Scheherazade (Caulfield Nth) 09

Scheherazade has a very long history. For years it was an iconic Jewish restaurant. It has been a centre for conversation and Polish Jewish food for decades and recently moved a few miles from one of the former centres of Melbourne Jewish life in Acland Street St.Kilda to its new home at 58 Hawthorn Rd. These remarks from travel.com are only true of the food today.

"In 1958, Avram and Masha Zeleznikov acquired Scheherazade and began serving Jewish fare, Chicken broth, cabbage rolls, Cholent, vegetable stew, chicken schnitzel, Black Forest cake, almond torte, apple compote, lemon tea and coffee were served. Scheherazade eventually became an institution for Jewish, Yiddish, Polish and Russian immigrants to gather and reminisce. The cafe became so famed that Arnold Zable, the Melbourne novelist, wrote a collection of powerful stories, fictionalising the horror and hope of the Zeleznikovs and their customers, in his novel Cafe Scheherazade."

When I phoned to make a reservation I asked "Do you have duck on the menu?" A bored lady backed by a noisy TV said she would check and came back a few moments later answering in the affirmative. "How is it cooked?" I asked "Have you been to Acland Street?" she replied in a bored tone. Yes, years ago I said "Same cooking as Acland Street." But how is it cooked? "Same cooking" was the reply. Alright I'll make a reservation. "We only have one serve of duck left" OK I said put it away for me.

So we arrived at this huge empty barn of a place,
quite pleasantly decorated with a large horseshoe shaped bar at the top of the room.
Quite a few blown light bulbs had not been replaced giving an air of neglect to the place. There was one table occupied. We chose a window seat. Large bare tables, paper napkins, ordinary cutlery matched the atmosphere.
The young waitress, who turned out to be a science student took our rather good bottle of French wine and returned with two glasses. After a short time the now opened wine was returned and placed on the table. I rather ostentatiously poured out the 1/4 of an inch of water in my wine glass and dried it with the napkin while the menu was being discussed and then poured two glasses of wine!! (Corkage $6) No comment from the waitress.
A basket of excellent rye bread
with a sachet of Lurpak butter / slice was welcome until the soup arrived . There are half a dozen on the menu. we had a delicious and enormous serve of chicken soup with Kneidlach ($7.90)
and a hot Russian Borcht almost spilling off the plate
with masses of beetroot, a boiled potato and sour cream. Sandra felt it needed some vinegar or lemon to tart it up a bit but I loved it.
For mains we had a boiled brisket($23.50) with vegetables, very plain, tender and under seasoned.
and, of course, the duck ($26.90). It had been braised and then roasted and stuffed with apple.
A huge serve, the meat was falling off the bone. No sauce available. the apple was very tasty and the duck rather bland as was the brisket. Both served with roast potatoes, I love them too, coarse chopped well cooked carrots and broccoli accompanied the mains. an extra dish of coleslaw for the duck and a quarter of a jar of French mustard
for the brisket were very welcome.
A dessert of cherry pyrrogi from the freezer
had very tough pastry making it hard to eat and impossible to enjoy.
It's a shame that this place, which has the elements to be pretty good, misses out in many small ways. The menu is quite wide ranging including fish, schnitzel and steak. There should be something to please everyone. It suffers from a total lack of professionalism in it's approach to customers, yet it is quite friendly and the food not expensive. It is very much a Russian/Polish Jewish cuisine and we've eaten a lot worse.
Score: 12.75/20

Olives (Brighton) 09

This popular mixed Mediterranean style suburban café/bistro serves substantial dishes of fish, meat and pasta accompanied by excellent home made bread and lightly flavoured olives in a very mild, herb infused, olive oil. It is simply furnished with small cloth covered tables in two rooms separated by a long covered walkway. All the staff were extremely amiable but, apart from the proprietor, had little idea about the food. They are fully licensed but for $10 BYO is welcome but not quite welcomed. The Entertainment Book has a voucher for Olives for up to $35 discount for the lesser priced of the meals you order. The menu then excludes a couple of th dishes from discounts. Worse still, if you chose to drink your own wine you cannot use the voucher. In effect this very ordinary café is saying your corkage is effectively up to $45 on your first bottle of wine! This is all a bit strange since they have a small wine list with several bottles under $40.

When I suggested we split the table so, with no voucher we drank the wine and our friends used the voucher and did not have the wine they didn’t like it, initially said “No, it’s one table.”, but then said OK because they didn’t want to argue.
After the olives, courtesy of the café we had a platter of mixed dips-
Tzadiki, eggplant and an egg salad. This was a smallish serve for $18, with plenty of bread. We followed this with a grilled Saganaki, ($14)
which was dry and leathery, on a bed of rocket.
For mains we had a large fillet of barramundi,
lightly cooked as requested, under a white sauce with a couple of very nice scallops and a couple of mussels on a bed of mash potato, again decorated with plenty of rocket. A spaghetti marinara, which I’m told was nice though it didn’t look very special at all had the usual covering of rocket.
A mixed grill on a plain overcooked bed of rice which added nothing but a little carbohydrate to the meal. No need to guess this was also adorned with rocket!!
A dessert of sticky date pudding with vanilla bean ice cream ended a very ordinary meal.
Their arrangements in regard to discount offers are not really in the spirit of the Entertainment Book.
Comment: A filling meal in a café distinguished by liberal use of rocket and little else Their boast that they serve some of the best seafood is not sustained by the dishes they serve. At best it is a simple family style restaurant. Simple in every way from the decor to the food and service.Score: 12/20

CHATTER 25 Journalists,and Bloggers

There is a simmering resentment between newspaper food writers and bloggers, and some chefs too which was highlighted in an article in the Herald Sun last Tuesday, 29/09/09. I think it is the result a sort of unacknowledged jealousy. Although they may both write about the same things, and might even share identical views, there is a marked difference between what appears in the dead tree press compared to the I’net.

Journalists work under completely different constraints to bloggers and they have obligations that bloggers don’t have. Firstly it is their job. It is unlikely that they would not enjoy it but never the less it is a job. They are assigned to it, perhaps because they ask for the assignment, perhaps just because they are available at the time someone is needed. There is no qualification for the job. No one tests their palate or their knowledge. Not one of them, as far as I know, has a degree, or even a certificate, in gastronomy. Few, if any, would have any serious background in the history of food and drink. Here I’m writing about restaurant reviewers rather than writers of recipes and articles. Not only do most of them begin by knowing very little of what they are to writing about but also their talent for the job is completely unknown. A cynic once wrote words to the effect that journalists are people who know nothing and have the ability to express it!

Regardless of initial enthusiasm after a time they may become jaded, it may become tedious, even boring being sent to places, often not of ones choice, perhaps to eat food even further from ones choice, that one would not normally wish to eat. Further more journalists have to meet deadlines, they have to include certain information and they have to fit it to a specific space. That’s the point, they HAVE to.

As compensation not only do they get paid they also have expense accounts and they have time to research their work to ensure that the factual information they provide is accurate. Perish the thought but prejudices and biases are not restricted to political commentators. There is a misplaced belief that they visit a restaurant several times before writing a revue while bloggers rip off opinion pieces and reviews at the drop of a hat. Frank Bruni, in New York, did go four or five times before writing his revues and had a blog for more casual eating experiences, but most local reviewers rarely go more than once except to high end establishments.

Prominent journalists are recognized by restaurant staff, Matt Preston probably couldn’t go incognito anywhere in Melbourne no matter how he tried to disguise himself, and this certainly influences how they are treated. Stephen Downes, I’m told, is banned from a dozen restaurants around town. George Calombaris is a darling of the Melbourne media and never a week passes without a mention or photograph of him. I’d lay a small bet that if a journalist, with the exception of Stephen Downes, went to one of Georges restaurants on a really bad night, even George has them, and wrote an appropriate review it would not get published, he would be sent back for a further assessment but he has no influence with bloggers which might account for his ill informed remarks in the article.

For more on this see http://tankeduptaco.blogspot.com/ Even without the benefit of quality pic’s, except for the glossy magazines, newspaper reviews strongly influence diners choices. Good reviews are a blessing bad ones a disaster for many restaurateurs although really good restaurants rise above uncomplimentary reviews. Blogs are an uncertain quantity. If they had no influence nobody would care what they said but from my own experience I know that restaurants are concerned about what is said about them on the net. Blogs are being referred to more and more and chef’s and restaurant owners are concerned about them. Fortunately blogs are an open public forum and contrary views get aired and responded to. There is room for dissent and discussion. Many blogs have an international audience and comments come from anywhere in the world. In my view this is a major failing in the regular press. You may write directly to a journalist, and you might get a reply but no way can it open up a discussion with the wider public because the public never get to see anything but the words and wisdom of the little circle of writers favoured by the media. Blogs often have lengthy comment and counter comments and vividly expressed opinions. They provide a forum for discussion and debate rather than a pedestal from which to offer unassailable opinion.

Bloggers might also be journalists but fundamentally they blog because they want to. They are there for the love of it. They fall into niches according to their interests. Food bloggers may concentrate their attention on any subject, coffee or beer or chocolate, cheap meals vegetarian or general recipes cooking hints or discussions reviews or any mixture. They blog as frequently or as rarely as they wish, they write as much or as little as they wish and they often illustrate what they are writing about with pic’s that can be better than words. They have no editor and their spelling and grammar may be sloppy but their meaning is clear

It really is not surprising that journalists have so little regard for bloggers and bloggers are so often critical of journalists. Bloggers are possibly a little jealous of perks for journalists and their ready made, and unearned audience. Journalists resent the freedom of bloggers to express views, which they may regard as ill informed or half baked, with little restraint with regard to language, style and content.

I suspect that the recent extraordinary interest in everything related to food and eating will continue and the public will turn more and more to blogs for information amusement and discussion. There are now over 600 food related blogs in Australia and there is not going to be any way to address the causes of the conflicts that arise between them and newspaper journalists.

Were I a journalist I might have written a better piece than this but until some one else does Vive la difference.

Score: I reckon they're about even

Grossi Florentino The Restaurant (Melbourne) 09

After your team loses the grand final following a sensational season is not the best preparation for fine dining but you can’t keep a pair of good eaters down for long. So off we went to degustate once more. Grossi has a down stairs bar and a bistro dining area but high class dining is provided in two rooms up a narrow staircase on the first floor. Large imitation painting- a dark reproduction Boticceli on one side and an even darker Caravaggio opposite decorate the magnificent room in which we ate. It is a spacious room, carpeted, the tables well spaced, double white clothes, metal chandeliers hang from domed hollows in the patterned ceiling and large windows face on to Bourke Street, a major city thoroughfare. Truly a grand setting.

An eight course degustation menu ($195) looked like good value, if you can speak in those terms, since entrees are in the vicinity of $40 and mains around $50 and more. Matched wines add $65 to the bill. They are mostly Italian and some are grapes we do not see in Australia.

The meal began with a chef’s offering, a shot glass of a cream of celeriac soup, with a pleasant celery taste. There was a plentiful supply of bread and bread sticks with both butter and a very raw olive oil.

The first course was a seared tuna with avocado, called cucumber by the waiter, lemon, and set off with an extra virgin olive oil ice cream which made the whole dish quite special. The best way I have ever eaten seared tuna.

This was followed by a Russian Lobster Salad, Why Russian? Regardless it was excellent. Lightly cooked, firm and sweet it contrasted well with the sea urchin and a light horse radish cream accompaniment. An indifferent note was introduced by a black rice crisp which tasted like a bit of burnt wood.

The third course was a black wild rice risotto with a very fresh delicate, just cooked, Morton Bay bug with a Parmesan sabayon. Texturally more like wild rice than Arborio rice and possibly darker because of the inclusion of some mushroom, this interesting variation on the usual presentation was another very pleasing surprise.

Pine needle smoked quail had a distinct smoky flavour and again had an interesting blend of textures and tastes provided by the accompanying slice of ‘Jambon’, toasted pine nuts and pine nut oil, fegola and candied quince. Sweet, salty, smoky with a bit of nutty flavour it may not be for the purist but we both loved it.

Next came the renowned Glenloth pigeon, roasted breast and leg raviolio with cous cous, crème de tapa, cardamom and liquorice powder. Sandra loved this but, having had the same dish here a few months ago I opted to swap for a tender veal fillet with porchini lentils. I was hoping for milk veal but could find no fault with the slightly older piece they served.

The final main was a slow cooked Wagyu rump cap. Cooked sous vide it sat atop a slice of lightly pickled veal tongue with little cubes of potato, fennel and rosemary praline and a green salsa. Yet another really tasty dish. The wagyu was delicate and tender and superbly representative of what good wagyu should be like. It contrasted perfectly with the rich, almost meltingly tender, tongue balanced by the potato and salsa.

Three palate cleansing gelatos, lemon which was very tart, mango which looked the right colour but tasted only of passion fruit and strawberry which was slightly strawberry but very very sweet.

The final dessert was a fine souffle with a vanilla bean ice cream and valhronna chocolate sauce

It was nice to not have to pay extra for a coffee/tea and some little sweets to complete what was a first class meal in first rate surroundings.

There was one significant deficiency. It was the service. They really try hard, to hard. Firstly it was in your face and bordering on obsequious. Secondly we had four and possibly five different waiters only the first remembered what we each had ordered. Sometimes they offered the matched wines to me when I had not ordered them. Our guest was offered a dessert that she had not ordered. It took half an hour to get a cup of tea and later another half hour and a reminder to get another and finally I had to seek out a waiter to order a coffee.

This is a two and a half hat restaurant and with better service well worth three

Score 16.75/20

Le Petit Bourgoise (East Malvern) 09

Three years ago we wrote this: A small surprisingly good suburban French restaurant at 330 Waverley Rd, East Malvern
Ambience: Pleasantly decorated, well spaced tables, gave me the feeling that this was a nice place to be. A homely atmosphere
Service: We were well looked after by the wife of the chef
Food: Classical French style. The menu is not large with interesting meat and fish dishes. For entrees ($15) the Scallops in a rich cream sauce were excellent but surpassed by the crab presented 3 ways
Mains ($26) the Kangaroo was outstanding the lamb excellent and the confit of duck about average.
Desserts ($11) also very good both the souffle and the Il flottante worth having for the sweet toothed
Wine: BYO corkage $3/person They have a small list at reasonable prices
Price: 3 courses are about $60/head
Comments: Well worth a second visit. I really liked it
Score: 15/20

There’s been little change. The menu is still much the same, hand written menu, the tables with double white napery and the forgettable décor in a pleasant room. Prices have risen Entrees are now $18, Mains $30 and desserts $15. The character of the food has not changed although the there are different things available. Perhaps a little staid it is nicely prepared and presented with very good quality produce. We started with a Chef’s selection entrée which included an oyster, olives, a duck rilette, an excellent cellariac salad in acram sauce and a stack of green beans, some beetroot and a couple of cubes of a soft yellow tofu. ($28 for two) This was a nice tasting dish with good variety. I would have preferred two oysters though because you can’t easily divide an oyster! We followed this with a very tender serve of lamb straps with potato Dauphine and some greenery. We followed this up with an excellent pair of soufflés one mango and one Grand Marnier, very sweet and flavoursome. Definitely worth a third visit and soon too.

Score: 15/20.

CHATTER 24 An Offer from Menulog

Menulog contacted us recently with an offer to 1001 Dinner readers which you might like to take advantage of.

This is what they wrote:

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Note: Available for participating restaurants only (which display the “accepts vouchers”) sign
The voucher is valid until November 30, 2009.It can be used for purchase of a minimum of $20.

Maha (Melbourne) 09

21 Bond Street sounds like an impressive address. It's the home of George Colombaris' modern middle eastern restaurant with partner chef Shane Delia. It is a dark and unattractive short street unrelieved by any lit signage and Maha from the outside looks very unappealing so why does it work so well. It's often hard to get a reservation. it's not cheap and yet the 130 odd seats are turned over almost every night. The place itself is pleasant enough but certainly not in any way spectacular. Dimly lit and simply decorated, a shelf of varied nicely displayed Venetian vases the only feature near my table. Unclothed wooden tables, just big enough, quite close together, white cloth napkins and reasonable quality cutlery and crockery, but nothing special. It could be anywhere. Service is cheerful, unhurried unobtrusive but quite attentive. Again it's good but it could be anywhere. So what's the secret? It's all the above plus THE FOOD. That is something special. They have a four ($75 or $120 with matched wines) or five course ($80 or $120 with wines) degustation (the difference is a soup) or a la carte which is largely the same as the dishes offered on the degustation menu. Naturally we had the degustation but chose our own wines.
Food is brought to the table in plates on wooden platteres and there is a herb mixture and sea salt on a small platter

The four courses are a selection of small cold dishes, a selection of small warm dishes, a selection of mains and a selection of deserts.The meal begins with a shot glass of palate cleansing Hyacinth syrup.

The cold dishes, served with pita bread, were fairly simple, inoffensive, unfussy, distinct, lightly spiced, distinguished as much by texture as taste. The two that stood out was the duck pate, smooth as butter with indescribably excellent taste and the hummus. The beans, bean salad, olive selection and the other salads were pleasant additions.The soup was flavour of the month it seems - pumpkin and we could have done without it.

The warm dishes, Quail wrapped in a vine leaf, lamb ribs with just a touch of chilli and sesame seeds. a dish of grilled cheese gnocchi was exceptional. There fine soft consistency and light cheese taste were a great combination.

The main an ever so slightly over grilled Blue Eye was tender and tasty, a garden salad OK but a spatchcock with a superb pine nut stuffing demonstrated a light hand and a refined palate was a top dish.Here'd a selection on my plate. There are a lot of spices in these dishes but they blend beautifully and none dominate. A mixture of deserts included a salt/sweet ice cream, watermelon with mint and, I think, rosewater, Turkish doughnuts with a centre of Turkish delight, a semi fredo ice cream, baklava and a glass of custard with pieces of jelly and honeycomb would satisfy the sweetest tooth.
The striking thing about the clientèle was their age. Almost no one looked to be over 40.
Wines are expensive but there are a few around $50 that are acceptable,
The bill comes in a box designed to look like an illuminated middle eastern book.Score: 15.5/20

The Spot Cafeteria (Caulfield North) 09

If John Batman famously said "This is the spot for a village" speaking of the place that was to become Melbourne it might well have been said that this is a spot for a Cafe at 215 Balaclava Rd. a site which has indeed been the site of several, the latest being The Spot. It's a handy place for breakfast or lunch seven days a week and for dinner Thursday to Sunday.
Some pic's sent to me by Iphone evidedntly come with access to my emails so I've had to remove them
Apologies
Comments: You wouldn't go far out of your way to eat here but it's an honest meal for a reasonable price. Very good for breakfast and they serve a minimally bitter pleasant coffee
Score 13/20

Namaskar India (Malvern) 09

Intending to go to either Chun Po or the Japanese restaurant next door, when both were closed we decided to try Namaskar at 20 Glenferrie Rd. It was an extremely disappointing experience. Because Sandra has recently become allergic to chilli we tried to have a largely chilli free meal. Their are approximately 230 numbered items on the menu, which includes eight different Malaysian breads and eight more cooked in the Tandoor and five rices and a number of drinks. Of the main courses and entrees, about 180 of them almost all are described as medium hot or very hot and of the rest most contain chilli so we were somewhat limited. After extensive consultation with the waitress we started with Egg Bahajji, six boiled half eggs coated in batter an deep fried. No chilli we were told. They were very good but there was some chilli in the batter. I had a medium hot Gobi Manchurian. I have no idea what the name means. It was florettes of cauliflower, battered, deep fried and tossed in a special Indo-Chinese masala I enjoyed the crisp sensation of this very large entree which was pleasantly hot on the palate without destroying all taste sensation.

The main courses were a disaster. A cheese and spinach dosa, there are 15 others on the menu, a South Indian rice pancake, was served with chutney and sambar without a mention that the chutney included chilli. A Theen Rukkha Murgh, boneless chicken pieces marinated in yoghurt, herbs and spices, cooked in the Tandoor and topped with three different gravies in Chef's unique style was yet another dish which contained chilli in part. Finally a prawn and vegetable dish in a gluggy sauce where the fried prawns had a light chilli batter sent us home looking for the the antihistamines having left almost the whole dinner on the table. I did not mind the chilli but the food so lacked distinction it left me quite shocked. There were plenty of happy customers, the place is pleasant enough and the waitresses very attractive BUT they provided grieviously incorrect information. It is probably great if you want nothing more than a vehicle for chilli so by all means go for that but not for the food. Sadly, too often Indian cuisine seems to be something fibrous, meat or chicken, concealed under some lurid coloured sauce dominated by HOT or sweet.

They also have takeaway.

Wine by the glass is cheap as is the food. Our concerned waitress also took something off the bill for the kitchen's part in our distress.
Score: 11/20

Tutto Bene (Southbank) 09

Whether Tutto Bene is really a two hat restaurant, as it was according to AGF in 2006, or a no hat restaurant, as AGF now rates it, is debatable but what is really odd is that I doubt that it has really changed much over the last few years but its ratings have changed drasticly. It is still presided over by Simon Humble, whose reputation as a master risotto maker is undiminished. Service, which has been criticized from time to time, may be variable but surely not that variable. The place is older but its Bistro/restaurant atmosphere is resistant to aging and if the place had become so crummy why was it packed when we visited the othe night. Not only that most of the food was pretty good.
We had a pre theater dinner and our waiter, Luke, was conscientious about keeping our meal coming at a reasonable pace. There were a number of tempting starters , referred to on the menu as Primo Platti. I enjoyed the very flavoursome red wine stewed baby octopus with potatoes and capers $16.50 =0>and Sandra was partiucularly pleased with the vitello tonnato - fine slices of poached veal with tuna mayonnaise $17.00. We tasted a variety of mains. Fish of the day $33.50 was a very lightly and moistly succulent Hapuka, a New Zealand import. The slow braised baby goat and vegetables with baked polenta and roasting juices $34.50 surprised me with its tenderness and lack of gamey taste. If you're not having one of the dozen risotto's this is a good choice. The mushroom risotto was excellent butmthere was one serious disappointment. The bistecca di vitello alla fiorentina - Two baby veal T bones marinated in sage and rosemary with cherry tomato relish $40.00. The most expensive main course it was tough and grisly. It was hard to cut even with a serrated edge steak knife and even harder to eat. Unfortunately we were too late to try the famous prize winning gelati!
Score: 14/20

CHATTER 23 Restaurant Ratings

Every year self appointed judges of restaurants publish lists of restaurants with some form of ranking. It's El Bulli followed by The Fat Duck at one and two. Non existent five or six years ago Noma has soared to number five and the lists go on. In Australia we have Gourmet Traveller which has just put out its list of the top 100. As usual they are heavily weighted toward NSW, especially for the top 10 which features only one Victorian, Vue de Mode at number 4. Tasmania manages to sneak in only one, Lebrina in at number 72.
We've eaten at 31 of the 100 they named and some of them don't deserve to be in the top 200 but leaving aside regional biases I think there is another issue. It's the nonsense of rating restaurants as though there was a a measurable difference between them. Tetsuya is better than Vue really Show me how. De Stasio (28) is better than Bistro Guillame (29) I wouldn't have either of them in the top 30 but how did the 'judges' decide? Another dreadful pair the Grange , SA (52) and Catalina NSW (53), shouldn't be there at all. No doubt one is worse than the other but who could say which. Stokehouse is 27 places above Taxi. You have to be kidding.
Bad reviews and bad ratings can have a big influence on the success or failure of a restaurant, as can good ones. It is iniquitous to rank them in the manner Gourmet Traveller has. Unless there is an outstanding reason to separate them I believe that the approach should be of the Michelin Guide type or of the Age Good Food Guide. In effect they are in groups. Give them a mark if you like, or a star or a hat or a wreath whatever but all you can be sure of if you rank restaurants from one to a hundred is that everyone will find things to object to and accidentally you may do someone some real harm. The best way to rank restaurants is on the basis of public opinion in the way that Zagat does it. Individuals cannot avoid there own biases and it is very difficult to be unkind about a restaurant where you have been offered freebies. The amalgamation of a large number of opinions would produce a much fairer estimate of a restaurants quality. Lets hope Zagat sees the light and starts a guide here

Supper Inn (Melbourne) 09

Looking back to December 2004, more than 450 posts ago, to the very start of this blog Supper Inn shows up as the second restaurant we reviewed. It has been a landmark Chinese restaurant for over 50 years distinguished by simple efficient service and good, inexpensive food available from 5.00 pm 'till 2.00 am every day. The narrow staircase to the entrance always has a queue of patrons waiting for a seat in the crowded first floor room. They've moved with the times to the extent that they will now take reservations for parties of four or more, they have table cloths and they take credit cards but the food has not changed, as far as I can see, over the thirty years that I have been coming here.
They have a range of congees ($6.5 upwards) a kind of rice soup which may have almost anything added into it for example beef or giblets. There is a special menu for them in English on one side and Chinese on the converse. We had one with roast duck and one with prawns, both excellent with plenty of prawns and duck. After that we had sweet and sour prawns in a well balanced light s & s sauce, a noodle dish, roast duck ($17 a half), a very delicately poached Murray cod in a light ginger sauce and a plate of greens. Every dish as good as anywhere. All that and a passable bottle of red came to $150.
The presentation is ordinary, as are the crockery and cutlery. It's noisy and always crowded. Half the waiters are Chinese Uni students but they are efficient the food is very good and it has a great, bustling atmosphere that transports you to what one imagines it might be like in a busy suburban restaurant in any city in China.
Score: 14.5/20