Since opening in 2003, Pacific House has been notorious for churning out fast and furious meals served up by smug looking waitstaff. During peak hours, queues spill out onto the trendy Toorak Road footpath and seated diners are packed so close together that eavesdropping is inevitable. The staff work like they earn a commission based on the number of tables they turnover and they are certainly not shy to make it known that the table is due back. The bill appears even before you ask for it, with a complimentary plate of “thank you and get out now” fruit. There appears to be no discrimination as you will see the same treatment for every table at the end of their snappy meals. Don’t even bother asking for the dessert menu because there isnt one. This is probably the only Chinese restaurant that does not give a hoot about your sweet cravings. They would rather forgo a few bucks in exchange for the next group of hungry diners. Read More
It’s not often that we venture out to the city for an evening meal given the traffic, car parking difficulties and the inconvenience of distance. This was punctuated by the fact that an AFL final was on that evening and spectators streaming out of the Melbourne Cricket Ground would be on the prowl for dinner. Alas, this outing was for a special occasion and we always make exceptions for special occasions. For some, this meant paying top dollar for a car park even when they didn’t really need to. Read More
Looking for a place to eat can be a chore at times especially here in Melbourne. One of the benefits of living in such a multicultural, cosmopolitan city is the vast array of choices that are presented to us whenever we are looking for some place to eat. The downside is the same feeling we get browsing a video store or a library – what to watch and what to read. Once we’ve made that decision, we then look for a name that grabs our attention. This time, we did none of that. We wanted to eat Chinese, we wanted to go somewhere local and we didn’t want to spend too much time looking. We settled on an aptly named eatery by the simple name, Ringwood Chinese Restaurant. Read More
Red Cliff silently sneaked itself into my Top Five favourite places to eat after merely a few visits. My first dining experience there was well over a year ago after the coaxing of an enthusiastic friend who happens to be a friend of the owner/chef. I dread trying new places as I am disappointed most of the time and I thought this time it would be no different. My doubts increased after hearing that Steven is a self taught young chef who spent some years prying over his mum’s shoulders. However, my curiousity of Wuhanese cuisine got the better of me so I relented despite the inconvenient location in Carnegie. Read More
Fine dining and Asian cuisine has never really been a great mix for me. I’ve always seemed to feel that Asian cooking requires almost that rustic, off the side of the street hawker style experience to really enjoy the food.
Having never been to Tao’s restaurant before, I wasn’t sure I was ready to embrace Asian food in the fine dining category for this late dinner meal.
“He who controls the spice, controls the Universe.” – Baron Harkonnen.
As an asian with a Chinese/Malaysian background to boot, going to a place that is known for wings so spicy that it will “take you to hell and back” is something I knew I had to cross off my proverbial food bucket list.
So, late last month, a friend and I decided to make the trek down to the CBD, to test our mettle against what was being called the spiciest wings in Melbourne!
Who wins? Who loses? More importantly. . . are these wings just overdosed scoville skewers or is there something here that will keep us coming back for more?