Pizzas @ Bimbo Deluxe, Melbourne

It has taken a while but I have finally come to blogging about the last city we visited in Australia before we came back. We were to meet up with some of Sayang's really good friends when in Melbourne. I am really excited about writing about this place, because, it we had a great time, catching up with old friends, we had beer, the place was some sort of a hang out kinda place.

When we arrived, that night , it was already 7 plus. We walked into a dimly lit and congested pub, with loud music playing and lots of people just mingling and such, the kind of scene you expect to see when you walk into BarFlam in Bangsar on a weekend. The only difference is that, it was Wednesday night... hahaha, happening place...


Bimbos is famous for serving cheap pizzas on Sundays - Thursdays, 7pm - 11pm. All their pizzas go for 4bucks each. Its 4 bucks for a 12 inch pizza with different gourmet toppings, and beers on tap go for only 3.50 per mug. Everything cheap, no wonder so many people hang out here.

So we actually had to wait and hunt for a place to sit. It was seriously full, and we actually waited 15 minutes before we got ourselves a table, but the best thing was we had to go hunt for chairs. By the time we sat down I finished my first Carlton Draught (recommended by one of those guys at the bar...)

I think Sayang was buying dinner, so she actually did the ordering. I had initially wanted to help give ideas as to what to order , but after seeing those pizza names, I gave up. Take a look at the menu yourself..

This pizza's presentation need to be worked on , otherwise I remember them to taste quite good when I put them in my mouth. Don't remember what it's called though.
I liked this one (seafoodish pizza)...

I liked this too... looks like peperroni pizza
The pizzas above came out within 20 minutes of the order taken, which I found impressive. Although some of those pizzas did come out abit different in shape (see first pizza), the taste was not that bad actually. When I heard it was only 4 bucks each, I really thought they might give you less ingredients.. but no wo... everything came out to be quite standard. The last pizza was the lamb pizza, topped with a lot of strange herb (green leaves, donno what it is, I liked the lamb but not the leaves..hehe)..

This pic above, depicts me glutting on those pizzas. There is something special about this pizza place. In most pizza places in Australia, they give you chili flakes at most, over here they give you chilli oil (chinese style, or more like dim sum style). You see that bottle behind the beer.. thats the chili oil. Also from this picture you can see a Hoegaarden and a Asahi Dry next to me. Those were both mine. You can also see lots of free plain water served in this restaurant (maybe pizza uno can pick up on this, instead of charging rm3 for a bottle of el cheapo mineral water ). That night I must have also tried some Stella Artois beer. I had quite a few beers that night... the beers all tasted so so only la...

To be very frank, this place does not exactly serve you the tastiest pizzas, but when they charge you only 4 bucks per pizza, what more can you ask for. No frills pizza place.. hehe.. Just to compare between our Dominoes in KL with Bimbos, I believe Bimbo's pizzas win hands down (just for comparison sake la).

T outlet is filled to the brim, the service was quite there (mostly self service, like at a pub unless you ordered food). It look like a good place to get beer and have some pizza after work, and chill out with friends. Had a good time, thanks to the company.

The Map:

376 Brunswick St, Fitzroy, VIC 3065, Australia

+61 3 9419 8600

Also read:

Totally Adicted to Taste
Melbourne Pubs

Harry's Cafe De Wheels @ Haymarket, Sydney

NOTE: I just noticed the error on my TITLE. Its Harry's Cafe De Wheels @ Woolooomanyakbooloo, Sydney.... for the correct address just refer to the address at the end of the post.

When we were in Sydney, my cousin who brought us around, jalan jalan cari makan, always used the word ICON. Luckily for us, its not called IKON or something like that, but when he used the word ICON, he meant business. One of these Icons was Harry's Cafe De Wheels.


What is the big fuss about this place. To me it looked like an oversized push cart hotdog stand. Secondly, that stall must have been there a long long time. My cousin surprised me, because we were pumping gas, and he pointed out opposite the Shell Station, "we are going to get some hotdogs over there ..."

This pic is OOF, but never mind, it. Its their trademark , Hot Dog De Wheels. The size of this hot dog is definitely bigger than the ones we get over here. Now you know the true meaning of Gwai Lou hot dog la... its size, if not mistaken, is about 1.5 inches, and 8 inches long... definitely can fill up anyone's tummy... It costs only 5 bucks.. cheapest food i put in my mouth since I arrived in Australia. Most people like their hotdog drenched with Mustard, and Mayonnaise. I like mine to be plain n simple. Never liked the taste of Mustard. The Americans used to tell me every time I am at a hot dog stand, "you don't know what you are missing...." but the thing is, I know what I am missing... my freaking Chili Sauce...

I am not sure what this is called, but its a PIE. Its diameter is about 5 inches and about 3 inches tall. The green stuff you on top is the green pea mash, seats on another thick layer of mash potatoes, with em gravy, The pie which is about 1.5 inches tall, boasts a generous amount of tasty and aromatic beef stew..... The minute they serve them pies on the booth, you are sure to begin salivating... confirm wan, otherwise I give you , your money back.... Anyway this pie costs 4.95. A stall in Darling harbor will serve them up for about 12.95... thats more than double..


This place was so good, we actually came back a second time. We ordered the PIE again, yes it was that nice. But we opted to try out their Chili Dog. Its the same big hot dog, the only difference is that they pour some Chili onto it (some kinda bean sauce, mixed with Mash Potato sauce with some mince meat in it)..... Again, I know how the Americans eat their chili dogs, again drenched in Mustard, and Ketchup... but since we don like mustard.. we took it neat...

This place is a MUST go , and MUST eat place whenever you are in Sydney. Its cheap, the serving is bigger than normal, and its tasty...... Pang Leng Chiang...

Harry's Cafe de Wheels – Woolloomooloo
Cowper Wharf Road, Woolloomooloo, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9357 3074
If you need directions, check out this map

Pinangsia Noodles & Rosebery Martabak @ Kingsford, Sydney

Visiting Sydney has somehow opened my eyes, and I realized the real meaning of "multi-cultural" after visiting this city. My cousin's GF had some very good friends in Sydney, and while catching up with her friends, they also brought us to sample some very nice Indonesian style food.

We met at a suburb called Kingsford. I was told that many Indonesians moved here and sort of formed a community in this part of town. As such if you go there, you will here a lot of indonesian spoken in this part of town.

Ok, so we got seated down, and we were handed the Menu... whoa... in Indonesian wan, with English translations. Lovely. To tell you the truth, I don't really remember what we ordered,

but one of them is this big piece of fish ball. Thats actually the size of a tennis ball. It tasted like keropok lekor. Even the chilli sauce was sweetishly spicy, very similar to the ones served with keropok lekor over here.

This picture is very OOF. This bowl of noodles is filled with mushrooms, intestines, choi sum, fu chok (crispy n yummy), pork and chicken. It is served together with clear soup (very much like ching Tong).

This one's mine, I ordered Mie Karet Ayam, Babi Merah. I actually was wondering what Babi Merah is, but when I saw it, I was instantly delighted. The noodles set were about 10 bucks, and it comes with a big bowl of noodles, a lot of ingredients, and a small bowl of soup and meat balls. You can have fish, chicken, beef or pork balls (your choice , I think).

My cousins had this really funny looking duck or chicken. On top of the duck/chicken, it looks like some form of fried onions ( I know for a fact that most Indonesians like to have fried onions on their food ...) .

Then we walked about 50m away, to this other place called Rosebery Martabak for desert. We were going to have Indonesian pancake.

We had to wait about 20 minutes for our Martabak. While waiting, my cousins took the opportunity to catch up some more. While they caught up with each other, I was happilly flipping the pages to some Indonesian magazine published for Sydney. Must quite a big community here, they even got their own Magazine over here.

We ordered a Martabak with peanuts, and chocolate in it. It was for 14 bucks. To me not quite worth it, but my cousins were appreciating every bite they had, I must assume.

As for me, I was not that impressed with how good it tasted, we were just too pre-occupied with thinking that, we actually waited so bloody long for, "just a martabak" and paid so much for it, not sure what we call it here, but we can get something like that for RM2 , without the chocolate, APAM balik or something like that.

However so, Sayang did make a statement, this Indonesians must be rich..... they pay 12 bucks just for that.... fuiyoh !!! For us, we are tourists, its different. I wouldn't mind go looking for martabaks, when I am in Jakarta, but I won't go looking for martabaks again in Australia. Even if I don't convert, I won't pay Rm12 for a Martabak with chocolate and nuts...

They also offer you martabaks, with peanut butter, strawberry jam, apricot, etc... Judging from the waiting time, I must conclude that Rosebery Martabak is a very very popular place in Kingsford.


I would like to come back to Pinangsia again someday to try some of their other noodles. They were yummy, feeling and good value for money. Oh yeah, they give you free chili padi also, to me that was a big plus.

La Porchetta @ Melbourne

My cousin came back from Melbourne for a visit, and he reminded me, to post a review of La Porchetta. Hmm, right, I did miss out this restaurant, a rather important one too, because I'd list this place a must visit whenever I go back.

The funny thing is before I started writing about La Porchetta, I did not know that this was a succesful franchise, with a lot of outlets in Australia and NZ.

Anyways, it was our last day in Melbourne, and after a visit to Victoria Market, we took a short drive and arrived at La Porchetta. Oh so my cousin is bringing to eat Pizza, its not like we didn't eat pizza already at Bimbos. You see, my cousin has this thing of bringing us around to see a Story brigde driving up and down, that bridge, and highlighting it everytime we got lost, when we were in Melbourne. Wakakaka... so whenever I got lost, I showed him Motorola brigde at Federal Highway...lol..

The setting of this restaurant is simple, its a restaurant that sits probably at least 80-100 if full. Since it was our last day in Melbourne, we were gonna try eat at a few places, you know like in Malaysia we'd drop by one foodcourt and order abit here and order abit there. The only difference with Melbourne is that, we had to drive he there and everywhere to sample this nice lovely foods.


Of course when we walk into La Porchetta, we must try their pizza. This is a large thin crust pizza, and they allowed us to go for a half and half. One half Pizza Marinara, and another half, chicken peperroni or something like that.


This pizza is just such a joy to photograph, because all the ingredients look so fresh, and plentiful. The shrimps were just so fat and juicy, olives were thrown onto pizza like it costs, nothing to make them. On the left side of the pizza you could see the pepperonis covering up most of the surface of the pizza, if not for the little bits of bacon sprawled across in the little spaces left by the pepperonies.

I think photos of their pizza came out much better here, comparing with their website pics.

Every bite into the pizza is returned by a sinful array of tastes, flavours and aromas. I was like ,ey , this is very good shit man... very good.


The pasta was quite alright la, standard pasta, with tomato base, basil and so on and so forth. Still tastes quite nice though, if you know what I mean, after, I only had restaurants like Pizza Uno, Pizza Hut and Pizza Venezia to compare with ma..... really no fight man our local pastas....

I am not sure what cake this is but it surely had lots of chocolate on it. Nice...


Oh well, I was lucky enough to meet the Legend himself, he's Rocky, the founder of La Porchetta. When we walked into the store, you could see him making em pizzas.... really, it was an honour to meat meet the man himself.... he was friendly and obliged with posing for a pic with me.....

Also read:

Used2be1
HungryHamster
FredrickTang
3point8 - thinks its the best restaurant he's been too...
minastra

His restaurant is probably just a few streets away from Victoria Market in Melbourne, but he's so famous, I am sure you can ask a few bystanders, and someone should be able to guide you there.

Marmalade Cafe @ Surfer's Paradise, Gold Coast

I think I was under the impression that in Australia, everything closes at 5pm. I guess in Gold Coast, this doesn't apply. We made our way back from Brisbane Gold Coast after sundown. The weather has gone from nice and warm to cool and dry ( lovely weather of about 20C).

We were to meet up with cousin's Friend , Albert. I told my cousin I wanted to try 2 things, crocodile meat, and kangarro meat. So they brought us to Marmalade Cafe, in Chevron Renaissance. Owned by Steve and Sandy Tan, but apparently run by their Restaurant manager, Nigel. Anyways, I was quite surprised as to how the restaurants here really do it, because while we were waiting for a seat, my cousin when off to buy some wine to be consumed here. So I guess BYO is allowed.

So we ordered one entree/appetizer and three mains to be shared by the four of us, while I think Albert who is native here, decided to go for some Fish Steak, didn't take a picture of his food, because his arrived last, and I think he must be hungry.

Spring Roll ( Entree/ Appetizer) - about 15 bucks

Grilled Lamb - about 22 bucks

Kangaroo Dish - about 22 bucksCroc Meat , about 25 bucks

The dish I enjoyed the most, must have been the Kangaroo dish. Not sure what it is called but on the menu, Kangaroo meat only appeared once. I really noticed something about the way they prepare food in Marmalade. Their mains are accompanied by some sort of salad underneath. The Kangaroo's salad tasted very Greekish - Mediterranean which was totally foreign to Sayang and Me... some kind of herb in there which made it , yee whats that strong smell.

The crocodile meat, tasted a bit like chicken, but otherwise I'd say its tasteless and felt like rubber in the mouth. If not for the way the kitchen prepared I could have thrown the meat back at Nigel and broke his nose or something like that (the meat was so tough). I think the way they prepared the meat made it much more appetizing. This dish was consumed mostly by me, because the rest of them just didn't like it.

The duck spring roll is a specialty dish, and one that they are famous for I think. It tasted really good, and they served it to us in 5 pieces. Must have been because they were 5 of us. I gotta say too, Albert and Andrew did a great job selecting the 2 bottles of wine.

As you can see, all the plates were empty before the photographer attempted to take a picture of us. Again, don't mean to bitch, but the crocodile meat was something of a unexpected experience, and I would like to try that again someday. Unfortunately for us, its illegal to sell Crocodile meat in Malaysia, but I was told it can be found in Jurong Market for S$70/kg.

shop 36 Chevron Renaissance

Surfers Paradise, 4217
Open for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner (7 days a week)
Tel: 5504 7353



Also read a Review by Patricia Mossop here

Doyle's @ Watson Bay, Sydney

This was the same day we spent the entire day around Sydney Harbour. We bought an all day pass to a ferry to get us from Darling Harbour to The Rocks , and from the Rocks to some small little Island Fort (forgot its name, definitely not worth stopping), then to Sydney's Zoo (unfortunately did not spend time there, heards its a very good zoo, so I guess we will just have to content ourselves with just Zoo Negara or move down south for Singapore's zoo). From Sydney Zoo ( I think its called Taronga Zoo) the Ferry's goes off to Watson's Bay.



If you remembered my post on Sydney Fish Market, it was the same day we had our second visit there. We had our brunch there so to speak. So by the time we had a walk around Darling Harbour, caught our first ferry to The Rocks to visit the much talked about Sydney Opera House, our next stop was Watson's Bay. We were already hungry, and since we didn't get enough seafood, we had some more, this time at Doyle's.

We ordered a little bit less stuff for our late lunch, more like tea time. By the time we arrived at Watson's Bay we were famished to say the least. Actually at Watson's bay you can either have Doyle's Takeaway, or the other Seafood joint (forgot its name).

This time around we ordered a Cup of Seafood Chowder , 6.90. Sayang complained that it wasn't as nice as the one she had in San Fran, because this wan got no isi inside, all soup only. I liked how it tasted, and thought it was alright. But really , they isn't any stuff inside the soup.



We ordered a seafood platter , where they put in prawns ( more like shrimps , a lot smaller than those offered at the Sydney Fish Market), squip, fish fillet, Scallops, and served with rice and salad on the side. It cost us 13 bucks i think.

One thing about Australia I don't like is that, we have to pay for soya sauce, tomato sauce, mayo, or extra sauces which the outlet may serve. They usually charge about 0.50 each. So not used to paying for those sauces. And most of the time, their drinks cost a bomb. A cup of cappuccino will set you back 3.50 to 4.50 depending on where you dine. A bottle of 500ml softdrink will go for about 3.50, while a bottle of mineral water will also set you back 3.00. But then, most cafes, serve water, thats quite cool I thought.


The atmosphere is just great. I mean you are at most a 15 minute ferry ride from Darling Harbour, and yet the water here is clear. We are in the middle of a city, you can see these jetties being frequented by boats and ferrys shuttling passengers through and fro the city and yet, there was not a hint of oil slick here. Try comparing their water with Port Dickson's.

Anyway, it wasn't until we boarded the last ferry back to Darling Harbour, I looked back at Watson's Bay realized how beautiful these houses by the hillside were. Snapped this pic, and wish I had one of those I can call home... beautiful isn't it ?

Note: All pics here taken with a Nikon D80....

Tony Roma's Ribs.Seafood.Steaks @ Sussex St, Sydney

It was a full day of walking and sightseeing that day. It was the same day we went to the Sydney Fish Market as I remembered it. After brunch we went on our day long sight seeing tour around Sydney Harbour, followed by a visit to the Outback Center, and the Sydney Aquarium. The day ended with a visit to Tony Roma's.

As I remembered it, it got pretty cold that night, and our feet were aching walking for hours, doing the tourist thingy (walking up and down, looking lost).... But we already made an appointment with my cousins, to meet Tony Roma's that night.

Apparently there is only one , Tony Roma, in Australia, so even the Aussies (from all over) have to go to Sydney to try their ribs. In KL we already have two, one in Sunway Pyramid and the other in Cineleisure.


After ordering, the waiter walked off and in a matter of minutes, he returned with this bread. Whoa, big wo.... and I loved their garlic butter. Yummy and sinful...have to make confession liao...

We ordered the Tony Roma's sampler (32.50) which had a variety of ribs. It comes with their Original Baby Backs, Carolina Honeys ( sweetish abit like PaiKuat Wong), Tony Roma's Red Hots, and Southern Smoky Beef Ribs.



Now I underestand what the fuss is, about Tony Roma's ribs. They are all so tender, moist and juicy ribs. They choose the best ingredients to cook em ribs. Although I do not agree with some of the tastes that came on the sampler, for example the smoked ribs did taste like they were smoked ( not a fan of smoked stuff) but it was done quite nicely, tender and well cooked.

I noticed one thing though, they serve their Fries, thin thin wan, like McDonalds like that. I have to say and admit, their ribs do taste above average. Serving size also quite impressive.


For dessert, we ordered this Snickers Cheese Cake, 9.90. Its really just a slice of cheese cake topped up with Snickers on top. How else can I describe it, lol....

Basically Tony Roma's price in Sydney is quite biasa only(not expensive) if you compare them with the restaurants that are around them. We basically walked around and had coffee in QVB
a shopping complex owned by Ipoh Gardens (IGB). We had coffee (much over rated italian coffee) at a cafe, called QV Bar Cafe. I thought The Gardens @ Midvalley do look a lot like QVB, very similar.. At QV BarCafe, they serve gourmet sandwiches at 11.90ea, and Pasta at about 10.90ea. So if you compare these prices with Tony Roma's 32.90 for 12 slabs of ribs (I think its about that size), they are not expensive.

Most Cafes and Restaurant in the vicinity also price their Desserts at about 8.90 / 9.90 ... in Malaysia you can get a slice of cake from say Secret Recipe for say, 5.5 (ringgit some more).

These pics were taken using an Olympus Mju600 (mostly not very sharp and abit OOF due to hand shake, while taking this pic under low lighting conditions).


Tony Roma's - Sydney
121-123 Sussex St
Sydney
NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9299 8500
Fax (02) 9299 8956

Some honest Reviews here - Eatability.com.au
Grab Your Fork - he's been, like everywhere

Its just too sad that our Tony Roma's in Malaysia do not serve Pork Ribs... plus if you look at other blog reviews locally, our Tony Roma's suck big time in service. I wonder why ? Tony Romas. A Place Where the Service Sucks.... lol... Fortunately for us, our experience in Sydney was a pleasant one.

Manhattan Fish Market @ Cineleisure, Damansara

Oh gosh, this must have been like our second gathering of the HRV guild members (most of them) at the Fish Market. However so, this time we just came back from Australia and had just feasted upon some of the freshest seafood, in Queensland, Sydney and Melbourne.

Sayang came along, and I thought it would have been a good chance to introduce her to a bunch of my good friends who virtually fought with me in many epic wars. Brothers who "fight life and fight death" (a cantonese proverb), when they ask you out for dinner after the guild disbanded, we usually try to make it.





























So this is what we had, a seafood platter for two, which consists of some prawns, calamari, fish mussels, I think we had half a lobster in there, some rice and chips. To be very frank, this serving was just about big enough for Sayang and Me. Assuming two guys want to share that, I'd say please think twice or order a starter and a soup to share. And there wasn't even a hint of fresh on those platters they were serving.






This one's a baked dory, am not sure who ordered this this, but it does look pretty nice.




































Another one of those dishes served on a stainless steel pan. This one is a fish fillet served with chips and rice. Very asian.






















This one's shared between ecniV and Stormberg. Two very macho names here sharing a platter in Manhattan Fish Market. Both also about 6 ft tall in real life. ;;)




This little fish and chips basket was ordered by Shanna. The baby girl in the group.











I won't really recommend any of you to go eat their seafood. Inspite of its name being a fish market, their seafood is anything but fresh. You are better off going to Restoran AhBeng Seafood Restaurant, you will definitely get better seafood than just mostly, deep fried seafood. Thats just my opinion.

Also read:
Menghua
Zique

Where to find this place ? Just walk into Cineleisure from the front door, and keep left. It is next to Tony Roma's. Btw, Tony Roma's and MFM is owned by the Same company in Malaysia.

Sydney Fish Market @ Sydney

Sydney Fish Market, is definitely one of the highlights of our visit to Australia. Not only did it open my eyes on how the Aussies ate, we , here twice. On the first day, we came to this market. You can get a variety of seafood, fresh and cooked. A list of well known seafood retailers again providing cooked and uncooked fresh seafood.


The first time we came here, we picked up a nice cooked Lobster (plain), a plate of seafood platter with fish batters, fresh grilled scallops, deep fried calamari rings, deep fried prawns, oyster kilpatrick, grilled mussels, serving for two. We also got ourselves a dozen fresh oysters. So fresh, we actually watched them clean the oysters infront of us. All that for about 60 bucks total. Lets count again, Oysters (1 dozen @ $14), Lobster ( 1 @ $ 22), and Grill Platter ( $25).



Another look at the huge lobster we had. I was told it was very fresh, much better than the one's Sayang had in San Francisco. To me, I really don't know how to appreciate lobsters that much. I still prefer just prawns.

Another crowd favorite which doesn't really appeal to me. I had 2 of them and found them really really fresh.


Ah.. there it is, our grilled and deep fried stuff. Although most of the stuff were deep fried or grilled, you can still taste the freshness in the seafood you buy from this market.

On our second visit, we ordered a fried platter for one, bought two pieces of fish, the Lingfish (top) and a trout (looks like salmon as below), and a lobster mornay. You know what, this is weird, because the white piece of fish above tasted just like a fresh piece of COD. And the orangy fish below tasted like salmon, but actually is some kind of a trout.

Overall , we found the food here to be very value for money. That's the reason why we came back here, again. We obviously will come back to this fish market and glut. Everything here costs half as much as the restaurants in Darling Harbour. So here's the tip, eat all your seafood here, and save your tummy for something else.