Food adventures in Melbourne and wherever the tummy goes
With having a new job near Christmas means Christmas lunches are due and our lunch was at Vanilla in Oakleigh. On a Tuesday lunch, my gosh, finding parking was hectic so I’d recommend you park where Coles is. Now, back to the restaurant, it was buzzing like mad and there were so many people and so many things going on. Vanilla is a ginormous restaurant with a lounge downstairs and a restaurant upstairs. Once you walk in, you’ll be greeted with the sweets cabinet by the counter.
My old work lunch gang wanted to do an outing and of course our outing involves FOOD! Mr Tequila chose Aussie Steak n Burger in Docklands since we had the Entertainment Book discount as well. Located near the pier, there were plenty of parking on the street on a weeknight after 6PM and of course it was FREE! We made a booking and when we got there, we were greeted by the friendly staff. We took our seats and began to look over the menu while our grumbling tummies sang to each other.
Pizzas, who doesn’t love them? Now, what about wood-fired pizza? Yep, I’m salivating too! Well you lucky north-siders, there’s a pizzeria called Shop 225 which is located on the main street of Melville Road (park on the side peeps!) which not only serves up wood-fired pizza but they’re also VEGAN and VEGETARIAN friendly!! It’s a cosy little joint so first in first served bros.
The stooges were sleeping over and of course we had to brunch in the Yarra Valley or Coldstream. I made a booking for Coombe, the Melba Estate and boy, was it beautiful. We got into the carpark and Coombe was hidden away behind these huge hedges. Once you step through the hedges, it was MAGNIFICENT! It was serene, it was gorgeous and best of all, it was classy!
Exploring Clayton for a feed, we landed on Korchi for some korean goodness. Located close to Clayton station, there isn’t a lot of parking around so you might have to park a few streets down and walk there. On a Friday lunch, it was quite busy but we got a seat for 5 within 5 minutes (crowds of people were starting to leave already). We got a seat, menus to check out and put our order through.
When Miss Chanel wanted to come back to Persian Flavours, who am I to deny her for an outing. So we booked the place at 6:30PM on a Tuesday night and boy, when we got there, the whole place was empty. Throughout the night people trickled in and a lot of customers came for the takeaway. Anywho, we were seated by the friendly staff and had a looksie through the menu.
Having missed out on the Souk Spring Menu Launch, I was ecstatic to be asked to try out the menu when I was available (YAYERS!). Anywho, we searched for Souk and it was hidden away but you can definitely spot it’s neon sign a mile away. We walked in and BAM, we were hit with a beautiful decor, a bar in the front and a dining area upstairs. We were greeted by the friendly staff and got to our seats ready for food galore!
It was date night and Mr D was in the mood for some Japanese and I was in charge of finding a place. After searching through zomato, I saw that a lot of people reviewed Suishaya Inn with a high rating. So in we went at 8:15PM on a Saturday night and I knew I had picked the wrong place. The decor was quite tacky and the staff were not Japanese (which was fine) but the thing that yelled out NO to me was the disposable chopsticks placed on the table. For a place where it’s estimated to spend approx $80 per couple, there should be actual chopsticks and not those given at takeaway stores.
After our movie date, I was a little distressed with all the action in the movie and was utterly depressed. So Mr D knew one way to cheer me up, find a place for me to try and hope for the best that the food was awesome sauce. We walked past Fonda Mexican and I’ve heard about this but haven’t had a chance to try it and it seems that they’ve opened quite a few chains by now. So in we went and got ourselves a table. The decor was so bright and retro and it just makes you smile, bursting with energy. So the menus are on the table and once you’ve figured out what you wanted to eat, go up to the counter to put through and pay for your order and they’ll bring it out to your table.
A date with the girlies and we decided to check out Musashi (yes, one of the girls thought we were having protein shakes for dinner) which was opposite to the never ending queue for Hakata Gensuke. There wasn’t a line for Musashi and when we walked in we were greeted loudly by the staff and the decor was fabulous! Made me feel like I was back in Japan. You could even pop your bags in your seat / stool which I thought was quite clever.