Railway Hotel, Yarraville

35 Anderson Street
Yarraville
VIC 3013

We hadn't got around to checking out the re-christened and renovated Railway Hotel in Yarraville, so arranged to meet Rick and Nadia there on a sunny Thursday evening.

We got a table in the dining area towards the back, with plush banquette seating and white table cloths. It all felt quite different to previous visits to the buildings former existence as the Blarney Stone 'Irish' Pub.

The menu mixes a few classic pub dishes with other offerings inspired from more far flung cuisines.

Rick went for the fish and chips which was served with a salad. I'm not a fan of serving the fish on top of the chips, but it looked good otherwise and and he was happy with his choice.

The better half went for the singapore noodles. They had a really intense flavour, we reckoned from too much shrimp paste or possibly fish sauce. It overpowered the other ingredients and we ended up swapping dishes as it was just a bit too much for her.

Nadia enjoyed her duck.

I went for the vegetable korma with rice, naan and raita which was served elegantly. The meal was fine if a little on the bland side.

The service through the evening was fine and tolerant of our slow ordering. The bill came $170 for 4 including drinks, which seemed a lot for slightly hit and miss meals we received, I've noticed elsewhere that the parma here is highly rated so maybe it would have been better to stick to the more traditional options...

Slice Girls West

4 Yewers Street
Footscray
Vic 3011

If you aren't looking out for Slice Girls West, it is easy to miss, with just the oversize street number and a few fairy lights marking it out from the other industrial looking units lining the narrow street running off Moreland Road near the Footscray Arts Centre.

Right inside is the counter with coffee and cakes on offer in addition to the Pizza menu.

The fit out of the relatively small space is cute and almost kitsch with a few high tables and openings through to the kitchen at the back.

Upstairs work is going on to fit out a bar, which will be larder than the restaurant downstairs, it should be opening in February. The licence has been approved and downstairs a few beers and a cidre are now available.

We'd already made plans to take our meal down to the river, to make the most of sunny summer evening.

The better half, a fan of the city branch already knew she wanted the mushroom pizza which was also topped with mozzarella, caramelised onion, black truffle oil, and parsley. It didn't quite live up to the original she loves, with a little to much cheese and not enough 'shrooms.

I went for the Vegan option featuring a Napoli sauce, olives, mushrooms, roasted red capsicum, basil, and garlic oil. I was impressed with the pizza, great quality ingredients on a fantastic thin and just crispy enough base combined to produce a healthy and tasty winner.

The two pizzas came to a fair $24 all up, and although they aren't huge certainly satisfied us. The service was friendly and our boxed up meals seemed to be ready in a speedy 5 to 10 minutes, although things were pretty quiet. It is certainly work seeking out Spice Girls West down and it will be interesting to see how the venue develops in what is an area with plenty of change occurring.

Oppa Kitchen

271 Swanston Street
Melbourne
VIC 3000

Trem and I met up at Oppa Kitchen which was conveniently located on Swanston Street. The glass front opens into a modern white walled space with a polished concrete floors.

We were directed past the tables and service area and up to the 1st floor, which was initially quiet, but soon filled up. After checking out the menu we were told to fill out the little form to complete our order, which was soon collected.

We didn't have to wait too long for our food, but Trem's meal did come out a little after mine. He had the Grilled pork belly bulgogi "Dosirak" meal bucket, a single portion take away or home packed meal common in Korea. The meat was served on rice along with fresh salad in mandarin dressing, deep fried potato hash and pickled radish and went down well.

I went for the crispy tofu and mushroom bibimbap which was part of a summer special offer and only $9. Bibimbap is a signature Korean dish served as a bowl of warm rice topped with sauteed and seasoned vegetables with chilli paste and in this case egg. The mushrooms were packed with flavour and star of the plate for me.

The service was fine and the mains priced from around $11 outside the special. Oppa kitchen is great spot to grab some Korean food on Swanston street.