Good Times Milk Bar

If this is not the most feel good name ever, then I don’t know what is! I used to live right near a milk bar and the happiness I felt buying lollies and ice cream from them was indescribable. It’s a shame to see them slowly close down one by one, but Good Times Milk Bar reminds me that they were indeed good times back then! I was deeply attracted to the name of this cafe, and with the help of a sneaky Zomato rating look up, Helen and I made the lovely trek to Bentleigh to pay them a visit.

They’ve done a fantastic job with the interior of this place! There’s a cool modern vintage theme happening. I loved the polka dots against the pink background on the front of the benchtops. Even the tables had an interesting shade of blue, a food photographers dream. They even had merchandise which you can purchase such as T-shirts and tote bags, now that’s thinking outside the box! The whole place just had a real positive and uplifting vibe to it, not a bad feeling to have before the food comes out.

It was a warm day so Helen and I started with some iced coffees to cool our precious little bodies down… the coffee was smooth, delicate and the bitterness was balanced. I think the vanilla ice cream went really well with it, coffee snobs would probably roll their eyes but I thoroughly enjoyed every last drop.

Helen ordered the famous ‘Dippy Eggs’ while I couldn’t resist the sardines dish. Such an underappreciated fish needs support sometimes, and eating sardines since I was young certainly helps with giving it the support it needs. I was disappointed to find out that they had now taken the sardines off the menu, and have replaced it with a smoked trout omelette. The poor humble sardine goes back to being neglected! I can understand that this was probably a business decision, I guess if it’s not selling well then it’s gotta go.

The Dippy Eggs felt like a tailor made dish for Helen as she likes picking at different foods. It came with rustic sourdough bread with Italian Pecorino cheese grated over it, 2 runny eggs with shell intact, avo-cream, relish, and hemp seed dukka. We opted for the optional bacon crumbs which turned out to be a great decision. The eggs were cooked perfectly with runny yolks. There were no rules on how to eat this dish, anything goes! I like how it’s served with the shell, to see an egg in its pure form at a cafe is very special indeed. Everything went really well together, and along with the contrast in textures made it extremely appetising.

My sardine dish featured sardines from Port Phillip Bay on a piece of toast. The sardines were very tasty and had wonderful sea flavours. The toast itself was a bit hard, and I really struggled to cut through it. I think they were expecting the tomato and basil puree to soften it, but that wasn’t the case. I found the puree very strong and overpowering, and would have preferred a more mellow version. The peperonata was very nice, the sweetness of the peppers really shined through!

I enjoyed my time at Good Times Milk Bar, I felt very happy being here! The service was excellent, and it’s just a great place to come and chill. I also love the fact that the menu is so varied and I can get dishes here which are unavailable at other cafes! Here’s the thing… they can either make the same dishes as all the other places, or they can throw a sardine dish on the menu. It may have not paid off for them, but I applaud them for doing something different. We will definitely be returning to try some of their other dishes!

Good Times Milk Bar
Approx $25 AUD per person
Address: 83 Tucker Road, Bentleigh VIC 3204
Phone: +61 3 9557 4868
Website: goodtimesmilkbar.com.au

Good Times Milk Bar Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

King Chooks

After the gym one week night we decided to find something quick and nearby for dinner as we were starving! So we hopped onto Zomato and came across a charcoal chicken shop called King Chooks in Blackburn with very good reviews.

Being a charcoal chicken joint, you don’t really expect much so the outside was the usual tacky looking shop and the inside was no different. But of course we were not there for ambience and great decor. We were there for the food!

We both ordered Chook Combos, and I ordered a quarter chicken with scallop potatoes and the beetroot salad. Davin ordered a half chicken with chips and the caesar salad. The chicken was quite impressive! The skin was thin, crispy and flavoured to perfection – not too salty and not too plain. The chicken itself was really nice and moist, and fell of the bone. My scallop potatoes were creamy and flavoured well too. The highlight however was Davin’s chips! They were so crispy on the outside, and soft and fluffy on the inside. The seasoning on the chips was also perfect and we couldn’t get enough of it!

Davin’s caesar salad was also good however my beetroot salad was so sour. Yes, sour! I think they drenched it in some sort of vinegar dressing and overdid it which is unfortunate because if it wasn’t for my beetroot salad it would have been a perfect meal.

Overall however, great chicken and perfect chips so we’ll definitely come back when we’re in the mood for some charcoal chicken!

King Chooks
Approx $15 AUD per person
Address: 9/96-98 Canterbury Rd, Blackburn South VIC 3130
Phone: +61 3 9878 9688

King Chooks Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Le Charme De Saigon

We had the pleasure of being invited to Le Charme De Saigon, a Vietnamese restaurant which recently opened on Little Bourke St in Chinatown, Melbourne CBD. We dined in the lovely company of Bearabbit, Tim.E and Simmy.

I instantly loved the decor of the place upon entering. Recently renovated, the walls and trimmings were painted a dark modern teal, with lovely lotus lamps, and tree like lights hanging from the ceiling. It certainly had a nice charm to it!

We started the night off with some cocktails, Davin ordering the Salted Caramel Expresso Martini, and I ordering the Ultimate Lychee Martini. My lychee martini was really nice and refreshing. Davin’s cocktail was on the sweet side and didn’t have that strong coffee flavour we generally look out for. It may have been that the salted caramel and kahlua was overpowering the coffee itself.

For food, we started off with a tasting plate called ‘A Little of Everything’. It had spring roll, viet sausage, shrimp cake, chicken skewer and prawn crackers. This was a lovely appetising starter dish and everything was fried to perfection. The batter on everything was light and crispy.

We then had the lamb san choy bow and DIY crispy duck with bao (steam bun). Both the lamb and duck was fried with crispy skin. The sauces that went with both dishes were probably more on the sweet side for us. The duck in particular was quite dry, however we understand this dish cooked authentically is supposed to be this way, therefore knowing that, it made more sense to us.

The Saigon curry beef brisket stew with baguette came up next. This was a delicious dish! It brought back memories of my grandma making Vietnamese curry for me when I was little. The sauce was flavoured to perfection and it had a lovely consistency with the perfect amount of heat to it! I loved dipping the bread and scooping up all the curry sauce. The beef itself was a bit tough however overall it was a great dish.

The North Viet supreme soup with fish fillet was also really nice and flavoured. It was an appetising dish. Davin’s favourite dish of the night however was the stir fried clam with X.O sauce. I have to say it was a really tasty dish! We haven’t had this in a while and it was full of flavour. It even had the lovely crunchy chinese donuts mixed in and soaked with the X.O sauce.

We also really liked the Saigon seafood rice broth, the seafood was really fresh and we loved the crispy rice in the broth which gave it a different texture with each bite. This is a dish we would definitely order again!

Overall we had a great experience, and the food was good. Being Vietnamese however, I do note that a lot of the dishes are more Chinese or Malaysian than authentic Vietnamese. Perhaps it should be labelled more as an Asian restaurant than Vietnamese. Anyway, if you’re ever around this area, check it out and let us know your thoughts!

Le Charme De Saigon
Approx $35 AUD per person
Address: Shop 3, 178 Little Bourke Street, CBD, Melbourne
Phone: +61 3 9663 3321
Website: le-charme-de-saigon.business.site

 

Le Charme De Saigon Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Tokosan

First and foremost we would like to thank Tokosan for inviting us to dine at their restaurant. When we arrived at their doorstep, there was a strong sense of familiarity especially the steps which lead into their main dining room. We had a suspicion that we may have been here before, but it felt a little foreign at the same time! The location felt familiar but the décor and atmosphere felt different. After spending way too much time trying to figure out this mystery, we dug through our photos and realised that they used to be called Toko! It turns out that Toko is relocating to the CBD and this place had been revamped to Tokosan. Another mystery solved, we were finally back on track, and ready to see what Tokosan brings to the table.

The transformation from Toko had been dramatic, we remembered Toko to be a fine dining Japanese restaurant. Tokosan has a massive wall of street art as you walk in on the left, and it sure creates a strong impact! There’s a bar area on the right with an assortment of alcoholic beverages and they even have a karaoke room. Past the bar and through the glass doors, there’s an outdoor area to kick back and enjoy some drinks. This also doubles as a function area, so for anyone looking to host an event, this option is available. We were offered to sit outside – no way Jose! There’s no way I’m putting my body through this heat… I’ve been struggling enough lately with Melbourne’s crazy temperature fluctuations. We wisely opted to sit inside in a comfortable booth. I suspect that they don’t have air con because the cold air didn’t feel refrigerated. I felt a little sticky which tells me that it may be evaporative cooling. Not a big deal at all,l as cooling is all personal preference!

The waiter ran us through the specials of the day which included a $5 sparkling wine (Fleur De Lys) and $5 Gyoza dumplings. For anyone wondering why the waiter needed to run us through the specials, our meal was subsidised to a certain amount, anything over would be out of our own pocket. We couldn’t turn down the specials, and we also ordered a bowl of chicken ramen, wagyu beef bao, and a pork ribbies (highly recommended by bearabbit).

The wagyu beef in the bao came in a patty style. It had great beef flavour and was cooked a perfect medium to medium rare, the best doneness to showcase the beef. It tasted great and all the ingredients held together nicely in the bao without going everywhere. I was surprised to find the prawn dumplings deep fried! I’m used to them being pan fried, and I’m generally not a huge fan of deep fried. In saying so, I could taste the separation of prawn pieces in the gyoza itself and it had a great crunch. Fans of deep fried would enjoy this style of dumpling. I have to say that I was a little shocked at the price though, a serve of 5 prawn gyozas are normally $16! This feels a bit steep for gyozas and the price would have put me off ordering them. $5 specials are enticing but I wouldn’t be paying full price. The pork gyoza was my favourite out of the two, the filling was packed full of flavour and pan fried to a classic crisp on one side. I loved it but couldn’t justify the RRP of $13 though. Could something be really tasty and overpriced? I don’t normally think this way because I can usually justify the price as long as the quality is good, but I may have to make an exception in this instance…

I was really looking forward to my ramen as I hadn’t had ramen in a while! The bowl came out, and it looked great. It strangely didn’t have the strong aromas I was expecting from a quality bowl of ramen. I took a sip of the soup… BLAND. It taste diluted, with zero richness and no pork flavour. It was truly underwhelming indeed, but little did I know that I was going to be hit with a double whammy. The ramen noodles were bloated and overcooked with no elasticity and mouth feel. (FYI – I snapped a picture of the ramen in record breaking time, as I’m fully aware of what leaving the noodles drowned in soup would do to it. The noodles already came in this state straight out of the kitchen). The two most important aspects in a bowl of ramen failed miserably, and as a result made me feel a little miserable also. The chicken and broccolini was nice, but it was too little too late.

The pork ribbies on the other hand were amazing. Tender, fall off the bone with a delicious teriyaki sauce. The sour cream worked surprisingly well with the pork ribs and I found myself looking forward to each dip. The pork ribbies and the pork gyozas were my favourite dishes at Tokosan.

With the exception of the ramen, I enjoyed all our dishes of the night. Tokosan has a lot going for it with the bar, good food, outdoor function area, karaoke, hell they even got a pool table. They’ve got the perfect recipe for a great night out and I wouldn’t hesitate to come back again!

Tokosan.
Approx $40 AUD per person
Address: 142 Greville St, Prahran VIC 3181
Phone: +61 3 9521 3155
Website: tokosan-melbourne.com

Tokosan Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato