Fish 'n' Chips in Melbourne's Ever Changing Weather [Derrimut Sea Catch]

2/20 Derrimut Road

Derrimut VIC 3030

Hello everyone (:

It's been a bit since my last post hasn't it?
Well today is probably my most unique post.
Today's post is sponsored by 'Menulog - No.1 for Online Takeaway'.

For those of you who don't know what Menulog is, it is a company who has set up their services to allow everyone to get food easier through an online website. Through the website you can find your local restaurants, their menus (with accurate prices) and what time they're open from and to as well :)
Payment through this is easy as well, since you have a range of debit/credit cards while also the option to pay in cash.

Okay this all started when I got an email about two weeks ago from Menulog's company saying that they liked my blog and would like for me to write a post about a local take away restaurant in my area! (OMG right? :O)
To be honest.... at first I really thought this was some sort of scam but it really wasn't so I was over the moon to be given this opportunity ~

They gave me a voucher and I ordered some lunch for me and my friends.
The place is called Derrimut Sea Catch.
Their menu had a good range from burgers to flakes to chips to vegetarian options too. It was a well balanced menu which had a good appeal to most people :)

Well excited? I was ~

Free food is always nice but to able to blog about it too? Now I'm having fun haha

Burger with the LOT! :)
Most fish 'n' chip places have it and it's one of the things that needs to be tried.
Given the time it took to be delivered to my house caused it to cool down a bit and also most of the juices were at the bottom by the time I ate it, overall it's a nice burger which filled me up ~

This looks familiar no? :P
This is the 'Pack for 2'.
What you get:
- Flake x2
- Dim Sims x2
- Potato Cakes x2
- Calamari Rings x2
- Serves of Chips x2
That's a lot of food. :9



The flake was 3-4 parts flake to about 2 parts batter which is fine for most people. I would have like the flake to have a slightly less batter but that's my preference.
Dim Sims and Calamari Rings were what you'd expect so not much to comment there.
Potato Cakes are a treat, never too much potato for them :)
The chips were what I expected, crispy at first but as it cooled down.. they got soggy.


Wrap up!

I'll admit that this was not a fine dining meal nor was a meal like the rest of my posts.
It is however a decent meal to fill you up on one of Melbourne's ever changing weather days.
There were a fair amount of things that could of been better, however I believe most of those things wouldn't be a problem if I had gone to the restaurant and ate it there.

That's not to say, I didn't like the Menulog service though. It was simple to use, very quick and everything happened accordingly to what was stated. I ordered my food, the order went through, I got an email from Menulog confirming it and then I got a text from the store telling me what time my food would arrived. I will use this service again most likely.

Food: 6.5/10
Menulog Service: 9/10 (Will explain the missing point in a moment)
Price: 7/10
Overall: 7.33/10

Okay the missing point from the Menulog service is from the slight bug they have in that if you switch out of the app on your phone, it resets your order. It's still in basket but say you had to look for a voucher code at checkout (like I did), it'll put you back to their menu. My only issue.

For the price.... it was $36 all up. Which is a slightly higher price I would like to pay but the portions were pretty good.

Another sad fact is this place isn't on Urbanspoon! :(
I've tried to add it in and if it goes through, there shall be a link added~

IMPORTANT! READ!

I'm glad to have your attention now. This part is the most important part of the post.

What is happening is that, if I can get enough interest then Menulog will be giving me a voucher to give away to you guys! If the giveaway happens then I shall setup some seperate accounts that you all can follow and get entries into the draw (twitter/facebook/instagram etc)

So please spread the word! I really want to do this for you guys! Would be so awesome :)

Finally this was from the West Sunshine Take-Away restaurants for Menulog and this was restaurant Derrimut Sea Catch.

Okay this was suppose to be a short post but turned out quite long ...

Until the next craving kicks in,

R

Adelaide~ [Bracegirdle's House of Fine Chocolate & Mamma Carmela Restaurant and Pizza Bar]

Hellloooooo~

I've just come back from Adelaide a few days ago for University Games. It was an interesting place I reckon.
The good things were:

• Stayed right next to beach
• Good time with friends
• Found this awesome chocolate shop (Bracegirdles) 

Bad things:

• Shops close at 5pm weekends and 9pm weekdays (blasphemy D:)
• Not much to do ..

Rather than talking about that~ I found two places that I liked in Adelaide :D
An amazing chocolate shop and a fairly decent restaurant~

The Chocolate Cafe is called 'Bracegirdle'.
It gives off a warm welcoming atmosphere when you enter :)
Oh and the rich smell of delicious chocolate too~
I ended up coming here twice :9

They have this at the front of their store...
I was somewhat skeptical..
Because you know, when places put these up; it's usually not that great.
However this place lived up to it :)

As you enter you can see their wall full of chocolate delights :O
Absolutely heaven for anyone seriously ._.

Then when you get to the counter... You see these bite sized chocolates D:

Oceania: $2
I ended up trying this one.
It was chocolate and caramel but was very nice :D
The shell broke apart quite easily in my mouth and everything melded together quite nicely~

Hot Chocolate: $6.00
Chilli Hot Chocolate: $6.50
They came in the same cup so I didn't see the point of having two pics of the same cup.
Their hot chocolate is really good! One of the bests I've tried in a long time.
The hot chocolate was full of flavour and simply amazing :D
For the chilli chocolate one.. I'm usually not inclined to try chilli chocolate..
However these guys made it quite good. The chocolate was warm and a bit frothy which was then
hit by the slight taste of chilli, not too strong but strong enough :9

Short Chocolate: $4.50
It's basically a shot of their chocolate with milk.
This is SOOOO good D:
This is the main thing from this store that I will be craving I think
For this price you get a fair amount and it was worth it ..
I mixed the milk and chocolate together to get the picture above so then I could
scoop the chocolate out and eat it :9
It was creamy and satisfied my chocolate cravings ~

Bracegirdle's Cooler Bag: $15 normally. $5 if spent over $50 and free if over $75
I got it for free... So yeah you can tell I bought a lot of chocolate :\

White, Milk, Dark, Darker Chocolate: $9.00 or $12.50
These are the chocolates I bought!
They're blocks of chocolate for my friends in Melbourne.
Trying to stop myself from eating these T.T

Mamma Carmela is a restaurant of mixed reviews ~
Reviews said only good pizza.
End of the night.. I reckon the pizza wasn't that great but other things were~

Seafood Platter: $33.00
Hmm... skeptical...
Chips were below standard and seafood was okay?

Sweet Chilli Chicken Focaccia: $12.50
Chips: $5.00
The chips wasn't the best choice.
The Focaccia however was a good choice.
The Focaccia was massive and worth the money. It filled me up in a good way :9
Chicken was well cooked, the vegetables complimented the chicken and to the top it off; the melted cheese /drool

Gourmet Calzone $18.90
It's basically their Gourmet Pizza in Calzone form.
The Calzone itself didn't have empty air inside, full of ingredients and flavour.

Wrap up! :D

Stop #1: Bracegirdle's House of Fine Chocolate

Best chocolate in Adelaide? I think yes. In Melbourne? It's in the top chocolate places for me! :D
Amazing chocolate products, great service and awesome atmosphere ~

Food: 9/10
Service: 9/10
Price: 8/10
Overall: 8.67/10

It's a must try! Cannot miss this if you're in Adelaide (not like there's anything else there).
They have a few stores but the one I went to was in Glenelg.
They are at: 31 Jetty Road, Glenelg, SA 5045

Stop #2:  Mamma Carmela Restaurant and Pizza Bar

Not a bad restaurant. I guess this place is good depending on time and what you choose? Seafood platter and some Pizzas weren't good choices. Calzone and Focaccia were good choices. It depends on what you order here in my honest opinion. Service was okay, not the best though.

Food: 7.5/10
Service: 6/10
Price: 6/10
Overall: 6.5/10

Not a bad place. I reckon try it out if you're ever in Glenelg, South Australia.
They're at: 4 Jetty Road, Glenelg, SA 5045

 

I'm glad to be back in Melbourne though. I miss this place with it's changing weather and bad public transport a lot haha

Til my next post,

-R

Preparation Food :9 [Shanghai Street Dumpling]

Haiii! :P
Apparently there are people who read this :O
I am shocked honestly...
Anyways tomorrow I'm heading to Adelaide for a bit and like... there's nothing there so I thought might as well catch up with my friend Jasmin for lunch :9

Place of Lunch this time? Shanghai Street Dumplings!
I saw this place ages ago, like start of year or something but every time I go,
it is full on packed D:< A fair few people keep telling me to go
so I prepared myself for the line and went ahead with it.

Damn that line -.-
It is really like this or worse all the time.. D:
The design of the area is quaint though. :)

The inside is kind of small and a bit cramped but oh smells so nice :9
You can't resist that once you get in.

 Okay I lied. I didn't wait in line. I'm not that patient. Me and Jasmin went for takeaway :P

Homemade Boiled Peking Dumplings (Pork); 15 Pieces: $8.80
This was Jasmin's choice. Pretty good. The dough was soft but wasn't to the point
where it just fell apart all over the place. It was just right and then the Peking Pork inside was pretty flavorful.

Chinese Spinach & Pork Wonton Soup; 12 Pieces: $8.00
My choice :) I personally always like the spinach dumplings/wontons.
It gives a slight different taste to the normal ones.
These ones were alright, I could taste the spinach but the pork had too much flavor
which overpowered the spinach in my opinion :(

This is how we ate. Going back to our asian ways ;D
I'm glad they did takeaway, really saved me and Jasmin since we were pretty hungry!

Introducing Jasmin ;)
Look at that concentrated face LOL
Glad she could come with me, was good to see her again ^^

Wrap Up!!

Shanghai Street Dumplings 
Okay, so the food first.. I enjoyed what I got. Not too bad. Both sets of dumplings were very flavorful and decently priced for the amount we got. Service I can't really say much since it was just passing takeaway order. Overall I liked it, it's not the cheapest place in Melbourne but for value-wise; it's good :)

Food: 8/10
Service: 6/10
Price: 8/10
Overall: 7.33/10

I'd recommend you try it and see what you think! :) Pretty good for a dumpling place.
They're at: 342 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000

My next post will be about a restaurant in Adelaide hopefully! Look forward to it :P

Til next time,

-R ;9

Post University Hungers [WonderBao & That Place]

New Post! :)
Been able to do this a lot more probably because food is quite easy to do and it's delicious :9

Me and my friend Shane went to uni for our morning classes and then well.. neither of us enjoyed staying at uni any longer so off to the city for a meal it is! :D

Stop #1: WonderBao
An interesting restaurant who provide cheap and delicious steamed buns :)
Watch out though, don't use the urbanspoon map function as of right now (140912) because it says they are somewhere between Bourke and little Bourke street...

Their menu is simplistic and gets the point
while also giving all the information you'd need

Their front kitchen seems busy but gives a feel of authenticity

A view from outside shows a fully packed restaurant area, no room for me :(

My choices: Roast Pork Belly Gua Bao (Front; $3.80) & Da Pork Bao (Back; $3.20)
The pork belly was incredibly nice and went well with the pickled carrots, daikon & hoisin sauce.
The cucumber was not a necessity for this in my opinion.
The Da Pork Bao (egg, shitake mushroom & chinese sausage) was fairly average for me.
There wasn't much dough or meat which led to a gap between them when I bit into it but it was decent for the price.

Shane's Choices: Braised Pork Belly (Front; $3.80) & Choi Bao (Back; $2.00)
Shane: The braised pork was nicely balanced; the pork melted in my mouth, the sauce was sweet, the pickles gave acidity and the bun was soft and plump. The vegetarian one was nice but lacked strong flavour, it needed more filling I reckon and the bun was the same.

Homemade Soya Milk $2.80
Me and Shane both got one. Both thought it was standard, nothing special.

Stop #2: That Place
I found this cafe a few weeks ago and wanted to try it.
Mainly because it was called 'That Place' and it was fun messing with Shane about it.

Their interior looks really nice.
Really Spacious and so much options to choose from.
This is not your standard cafe. :P

Their decorations on the wall look nice, kind of weird but it works for me :)

Shane got the Coffee (above) and the Scone (picture below) $5
Shane: I only had the scone and coffee so I can't give it a proper score.
Coffee is all the same to me and the scone was okay.

Scones with Jam & Cream
In my opinion; for $5, that's a good deal. :P

That Lunch Special $10
Cal's Beef Burger; Homemade beef pattie with Leafy Greens, Tomato, Melted Cheese & Relish.
A side of chunky chips as well ;9
Now that's a lunch special haha
Beef broke apart as I ate it, it was cooked medium rare which went along quite nicely with the other ingredients.
The chips were fried quite nicely and with some seasoning which really hit the spot.
The tomato sauce made the presentation quite nice but not necessary for taste :)

This is SHANE :D
He only agreed to the photo that I would edit it with black & white filtering.
He's good food company and he might be starting a food blog soon too! :)

Wrap up! :)

Stop #1: Wonderbao
The environment was welcoming even though it was so fast paced. Actually it was probably the strong smell that was the most welcoming thing xD The service was great for me but not as great for Shane unfortunately haha ^^" The food was not too bad for the value.

Food: 7/10
Service: 8/10
Price: 7/10
Overall: 7.33/10

Shane's Score
Food: 7/10
Service: 6/10
Price: 7/10
Overall: 6.67/10

I'd recommend you try this place :)
They're at: Shop 4, 31 A'Beckett Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000

Stop #2: That Place
A cafe where they have good atmosphere and good food. The service was fairly decent and I think the pricing was very good for what I got :D

Food: 9/10
Service: 7/10
Price: 9/10
Overall: 8.33/10

This is definitely a place I will go back to sometime soon! :)
They're at: 408 Bourke Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000

I was incredibly stuffed from today's events. Hope you like my reviews and pictures :9

Til next time,
-R

Food hunting in Melbourne #101 [Huxtaburger, Monsieur Truffe, Fatto a Mano, The Dessert Box & Meet Fresh]

Hello to anyone who reads this 8D
I haven't made a post in a while but I thought I might as well because like... you know .. I have homework to do and what better way to get my mind off it by posting on here :'D

Alright, so I was waiting for my friend (who overslept) and then I see this man just 'cussing' at the Telstra building on Bourke Street in the city. It intrigued me a bit.. I really wonder why he was doing this ..

Alright stop #1: Huxtaburger. Been dying to try this ages now. So we're waiting for the food to come and I decide to take pictures of whatever I can find. I took a few shots of the glass of water they gave me and this is what I ended up with after photoshop :)

The 'Denise' Burger. This was my burger which contained the buns, beef patty, cheese, jalapenos, sriracha mayo, mustard, mayo, tomato sauce, tomato, cheese, lettuce and pickles. Oh wow .. I didn't know there was that much in it ._.
My friend got the standard huxtaburger ( beef Pattie, mustard, mayo, tomato sauce, tomato, cheese, lettuce and pickles)
It was a delicious burger and worth the money. Kinda wished it was a bit bigger though haha

Time to walk off the burger. I came across this friendly dog who was waiting for its owner. I was playing with it a bit to be able to get this shot. I love dogs :P

Stop #2: Monsieur Truffe. My friend said that this place had a good hot chocolate. Who can say no to a good hot chocolate?

Yes they have a lot of cocoa .__. oh the cocoa...

The interior of Monsier Truffe is truly a beautiful sight. It is a quiet and calm place. Perfect for a chat over tea or coffee (well hot chocolate in my case)

Okay, my friend ended up getting the 70% House Blend and I got the 72% Ecuador. The image is the Ecuador :) the House Blend looks the same except only one streak of chocolate over it >:D
The extra 2% in mine made it significantly more bitter which was alright for me but quite surprising.

Stop #3: Fatto a Mano
While we were at Monsier Truffe, I went on urbanspoon and checked out what was nearby and came across this bakery. Me and my friend decided to get this spicy calzone. Only half though and then we shared that aha
Unfortunately it wasn't the best choice, not for me or my friend. Although we should of went and tried the pizza like I said :( There's always next time :)

Stop #4: The Dessert Box!
Oh my.. We started craving dessert so we went to Lygon Street to this place which was recommended by our friend. No regrets ! :) We got the honey golden bricks. It's toast bricks with vanilla ice cream and honey with it being caramelised after that. They know their desserts <3

Okay we've eaten a lot now .. I really can't believe it ._.
Time to do random poses that use the energy we stored up.
OH! This is my friend who accompanied me all day :) Introducing Clarinna. She has a blog too, shall be linking at the bottom :D

So like... she got tired and was playing with my camera~

She got me in ._.

Managed to snap a photo of her while she was distracted :D I like .. :P

We met up with the friend who recommended the dessert place to go around. Clarinna wanted some glasses so we went to Melbourne Central and checked them out. Don't we look awesome? :D

Stop #5: Meet Fresh. Seriously what am I doing?
Not sure what the name of it was but apparently it's one of the more popular ones on the menu.
Was not too bad I guess. The syrup with the ice was nice. The toppings were half good and half were okay.

Alright! Let's wrap up everything :P

Stop #1: Huxtaburger
Awesome burger. Can't complain about the taste or much about the price. Denise was $9, Huxtaburger was $8 and the large chips were $3. My only problem was the size haha. The staff were quite friendly but a bit reluctant when I asked for water :|

Price: 8.5/10
Food: 9/10
Service:8/10
Overall: 8.5/10

Definitely a must try!
Check them out, they're at: 106 Smith Street, Collingwood, VIC 3066

Stop #2: Monsieur Truffe
I like dark chocolate so it was really nice for me. I love hot chocolate too :) Staff were incredibly nice and even explained a few things about the chocolates to me and Clarinna haha. The price was kinda a lot for what I got but yeah. The House Blend was $5 and the Ecuador was $5.20.

Price: 7.5/10
Drink: 8.5/10
Service: 10/10
Overall: 8.67/10 <<

Check them out, they're at: 90 Smith St, Collingwood, VIC 3066

Stop #3: Fatto a Mano
Alright, I need to go back and try other things here. I can't give a definite score for this sorry :( I shall give you this a full review once I try their other stuff on the menu!

Stop #4: The Dessert Box
Amazing! XD No complaints about the food. The guy who served us was really nice and even let us stay for probably about an hour after we finished eating too. :) The honey golden bricks was $15.90 and worth the money in my opinion.

Price: 9/10
Food: 9/10
Service: 10/10
Overall: 9.33/10

Must try this *.*
They're at 147 Lygon Street, Carlton, VIC 3053

Stop #5: Meet Fresh
Not too bad for the asian dessert that's been surfacing up in Melbourne. Didn't have a problem with service but that was mainly because my friend could speak a bit of chinese haha. Pricing was okay I guess?

Price: 7/10
Food: 6/10
Service: 7/10
Overall: 6.67/10

Your personal choice I guess, Check them out at: 147 Swanston St, Melbourne, VIC 3000

That's all from me :'D
Hope you enjoyed my reviews and my pictures xD
This is my friend's blog, check it out! http://mydietstartstomorow.blogspot.com.au/

Til next time,

~R