Wow, it's been a week already! I've been sick ever since Thursday and it just took a turn for the worse on Friday and Saturday so I'm really glad that I'm feeling a bit better now. Since I've been sick, I've been spending more time at home and so I started catching up on my anime and manga. Because of that, I started reading Tokyo Ghoul out of curiosity since I've been a bit more interested in the horror genre in manga. Strangely, I feel like when it talks about eating, it really reminds me of Toriko. Where Toriko is a manga that talks about the appreciation of food, Tokyo Ghoul really makes me question what I am eating in front of me. It doesn't change my standpoint but I guess it does make one shudder when reading about the gourmet restaurant in there. If you've read Tokyo Ghoul, I hope your stomachs aren't churning thinking about it! But however it is, after all, this is a blog that talks about food, so obviously I lean more towards Toriko's way of things.
Without further ado, let's get into what other places I visited in Melbourne!
Da Hu Peking Duck Restaurant, CBD
Actually, I visited this place the first time I went to Melbourne as well and didn't think it was anything special but I appreciate it now haha. The duck seems consistently good and it's in Chinatown so it's really convenient to go to! Located at 171 Little Bourke Street along with many other Asian restaurants, it can be a bit hard to find 'the one', however my sister and her boyfriend swear by this place and visit it every time for their Peking duck when they come to Melbourne.
I always like watching them slice it into pieces so beautifully and quick! Really gets you to start salivating when the duck looks so good being served in front of you! If you're curious, we ordered the Duck Special Banquet (for 2 people) - $69.80 which was called 'Duck four tastes' in Chinese and consists of an entree of Duck Sang Choy Bow, Duck Bone and Beancurd Soup, with the main course of Roast Peking Duck (whole) and Duck Meat Fried Rice or Noodles. We chose the fried rice because we wanted rice haha.
Although looking rather unappealing there, this Duck Sang Choy Bow tasted pretty standard. I personally prefer my dad's version that he made for me once when I visited his restaurant in the past but the sauce in this was very well balanced with the lettuce. There was way too much radish in this for my liking but the lettuce tasted very fresh and crunchy and accompanied with the strong flavour of the sauce made it taste very refreshing with a bit of savoury flavour. It's really the perfect entree to the start of your feast! It really gets your appetite going!
I was really looking forward to what this would taste like but unfortunately, this was the most disappointing dish in the banquet. Apparently, it didn't used to taste like this but well, maybe it changed :( This Duck Bone and Beancurd Soup sadly tasted like roasted duck cooked in water, mixed around for a few minutes with cabbage or lettuce (I forgot!). It was very lightly flavoured and so was a bit refreshing and not heavy but the duck pieces were rather tasteless because of all the water which made it even more saddening! The soup tastes like water and the duck pieces didn't have the nice strong flavour of the duck anymore making it lose its' essence. Well, the texture was still there I guess.
I don't know why, but I think we were so excited to eat the Peking Duck that I forgot to take a photo of it LOL. Well, I have the pancake! I used to think that all pancakes taste the same but boy am I totally wrong! The pancake here is amazing. I loved it. It was really super soft and warm and it was the perfect size and fluffiness! It wasn't too thick or too thin and there were plenty to share with four people! The Peking Duck this time around was a bit drier than the last time we came here but the skin was crisp and filled with the flavour of the roasted duck. Definitely loved this the most. The pancakes just made it taste so soft and tasty <3
I know what you're thinking! It looks like normal fried rice haha. But surprisingly, this tasted much better than I thought, I really didn't expect much from fried rice but this one was good. Like really good, I really enjoyed it. Since the fried rice itself was only lightly salted, you could really taste the duck flavour as the main highlight in this dish. The fried rice complemented really well with the duck and made sure to play a good supportive role for the duck in your mouth. Each bite made me like the fried rice more and more. Definitely have a duck piece in each bite, it changes the whole dish.
The banquet was for 2 people, so we thought that we might need an extra dish just in case. We ended up being so full from just the banquet though haha! Anyway, this Braised Pork with Soy Sauce in a Clay Pot ($25.80) was really juicy. It was very soft and tender! It literally melted in my mouth. If I didn't have so many duck pancakes, I definitely would have eaten more of this! If you're a fan of fatty pork, you'll probably like this. It was filled with fat and flavour haha. It's definitely best accompanied with plain white rice because the taste is rich enough to stand by itself. It really doesn't need extra flavour in the rice to fight with it.
Final verdict? I'd come here for the pancakes again the next time I come to Melbourne!
Fortuna Noodles Express, Phillip Island
As a tourist visiting the penguins (they were so cute!), we really didn't know what restaurant to choose to eat at. We ended up walking around until we found this restaurant at Shop 2, 96-100 Thompson Avenue, Coves with some seating and it was run by Asians so we decided that they've gotta know their stuff! (Hopefully..) I mean, I'm an Asian that only eats haha!
As a lover of Hokkien noodles ($12.50), I couldn't resist the temptation of picking it from the menu. I think the best thing about this place are the reasonable prices and the big portions! I really thought it tasted exactly like ones I could find in Sydney! I loved how saucy this was. Every string of noodle was literally soaked in sauce! It was a tad bit too sweet but the texture of the noodles were cooked to perfection and the char siu was tender. I was very satisfied with this dish!
Yuum! I really liked this fried rice! It was spicy and sweet at the same time making it a really good combination with the gigantic pineapples and well tossed rice! In addition, all the greens and meat makes it have a good balance of veggies and meat.
Another favourite of mine was the Satay Chicken Chow Ho ($12.50), this one was a bit too spicy for me after I ate a quarter of it but the satay sauce was really fragrant and flavoursome. It had lots of carrots and other vegetables tossed with chicken thigh meat which was really tender and soft. Chicken thighs have always been the best part of chicken for me and it's satay sauce so I definitely enjoyed this even if it was a bit too spicy.
Last to the fray was the Nasi Goreng ($11.50), it was a bit spicy but still tasted pretty good. It really had the feel of normal fried rice packed with ingredients.
I personally loved how big the portions were and was very full and satisfied after we finished.They weren't stingy at all with the ingredients and everything tasted just like an average Chinese restaurant here in Sydney. It tasted kind of like home.
Hutong Dumpling Bar, CBD
Due to us coming home very late back to the CBD after our trips to Great Ocean Road and Phillip Island, we failed to secure a place at this bustling dumpling restaurant twice. Thus, we were determined to try Hutong (14-16 Market Lane) before leaving Melbourne no matter what. There's quite a few seats but it's probably best to book if you want to ensure there's a spot for you.
A staple to any Shanghai restaurant is Siu Long Bao ($11.80) with 8 pieces to share. There wasn't anything special about this one, pretty standard. Maybe the skin was a bit thicker and was filled with lots of soup but I think the taste was rather average. Well, it's siu long bao so I'm satisfied as long as I get to eat it haha.
These were my favourite of the bunch. The Wontons with hot chilli sauce ($10.80) consisting of 8 pieces was really nice. It wasn't extremely chilli because it also had a tinge of sweetness in the sauce making it perfect for me! I always like a tinge of chilli in my food even though I can't take heaps of chilli, it really adds to the flavour! The skin was quite thin and tasty making it very easy to swallow and enjoy. A must try!
These were the biggest disappointment for me. I was looking forward to these Pan-fried Dumplings ($13.20) but the skin was really thick and very moist and sticky. I really didn't like the texture of it. I personally prefer a more crunchy but soft texture so I didn't like these. I feel like they were so soft, as if they were steamed for too long.
We were a bit excited to try Duck Meat Dumplings ($9.80) since you don't get to see this at every restaurant and it was pretty average. I really liked the skin though, it tastes like a thinner version of the skin of prawn dumplings at yumcha. The duck made it an interesting combination but I would personally eat other buns instead. But I do love these types of skin where it's thin and soft.
We were going to order more dumplings but then we realised that the State Dumplings and Braised Beef Brisket in Claypot ($24.50) house boiled pork dumplings in it and so we chose this. This wasn't really what we expected. The flavouring was more like soup rather than sauce and the meat wasn't as tender as it should be. After eating my dad's super soft version at home so many times, I couldn't like this. I guess this is what happens when your dad's a chef lol! In addition, it was very chewy! I was literally chewing for a minute on each piece. The soup was nice though..until we found a hair in it lol. These dumplings also had very thick skin but the pork inside was really nice so I didn't mind it that much.
I always order Peking Noodles with Meat Sauce ($13.80) whenever I go eat Shanghai dumplings and so we definitely had to try their version! Personally, it was a bit too wet for me and the taste was a bit plain compared to the usual I eat back in Ashfield in Sydney. It tasted better with hot chilli sauce but yeah pretty standard.
We were really hyped up about this place and so we were pretty disappointed overall. For me, I believe I like Ashfield dumplings much better. Price range is more reasonable at Ashfield and I prefer their buns and dumplings more. I personally didn't think this place was anything special.
Well then, the next post will be a bit different from my usual because after being inspired by my friend, I've decided to do a favourites post! Yay! It's probably going to end up being very long because it's a 2014 favourites but hopefully it'll be an interesting read! Until next time!
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