SING me that fried chicken you do so well!

Firstly, sorry everyone! I have not updated in a while for one reason mainly. There haven't really been that many spectacular dishes or places I have been that have umm how can I put this - knocked my socks off?

Sure I went to SPICY TEMPTATION HOUSE with some excellent friends of mine, and it wasn't bad - but then it was sichuan and I had blogged about it the previous week and it was not better than DAINTY so I felt there was no point. With that said - if you ever go there and have a choice of the "one dollar" meals - DO NOT get the squid - I wanted to die.

Anyway today something amazing happened! I met up with my faithful foodie friend Stephanie and the lovely Sasha for lunch to hang out. We were initially going to try the new Cafenatics in Docklands, or the one in Equity Lane - but then Stephanie pulled out this amazing suggestion.

"You know in the Arcade off Flinders Lane where we had Japanese that time?"

"Oh yes..."

"You know the Asian place next door?"

OH YES this is a place I have walked past so many times and have not tried. It is a place where the fried chicken and assorted dishes look just amazing.

"Let's go!"

So we did - and it was pretty darn busy, but not crazy - just your typical lunch rush.

The Port Phillip Arcade is an underrated arcade located in between Flinders Lane and Flinders Street - there is of course access from both sides - it in covered and is slightly reminiscent of the mistakes made in the 80's and 90's in terms of inner city gentrification.

NOW this amazing asian eatery is called KIM SING Chinese restaurant.

There are no menus at tables, you go up look at the menu near the cashier and just tell them what you want. Cutlery is next to the cashier and tissues too - ALSO water is in another part of the eater which is opposite to the existing KIM SING. It's so funny.

Oh and did I mention how darn cheap everything is here?

No I didn't - well here you go my lovely friends...

$6-

Could this possibly be the cheapest meal in the CBD that is actually a meal?

I'd say so - but feel free to prove me wrong.

Now what did I get for my 6 bucks?

Now tell me that does not look appetising?

I ordered the CHICKEN STEAK WITH RICE - I think it is either number 41 or 47.

It appears to be super popular because everyone orders it - so I just asked the woman what the chicken dish everyone was eating.

Now as you can see, you don't just get plain rice, it's a very basic fried rice with a few pieces of steamed broccoli and some kind of slightly sweet transparent slightly orange sauce.

I got two rather nicely sized pieces of chicken, no bones!

I also made good use of the chilli oil which is fucking good chilli oil. It was a really enjoyable and satisfying meal. There is something distinctly home style about all the food at this place.

Stephanie ordered some sweet and sour chicken which was yummy. Sasha ordered chicken and onion omelette which I quite fancied myself.

So my friends, with uni going back - we will all be working less and looking for those places that are friendly to our wallets and our mouths.

KIM SING Chinese Restaurant does just this.

I recommend!

STICKY DATE heart + The DAINTY night that followed

Oh Friday! It has and always will be my favourite day of the week. Friday for me has for as long as I can remember been a day of relaxation, socialising and discovery. It's the grand unwinding of a week of work, study, secret play, discipline and whatever else people might do in this damn crazy world.

So I was having a good old Friday, I got up at around 9am and did some cleaning, then settled down to have some lunch, showered, packed my bags and hopped on the tram. '

The main food expedition of the day was to be at The Dainty Sichuan in South Yarra on Toorak Road. The booking was 7pm and I had a haircut at 3pm. So you can imagine that I had some time to kill during. I cam prepared, with my latest book in bag, ipod, writing book, camera. I could have done anything I wanted really.

I decided to check out an exhibition at ACMI which turned out to be quite interesting - but come 4:30 I was feeling a tad peckish and hankering for some reading.

Where to go?

Where to go in this city that has more cafes and little nooks than you could care to imagine.

Like a menu with too many options, I soon became overwhelmed trying to settle on a place that would suit my current mood.

Baba Budan?

Seven Seeds?

Pushka?

For some reason these usual favourites didn't appeal to me as much today, so I then cast my thoughts to places I have been wanting to try but never did.

Then it hit me. I was planning on reading so my mind wandered to a library on Flinders Lane - which of course is CITY LIBRARY, a small but very excellent place of books for language learning and a heap of other things. I often go there to kill time and there is a little place out the front of the library that always makes you think of writing a great novel.

This place my friends is called JOURNAL.

Of all the times I have walked past over the years, promising myself I would go sometime - I never had.

So this was about to change.

Book in bag, and dreams of lovely desserts and inspiration in mind I set out for Flinders Lane.

Upon entering I was greeted by a very relaxed atmosphere. There is something very open about the place. Majority of the seating is communal style so you will almost always be in close proximity with other people. I personally love this style of eating/drinking space.

It works well and it forces you to engage with your environment and consider other people, as they will do the same for you.

I walked up to the counter greeted by two very casually 'melbourne' girls chatting away.

I told them I was after a coffee and some sort of sweet.

One girl in particular I seem to recall from the days of St Jerome's. She's one of those girls who has such a vibrant personality that permeates her clothing style and gives her such an aura that you will easily remember her. I don't think she actually worked at Journal but she was good enough to recommend me the Sticky Date Pudding. In her words - It is EPIC.

Well, I thought - and epic sticky date pudding? I'm hardly going to let that pass.

I'm a big fan of sticky date pudding. But like most sweets - it can often be botched.

I took a seat at a counter facing the entrance to the library and pulled out my book and got sucked into the universe among the pages I turned every so often.

Suddenly, tap on the shoulder "Hey here's your coffee and pudding."

This is what I got:

Here we have a nice homely looking deep bowl. The pudding wasn't huge - but not by any means tiny. Swimming in syrup and a very generous scoop of vanilla ice cream next to it - slowly melting as the heat of the pudding emanated. Looked like a treat!

AND WAS IT EVER!

I must say I was really impressed by this Sticky Date Pudding. It had a beautiful flavour, simply put it was a delight. The texture was what one me over the most. There was that perfect balance. It was so gloriously soft yet still had that cake-ish consistency (in other words it wasn't mushy) The syrup was sweet and the ice cream helped balance it out.

There are many places that claim to have sticky date pudding that is the best - JOURNAL didn't say that, but I will say it is epic. It is such an epic sticky date pudding. I recommend it.

A small note for those on a budget I wouldn't say that this coffee and cake was extremely cheap. I think in total it cost me 11.50 or somewhere around there. It wasn't super pricey and I by no means had a problem paying (or regret paying) because it was worth it. But just keep that in mind.

As for the atmosphere - this is a place to go an read, or write. You sit here during winter as it rains outside. You have the aroma of coffee and other foods hugging you like no other blanket you have at home. You come here with your lover and chat over a drink or a discrete meal. It's very romantic - but in more than one way.

NEXT.

7pm came and we caught one of the many trains passing through South Yarra station which is about 10 minutes from the CBD for those of you not familiar with the area. You pretty much just cross the road and walk toward Chapel Street and you'll see it on your write.

What I will say about The Dainty Sichuan is that the service is decent. It's prompt, efficient and you have the owner walking around checking everything is peachy. The owner reminds me of the Asian aunty I never had. For that element you feel quite comfortable.

I had been to this eatery back when it was in the CBD, but now it's in South Yarra and my friend Prarthana frequents the place as a lover of hot food. So she came along of course and recommended that we get some dishes she was sure are excellent. She made excellent choices by the way.

We ordered like a spicy fish sitting in a chilli soup:

It looks deadly hot, and yes it was rather spicey. There were also bean shoots and some other vegetables in there, but of course fish was the main component. All the dishes are large because it is designed to be shared, so keep this in mind. It isn't a place you got by yourself. And if you go with just one other person, only order one or two meals to share. The fish itself was lovely, such a pleasure to eat. It didn't have a heavy fish flavour and the spices were beautiful, szechuan style food is in a word - aromatic. There is something distinctly middle eastern or morrocon about it - but very much chinese - however ultimately so unique. I especially loved getting bits of coriander to eat with the fish - it made the taste so fresh and enhanced the flavour oh so much.

This was another stand out dish. It is tofu with leek. The tofu seemed almost dehydrated and this was really interesting. I'm guessing it was stir fried at an extremely high temperature and that is what caused this texture. It was excellent though. Probably the least spicy dish, but it still had a bit of kick to it. The flavours of this dish were more delicate and provided a nice break from all the extremes of the other dishes.
These are the pork ribs. I had such high hopes for this. When I had it a while back it was simply awesome. But this time around it was a little disappointing. Unlike the fish dish and the toothpick beef which I will discuss later - this dish lacked that PAM POW of different flavours. It was large and expensive - so I would not advise you to order this dish.

Oh yes, the eggplant cooked in fish - or something along those lines. These are eggplants cut into fingers and caramelised. They are 'warm' in their level of spicy-ness and my personal favourite. You'll absolutely love these and their savoury sweetness. My friend Stephanie who isn't the biggest fan of eggplant told me she quite enjoyed this.

Finally we have the toothpick beef. It's basically swimming in chilly. There is also cumin in this dish and the szechuan pepper which has a very unique flavour. This is hot - really hot. But it's also a great dish. It's easy to pick up the pieces of beef because they are on toothpicks. But also be careful you don't eat the chopsticks.

Well overall I will say that I was impressed with the Dainty Sichuan. I will make a few notes for your information. The eatery where the Dainty Sichuan used to be in the CBD is still a szechuan style eatery - but it is not the real Dainty Sichuan. There is apparently a food war occuring between the two establishments according to Prartharna. I have not been to the other 'Dainty Sichuan' but from what my friends have told me it is not as good - the service isn't as good and the consistency in the quality of dishes is iffy. But of course that is only here say from regular eatery goers.

The Dainty Sichuan is good for big groups. The meals are about 16-18 dollars each. The pork ribs dish was I think 38 dollars but it was large. We ended up paying about 20 dollars each which isn't too bad I feel.

It is hot food and vegetarian dishes are available but be weary it hasn't been cooked in fish stock or anything.

Bookings are apparently essential for larger groups. We had 8 in our group last night and I booked about 3 days prior.

The Dainty Sichuan is located on:

176 Toorak Road, South Yarra

9078 1686

JOURNAL is located on:

253 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

9650 4399

Footscray Fantastic!

Firstly, I will say sorry for my lack of post recently. This has happened for two reasons;

I have been kind of time poor with work and showing a friend around Melbourne trying to help him find a job the past few days.

I have been to a few places but they weren't anything great so I don't deem them worthy of spending time writing about the food.

HOWEVER today my friends the drought has broken! The flood of fantastic food comes plentiful!

Where you ask?

From the west of course, the wild west, traditionally the less appealing of the two (east and west). Well Footscray which is the epitomy of the west in Melbourne is a treasure trove of Asian and African delights - with a bit of Mediteranian hidden in there.

Footscray is colourful, it's edgy, it's everything you loved about Fitzroy 10 years ago. There is danger, delight and anything in between. All in all it is an adventure that will not be around for much longer. According to me it is the next inner city suburb facing gentrification - so go there while the good is good and before the yuppies move in and make it 'correct'.

How do we get to Footscray? Well you catch a train from the city - or north melbourne station. Hope on the Weribee or Sydenham lines. Catch the 82 tram from Moonee Ponds or find a bus. But train is quick. About 10 minutes from the CBD it's no hike. Don't drive, parking is a bit inconsistent and probably a bit unsafe - haha only joking...(or am i?)

Anyway so we all met up and I was telling everyone about where we'd go and if everyone fancied what I had in mind. Ethiopian food at Lalibela and cannoli at Cavallaro's. Both places in my view are pretty awesome eateries in the area. Since there was a risk of Cavallaro's closing earlier - Amy suggested we go and do our dessert first, because in the words of the girl herself "Who said dessert has to be last?"

Too true Amy, too true!

So we headed over to Cavallaro's which has been open since 1949 - and doesn't look like it's changed much since. You're greeted by friendly old European ladies and a lovely new girl who seems to have been recently employed. It gives you the feeling you're going to your grandmothers house. It's small, tan coloured tiles, mirrors, biscuits everywhere, lollies and the ladies who run the place fuss over you if you're not doing what you should be doing.

You can get your cannoli filled with ricotta filling or chocolate and vanilla custard. Both are particularly excellent - but I personally prefer the ricotta filled cannoli. I recommend trying both. Their other biscuits are pretty good and they make a decent coffee.

This is what you might get if you went there:

Quick note, the cannoli is freshly filled- none of this pre filled shit. So what you're getting is fresh.

The ricotta cannoli is heavenly. It's an almost cream cheese like consistency with the filling - and possibly some kind of hazelnut meal inside as well. It is sweet but not overly so. You can easily eat this and feel content, not full and sickly. With that said - it is totally satisfying. There is a perfectly found balance here.

These people are pros at what they do - they are efficient and genuinely nice. This place is small so it gets busy easily. But believe me it is worth waiting.

I honestly have only had maybe tried 5 or so cannoli from other places and this is the best. Absolutely the best I have tried.

But with that said - I haven't tried every cannoli so I could be wrong.

Anyway after chilling around there and making the store look full (with all 8 of us) we headed down to Lalibela. I assumed it would be open - but if it wasn't there was a good Northern Chinese Dumpling House nearby.

Well sorry Northern Chinese Dumplings because Lalibela was open.

It wasn't too busy inside, a few people here and there - but I'd recommend making a booking if you were going for dinner, because over the course of the afternoon it became fairly busy. But bookings would only be needed with larger groups.

The menu isn't big, but don't let that put you off. What is offered is all pretty darn good.

We ordered the Doro Wot (Chicken Stewed in Red Pepper Sauce), Mesir Wot (Lentil Dish), and also a cubed lamb dish with onions (sorry I forgot the name!) and also a beef dish (also forgot). These were all served on a giant plate on top of Injera which is a kind of bread often eaten with Ethiopian food. It has a slightly sour taste because before cooking, the mixture goes through a certain fermentation process.

This picture is a bit dodgy, sorry it seemed good at the time - but mainly I was excited to just dig in. And that is what you do. There is no cutlery here. You use your hands my friends! and you all eat from the same plate. It is absolutely and awesome dining experience, because you're interacting with the food and each other for the whole meal - it doesn't allow you to retreat to your own meal because you have what other people are having. I love it!

So how was it?

Effing awesome! Put simply.

But I will elaborate.

The chicken and beef dish were slightly spicy and beautifully aromatic. It is not salty but full flavoured - it is such a range, yet quite delicate at the same time. There was a boiled egg served with the chicken - it was great!

The Lamb was beautiful, it doesn't have the same amount of sauce as the others as you can see, but it was yummy. The lamb was a little tough but not overly so.

The lentil was dish was really awesome. It didn't have the spicyness of the other dishes but it was just as well flavoured and very satisfying. Now a note on this place - they have a pretty extensive vegetarian meal list - so if you're vegetarian or dining with one, try out ethiopian. It's part of the cuisine so it isn't at all tokenistic if you get my drift?

As you eat the meals, picking some up with the injera, bringing it to your mouth and tasting the slight sourness of the bread and the explosion of flavours from whatever you picked up - you will be in ecstasy.

The dishes are about 12 dollars each and drinks are cheaper than other city or inner city eateries.

OH and I must say - something completely made my day today. As we were walking back for Footscray station, my heart skipped a beat as I saw the Olympic Doughnuts Van right next to the redevelopment site of the station. Impossible, I heard the place closed. I was distraught.

BUT it was there!

I told everyone we must have some. This place is like an INSTITUTION. I would not say it about many places, but Olympic Doughnuts is an institution. Now it's future is in question because the council doesn't know where to put the place when the whole station gets redeveloped (see what gentrification does?)

It may be moved to the mall or further down the street. The lady said it is going to stay open for now though.

It's cheap, it's great and they use a dolphin to squirt the jam into the doughnuts. It is awesome. You just simply MUST have these.

The Olympic Doughnut Van is located outside Footscray station.

Cavallaro is located:

98 Hopkins St
Footscray VIC 3011
(03) 9687 4638

It is open most days, closes early on Saturday (maybe 2pm?) and I don't know if it's open on Sundays. And of course it is open on weekdays.

Lalibela is located:

91 Irving St
Footscray VIC 3011
(03) 9687 0300

Lalibela is open from 11am - 11pm daily apparently. Excellent.