Miss Katie's Crab Shack

On the homebound leg of a road trip with Princess, Pasta and D we hit up Katie's crab shack after a doughnut binge at QVM. Katie's Crab Shack is something I've long wanted to visit. It's located right opposite QVM so it so close I couldn't say no to it.

We weren't very hungry so we just got a few things to share. First thing was Katie's Fried Chicken, as many of you know, I always have a soft spot for fried chicken. Katie's fried chicken came in a serving of 8 pieces with a side of fries and ranch dipping sauce. The outside was nice and crispy but it lacked  seasoning. Without the ranch dipping sauce it felt bland, I am use to fried chicken that has more 'oomph' in taste. It's not a bad fried chicken but more seasoning would have been preferred. The seasoning in the fries were good though. Their "Old Bay" seasoning was a good blend of salty goodness.

The crab burger was a blue swimmer crab patty, with slaw, herb mayo and a big pickle on the side. Patty was moist and had a lot of crab inside. This is more of a delicate burger and would be perfect with a big glass of cider.

Overall 13.5/20 I was blown away with what I ate but I do know, I didn't try their signature crab boil. With what I ate I was happy, I won't drive out there just to visit but if I was in the vicinity I won't mind dropping in again to try other things on the menu.

 

Shake Shack

What is a girl to do when she is alone on Valentine's Day in a city that reminds you about this holiday at every corner you turn to. Well she goes shopping, gets herself a manicure and line up for a burger from Shake Shack.

Shake Shack is renowned for it's famous burgers, I visited the branch on 8th Avenue in the theatre district. I got there around 6pm and the line was out the door. In the blistering cold weather and the snow coming down fast outside, people lined up and like all those other people, I wanted my burger so I joined the queue. Lucky the queue was moving fast and within 25 minutes I was placing my order.

I got the single shack burger, this was the classic cheeseburger. With a soft bun and medium cooked angus patty with cheese perfectly melted on top. I can understand why this place is so famous. The shack sauce along with the tomato and lettuce just tied everything beautifully together. The best part, was this burger wasn't huge so I could eat a second one if I wanted to or just get other things as well.

The cheesy fries caught my eyes as soon as I saw it on the menu. We don't get this on the menu often in Australia, so there was no debating in my mind. The chips were crinkle cut and cooked just right, the sauce was a creamy thick cheddar sauce. It was nice but I had to have a few chips dunked in ketchup along the way to help break down the creamy and cheesiness.

Finally, I decided to skip the drink and went straight for dessert. I got  pretzel the concrete, which is what they call an ice custard. It was a chocolate custard with pretzel pieces, chocolate bites, mashmellow and peanut butter sauce. It is all your textbook naughties all mixed together in a cup and it was heaven in every spoon I ate. The flavour compliment each other well. All those toppings can be very rich, but that was combated with an ice cream that wasn't too rich but more creamy to bring the element together.

Since the first visit was so good, I decided to make another visit to try out more of the menu. 

This time I got Smoke Shack which had a patty with cheese melted on top, bacon, cherry peppers and shack sauce. The bacon was crispy with a smoky taste to it. Complimented with the sauce and a bit of a kick in the peppers, it was a nice twist to the classic.

This time round, instead of fries I got the ShackMeister dog. This was a dog stacked with cheddar sauce and shallots. I couldn't help myself and added ketchup but it really didn't need the ketchup. This was the perfect snack size for anyone who was feeling peckish. The dog itself was not too heavy and the simplicity of this made it something you can happily eat more than one of.

Since it was my second visit, I decided to be more creative and make my own concrete. I put the chocolate custard with fudge sauce, cheesecake and doughnuts. I got lots of doughnuts and cheesecake in it. Can't say i did a bad job in designing my own, but I did like the predesigned pretzel one more. It had the salty and sweet that mine didn't.

Overall 17/20 I really enjoyed my visit, as you can tell I liked it so much I went twice. The burgers are the right size. If you are starving get 2, if you are just a bit hungry get 1. It was the right level of guilt with the bite and the taste made it a very rewarding experience.

 

Sushi Burger aka J Cafe

Located on Exhibition St, J Cafe is one of those places that has been around for ages. J Cafe was one of the first places to offer sushi burger and is well known for it. On a particular Friday with my usual burger friends Mario, Bear and Miss Pika, we decided it was more a sushi burger day than a beef patty burger day.

Bear decided to go with the bento sushi burger combo. For the sushi burger he picked hamburg which was a beef and pork patty and tonkotsu as a main. The patty was nice and juicy together with the big piece of green and mayo, it was a perfect size treat. The tonkotsu was done with a well crumbled exterior. He got the spicy salmon sushi burger

Miss P decided she wanted 2 sushi burgers and nothing else. She got the spicy raw salmon and the croquette sushi burger. Both sushi burgers hit the spot, the rice was soft and the seaweed held it together nicely. There might have been a bit too much sauce, but it's more a personal preference.

Mario also got the bento and he got his with the soft shell crab burger. His sushi burger was my favourite out of the whole table, I love how the deep fried soft shell crab gave the burger that crunchy and bite.

I was having a 'guilty, fat day' so I got the chirashi salmon bowl. This came with generous amounts of salmon with a drizzle of terriyaki sauce and kewpi mayo. Not bad value, considering how much was in the bowl.

Overall 14/20 this is the original sushi burger in Melbourne, some say it's not quite Mos Burger, but I actually like it more than Mos burger. If you don't want a sushi burger there are other choices too.

D'Elephant Thai - Chadstone

I was fortunate enough to be invited to D'Elephant Thai's VIP tasting event. D'Elephant Thai is a new casual Thai eatery which caters for authentic Thai at a family friendly price point. It's located at Chadstone Shopping Centre near the Paparich/Simon Johnson entrance

To start we were served 4 canapes of pla goong, toong tong, mhu bhing ans satay gai. Pla goong was a prawn salad with line leaves and lemon grass. It was light and refreshing. Toong tong was a small fried dumpling with wonton skins of corn kernels and  pork. Perfect if you come with kids.

Mhu bhing was a  grilled pork skewer and satay gai was chicken satay served with a peanut sauce.

Then we were invited to try the som tum by the owner Phoon. This was done at a salad station where there were jars of salted duck egg, prawns, crackling, bean shoots, cherry tomatoes etc. It was made for you on the spot and you can tell them exactly how spicy you want it. The salad was fresh and crisp and the dressing was the right amount of zest and heat. I didn't like the duck egg in it but D was happily chomping them down, while I went for more crackling.

For starters we picked the tom yum prawn and red curry roast duck. The red curry roast duck was a rich creamy curry that had coconut milk fragrant laced into it lightly. It's the type of sweet curry that is good for those who don't like too much heat and prefer a mild, sweet curry.

Tom yum prawn was my favourite dish of the night. The broth was perfectly sour with just the right amount of spiciness. Loved how it was generous with the vegetables too.

Next was the mains, D picked the Chinese broccoli stir fried with pork belly

 I went for the chilli jam cashew chicken. Really enjoyed the classic flavours in this one.

For dessert we were all served a mango sticky rice with coconut ice cream and cantaloupe sago with coconut milk.

D'Elephant also offers a range of Thai drinks such as Thai ice milk tea,  Nom yen (ice rose milk) and pandan lemon grass cooler. Be warned though, Thai drinks are on the sweet side.

Verdict?

I think it's a great addition to the Chadstone food scene, it makes a great local restaurant and on the likes of Paparich, it's one of those places you can bring your family and expect good classic dishes.

Miss Marple's Tearoom

If you feel like going for a drive to Mt Dandenong or doing the 1000 steps, Miss Marple's is a good place to stop by. Located on Tourist Road in Sassafras, it's hard to miss, there is usually a long line or large groups of tourist outside waiting for a table. It's a small tea house and when you walk in, you are instantly greeted with a cottage feel.

 We come here a lot so we knew exactly what we wanted once we were seated. To start we got the chicken, cheese, pineapple fingers to share. These were no frills chicken pieces, pineapple and English cheddar melted on top. Garnished with a handful of alfalfa. This is nothing fancy but satisfying in the way it feels like how 'mum would make it'.

Next on the agenda was the beef cottage pie. Served in a small baking dish, there was mince beef filling topped with fluffy potato mash and a side of home made relish. This is not your fine dining type of pie, but more so the pie you would find at grandma's house.

We moved to the sweets next, we got their famous Devonshire scones. These are by far the softest scones I've ever eaten, it boarder lines a cake and it's so good. We got 4 to share between us, 2 fruit and 2 plain. Four was excessive but just 1 each is never enough either. They come out steaming hot and with the whipped cream and home made jam, it makes that long drive up there all worth it.

Together with a cup of Yorkshire Gold it was just the perfect afternoon tea.

After the scones, there was the ice creams, I don't know why I always make the same mistake, I can never finish it but I always order it. The first dessert was the Sundae Best, this was a massive sundae with layers vanilla ice cream, fudge, whipped cream, flaked almonds and topped with a glacier cherry. This dessert is very big so I would recommend to share. It is any child's dream dessert and I still get every time, even though I can't finish it.

The other dessert we got was the vicar's folly. This sundae came with butterscotch ice cream honeycomb, caramel fudge, chocolate and whipped cream. It is very old school palour feel and it taste as you would expected.

Overall 15/20 I always enjoy a visit to Miss Marple's, the home style food and old school desserts. It is not your fancy dishes but it hits the spot. Oh and those scones.... it's a must try.

Nest Restaurant

Ness was back in Melbourne when this invitation came and I thought since me, (Jar Jar) was Ness' usual partner in crime for Brisbane, I was a good enough representation for the blog.
When Ness told me the event was Nest Restaurants & Bar’s launch, I immediately knew I was in for a good night. I was going to bring the boy but he was out of town so 5 mins later, J agreed to be my partner in crime and everything was set.

The location made me check the map twice, to make sure that I got it right because Nest is located in the most unusual place – right above the Roma Street Station. However, a bit of research showed that this precinct is currently being developed into Brisbane’s new food, bar & lounge destination.

As we walked through the door we were greeted with a glass of champagne and some fortune cookies which were our tickets for a competition. The space itself is very funky, with interior designer making some very bold choices – a collection of unusual down lights and gorgeous timber “nest” installation were my highlights.

However, what completely won me over was actually outside – a massive fig tree decorated with hundreds of Chinese lanterns which will surely not only increase street appeal but serve as an invitation to all the passerby.

Food was served canapé style, with canapes representing samples of the dishes on the menu. We started with some grilled Turkish bread with olive oil dukkah, house grown herb butter which was a good start, but nothing too special – I felt like there is something missing, but that might just be a factor of me eating way too much dukkah avo toast.

Vietnamese rolls didn’t just look very pretty with asparagus spears, but they were also perfectly light and tasty – definitely the dish we felt the least guilty about eating.

Next we had crispy fried vegetable dumplings with fruit chutney. The dumplings themselves were a bit bland, but fruit chutney was spicy and thus did wonders for lifting the flavour of veggies.

My personal favourite for the night came next – a duck salad with green pear, seasonal greens and a ginger, lime and coriander dressing. This dish was uncomplicated but delicious, with flavours and textures complimenting each other perfectly.

 Laksa, was the one that got away. I managed to take a photo when it was on the counter but it was all gone by the time it reached us. So didn't get to try it.

Onwards to some of the heartier dishes, I opted for nasi goreng with prawns, beef, chicken, market greens and fried egg. J went with the pad thai which came with all the usual suspects. Both very classic, no fuss dishes that we both found very satisfying.

Pad thai 

Nasi goreng

Once when our champagne glasses very empty, we were recommended a rum cocktail made with house made honey (from the roof!) and served in jars which made it look very innocent. However, as myself and rum don’t go too well together I got for vodka, cranberry and lime cocktail and didn't regret it.

Finally, we finished the evening with some crème brulee . My expectations of dessert are always high, but every box was ticked – crème brulee was perfectly creamy and crunchy on top. Good thing that waitress didn't come around with seconds because I wouldn't be able to say no! (Sorry about the blurry photos, I've had a few cocktails by this stage).

Overall 13.5/20 I definitely see myself coming back to Nest, mainly for two important reasons – one is tasty, no fuss lunch on a weekday and the other one is some after work drinks in a great atmosphere and with a view of that gorgeous fig tree.