Eat. @ Pillar of Salt

541 Church St, Richmond ph (03) 9421 1550

We've been to Pillar of Salt quite a few times and I can't believe I haven't blogged about it yet!  Bubs and I had another visit the other day on our brunch roulette adventures.  We used to come with the pram, and we would be quite comfortably seated out the back in the backyard.  More and more now we get to sit at the communal table out the front, on high stools which can be a little challenging for little ones but Bubs enjoys the "grown up" chairs.  The coffee here is always nice, my mocha ($3.8 ) never disappoints.

Our go-to dish here is the Benedict ($17.5), poached eggs with braised and shredded Ottway ham hock, smashed peas, and their apple cider hollandaise on toast.  The combination is perfect and always ticks the boxes for a hearty Melbourne brunch.

The cafe is always full and bustling, with coffee drinkers dashing in for their brew and take-away baguettes and baked goodies, as well as groups of diners catching up over breakfast, brunch and coffees.  I think it speaks volumes that they remain so busy, with the popular Top Paddock just down the road.

Eat. @ Kong BBQ

599 Church St Richmond 3121 ph (03) 9427 1307

We went and tried out Kong with our "Carnivore" friends Matt and Jo.  Matt works near there and is a veteran but this was our first outing to the "Korean Chin Chin", which has been on our radar but we've not had the chance to visit as yet.  Similar to Chin Chin, Kong has a no reservation policy, and we had a one hour wait from leaving our names at the door to being seated, which was spent pleasantly down the road at the pub.  A coffee martini later we stuck to the exotic but non alcoholic drinks once we got back to Kong. 

Once we've ordered, the food came at a quick but not rushed pace.  We started off with the famous Buns, firstly filled with soft shell crab ($6 each), with a salted duck egg relish and coriander.  The flavours were amazing, and I am most impressed with buns which were fluffy and soft, yet not soggy and not dense, a difficult task apparently as it's more often than not done badly.  These buns were perfect!

Likewise the Spicy Pork Belly with pickleed cucumber and Kong crazy horse chilli ($6 each) were to die for.  The crackling was super crunchy and had us asking for more!

Next we had the Hot wings with Gochujang and Chipotle ($12 for 6 pieces), crispy wings with really a spicy sauce.  I still prefer my standard KFC, but this was a great spicy version.

  

No Korean meal is complete without some Bulgolgi of course, so we ordered the Bossam Bulgolgi Black Angus ($28).  The BBQ meats here is so beautifully done.  

Did I mention this was a meat-fest?  So of course there were ribs.  BBQ Baby Back ribs ($36 full rack) with that crazy horse chilli again.  Very more-ish, and yes my mouth was on fiiiiire!

We did have a non meat dish, a trio of kimchi ($7) showcasing the different types of pickled cabbages and mushrooms Kong has for offer.

I regretted not having dessert at Chin Chin so even though we were quite full we did not leave without this time!  I did choose the Black sesame ice-cream ($11) thinking it's a refreshing dessert which it is, however there were 4 big scoops (I'm not complaining seriously) so it's a good dessert to share!

Jo and I also both wanted to try the Coconut Sago with passionfruit pineapple triffle ($12), which was a lovely combination and a great asian twist to the traditional triffle.

And last but not least Matt, who is American, had the Apple and Walnut tart ($12) with miso butterscotch and Japanese whiskey ice-cream, amongst jokes of Americans and their apple pies.

Another lovely night out to another great addition to Melbourne's food spots.  Friday nights are hip and noisy and probabaly not very kid friendly, but like Chin Chin, I would be game to bring the kids for early dinner especially since my bunch is really into Korean food right now.  Can't wait to come back and try other things on the menu, and of course for more of those buns!

Eat. @ Noir

175 Swan Street, Richmond 3121 ph (03) 9428 3585

Hubby and I celebrated our anniversary this year with a degustation at Noir in Richmond.  I hadn't heard much about this restaurant but it came highly recommended and I'm glad we booked here as we had an extremely enjoyable meal.

We went for the Tasting Menu ($80) which had essentially 7 courses with sides, some to share and some served individually.  We started off with an amuse bouche of a trio of tartlets for each of us.

The Eye fillet of beef tartare, wardorf salad and gaufrette potatoes was a fun and interesting twist on the traditional.  

The cold smoked Pacific oysters with chives came in little ceramic shells and the oysters were fresh with a subtle smokiness.

The smoked Skipton eel, potato salad, mustard and jellied eel consomme was a very beautifully plated up dish, with pretty colours and interesting flavours.  It's one of those dishes I love, with an interesting mix of colours, flavours and textures.

The Stinging neetle spartzle pasta with lemon, chilli, peas, pinenuts and broad beans was a pleasant dish, reminiscent of a homely stir-fry with very fresh and tasty ingredients.

The Hendricks gin and tonic sorbet, cucumber and dried botanicals (and good splash of Hendricks!) was the perfect mid-meal palate cleanser.  

The Crisp pork belly with poached pears and pickled vegetables was delicious, my only lament being that I could probably eat a whole lot more of the oh-so-tender pork with the crispy crackling!

The main to share was a Roast Partridge with Parsnips, served with seasonal green vegetables and a mornay sauce.  I'm not a fan of mornay sauce in general, but the rest of this dish was lovely, the partridge perfectly cooked and the poached pears offsetting the meat nicely.

We ended with a sweet dessert of rich chocolate marquise with orange and hibiscus.  Hmmmm such indulgence!

Overall we had a great meal at Noir.  We both agreed that it was an Estelle - like experience in a Saint Crispin like setting but with a quieter ambience.    It was a lovely meal worthy of date nights, even without the hype, and in fact probably all the better for it!

Eat. @ Seoul Soul

323 Victoria Street, Abbottsford 3067 ph (03) 0478 768 760 

Richmond has always been dominated by Vietnamese/Chinese Eateries, and it's nice to see  a few cafes and other cuisines popping up along Victoria Street.  Seoul Soul as its name suggests is a cute little Korean Restaurant that has marked itself as a great place to stop for a bite or grab a box of take-away.

Our party of 2 adults and 3 kidlets were promptly seated on one of two 2 high share tables.  We were perched on tall stools, which the kids enjoy, but slightly younger ones might find a bit challenging.  We started with their complimentary balchan (side dishes) which were pickled radish and kim chi served in cute little jars.  I really liked their kim chi and we had a second jar!

Their seafood pancake ($8) is a good entree, crispy on the outside and delicious with the dipping sauce which absolutely makes this dish!

The kids always like noodles so we ordered a Beef Bulgolgi Noodle Soup ($14).  A decent sized serving with a hearty soup.

Seoul Soul is famous for their Dosirak, which are wooden meal buckets, like a Korean version of a Japanese Bento.  We tried the Beef Bulgolgi Dosirak ($14) which had a good amount of rice with a couple of samosas and potato hash and a fresh salad and pickles for a side.  The beef was nicely done, and this is my pick for an easy meal both for kids and adults alike.

Hubby and I also had a Spicy Pork Bulgolgi Dosirak ($14).  I am addicted to the spicy marinated sauce and it goes so well with plain steamed rice!

Their chargrilled and BBQ dishes come served on a sizzling (no cooking on the table) and we had a lovely serve of Chargrilled Pork Belly ($14).  The little morsels of pork belly were perfectly cooked and it's hard to stop eating!

Little sugar rock candies ended the meal.   The service was efficient and friendly.  The gang was all full and happy and we're glad to find another nice place to eat with the kids.  Seoul Soul has opened a bigger soul sister (see what I did there) in Northcote on more family friendly premises and I'm looking forward to trying them out at a latter date.

Eat. @ Jinda Thai

1-7 Ferguson Street, Richmond 3067 ph (03) 9419 5899

I was a super lucky girl this year for my birthday, as I got taken out to quite a few dinners (I guess everyone knows my love for trying new places to eat!)  "The Gym Girls" suggested Jinda Thai for our dinner, which was fantastic as I'd been hanging out to try this much talked about Thai restaurant in Richmond.  I'm the type of person that goes to the gym only for exercise classes (because I need someone to yell at me and be too embarrassed to just walk -out mid-class) and I mostly just zone out and run around doing my jumping jacks and not saying anything.  So it's extra cool that I now have "gym friends" and ones that seem to love eating out as much as me at that!

We started with a round of Cha Yen - Thai milk teas ($3).  I'd never try this before, and it's interesting how different Asian Cuisines all offer a slightly different version of this drink.  I really like my tea, it's quite a strong tea and not too sweet nor milky.

We couldn't come to a Thai restaurant and not have Pad Thai!  We ordered ours with prawns ($14.9).  This was really delicious and fragrant, not too salty, with a little bit of sweet.

We ordered a small serve of the Boat Noodles ($6) to try as we've heard that this is is quite  a famous dish.   It was pleasant but not something I must have to have every time.

The Fried Soft Shell Crab  ($15.9) was super yummy though.  Good sized pieces with that lovely and slightly spicy dressing which I really liked as I find that this dish can be quite heavy without a good sauce.

The Barramundi with the Green Apple Salad ($19.9) was equally delicious, again the tangyines of the salad gave the dish a good balance in both texture and taste.  

My order for the night was the Red Curry Duck (($15.9) which is what I like to gauge a Thai restaurant by.  Fortunately this didn't disappoint and was wonderful with some fragrant rice.  Like all Thai curries a little goes a long way when eaten with rice, and this was a pretty decently sized serve.

Emily was keen to try the Pineapple Fried Rice with the combination seafood ($14.90) and this was a pretty big serve with a curried fried rice.  I liked the rice although by this stage I was getting really full and knew I NEEDED to save room for my birthday cake!!!

Of course I had to have the famous Crepe Cake ($8.5 served with ice-cream).  We shared 3 pieces between the four of us and tried 3 different flavours : Pandan, Coconut, and Thai Milk Tea.  Whilst Emily liked the pandan, Nancy, May and I all liked the Coconut.  I like the Thai Milk Tea one also, but the delicate coconut flavour was just that more-ish!

After the dinner we wandered into the Thai Grocery Store next door and did a spot of shopping.  Yep, we can shop anywhere anytime!  To our delight we found the lovely crepe cake (which I found out later were made by Tata Bakery) in little take-away packs for $6.5, so Hubby got a piece to try that night!  I have been back quite a few times since to buy more but they are so popular they are often out of stock.  Please feel free to tweet me if you're there and find the cakes in stock!

I finished off the night with some lovely Koko Black chocolates that Nancy, May and Emily had given me.  Thanks Girls for a lovely birthday dinner out!  I look forward to taking Hubby and the kids back to try out other dishes at Jinda Thai and have not doubt this will be a fast favourite of ours.  I suggest booking ahead as we have so far not been able to get a table at short notice!