Aunty Franklee

205-207 Russell St
Melbourne VIC 3000

Located at the intersection of Russell St and Little Lonsdale St, it is easy enough to find, along the same stretch as the popular Stalactites, Crazy Wing and Hakata Gensuke Ramen.

The first occasion I dined here, my partner and myself ordered:

• Dry Bak Kut Teh
• Lamb Ribs Bakar + the addition of a beef rib
• BKT broth in a mug

The feedback provided from this initial experience was that apart from the BKT, I did not consider the other dishes Malaysian. I additionally mentioned that the BKT soup made me extremely thirsty after.

I also mentioned a few other little things within the app (which by the way gives you $10 credit off your food) but that is more general commentary on ways to improve.

I would just like to say how impressed I was at how efficient they were in responding; not only listening to my feedback, but also actioning it. Furthermore, we were also invited to come back and try different dishes. We chose the perfect day to go in because they had only just started selling Char Kuey Teow.

Char Kuey Teow

LOVED this. I can honestly say this is the best plate of Char Kuey Teow in Melbourne I have had to date. 10/10.

Mother Hen Soup

Cozy, comforting and makes me warm & fuzzy inside. 10/10. 

Bak Kut Teh

It’s quite interesting, having the broth alone in the mug on my previous visit, I felt it was extremely salty, but this time around having it as a dish with all the fixings in it did not induce the same thirst I previously had. With that being said, my mind is changed, 9/10.

Black Pepper and Nestum Gelato topped with Crispy Curry Leaves

Mild pepper flavour, crunchy leaves and surprisingly quite enjoyable. My partner definitely liked it more than I did. 7/10.

My overall experience at Aunty Franklee was:
– Delicious
– Comforting
– Omg Char Kuey Teow, do it.

Food: 9/10
Service: 9/10
Ambience: 7/10

 

Hell of the North

135 Greeves St
Fitzroy VIC 3065

Zomato rating 4.7/5

My rating (if Zomato allows) 0/5

I made a reservation for 2. Upon arrival, the table they showed us to at the start was the one right next to the entrance. Bear in mind, this is winter, people walk in and out, it’s cold. I did not make a reservation to sit in the cold area of the restaurant. Luckily, they saw my hesitation and offered a seat further in the restaurant.

Interior

I heard great things about the parfait and the terrine dish prior to coming here. I assumed (my mistake to assume clearly) that when I ordered the ‘Let Us Feed You’ option at $65 pp, one of these would be included, I mean, why wouldn’t you if it was one of your popular dish right?

The waitress briefly highlights that the ‘Let Us Feed You’ option would basically be one dish from each category on their menu (hors d’oeuvre, charcuterie, small, large, cheese & dessert). My only comment from the ‘Let Us Feed You’ option was that I did not want the Cheese Selection as I do not eat cheese.

I did not eat cheese. I specifically said that. The succession of meals that came out made me so upset.

Dish 1 – Pork Belly, Sweet & Sour Onion

This was good I won’t lie. It was melt in your mouth fatty goodness with a crisp skin and full of flavour. 10/10

Dish 2 – Cauliflower, Whipped Feta, Currants, Linseed Green Beans

Feta is a cheese is it not? Although feta is mild in flavour and I still ate it, the waitress clearly missed the brief. 3/10

Dish 3 – French Onion Soup

What comes served on top of french onion soup? That’s right, cheese. I hardly touched this. Gave it to my partner. 0/10

Dish 4 – Mussels, Pernod & Fennel

This was good, but at this point I was already visibly upset. I knew this was part of the ‘small’ dishes on the menu, so I asked the waitress if there was going to be the terrine or the parfait. Her response was “oh you didn’t say” and then just walked away.

WHAT?! Maybe you should have told me what you were going to serve me, then I could have told you I wanted those and none of the cheese dishes.

Dish 4 – Braised Beef Short Rib, Celeriac, Horseradish & red Wine Sauce

This took almost half an hour to come out.

Nothing on your menu indicated that there would be shaved cheese on top. After scraping the cheese off, the beef was tender, but again, already not impressed at this point.

Dish 5 – Broccoli, Buffalo Yogurt, Almonds

Side of pommes frites and a broccoli salad was served. The pommes frites also had cheese on it mind you.

Dish 6 – Dessert

Wasn’t on the menu so I am unable to provide an accurate description of it. However I found it too sweet. 4/10

Might I also add that because the beef main took so long to come out, they were pretty much chasing me out of the restaurant for the second seating at 8pm, calling the dessert out when I wasn’t done with my main.

I am well aware French cuisine has a lot of cheese, but I also noted on the menu there were a lot of options that had no cheese. Furthermore, the waitress told me there would be one dish from each category, well I checked, and she completely skipped the Charcuterie category on the menu.

My experience at Hell of the North was:
– Staff that do not listen
– Horrendous service
– Lack of thought or concern towards customer’s preferences

Food: 2/10
Service: 0/10
Ambience: 4/10

Sardi

111 Church St
Hawthorn VIC 3122

Catch the Route 75 Tram Vermont South, and from Stop 23 it’s a 8 minute walk to get to this cafe.

Situated within a residential area, parking is also easy enough to find.

Interior

Display cabinet

Table set up

Flat White

Wild Mushroom Ragout w/ garlic, kale, parmesan on sourdough ($16.50) + poached eggs ($18.50)

Generous portion of mushrooms, rich and creamy. Sourdough bread was a good addition to mop up the sauce. 8/10

Pea & Haloumi Fritters w/ blistered tomatoes, bacon & relish ($16.50) + poached eggs ($18.50)

I actually wanted the avocado salsa and smoked salmon option but they sold out for the day.

Regardless, I felt the fritters were almost cake-like. Haloumi was a little lost in this dish. I’m glad I ordered the extra poached eggs because this was not filling. 5/10

I wouldn’t say my experience was entirely bad, plus the staff were nice enough. However, based on my pea & haloumi fritter dish, plus let’s not forget to mention all these food bloggers posting pictures from this place, I thought it would be more spectacular than that.

Then again, what do I know, I am just a paying customer who speaks the truth as it is.

My experience at Sardi was:
– Average food
– Attentive staff
– Wouldn’t make a second trip

Food: 5/10
Service: 8/10
Ambience: 7/10

Tsindos

197 Lonsdale St
Mebourne VIC 3000

Tsindos is located right in the heart of the city. Situated next to the famous Stalactites Greek Restaurant, this is probably why not many people would choose this as an option if they wanted to have Greek in the city.

I thought I would give this place a try regardless, just so I can form my own opinion.

Interior was nice and cosy. Wait staff were friendly and attentive. I left it with my waitress to recommend me dishes.

Mixed Dips – Melinzanosalata (eggplant), Tzatziki , Tarama (fish roe) ($10)

The pita bread came out warm, texture was soft and fluffy. The eggplant dip was refreshing, tzatziki dip is standard, tarama dip could have given a miss. 8/10

Seafood Platter – Fillet of fish, grilled king prawns, calamari, white bait and octopus ($34)

Nice big chunky chips on the side, octupus and grilled prawns were nice, however the calamari and white bait were soggy. 6/10

Greek Salad (small) ($8)

Nice addition to cut all the meat and seafood. 8/10

Piatela Kreatika (Mixed Grill) – Gyro, lamb and chicken souvlaki, lamb cutlet, sausage ($30)

Different angle of the mixed grill

The gyro up close

While my partner and I thought the gyro was delicious, we couldn’t say the same for the souvlaki. The chicken was extremely dry, while the lamb one was rather tough. The lamb cutlet and sausage were nice. 6/10

Baklava ($8) w/ ice-cream ($10)

I can’t say no to baklava. 9/10

Although the service was good, the menu prices were on the steep side and what was served was slightly lacking in terms of quality.

My experience at Tsindos was:
– So much food
– Attentive staff
– Inconsistent quality

Food: 6/10
Service: 8/10
Ambience: 8/10

The Bakers Wife

414 Burke Rd
Camberwell VIC 3124

2 minute walk from Stop 54 – Toorak Rd/Burke Rd (Glen Iris) on the Route 72 Tram towards Camberwell.

Cafe front

Outside

Baked goods on display from the outside

More baked goods on display on the inside

Interior

The cafe is spacious, with a rustic feel to it. Plenty of tables which is a plus.

Interior

Pardon My French – House made challah, pecan crumble, bourbon cinnamon apples, Canadian maple syrup & burnt mascarpone ($17.50)

This was the standout dish for me. I will elaborate no further and say this deserves a 10/10

Sofishticated (left) – Meridith’s goat curd on toasted New York bagel w/ smoked Tasmanian salmon, poached egg, shaved fennel, orange & broad bean salad ($19.50) and The Baker’s Breakfast (right) – Poached eggs, chorizo sausage, bacon, dill mushrooms, braised kale, panko haloumi, tomato relish & toast ($23.50)

I didn’t try it, but they finished it, so it must be ok.

Truffled Asparagus – Poached eggs, truffled asparagus, house potato hash, crisp leek and hollandaise ($18.50)

Could not really taste truffle, didn’t really like that the hash was deep fried. 6/10

Although things were reasonably priced and we left satisfied from our meals, I did not think anything else on the menu sounded appealing apart from the French toast dish.

My experience at The Bakers Wife was:
– Good but not wow
– Satisfying
– Nice atmosphere

Food: 7/10
Service: 8/10
Ambience: 9/10

 

GJ’s Grill

2/243 Franklin Street
Melbourne VIC 3000

Located near Victoria Market and Flagstaff Station, it is along a quiet walkway (laneway next to Pegasus Apart’Hotel), it was a bit hard to find, but again, Google Maps exists for a reason.

The place mainly serves BBQ and grilled dishes, sounds simple however my partner and I have not been immersed much in Filipino food so we decided this place might be a good start.

Laneway leading up to the restaurant

Outside

This place is clearly quite popular because when we got there there was a slight queue outside.

Lechon at the front

Omg pork..

Long seatings for the narrow restaurant

Restaurant was extremely narrow, only fits about 30 people or so, maybe less.

Clearly this was a self-seat, order at the counter kind of setup, so my partner and I walked straight to the end of the restaurant where we saw a bunch of people about to finish their meal and took their table.

Ordered the food at the counter and my partner informed them the table needed cleaning. However even after he told them, our food arrived and the table still wasn’t cleaned so the waitstaff had to duck out to the back to put our dishes down so he could have hands to clean our table.

Everything we ordered for 2 – Small Lechon ($12.50), Half Chicken ($13.50) and Garlic Rice ($3.50)

Garlic Rice was a bit gluey and I could not taste any garlic in it. 3/10

Half Chicken ($13.50)

Breast parts were dry, but I must admit apart from that, the other pieces were pretty tasty. 8/10

The chili sauce that came with it paired well with this dish.

Small Lechon – Crispy Skin Pork ($12.50)

Crispy, fatty, porky goodness, this was really good. 9/10

The sauce that came with it was some type of umami sauce. I’m not sure what exactly it was, but it went well with the pork. However it does get quite rich and I wished they served this with something refreshing on the side.

As the pork was so rich we did not finish our chicken and got our leftovers takeaway. Heated it up the next day in the oven drenched in the chilli sauce and it was even tastier than the day before.

I would say the service overall was not great however I do acknowledge they were busy. Even so, for a restaurant that fits such a small amount of people, I expect the service to be more efficient because you don’t actually even have that many tables to oversee.

In saying that, I would dine here again, but at a much earlier time to avoid the hectic crowd and inefficient service.

My experience at GJ’s Grill was:
– Inefficient Staff
– Authentic
– Delicious

Food: 7/10
Service: 6/10
Ambience: 5/10

Assaggi Italiani

99 Glenferrie Rd
Malvern VIC 3144

Located on the southern end of Glenferrie Road, Assaggi Italiani is an easy short walk from Malvern Station.

Assaggi only recently started opening for lunch Thursday-Sunday. Working in the area, I couldn’t be more delighted to finally see what the reviews of this restaurant were all about.

No need to book if you are planning on visiting for lunch. The restaurant is usually pretty empty during their lunch service.

Pizza in the making

Mmm..

The wood fired pizza oven

Becco – Tomato base, bocconcini, ham off the bone, hot salami, capsicum & onions ($20)

Pretty good, lots of ingredients on top. 8/10

Can’t remember the name unfortunately. A cheese filled ravioli in brown butter sauce w/ sage topped with parmesan ($19.50)

This was also pretty tasty, however it got a bit too oily for me after a while. 7/10

Although on the pricier side, this restaurant is worth checking out for special occasions. There is also seats upstairs so I think it is safe to say they have can accommodate a fair amount of customers.

My experience at Assaggi Italiani was:
– Attentive and corteous staff
– Authentic
– Fresh

Food: 7/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 8/10

Phamily Kitchen

374 Smith Street
Collingwood VIC 3066

Located along the eclectic Smith Street, the easiest public transportation route would be to catch Tram 86 towards Bundoora RMIT via Smith Street, get off at Stop 19-Johnston Street/Smith Street (Fitzroy) and from there it’s a 2-minute walk.

You could alternatively catch Tram 11 towards West Preston via Brunswick Street but this requires more walking time. There is also the bus, but my past experiences with them have not been great so I generally avoid buses like a plague.

Interior

Condiments and cutlery on the table

Specials

Menu had this section in it

Lemongrass Fried Chicken Ribs w/ Kewpie ($9)

I could not taste the lemongrass, it did however have a nice crunch to it. 7/10

Slaw w/ BBQ Chicken ($14)

I liked this dish the best. Chicken was a substantial amount, salad was fresh in flavour, overall a good price point dish. 9/10

And then it sort of went downhill from here..

Beef Brisket & Sirloin Pho ($14)

Just okay. Best pho is still located in suburbs like Footscray, Springvale & Richmond. Also, such a small serve of beanshoots. 5/10

Caramelised Pork Belly & Egg w/ Rice, Pickles, Cucumber ($16)

Also just okay, did not really stand out for me. 5/10

Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken Curry w/ Coconut Milk, Sweet Potato & Jasmine Rice ($16)

Thought this was pretty average as well. I expect curries to have more depth of flavour but this one seemed a bit underwhelming. 4/10

The fried egg was additional ($3 for 2) which we ordered with the pork belly dish in anticipation that the servings would be small.

We were right, servings were small, and we left the restaurant still hungry.

Considering Phamily Kitchen is located in Collingwood, I understand items won’t be priced like restaurants in Footscray, Richmond or Springvale. However, what I found most disappointing was for a Vietnamese fare, the portions were small, the flavours were lacking and I felt majority of the dishes were uninspiring.

My experience at Phamily Kitchen was:
– Attentive staff (I mean, there’s only approximately 5 tables. Furthermore, it was 8pm when I got there and it wasn’t full so how could you possibly go wrong)
– Underwhelming
– Dull

Food: 4/10
Service: 8/10
Ambience: 7/10

Pastuso

19 ACDC Lane 
Melbourne VIC 300

Peruvian tapas bar and grill located in an alley off Flinders Lane. Walking down a dark alley, you are presented with bold golden Pastuso signage to welcome you in large heavy doors.

As I waited for my guest, the waiter was attentive and was welcoming. We decided we would choose the “Feed Me” Menu set ($59). Wine menu was extensive and we ordered a glass each of pinot noir and tempranillo.

View of the kitchen

Paruano – Ruby red snapper cured in lemon juice with caramelised sweet potato and cancha

Paruano was a great start to the set menu. Fresh and cooling with the right balance of acidity with the crunch of the cancha roasted corn kernels – 7/10

Anticuchos– Beef loin and swordfish skewers with grilled vegetables, huacatay and aji amarilo sauce

Both these skewers were beautifully grilled, and melt in your mouth with the right amount of heat. 8/10

Yucas – Cassava chips with spicy rocoto mayonnaise

The chips were slightly disappointing, not crispy and quite dry on the inside. 3/10

Beef Ribs from the fire

Not from the a la carte menu, these beef rib pieces lay on top of a bed of quinoa and were tender and juicy. Tasty 7/10

Supriro a La Limena – Creamy caramel with sherry marinated currents and pedro ximenez meringue

Super tasty. Like a creme caramel with a crispy meringue biscuit, perfectly balanced with those sherry currants. 8/10

Beso de chocolate – 72% Dark Peruvian chocolate with sour cherry ice cream and brazil nuts

Very chocolatey. Sour cherry icecream was supposed to be that balance to that rich chocolate. 6/10

Overall happy with the experience.

My experience at Pastuso was:
-Presented well
-Range of new flavours for people new to Peruvian food
-Delicious overall

Food: 6.5/10
Service: 8/10
Ambience: 8/10

Bali Bagus

85 Franklin St 
Melbourne VIC 3000

Located opposite Aldi and also near Victoria Market, Bali Bagus is a simple restaurant serving Balinese food.

The people frequenting this restaurant are mostly students.

You order at the counter and cutlery and water is self-serve so I can’t comment too much on service.

Interior

Menu comes with pictures.

Pictures of the food were helpful since we didn’t know what most of the dishes were.

Iga Penyet – Grilled tenderised beef ribs w/ rice ($9.50)

Mostly fatty bits, not much meat & not as tender as it should be. 5/10

You can add on to your penyet meals. I got the Sayur Asem Plus – Sweet and sour vegetable soup ($2.50) to go with my beef ribs. My partner got Penyet Plus – Fried boiled egg, beancurd and tempeh ($3) to go with his fried barramundi.

Sayur Asem – Sour, very sweet (almost too sweet) & small in size for the price we paid. 4/10

Penyet Plus – More value for money compared to the soup, good variety & goes well with the penyet meals. 7/10

Ikan Bumbu Penyet – Fried whole barramundi fish w/ rice ($13)

Substantial in size, crispy & cooked well. 7/10

Our food

I wasn’t impressed at the entire experience however at the end of the day, it is a cheap eatery so don’t have too high expectations if you do consider trying the food.

I think the highlight was the whole barramundi at $13. Apart from that, everything else was rather mediocre. I find their meals rather unbalanced, especially when everything is so greasy, maybe more greens on the plate would have helped.

My experience at Bali Bagus was:
– Greasy
– Only the barramundi is worth ordering
– Underwhelming experience

Food: 5/10
Service: 6/10
Ambience: 6/10