Thai-Riffic (Mildura) 04/2017

Thai-Riffic is another Langtree St. restaurant.  It aims to provide authentic Thai food with a modern twist. Many restaurants provide a small introduction the origin of their names, when they are not self explanatory, to their aims, and occasionally to their history. T-R does that in spades having pages of information about what their food will do for you and lauding some of their dishes and the health benefits of their food.
They have an introduction, a page of 'Important' information, a note about the use of cutlery by Thai people and they promise (with some dubious explanations):

You will have more immune boosting power

Your heart will be happy

You'll look (and feel) years younger

You'll fight off cold and flu viruses

You'll sleep better

Who knows but when I read stuff like this my pragmatic Western biases become overwhelming.
The venue is simple with bare wooden tables and hard wooden seats.

Decor is largely images of Buddha.

Light bulbs are enclosed in large shades, reminiscent of is sea urchins, or hairy lobster pots.

How did they do.

Tom Yum soup.

The plate was round of course! A pretty standard dish. Up to expectation.
Combo 2, A Thai fish cake, Tempura vegetables and Chicken with three sauces.

The tempura batter was full of oil, the fish cake badly overcooked and dry and the satee sauce for the chicken very very mild, as were the other two dipping sauces - one a sweet chii and the other a standard tempura dipping sauce
Tempura Prawn Spring Rolls.

I did not taste this but apparently it was passable but not more than that.
Money bags.

Evidently tasted about as good as it looked.
Moo Krob

Evidently this is so popular that they warn you that it may not be available!
There was plenty of crisp pork belly buried under the salad and it presented well but even with the addition of cracked pepper, chili and herb salt it remained unexciting.
Massaman Curry

According to the menu rated as the tastiest dish in the world. I guess they did not taste this one.
Pad Hokien Pork

A pleasant sweet noodle dish.
Khao Pad Pork

Left me flat.

Comments: Failed to achieve it's aims on this occasion. Very over rated.

Score: 13.25/20

En Izakaya (Balaclava) 04/2017

This could be called our local Japanese restaurant. It's the nearest to where we live, barely over a kilometre from home. We eat here several times a year and have reviewed it twice before see  http://1001dinners.blogspot.com.au/search?q=en+izakaya
Virtually nothing has changed.
We started with an attractively presented eel sushi.

This was very tasty accompanied by excellent sweet pickled ginger.
These sticky rice balls 

look exactly like what we had years ago but today they incorporated chicken and eel instead of beef.
An eggplant and tofu dish was new to me.
This is a pic from 2014 which shows an identical dish, seen in the next pic, served today. It is a cold dish of thin sliced wagu on a block of fine silken tofu topped with sour cabbage and a slice of garlic. 
 Not only is the dish identical,

but my view of it remains the same. I remain unimpressed by the wagu but the total dish was very good, particularly because of the fine tofu.
Eggplant with tofu was another unusual presentation 

with the roasted eggplant in broad slices interspersed with tofu, topped with see weed. A nice dish but not outstanding
Sashimi was fairly standard

but the fish was a bit thickly sliced. 
Score:13.5/20 (Previously we scored them 13.5 and 13.75)

The Province (Mildura) 04/2017

There are a few restaurants scattered around Mildura but the majority of them are in Langtree Street, which is quite central, or very near by. They range from the very ordinary to the very good. Province purports to be towards the  top of the range. It has an air of quality. The room is carpeted. Tables have white cloths under butcher paper and linen napkins.

Decor is inoffensive with

a nice flower arrangement at one end of the room.

The menu is not large, about half a dozen entrees, called Antipasti, around $18, except for a shared platter of charcuterie, half a dozen pastas, $18/38 and half a dozen mains, called Secondi, $35 to $37 except for the Bistecca alla Florentine ($45)  but there is enough variety there.

There are a lot of things that are a bit off centre for many people that I particularly like such as tripe, sweetbreads, tongue, brains and eel so I was especially pleased to see an entree featuring smoked eel, house made creamed ricotta, caviar, squid ink and crostini. ($18)

It was beautifully presented. 

Unfortunately what I expected to be the hero of the dish, the eel, was almost undetectable and when I did get a bit of it the smoky part was only on the menu and not on the dish! The cheese was bland, the crostini, a couple of thin toasted slices of bread brushed with olive oil, didn't help much and the squid ink paste was really all for show. Italian bread, whatever that means, perhaps ciabatta, ($10) was on the menu but otherwise bread was not served.

My main course, lamb neck, ($38), 

also very nicely presented, served rare, as requested, it was adorned with baby peas, a little garlic puree and cherry tomatoes accompanied by a light, very tasty jus.

Unlike the entree it was excellent. Not enough for a filling meal but I wanted to get back to see something on TV so I called it a night. 
A bit on the expensive side and a little inconsistent.

Score almost 14/20

Pizza Cafe at The Grand (Mildura) 04/2017

This busy cafe/restaurant is split between three areas - a simple cafe style area, 

an outdoor dining area and a slightly more upmarket room featuring cloth covered tables. Except for the dot painting above virtually all the decor featured the symbolic pizza man. 

Some of the walls feature large boards with their wines, of which there was quite a good selection by the glass, at very reasonable prices.

Apart from their wood fired pizza's they also feature a range of pasta dishes and a few salads and I felt like having pasta.
One of their specials was fettucini with bacon, spinach and leek.

 I would have liked the fettucini to be thinner. It's not made in house so I guess they might consider some other brand. Although I didn't notice any leek the cream sauce was delicious, the taste improved by the parmigiana.
Comments: A good place for a quick meal, eat in or take away.
Score:13.5 /20

Pacific House (South Yarra) 03/2017

Pacific House has been around for a long time serving a large variety of Chinese food, especially sea food in a simple unpretentious environment. 

It's family friendly, always busy and noisy. It does empty out a lot and quietens down about 9.30 pm.

The walls are 'decorated' with menu items in Chinese.

We started with a simple soup  

which was nothing special.
Our next course, prawn dumplings,

were excellent. A good size, well filled with prawns and the pastry perfectly cooked.
Scallops in a pastry casing were also large and sweet,

however the pastry was a tiny bit undercooked and claggy.
Salt and pepper calamari were tender with a crunchy, spicy accompaniment.

Fried rice was what one would expect.

The best dishes we had were the whole fish. They had barramundi, mahwong, coral trout and parrot fish. Both the barramundi 

and the parrot fish

 

were perfectly prepared, moist and delicate. Could not have been better.

They have an indifferent wine list.

There is 1.5% surcharge for credit cards 

 Comments: A better than average quality suburban Chinese restaurant with a large menu served in simple surroundings.

Score:14 /20

Stefano's Restaurant (Mildura) 03/2017

When I told Stefano I fasted all day to better enjoy his food he said "It's just Italian food" Well maybe.
Set up in  the cellar of The Grand Hotel the venue hasn't changed noticeably in the last 20 years. It has a narrow passage way set up with tables for two opening into a comfortable room with larger cloth covered tables.  

Meals are served to the accompaniment of opera played quietly in the background. A nice change.
Warm crusty bread and oil arrived early.

The meal started with ox tongue served on mayonnaise in a crisp tart base with salsa verde and capers giving a very nice flavour to the dish.

This was followed by Port Lincoln mussels in an organic tomato sauce. The mussels were plump and tasty, every on open and perfectly cooked, again very well seasoned.

Feftuccini with duck liver in a white sauce was a mild dish the liver exceptional.

The main dish was osso bucco in a rich sauce. It came with risotto which I would have liked cooked for another minute or two, asparagus, red and yellow peppers and onion. Stefano said, "It's Italian" clearly that's how he wanted it.

Dessert was a vanilla panna cotts with a raspberry coolie and a slice of mango.

I enjoyed a local vermentino which matched the food very well, especially the osso bucco.

Comments: This must be the best restaurant in this region. The food is very well prepared, excellently seasoned and flavoursome.
Score:16.5 /20