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
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