Laksa King Kitchen

April 5, 2018May 6, 2018 by Davin Lee

Lately on Zomato, we’ve been having a little chatter about Laksa King based on someone’s review. I mentioned that I liked Laksa King Flemington better than their Glen Waverley branch. This got me thinking… how’s Laksa King Kitchen in Southland? I’ve always been a bit skeptical with this one in Southland because of the demographics. It’s located inside the cinema area, and seems to be trying to attract pre and post movie goers. Well look who the cat dragged in on this occasion?! ME!

Southland has a movie and meal deal promotion running till the 29th of April. A free glass of wine with any laksa purchase from Sunday to Thursday. A pretty good deal if I must say so myself, the wine on offer was the Lumiere Pinot Noir. I was curious to know whether I could have got the Penfolds Bin 28 for another $2 (the difference in price), but was too scared to push the friendship! After watching ‘Ready Player One’ (great movie by the way, you guys really need to check it out), I used my movie ticket to claim this deal.

The menu on offer is very tame compared to the other Laksa King franchises. I can see where they’re coming from though, as I don’t think a fish head curry laksa would be too popular here! The range was a lot smaller here and I finally settled on a seafood laksa. The soup base of the laksa was really intense in flavour. I was taken back, as I thought they would have toned it down a bit. I don’t mean this in a bad way at all because I’m happy they stuck to their guns. It was probably a bit too intense for me to sip the soup as it is, but it went really well with the noodles though. All the seafood in the laksa was fresh, especially the rockling fish. The only exception would be the Chinese takeaway style prawns, I’m not a fan of these prawns as they have close to zero prawn flavour. The size of the bowl which holds the laksa can be intimidating, but rest assured that the actual serving was a regular sized portion.

I also snuck in a serve of steamed prawn dumplings. The sauce for this dish was delicious! Perfect combination of salty, sour and spicy. Very appetising and doesn’t overpower the prawn dumplings. The dumplings themselves had good texture, but the winner is the sauce. I washed down this very respectable meal with the Lumiere Pinot Noir, not a bad night at all.

I have to admit that Laksa King at Southland was better than what I’d thought it would be. My preference would always be their Flemington restaurant, but Flemington is much further away for me. I had a nice meal here and would definitely return to eat again.

P.S. Helen was with me, as usual. She decided to go and take up another movie and meal deal at another eatery. She was watching me eat like a little creeper until she could get her own meal… =O

Laksa King Kitchen
Approx $25 AUD per person
Address: Westfield Southland, R205/1239 Nepean Hwy, Cheltenham VIC 3192
Phone: +61 3 9584 8858
Website: laksakingkitchen.com.au

Miznon

April 4, 2018May 6, 2018 by Helen Le

We decided to head to Miznon on a Friday night after a number of raving reviews from our fellow bloggers. And boy do we see what the fuss is all about! Situated on Hardware Lane in the Melbourne CBD, Miznon serves up Israeli, Mediterranean style street food like no other place.

Under the leadership of Eyal Shani, considered one of the leading figures in Israeli cuisine, he opened his first restaurant in his home town Jerusalem, and then his first Miznon restaurant in Tel Aviv in 2011. His reach has subsequently expanded internationally, now reaching Melbourne.

The first thing that came into my mind when we entered and throughout the night was how genuinely nice the staff were there. Not only were they super attentive but they were lovely to chat to and were very generous and accommodating. They talked us through the menu and made some recommendations because we were just so overwhelmed given everything on the menu looked amazing! We truly wanted to order everything!

We finally settled on sharing the baby octopus and chips, the Hraime – a spicy fish with tahini and chili, the sweet potato with sour cream and sea salt, and the Sac de Coque – roasted chicken, herbs, fried potatoes and aioli. Given they were well known for their pitas we also ordered the Pita with a Bone which consisted of lamb rib stew, tahini, pickles, onion and chili. The dishes were presented in a rustic style, wrapped in baking paper. It’s about the flavours and not the presentation here because after all, they were representing street style food!

We were impressed with all the dishes. The baby octopus was lightly charred and the chips were crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. The spicy fish was SO good. It had the perfect kick of chili, and the fish was so soft. Now this may seem strange but the sweet potato dish was one of my favourites. It was so simple, charred on the outside and cut open with a dollop of sour cream and some sea salt. The flesh of the potato itself was soft and so sweet! How could something so simple be so full of flavour?

The roasted chicken was also really good. The chicken was so tender and soft, mixed in with those fresh herbs and fried potatoes, it was one appetizing dish!

Finally the Pita with a Bone was amazing! It came out with the lamb ribs sticking out which we easily pulled out because the meat was so soft. With the tahini, pickles and onions, the flavours were spot on. We literally scoffed this up so quickly.

By this point the bartender told us that they were about to hold their regular Friday night Shabbat celebrations and offered us free shots of whatever we wanted to take along to the ceremony. We ended up opting for Jamieson shots and took it downstairs to watch them cut up a huge loaf of freshly baked bread and cheered and downed our shots. It was so much fun and the atmosphere was amazing! We had the privilege of eating some of the bread with their amazing dips and then headed back upstairs to order dessert.

We couldn’t say no to what was listed on the menu as ‘The Best Chocolate Mousse’. Big call! And you know what? It was delicious! It was light and not too dense so we easily finished that in record time!

Now to go back to how nice the staff were, they were having issues with their EFTPOS machine and given we didn’t have cash Davin went off to withdraw some money. They were so apologetic we had to go out of our way (which we didn’t mind at all) and so appreciative that they offered us more shots on the house. We politely declined given we were driving that night but thought that was so lovely of them.

From the friendly staff, to the food, to their inclusive celebrations, it was such an amazing experience and we couldn’t fault it. We will definitely be back and highly recommend if you’re looking for some great food at affordable prices. And definitely go on a Friday night if you also want to experience their joyous celebrations!

Miznon
Approx $35 AUD per person
Address: 59 Hardware Ln, Melbourne VIC 3000
Phone: +61 3 9670 2861
Website: miznonaustralia.com

Tataki

April 3, 2018May 6, 2018 by Davin Lee

We seem to be having my favourite cuisine Japanese a lot lately. Sometimes I don’t realise these things until I look at our photos inventory and then reality hits… not that I’m complaining though! Maybe we should go to a French restaurant soon to keep Helen happy. Well anyway… enough self reflection, let’s get on with this review! Tataki is a Japanese restaurant located in Elsternwick. The street was relatively quiet at night, and we were able to get parking right outside the restaurant. There’s a glass section at the front of the restaurant which displayed faux Japanese food, I thought this was kinda cool as it reminded me of Japan.

The interior of Tataki felt clean and comfortable. The sushi chef station is right at the front, again a very traditional Japanese setup. My only two minor criticisms were the chairs and the loud slamming of the door. The chairs just had a total lack of back support, and I was lucky I didn’t sit here for hours as that would most likely kill my back. Their door also slammed very loudly each time the Uber Eats delivery people picked up an order. It was loud enough to make the customers jolt every time! The waiting staff did constantly come out to check the door but I don’t think there was anything they could do, I think the door gas strut might need to be replaced as it clearly wasn’t doing it’s job properly.

Food wise, we ordered the beef tataki, salmon belly nigiri and kingfish belly nigiri for entrees. For mains, I got a grilled miso salmon & vegetables, and Helen got the lobster and salmon special roll. The beef tataki was ok…. I wouldn’t go out of my way for it. Whilst the beef was fresh, and the sauce was good, the beef itself was overcooked. I would have preferred it a lot rarer. My salmon on the other hand suffered a worst fate, it was extremely overcooked and was tough, rough and once was enough. I felt like this salmon died in vain.

On the flip side, the quality of all the fishes which didn’t require cooking were at a very high standard. The salmon belly nigiri and kingfish belly nigiri were some of the freshest and tastiest sushi I’ve had in Australia. Helen’s lobster and salmon roll was flavoured well and the grilled salmon was soft with a hint of char. One thing I did notice was that the sushi and sashimi was priced really high, and was comparable to other high class Japanese restaurants. Even the lobster and salmon roll was priced at $25 for 8 pieces. I’m shocked and confused with the price at the same time. Was the fish high quality? Yes. Was it expensive for this restaurant setting? Also yes. So therefore I’m conflicted as to whether or not I think it’s worth the price.

Tataki felt like a mixed bag of lollies. They’ve hit the wide spectrum of bad, ok, good and great. The inconsistencies shines through and was reflected in their dishes. The price discrepancies are also confusing. It’s hard to see how the lobster and salmon roll can be priced at $25 for 8 pieces. It seems as though their true strengths lie in their sushi and sashimi, but be prepared to pay dearly for these dishes also. All in all, I respect the freshness of their produce, but I cannot say that this is a big enough draw for us to come back.