Star Restaurant, Footscray - Vietnamese BBQ

The same friend that introduced me to Ba Le brought me to Footscray on a cold winter's night to try the table top BBQ at this really old school restaurant, which came highly recommended from her Vietnamese friend. Usually Footscray isn't a suburb that I like to head to at night, but given the recommendation there was no stopping us...we were just praying for a parking lot close by to the restaurant so we wouldn't have to spend too much time on the street. And we got one just outside. Love the signs!

Unfortunately there were only 3 of us, so we couldn't order all the stuff that looked really interesting

It was a pretty empty night but apparently weekends are super packed

Next time we go we want to try this

We ordered the beef BBQ and some spring rolls to share. The BBQ came with sauce and rice paper rolls.

This was the marinated beef. It had leeks, onions, lime, lemongrass, sesame seeds and goodness knows what else was in the marinade. My friend's Vietnamese friend said she tried replicating the marinade at home, but was never successful. So yes, it's good.

All the stuff to accompany the BBQ as well, to go inside the rice paper rolls.

All good to go!

The rice vermicelli goes into the rice paper rolls too

The grill gets heated up, with oil dabbed on the hot plate

We ordered soursop drinks on the side. This was lovely.

And on went the beef!

Basically everything goes inside the rice paper roll, and you wrap it yourself with the beef right on top.

Just like this - and to be eaten with the dipping sauce.

The spring rolls were good too

What it looked like inside the roll.

This is the place, you can tell them you found it right here on this blog.

Chin Chin, Flinders Lane

As an Asian person living in Melbourne, it was initially difficult for me to understand the hype over Chin Chin - why would any good Asian who appreciated food patronise an Asian restaurant run by a non-Asian and frequented by everyone but Asians? Especially when Melbourne has no lack of good Asian restaurants. However, curiosity and the crowd got the better of us, and we decided to try our luck one weekday evening. Since it's a no reservations place, we headed to our favourite bar nearby for pre dinner drinks while waiting for them to call us when a table became available.

Finally made it inside, with these paper placemats cum menus on the table.

We ordered a jug of the Vietnamese Mint to start us off

It was an easy drink to gulp down...too easy perhaps

We went for the degustation which was around $60 per person, and started off with a serve of the salt and pepper squid served with Vietnamese mint leaves, chilli and nuoc cham, a fish sauce dip. Not a terribly complicated dish to prepare, and this was executed well. Thumbs up.

 

Next came the kingfish sashimi with coconut cream and lime. The last time I checked, I was pretty sure that kingfish sashimi wasn't a staple of Thai and Vietnamese cuisine. But this was brilliant, somewhat similar to the raw fish that one has with porridge in Singapore (minus the coconut cream).

 

Even though it was a weekday night, the place was packed solid. 

Stir fried green beans with coconut in a cashew sambal. Interesting - we'd never tasted anything quite like this before.

I have no idea what this curry was, but it wasn't memorable anyway. Not good, not bad. Just one of the courses that we felt went all right, but wouldn't order again next time.

This was my absolute favourite dish of the evening - the twice cooked short rib that came with a sweetish sticky sauce. I usually don't like meat that's too sweet, but the texture was fall-off-the-bone tender. Great with steamed rice, with a bit of fish sauce to offset the sweetness.

And to end it off, a mango and honeycomb dessert to share.

Love the bar decor - just simple mosaic but it works.

I went there again another day with another group, and tried the corn and coriander fritters - I wouldn't bother ordering this again. It was oily and heavy, classically overfried.

The Miang - betel leaves with braised lamb - was interesting, but this for $12 was kinda expensive.

The southern style yellow curry with mackeral and pineapple was pretty good, but on the sweet side. It was great with the roti.

Again, super crowded at lunch time.

I headed there again alone yet another day and sat at the bar at the far end, just next to the kitchen. It was a great seat cos I got to see them prepare the entrees.

A kingfish sashimi for myself

A salt and pepper squid for myself. And, not pictured, a beautiful cold glass of Pikes Riesling.

Got the photos I couldn't take previously during dinner - the light was great

And that's how they do it

I also had the pork and crab cake with a salted duck egg dip. This was pretty amazing.

Not sure how they made this salted egg sauce, but it was the best thing...I ate every drop up.

Super crispy crab cakes - definitely very happy that I ordered this.

It was messy to eat but I wouldn't have it any other way.

What it looks like on the outside.

Was I too judgmental at the beginning? I don't think so - the dishes I had were completely non traditional - short rib isn't a cut that Asians normally use, the salt and pepper squid is better known for being served at Cantonese restaurants instead of Indochinese or Thai places, and I've never seen sashimi served with coconut cream. However, whatever the chef is doing, it WORKS. It's tasty, it's yummy, it's not 100% authentic, but it doesn't matter. It's worth a go.

Website: http://www.chinchinrestaurant.com.au/

Pacific House - Best Roast Duck in Melbourne

The best roast duck to be had in Melbourne, in my opinion, comes from Pacific House. There's nothing quite as comforting as a warm hot steaming bowl of rice drizzled with the soy drippings from the duck, coupled with the crispy skin and tender duck meat. We headed there on average about once every 1-2 weeks for meals that made us really happy - it's the closest thing to comfort food I can imagine in Melbourne. This duck was from the Richmond outlet - somehow it looks nicer when it's slightly more red.

 Having the chilli oil makes it even more shiok - I could eat this with rice alone.

 

Their diced chicken with tofu and salted fish is pretty tasty too, and is amazing with rice.

The veggies with tofu skin wasn't terribly exciting, but it was functional.

Another round of duck at the South Yarra outlet-  I dare say that even though it tasted almost similar to the Richmond outlet, somehow the one from Richmond makes me a bit happier. Maybe it's the reddish tinge.

We had a feast at South Yarra though, stuffing ourselves silly.

We even ordered the chicken ribs with salted egg - gloriously hot and crispy with each chicken piece coated with salted egg flavour.

Another look close up

The salt and pepper seafood is pretty good too. We usually order the jiu yim you yu - or squid, but decided to try the prawns on a recent visit.

The standout dish has to be the mud crab noodles with ginger and spring onions.

This was the dish that had me raving about Pacific House many years ago....incredibly tasty noodles with super fresh crab would make anyone happy.

Especially with lots of roe.

Best Chinese food in Melbourne! 

http://www.broadsheet.com.au/melbourne/food-and-drink/directory/restaurant/pacific-seafood-bbq-house