Kobe Jones Riverside Teppanyaki

Kobe Jones offers Teppanyaki and Japanese dishes, I see people tend to come here with pre bought coupons, and what they had set was reasonable for what was paid. I thought my bill was pretty hefty for what we ate, then again I was sure it wouldn’t be cheap coming here. 

I loved every part of the décor and design of this place, the outside to the inside, the teppanyaki area is inside the main building, and by the river there’s a mini open/enclosed pergola type room which made the view all so more magnificent.  

Staff were good, some more helpful then others but they could have had more on floor. 

On this particular night we opt for single dishes, didn’t order any set menu or teppenyaki (would have been cheaper if we did). I would recommend buying coupons before coming here then its worth every penny, but from what we had, drinks included our bill came close to $300! 

The dishes were unique, sashimi and ingredients were fresh and presentation was simply beautiful, here's what we had:

Teppanyaki Room

Assorted Sashimi: fish & scallop (very fresh and had a sweet after taste)

WAFU OYSTER: freshly shucked oyster in the shell with ponzu dressing 

SEAFOOD POKE: Hawaiian style sashimi cubes marinated with poke sauce (we didn't like this one, the sauce was more like sesame oil, it didn't compliment well with the fish, would have been nicer raw without any marinate or sauce)

NUMBER ONE SPECIAL: crab salad stuffed with avocado, wrapped in kingfish and baked with Kobe Jones’s secret sauce (uniquely made, try it)

Bottled Mango Juice, in a fancy glass cup 

MISO CITRUS LOBSTER: lobster tail (approx 300g) lightly cooked in a wafu thermidor sauce, drizzled with miso citrus and served on a bed of steamed vegetables. 

WAGYU ROLL: robata grilled skewers of wagyu, with baby asparagus and amiyaki sauce 

Assorted Platter

PORK GYOZA: house made pork dumplings, grilled and served with ponzu sauce 

ANAGO SCALLOPS: tempura Hokkaido scallops stuffed with crab salad and asparagus, with bittersweet soy sauce glaze 

CHICKEN KARA AGE: marinated chicken in seasoned potato flour, shallow fried, served with teriyaki sauce and chilli mayonnaise 

WASAKI SHOOTERS: fresh oyster shooter, served in cold wasaki ($6.50 per shot). This was in the previous platter so skip this dish if you plan to order the platter from above

Charlies Pizza Footscray

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Before I started dating, I never knew so many places existed, including this pizzeria “Charlies Pizza”. I am an Asian who grew up in the Western suburbs of Melbourne, and consistent pass this restaurant when we do our grocery shopping in Footscray. I would look inside and think to myself “this is a dingy dodgy looking place”, “who would eat here?”, “it looks unhygienic”, “why are they always closed?”, “they are so empty how do they survive?”… And hear stories like “the owner is part of some gang/the mafia, he uses this place for money laundering”.

All my negative thoughts changed after my first experience, lol, I realized they don’t open during the times I drive pass, and most of their customers are Vietnamese who starts dinner very late in the evening, or Club goers would stop here for supper before heading home.

I do think they need a reno cause this place looks like a run down saloon, they also have an outdoors garden area at the back where small gatherings are held. The ambiance is confusing, Italian food + extra chilli flakes on everything you want on the menu, Vietnamese music in the background with Vietnamese concert billboards hang up in-front of the old peeling wallpaper.

The moderate urban spoon ratings may be due to its atmosphere and services, cause I hear the boss “Charlie” can be a meanie at times. Food wise, it isn’t the cheapest pizzeria, but I personal enjoy what I pay for… Italian food with extra hot chilliness (You don’t get that at many pizzeria).

"Charlie" the boss getting close and personal. He's not always mean, he can be very friendly at times

baked bread, hot salami, chilli flakes, anchovies and cheese - I love this crunchy bread with the hint of spicy saltiness, but some people find it too salty... just don't add anchovies on it

Marinara + Penne Pasta + Seafood + Chilli Flakes – large $17.80

This is really good; do try it, minus the chilli if you can’t handle the heat

Mushroom sauce was $8.80! But it makes a great combo with the beef and baked bread

Charlies Special Salad - Large $24.80, easy to make but expensive for a salad. However I will always order this because I love my greens in all my meals. When I ordered the Volcanic rock (picture below) the salad came free with it in a medium portion - BONUSSSS LOL. 

Volcanic Rock Beef Fillet -  $39.80

I’m on the fence with this one, flavorless, just butter, beef, and mushroom on a hot rock, for that price I’d rather do it myself… but it does come with a side of Charlies special salad.

If you want to save some money and try both the Beef Fillet & Mushroom sauce, order the "Mushroom steak", taste the same to me for less than half the price - $27.80 without the hassle of cooking yourself. I personally find no fun in using the rock, I think it leaves a BBQ smelly residue on me. 

We rarely order pizza if we are eating in less than groups of three, but personally I think its nothing spectacular. 

Guhng (The Palace)

Hey,

How you’ll doing?

This is a mini review of a restaurant named “Guhng” (its Korean for: The Palace). This is my second time back and we had to share this wonderful service and atmosphere with my lovely family. You know how all mums think their cooking is “the best” and there’s nothing like home made food… I am not saying this is one of the best restaurants, but I did take the family out to this particular restaurant just to taste something different, the night life culture of the city which we’ve made our home for the past two decades and to taste some Korean BBQ.

To start with Soju (Korean alcohole – dunno what the brand was but it was meant to be for the faint hearted)

Kim chi over all was good something out of the ordinary, ie. Like our Vietnamese salad and herbs mum and dad would put on the dinner table on our usual home cooked meals (not complaining I love fresh herbs, we grow them in our backyard)

Beef salad was another entrée this was decent but achievable at home.

Seafood and pork Kim chi spicy hot pot – well imaging eating hot rahman, pouring all the 10 red hot packet of spices into one hot pot, that’s what this taste like with extra tofu, greens, white cabbage, prawns, octopus, seafood… yep very spicy with a seafood after taste, our family enjoyed it cause they bite fresh chili daily (white rice, fresh chili and fish sauce should never be missed at a Vietnamese dinner table)

 

Everything else was charcoal grilled: marinated pork, chicken, beef, ribs, scallop, oysters and abalone. It was wonderful. I don’t remember what set menu we got but it turned out great, the marinated pork and beef were flavorsome. Abalone was chewy but doable (sounds fancy but could be skipped if you don’t want to spend too much for something you would find hard to swallow if not cooked correctly)

Dessert platter – SWEET LOVERS MUST TRY, tiramisu, pudding, fudge, floss, sugar, candy, green tea cake … looks enticing cause it does sure taste that way (I am no sweet lover, prefer my fruit any day)

Ladies, gents that’s all from me hope you enjoy your weekend, stay healthy, wealthy and wise ;) xox  

Nobu Melbourne

It was our Anniversary a few months back, I have kept these photos for ages but haven’t had time to post up my review

We went to Nobu (Melbourne) a very well known Japanese restaurant.

It was classy, dark and gloomy, when we entered, you’ll be greeted with a warm welcome from the reception (that’s if you’ve booked a table, if not the receptionist might tell you there will be a wait depending on how busy it was that night)

As you walk down the flights of stairs away from the entrance, you are greeted by the many staffs and chefs with a big shout out in Japanese (didn’t understand, I guess it was a polite Welcome)

Service was amazing, but for a bottle of cold water the cost was nearly $12! So as time goes by you would realize you are going to put a big hole in your wallet. But it’s a special occasion, we’ll be happy to dine finely and not complain about the final bill.

The waiters would bring around this Salt-boiled Edamame dressed in extra sea salt

This is a berry/ cherry Fruit Punch – it was a little sour and tangy for my likings but my other half thought it was fine. I guess I don’t like alcohol so even a mock-tail wouldn’t entice my palate.

Tuna Tataki with Tozasu – this was good too, sweet and sour combo in your mouth

Yellowtail Sashimi with Jalapeño – I love this dish (even though I am not a fan of sashimi). I love the sourness and the spice of the jalapenos YUMMY, it didn’t taste raw – must order dish

Scallop Sashimi with Dried Miso – raw scallop is so sweet, and the crispy fried garlic chip made the soft uncooked scallop crunchy, a mixture of texture.

Beef Tataki with Ponzu and Garlic Chips – OMG another raw dish, this was good but at this stage my mouth didn’t like the overwhelming garlic chip taste from the last dish and this dish added together – eww garlic breath on an anniversary hehehehe

Lobster Salad with Spicy Lemon Dressing – this was disappointing for the price you pay, but we’d thought it doesn’t hurt to try. It wasn’t bad but I wouldn’t order this again, few pieces of lobster, lettuce, mushroom and more garlic chip + lemon dressing (I reckon it could be achievable at home) for $42 yep.. Now you see why I said they put garlic chip garnish on everything

Black Cod with Miso – after a few bites the good sweetness in your mouth just becomes so overwhelming, I’d recommend add this with white rice to balance out the saltiness and sweetness of the sauce. But if this was one of the first dishes I tried I wouldn’t have such a bad after taste. There was a special hajikami stalk left on top as a garnish which tasted like Garlic, it was crunchy and refreshing in the mouth, I think this was to balance out the black code sauce, it complimented well but extra rice in my opinion would have been even better.

This is Wagu Beef with a hot stone and 3 different types of dipping sauces – this was $150 worth of a dish, was the Wagu worth $1 per/gram, HELL NO. There was nothing special about the taste of this dish besides its presentation!

Overall I loved Nobu’s atmosphere, services and food. Just don’t go trying something that is worth $1 a gram and majority of the garlic chip garnishing wouldn’t have been better substituted with something else, when you know your customer had been consuming so much from their previous dishes. All the sashimi and cold dishes were wonderful.

 I had a discount card and the final bill still came out to be that total!

Overall rating:

4/5 starts

I liked some of the food we ate, but the final price (due to the Wagu beef) was ridiculous.

Well I hope you enjoy Nobu just as much as I did!
have a great night everyone