Eat. @ New Shanghai

Emporiums Level 3, 287 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne CBD ph (03) 9994 9386

Ding Tai Fung has opened at the Emporium, but I have not had the patience to line up with the rest of Melbourne yet to try it (despite the fact that there are over 200 seats in the restaurant the lines are still too crazy!)  We haven't been too disappointed as our old favourite New Shanghai still have some pretty awesome Xiao Long Baos that hit the dumpling spot each time we've been craving for our favourite treats from Shanghai.  The wait here is very modest and the queues have calmed to a steady flow.

The kids always like watching the chefs weave their magic with the noodles and dumplings.

Our favourite XLB are consistently good and quite reasonable at $8.6 for a steamer of 8.  Perfect with that hit of vinegar!  Watch out for the soupy explosion when you bite into one.  

The panfried Pot Stickers ($11 for 8 pcs) are also really nice, the pastry perfectly crispy with a soft, tender pork centre.

We also always order the braised beef noodle soup to share.  The noodles are perfectly cooked and the broth is meaty without being overly oily, it's such a great comforting bowl, especially in this awfully cold Melbourne winter this year!

We like their milk tea and ice lemon tea but they are pretty pricey at $5.3 each.

The Oolong tea for $5.5 a pot is a good option for Hubby and I to share, plus it's quite soothing when we have too many pan fried dumplings!

The kids don't like chinese tea and the soy bean milk ($3) is a good option.

New Shanghai is one of our family's favourite places for dumplings.  Hubby and I like that it's relatively clean compared to some of the dumpling places around town, and the XLB has not failed to impress each time we've been.

Shop and Eat. @ Myer Emporium (Part 3)

287 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne CBD 3000

Part 3 of the places to to go at the Myer Emporium covers more eateries we've visited on our multiple outing to our favourite shopping destination in the city.  So in no particular order here we go........

We've been back to Charlie & Co Burgers multiple times now and are happy to report that their truffle parmesan chips are significantly improved since our last visit.

Ding Tai Fung has opened at the Emporium, but I have not had the patience to line up with the rest of Melbourne yet to try it (despite the fact that there are over 200 seats in the restaurant the lines are still too crazy!)  We haven't been too disappointed as our old favourite New Shanghai still have some pretty awesome Xiao Long Baos that hit the dumpling spot each time we've been craving for our favourite treats from Shanghai.  The wait here is very modest and the queues have calmed to a steady flow.

The kids always like watching the chefs weave their magic with the noodles and dumplings.

Our favourite XLB are consistently good and quite reasonable at $8.6 for a steamer of 8.  Perfect with that hit of vinegar!  Watch out for the soupy explosion when you bite into one.  

The panfried Pot Stickers ($11 for 8 pcs) are also really nice, the pastry perfectly crispy with a soft, tender pork centre.

We also always order the braised beef noodle soup to share.  The noodles are perfectly cooked and the broth is meaty without being overly oily, it's such a great comforting bowl, especially in this awfully cold Melbourne winter this year!

We like their milk tea and ice lemon tea but they are pretty pricey at $5.3 each.

The Oolong tea for $5.5 a pot is a good option for Hubby and I to share, plus it's quite soothing when we have too many pan fried dumplings!

The kids don't like chinese tea and the soy bean milk ($3) is a good option.

For sweets Waffee in the basement is a favourite of ours.  

Waffee = waffles + coffee of course.

Their waffles are sweet and crispy, and even Bubs is pretty good at holding onto one and munching on it as we wander around the Emporium without getting too sticky. 

We've always gone for the sweet waffles, either in its original flavour ($2.8), or with chocolate glaze ($3.3), which is obviously a tasty but much messier affair for my kids!  I often get a pack of 6 to take away, and they can be kept for 3 days and heated up in your toaster.

For a fancier treat we had afternoon high tea at The Tea Salon a while ago.  (actually quite a while ago now!)  I went with my 2 older ones so it was a lovely girls' afternoon out!

The Children's high tea is $19.9 which really is one of the cheaper ones around.  It's served as chicken and mayo sandwiches, choice of one of their many different types of scones mini rose pannacotta topped with pink fairy floss, some fruit and a choice of drink.

The scones come in lots of flavours, and they chose a plain one with jam and cream and a chocolate one, that came with more chocolate to spread on!

The kids had some lovely and light lemon tea.

I had a pot of lovely english breakfast tea ($5.95) and also a couple of scones.  It was a very cute and special experience for the kids to have a sit down proper high tea and it was really enjoyable.

Zumbo has a kiosk type outpost on the first floor for a quick pick up of a selection of his goodies.  My favourite is probably the pretty carrot cake ($9).  The slightly deconstructed carrot cake is a cute twist on the original.

Bubs however loves the Chocolate Mousse "Dots" cake with the oh-so-smooth chocolate glaze.

Upstairs at Yo-Art you can go for a frozen yoghurt in different flavours.  

Kids cones are $2.5 and an extra 50c for topping, or you can fill a bowl and weigh and pay at $2.8 per 100g.

Bubs tried a blood orange with hundreds and thousands which was really refreshing, whereas Mini Me had a more traditional mango one which had a great flavour.

Next door at Rice Workshop they have green tea and black sesame softserves for $2.  For a "special" treat you can get a flavoured waffle cone with the soft serve and it'll still only set you back $2.5 each.  The flavours are actually quite good considering how good the prices are!

I love that the Emporium is still expanding and adding new shops and foodie destinations all the time, looking forward to more to come!

Eat. @ Canton Kitchen with Menulog + Our first Give-Away!

4/261 Blackburn Rd, Doncaster East 3109 ph (03) 9842 8082

We're now right in the middle of winter and our household is crazier than ever!  Juggling kids going to school/kinder/activities,  along with my increased work hours mean that "take-away" nights are sometimes almost a necessity.  I was recently contacted by Menulog to try out their website, which is an online delivery site that lets you order from participating restaurants that deliver in your area.

All you have to do is enter your suburb or postcode and the list of eateries that deliver to you pops up.  You can then click on the links directly and order from there.  We haven't had any good old Chinese take-away for a while so we ordered from Canton Chinese Restaurant, a little place which has a decent reputation for authentic Cantonese food around the area.  I chose the "Now" option for delivery, and an SMS text was sent to me right after I finished ordering, letting me know that dinner would be arriving in around 35 minutes.  In fact it arrived in 15! 

We ordered the Fillet Steak with Cantonese Sauce ($18) which was a tangy plum-saucy fillet steak.  Often I find Chinese food quite heavy and I like that the sauce in this dish makes it a bit lighter and it goes so well with rice!  I did however think $18 a little pricey though.

The kids' choice was the Crispy Lemon Chicken ($13), no surprises there.  It was a decently sized serve and the chicken was still crispy (with the sauce being packaged separately) at delivery which was great.

Lastly we ordered the quite traditional Salted Fish and Chicken Fried Rice ($10), a good sized serve for the price!  I love salted fish, and this is such a delicious alternative to the usual fried rice.

We got a free serve of prawn crackers (free for orders over $25 with orders through menulog) , which I had to hide from Bubs because given the chance, they are all he will eat.  It was a great bribe for the older ones to finish their dinner in a timely manner though!

Overall Menulog is a handy website for ordering take-away.  It's great that you can browse through the menus and order directly from one place.  The types of food delivered obviously depends on the suburb ( I did NOT know there were that many pizza places near me!), and will further improve if more restaurants around your area offer ordering through the site.  

The folk at Menulog have given me the opportunity to host our first give-away by giving one lucky reader the chance to try Menulog out for yourself with a $20 voucher!

To enter the draw :

1) Like us on Facebook here and leave a comment on this blog post about what your favourite take-away foods are.  If you're already a liker just say so in the comment :)

2) Share this post (or the facebook post) on your facebook page and you'll get an extra entry.

The competition ends at midnight 6th July 2014.  The winner will be randomly drawn, and the results posted with an update on this blog post.   The winner will have 3 days to send their email contact details to : eatplayshop@gmail.com so the voucher can be sent through.  Australian residents only.  Voucher conditions - expires 1 month after winner selection.  Delivery, Credit Card and 1 use only.

Disclaimer : Menulog provided us with a $30 voucher to try their service, the rest of the meal was paid for by us.  They will also supply the $20 for the winner of this competition.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

And our winner is : anastasiastarz!!!  Please contact us with your email details within 3 days to claim you prize!!!