Sunday, June 8, 2008

D.O.C. Pizzeria

Address: 295 Drummond St, 3053 Carlton, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Phone: +61 03 93472998

I have been looking for a place where to eat a Italian like pizza instead of the common sweet and small pizza that you can easily find in restaurant. After a talk with some friends here that just got to visit their relatives I found a place in Lygon sun by Italians that make pizza in the way I know it.....
The place is D.O.C. Pizza and it is located at the corner Drummond St. and Faraday St. From the outside the place is really not attractive if compared with many other crowded restaurant in Lygon, but if you love pizzas you really have to try this. D.O.C. pizza does not make any reservation than you just have to show up and hope there's a free spot... We hoped and got the seat at 7:30 when the restaurant started to fill - up.

Whenever I go to a restaurant which make pizzas and I always look at the menu to see which kind of pizzas they offer... especially if they claim to be "original Italians"... and most of the time I find some strange pizzas that nothing have to do with the Italian way of doing it... and a lot of bacon..... :-). This time I happily discovered that the ingredients and the components were the right ones and no exotic flavors were offered. I got a Pizza Parma and my flatmate Chrisy got a Pizza Margherita.... two really classic kinds of pizzas... Pizza Parma is basically a pizza with tomato, mozzarella di bufala, and Parma ham... the pizza was slightly salty but definitely great and Italian like.... Margherita is basically made by tomato, oregano, and mozzarella... even this one was good... For while it seemed to me to get back to an Italian pizzeria.....
The prize?... here comes the hard note.... for two pizzas and two soft drinks (juice and coke) we spent 43.50 dollars. That is for a dinner mostly reasonable but higher than any other place I've been... my pizza was big and was 22.50 dollars while my friend's pizza was 14 dollars... Will I go back? definitely yes!

Friday, June 6, 2008

Ying Thai 2

Address: 110 Lygon St, 3053 Carlton, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

We dropped by this place on a Sunday evening pretty early... and we luckily managed to get a seat. Ying Thai 2 is a really popular and affordable Thai restaurant. It is located on Lygon Street just in front of Piazza Italia. When we entered the ground floor was already crowded so the staff managed to put us upstairs. The place is peculiar: as the Nasi Lemak House the place is like an big house arranged as a restaurant... then in order to reach the first floor we went around the corridors and climbed the stairs as in common house. The first floor was completely empty but became crowded soon.
We ordered different courses and shared all together the food. We ordered Num Tok, which is a salad of grilled sliced meat with coriander, spring onion, lemon juice, ground rice and chili ($10.90), and Gai Hor Bai Thoey, which is marinated chicken with Thai herbs wrapped in pandan leaves, served with sweet chili sauce ($8.90). These two dishes were really peculiar and tasted very well. Then we moved on with a Gang Keow Wan a fantastic green curry sauce with coconut and vegetables with dipped chicken ($12.90) all accompanied with rice and roti bread.
The total price of our nice evening was about 40 dollars, which was 10 dollars each. The price is completely affordable and we got stuffed. This is definitely a good Thai restaurant to try.

Chocolateria San Churro

Addresses:
QV, Swanston St, 3000 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
277 Brunswick St, 3065 Fitzory, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
177 Lygon St, 3053 Carlton, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

I've been introduced to the faboulous world of Chocolateria San Churro by my friend and flatmate Chrisy. She told me yammy stories about churros... then I kept note and I tried the shop after a while. The first time I went to San Churro I was with my friend Mukaddim and I tried the one on the QV shopping center. The place was really crowded and full of interesting things to try.... The place is pretty nice you can sit inside or just have a sit on the way outside... and spying the waiters preparing the churros on demand. This one wasn't really successful both of the two were not satisfied... we both had big expectations but ... well we just got nothing really exciting. That time I got a sort of frappe and my friend a simple hot chocolate....

I came again to San Churro this morning with my friend Chrisy and this time we had Chocolate Tapas (see the picture)... this one was really impressive... almost perfect with all that we need to have a great chocolate experience: churros, hot thick chocolate to dip in, and small chocolate pastries.... this one was awesome... we spent about 14.90 AUD for a big plate and got served pretty quickly... This is definitely a place to try if you like the chocolate... and do not get disappointed if you miss what you like the first time!