Cafe Maritana, Ocean Grove

1 Flinders Parade
Barwon Heads
VIC 3227

We chose Cafe Maritana initially based on its enviable location close to the water near the bridge across to Ocean Grove. There was no menu up outside but we decided to take a risk and head on in. The fit out inside simple and classic with wooden tables and flowers on the tables. It turned out that the menu was almost tapas style with plates to share.

We kicked off with the bread with dukha, balsamic and olive oil. The bread itself seemed pretty basic but the oil, vinegar and dukkah were all good.

The prawns were big, fresh and flavoursome, if only there had been more!

The Persian Beans combined the legumes with olives, feta and more dukkah. Whilst each of the components were good, the combination didn't quite work for us.

The tempura soft shell crab was another winner.

 Our final selection was the mini-bucket of chilli salt whitebait which packed quite a flavour punch which we enjoyed.

Overall it was a little hit and miss and it would have been great to have a bit more variety with the salad garnish, as rocket appeared in 3 of the dishes. The service was friendly and well paced. The bill came to $98 with a 3 drinks.

Overloaded, Footscray

253 Barkly Street
Footscray
VIC 3011

When I was emailed a $10 voucher from one for one of the online food ordering sites, I decided to put it to use checking out the newly opened Overloaded Cafe and self proclaimed 'Burger Specialists'.

The store front on Barkly Street is easy to locate once you get close and also seems to house an accountancy office. Inside the bare brick walls feature a counter along one side and a couple of tables along the other, one of which was occupied on my weekend lunchtime visit.

Despite my order having been made an hour before and me being a few minutes after the appointed pick up time, I had a few minutes to wait before my bag was ready.

I'd gone for the mushroom burger and the initial impression was reasonable.

Opening the burger I found 2 halved mushrooms, rather than the single larger portabello. Beneath there was a salad featuring plenty of lettuce and red onion along with a couple of slices of tomato. The roll itself was dry, and the sum of the parts didn't add up to a great burger.

The chips were fine, but got cold very quickly on the way home.

The meal would have been $12 without the voucher. Overall I don't think 8 bit has much to be worried about...