Harmony BBQ and Seafood Restaurant (Malvern) 05/2018

The name tells you most of it. It doesn't tell you that this used to be Ripples BBQ and Seafood restaurant but to all intents and purposes it is identical.
The venue is exactly the same. The ducks hanging in the front window, the aquarium next to the entrance, the cashier and bar set up, 

even the table positions. 
Daily yum cha with uniformed wait staff 

pushing trolleys filled with small dishes also continue as before. Prices are marginally increased but pretty average for these meals. 
We had a good variety of steamed dumplings, 

spring rolls and deep fried dishes 

as well as chicken pie and chicken feet.

The best thing was the quality of the dough in the dumplings. It was not too thick, well cooked and held the ingredients together well. Unfortunately the Singapore pork dumplings had no soup in them.
There was nothing to criticise. In all a god yum cha worth a visit.
Comments Score: 14/20

Jackies Corner (Mildura) 04/2017

This small, alcohol free, shop front eat in/takeaway Chinese diner is well placed at the start of the main restaurant area in town. They offer a basic menu of Cantonese style dishes, 

which is displayed on their window and in the the restaurant in the style of McDonald's Hungry Jacks and the other fast food outlets.

The kitchen, where chef, assistant, kitchen hand and the person taking orders, presumably Jackie, is open to view.

They have a small very plain area for eat in patrons with four tables and bench seating.

I tried a couple of take away dishes. They were exactly what you would have expected from any suburban Chinese restaurant 40 years ago. The prices are quite high for what you get - $12 upwards for dishes with rice and around $17 for dishes without rice.
Comments: Dull food
Score:13 /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

Kanpai (Lititz) 01/2017

This is the rebadged former Beijing Szechwan, the sign remains,

a Chinese smorgasbord which we enjoyed almost every day when we were here 5 years ago. Now it is a regular a la carte restaurant with a few lunch time specials ('till 3.00 pm) 
It now has a Japanese section of tempura and sushi as well as the regular Chinese menu.
Despite removal of the smorgasbord the room looks very much the same.

 

Even the table cloths are the same 

and the tables are set with knife fork and spoon 'though chopsticks are availableWe tried a few dishes to get a good feeling for the place. A won ton soup was a pleasant broth with two hefty won

tons. The pastry was thick and heavy. 

I can't remember worse!

A hot and sour soup 

was gluggy 

The most expensive dishes was a Seafood Combination, lobster, shrimp, scallop, Chinese veg. in white sauce.

All the ingredients were there but there was only a tiny piece of lobster. But for one thing this was a nice dish. The vegetables were not too coarsely cut and the seafood was not overcooked. The sauce was there too, not too much of it BUT the problem was the dish was tasteless.
 Sweet and sour pork ($8.95) was a huge serve compared to what you would get in Australia. 

It came with a reasonable sauce but the pork was covered in a solid flour and water batter that dominated the dish.
Sandra had a combination soup which was a meal in itself. A bit short on taste but an OK dish.

 Chicken chow mein was a surprise coming with fried rice and a spring roll and fried noodles.

 This suffered from the same problem as the rest of the meal, an absence of flavour.
Finally we ordered the only dish we have ever returned to the kitchen in a Chinese restaurant. Roast duck in a sweet sour sauce. The duck was ancient dry as jerky and cut into tiny pieces. Even if all you wanted was the batter, never mind the duck, it was inedible.

 Certainly among the worst Chinese food I have ever eaten.
Score: 9/20

Davids (Prahran) 01/2012

*Click on any photograph to enlarge it.
David's has long been an AGF one hat restaurant, featuring an emphasis on the curative properties of their various teas. It's Chinese New Year. The year of the Dragon is upon us so we're going to have a seven course banquet ($65 pp only $6 more than their usual major banquet. The place is packed and noisy. Since we were last here they have added more tables to the front of the place and removed the stands of teas. They've also added some new decoration along the wall.
Service is a little slow with the large crowd but after a one hour lag from when we arrived until the second course dishes appeared at a reasonable rate.
Shredded duck meat soup infused with mushroom and bamboo shoots perfectly described this dark and satisfying soup. Shanghai garlic pork ribs which were actually dried pork chops coated in bread crumbs and garlic, there were however no bones, seemed a very un Chinese dish. It was quite pleasant and could have been served in a Mediterranean restaurant anywhere. Peking duck, supposedly thinly sliced roast duck meat in a home made pancake with cucumber, spring onion and special plum sauce was a poor effort. The duck was a thick slice of breast and the pancake quite thick. It was presented wrapped and ready to eat. My duck had a little plum sauce, far to little, at the bottom of the pancake and the cucumber and spring onion were lost with the thick piece of duck breast. Lobster with XO chili sauce was overcooked and the lobster meat was quite tough. I'm unimpressed with strong sauces and delicate sea food but on this occasion it hardly mattered as the over cooked lobster had lost any delicacy.
Sauteed rockling with Chinese rice wine and woodear fungus served with steamed rice was a complete contrast to the lobster. A beautiful dish worthy of David's reputation. Mandarin steak, diced eye fillet with Mandarin sauce and seasonal Chinese vegetables came with David's fried rice. A good dish but the presentation with large Bok Choy on the plate adjacent to the small diced beef jarred aesthetically with me. Fried rice was excellent, which it almost always is at any Chinese restaurant. Red bean pancake with ice cream was a pleasant end to a very patchy meal.One hat restaurants don't always live up to their reputation.
Score 13.75/20