Patee Thai

Brunswick Street in the suburb of Fitzroy is another of Melbourne's main streets with a diverse range of eateries and bars along with the odd bookshop. I was hoping to have dinner at St. Jude's Cellars which is a wine shop, bar and restaurant all in one. The place apparently does some great grazing dishes made for sharing but was closed on this New Year's Day.

Not to worry though there were plenty of other places to choose from. A little Afghan was a surprise find but Patee Thai caught my eye enough to warrant walking back to it. It has a traditional dining area where diners can sit on the floor against Thai triangular cushions. That was more than enough to get me in the door!

Inside the restaurant was doing quite a brisk trade for a New Year's Day with most tables occupied and quite a few young families. The lighting was noticeably dim and whilst not quite dining in the dark it was the dimmest place I've dined out in a while. This made me appreciate the sleek interior more with its spread of Thai ornaments as opposed to the rather generic interiors offset by a token Thai artifact in some places.

After some a bit of overindulgence the night before light and refreshing was the order of the day. Luckily Patee Thai was more than able to accommodate with dishes a cut above the standard popular "Thai-style" restaurants that are beginning to spread. Service was warm and friendly and dishes arrived promptly.

The prawn crackers in the mix entree platter were quite a pleasant surprise, the first time I've had a prawn cracker that did not resemble styrofoam. Rather these crackers were rather thick and solid, but still delightfully light without the greasy aftertaste. The fishcakes were delicious, I can taste them just thinking about them. They were perfectly seasoned and just right in terms of texture without the excessive greasiness of other fishcakes I've had.

The combination seafood soup with lemongrass, galangal, basil, chilli and lemon juice was just the right mix of flavours and heat to soothe the insides after overindulging the day before. With its tang and hint of sweetness it was enough to awaken the tastebuds from their coma. The Thai beef salad also helped ease a sore body as well with its refreshing tanginess. There was a perfect balance of flavours in the chilli bean dressing without the excessive sweetness that can rear its ugly head with this dish.

Overall Patee Thai was a great place to dine with a lovely ambience from dining whilst seated on the floor. The dishes were authentic and well balanced with just the right combination of flavours to excite the palate. For a great dining experience and quality the price was very reasonable. Definitely one of the best places for Thai cuisine in my experience.

European Cafe

After a few drinks at the Colonist pizza was on the agenda. We decided to give the European Cafe a go, as some people have given it glowing reviews although a few years back I wasn't too impressed. It was rather crowded for a Sunday and we were told ours was the only table available, although funnily enough a few minutes later this couple were told theirs was the only table available.

The pizza menu did not impress me too much with its range or offerings considering people rave on about this place's pizza. As pizza was our objective we went for the European pizza which was a classic salami, ham, capsicum, mushroom and olive. To accompany it we got some garlic bread and green salad with some chinotto (San Pellegrino which is a nice rarity now).

The pizza arrived in under ten minutes which was a surprise, given Fellini took 90 minutes for an uncooked pizza. I suspect though that it and the garlic bread had been hanging around for a while. The pizza was nice but not enough to rise above the mediocrity of most cafe pizzas, although in its defence the toppings were balanced with prudente use of cheese.

It was a nice change to get a pizza that wasn't a grilled cheese sandwich like most cafe pizzas, although there still wasn't enough sauce for my liking. The garlic bread was pretty mediocre as well, a bit cold and stale and the green salad didn't distinguish itself from anyone else's green salad.

Overall I'm still not impressed with the European Cafe, sure it's better than a fair few other cafes but it still didn't distinguish itself well enough. The slippery waiter didn't help with impressions either and the food could have been served warmer. I would still prefer to spend a few dollars more and get a lot better pizza and service from a place like Amalfi.

The Colonist

A few weeks ago I spotted the Colonist pub on the Parade. Had a quick peek and was impressed that they had James Squire Golden Ale on tap. So this week we decided to go in for a Sunday arvo drink to chew the fat.

It's a cosy little pub with a rustic charm and some comfy seating. The crowd was a mix of people from the mid twenties to well into middle age. It had a decent gathering of people yet there was plenty of room and not much noise, a perfect place to relax on a Sunday arvo.

As mentioned the big draw card for me was the Golden Ale on tap. It's the perfect summer drink, so easy to drink with plenty of flavour and a lovely tinge. They also had a few other lesser-known beers on tap including the Steam Exchange's Steam Ale and Pipsqueak Cider.

The Steam Ale had all the makings of a great ale yet probably needed some food to go with it to counteract the slightly more bitter than usual bite. The Pipsqueak Cider wasn't too bad as far as ciders go with a well balanced tang and crisp finish. However it could have done with perhaps a tad more sweetness I reckon cos when people think ciders they usually think of something sweet.

I was pleasantly surprised to find they had whitebait on the menu, a rather big bowl for $8, nothing like eating a whole fish. Makes a nice break from the usual greasy chips and wedges, well whitebait's greasy but it's seemingly good grease. Apart from that I was a bit with the rest of the menu as most items were closer to $20 than $15.

Overall the Colonist was a pleasant discovery with it's old school cool. There was a good range of beers on tap and in the fridge, well any pub with Golden Ale on tap is tops in my book. The crowd was a good mix with some pretty young things.

The German Club

The weather was on the cool side of mild this Friday so I felt like something hearty for dinner. As it was the last week of October, we decided to catch the last Oktoberfest night at the German Club in town. For the princely sum of ten dollars each we got entry in with a plastic stein, just like at Schutzenfest. Just as pricey considering I can remember when we got glass steins for less at Schutzenfest.

There was the usual whimsical traditional German music, stein holding competitions and Bavarian dancing with people in traditional German clothes. However the reason most people go to German festivals is not for the tradition despite its charm but for the beer. Beer there was a plenty with pilsner, weissbier and witbier on tap.

The Erdinger witbier was lovely with a nice subtle tang and very easy to drink. The weissbier was more heavier on the gut but still a refreshing drink. Being Oktoberfest they also had Oktoberfest witbier, which had a more mellow but still noticeable tang.

Another reason to go to a German festival is the food, especially the wurst and sauerkraut. They had wurst and sauerkraut rolls for 6. The rolls were a bit too crusty for my liking but the spicy bratwurst with the sauerkraut and mustard was just the thing to go with the witbier.

The German Club also has a kitchen where they offered kasseler and bockwurst on a plate with sauerkraut and potato salad. The bockwurst was quite bland and the potato salad was rather underwhelming, definitely not worth the $16 for the plate especially when you can get a nice bratwurst roll.

The kasseler was a pleasant surprise from what I tasted. I'm not usually a fan of straight pork meat since I can taste the porkiness. The kasseler though is a pork chop, with not too much grease compared to the usual chop, with a texture close to a ham steak but with a pleasant bacon tang to it. It's a pork chop for those who don't like pork. Overall the German Club had a great range of beers and had plenty of German charm.

Seoul Korean Restaurant

It was a cold and wet night, not your typical late spring weather but good for the farmers as the cliché goes. Korean food is great comfort food for this gloomy sort of weather. It soothes the soul and delights the taste buds with food that is satisfying without making you feel like Mr. Creosote. So with all that I was looking forward to dining at Seoul Korean Restaurant tucked away in a city side street.

For entrées we shared dumplings and seafood pancake. The dumplings were half-moon parcels of minced meat with garlic chives to add some bite. Korean pancakes have quite a lot of filling for not much of the batter, which has a tempura consistency. When perfectly cooked so as to be gently crispy as was the case they make for quite the yummy morsel.

The main courses were variation on a theme as we had bulgogi, spicy beef, japchae and spicy squid. Bulgogi is a dish of thin slices of beef marinated in a soy based sauce with a moresome sweetness stir fried with some vegetables. The spicy beef was similar to the bulgogi but with the addition of a chilli paste made with fermented soy beans, hits all the right buttons on your taste buds.

Japchae, which is actually similar to my a word in my family's dialect of Chinese meaning mix up, is pretty much bulgogi with more vegetables and cellophane noodles. These cellophane noodles are made from sweet potato starch and have a nice squishy texture. The spicy squid was similar to the spicy beef flavouring wise, well except for the whole red meat thing duh, but with perhaps contrasting sweetness and saltiness.

As usual for a Korean meal, the mains were accompanied with some sides including the obligatory kim chi. The kim chi was delicious as always, with just the right tang. I wasn't too excited about the chilli silken soy bean curd or the strips of fish cake. They just didn't have enough intensity of flavour when compared with the kim chi.

Continuing my appetite of kim chi, I thought a bowl of kim chi jigae would be the perfect foil to unseasonably wet and cool October night. The spice and tang of the kim chi sure did open up the airways and the bean curd in soup warmed the cockles of my heart, even below the cockles, I just don't know.

Despite what I said earlier about Korean food not making you feel like Mr. Creosote I almost did, although my arteries still felt fairly clear. However we soldiered on with green tea ice cream for dessert and were rewarded with a lovely, finely gritty textured dessert. It had a level of sweetness that emphasised the flavour of the green tea and made you realise you don't need copious amounts of sugar in a dessert.

In the midst of all this I nursed first a Hite beer and then an OB beer, my preference was for the Hite. The Hite a smoother and more refreshing feel than the OB but I think Cass is still the best of the three Korean beers I've tried.

I miss the way they used to serve Cass beer at Mapo in a frosted glass tankard. It was a much more refreshing experience than Cass served normally. Culinary nostalgia aside I've been pleased with the hospitality and authenticity at Seoul. The staff are warmly sincere and do fill you in on the dishes and the dishes have more rustic charm and are more satisfying than the modern Korean dishes that Mapo now serves. Overall a great place to go for down to earth food and hospitality.