Laksa King (non laksa dishes) -Flemington

6-12 Pin Oak Cres, Flemington VIC 3031

Tel: (03) 9372 6383

http://www.laksaking.com.au

Laksa King is notoriously famous for its amazing, huge serves of glorious laksa, which is always hard to pass up to try other menu items. But here we go… we had the nasi goreng fried rice (fried rice with curry powder), kung pao prawns and salt and pepper chicken ribs.

I realised kung pao  prawns are a Sichuan dish and should be spicy-sweet, but I kinda felt this dish was a little too sweet, however the prawns were succulent and vegetables were well cooked. Nasi goreng was good. The chicken ribs were well seasoned and very crispy and quite satisfactory, but perhaps a tad over-fried, as some bits of the chicken were a bit dry.

Over all not bad, though I would definitely recommend the laksa as the number one go to dish at Laksa King (then second perhaps their fried noodle dishes). Laksa King serves one of the best laksas in Melbourne.

Food: 7.5/10
Value for money: 7.5/10
Ambience: 7.5/10
Service: 7.5/10
Overall Score: 30/40
$$

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1565 – Kensington

3 Gower Street, Kensington, Victoria
https://www.facebook.com/1565gelateria/

1565 is a tiny shop, which is quite easily missed on the high street opposite Kensington Station. There isn’t a massive range of flavours, but definitely an adequate range. All the gelato are made on premise. The staff are very friendly and happy to let customers try a few flavours before deciding what to order.

I got the pistachio and watermelon & mint (double scoop $6, single scoop $4.5). Pistachio was decent, with bits of pistachio through it. Watermelon & mint was surprisingly good -granita like, very refreshing for a hot day, and not too milky. I had the hazelnut the last time I visited, it was quite good, perhaps a little sweet for my liking.

I would rank Gelato Messina higher on the quality and creativity stakes. But this is not bad for a local gelato store.

Food: 7.5/10
Value for money: 7/10
Ambience: 7/10
Service: 7.5/10
Overall Score: 29/40
$

To’s Bakery & Cafe – Footscray

122 Hopkins St, Footscray VIC 3011
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tos-Bakery/125479477524757

To’s Bakery and Cafe is located at the corner traffic lights across the road from the Footscray markets. Great place to pick up a Vietnamese roll. Tasty and cheap ($4.50 a roll).

The bread is always fresh, light and crispy on the outside. The meats are tender and marinated well. The bbq pork and bbq chicken are always sweet/salt, tender and juicy. Vegetables are always fresh and crunchy. I always love the fresh coriander hit.

Highly recommend this for a ‘grab and go’ snack or lunch if your in the area.

Food: 8/10
Value for money:9.5/10
Ambience: 6/10
Service: 7.5/10
Overall Score: 31/40
$

Roti Road – Footscray

189-193 Barkly Street

Footscray VIC 3011

Tel: (03) 9078 8878

https://www.facebook.com/rotiroad/

Roti Road, appears to be a franchise. It always seems decently frequented by diners. We decided to have the Sambal prawns and Salt and pepper tofu, with steamed rice. Both were very well cooked. The Sambal prawns, obviously had a little heat and kick to the dish, but still very enjoyable. Beans were tender.

Salt and pepper tofu, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, with the right amount of seasoning.

Probably not my automatic ‘go to’ Malaysian restaurant, I would say Laksa King and Chef Lagenda would be first up, but definitely not a bad runner up.

No alcohol is served, however BYO is allowed.

All in all, I would come back and try other dishes again if I was in the area.

Food: 7.5/10
Value for money:7.5/10
Ambience: 7/10
Service: 7.5/10
Overall Score: 29.5/40
$$

Local Folk – Kensington

43 Epsom Rd Kensington

Melbourne, Australia

Tel: (03) 9939 7241

https://www.facebook.com/localfolkkensington.com.au/

This is a local haunt of mine. It’s a cute little corner cafe, tucked away, with a calm, relaxed ambience. My personal favourite choice on the menu is the trout croquettes (18.50). It has a golden brown and crunchy coating, filled with trout, mash potato and herbs. Yum. Poached eggs are done just a little runny as one would expect. Hollandaise sauce is great, but the clean, crisp salad is the key necessity on the plate to cut through the richness of the double whammy of egg yolk and hollandaise sauce. I did love it when they had pomegranate in the salad, they seem to have cut that out of late.

I also had the buttermilk waffles with strawberries, nutella, vanilla ice-cream, coconut (and I asked for the white chocolate on the side) (13.50). Waffles were nice, thick and done perfectly. Enough, but not too much nutella, which was good.

All their dishes are fairly large portions. Coffee and the service is always decent here. Overall a family and dog friendly place I would return to again and again.

Food: 8.5/10
Value for money:7.5/10
Ambience: 8/10
Service: 7.5/10
Overall Score: 31.5/40
$$

Ascot Food Hall – Moonee Ponds

320 Ascot Vale Road, Moonee Ponds, Melbourne,VIC
Tel: 03 9370 2649
https://www.facebook.com/ascotfoodstore.com.au/

Ascot Food Hall, is on the side of the main road. I frequently drove past and it always looked busy.

The coffee is good. I was impressed in particular by the soy chai I ordered. Obviously not made from powder, brewed by the barista, lovely and not too sweet. The perfect soy chai.

We then ordered the soft shell crab burger and the duck egg, toasted brioche, shitake mushroom, parsley butter and shaved pecorino. The soft shell crab burger was delicious.  The soft shell crab was juicy and crisp, the bun was light and gribiche, poached tomato and watercress complement the soft shell crab well. Yum!

The duck egg on brioche was equally well cooked. Though it is a very rich dish, and probably not one you can eat all the time. The duck egg was lovely and runny, and went well with the soft brioche toast slathered with parsley butter and pecorino. The mushroom cuts through the richness. It is a very enjoyable dish.

There is both an outside and inside to the cafe. The inside can get quite noisy as the sound really bounces around. The outside is nice, but the tables are slightly slanted! The staff are friendly and provide great service.

 

Food: 7.5/10
Value for money: 7.5/10
Ambience: 7/10
Service: 8/10
Overall Score: 30/40
$$

Chef Lagenda – Flemington

16 Pin Oak Cres, Flemington VIC 3031
Tel:(03) 9376 2668
http://www.cheflagenda.com.au/

Chef Lagenda is the rival to Laksa King, literally two doors down.

The word on the street is that one of the chefs broke away and started their own restaurant, perhaps deciding to taunt Laksa King with the notion that they could run an equally excellent Malaysian restaurant in the same neighbourhood; and that they did. (They also have a second restaurant in Deer Park)

I have to say I actually prefer their non laksa dishes and range of dishes to Laksa King’s choices. They have a much wider and more interesting selection. This time around we had the Nonya Seafood Combination (19.80) and the salt and pepper calamari (19.20). Loved the okra in the seafood dish, the seafood (prawns, fish, squid & scallops) was all fresh and succulent, and the lemongrass and tamarind sauce was great. The salt and pepper calamari was perfectly cooked. All in all a great meal. Highly recommend Chef Lagenda.

Food: 8.5/10
Value for money: 8/10
Ambience: 7.5/10
Service: 7.5/10
Overall Score: 31.5/40
$$