Went at the suggestion of a nearby bartender, a fortunate turn of events. There was no line when we…read morewent and we were quickly seated for what was my favorite meal in Melbourne. The prawns were fresh and cooked perfectly, the vegetables gleamed. We also had the duck, which appeared to be a favorite at other tables and was probably the best we have ever had. This restaurant truly is located off an alley; look up for the sign. Local dining at its best.

Although this is not a fancy restaurant, the food was phenomenal and the service very quick and…read morefriendly. If you want to sign on exquisite Chinese cuisine, with lots of menu choices, everything well prepared and flavorful, this would be an excellent choice.

Food was beautiful, presentation faultless and service top notch. I loved that they served some of…read morethe courses in terracotta pots! I opted for and would recommend the banquet (7 courses) as the portions are tapas-size and you get to try lots of different dishes that way. The freebie mixed berry green tea was delicious too.

This restaurant has a pleasant ambience, attentive and friendly service, and an interesting menu…read more The food was well presented and rather tasty, with well balanced (if restrained) flavours. We ordered a set lunch menu at $48 each. After a small starter of oyster and a sweetbread in a sweet sauce, there followed some sashimi served on a bowl of ice, and a chicken soup flavoured with ginseng (pleasant, although rather bland). The main was a reasonably generous pice of eye fillet slightly overdone more than the "rare" I had requested. By contrast, the vegetables were slightly underdone, a little "crunchier" than I would prefer, but otherwise fine. Dessert was a well executed creme brûlée. My partner also found her meal agreeable, although one of her potatoes was underdone on her main and she felt that her green tea tiramisu was a little dry. Overall, quite good value and a pleasant spot, at least for lunch. Nice scenery looking down pasture on the bank of the Yarra. I will come again.

This local favourite is always consistent and remains popular after years of service. The…read morerestaurant floor may be tiny and but the attentive and genuine service makes up for the lack of space. The Thai green curry is fragrant and deliciously authentic and this (my favourite dish) mirrors the quality of the the other dishes on the menu. The takeaway counter at the back of the restaurant does a roaring trade and the revolving door of customers collecting their order provides cool relief! Tarin is only open for dinner (from 6pm) but book ahead as groups of local families, couples and coworkers know this place well! Park across the road at Warringal Shopping Centre and collect a bottle of wine from the Sir Henry Barkly Bottle-O to enjoy with your meal. Although don't be concerned if you forget, Tarin is licensed as well as BYO.

It had been a while since we were last at Tarin Thai and the service was as good as it has been…read moresince I first went there 20years ago. We ordered a prawn and a curry puff starters. The prawns were superb, the curry puffs needed the oil to have been a little hotter when they were deep fried, still tasty, just a little less puffy than I would have wanted. For the main course we had a green chicken curry and battered fried prawns with a tamarind based sauce, both we fine authentic fresh meals that had that Thai zing. Once again, tho, the prawns could have been done in hotter oil as they fell just a fraction short of being perfectly crispy. The wine list is small and modest but well priced, we had a Victorian Sauvignon Blanc for a quarter of the price we paid for similar quality local wine late last year.

We've been to Phu Vinh a few times as it is conveniently located on the edge of Footscray Market…read more Each time the service has been courteous and helpful. The servings generous and affordable and Chinese tea is complimentary. One of the oldest venues serving Vietnamese food in Fooscray, the photo menu makes a detour to accomodate western palates with some more popular Cantonese style dishes like sweet and sour pork rice. It's a practical inclusion for those at your table who might be overwhelmed by the more traditional Vietnamese dishes. And also a reminder that many of the Vietnamese who settled in Melboune under refugee status were of Chinese origins, so dishes like these are not foreign to their cooking repetoire. But Hu Tieu is the specialty at Phu Vinh. This is actually a Chinese Cambodian hybrid dish of rich pork stock and either rice or tapioca noodles which the Vietnamese have also embraced. I had a big bowl of their tapioca noodle version with bò kho, beef brisket stew. In Cantonese this braise is called ngau lam. This particular one reminded me of my grandmother's: rich and dotted with star anise, large chunks of sweet carrots and mustardy daikon bobbing about in it. The soup was scalding hot and had a layer of oil on the surface which might put some people off. But I liked it. The fat had flavour and was warming. The brisket was tender. But I was defeated by its size. We shared their crisp chă giò - spring rolls - which you bundle with herbs into a lettuce cup. They serve it with sweet chilli sauce rather than nuoc cham dressing but if you are a purist the latter can be brought to you as well. Bun Thit Nuong (chargrilled pork vermicelli salad) was topped with thinly sliced barbecued pork belly, that had a scattering of blackened edges for charred flavour. It's a generous serving. Pour the bowl of nuoc cham dressing in and stir the whole lot through, mixing meat and vegies into the noodles, coating it all in the dressing. It was too much food for two of us. One shared noodle and two small dishes would have been sufficient. All up the bill came to around $20, very good value.

very bad serivce. heard staff swearing in vietnamese, waited long time for order, asked for if its…read morecooking in the kitchen, non exist attitude, didn't check with kitchen and just answered yeah briefly. went elsewhere in the end.

The chicken wings are to die for! Not too spicy, just right. Don't let the chilies in the photo…read moremislead you. Even if you don't have a reservation, sit in the bar area and enjoy a cool cocktail and the chicken wings! However if you like spice, try the numbing item on the menu! Very spicy! Water does not work! You need something dairy or yoghurty to save your taste buds! The other food items are delicious from the photos posted. Service is excellent and attention to detail!

Went here on a Wednesday evening after booking via dimmi. Overlooks the water so best if you get a…read moreview near the windows. There is a reception area where you can hand in your bag and coat. The interior reminds me of red spice road but darker and less fancier. The music is more upbeat (playing radio hits). There's some long tables with more couple tables. There is a long drinks list. We sat between two couples. One couple was having a large tofu dish (I'm guessing this was the silken tofu) which was served in a massive bowl with a ladle. The other couple seemed to be having the kung pao chicken. Though I do like Sichuan food, I was not in the mood for fried food or dried chillies. Everything on the menu that seemed appealing was either friend or had dried chillies. I decided to go rogue and we ordered the whole snapper fish and the tofu with greens and bacon with steamed rice. The whole snapper fish with squeamy eye was quite bland. It was atop a red scant soup and topped with those fried red goji berries. It's a mildly flavoured dish but nothing to rave about. The tofu dish was better. Thinly sliced fried tofu with greens, fried bacon (not crispy) and some chilli. Again, no exquisite or exotic flavours just a meh dish. Service was slow and non-attentive. Don't see the need to go back. Quite disappointing. And very very overpriced. I've had better at Sichuan House in Chinatown for 1/5th the price.

I was all ready to say wonderful things about Quan, this having been my local for a long time and…read morehaving so many warm memories of the place. Though the last two times I've been here have been very slightly tainted. Once by a slug on my spring roll-accompanying lettuce (which isn't the end of the world - hey, at least you know it's fresh and the staff were very apologetic) and most recently having hair in my tea and gristly/nobly bits in my dish containing chicken thigh. The hair is another shrug-the-shoulders, "shit happens" accident thing. The chicken could have been rectified though. All of this points towards a slipping in Quan 88's attention to detail, which is really disappointing because otherwise I really liked this little eat-spot. Had these things not happened, I would have given Quan 88 4 stars for consistently friendly staff who don't mind if you need extra fresh chilli, lemon or water, cheap eats and convent location. It also gets points for having a confusingly-angled front door! If I was reviewing based on the last 2 visits alone, I'd give it only 1 or 2 stars. So in the name of fairness, I will give it 3 and will look with an eager eye to see what other Yelp-ers say about their experience here. Any issues, or was I just a bit unlucky? Let me know!

Quan is our go-to on Victoria St. Tried quite a few of the Vietnamese places on offer but we keep…read morecoming back to Quan. The atmosphere is slightly more relaxed than some of their neighbours, especially upstairs - although this is often filled with large bookings having a raucous good time...and since its the sort of place you can turn up with ten bottles or ten slabs and only pay a pittance for BYO, why not enjoy yourselves! (There's oddly even a shower in the upstairs bathroom should you make a mess of yourself!) Dish of choice: Coconut beef, accompanied with coconut rice. The beef sauce/gravy is amazing and makes you wish they had a naan/roti on the menu to mop it all up with.

They've improved a lot!! Was grimacing when I was told I had to come here again for an uncles…read morebirthday! Not the best experience over the yrs. Alas I think they have heard the cries! Food is now of quality. The yum cha dim sums are now wheeled around and also avail. at the back. The duck is crispy and flavoursome. Same with the roast pork. Food is not cold and plentiful. Not like the old days. The custard egg tarts and especially the durian puffs!! worth a return visit. 3 stars as I'm still skeptical.. if it's the same management don't expect this to continue!

If you love Asian food (and lots of it), then this is your perfect place…read more Located on the corner of Springvale Rd and Burwood Hwy this place is extremely accessible and easy to find (thanks to being on top of a hill and it's huge sign). China Bar Signature is a buffet of Asian cuisines. They have towers of Yum Cha style dumplings, soups, rice, sushi, seafood, traditional meat dishes, duck, Asian flavored ice creams/desserts and much much more. There is freshly cooked food constantly pouring out of the kitchen and into the serving trays as this place becomes over popular and busy at night. The Yum Cha dumplings are always a hit and people can be seen walking back to their tables with 5 or so bamboo steamers stacked up. Don't worry; the kitchen works hard so if they are out of something, it'll probably be back within a few minuets. The food here is tasty and satisfying, but like most buffets the quality isn't the best out there. I definitely would still suggest coming here at least once- just to try it out. The atmosphere is very lively and loud thanks to the hoards people. When I came I found the table service to be very quick...but too quick, they were trying to take away my plate before I had even finished it (this happened a few times). The only other downfall is the size of the plates. They were saucers rather than plates; you could hardly fit food on it, which meant multiple trips to the stations. The prices here are around $50ish at night, and only $30 for lunch (but seafood, sashimi and peking duck are only available for dinner).

This is our favorite Thai restaurant. Family run with a…read morepersonal touch. It never disappoints . Always consistent wonderful flavours. Our kids love the Pad Thai, and the roti bread with peanut satay sauce really really good. My wife loves the spicy seafood fried rice. And I love all the curries but my favorite is the pudd susa. Absolutely Awsome. Bill.

This space used to be occupied by my favourite seafood restaurant, and I was devastated to see it…read moreclose down. I prayed that something worthwhile would fill the space. It wasn't too long before Kati Thai opened. Another local Thai restaurant that joins the ranks of at least 4 other locations in the surrounding suburbs Kati Thai was going to work hard to stand out. Judging by how packed they are on the weekend, I'd say they are on their way to nurturing and sustaining a loyal clientele of diners and take away customers. I had dinner here a couple of weeks ago and have to admit that it wasn't anything special. There were the usual starters: spring rolls ($7.90) and fish cakes ($8.90) and the stereotypical mains: green curry ($17.90-$21.90) and Moo Yang ($18.90). I thought the prices were a little steep considering the food wasn't particularly innovative or exciting. Sadly Kati Thai gets lumped in with the rest of the surrounding Thai restaurants. It's a local and fine for takeaway. That's it.