Can Do Approach - Epicure Espresso (Updated)

I cannot wait to go to Brown & Do in Albert Park! It is the new restaurant from Browns Bakeries' owner - Greg Brown and his former colleague Theo Do. It will be a French-Vietnamese place for about 35 people.

I haven't been able to google where it is exactly.. All I know for now is that it is opening this Friday!

Anyone that can provide me with more info, please let me know!! In any case, planning to go there next week :)

*Read the Epicure Espresso Article
*About Greg Brown

29 January 2009 Update: My husband and I visited Brown & Do yesterday and found it refreshing. We loved our entrees and thought the mains were good. In my opinion though, they are still working out the French-Vietnamese fusion concept as I felt our meals were either more French or more Asian. I guess I expected more raw / cooked vegetables... more fish sauce...more sweetness... which are typical of Southern Vietnamese flavours. Service is friendly and the atmosphere is Parisian cafe.

I also have to say, I like Albert Park, what a beautiful little suburb. Make me think of Hayes Street in San Francisco.

Brown & Do
166 Bridport Street
Albert Park
(03) 9699 8969

Vinh Vinh

Source: Your Restaurants.com.au

There are so many Vietnamese restaurants to choose from in Victoria Street, some are good for noodles, some are good for broken rice dishes, others are great for spring rolls etc etc …
Not often is a place good for everything and not because of the MSG content…

Unlike many of the restaurants, Vinh Vinh doesn’t require dressing down. It is bright, cheery modern and very clean. A few fish tanks dotted around the restaurant gives it a vitality.

Last week we went, my husband ordered crab claws for entree (highly recommended), a bowl of well-cooked noodle soup while I ordered the charcoal-grilled pork chop with broken rice. My husband commented that the soup stock was really good. But they didn’t give him the prawn pappadum that traditional is served with the noodle that he ordered. He left the remainder of the soup for me (to accompany my meal) and he didn’t allow the waiter to take it away while I was still eating. The pork chop that I had was juicy and grilled just enough for the lovely aroma to hit you as you bite. We were served complimentary prawn crackers as well. Yum!

However, when we looked around, we felt we were missing out on the shared dishes that patrons on other tables were consuming. There was one dish that I definitely want to try next time and I would like to call it the flaming beef in a bowl.

If you are after traditional Vietnamese fare with some class, this one is for you :)

Vinh Vinh
387 Victoria St
Abbotsford 3121 VIC
03 9429 5260

A week in the life of ....

These few weeks have been hectic. After our holiday in Hanoi in February, we really needed to catch up with our friends. I realised that I don't really talk about what I eat on a weekly basis... Let's give it a try and see if it is interesting for you or not.

Here is a brief of where we've been in the last week:

Monday: Lunch was a sashi don from Don-Don on Swanston Street. For dinner, I made a beef stew using Harumi Kurihara : Harumi's Japanese Home Cooking cook book. It was a little bit salty, so I think I will cut down on the soya sauce a little.

Tuesday: Lunch was at Groove Train, Melbourne Central. My colleague recommended the smoke salmon salad there, and indeed it was fantastic. Roasted potatoes in a smoke salmon salad - yum!! For last minute dinner out, we were recommended to go to Olive Tree Bistro in South Melbourne for steak. It's near Tempura Hajime. We cheekily went to Hajime to see whether there were any spots before heading to Olive Tree. No luck... The steaks at Olive Tree were not bad... 400g steaks!!! .

Wednesday: Lunch was at Tokio, in the city. Love their ebi-don! For dinner, we ate at home, not very healthy but had roast chicken drumstick, Vietnamese style stir fried mung beans with onion, bean sprout, and mince pork, with fluffy rice. Made a mojito but didn't have soda or lemonade so substituted it with white wine... hehehe

Thursday: Lunch was at A1 Cafe on Russell Street, one of my favourite Chinese cafe. I had the lemongrass chicken and pork on rice. Delicious! For dinner, I had a work function at Centro Ristorante, South Melbourne. It was nice to catch up with my colleagues socially. I had the fish of the day, which was grilled ocean trout. That was followed by banana souffle. I liked to banana souffle better than my main.

Friday: I usually have home-made dumpling in my fridge when we don't want to eat out... So Friday night dinner was simple, boiled pork and shrimp dumpling and edamame with a little twist - sprinkling of sesame seed, dried sea weed and sea salt ... Best edamame so far is from Fuji Mart.

Saturday: Lunch was at Aka Tombo Sushi Bar in Prahran. My sister ordered the Sushi & Sashimi Bento, and I had the Tempura Bento. Aka Tombo can do no wrong :) I think next time I really want to try the special bentos that you have to pre-order... For dinner, my sister was kind enough to cook for me. We bought mussells and other ingrediants from Prahran and she cooked a lovely batch of steamed mussells with a chili coconut tom yum sauce to go with it. She's got magic hands :) I made rosemary and garlic roast potatoes to go with it (following Stephanie Alexander : The Cook's Companion recipe) and some roast corn corbs. Why I made rosemary potatoes for an Asian dish, I don't know. *Sigh*

Sunday: I love the weekend, don't you. Yummy food all day long.... We had yum cha at David's, Prahran. The tea there is really nice. We had the Jasmine and Pu-Er tea. Sometimes the dumpling can be over steamed... but the atmosphere there is just so inspiring. After that my cousin bought a roll for his sister at Amici Bakery Cafe (-love their breakfasts) while I went to look at a few houses around the area before heading off to a baby's 1st birthday. H was very cute and endearing.

That was all for last week.... this week also promises lots of yummy food, good company and good wines.

Have a great week!

Sorry Lauren

Sorry Lauren for missing my osteopath appointment. I totally forgot - very sorry!

When you called, I was sitting at Tho Tho enjoying a surprisingly delicious Vietnamese broken rice dish with grilled pork chop and shredded pork skin.....totally oblivious to my scheduled engagements....the lime soda was too sweet though...

I've always seen the crowds at Tho Tho but never went there because I somehow believed that it would be expensive, not authentic and generally not very good. But I'm glad I went... our meal, although it took longer than the usual 5 minutes to get to us, was unbelievably refined and delicious. We ordered Vietnamese even though the extensive menu included Chinese cuisine.

The goss behind Tho Tho is that two divorcees who wanted to start their own restaurant were introduced. I don't know whether any sparks flew but Tho Tho was the result of the union. While eating my meal, I suspected that the lady with the made-up face behind the counter was one of the boss. I am also told that they have 12 chefs, thus the capability to have such an extensive and varied menu.

My broken rice dish was $8.50 and Michael's pho dish was about $8.00. So pretty much standard pricing for Richmond Vietnamese restaurants. I'm glad for Tho Tho, I'm a little tired of the lack of refinement in Vietnamese food in Richmond. They can do so much better... If you've ever eaten Vietnamese food in Vietnam, you will know what I mean. The pho soup is suppose to be clear not cloudy.... too much MSG and not enough filtering of soup stock floaty bits. Of course, if anyone have been to a better Vietnamese place, please let me know. I have also heard Saigon Rose is pretty good....

After our lovely lunch at Tho Tho, we headed off to Dan Murphy's (Prahran) to check out the vodkas and weekly specials. Then we came across a rather interesting Alsace white wine called "Maru" - one that is dedicated for sushi / nigiri eating! (last two photos in the collage)... Nearly bought it just for the novelty but at around $20, I had to think about it. Next time I'm planning sushi for a meal, I'll definitely go out and get it.

Note regarding Photos: The first two photos in the collage are from Cafe Vue, where I had a fabulous hamburger for work lunch.

Tho Tho

66 Victoria Street

Richmond
03 9428 2036

Ratings

Food: Delicate Chinese and Vietnamese Cuisine

Top Dish: Broken Rice wit the Lot

Atmosphere: Modern and Minimal

Service: Have to know what you want to order as they're not really good with recommendations.

Booking: Not essential, but at night time it often seems crowded.

8 Days in USA - January 07

8 days of US and we're back in Melbourne again! Where did all the time go?!?!

Los Angeles was fantastic, eventhough I didn't get to do all the things I had planned for Michael and I. But we did get to do some touristy things the first day we arrived, i.e. the Hollywood Sign, Gauman's Chinese Theatre, Avenue of The Stars, Bel Air, Beverly Hills etc.

Outside Gauman's Chinese Theatre

Outside Kodak Theatre

In Hollywood, we found one of my favourite American fast food joint - Popeye's and ate there for lunch. Dodgy people coming in and out, I was a bit scared but loved the food. In my opinion, better than KFC .

Travelling around visit the gorgeous houses of Beverly Hills and Bel Air, you can imagine what a life! It was a pleasure just to "OOhH" and "AHHH" outside their magnificent houses and beautiful cars. We saw two SLRs - can you imagine!

On Rodeo Drive, don't know how but we managed to enter Harry Winston, as it is normally by appointment. The gentlemen in there were very polite and allowed us to try whatever we wanted. I tried on a 6 carat cherry red ruby with pave diamonds around it and on the band worth USD250,000. I really didn't want to take it off... So beautiful! Lucky M took me to have dessert at Beverly Wilshire The Blvd, then I calmed down a bit.

Beverly Wilshire Hotel

Voss Norwegian Water and Dessert at The Blvd, Beverly Wilshire

We ate a lot in US. I still can't believe the serving size. Our brunch at the popular The Cheesecake Factory on Colorado Avenue, Pasadena was no exception.

Look at my latte! Brunch at the Cheesecake Factory in Old Pasadena

Vietnamese food in LA is definitely better than anything that I have tasted to date.

7 Course Vietnamese Beef Banquet

Hama Sushi in Little Tokyo

Francis Ford Coppola's Sofia Mini Blanc de Blancs Champagne

6 Flags Magic Mountain was fantastic. I definitely would get the Flash Pass again, which gives you priority access to the front of the queues of rides. This allowed M to ride Tatsu (the newest ride in the park) 4 times within 30 minutes.

Tatsu - The Ride. You start and finish with your head facing the floor

Our Lunch at the Mooseburger Lodge in 6 Flags

Snacking in 6 Flags

Chiu Chou Noodle Soup (Noodles are from my Uncle's Factory)

This trip, I got to try the "Best burger in LA" - The In and Out Burger. We couldnt' believe that there was only three different burgers that they serve - Hamburger, Cheese Burger and the Double Burger. The beef patty is cooked fresh and not made from frozen beef, the french fries are real pieces of chopped potatoes that still has the skin on it. All you can drink soft drinks. I didn't have enough that I had to have it again on our last day in the US. YUMMM!!! (Apparently there are "Secret Menus" that you can order, including the Protein style burger, Animal style burger, sauce on fries etc.)

Vegas trip was surprising easy... pretty much a straight road once you hit San Bernadino Hwy. Do not bother going to any outlets but the Fashion Outlets at PRIMMS.. save your money and shop there... Do make sure that you have a full tank before you head out... As petrol at one of the petrol station on the way cost USD$4 a gallon! Highway robbery I know. But it was funny that some guy in an Audi was getting upset over the price and questioning a resting policeman whether it was legal to do that.....

Our GPS called "Never Lost" - Yeah Right / Beautiful scenery along the way

Lucky that we arrived two days before my conference started, so that we could go to a nice meal at Picasso, The Bellagio; Grand Canyon light plane tour and some gambling!

Our Light Plane / Grand Canyon / Hoover Dam

While I was working hard at the conference, M was also working at.... at the golf courses.

On the last night in Vegas, we were able to walk around the Strip and watch the Bellagio Fountain.

The Venetian / The Mirage / Vegas Traffic

Balley's Paris

Great ending to a wonderful journey.