Saturday, March 19, 2016

Block 7 Kitchen (Camberwell) 16/03/2016


Only five months old I suspect Block 7 will become increasingly popular. While we had our meal Gilbert Lau of Flower Drum fame came in with a party for dinner and another luminary, the Grand Dame of Chinese Gastronomy in Victoria, Elizabeth Chong, 

also dropped in.
This is a typical small suburban restaurant. In it's time it has housed a couple of banks, a Japanese restaurant and another Chinese restaurant.
 It's a simply furnished high ceilinged room 

with a clean neat appearance. Clothless tables display the day's specials, the menu, a minimum of crockery and chopsticks.

We let the Dixon Chan, the proprietor and his chef choose our menu.
The first entree, beef roll with crisp fresh greens, was excellent although it did not display any cooking skill. The dipping sauce was essential to make it a tasty start.

This was followed by a very well seasoned soft shell crab on a basket of lettuce

Mongolian lamb ribs were to die for.
To add to the enjoyment we indulged ourselves with a BYO 2001 Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy winning Pepper Tree Cab/Sav which had been well looked after in our colleagues cellar and was in perfect condition.
Barramundi in a light sauce with shallots and a touch of ginger was also as good as it gets.

This came with a sesame seafood fried rice that was especially tasty.

We finished with a fried custard in batter for dessert which was not something I particularly care for. We requested the ice cream which is not normally a part of this dish.
This is an excellent "NeoCanto" Chinese restaurant with pleasant ambiance, good service and excellent food all at reasonable prices. They also have very inexpensive lunch deals, take away and deliver locally and, as the sign says, daily Yum Cha.
Score: 15.25/20

Sunday, March 13, 2016

The Copper Pot (Seddon) 02/2016

You get a nice feeling about this place. It's a slightly upmarket suburban restaurant that would fit comfortably in more noted Melbourne eating areas.
The Michelin man with his Latin "It's time to eat" lightens the atmosphere.



Menus, which are not extensive, are concealed but offer a chefs tasting menu as well as sharing options.


One of our favourite dishes, bread and a herb butter!, was served early.
Beef tartar was a modest serve between four of us. Good taste but I rather like a raw egg on top for me to mix in the meat myself. The thin crisp toast was excellent.

A serve of Spring Bay muscles in a light curry sauce was the best I can ever remember and sent me to Prahran Market to get them as soon as possible ($9/Kg at Claringbold's) The were plump, tasty and without blemish. A dish not to be missed.
We topped up the one chip / muscle!

A small palate cleansing salad was quite undistinguished
While one little fish each left us wanting more.
Main course was not up to the standard of the previous dishes.

and an extra dish, spatzle, was very disappointing.
Dessert was a tiny profiterole. With wine, at $100/person, this was an up and down meal. If they can iron out a couple of things Copper Pot has potential to be a very good restaurant.
Score: 14/20