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Reviews by Iruka
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 94 reviews
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Pellegrini's Expresso Bar, Melbourne, VIC
Pellegrini's Expresso Bar
Italian, Vegetarian Friendly, Modern Australian Bar
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| Overall |
 
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Average |
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Drinks 4 |
Ambience 7 |
Service 8 |
Value 8 |
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Their pasta selection would have satisfied the hungry student a long time ago but its at least 30-40 years outdated. Pastas are always mushy and there is hardly any meat in the lasagna and other pastas. The white sauce and tomato sauce both taste like they came from cans. Its ultimately more suitable for after a night out at the bar and when no one gives a damn about the quality of the food anymore. But what should we expect?
Desserts wise, good to see some old creme caramel and the odd tarts to go with the afternoon tea or for a late dessert crave, although the quality and presentations a bit on the rough side. Would you really recommend this so called Melbourne institute, to overseas travellers?
One thing I really need to complain here is the coffee. Sometimes it is so bitter and over extracted, with the portafilter not even rinsed and contaminating the next shot, grind isn't tamped either. On occasions I've failed to finish the coffee, not even a quarter of it. Luckily enough if you order a latte at least the milk has been stretched to a smooth consistency but its too hot, and its the base espresso shot which they cannot get right. Not Vittoria coffees' fault at all, but the coffee makers who should know better.
Its funny how Melbourne now has dozens of top cafes and coffees with much more sophistication, yet, this place is still so valued somehow. The world has evolved and improved guys. I would be ashamed to show this to any overseas visitors. Even Degraves Espresso keep updating themselves and is getting better.
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16 May 2009
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Seamstress, Melbourne, VIC
Seamstress
Chinese Restaurant
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| Overall |
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Average |
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Food 6 |
Ambience 9 |
Service 7 |
Value 3 |
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Very poor value food in my opinion, but the food quality isn't as bad as some people say, in fact some entrees were excellent, especially the home made dim sum. I remember having a deep fried whole dish and this costed upwards of $35 or so, the fish portion was just ridiculously tiny even taking into consideration 'cooking shrinkage'. And the sauce to go with it pretty ho-hum or generic.
Really good wine list though. I would say, in current economic climates, they should consider lowering their prices. I for one, would not pick this as one of my top 10 priority places to eat at, and I eat out at lot of places unfortunately. Some of them are impromptu on the night, some I make reservations if I was desperate enough.
Seamstress falls into the former category for me, and the only hesitation to go back is because the portions are super ridiculously small for the high price, even if I think some foods are nice and they have good drinks and coffee. If they show some initiatives and lower the prices or cook bigger portions, I might wanna go back and visit them again.
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10 April 2009
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Movida, Melbourne, VIC
Movida
Vegetarian Friendly, Tapas, Spanish Restaurant
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
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| Overall |
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Average |
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Food 7 |
Ambience 6 |
Service 6 |
Value 5 |
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On one hand I really like the concept of this restaurant. It has flourished as it should deserve. Great wine and overally good food. The only gripe I have about here is that, the food is overly seasoned and salty, too strong even for Spanish standards, and sometimes the food preparation is hit and miss.
I liked the concept of a lot of dishes here, but they were not aimed at foodies. They're aimed at people who wanted salty food as an excuse to down more sherries, mineral waters and wines, and have a great time. The air cured wagyu with egg and truffle emulsion is probably the only dish here which isn't overwhelmed by spicing or lemon tang or salt and pepper. I love this dish to death.
Everything else without exception were just over the line pungent, especially compared to other places, which were more normal. The spice/salt/acid sensations made me very uncomfortable and start sweating like a pig (Iberian one).
I give it a 7 overall for food. The menu and inventiveness is definitely a 9. But the taste is more like 5-6 except the air-cured wagyu, unfortunately, agreed with fellow diners. Hard to be 'fair' when rating this place as a food place. Especially when its more like a bar.
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10 April 2009
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Jugemu & Shimbashi, Neutral Bay, NSW
Jugemu & Shimbashi
Japanese Restaurant
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| Overall |
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Recommended |
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Food 8 |
Ambience 5 |
Service 10 |
Value 9 |
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Recently had the pleasure to visit this restaurant (well half of the restaurant) to taste their Hand-made Soba noodles, a very rare sight in Australia. So this review is solely based on this side of the Half-faced restaurant, where the other side serves mainly Teppanyaki dishes of which I did not try this visit.
Apparently the Shimbashi part of the business has been existent for around 10 years, previously in another location. The Soba noodles can be eaten in 3 ways. One as ice-bath cooled Zaru-Soba to dip into a soy/wasabi/garnish type of cold tsuyu dip. Perfect for summer, goes better with Tempura pieces. One is in Hot broth as served in the traditional bonito and soy based soup, typical fan-fare and arguable the most popular soba style in Japan.
The 3rd one is where the cooled noodles on a plate (not dissimilar to cold zaru soba) are dipped into a hot soup bowl of concentrated broth of mushroom and chicken in my case. After the noodles are finished dipping into the slightly salty but tasty broth, the remaining soup is then topped up and diluted with Soba Water to finish off as a soup.
This 3rd type of eating Soba or Udons is usually only available at the top end, hand-made noodles shops in Japan so I was excited to re-visit this type of eating again in Australia. There are also a few types of Soba noodles available on selection for trying.
Having said that I did find the Soba noodles themselves to be slightly lacking in texture and possibly taste of what they're made of. Usually hand-made fresh sobas are quite slimey and not as texturally firm, as a dry packet of soba noodle available from the Asian/Korean/Japanese grocery. Not dissimilar to fresh Italian pasta not really having the al-dente texture of a dry pasta.
The sobas here are quite thin and they resemble more of a Udon's texture than Soba, without any of the graininess expected. Compared to the hand made Sobas I've tried in mainland Japan (which are usually quite bland as well, even for the green-tea or sakura flavoured ones or even Urchin flavoured ones), I think but stand corrected that the noodles in Shimbashi were slightly more softer and wetter, even very slightly thinner or flatter than some equivalents I've taste overseas.
Having said that they were awesome when combined with the soup, and the top up of Buckweat/Soba water to dilute the soup for end consumption was the highlight. It feels very healthy, and I've been told its healthy. Service is very good here with lots of explanations but I suspect they get very busy really quickly so they might sometimes not be able to handle it. I overheard their bookings being rung non-stop for days/nights ahead. No comment on the Teppanyakis though. Will get around to trying them 1 day.
I think the only disappointment for me was the texture of the Sobas was slightly too much like vietnamese 'pho' in a way but at 3-4 times narrower sizes. So they really need to make sure the texture of the noodles are spot on when cooking.
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06 April 2009
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Sushi Tei, Sydney, NSW
Sushi Tei
Japanese, Asian, Seafood Restaurant
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
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| Overall |
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Average |
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Food 4 |
Ambience 8 |
Service 8 |
Value 2 |
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I came here to try a bit of their signature dishes and of course, sushi. Having had experience of this Singaporean Japanese chain in Hong Kong (its ceased operation there), how wrong was I to expect the same quality of food. The HK one, and I presume the Singaporean ones as well, has Japanese head chefs who are well trained and gets the food quality pretty spot on, although not mighty impressive.
The Sydney meanwhile saw sushi chefs laughing with each other and not being professionals, they also looked like overseas students not mature enough for the job. The quality of the sushi rice was very below par. Funnily enough I thought the fish quality and freshness was also not up to standard, which one would not expect in a restaurant with aspirations to open more shops in Australia.
Some of the fish we had were just plain not fresh, and the rice quality was over-cooked for nigiri sushi. Having said that, this shop does have certain signature dishes that they're invented themselves. However, when a sushi shop serves fish that is not fresh, its already enough for me to vow, never again. Unfortunately. It makes people sick like that.
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03 April 2009
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Cafe Ish, Surry Hills, NSW
Cafe Ish
Japanese, Modern Australian, Native Australian Cafe
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
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| Overall |
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Highly Recommended |
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Food 9 |
Ambience 7 |
Service 9 |
Value 8 |
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Seriously very good cafe food, with an emphasis on sourcing great, sometimes organic ingredients. Their fruit yoghurt special is to die for, from the carefully prepared berries to the organic yoghurt. Nice coffee as well. Wagyu burger is also really nice indeed, comes with some fresh crispy pomme frites, but too much chutney/salsa like sauce probably makes it a bit too sweet (although tasty) to complement the wagyu pattie!
Breakfasts are great. Same organic, very expensive ham as what another popular Surry Hills 1 Hatter breakfast place serves only it tastes better here. Not only that, but the bread and the organic egg were made to perfection. Having said that, was surprised my nearly $20 breakfast came with just 1 singular egg! I don't mind paying for it, but I'm used to having 'eggs' and it was so damn good I needed another one.
Service is great and yes it seems like kitchen staff can have off behaviours sometimes and from the customers point of view, its probably better to be more respectful and 'proper', otherwise not everyone can have a sarcastic sense of humour or be so understanding.
Love this place, seems to have a Japanese touch on some menu items as well.
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27 February 2009
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Aria, Circular Quay, NSW
Aria
Modern Australian Restaurant
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| Overall |
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Recommended |
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Food 7 |
Ambience 7 |
Service 8 |
Value 6 |
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I must say that I was a fan of Matt Moran before I finally had the chance to visit his famed restaurant, in fact I've previously bought his recipe book as a reference (the one with a hollowed Crown in the middle). After visiting and trying out some foods in the Sydney restaurant, I must say I was probably more impressed by the wine list (also some pretty good wines by the glass) more than the food quality.
Tried 3 types of courses: 1) Duck Consomme with Dumplings - This was the highlight of the night. Such clarity without any duck oil apparent (a big problem in most duck consommes), deep infused flavour from the duck bones, it was fragrant, earthy and reminded me of truffle, but even better than truffle. The 2 dumplings were tiny but they suited the consomme well, with a hint of spiciness but slight acidity to keep it balanced. This soup is in the recipe book, its seems like it takes more than 1 day to prepare it. Kudos to the chef, well done.
2) Crispy Kurobuta Pork Belly (entree size): Where to begin? I think there was honestly nothing special with this dry dish, although I would say it was pleasant and the glazed sauce went well with it together. The pork belly was fatty as expected, although the problem is that the meat wasn't too flavoursome, perhaps, it needed more slow cooking to have more infused flavour other than only on the surface as well as making it more tender.
The crackling skin was also a bit too 'thick' but it did not have a natural crunchiness, instead it was more like a biscuit somehow. Served with some kind of apple and puree, as per traditional roast pork. Its not very creative?
3) Jewfish pan-seared. This fish wasn't very enjoyable despite it being a delicacy amongst the fish selections. The skin was crispy but the fish meat was overly cooked to the point of being 100% dry. It didn't have much flavour or sauce either, so it was slightly fishy for my taste.
It was served with some kind of boiled, slightly bitter vegetable leafs, then topped with some deep-fried potato or sweet potato chips which were black and over-cooked. A later trip to Marque's which had similar chips to accompany the meal, showed the vast difference in cooking consistency and skills, the later was so refined and thin. In Aria, they couldn't even fry some potatoes right, and the fish was below average.
I would say the reason I'm disappointed with ARIA is that, the food creativity and taste of the food, also complexity of the dishes were not relatable to the premium price charge. It was overly simply and I could have replicated it myself.
Obviously the Duck Consomme was an exception but one must remember that its much harder to get a soup wrong, since the timing of the cooking/boiling could have variations up to a few or tens of minute. Whereas for the entrees and main courses - the chef(s) have to prepare both the food, sauce and accompanying sides at just the right timing, right taste, right texture, yet still show the customer why they deserve their 2 Hats.
In this sense, they were not satisfactory for me on even the most simplest of dishes. The only good thing about ARIA? Generally, the food did tasted above-average and kind of technically correct, but definitely no 'wows' from start to finish, until when the bill came!
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05 February 2009
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Ladro, Fitzroy, VIC
Ladro
Pizza, Italian Restaurant
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| Overall |
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Average |
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Food 5 |
Ambience 7 |
Service 5 |
Value 4 |
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Very over-rated pizzas here to be honest, also some of the other dishes like chicken were a bit on the dry side. The pizza base is actually quite thin and sometimes its perfect while on other nights might be too hard and crunchy, the problem is, there are hardly any toppings on the pizzas. Think 1/4th to 1/3rd of what you would expect on a normal Lygon street pizza, and you get the idea why on occasions the greatly 'exposed' base of the pizza becomes overcooked and biscuity like.
Sorry to say, over-rated, both before and after their senior staff left recently. Poor prices. Nice communal feel though.
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19 January 2009
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Azuma, Sydney, NSW
Azuma
Japanese Restaurant
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
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| Overall |
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Recommended |
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Food 8 |
Ambience 6 |
Service 9 |
Value 3 |
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Find the food here to be of quite a high standard, both sushis as well as the hot food items. Even desserts were kind of satisfying although deviates a bit from the usual Japanese sweet choices, more like westernised in a way.
I did find the Sushi's (sitting at the counter) to be slightly bland in a way, but only because they're fairly traditional and limited with use of condiments/garnishes to enhance the sushi's flavours. Nothing wrong with this approach at all really, but, unfortunately, because Australia doesn't have a lot of fish and shell fish choices, the chef's extra effort put into making the most out of the limited choice of ingredients can make it more satisfying sometimes?
Not as good sushi as Melbourne's top places though. Interesting wine list to go with their food, highly recommend for you to try it.
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16 January 2009
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Degraves Espresso Bar, Melbourne, VIC
Degraves Espresso Bar
Vegetarian Friendly, European Bar
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| Overall |
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Average |
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Drinks 6 |
Ambience 7 |
Service 3 |
Value 7 |
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Although the Rom Caffe coffee they use here has really good potential, unfortunately, the quality is too inconsistent. The same coffee is used in the European/Wine Room stable as well (not surprisingly, having been started by the same owner).
Sometimes it is great but most of the time it is just plain bland, especially in a milk based coffee. Probably has to do with the fact its imported into Australia and had sat in the container or storage for too long on some occasions. The barista is actually very good but they need to use a bigger basket for extraction more from the coffee in my opinion.
Food here is not bad, more suitable as a lunch than anything. Price is reasonable.
Tables and chairs here seem like they were nicked from the university end of year exam rooms, with full shakiness and all intact.
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09 December 2008
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 94 reviews
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