Pok Pok - Thai Street Food

Heard about this restaurant from Urbanspoon. Apparently opened not long ago with a fantastic rating. Lots of people say it’s like having the street food in Thailand so we just have to try it out!!
First impression when we were outside the restaurant, wowww it looks very nice!! I like the high ceiling and I have never seen any Thai restaurant in Melbourne decorated this style before.

Come inside, there’re 2 sections. Ground floor is a small coffee and bar section. I think it will be very handy during office hour.

Then walking up, you will see partial opened kitchen and the restaurant section.


I really like how they use Thai street food photos as a wallpaper! Very creative!!
When looking at the menu, I’m surprised how the price is around $12-15 per dish! I thought they would have sell something more expensive since the restaurant is decorated so nice! So we have ordered quite a few to try it out LOL
Let’s have a look at what we ordered!
Poh Peer Sod = Fresh Spring Rolls : Been here for 8 years, haven’t seen any Thai restaurant have this dish on a menu! It’s very delicious! Just like what I used to have in Thailand!!!

Mushroom Salad : I personally love mushroom. With the herbs and Thai style salad’s sauce, make the mushroom much more interest! So fresh, light and tasty!

Kao Mog Gai : Thai Style marinated chicken with light curry’s rice served with tasty sweet, spicy and sour sauce. I have to say this dish is really authentic! Remind me so much of our favourite restaurant down the road from our place in Bangkok!!!

Deep fried Barramundi salad : Crispy piece of fish served with green apple and Thai style salad sauce. I prefer it to be a bit more spicy but not too bad at all. Taste really nice and fresh!

Hoi Tod : Thai style crispy fried mussels with egg and flour. Again, just like what I had in Thailand! Very yummy!! ^^

Kao Kar Moo : Slow cooked pork leg : Soft and tender pork cooked in sweet soy sauce and served with mild chilli and sour sauce. Very yummy!!!

Spicy stir fried crispy pork : Surprised me very much how the pork is so crispy and I like the taste of it, spicy and really well seasoning!!!

We can’t come to Thai restaurant and not trying the Pad Thai, can we? Again, very authentic! The noodle cooked perfectly, not too soft and not too hard! The taste is just right, not as sweet as other restaurant out there that cook for western people not Thais. Really enjoy it!!

A friendly staff recommended us to try their homemade dessert. I’m so glad I did even though I was very full!! It’s the Roti stuffed with berry compote served with ice cream! Very very yummy! You wouldn’t believe the berry compote will go so well with the roti! Really nice combination, not too sweet not too sour! The ice cream is also very tasty and going well with the berry roti especially the mango flavour, perfect combination! Really love it! ^^

Last but not least, the coffee! As what others said, great coffee sensory lab!!

Overall, I really like the taste of the food. Very very authentic! Thanks to the owner who coming up with this idea of selling traditional Thai street food!! They are really attention to every single detail on the dish. The vegetable and herb looks really fresh. I can tell they use quality product to cook the food for us. With the price that not too high, the environment of the restaurant is really nice, I will definitely recommend this to my friends and I’m sure we will go back there to taste other food in the menu very soon!!! This restaurant sure will be my new favourite!

PappaRich Malaysian Delights!!

Friday 31st of August, we were here at about 6pm. There's already a long queue and it's now 6.20, we haven't got a table.

See how long the queue is? They don't take a booking and that strategy kinda works here. The queue make people wonder how good the food will be?!!!

Finally we got the table for 6 people at 6.45! So let’s have a look at the restaurant inside. It’s really packed! The table is so close to each other. I guess they just want to seat as much people as they can!

There’s a pen and paper for you to write down your order. Then you can ring the bell on the table for the waitress to come and collect the order. I quite like this system, at least we are know for sure if we have ordered it correctly!

Not for long the food is served. I have to say it’s quite quick. Let’s have a look at the food we ordered today ^^

I had the noodle in sweet soy sauce with chicken on the side. I like how they cook the noodle nice and soft. They use the breast part of chicken which is not my favorite. However, it’s really soft and tender. I prefer more seasoning on it though.

Overall, it’s an ok food, generous size and not too expensive. The let down thing is the long wait. I wouldn’t recommend anyone to go there for dinner if you are really hungry. Lunch will be a better idea though

Cumulus Inc.

This place is Nub’s brother’s favourite! He’s been telling us about how good the food is in this restaurant but we just never have a chance to try it sooner. There're also lots of great review in . One of the reason is that they don’t take a booking here so we kinda just can’t be bother to queue up even though we are living in the city!!

However, we are running out of place in the city to try out. So we just thought…ok today we will make it early and give it a try. We are there about 6.15 and luckily we get 2 seats at the kitchen counter!! At first, we prefer a proper table but then watching all the chef cooking for us closely is kinda fun too! Ok too much info now, let’s get started of what we ordered!
Starting with nice looking serve of bread with butter

Then Tuna Tartare with crushed green pea salad is served. Perfect combination for the taste of fresh Tuna with something so light and yummy plus a dash of lemon! Really good dish to start of the meal!!

Next is the Grilled Octopus, smoke paprika & basil. The octopus was cooked perfectly and the taste is amazing with the mayonnaise, capsicum and paprika! Loving it!!

Next is the Ox Tongue dish. I honestly can’t remember the name of it and couldn’t find it anywhere in the menu on the website…maybe I’m blind? LOL Will update the name later once I figure it out!
Generous chunked size of ox tongue is cooked to perfection. Taste so light and fresh with the herbs that come with.

Next is the Slow cooked pork strap, braised white beans & blood sausage. Love the green sauce that come with the pork! It’s really going well together and make the dish look so yummy!

Our last dish before the dessert is the Eggplant salad. Again, I can’t find the actual name of it on the website. Maybe they are rotating the menu?
A bit disappointing with the presentation of the dish as we expecting to see the piece of eggplant. However, I just can’t stop having it as it taste so good! Nice and soft...so clearly, you can’t judge the book by its cover!!

Now let’s have a look at the dessert we ordered!
First, Flourless prune cake, chocolate ice-cream & parsnip. I really like the ice-cream and it taste so good with the cake and parsnip!! Very well combination!!!

Again, can’t find the name of the last dessert!! It’s Nub favourite so I will ask him tomorrow and see if he remember! LOL

Overall we really impressed by the food and service! With the style of the restaurant, even though the portion is quite small, we wouldn’t complaint! They are all well presented. Every element in the dish goes so well together. We sure will go back again to try other dishes soon! Will keep you guys posted ^^
Oh and before we go, let me show u guys the view from where we sit!!! Isn’t it spectacular? LOL

>.<

Ajisen Ramen @Melbourne Central

Inspired by our Review our Japan Trip in Feb-2012, we are now craving for a nice and tasty ramen!!

There're 4 Ajisen Ramens in Melbourne but we always go to the one in Melbourne Central, located near Max Brenner as it's the closest from our place. You guys can also check out Ajisen Ramen Website for more info   or visit for more review!!

Let's have a look at what we have tried so far!! ^^
Ramen
Tori Karaage Ramen (Fried Chicken)

Volcano Ramen - Spicy ramen with Chasyu (Pork slice)

Chargrilled Beef Ramen

Tonkatsu Ramen (Deep fried Pork)

Nikki’s Favorite:

Paiku Ramen (Tasty Tenderloin Ribs) It is really melted in the mouth!! The only let down thing about this ramen is that they don't have it everyday! However it says on the menu that it's the 1st recommended dish! = =" Kinda annoy me a little bit at first but now I'm used to it LOL So what I normally do is to ask the staff first thing when they give us the menu if they have Paiku Ramen today? If not then I will look for other ramen to replace! = =

One more photo to show the beautiful ribs!!

Bento Set

Nub’s favorite : Sashimi Bento

This is what Nub normally order the most so I guess it is his favorite! I think he likes it cause there's lots of element in one dish to eat and sashimi is definitely not fat! Maybe that's what he likes about it! hehehe

Grilled Salmon Bento

Side Dishes/Entree

Gyoza : I would say it's not bad at all for the Gyoza here. Crispy out side and quite tasty inside. If you order a ramen, you can add a normal entree (not the seafood one) with Green tea or Roasted Green tea for another $3-4 More! Really worth it! :)

Takoyaki : Nothing so special about this one apart from the look! I won't say it's not nice but I had better takoyaki in Japan or even in Bangkok. So I would say it's ok for a change if I get bored of Gyoza! LOL

 Overall we both quite happy about this place. The decoration of the restaurant is quite nice and clean. They also have the membership card for you to sign up for free and every $10 you spend, you get the $1 credit back to the card that u can redeem next time. ^^