The contents of this blog are matters of opinion formed over one more visits. There has been some artistry applied and metaphors and similes should not necessarily be taken literally. All meals are independently paid for - the author has no conflicts of interest to disclose.
I got this Pork Belly Banh Mi from Pholosphy for $9 whilst I was waiting for my coffee to be made at South Dowling Sandwiches next door. The quality was surprisingly high, good flavours and a good mix of vegetables. No shortcuts were taken, but the price was extremely steep. I’ve never paid $9 for a banh mi before, and I think you can get something similar from most places for a few dollars cheaper.
I’d get it again if I were in a pinch, but not if I were watching my spending.
Food quality 10/10 Food value 3/10 Parking availability 10/10 on weekdays, haven’t tried weekends
Filante is a new pizza restaurant that has opened up in the midst of the COVID-19 respiratory pandemic. After getting ubereats from them a few times, I decided to up the ante (and save myself a bit of money) but visiting them in person.
I visited on a wet August night after work. There were anumber of people in the store doing their socially distanced thing around a large woodfired pizza oven.
Below are the results.
I liked the Burina ($22), a cheesy, meaty kind of pizza.
I got the patate e salsiccia ($19) specifically for my girlfriend, who loves potato but ate very little of this. This made me very disappointed.
I enjoyed the Romana ($20) pizza, which I felt had a little bit of everything, including weird things like egg.
I could have lived without the aranciniwith porcini mushroom and truffle ($6), however that is true in most cases. I normally only enjoy mini arancini as I feel they have a more superior exterior to interior ratio.
Despite the brief review, I enjoyed Filante. It’s some of my favourite pizza that I can get delivered to my home, and I plan to continue eating their pizza for as long as I can.
I’ve wanted to eat at Flour Drum for some time, but had avoided it in view of the terrifying parking situation in Newtown. I was finally able to bundle up the spoons to brave the King St parking situation this weekend, only to find that parking isn’t so bad on a Sunday morning. We had a dish from their regular menu, and a dish from their Spring inspired menu. Allow me to discuss.
The handmade pappardelle with 8-hours slow braised South Australian Lamb Shank Ragu shallot and chili infused olive oil and Cyprian volcanic black sea salt ($26.50) is a very long name, but one which adequately describes the components of this dish. This was a safe choice, and a very delicious one. The pasta was cooked softer than al dentre, which was good for me, because I’m basic. I really enjoyed the flavours, and the fresh chopped chilli gave the ragu the perfect amount of spice. I couldn’t identify the volcanic black sea salt, but have no doubt it was present. I don’t know what this really added to the dish over and beyond what normal salt would have added.
I’m going to be honest, I was highly skeptical of the Handmade Pork and Prawns Dumplings with Egg Noodles in a Chicken Broth, Chinese Bok Choy, Japanese Roasted Seaweed and Parsley. I am often wary of Asian food in a predominantly Caucasian restaurant, as more often than not it is more expensive, and less good. Flour drum’s pork and prawn dumplings were the exception to the rule. The dumplings were bursting with umami flavour, and could compete with any other dumpling and wonton in wide circulation. They were really the star of the show, with the fresh bok choy a close second. I thought that the noodles and soup were a bit too plain and mild-flavoured, an opinion my partner originally held but subsequently changed her mind on. I would recommend this dish for the taste of dumplings alone, however the price ($22-25 from memory) is far too much, and a dish of similar quality and construction would not surpass $12 at your local Chinese restaurant (I’m aware one of the co-owners of Flour Drum (Victor Li) is of Asian descent)
This giant M&M cookie was like $7. It was fine. Its structural rigidity was poor but I don’t know how they could have done better with such a large surface area.
Overall I think Flour Drum is just fine. The food is good, and I’m impressed by how they are able to create both Eastern and Western dishes quite competently. My big criticism has to be the price however, especially for strictly Chinese dishes that have an obvious and equally high quality counterpart in your local Chinese restaurant for half the price.
Let me first tell you that until last Saturday I didn’t know Roselands was a suburb. I just thought it was a shopping centre.
There is plenty of street parking in Roselands, and I was able to park right outside ZIA. This was both a blessing and a curse as I then felt the need to sit at an outside table so that I could keep my eye on my car and make sure no shenanigans happened to it. I’ve never felt the need to do this before but this time the need overwhelmed me. I would come to realise, while writing browsing their website for this review, that there is significant room inside, as well as a nice garden.
Service was pretty bad! It took a long time to be seated, and an even longer time still for a waitress to come and notice that we hadn’t been given any menus. Table water was a precious resource, with only small Duralex cups being offered, and no bottle or jug of water to pour from ourselves. We were only offered water twice during our lunch, and I also saw our fellow diners sit with empty glasses of water for significant periods of time. This was complicated by the fact that it was an extremely sunny day, and that we were directly under some outdoor heaters.
There were a few other service related problems that were too small to mention. I know I’ve spent a lot of words on the above, but I’m not normally a service-oriented guy so to be so put out by the service was a new experience.
The Braised Wagyu Beef Rib ($23) with zucchini smash, truffle, greens, hassleback potato, poached egg, beef jus was very good. The waitress asked me how I wanted my beef which I thought was odd because it’s really only a small amount of beef rib. The beef was tender and the zucchini and greens were a welcome addition to my mostly meat based diet. I could not identify any physical truffle, perhaps it was just oil, but I cannot confirm. The potato to other-food ratio was a bit high. My girlfriend asked me to bring her home a serving, which she didn’t enjoy. She said it was too truffly. I disagree.
My vegetarian friend/colleague had the Wild Mushroom ($18) with whipped goat’s cheese, truffle pumpkin puree, pine nuts, sourdough toast, served with a soft poached egg. I had some of the goat’s cheese and mushroom, which were both good. I can’t tell you if the cheese is whipped in house or if it comes like this. My friend was satisfied with her meal but also hypo-hydrated.
At the end of the day I thought that ZIA served a pretty good meal. I just wish that we they weren’t so stingy on the tap water. I think I’d go again, and I think that I’d recommend ZIA to a friend or colleague. Maybe ignore the concerns about the car and just sit inside though.
Masterful inactivity is a skill to be lauded in the intensive care setting. When you’re in a mixed HDU/ICU environment surrounded by both sick patients and not-so-sick patients it’s important to know when to do the invasive, expensive investigations and treatments and when to just sit back and watch.
The same is not true for deciding where to eat for dinner. I was paralysed with indecision last night, presented with three choices of which I could only choose one. It was my partner who took the reins and decided Belle’s Hot Chicken, the restaurant that we had originally set out for at the start of the night but had baulked at when the notion of having to wait in a queue for a table was raised.
We parked in Wilson Parking (Darling Square – Zollner Circuit), which is only $5 for weeknights and weekends. It’s a bit cramped, especially on a weekend, compared to the nearby Darling Quarter parking, however is very close to Darling Square with no walk required. Discovering pre-booked paid parking in the city actually changed my outlook to dining in the city completely. For the longest time I had completely avoided going into the CBD, afraid of having to navigate one way roads and find difficult parking. Now with Wilson Parking I don’t have to worry. I know I may sound like a paid shill for Wilson (and I wish I were – I have introduced a number of colleagues to them) but I really am not. I am also very against Wilson Security’s alleged role in spying on Senator Sarah Hanon-Young in Nauru back in 2015, but a cheap park is a cheap park.
We had the 3 wings with fries ($16), medium heat to cater for my girlfriend’s tastebuds. I thought that the fries were fresh and tasty, however the large wings were a bit difficult to eat. The wings, for reference, consisted of both a small drumstick, the normal wing piece, and the wing tip. The chicken itself was quite moist and tasty, however medium is definitely not spicy enough for me – if you look at it it’s really the 2nd weakest rating out of 6 or 7 different spice levels. I also thought that this combo was a bit steep in price. The wings also came with plenty of pickles.
To satisfy our curiosity for what other parts of the chicken tasted like, we also ordered a single drumstick for $4 – flavoured in hot. This also came with some pickles and white bread. I enjoyed the drumstick more than the wing, which is somewhat of an anomaly for me. I found the drumstick moist and juicy, and the hot spice setting was better than the medium setting. My partner didn’t like the drumstick as much – she found it drier than the wings – but I respectfully disagree.
The Belle’s Wild Wings (3 for $5 or 8 for $11) were stars of the show. They come in Southern, Maple Butter, or “Fuck COVID” seasoning levels, and we had Southern. The “Fuck COVID” spice level is apparently very high, a choice which I must question given the propensity for very spicy foods to induce coughing and other aerosol generating reflexes. The wings themselves were excellent, similar to the other pieces of chicken. I find that the mid-wing is my favourite type of wing, and think that 8 for $11 is just excellent value.
The Sauces (3 for $5) were nothing to write home about. The hot sauce was very similar to Frank’s Red Hot sauce. The Mississippi comeback was good, the blue cheese was fine. I am a bit sad t hat there was no free sauce offered, however I didn’t really think that sauce was required, come to think of it.
The Belle’s Chicken Sandwich ($13) was moist and juicy. The mayo-style sauce, lettuce, pickles and cheese really added a fresh taste to the moist thigh chicken . This was my partner’s top pick of the meal and I can also recommend it. It’s not very spicy and I don’t know if you could for it to be made spicier if you wanted it to be that way.
The Belles Spritz ($13) is a mix of aperol and pet nat. It’s fine.
Overall I did enjoy Belle’s Hot Chicken. My partner still thinks that Thirsty Bird is better, but I really liked the spiciness of Belle’s. I’d like to come back, and get everything with at least the fourth level of spiciness.
One other slight digression I will make is a complaint about the lack of sink-space. Fried chicken is a very hands-on meal, and I think that, especially in the current COVID-19 environment, that it would not just be handy but even compulsory to have some kind of handwashing station available. I understand that there are not toilets available inside – there are some available elsewhere in the Darling Square complex – but a lack of handwashing facilities is in my opinion unacceptable. While 3 wet wipes were available for the table, I think that a sink would have gone a long way – both in the pre and the post consumption phases.
