pork Archives - One Piece Left

Ton & Co has only been open for a few months but they have already made a huge impact for us since we’ve discovered it so we had to tell you all about it!

Located on High St in Windsor, Ton & Co is a Japanese restaurant with a focus on pork dishes. Yes, you did hear right. PORK dishes. The uniqueness of this concept piqued our interest straight away so we had to check it out. The menu consists of a range of different pork dishes which include pork striploin, pork tenderloin, pork ribeye steak, pork ribs, pork belly, you name it! There are no beef dishes here and there was only one fish dish. So if you are going to visit this restaurant then make sure you are here because you want to eat pork and don’t expect anything else! The restaurant itself has a very spacious and modern feel with wooden tables and industrial chairs. I also noted it was kept very clean and pristine. We were welcomed warmly into the restaurant on this particular evening and efficiently provided with the menus.

We started off with some hot sake and small dishes. We ordered the ox tongue skewers and chicken thigh skewers. Both of the meat skewer dishes were flavoured to perfection and the meat was so soft. However I have to highlight how particularly ultra soft and delicious the ox tongue skewers were. They were the best ox tongue skewers we’ve ever had! Big call, I know but I have to state the facts. Thinking about that dish while I write this makes me want a serving of it right now.

For the mains, I decided to order their Signature Pork Ribeye Steak which was 400g of bone-on cured and aged pork ribeye, onion relish, sake beurre blanc and mustard. Verdict? It was the best pork steak I have ever had! I know I just made that call with the ox tongue and so it sounds crazy but I swear, it was SO good! I really don’t know how I’m ever going to have pork like that anywhere else after I’ve experienced it here. It was flavoured so well and cooked through, yet still so tender and juicy. Every bite of it with some of the onion relish and mustard was heaven. I didn’t want it to end. Sigh.

Davin ordered the only fish dish which was the poached salmon. This came with a honey miso glaze, seaweed crust, shiitake mushroom broth and sake steamed leeks. He also got a bowl of rice to go with it. The salmon was poached oh so perfectly! It’s so important to not overcook salmon and they have certainly mastered it. The seaweed crust gave each bite a lovely crunch, and the shiitake mushroom broth that went with it was so flavoured and lovely, you could just drink it on its own. It was one killer dish!

We also ordered a the Japanese potato salad to share which was really good.

So at this stage, we were really happy and thinking to ourselves that they have pretty much hit the mark on every dish they have served us. There’s only one more dish to go and that was dessert. Can they also maintain the quality? Um, yes they can! How could we ever doubt them?

We settled on sharing the Matcha cheese cake with Hojicha ice cream. It was presented beautifully and had good strong matcha flavours, yet you can still taste that it was a cheesecake. Combined with the ice cream, it was a great dish and we scoffed it up pretty quickly.

We finished up our meal very content and amazed at how good the food was at Ton & Co. Not only was the food fantastic but the service was also top notch. Staff were very friendly and efficient, and were more than happy to have a chat and see what we thought of the food. Will we be back? Hell yes! This restaurant is doing something different by shining the spotlight on pork which seems to be such an underrated dish here. We highly recommend if you are interested in trying out their spectacular dishes, particularly if you are keen for pork. It was an amazing experience.

Ton & Co
Approx $50 AUD per person
Address: 118 High St, Windsor VIC 3181
Phone: +61 3 9023 3396
Website: tonandco.com.au

Since it’s Sunday today, I thought it was only fitting that I post a yum cha review! Last weekend, Helen and I were really craving for some yum cha when we woke up. I was kind of sick of the bad quality yum cha we’ve been getting around our area, so I quickly jumped online to see if there were any other alternatives. I came across Tao Tao House through my research and quickly learned that the chef had worked at Flower Drum for nearly 20 years. He also worked at Golden Dragon Palace afterwards, another very reputable yum cha place. Quite an impressive resume there, I quickly called up Tao Tao House to make a booking.

When we arrived I noticed that Tao Tao House was a lot smaller than other yum cha places we go to. Normally yum cha establishments are huge with a sea of people, but this had a more smaller and intimate feel. The interior had a bit of a purple colour scheme happening with purple chairs and purple table clothes. A little different from other yum cha places, but it was quite nice and I quickly got used to it. The waiter seated us down straight away with some jasmine tea. One thing I hate about a lot of other yum cha places was the wait to get the first dishes on the table. No such problem here, a lady walked by with a tray of food and we were well on our way!

We quickly filled our table with food. The dishes we ordered were Har Gau (prawn dumping), scallop siu mai, chive prawn dumpling, Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce, chicken feet in black bean sauce, BBQ pork puffs, Xiao Long Bao (pork soup dumplings), prawn rice noodle roll and Chinese egg tarts. All the dishes were extremely high quality, and I was very impressed with both the taste and texture of each dish. Some of my highlights include the Har Gau, the prawns were very fresh inside and you could taste the prawn pieces in the dumpling. At some of the other yum cha places, the prawn in the dumpling can taste mushy. The Chinese broccoli was really crunchy and blanched perfectly. The oyster sauce was light, and flavoured the broccoli nicely without being salty. The chicken feet was so good! As soon as I tried one, there was a burst of flavour in my mouth. The prawn rice noodle roll had a very thin outing which just dropped over my chopstick when I picked it up. A lot of places make the rice noodle roll way too thick, which can taste very doughy and non appetizing. The prawns inside were once again very fresh. As much as we wanted to finish with a mango pudding, we were just too full. We enjoyed some fresh Chinese egg tarts for dessert. The pastry was very light and flaky. The egg filling inside was silky smooth and actually tasted like egg, and not just a sweet filling. Simply delicious…

It felt like there were a lot of staff there for a smallish place. We never had any trouble getting anyone’s attention, which can sometimes be a problem at really busy yum cha places. The customer service here was actually really good. They were not only switched on and very efficient, but also spoke nicely and were very friendly. A very pleasant surprise in the yum cha scene. The food kept coming out with next to no waiting time, and we got full pretty quickly. The price at Tao Tao House is a little more expensive, we found ourselves paying about $20 more between the two of us compared to other places. No complaints though, as the quality of the food justifies the price. This is the best yum cha I’ve had outside of Hong Kong. The search for great yum cha certainly doesn’t end here, I will continue to try other yum cha places in Melbourne and will definitely keep you guys up to date. I highly recommend Tao Tao House and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it too!

Tao Tao House
Approx $50 AUD per person
815 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn VIC 3122
Phone: +61 3 9818 0968
Website: www.taotaohouse.com.au