coming back...





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