O is for Oriental

Ok, Ok, we can hear you loud and clear. "O is for Oriental! You have got to be kidding!"
The letter O happened to be a major blocker in our Alpahabet Eats. There was a lot of thinking, a lot of consulting others and we were stuck. Oh how we longed for an Omani  restaurant in Melbourne; travel or price would not have got in our way however the best we could come up with after our extensive research was a current chef in one of the large Melbourne hotel restaurants who once worked in Oman!
That wasn't going to do so the next best thing was ORIENTAL. Sigh..........pathetic I know but we had no other option as P, Q, R, S etc... are breathing down our necks.                                                              

We quite fancied the word "oriental' in the title, surely there was an Oriental Palace somewhere in Chinatown?
NO 

Orchids Garden it was to be.

The menu lacked originality. enthusiasm and excitement. It was same, same, same, so we opted for the satays and the chicken and sweet corn soup and we got bland, bland, bland.

For mains we shared a chicken and cashew dish followed by a honey chicken accompanied with rice.

To be diplomatic we left the majority of both dishes, refused a 'doggie-bag' and wondered if we should have a toasted sandwich when we got home because we were booth starving.  In our alphabet-eats adventures to date the restaurants have been staffed by the country of our choice as well as expats from those countries eating at those establishments. The Orchids Garden was very western through and through. The table of young people who sat beside us with their beers under their arms were informed that it was only BYO for wine. With that info the group got up to leave however, in a very Aussie way they were reassured with a 'she'll be right mate' attitude and were soon tucking into their Number 26. Peking Duck!

Scores:                           Mr X                        Ms X

Accessibility                    5                                5

Service                              3                                3

Ambience                         4                                4

Value for Money             4                                1

Food                                  3                                1

TOTAL: 33

119 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne

N is for Nepalese

"N" is for Nepalese, and our expectations were very HIGH!!! (a-la Everest. Hmmmm). A short drive to 349 Victoria St. West Melbourne saw us get a lovely car park outside 346, unfortunately however, the numbering was all askew and 346 turned out to be nowhere near 349. Never mind, if it was good enough for Sherpa Tensing to climb 10,000 meters in a vertical direction then a 500 meter walk in a horizontal direction was nothing for us.We were warmly welcomed and shown to our table and immediately ordered some naan, a plain flour bread cooked in a tandoori oven.

The place was extremely busy both with sit-down customers and those ordering take-away, which was an encouraging sign. As is now the custom with alphabet eats, all three of us ordered and shared our three entree choices. These consisted of vegetable samosas (home made pastry stuffed with spiced potatoes and peas with tamarind chutney), momo (steamed dumplings mixed with Nepalese spices and herbs), and chhoila (sliced eye beef fillets marinated with Nepalese herbs and spices). A variety of tastes were on offer and the quantities were more than generous.

Main course saw us ordering butter chicken (boneless chicken fillets cooked in tomato-based makhani sauce with cashew nuts and cream), (Mr X's favourite) lamb shanks (cut up lamb shanks with fresh herbs and spices, Nepalese meat and masala, and fresh cumin powder and potato), and beef korma (beef cooked with cashew nuts sauce finished with cream). By the time we had finished we were lucky to be able to walk to the exit, let alone scale any Nepalese mountains.

Whilst we were extremely full when we left, we were also slightly disappointed. Having eaten at Ghurkkas on a number of occasions, and being very comfortable there, we were expecting something better.

Scores:                        Mr. X        Ms X

Accessibility                   7               8
Service                            6               7
Ambience                        6               7
Value for Money             5               6
Food                                5               6


Total - 63                                                             

M is for Moroccan

So we have had you wondering if we were over our food-journey, haven't we? Well not quite-we hit a hurdle caused by some disappointing choices and then some difficult letters in the alphabet. After losing some momentum we have rallied and are now back, committed!

'M" presented us with several options and we settled on Morocco and "La Paella" in Brunswick. The place didn't inspire us from the outside however we are never fooled by facades because it's the food that counts! As you may see from their sign they are Moroccan/Spanish and after  sampling their menu they definitely lean more towards the European flavours.

We started with a veggie raif - moroccan flaky bread stuffed with vegetables in moroccan spices and a lamb raif - moroccan flaky bread stuffed with lamb mince & spices; which were served with salad & yoghurt .

Our entree was tasty however it was a little dry and did need the yoghurt .

For main course we steered away from the Spanish- inspired dishes that were tempting us. Ms X finds it hard to ignore a paella when one presents itself however it was important that we ensured that we kept true to the purpose of our visit.
So, despite the paella calling her, Ms X ordered the lamb couscous - tender lamb cooked with seasonal vegetables in Moroccan spices served with couscous.

Now Mr X has a similar problem when there is a lamb shank in sight. (Rumour has it that his freezer once contained 24 lamb shanks, just in case of an emergency!)
So it was always going to be the lamb shank for Mr X - tender lamb cooked in moroccan spices with mash potatoes.
If you are looking at both pictures and are thinking that we have made an error or that your eyes are playing tricks on you then don't be alarmed. They were the same dishes, same flavours except one had some bones and the other some couscous!
As we settled the bill and proceeded to leave, Ms X heard the chicken , the seafood and the vegetable paellas calling from the kitchen in disappointed yet smug tones saying 'that'll teach you for trying to end our relationship tonight!"

Scores:                           Mr X                        Ms X

Accessibility                    9                                9

Service                            6                                6

Ambience                        4                                4

Value for Money             5                                 4

Food                               6                                4

TOTAL: 57

La Paella 217 Sydney Rd, Brunswick 3056