Oriental Wok

15 The Causeway, Melbourne
Phone: 03 9650 9801

I'd read about Oriental Wok over at Harbx not long back, who declared them as having one of the best Hainanese chicken rice in town. So with such a recommendation in mind, I made my way to this laneway establishment to test this declaration for myself.

Hainanese chicken rice has its roots in the Hainan province in China, although it is more commonly associated with Singaporean or Malay cuisine. For this dish, whole chickens are poached in a light master stock or water infused with garlic and ginger until just cooked. The accompanying chicken rice is made by frying ginger and garlic in a little chicken fat and adding it to the raw rice and stock mixture for absorption. The sliced chicken and the chicken rice is then served with slices of cucumber and tomato, a bowl of light stock, and two or three dipping sauces; chilli, ginger and dark soy.

The chicken rice itself at Oriental Wok was great - it had a nice oilyness and good stock flavour. The chicken was quite moist, and whilst my serve was rather lean, my friends serve had a rather large serve of chicken skin (which to be honest, would please people who like such things, but generally I felt was just a little too much). The chilli/ginger sauce on the side was passable, but I think Laksa Me does a better one.

Verdict? Well, it is certainly a good version, but I don't know if it's the best version (I'm still on the hunt - so if you know of a good one, let me know in the comments!). And for $9, well I think it is a little steep. I have fond memories of paying SG$3 for a sublime version at Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice Stall in the Maxwell Centre in Singapore, and whilst I know we can't do it for that price here, $9 just rankles.

York Cafe

336-368 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Phone 03 9642 2882

Everyone needs a cheap and cheerful neighbourhood takeaway joint for when you can't be bothered cooking or when the pantry is stone motherless bare. Takeaway is sometimes lacking for us CBD residents, who miss out on the great suburban staples of quality pizza joints and fish and chippers. Thank god for gems like York Cafe to satisfy our take out cravings!

A bustling lunch spot, York Cafe is a haven at night for students, who converge on the place for a cheap feed during a break in studying, and also nearby apartment dwellers, who keep the delivery boy very busy indeed (minimum delivery order is $20). Rita, the pocket dynamo owner, ensures that everyone is well looked after.

A clean, bright and neat little space, York offers the gamut of Hong Kong-style fast food, from a range of soup and fried noodles, to various combinations of toppings on steaming plain rice. Nostalgia abounds, with spam and fried eggs on rice available, and the drinks menu listing Ovaltine and Horlicks. A separate a la carte menu is available, which comes with complimentary soup and rice, but is currently only written in Chinese so you may have to get Rita to translate. What I love about York is that the food is tasty but not too oily, and most dishes are usually loaded with vegies. Also, the owners go the extra mile by catering for those who are gluten intolerant.

I have tried almost everything on the menu and loved them all. Those on a budget usually go for the $6.50 beef or chicken on rice, which you can choose to have with a range of sauces, including black bean, garlic chilli, satay, curry, oyster, XO, szechuan and more. Let's see Subways match that! The York does a particularly good beef and bitter melon with black bean sauce (first pic), deliciously warming fish ball soup noodles (second pic), and one of the best examples of the Cantonese version of char kway teow ever - dry-fried beef with rice noodles that was smoky and ever so tastily licked by the breath of the wok. There's also a nice range of fried rice dishes and vego's are well catered for with seven vegetarian dishes. If you are game, request some fresh chopped chilli, which are sliced razor thin and come from Rita's home garden. They will blow your socks off.

Drinks are quirky and fun, with Hong Kong-style ice milk tea (ice tea with condensed milk) and a very nice ice lemon tea. Espresso and cafe latte's are also available. The York is not licensed but you can BYO.

I love this place! City life would have been unbearable without a great "neighbourhood" place like York Cafe.

Yongtze's chicken congee with confit shallot

Congee is a dish that I have only recently come to know and love. Whilst it is a familiar and a staple dish for many, it was only through meeting EG that I broke my congee cherry. Since then I have experienced the gamut of different variations - century egg, shredded pork, sliced fish, minced beef, shredded chicken and ginger etc. Being somewhat like the Jewish version of chicken soup, it is one of those simple dishes that provides easily digestable and nutritional sustenance required for periods of convalescence. It is cheap (primarily originating to extend rice and grains during times of famine) and damn filling. Give me a bowl of congee, a plate of sauteed greens and a couple of youtiao (Chinese doughnuts), and I'm a happy girl.

So having eaten this dish at many of Melbourne's finer dining establishments (particularly good ones can be found at Supper Inn or Wonton House), I saw a recipe on High Fidelity and decided to give it a whirl myself. I won't reproduce it here, but I pretty much followed the recipe to the letter, except that I would say it serves four (Yongtze recommends it for two). Thumbs up, this one will become one of my regular recipes favourites.

Pancake Village

Shop 45a in the Food Hall
Centro Box Hill

A piece of fruit is definitely healthier and cheaper than this little street snack, but how can one resist the lure of little savoury pancakes? Especially when you can watch them being prepared and fried right in front of your very own eyes.

The spring onion and carrot pancakes will set you back $1.20, the one with bacon $1.50. As far as taste is concerned, I vote the carrot the best of the three, followed by the bacon and then the spring onion (which was actually quite tasteless). They were a little on the greasy side as they were fried with a generous splodge of margarine, but heck, they were not too bad for the price.

Box Hill Central is quite the spot for a quick/cheap bite, and Pancake Village sits smack bang in the middle of your typical food court, which leans most definitely towards Asian cuisines. You can find some neat cakes / dumplings / pastries there as well, so it is certainly worth checking out.

Copper Chimney

157 - 159 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Phone 03 9663 3006

Copper Chimney may not be the most atmospheric of venues, but what it does have is fabulously tasty food at damn cheap prices. The decor is functionally utilitarian - canteen style - with echo-y tiled floors, a long stainless steel bain marie, wood veneer tables and steel/ply chairs. Whilst it all sounds rather cold and serviceable, there is something inviting about the place; the smell of whole spices being tempered in hot oil and of curries simmering, and noodles and rices frying. Copper Chimney specialises in Indo-Asian food; that is, a mix of Chinese, Indian, Malaysian, Singaporean and Indonesian - Halal endorsed. It may seem an unusual mix for some, but it is not so unusual in many Asian countries where these cuisines tend to mesh in all manner of ways.

I have been for lunch a number of times, partaking in the $6.90 deal of two dishes (meat or veg) and rice. You get to choose from the extensive bain marie range, though this has a definite bias towards Indian cuisine (which I am certainly not complaining about!). But we decided to sample from the a la carte menu on a cold Sunday night, where the options expand to other cuisines.

Photographed above is a Hyderabadi chicken biryani ($6.90), which is an Indian form of the spicy Middle-Eastern / South Asian rice dish. It was served in cute copper pot with a side of cooling carrot raita. There was just a little bite of heat, but nothing too in your face. And the spice was just right.

EG went the chicken masala dosai, which is a huge South Indian rice pancake served with sambar and chutney. Dosai is usually made from fermented rice and/or lentil batter and is cooked with ghee, so it has a slight sourness about it (in a good way that is!). The chicken masala filling was tandoori style, with fried potato and onion. I have seen dosai at other restaurants that remain quite rigidly cylindrical. This version though came out a lil' flat, though it was still relatively crunchy. I'm not sure whether the rigidity of the dosai is indicative of its quality. Anyone?

We all shared in the mee goreng, a mamak version of the Malaysian favourite. The hokkien noodles were dry-fried with spices, chicken, egg, tofu and vegetables. It wasn't too oily either, which is the approach Copper Chimney appears to take with most of its dishes.

Lastly (well almost) was the Murtahaba Kambing - roti stuffed with minced lamb, onion, tomato, chilli, fresh egg and spices. It is fried on a hot plate and served as is, though we asked for an extra bowl of curry sauce on the side. The murtahaba was bloody fantastic, though having to wait close to forty minutes for it meant it bloody well should be. The roti was goood - flaky and buttery, with a generous filling.

Teh Tarik is a Malaysian tea made with condensed milk. But what sets it apart from regular tea is the preparation - the tea is poured from a container held high to container held low (and repeated ad infinitum) until it forms a frothy top, somewhat like a cappuccino. It is deliciously sweet and utterly drinkable.

It may not be somewhere you'd want to take a first date, but I'd happily eat here for a cheap and cheerful any day.

Laksa Me, second time around

Shop 1, Liverpool Street, Melbourne
Phone 03 9639 9885

Laksa Me has been getting a fair bit of attention of late, including reviews by EG, Eating with Jack, Sweet Cherrie Pie, A Few of My Favourite Things and Mr.Lethlean. It seems to be leaving a rather good impression, so I had to return for a reprise (..and besides, it was cold and pissing down with rain and it is oh-so-close to my work), this time dragging along my friend Anna.

We shared the entree of vegetarian triangles, pan-fried white pastry parcels stuffed with daikon, chives, yam beans, chilli and spices. They sat on a pile of pink pickled cabbage and were drizzled with caramalised dark soy, making them lip smackingly good. Anna confessed she'd be happy to chow down on a plate of these for lunch.

But we were here for more than nibbles. I needed laksa (again), so I went with the laksa lemak ($10). More brothy and coconutty than My Mum's laksa from our first visit, this version was chockers with slices of poached chicken breast, deep fried crunchy tofu puffs, fish cake, fish dumplings, prawns and half a hard boiled egg. Shredded cucumber, mint leaves and spring onion added fragrance and freshness, and a generous scoop of nutty sambal waited to be stirred into the broth in which fine rice vermicelli and bean shoots soaked up the flavoursome goodness. This is tissue and bib food - tissue to blow the nose (from the chilli), and bib to protect one's clothing from slurping the noodles.

Anna went the Vegetarian Skinny Laksa ($9), which from both the looks and the taste, wasn't that skinny (check out the slick of oil on top!). But despite that lil' quirk, it was damn tasty and packed full of amazing enoki and oyster mushrooms (the fresh kind), and crisp tofu puffs. It did veer from the menu description as she could not find the baby spinach or the deep fried eggplant, but it was still kick-in-the-pants tasty.

The place was a little busier than on our first visit, and I'm sure it will only get busier now that Mr.Lethlean has written about it. It will be interesting to see how it develops - but as long as they continue to provide a imaginative, flavoursome and fresh food for a great price, they'll do just fine.

Laksa Me

Shop 1, Liverpool Street, Melbourne
Phone 03 9639 9885

Penang goes industrial. That's the vibe at the concrete bunker that is Allen Woo's new venture, Laksa Me (pun intended), newly opened today. It's an unlikely space for Malaysian/South East Asian cuisine - all exposed pipes, aubergine brick wall, chrome seats, red columns and a slate concrete floor streaked with paint spots and Chinese calligraphy. But the place has pedigree, run by the team who brought us the popular but defunct Ah Mu, and who are now making a welcome return to the CBD. The small lunch menu takes a trip through Malaysia, Singapore and Thai hawker fare. Three laksa's are offered - "skinny" veg laksa, assam (tamarind) laksa and the whimsically named Mum's Laksa. A small drinks list boldly offers only beers, as the proprietors claim that beer suits this type of food far better than wine. Who can argue with that? If you must, however, BYO wine is an option.

A tofu starter ($7.50) was beautifully presented, arriving as two deep-fried tofu parcels reminiscent of beggars' purse, neatly tied off at the top and prettily arranged on a bed of hot pink cabbage. The inside of the parcels were filled with a lovely combination of shredded marinated glass noodles, Chinese mushrooms and gingko nut. It was gorgeous to look at and absolutely delicious.

My main of Hainanese Chicken rice ($9) was a reverent and respectful treatment of this classic. White rice that had been delicately flavoured with chicken stock was accompanied by a gingery chicken broth and sublime stock-poached chicken that glistened with the light and was ever so tender in taste. Matched to this was one of the best chilli sauces that I've ever tasted, homemade with just the right amount of chopped ginger, black beans and chilli.

However, the winner was Mellie's "My Mum's Laksa" ($9.50) - a bowl of thin rice noodles (as per Allen Woo's mother's receipe), swimming in a fiery red broth, and studded with barbequed pork, tender chicken, prawns, bean sprouts and sliced chilli. I would have to say that the broth was one of the best that I've tasted - deliciously rich and coconutty, and further augmented by a small bowl of sambal that is served separately. Our only complaint was that there was not enough of the tasty broth! :)

Dinner has a more expanded menu that offers the unique option of entrees by the piece, that is, pay for one fish cake and that's what you'll get. Also included are Ah Mu's specialities of red duck curry and Thai yam oysters.

Service was friendly and pleasant. It's early days still but Laksa Me is very promising indeed. Exceptional flavours combine with eye candy presentation and great prices to provide a fantastic South East Asian option in the city.

Chillipadi

Shop OE7, Menzies Alley, Melbourne Central
(cnr Little Lonsdale and Elizabeth)
Phone 03 9664 5688

Chillipadi is a great little place that serves up some fantastic South East Asian cuisine at rather decent prices (check out the Happy Hour for cheap drinks on Thursday/Friday). Well known for it's nasi lemak and chicken rice, their take on the laksa is perhaps one of the better ones in Melbourne (the roast duck version is pictured above, but you can also get a chicken, roasted vegetable or seafood version).

If you are trying to be somewhat healthy, then I recommend the Chicken Teriyaki. Garnished with carrot curls, sesame seeds and shredded nori, it hits all the right sweet and savoury notes. A nice dome of steamed rice aids to clean the plate of tasty left over juices.

I can also recommend the nasi goreng spicy fried rice with ikan billis (deep fried salty anchovies/peanuts) and sunny side egg. Yeah, it is a little naughty in the oily stakes, but it rocks big time. Also somewhat evil is the roti channai with curry vegetables. I was so impressed with the freshness and variety of the curry veg, which even included okra, that I practically licked the plate clean.

Service is snappy (most of the time) and the place itself is interesting to both look at and experience. Bold colours and an artful design add a nice backdrop to the well patronised establishment, which is frequented by an eclectic mix of students, business people and couples just wanting a good feed.

You can also pick up a range of spice and paste mixes, and it is also one of the cheaper bottleshops in the CBD for a decent bottle of wine.

And like Cindy and Michael experienced from where's the beef?, I've eyed the desserts on numerous occasions but am yet to succumb to temptation (well..I've been just too full to even contemplate it!).

....UPDATE....thursday, 22 march, 2007....

Well I finally made it to Chillipadi for dessert. After a rather large plate of pasta for dinner, the only option was to sample the trio of ice-creams (the dessert cabinet just looked way too naughty). You can choose from a selection of black sesame, red bean, cinnamon and green tea. EG and I went the first three, and both declare them to be excellently goooood. The cinnamon and black sesame especially were outstanding. I just wished I had a whole bowl to myself :-)

Dessert House Eatery

313 Swanston Street (opposite QV), Melbourne
Phone 03 9663 2284

You just gotta love a place that has Ribena and Horlicks on the drinks menu. How kooky crazy is that? Well, that is the kind of kookiness you'll find at the contemporary Asian fast food eatery Dessert House. As the name implies, you can get a good dessert here (in the form of filled crepes). But this is more a quick eats place - somewhere to satisfy your rice and noodle cravings.

The venue has only been open a few months, but it has already attracted a loyal following of customers. You can pretty much walk past at any time of day and find it packed to the rafters. The fit out is brand spanking new - nice banquette seating, comfy colourful chairs, bright interesting paintwork and detail. Upstairs has a completely different feel, and I think they borrowed a few ideas from Gingerboy - the use of dark wood, Starck-like polycarbonate seating, reds, blacks and browns. But dang it would be nice if they had air conditioning up there!

I went the grilled lemongrass chicken, served with a bowl of upturned rice and a fried egg. Not that the main components were bad or anything, but one of the best things on the plate was the little pile of green onions - they were amazingly tasty and added a wonderful flavour to the rice.

EG went one of the house specials, which was a crumbed pork chop in some sort of sweet chilli sauce. As you can tell, this was deep fried goodness to the extreme. It is obviously trying to live up to the fast food mantra ;-)

You'll pay $7 to $10 for a rice/noodle main, and a few dollars more for Ribena (or your drink of choice).