foodie Archives - Page 7 of 8 - Wander Wonder Wonton

Touche Hombre, Melbourne CBD

September 1, 2014

I was lucky enough to meet up with two friends from my very first USA trip at Touche Hombre. Lucky in two aspects, great venue and great company!

It was funny, I had never heard of the place and within about three days I heard it mentioned as many times!

You walk in and you know you’ve found something awesome. The DJ booth is blasting some mad tunes, a mix of RnB and rap, I remember Bone Thugs N’ Harmony at one point. The venue is packed, there’s a bunch of share tables and people are trying to squish in wherever they can. Really cool, intimate vibe.

We shared most of our plates, starting with the corn. Charred with lime, pecorino, mayo.. heaven in a little bowl. I love corn so I guess I’m almost bias but seriously, this stuff is great.

I’m going to be honest and say the ceviche wasn’t all I was hoping for. I’ve been spoilt in Canada and the states with this though so I’m going to let it slide as I was just as impressed to even see it on the menu.

Next up: soft shell tacos. I’m about to start drooling. I went for the soft shell crab (battered, corn puree, pea tendril, popcorn) and the Haloumi (crumbed, beetroot mayo, caramelised pear salsa) and may I tell you, if my meal had finished there I would have been full and happy. Delish!

Next up, meatballs. Yup, I was dining with a man. Men will always order meatballs. They love the…. meatiness. They came in a adobo salsa, soft polenta, mint and cilantro oil… they were pretty good.

Of course we shared a bucket of 6 Sol beers between us, it was only right! We were practically in Mexico after all.

Oriental Tea House, South Yarra

August 5, 2014

Brilliant design. Brilliant dumplings. Brilliant tea.

We shared the raspberry and lime tea, ginger dumplings and mushroom dumplings. All superb!

Can’t wait to go back!

Richmond Hill Cafe & Larder, Melbourne

August 8, 2019June 17, 2014

We met Lisa here for brunch and although I’m not a massive fan of coriander I took a dive and ordered the coriander corn fritters with smoked salmon and a poached egg.

It looked great but the fritter wasn’t what I expected. Instead of being mainly corn it was mainly a flour texture with a few pieces of corn thrown in. The three of us were quite disappointed as we had all ordered it.

I also ordered a chai with almond milk – yay almond milk! Except they made it from scratch is guess and while I’m sure it was good quality, I’m used to the sweet crap they usually serve at cafes which made it taste very spicy to me. I had to add a pack of sugar to make it drinkable.

The egg and salmon were good though so I’d probably give them another chance as I have heard good things.

Yatai, best Japanese around

May 13, 2014

You can’t beat Yatai for Japanese in Palmerston North. In fact, it’s probably my favourite restaurant in the Manawatu regardless of cuisine type.

Fantastic, attentive service.
Great atmosphere.
Most incredible menu, food and presentation.

You just can’t beat it!

Barbara, the host, is always welcoming and very informative. Even though we only go for special occasions, she always remembers us and the plates we like.

Hands down, the beef tataki is my favourite. I can’t even start to begin how delicious it is. Imagine, mouth wateringly tender beef, seared then chilled, served with fried garlic and a citrus, soy dipping sauce and spring onions if you will. The combination of the flavours makes for a happy little party in your mouth. It literally melts.

Their sashimi is always high quality and fresh, the curry is hearty and flavoursome, the gyoza perfect and every plate I have tried I have adored. I have probably tried 80% of the menu there.

The desserts are succulent as the sake selection impressive. If you’re feeling like something sweet, try a glass of Ume wine – a sweet, chilled plum wine. You’ll love it.

Huge congrats to my Brother, Daniel, he graduated yesterday hence our celebration!

Enough from me, here’s the pics from our meal last night.

Best Pho is Wellington!

April 24, 2014

Hands down the best pho around.

When I tweeted about this place I had a flurry of replies from Wellington locals also saying how great it was.

It looks like your usual Kiwi fish and chip shop from the outside but it’s not. It serves a variety of Vietnamese dishes and is very popular.

You’ll find it on Bond street in Wellington, just off Willis street.

For only $11.50 I had the best pho bo which is a rare beef noodle soup. The beef was perfect and tender, the broth was rich and full of flavour and it came with a full variety of sides. Your usual sprouts and lettuce but also mint, lemon, chilli and two sauces. The serving was generous and I still ate it all because it was so damn good!!

Portofino’s Restaurant and The Library Bar Wellington

April 23, 2014

Well, these two weren’t on my list but I managed to visit them both anyway!

My mate Ty from uni invited me out for dinner and he chose Portofino’s – who was I to argue?! I love Italian!

I felt bad as I was 5 mins late (got carried away after I found sale flights to Singapore) however I needn’t have as Ty was about 20mins late! Lucky I had the big, beautiful, resident boat, The World to stare at while I waited.

We started with an antipasti platter, I had the house red and Ty a toblerone cocktail. I feel rude not drinking wine with Italian although the cocktail list was tempting. The platter was nice, especially the feta. Probably wouldn’t go to town raving about it but it was nice and good value.

For a main I had the spaghetti marinara with a salsa sauce. It was great, there were lots of fresh mussels in their shell and all throughout the pasta there was baby mussels, calamari and shrimp which places often skimp out on. The sauce wasn’t too heavy, it was lovely. Tyronne had the seafood risotto, which was quite similar to mine but with risotto instead of spaghetti I would say. Both were beautifully presented and the service was lovely. We did get kicked out however after our meals were cleared as they wanted to shut.

We went for a walk along the water and checked out the cruise ship some more. Spectacular. I wish they would have taken me with them.

We ended up cruising along Courtney Place. Ty was keen to kick on but I was pretty tired and not feeling too adventurous (unlike me, right?!) so we decided to head to The Library Bar for a drink. I’d been there briefly before when waiting to get in Chow. What an awesome venue! My photos don’t do anything for it but it has a great vibe. Cosy, dim lit atmosphere with live music and filled with ‘hipster’ types and a rockin’ cocktail list. They had two for one dessert but I was super full.

I had a lovely cocktail – pomegranate, vodka, mint and soda but Ty had the best one! I can’t remember what it was called but it was in a martini glass and second from the bottom on the list of House Cocktails. Delicious.

I’d walked past this place on Tory Street a few times called Checkmate and we decided to see what it was. I had presumed it was a bar/lounge… wrong. So wrong! It is actually a Sauna for gay men. They sell also sorts of ‘enhancers’ and I had a humorous chat with the bloke behind a plastic window in the wall. Now I know…