Mrs Parma's

This is one of those places that the boys like to head to on a night out. Lots of beer to choose from and a whole menu of Parma's

I am not someone who will shy away from a good parma either, so I was more than happy to go again.

We had the Mushroom Parma with veal. This was really as simple as Napoli sauce with oregano and mushroom topped with cheese. The meat was very juicy and it was crumbed nicely. Not a stand out but no complains from me either.

Next was the Roast Pumpkin Parma with chicken. This consisted of feta, roast pumpkin and basil, with the same Napoli sauce and cheese as the Mushroom parma. Again nicely crumbed but because the pumpkin was roasted, towards the end of the meal it started to get soggy from the water content in the pumpkin. Nice homey flavours. (Not quite sure why it was in a funny fish shape......)

Finally, there was the blistered pepper with veal. This was literally one big pepper on top, with bocconcini and basil accompanied with cheese and Napoli sauce. For me, this just didn't work. Having that whole pepper on top was not ideal, as it was hard to cut and put with each bite... Not a fan of this one. However, like the others it was also nicely crumbed.

Overall not a bad meal, not the best but then again this is not fine dining. However it is pretty neat for a parma. Don't expect your mind to be blown away with new and inventive combos, this is really a sample of all the classic flavours on top of a parma 14/20

El Loco

Another weekend in Sydney, so I could not pass the chance to swing by Surrey Hills and check out another one of Dan Hong's place. I've heard about El Loco and I normally like Mexican food, so I didn't need much more of a push.

When I got there, it was not as I expected. I knew the place was a drinking venue but I didn't expect a crowd to the door. There is no table service here, you pretty much just go in find yourself a seat and order (a bit like a canteen, but in a fun way). I had to admit when I walked in I was a overwhelmed but luckily one of the really cute chef noticed us and explained to my boyfriend how things worked. He even helped us look for a table

Anyway, on to the real reason for this blog, the food! Let's start with the tacos. All their tacos are $5 and they have 6 options, 1 being a secret taco that changes daily. So here it goes the tacos that I tried:

The pollo, a chicken taco with sweet corn salsa. This was my favourite taco out of all the ones I tried. The sweetness of the corn together with the tangy salsa, and crisp salad bed of cabbage was just something you would happily eat more than one of. Good combination of flavours

The tofu. This is as the name suggest, a taco filled with a marinated then fried tofu. For some reason this reminded me of spicy plume sauce tofu. It was nice but not something I will always order. But if you have any vegetarian friends, at least they won't miss out when you come here.

The pork. This was a bit funny, I don't quite know how to describe it. The pork was soft and juicy, but with the pineapple salsa it seemed to be overpowered by the salsa. I think because I had the other tacos beforehand, this felt disappointing. But if I had this at the start to lead up to the other tacos, I think I would've felt different. 

Secret taco. My secret taco was a pork belly taco. There is rarely a dish where pork belly fails, this time it was no different. Yummmmy

The beef. The beef was flavoured with lemongrass together with fresh salsa of lettuce and tomato.

Besides taco, I also tried the excelsior hot dog. It truly looks amazing. It was pork sausage in a soft bun, with loads of cheese and pickles inside and mayo on top. It looks better than it taste but that is not to say it doesn't taste good.

Finally, there was the nachos, fresh guacomole and spicy tangy salsa. So good I had it take away afterwards.

As a complement to the meal, I had the pink cuco, which was a pink grapefruit tequila slushy. This is a pretty girl drink, with a mild kick. Great for a good night out.

Overall, as crowded as it was, it was a good experience. It was really busy but the waitresses were still friendly and helpful. 17/20

Pricing $ dirt cheap. This is NOT fine dining, it is in a way bar food but it still kicks arse!

**more photos to follow**

Laksa King

I have a Malaysian mum who does lots of Malaysian dishes at home. So it is rare that I find a Malaysian restaurant that I absolutely love. Anybody who has friends with Malaysian mums or have a Malaysian mum will know that most of them are good cooks and can do a wide range of Malaysian hawkers cuisine at home.

This going to be a short post because I pretty much eat the same thing everytime I visit.

To start with I always get the roti rolls. Satay chicken with cucumber, red onions wrapped in a warm roti roll. Always gives me that very satisfied feeling.

As a main, there is no way you can visit Laksa King and not have a Laksa. They do have a whole range of different laksa's but I always like to get the combination laksa with extra eggplants yummmmmm

The reason I like the laksa here so much is the soup is very coconut creamy, unlike the typical food court styled laksa that are just watery and a bit of spice through it. This has a full body soup with fragrant curry base through it. Thumbs up!

After the roti rolls and laksa, I am normally stuffed to the brim but I will always make room for chendol. Not that Laksa King does an exceptional job on it, it's just hard to find in Melbourne and happens to be one of my favourite Asian desserts.

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Overall 7/10 If you are in the area, you should really try this place!

Pricing is $. Very cheap and fast with quality to match

Chin Chin

This was my second visit to this joint and after 1 hour and 20 minutes I finally got a table for myself and 2 friends. I really like the food and atmosphere but the idea of the wait always deters me from going there more frequently.


If you like your plum wine then you absolutely have to try the Choya Cocktail. The classic plum wine with a twist. You need to try to understand ;)

To start we got the Pork roll ups. This is a similar concept to Peking duck, except substitute the duck, cucumber and spring onion with shredded suckling pork, beansprouts and Asian herbs. The result is a fresh, crunchy, tasty pancake with sweetness from the plum sauce. Delicious!

Next is my absolute favourite, this one is something I somehow just don't get sick of. It's a Soft shell crab curry. This is a dry red curry, tossed with baby corn and kaffir lime leaves. It may have an intense flavour but it just works so well together. The crunch from the crab, the fragrance of the curry and the baby corn to give balance to the dish. This is the HG dish at Chin Chin for me.

Heard heaps about the Massaman curry, and was so keen to try it. Again did not disappoint; the curry has the nuttiness flavour well embodied into the sauce and had potatoes to give it the thickness. The meat was crumbly and soft. A very nice curry, very filling and very rich. Yum

By the time it was dessert I was truly filled to the brim, but being dessert time, I somehow made room (I really don't understand how my stomach functions). Could not go pass the Banana roti, banana wrapped in layers of sweet roti then drizzled with condensed milk. So bad for my hips but OMG heaven on my lips.

Also tried the Palm sugar sundae. As the name suggest the main flavour was the palm sugar. This was very sticky rich taste, not quite caramel but still a strong sense of the palm sugar presence. If eaten alone it may be a bit too rich for some.


Overall I was very happy with the food. Can't say I felt the same about the service. I got the sense that the waitress picked who they were friendly to. My friends and I almost had to stand up and wave our hands around to get any service but the table next to us had full service. The waitress sat down with them to go through the menu, but when we were ordering she was just not helpful and pretty much just told us to read the menu on our own. So the the service and the wait was a real let down. I would give it a 16/20


Pricing $$ is not too bad as they are big plates designed to be share. About $15-25 per dish, so pretty reasonable.


 

Pancake on the rocks

I'll admit it. I'm normally one of those suckers who wants to try it if there is a huge line outside. My usual thinking is, if so many people want to go there, there has to be a good reason.

Pancake on the rocks is one of those places, everytime I walk past there is always a line. I have been there before but that was quite a few years ago so I thought I would give it another go.

Ordered the so called famous chocolate pancake. I saw the pictures and sadly... pictures do lie. It was heavy and thick, just was not what a pancake was suppose to taste like. It was like a failed chocolate cake with lots of cream on top. This is possibly the worse pancake Ive ever eaten.....

Also got the hot and troppo. Again it was a fail. Felt like they wasted the walnuts and flour to make this up. Not fluffy just very doughy...Then there were the crepes, thought this might have been better..... No, no it simply wasn't anywhere near good. In comparison to the pancake it was better but overall still a let down. Too doughy and even the generic chocolate sauce and banana on the plate couldn't save this dish.

Overall 7/20. I will acknowledge I only had 2 things, but both I just could not stomach to finish.

This place is also not cheap for pancakes. You are looking at about $10-$15 for fail not so great desert pancakes.

I would not recommend anybody who is after a good pancake to come here. This is really just a place you would visit if you have been out and drinking all night and wanted a snack in the middle of the night. Or if you just wanted to chill and chat to your friends until the wee hours into the morning.



 

LuxBite

I will admit it upfront, I have a bit of a sweet tooth and I like pretty things. So learning that LuxBite was both, meant it was a must visit place for me.

Being in May with winter looming around the corner, things tend to feel grey from the weather so a nice dessert can be uplifting. The decor in the place is really bright and cosy, fitting right in with the Toorak crowd. As a little cafe with just a few tables near the window, it would be the perfect brunch or a good girls lunch spot. Brightly lit with cute and dainty fittings, it truly aims to give you that happy dessert place feeling.

This place is well known for it's macaroons, ranging from kaya toast to pandan and peanut butter jelly combo. I got an 8 pack consisting of: rose and lychee, pandan, kaya toast, bamboo oolong tea, ribena lemonade, green tea pistachio, peach and apricot cocktail and peanut butter jelly. Of the 8 my favourite was pandan. This was very fragrant without being overpowering. Kaya toast was a surprising change too, but I think you would need to have had a real kaya toast before to appreciate this flavour. The others were also nice but not as unique as those two.

There was so many cakes to choose and after much dilemma I decided on Endless Love, Meringue Monster and take away a Oriental Love.

Endless love is just one of those things that is so pretty to look at you want to eat it. A big oversized macaroon with fresh raspberries, rose cream and lychee ganache. Just the combination to make any girl go gaga and want to take pictures of it. The fresh raspberry had the hint of sourness which made the overall dessert feel fresh and not overly sweet. It would hit the spot if you had a berry craving.

Meringue Monster was as the name suggests, a meringue cake. With soft meringue on the outside and pistachio cake, peach melba, apricot cream, raspberry and pistachio bits. You really need to cut into this cake to see how beautifully it's layered inside and the array of colours.When you bite into it, you can also taste each individual layer. All the layers beautifully complement each other as well. On  the visual Endless Love may be more appealing but in taste, Meringue Monster ranks higher.

Oriental Love, another big macaroon. This with banana's as the key ingredient. Unlike endless lover this has no hints of sourness, instead it smells tantalizing with the sweetness of the banana and the pandan. There is also a bit of a crunch/chewiness with the small bits of crushed peanuts and you would occasionally taste the sesame. Out of the three this was definitely my favourite. But I might be a bit bias as I love the smell of pandan.


Overall a 15/20. I am looking forward to going back to try the breakfast menu.


Pricing $ Expensive if you compare it to cakes from Cakeworld or Breadtop but quite value for money if you compare it to patisseries of it's calibre.



 

Manchester Press

One of my friends keeps posting pictures of the coffee art up on facebook. I was actually more intrigued to see the coffee art than the food. But nonetheless I wasn't going to pay it a visit without eating.

Unlike what other people say about the long lines, I went on a weekday at lunch time and had no problems getting a table.

As people always talk about, the coffee art didn't disappoint. I am normally not a coffee lover so I would be no expert but I did like the mocha I got. 

Who knew that coffee could be an art form?

I also ordered the BLT bagel. I was really hungry at the time and when it came I didn't think it would be enough bu surprisingly it was filling. The bacon was good just right and I love the generous amounts of avocado

There was also the chorizo open bagel, and in one word..... delightful. This one was packed full of flavour and the relish was a good complement. It was a good overall balance of bagel, chorizo, relish and salad. Something worth ordering again.

Another bagel we also ordered was the Pastrami bagel. Compared to the other two that were ordered this would come last in preference. It was a satisfying dish but once there is comparison it was not the best.


Overall 15/20
Good price for what we got. Something worth visiting.