August 29, 2018 by Davin Lee

Tao’s Restaurant

Tao’s Restaurant is an Asian fusion restaurant located at Bulleen. A great suburb, but I mainly come to Bulleen when I need to fix Helen’s watch. I got her a vintage Omega many years ago, and it’s been nothing but trouble! An Omega watchmaker works from Bulleen, so you could say I know my way around the area by now. Well anyway back to Tao’s Restaurant, these guys were one of the original pioneers of Asian fusion. They were doing Asian fusion before it was cool. Unfortunately time may have caught up with them and it feels as though they’ve been left behind. Over the years, the quality of their food has been on a slow and steady decline…

Helen and I used to love coming to Tao’s on special occasions because they represented a great value to quality ratio. To this day, I still don’t think their prices are too bad, if only they had kept the same quality as the good old days. We came on a weekday which was $48pp for a set menu. It came with a starter, entree, main and even a glass of wine. Normally the price is $78 and you’d get a soup and dessert too, minus the wine. Our last experience wasn’t the best, but we thought we’d give them another chance.

The starter had always been an opportunity for Tao’s to show off their delicacies. On this occasion we got an oyster shot, an oyster in the shell with scallop trims and some Edamame beans. The oyster shot was nice, it was refreshing and a great palate cleanser. The oyster in the shell wasn’t as enjoyable. For whatever reason, there was a lot of onion in there, and that overpowered the oyster. Instead of tasting the sweetness of the oyster, I was tasting the sweetness of the onion! And the Edamame beans… what the hell happened there!?! Was this a classic case of cost cutting? I found it comical that this was presented as one of the starters!

For the entree I got the sashimi, whilst Helen got the pork belly Shabu Shabu. The sashimi was high quality, clean and fresh. The inclusion of the abalone was a pleasant surprise, I guess this made up for the pitiful Edamame beans in the starter. Helen’s pork belly on the other hand was overcooked and tough, total opposite of what you’d expect pork belly to be. My main was probably the most uninspiring of all the courses. My porterhouse came out on a hot stone, which was on a bed of rocks. Presentation was on point, but that was the only positive. I had enough sauce for two steaks, but even then the steak was extremely bland. It tasted like sauce from a packet which had been poured over an unseasoned steak. To add insult to injury, it was also very chewy, and hard to swallow.

Like a Chinese wedding banquet, they always finish off with a fried rice. This fried rice had always been consistent in the past, so I was eager to finish on a high note! To my disappointment even the fried rice was a let down this time. That full flavour, dry scallop punch was missing, hell even the salt was missing! It was closer to the end of plain rice as opposed to fried rice.

I know I’ve been a bit critical in this review, but it’s only because I know what Tao’s Restaurant was capable of in the past. It’s disappointing to them relegated to our mediocre/will not visit again category. I think there’s other similarly priced Asian fusion restaurants these days that offer better quality food, and for this reason, I am unable to pass on my recommendation.

Tao’s Restaurant
Approx $80 AUD per person
Address: 201 Bulleen Rd, Bulleen VIC 3105
Phone: +61 3 9852 0777
Website: http://silk2.org/taos/

May 10, 2018 by Davin Lee

Nomada

The saying goes… it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. We forgot how we came across Nomada, but by the time we walked out the door, we realised that we have had one of the best Spanish meals ever! Nomada has a strong team of the Melbourne culinary world backing them, think Kettle Black, Bomba and Anada. Luckily I wasn’t equipped with this knowledge prior to writing this review, because it allowed me to enjoy the food as it is, and not to form any comparisons with the other restaurants.

Walking in, we were greeted straight away by a very friendly waiter. He ended up being our exclusive waiter for the night. No complaints from our end, he was extremely personable and knew the menu inside out. Wooden furniture, fancy lamp shades and green plants are scattered across the restaurant. It’s a safe and proven formula, and we felt very much at home. It did smell of heavy smoke inside, like I was next to a giant camp fire. By the end of the night, I was fully marinated and it resulted in the minor inconvenience of a second shower for the day. I’m not a huge fan of washing my hair twice in a day, gotta let those natural oils build up a bit before being stripped again! In saying this, the food did more than make up for the smoky smell…

We started off with some tapas – oysters with seaweed jelly and finger lime, slow cooked egg with spanner crab and Yarra Valley caviar, and Cape Grim steak tartare with black garlic and pulled beef tendon. If these menu items sound delicious to you, imagine the agony we went through with picking what we wanted… it was not a huge menu, but we just wanted to order everything! The steak tartare was a standout dish. Cape Grim is one of my favourite cattle producers, their meat quality is second to none. This quality translates directly across to this steak tartare. The flavour is clean and beefy, tribute to the cattle being grass fed and free of growth hormones. I’ve never had black garlic with steak tartare and I’m happy to say IT WORKS! The sweetness of the black garlic works beautifully with the steak. Steak tartare has come a long way since I’ve started eating it, and this style makes me excited for the future of this dish.

For the mains we got the hanger steak with parsnip, queso valdeon & bone marrow sauce and the coal grilled calamari, potato puree, chorizo & green pea. The hanger steak was cook perfectly, and the bone marrow sauce acted as a flavour booster. The texture was tender enough, but I did try to cut against the grain to help it along also. Calamari is something I love to eat but rarely order outside, because to be honest, most places overcook the hell out of it. This was not the case at Nomada. The potato puree was fluffy like clouds, and the chorizo and peas together were just a match made in heaven! It’s best eaten all together as the chorizo provides the salt for this dish.

We got two complimentary ports with our Creme Catalan dessert. Not my drink of choice generally but boy were these delicious! One thing I will say however is that I found the portions of some dishes a bit small. For example, the pipis cost $9 but I would have only got around 11-12 pipis. So if I divide 9/12, that means each pipi cost 75c each! I would have expected double the amount of pipis for the price? I am a little conflicted because it seems this is the price/quantity ratio of most Spanish restaurants in Australia though. Portion sizes and a smoky dining room are minor problems we can overcome together. I have always liked the Spanish food here more than in Spain. Nomada has further reinforced this view for me, and I’m happy to have another Spanish restaurant to go to. Seriously one of the best Spanish restaurants in Melbourne and I cannot wait to dine here again!

Nomada
Approx $70 AUD per person
Address: 412A Brunswick Street, Fitzroy VIC 3065
Phone: +61 3 9416 4102
Website: nomada.com.au

March 19, 2018May 6, 2018 by Davin Lee

Lord Cardigan

Lord Cardigan…. what a name, it’s certainly got a ring to it! Established in 2007, this restaurant was started by a husband and wife combination, John Singer and Dominique Bolger. There’s only one reason why I would go to the effort to read the ‘About Us’ page on their website, it’s because I freaken love this place! What started out as a filler dinner, ended up being one of the best dining experiences for me in 2018. We’re still early in the year, so Lord Cardigan better put the brakes on a bit to allow the others to catch up!

The restaurant welcomed us to vinyl seats, wallpaper and hanging pot plants from the ceiling. There were also pictures of flowers on the wall. Had we jumped into a time machine and gone back in time!? We looked around and we were by far their youngest customers. Amidst feeling a little weird at the start, I soon relaxed and embraced an era beyond my years.

We were greeted by some of the friendliest staff ever, who guided us through the menu in a warmly fashion. It was a great menu indeed, as we really struggled to pick what we wanted. The confidence shines through, and I could tell that these guys were not afraid to ‘do it different’. After much pondering we finally settled on some oysters, various ‘taste’ dishes, the Flinders Island lamb shoulder baked in filo pastry, and the ocean trout fish special. The taste dishes were bite size and $7.50 each. It’s a great concept because it gives you the opportunity to try more dishes without having to spend a fortune.

The Pacific oysters were extremely fresh, with the mignonette dressing and lemon providing the perfect acidic touch. At this stage I was impressed, they got fresh produce and can make a mean sauce, but I was eager to see what else they could do. They respond to the challenge by punching out some of the best bite size dishes I’ve ever had! You know the competition is fierce when the most perfectly seared scallop loses out to quail wrapped in ham. This quail was boned and wrapped in Kaiserfleisch ham with a truffle and balsamic dressing. It was oh so tasty, so make sure you grab one when you come here.

Little did I know that the best was yet to come… it was so good that it’s made it to my top list of fish dishes in Australia. I had given up hope of eating a fish as good as a flounder I had at a particular restaurant in the Melbourne CBD. It was cooked so beautifully, I almost cried! I stared at this ocean trout in awe, as I couldn’t believe how good it was. Being the supportive wife she is, Helen left me alone to savour this moment between myself and this fish. The skin was ultra crispy, with the meat inside just barely cooked. Which chef dares to push the boundaries like this with a fish!?! I’m convinced there’s a madman lurking somewhere in the kitchen! The Asian inspired sauce accentuated the sweetness of the ocean trout. As it’s a special, I may not get to try this fish again. However the memories will live on for many years to come, this I can guarantee.

On our trip back home, we couldn’t stop talking about the memorable experience we had at Lord Cardigan. These guys really are the real deal, and we cannot wait to come back. No ifs and no buts people, Lord Cardigan is a MUST TRY!

Lord Cardigan
Approx $60 AUD per person
Address: 59 Cardigan Place, Albert Park VIC 3206
Phone: +61 3 9645 5305
Website: lordcardigan.com.au

May 15, 2017May 6, 2018 by Helen Le

Paris Go

Well it’s definitely been a while, so we’re sorry it’s taken this long to write up another post. With work, study and all these other side projects, we have been busy bees! Anyway, you all should know by know how much I LOVE French cuisine. So of course I had to write up on yet another French restaurant we recently came across.

Paris Go is located amongst other great restaurants on Rathdowne Street, Carlton. However the high ratings and reviews on Zomato did make this restaurant stand out just a tad so we had to check it out.

Upon entering, you see white tablecloths, white wooden banisters and white walls. The walls however are complemented with artfully, colourful framed French posters, paintings and mirrors which I kind of wanted for our house. A mixture of wooden chairs and French velvet button chairs are scattered throughout the restaurant.

Now right here, I have to say how super friendly and fantastic the staff were. From the moment we arrived until we left, they were nothing but attentive, switched on, accommodating and friendly. Kudos to them for providing such awesome customer service throughout our experience.

But of course onto the important part: the food. We started off with my favourite, oysters! They were served three ways: natural, baked in cheese, and natural with a yummy green, possibly garlic type sauce. They were fresh and delicious! We then ordered the King George whiting dumpling in a prawn sauce which was something we’ve never had before and was very interesting! They were fluffy and the sauce was full of prawn flavour. We also couldn’t say no to the steak tartare which had a special dash of cognac. The flavours of this steak tartare was perfect. Sometimes you come across steak tartare which are more on the plain side. However this one was packed with flavours without it being too flavoured, if that makes sense! Our final entree was the fresh steamed southern Tasmanian mussels in a champagne sauce and oh my gosh, these were also super fresh and flavoured really well too. We were impressed. So far so good!

Ok so you’re probably wondering, how can we possibly fit in mains after ordering FOUR entrees? Because we decided to share everything we decided to only order one main in addition to the four entrees. This ended up being the 250g eye fillet with bearnaise sauce and the staff were very lovely to split the steak in half and serve it on two individual plates so that we got our own steak and sauce. It also came with french fries which we shared. The steak was cooked rare, just how we liked it and the bearnaise sauce was really nice. Oh and we also ordered a lovely bottle of French red to go with the food: Cotes Du Rhone, 2012.

Although we were pretty full, we couldn’t help but have a peek at the dessert menu. Being a total sucker for lemon type desserts, I quickly zeroed in on the caramelised lemon tart so it was settled pretty quickly. The tart had just the right amount of tang with dollop of cream. We gobbled that up quite efficiently too.

Overall it was a fantastic experience and I would definitely recommend if you’re looking for some traditional French food. Lots of ticks to great food and fantastic service!

Paris Go
Approx $70 AUD per person
Website: parisgo.com.au
Address: 116 Rathdowne St, Carlton, VIC 3053
Phone: +61 3 9347 7507

December 15, 2015May 6, 2018 by Helen Le

Tommy Ruff Fish Bar

Finding a good fish and chips joint can be hard especially if you’re looking for something different and not the usual deep fried stuff that most offer. However we were recently pleasantly surprised when we came across a place that not only avoided frying all their produce, but cooked and presented it more naturally with almost a certain respect.

Tommy Ruff, located in Elsternwick (there is also one in Mordialloc) is owned by John Stamoulis and Helen Stamoulis who has been specialising in gourmet fish and chips for quite a while. Just to give you a bit of background, John’s father, Ipocrates Stamoulis was born on the island of Samos, in the Aegean sea and after migrating to Australia in the 1950s he worked in the seafood industry and then took ownership of his first fish and chips shop in 1969. Inspired by his father, John decided to enter the fish and chips business himself but with a gourmet twist and emphasis on displaying the beautiful produce he has to offer. He has since changed the traditional fish and chips view to a focus on flavour, health and quality produce.

The restaurant itself has a modern, casual and bright beach, fun feel to it with sea decorations wherever possible from fishing nets and fishing rods scattered along the walls, to newspaper clippings made into wallpaper – even the water jug was a large ceramic fish with its mouth as the opening for water!

Continuing with the nautical theme, the menus are available on the table and are blue themed, offering quite a variety of different seafood dishes to choose from. Having been a few times now we have tried a number of dishes so lets talk about them!

We have had the seafood chowder a couple of times now as a starter which consists of fish, prawns and mussels with warmly toasted bread for dipping. It also has a potato like consistency offering it a bit of thickness expected in a chowder. It is quite a large serving but quite hearty and tasty so you’ll easily gobble it all up!

Tommy’s tacos (fish or prawns), which come with Mexican salsa and slaw is also very nice with fresh tasting ingredients and also good for a starter. We have also ordered the vinaigrette oysters which I thoroughly enjoyed – their special vinaigrette sauce has the perfect tang and gets you ready for the mains!

I highly recommend the Chef’s seafood platter if you’re not sure what to order because the huge platter offers a bit of everything for a first timer. It includes the Tommy’s tacos, oysters, about 3 different grilled fishes, prawns, scallops, calamari and chips. The seafood is mostly grilled and not fried which is what we love about it and the produce is fresh! It is also not over flavoured with too much seasoning or sauces, allowing you to really taste the natural freshness of the seafood. However it is definitely not plain tasting either so I think the flavours have been balanced well.

I was also a big fan of the salmon burger which consisted of a lovely grilled salmon fillet with salad, lemon and dill sauce. With such simple, fresh ingredients, allowing the combination of natural flavours, it was a really enjoyable burger! I can’t also forget to mention the chips as they were of real high quality, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

If you’re not too hungry for the seafood platter, you can also order one of their many grilled fish combos with chips and salad or rice and salad.

Overall, if you’re looking for something different from the usual fish and chips you are used to, do check out Tommy Ruff as they offer high quality seafood, presented very nicely. For the top quality produce and presentation, the prices are also very reasonable!

Tommy Ruff Fish Bar
Approx $30 AUD per person

(does not include the Chef’s seafood platter for 2 which is $72)
Website: http://www.tommyruff.com.au/
Address: 1/3 Carre St, Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone:+61 3 9077 8815

A journey of our culinary, travel and life adventures

Tag: oysters

Tao’s Restaurant

Nomada

Lord Cardigan

Paris Go

Tommy Ruff Fish Bar

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: