Reviews by bluepenguin
The Fish Deli/Oyster Bar is located in the newer food section of Chadstone shopping centre. They offers tapas style seafood based dishes or more substantial fish/seafood based meals such as cold seafood platters (some including lobster) or grilled or fried seafood or fish with chips and salad. The prices are reasonable, and the seafood well cooked and fresh. Service is pub style-you order at the bar and they give you a table number, and then the meal is delivered to your table when it is ready. They won't serve tap water (if you ask they mention "health" reasons why they can't). Part of the same dining area is a Sushi Sushi branch, so if someone in your group feels like sushi they can buy it separately and you can still all dine together.
Sukhumvit's menu describes the style of food as Royal Thai, which is a refined style of Thai cuisine. The food is certainly very fine with complex and rich flavors and high quality ingredients. The decor is pleasant and cosy and the service low key and efficient. Prices are moderate.
Budapest has managed to combine an authentic Hungarian dining experience with the feel of a cosy local cafe. The menu is extensive, with an enormous range of different schnitzels, together with Hungarian favorites such as goulash, as well as less typically Eastern European fare, but all with a Hungarian spin. You can have your choice of side dishes-choices include chips and salad for those who want to stay within their comfort zone. Prices are generally moderate, but all evening on Thursday, and every other day during happy hour(if you are finished your meal by 6.30pm) they offer a fantastic $14 schnitzel or goulash special. The food is tasty and consistent, and the service very efficient and friendly.
Assaggi feels like the real deal-a bustling authentic family-run Italian restaurant, but more upmarket than the average to suit the well healed locale. The front of the restaurant is half filled by a large wood fired oven with two pizza chefs turning out an extensive range of pizzas. They also offer a shorter list of house made pasta, risottos, and fish/meat mains. The quality of the food is above average, and the service friendly. Prices are moderate, and although there is no childrens' menu as such this didn't seem to deter the large numbers of families who were dining on the evening we were there.
If only Sho Noodle bar lived up to first impressions! The interior design definitely has the wow factor and the staff are incredibly friendly and accommodating. The concept is great too-a pan-asian menu with very interesting sounding dishes and an amazing tea menu which you order as you would fine wine. Unfortunately once the food starts arriving it is all downhill. The tables are very small, and have lots of ornaments and other items on them, and the serving dishes are large, with dishes designed for sharing-not a very practical combination. The flavor of the food ranged from bland to very average, with the quality below that of a good local Malaysian restaurant, and prices considerably higher. The fact that you have to walk through the Casino to get there and are in the midst of the main gaming area can also be seen as a negative.
Cafe Di Stasio is a Melbourne institution, and in some ways it is showing its age. The decor looks a bit tired, especially during the day, and to some extent they seem to be resting on their laurels. I have been there several times for lunch and twice for dinner, and the food has ranged from amazing to a bit disappointing. The prices at dinner time are so high, that anything less than perfection tends to be a disappointment. The quality of the produce is always excellent, and the dishes tend to lean towards simple food which has been perfectly cooked, as opposed to elaborate dishes. They have a long running lunch special which is excellent value relatively speaking, but the serves can be very small. The service is highly professional, but can feel a bit smug and superior. If you are prepared to take the chance of annoying your fellow patrons, the restaurant staff are very child friendly.
The Greek Spot is a consistently good quality local Greek restaurant. The quality of ingredients is top notch, particularly the seafood, and the food is simple but beautifully cooked. Even the Greek salad is particularly good. The ambiance is fairly classy, but relaxed, and the restaurant is very child friendly. The service is generally friendly and efficient, but can become a bit abrupt when they are very busy. Prices reflect the quality of the ingredients.
The Press Club has had plenty of accolades, and so my expectations were very high. The food is certainly of fine quality, and very tasty and it is great to see Greek food get the fine dining treatment. The service is efficient and friendly. However I found the presentation of the food to be rather gimmicky and somewhat pretentious-for example a very nice but fairly unexotic eggplant dish was presented in a pickling jar rather than on a plate. The seating arrangements were also a bit disappointing. We were so close to the table next to us that it was difficult to have a private conversation, and when the waitress squeezed in between the two tables to serve our neighbors, her derriere was perilously close to the food on our table. The prices were quite reasonable by fine dining standards, but expensive when compared to your local Greek Bistro.
Salix has 2 sections-a fine dining restaurant with huge windows overlooking a very Tuscan scene of picturesque vineyards, and more casual cafe, with a tapas style menu with indoor and outdoor deck seating (also with wonderful views). I have eaten several times at both sections and have rarely been disappointed. The fine dining area offers beautifully presented generally delicious food, with serve sizes being more nouvelle cuisine size than generous, but the flavours are exquisite. They do duck particularly well, and the desserts are always special. The prices aren't low, but compared to some of the prices you pay in the Mornington Peninsula, they are not unreasonable.
The cafe section has a selection of interesting tapas style dishes with 2 larger size dishes also offered. The quality has been consistently great, with beautiful flavors. They serve fantastic bread, have a good kids menu, and you can order the Willow Creek wine by the glass.
This cafe is a relatively new addition to Flinders, but there is another branch in Red Hill which has been around longer. As well as being a bakery which produces bread and other baked goods the traditional way, and with no additives (according to their brochure), this is also an excellent cafe. It offers something rare in that part of the Mornington Peninsula-good value for money. The food is tasty and high quality, without being pretentious and is priced fairly. The cafe has a warm, casual atmosphere and is family friendly, and the service is very accomodating, but things can get a bit frantic and quite noisy when they are busy. They have live music on Sundays, and run other interesting acitivities such as baking workshops for children.