Melbourne: The Best Soy Chicken @ Pacific Roast House, Lonsdale St.

A delicious Chinese roast is always up there amongst my list of comfort food.  Imagining crispy roast pork crackling, juicy roast duck, and garlicky Kailan with piping hot rice simply gets me drooling!  Pacific Roast House on Lonsdale St. serves a delicious Soy Chicken feed in town, and they are not shy the flaunt it.  With a full bird close to $40, it was easily the most expensive Soy Chicken in Australia.  A full bird at Good Fortune is only $24!

At Pacific Roast House however, the common protein is transformed in to a perfectly caramelised bird with a tender flesh.   Its skin is silky smooth  and I cannot help but feel terribly impressed by the Soy Chicken served at Pacific BBQ.  The colour itself just looks extremely tantalising.  To add to the glory, its accompaniment the ginger is generously formed and sautéed to perfection.  Salty, mildly pungent and extremely fragrant, it gingery flavours could easily make anyone eat a bucket of rice!

The duck here though is only mildly impressive when compared to the likes of my home favourites Good Fortune Roast house and HK BBQ house in Perth.  Nevertheless, it was not a bad eat.  Just nowhere near as outstanding at the Soy Chicken they serve.

Pacific Roast house has always been a good eat since my first time there 7 years ago, but never a good host. Unfortunately, if you frequent places that serves awesome roast, sometimes part of the dining experience is the attitude; bad ones where hospitality feels a bit more like hostility.  The waiter comes up with little courtesy and offers drink the typical way you get asked in HK.  It does not go “Would you like a drink?”, instead it will be “Drink!?”.  It just cracks me up knowing how many people suffer a culture shock coming to Pacific Roast House.  But a veteran eater knows that this is no more than a norm.  In saying that, it does not necessarily mean I agree!  Just that I expect it!

WenY

Melbourne: Brunches of 2014 (Breakfast Thieves)

Breakfast Thieves, Fitzroy

With my homies arriving from Perth, it was definitely time to reach out to more interesting places around Melbourne.  After a mediocre experience at Hammer & Tong, I was in not in anyway keen to return in the limited time I had.  But fret not, hipster suburb Fitzroy had plenty more on offer.  For today’s brunch, Breakfast Thieves situated just off Smith Street on the leafy Gore Street was our host.

Brunch at the Breakfast Thieves on cool Friday morning could not get any better.   Considering that it was a quiet day, the service was gratuitous and prompt.  The hot chocolate here was quality but not as stellar as the one I had at Architect & Heroes.  In saying that though, I could do with the $3.50 price tag any day!  For breakfast we had:

THE LEGEND: Spicy baked eggs with spanish chorizo, mushrooms, green peas, corn & feta served with herbed garlic toast

The cliché, with a little more swag is the right way to describe the Breakfast Thieves version of baked eggs.  The herbed garlic toast that came with it was a good enough reason to order this dish.  It has been a long time since someone served me an interesting carbohydrate on the side!  The smokey chorizo flavours through the goey yolk and tomato base paired well with the creamy, almost neutral feta.  Yummy!

LEPRECHAUN: Corn fritters on roasted fennel puree, burnt butter brussel sprouts, avocado mousse, pomegranate and raisin with poached eggs.

The highlight of the brunch at the Breakfast Thieves was probably the fritters.  Mildly crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside, really there was nothing to hate.  Its fennel puree was seasoned well and every thing just seemed to complement each other really well.  Oh, do I even need to mention its picturesque plating too? Probably too obvious.    I do not normally harshly compare restaurants, but this really shames the fritters at Hammer & Tong big time.  Sorry bud.

THE BREAKFAST CHAIN: Quince & apple, almond crumble with triffle berry yoghurt, side of soft-boiled eggs & English cheddar melted soldiers.

A green chain with what I would consider a decadent vegan option is something AC ordered.  Needless to say, I was impressed and never would I imagine that something like that could be vegetarian!  Tasty soldiers for dipping were so good I ate it on its own!  However, the eggs here were a bit of a 50-50 as one was perfect whilst the other was overcooked.  But with two other sweet options  on the side, it was hard to stay disappointed for long!

The name Breakfast Thieves is definitely not representative of its prices but rather, how I would be willing to let this establishment play thief to my mornings if I become a Melbournian.  Its barely secluded location on a leafy street means that there was a lot of value in just the ambience itself.  Its food is far from the modern breakfast gastronome but what it does, it does well.  Really well in fact.  I would not like to talk this up because after all, hype kills.  Breakfast spot in Fitzroy?  Done.

Operator 25, CBD

Hardware Société, CBD

Hammer & Tong, Fitzroy

Seven Seeds, Carlton

LE MIEL et la lune, Carlton

WenY

Melbourne: Brunches of 2014 (LE MIEL et la lune)

LE MIEL et la lune, Carlton

A short track through the Carlton hills for a morning walk with my little girl Daisy means I was ready for a good breakfast.  Today’s brunch was at LE MIEL et la lune, a French sounding cafe situated just a few steps away from the busy Lygon Street.

At 9am, the venue was not overly crowded allowing a prompt yet welcoming service from the  LE MIEL et la lune breakfast crew.  Add that to a menu that is long and elaborate, it looked to be a promising morning.  But coming here solo means my choices are limited to one.  I learned the hard way when I ordered a pad thai and a beef salad all for myself just a day earlier at Ying Thai 2!

That morning, I wanted something special so I went for an extravagant French toast.  The one at LE MIEL et la lune came topped with bacon caramelised bananas, crushed pistachio and butter scotch.  Absolutely scrumptious.

Buttery brioche, silky thin butterscotch, and perfectly caramelised bananas sets the standard for the most orgasmic first bite.  The addition of the bacon can be likened to adding salt in a chocolate cake. It enhances the flavour.  Here it played the same role.  Textural wise though, I was not overly impressed.  Too damn soft =/.  Soft bananas, silky butterscotch, and airy toast was perfect but all that was missing was a few slices of extremely crispy streaky bacon.  I would have preferred that over the pieces of lean and limp ones! A personal preference I guess?  

So pretty!  This easily rivals or betters the one served at Gusto Food in South Perth. 

LE MIEL et la lune served me an indulgent meal today.  So many indulgences all on one plate, of which almost every element was done to perfection.  I was happy.  Very.  Any unhappiness would almost relate directly back to the fact that I was alone and could not sample the other awesome dishes like the pork hash, fritters and even the Korea inspire Gnocchi.  It was time to stop dreaming now.  

Operator 25, CBD

Hardware Société, CBD

Hammer & Tong, Fitzroy

Seven Seeds, Carlton

Breakfast Thieves, Fitzroy

WenY