Bites: Stalactite @ Russell St. (Melbourne)

2 years back when I visited Melbourne with Vil, Fishman and JH, we would venture out to the streets randomly bumping around looking for food to eat in the wee hours in the morning.  And yes, I really mean wee hours in the morning.  Like at 3am with temperatures dipping below 5 degrees.  One of the places we occasionally pass by is Stalactite, a Greek restaurant along Russell Street.  Funny thing though, is that we never ate there.  Like never EVER.  Probably the fancy looking cave look-a-like decor felt a tad too costly to eat.  And that was until Boony brought Kelvin and I there saying it was one of the cheaper supper place in town.  And to my dismay, it really was one of the best and cheapest places for supper.  Even fellow Victorians love this place.   Come on Friday night at say 2-3am, and you probably will have to queue for a place to sit! 

 

The stalactite interior of the restaurant.  Suits the place considering it has been here for no longer than 10 years.  The stalactites are miniscule =.=!The photos were taken when I brought Xin Ling here for lunch when Kelvin was away for skiing.  We only ordered two Souvlaki and a appetizer consisting of pita and dips but we only managed to finish part of the food we ordered.

 This 4 dip combo is probably the best for newbies in this restaurant who does not know which dip to choose from.  But from my taste buds I assume that the one with Paprika powder (top right) is the original humus, the pink coloured one has onions in it, the yellow-brownish dip was loaded with garlic and the white creamy coloured one was tatziki, a creamy yoghurt with diced cucumber.  All this was to be eaten with the pita bread!

 

The Greeks answer for the Mamak’s Roti Canai.  Not quite there but its in a class of its own.

 

This was my mixed Souvlaki which had plenty of lamb and chicken meat inside. Only 3 dollars more than the one near UWA and it has like double the meat in it.  Plus the tatziki sauce in it was so yummy!

 

Miss XinLing’s chicken Souvlaki.  We could not finish hers, so we had the remainder for supper as we watched Spain lift the World Cup for the first time ever! So memorable! :D!! Happy!!!  And oh, each Souvlaki can feed to not really hungry tummies.

 

All in all including a hot chocolate cost us 36 bucks.   Without the drinks and the dips, we would only be paying about 23 dollars.  But we thought that we should have an assortment, hence the 36 dollar bill.  But the food we ordered can easily feed like say errr 3 pigs?  So yes its aplenty and can easily be shared ahah.  This place is awesome really.  Or maybe the holiday mood made it taste better than it normally is?  Either ways its good stuff I’m speaking off here!  So head there and get a bite if you have not done so already!!!

 

WenY

Bites:Universal Italian @ Lygon St. (Melbourne)

Time and time over, my tummy would have a sudden craving for Italian food.  Just a couple of days after having a pleasant yet SERIOUSLY cheap Italian food at Sofia’s and again I was in the mood for some more Italian kitchen action.   I could not really figure out where to go but random memories popped back in an instant as I recall hearing about a place called Universal so I goog-led it out and true enough there was a place on Lygon st. called Universal Italian food.  So it was decided then that darling and Kelvin would come with me to try it out too!

 

The place was pretty empty when we reached and the waitress was quick in making us comfortable.  The emptiness got us a bit worked up but then again maybe a quarter past 6 was a little too early? hehe.  Unable to decide what we would have, we decided to start with the Bruschetta!

Not your typical Bruschetta as this was oven baked.   This somewhat killed the freshness of the tomatoes but fortunately, the melted fetta was a blessing.  Overall it was OK although melted fetta + fresh tomatoes would be best!  Ahah and it was funny how my housemates thought the base was drizzled with chocolate sauce but was instead something else which I think is the Balsamic Vinegar.

 

After fondling the menu and turning it back and front we finally decided to order two type of food instead of three as we were still quite full from the lunch before.  I think we had our lunch in Menya but I’m not to sure. It has been quite a while since I had this meal.  Almost two weeks now!  Writing these post makes me miss Melbourne!! Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh *sobs*!  We decided to go with;Ribs and Chicken Wing Combo.

 

This looked like a Carbonara but it was not.  Funnily enough that even though it taste and feels like one, it is called a Fettuccini Roma.

 

These two dishes were not quite as yummy as the appetizer but definitely not crappy as well.  The biggest problem about the wings and ribs was that the seasoning was just too simple.  Perhaps a little more taste will help it shine?  As for the pasta, all it lacked was salt.  More salt would have been good considering how it tasted flat. 

 

Overall the food here is edible by standards but its not killer material in any way.  Maybe we were the few early customers and the chefs were not warmed up yet but either ways it feels as if they were not at their best.  And when we were done at about 7.30 or so, the place started to crowd and perhaps it was then that we should have arrived.  Universal is cheap by a Perth-ling standard.  At 13 bucks, this was nowhere near the 25-30 dollar price I would normally pay for an Italian meal in Perth.  I’m not going to end this saying whether this place is recommended or nor because in the end everyone has different taste.  Just give it a shot.  13 bucks and a meal is not too much to lose!!

 

WenY

Bites: Sofia’s @ Camberwell (Melbourne)

On the weekend of my arrival and just after one day with 300 bucks being spent, I cannot blame myself if I am feeling stingy right? ehehe.  On a side note, I remember getting my Lacoste shoes before heading off to dinner on the weekends with my college mates and friends.  Bright red it is :D!

 

For dinner, my friends decided to bring us to this place called Camberwell just a few train stops from the city.   Being a stranger in this bustling city, I willingly followed and to my joy we were up to something really cheap which is not stingy on serving and taste.  We went to Sofia’s which had plenty of seats yet they were all occupied.  Seeing the menu, I had absolutely no problem understanding the patrons choice.  The Lee family calls it C & G which simply stands for cheap and good!  True enough it really was!!  But if you are looking for something more authentic this might not be for you.

 

We started of with this really large crusty pizza overloaded with cheese and a garlicky after taste!  This monster was at least 30 cm in diameter.

 

Sofia’s offer what they called a Pasta for two which allows you to choose three type of pasta on one large platter.  This was my choice called Spaghetti Sofia’s which has prawns, bacons and ooh the ever so delicious scallops! Slurps!!

 

The Lasagne was the other choice of my companions that night! And we had a serve of gnocchi in the middle!  This was by far the cheapest pasta I have ever eaten.  And this is even cheaper than the pasta in the university’s ref.  And the uni pasta sucks!  Always overcooked and never al dente.

 

This was the seafood misto that we ordered to share as well.  Loaded with crumbled calamari, scallops, prawns and fish, this was the meal you know you had to share.   And that went down well with us considering we had a large group of 8 people!  For this dish, I felt that it was pretty fresh considering none of it had the foul seafood stench.  And it was well fried.  I mean you have to consider the price and time taken to serve you right? ehehe. :D!!

 

After failing to finish just these three ala carte dishes plus another pizza, we were curious to try what seems to be a popular dessert,  and I only can describe it as an abomination of ice creams.

Pistachio, water melon, orange, lemon, chocolate and mint all stacked into a humungous tower!  Nothing to shout about thought.  Freddos on Lygon win flat out.

 

By the end of the night, we were all filled and happy to go home.  But the only problem was public transport on a Sunday night is not a good good night :(!  Bloody trains were so infrequent and believe it or not, we took the wrong train ahah.  So in the end, what was meant to be a 20 minute trip ended up being a 90 minute journey xD!  Still a pleasant night and with the bill only costing us 88 bucks for 8 people, I have no complaints :D!!  An eating place for bargain hunters to keep in mind!!!

 

WenY