Archive for August, 2010

Hooked

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

The Fitzroy area is well served by good fish and chip shops these days, with The Seafood Shak and Ol’ School Fish & Chips (which I thought I had reviewed).

Now Hooked (384 Brunswick St, Fitzroy), which has been wowing the residents of Windsor for quite a while, has entered the mix.

Ol’ School is superb, so Hooked was going to have to be pretty special to gain my custom. Based on my first visit, I don’t think it’s got what it takes. Not by a long shot.

I bought a Box for One, which comprised two small pieces of fish, six good sized pieces of salt & pepper calamari, a generous serving of chips, sambal, and some fried sweet potato shavings. That’s a lot of food, but for $17.50, so it should be. Despite the fact that I chose to eat in, and thus my meal was very fresh, none of it was actually particularly good.

My fish was coated in a tempura batter, which wasn’t nearly as crisp as it should have been. The calamari pieces were hit and miss, with some being overly chewy, and there was very little of the promised salt and pepper flavour. As for the chips, they were chunky (almost wedges) slightly greasy and quite heavy, so perhaps the oil wasn’t quite hot enough.

In the Box for One, instead of chips, you can choose from salad and corn, or sticky rice and bok choy. I almost wish I had, but then it wouldn’t have been fish and chips.

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Milkwood 2

Sunday, August 22nd, 2010

The staff of Triple R are very lucky to have a cafe as good as Milkwood (120 Nicholson St, East Brunswick) across the road, and a number of them were enjoying the hospitality on the sunny Sunday that I paid my second visit.

I ordered poached eggs and grilled ham again, since they were so good last time. Two of the elements were just as good on this occasion – the poached eggs with their brilliantly orange yolks, and the lovely salty ham. If only they had served it with thicker slices of toast, and it would have been a perfect breakfast dish. As is often the case with thin slices of toast, it was too crispy, and therefore difficult to cut.
poached-eggs

The coffee was another thing that wasn’t quite as good as my previous visit. It wasn’t bad, but nor was it wasn’t anything special on this occasion. I did like that the barista brought it out, however, and the service in general is very friendly.

My girlfriend ordered poached eggs as well, but had roasted tomatoes as a side. I’m not sure why cafes persist with fresh tomatoes in the colder months, as the quality isn’t there. These looked the part, being nice and red, but the taste was floury rather than sweet.

Despite a few quibbles, Milkwood is a great cafe, and I’m sure my third visit won’t be too far away.

Milkwood on Urbanspoon

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Curry King

Sunday, August 8th, 2010

Having been to Curry King (281 Bridge Road, Richmond) previously, and not being overly impressed, I wasn’t in a rush to return. However, on a Saturday night before the football, a lot of other places close to the MCG were full, so it was either Curry King or Subway.

Needless to say, curry won over, and I gave Curry King another change. I’m glad I did, as it was fantastic. Most curries are priced around the $10 mark, and we chose the saag paneer (I think it went by a different name here), butter chicken and lamb madras. Despite the low prices, all three were generous in size and tasted very fresh. I’m often wary of lamb curries at cheap restaurants, as the meat can be fatty, but this was not the case here. It was tender and moist, with no sign of fat or gristle.

As well as rice, we ordered butter naan, which was’t particularly noteworthy, but even an average naan is delicious. As an added bonus, Curry King is BYO, which makes it even better value.

Posted in Indian, Richmond | No Comments »

Town Hall Hotel

Thursday, August 5th, 2010

While Griffs Wine Pub served good food at reasonable prices, somehow it didn’t manage to attract enough business to survive. Hopefully the folks behind the Town Hall Hotel (166 Johnston St, Fitzroy), which now occupies the former site of Griffs, is more successful.

This new eatery follows a similar formula, with upscale pub food, although probably aims a little higher. Even though we were sitting in the bar, we were able to order from a bar menu or restaurant menu. Both offer small, medium and large dishes.

On this occasion I chose a simple risotto of prawns with preserved lemon and basil from the primarily Italian menu, and it was cooked extremely well. The rice was a good texture, and the preserved lemon provided the right level of richness.

My girlfriend had the gorgonzola and honeyed pear risotto, was slightly heavier, but not as rich as the ingredients suggest, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. A side of green beans with dried ricotta was executed perfectly, and complemented both dishes.

There were a couple of interesting beers from Pure South on tap, including a very tasty pilsner, and I expect that they might rotate the beer selection.

It wasn’t very busy on the Thursday we visited, while The Commoner up the road was heaving. However, based on this first visit, the Town Hall Hotel is doing all the right moves, and deserves to be successful.

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Milkwood

Sunday, August 1st, 2010

A cafe that serves eggs but, no bacon? Ridiculous you might think, but Milkwood (120 Nicholson St, East Brunswick) does exactly that, and instead offers grilled ham off the bone, which I think makes a nice change.

My eggs had an incredibly yellow yolk, suggesting they were very fresh, and were perfectly poached. The grilled ham was served on the toast, and Milkwood gets two thumbs up for not skimping on the bread. I also had a side of butter beans in tomato with mint, which was tasty and filling. You can also get the latter as a ‘main’, and there’s another bean dish – cannellini beans with rosemary and sliced avocado, which is also pretty good.

Thumbs up too for the coffee and service too. It’s only been open for a week or so, and was quiet busy, but still, our drinks and meals arrived quickly. In a pocket of town short on good cafes, Milkwood will do very well.

Posted in Breakfast, Brunswick East | 1 Comment »