Home Thai Restaurant, Sussex Street

Although we Empty Fridgers love trying new restaurants - we do have a tendency to keep going back to favorites. Unfortunately for us our favorite thai place always has a long line. Lightbulb moment from Demos who suggested we try Home. Home is a relatively new Thai restaurant on Sussex St in Chinatown; judging from the hustle and bustle we have overlooked it for too long.

As we browse the colourful menus; the airy two story loft literally fills up before our eyes – rightly so because everything on the menu looked delicious. Panic hit when almost every dish pictured had a healthy dose of coriander. It is always Russian roulette for me with my coriander allergies, but I managed to somehow survived.To say that the service is fast is an understatement. They are on another level of efficiency here and my Thai Milk Tea $3.50 arrives without a noticeable wait. Our first dish arrives just as quickly; maybe it's the the ipad ordering system that the waitresses tote about, but service sure is speedy.

PAD KA NA MOO GROB $13.90

The Stir fried crispy pork belly with chilli; garlic, chinese brocolli, oyster and soy sauce was the first dish past the post. The flavours were outstanding, and how can you say no to crunchy pork belly on the menu. The sauce is not spicy at all and although it soaks through the cripspy pork pieces, the crunch still remains. Topped off with some steamed rice, I kept on topping up my portion.

MOO NUE DAD DAEW $8.90

Bella Vedere, Yarra Valley, Victoria

There is a saying that "The Apple does not fall far from the tree" and such is the case with myself and my lovely parents, Mr and Mrs Fridgemagnet. Like Demos and I, they love to travel and search for memorable meals. Here is Mrs Fridgemagnet's third guest post - Viva Victoria (Part Three) 

-Shoya Japanese Restaurant (Part One)

-Movida Bar de Tapas y Vino (Part Two)

Bella Vedere

We had been touring the wineries around Yarra Valley all morning when we stopped by Badger's Brook Estate to sample their produce. Beside the cellar door  was Bella Verdere Cucina, a restaurant and cooking school.

Walking past the narrow corridor, we were greeted with a tempting array of cakes, cheeses and bread. The bread is baked on the premises and all the vegetables and herbs are grown at the back of the restaurant.

The dining area was sunny and painted in avocado to complement the greenery that surrounded the restaurant. We had no reservations but were graciously accommodated. Our very cheerful Italian waiter greeted us with a large paper menu and explained the Sunday specials. I espied at the end of the menu that this restaurant was recently awarded a coveted hat by the Age Good Food Guide, so I knew it was going to be a memorable lunch.

The special of the day was The Latin Duck which sounded so intriguing, I just had to order this as my main. This dish and the Sunday menu was inspired by the Chef Gary Cooper's stint at  Marchetti's Latin in Melbourne. It was a deboned, halved duck served in sour cherry sauce with champagne braised cabbage.

Mr Fridgemagnet needed his meat and proceeded to order the Cotoletta di Vitello al Porcini (Veal cutlet with porcini mushroom sauce). We skipped the side veggies and opted for the artery-clogging Duck Fat Fried Chips topped with Egg.

  Our meals came in large serving platters --- hearty and unpretentious. Savouring my last piece of duck, I thought to myself what a great ending to unplanned diversion!

Part of Mrs Fridgemagnets guest posts on Viva Victoria!

-Shoya Japanese Restaurant, Melbourne(Part One)

-Movida Bar de Tapas y Vino, Melbourne (Part Two)

-Bella Vedere, Yarra Valley (Part Three)

Bella Veredere Cucina

874 Maroondah Hwy, Coldstream, VIC 3770

03 5962 4130

IL Baretto, Surry Hills

D: “Where do you want to go to dinner?”

G: “I don’t know what I feel like, im not sure if im hungry..” (lies.)

D: “But you told me to come meet you after work for dinner”

G:”K fine, whatevs, just drive to surry hills..”

D:”Toko, Birra or Baretto, lets go to Il Baretto I feel like pasta”

G:”I don’t know what I feel like, why don’t we try something new? You decide. Decide for me please” Il Baretto it is.

I hate deciding which of the Surry Hills holy trinity I pray to – its bad enough that im hungry. (The other two members of this Surry Hills Holy Trinity being Toko/Tokonama and Pizza E Birra)

I love the simplicity that Il Baretto offers, just a nice small space with big hearty delicious meals. There is nothing fancy about this restaurant – simple interior, fuss free table settings, handwritten menus and your BYO wine (we buy the Chianti Classico every time from the pub across the road..) served in little glass cups. No matter how frantic and busy this place gets, everything slows down – and you fall in love with the food.

I set myself a challenge this time – to come here and NOT order the duck ragu. Yes, to actually think and use my decision making skills. Yes, that is the duck ragu and Demos (from one of our million past visits here..)

We share the Sicilian Olives as Demos tells me about how his day was, and I daydream about a man vs food challenge involving me eating a bucket of these.

Tonight we have the chicken and pesto risotto and the spicy italian salcicce with polenta. Yum Indeed. Both were for the soul, and made that tiring day a little bit better – However, the little jiminy cricket inside my head still wished I ordered the duck.

The chicken and pesto risotto is Demos' favourite. It is as said, pesto risotto. Very simple but very tasty. Creamy rice with a pesto that isn't overpowering and a beautiful green colour make this dish a standout.

The italian sausage with polenta was a special for the night and a departure from the standard menu pick. Most of the time we get pretty lucky with the specials and end up enjoying beautiful dishes. Not to say that the sausage wasn't nice, but I ended up giving it to Demos. Spicy italian sausage that was cooked in a spicy red sauce on polenta proved too hot for me. Problem with polenta though is not finishing while the dish is hot makes the polenta go cold and gluggy. Not so good to eat cold I must say.

All in all a good end to an otherwise dull and shitty day. Because its good to eat your emotions. Mangiare people. Just mangiare.

China Doll, Woolloomooloo

The rule - If its not in the book we shall not go. Not this time.....

We had to break the rule. Whatevs. It was our anniversary so we thought that the occasion warranted a trip to our most favourite of eateries - China Doll, even though it was nowhere to be found in the good food guide. Despite the fact that its been knocked off the pages it was still difficult to get a booking. Not hard to believe though considering its location by the water in Wolloomoolloo with views of Sydney's breathtaking city scape.

I digress. We love China Doll because it has amazing cocktails and never ceases to impress in terms of food. Cocktail selection here is always fun, the menu changes so there is always new to look at trying with each visit. On this occasion we settled for the "China Colada" vanilla infused rum with pineapple juice, coconut and vanilla sago.

To line our stomachs we started off with the chilli squid.

The squid was fresh and went down a treat. The light and salty chilli batter creates a texture that really suits squid. Not coated in a heavy and oily batter, the flavour of the squid could still stand out on its own. Always a favourite.

Our mains for the evening consisted of the tea smoked duck, barbecue pork and prawn fried rice and a special for the evening - slow cooked sichuan pork belly.

The duck is the main draw card. It is one of the best dishes on the menu. It looks and tastes better than all the other duck we have ever had and is one of the reasons why we keep coming back time and time again. Really there isn't any fault we could ever think of. It is simply too good.

The fried rice is also a favourite. Excellent to help appease those appetites that always seem to open up after that first bite.

The special for the evening - slow cooked sichuan pork belly was somewhat of an interesting dish. Served at room temperature gave us somewhat mixed opinions but the sauce was amazing and the crisp crackling made this dish a winner in the end.

Last but not least there was room for desert. Deciding to get the 3 desert sampler - coconut and ginger gelato, black rice pudding with ginger and vanilla flavoured sago with passionfruit. A perfect way to finish up a beautiful dinner.