Thai Style

455 Church St
Richmond, Vic

We visited Thai Style with a largish group of friends, some of whom had been along before. It is cosy inside, and we filled up an area of the restaurant. The menu covered many thai favourites.

We shared the a fwe of the mixed entree 'B' platters, with fish cakes, spring rolls, satay skewers, curry puffs. I tried the fish cakes and chicken satay skewers which were both good.

 

There were some more tod mun Pla (fish cakes) in the selection of mains ordered.

 

The Green Curry chicken was apparently good, I tend not to order it as I enjoy making it how I like it!

 

The Phad Gra Prow (Chicken) Stir fried chilli paste with mushrooms beans & sweet basil leaves looked good, and got a good wrap.

 

The Gang Massamun Gai Curry with chicken, peanuts potatoes wasn't bad, but was a little light on peanuts, and had pineapple in it, something I'd never experienced before, either in Thailand, a Thai restaurant or even a recipe! As I'm not a fan of pineapple other than on it's own, I wasn't a huge fan of this innovation.

I also tried the Pad Thai which was full of great flavours, but unfortunately the noodles were just slightly underdone. The service was friendly although slightly disorganised, and unfortunately one of the main courses didn't arrive. The bill came to $25 a head, including the odd beer, the wine drink was BYO'd.

View Larger Map

Stones of the Yarra Valley

14 St Huberts Rd
Coldstream,
Vic 3770

Stones winery is set off a small road in Coldstream in the Yarra Valley. The location is beautiful, with rolling vineyards surrounding the various buildings with views to more distant hills.

We went to an event at Stones, which went really well.

The prawn entrée was great, with large tasty well prepared prawns in a crispy coating.

I didn't try the quail but got good reports, it looked good to.

The duck was lovely, as were the accompanying vegetables.

The service was good despite the large number of guests.





View Foodscrazy in a larger map

Gurkha's Carlton

258 Lygon St
Carlton, 3053

We got a voucher for Gurkhas from Living Social, I guess it worked as we probably wouldn't normally head to Lygon Street for dinner. The voucher was $39 for 2 courses for 2 people with a bottle of wine.

There were a few other customers there when we visited on a week night. Inside there was a Nepalese theme to the décor, including photo's of the Himalayas and Hindu statues.

We went for the garlic prawns which I imagine isn't a Nepalese favourite and the more traditional mixed momo dumplings, two veggie and two ginger lamb. The momo were better then the prawns.

We had the house speciality, khasiko masu - diced goat meat served in the traditional style and a eggplant and potato dish for main with rice and roti for our main. The goat was good, with strong flavours from the meat with a mild curry sauce. The eggplant and potato went together better than I expected. Both dishes were reasonably oily, but not too bad.

The service was friendly and efficient. The only slight surprise and disapointment was that the voucher didn't cover rice or roti, and we'd been brought more than we'd intended to order, so we had to pay another $10.50 at the end of the meal.




View Larger Map

Blufish

16 Centre Pl
Melbourne, 3000

A friend fancied fish with salad in the city, and I had to scratch my head. After a quick look on urban spoon I found Blufish. It was a great place to take a visitor to, tucked away on a laneway between Flinders lane and Collins St.

There are a few tables near the entrance, with orders taken at the counter.

The menu has a mix of healthy specials and fish and chip classics. We both went for the grilled fish salad, which did what it said on the tin.

It was tasty, but not super filling.

The service was more chip shop than restaurant, but for quick and relatively healthy fast fish in the city it is a good option.




View Larger Map

Grand Pacific Hotel Lorne

268 Mountjoy Parade
Lorne, 3232

The Grand Pacific Hotel sits on Mountjoy Parade/the Great Ocean Road near the pier on the edge of Lorne. The Victorian building is impressive, we sat outside, but a trip in to the bar showed it looked good inside too, with a tasteful refurbishment.

 

The menu covered a range seafood, steaks, pizzas and pub favourites. We shared the "Pacific Seafood Platter For Two"

 

The crystal bay king prawns were good as was the spiced calamari and chilli & tomato black mussels a combination I hadn't tried before. The battered coral trout was a slightly naughty treat, and worth breaking the no batter rule for, the grilled option wasn't bad either. The coffin bay oysters were well presented and enjoyable. The blue swimmer crab and marinated morton bay bugs were fine without being highlights for me, the fresh garden salad accompanied the dish well and kept me from having to many chips!

 

The platter looked as well as tasted good, and in a great location overlooking the sea was probably worth the $95.




View Larger Map

Caledonian Inn, Port Fairy

41 Bank Street
Port Fairy
Vic 3284

The Caledonian Inn is apparently Victoria’s oldest continually licensed hotel. I'd visited before for a drink, but hadn't eaten.

The pub sits on a corner and is pretty traditional outside and in. The menu features mostly classic Aussie pub food.

I went for the special of barramundi, and chose grilled as opposed to battered. It was good without being spectacular, the presentation being basic.

The Eye Fillet with Bearnaise sauce and seafood was good apparently.

Overall it was a good meal at reasonable prices, although the ones online don't look quite right from my memory.




View Larger Map

Espy Kitchen

11 The Esplanade
St Kilda, 3182

The Espy is a Melbourne and St Kilda institution, and despite many visits to the pub, I'd never actually eaten there.

After figuring out a way in to the Espy Kitchen area, we sat inside as it was a hot late afternoon. There were a few other people eating, but it wasn't busy.

I went for the Salmon fish cakes with a rocket and cucumber salad. The fish cakes were crunchy and flavoursome, and the salad was a good accompaniment. the cakes were a little on the small side, but at least there were four of them!

This was my friend from the UK's first ever chicken parma, he chose to forgo the chips. He was a little sceptical at first, but in the end went for it and enjoyed it. His description of it as a pizza with a chicken base was novel and accurate!

The service was good, and overall it was a good experience.





View Larger Map