400 Gradi

Address:  99 Lygon St, Brunswick East, Melbourne VIC 3057, Australia
Phone: +61 03 9380 2320

After having heard so many good comments on this restaurant I finally decided to drop by there with some friend this evening. I had great expectations because the good comments and reviews found in the various web sites that I am used to check before trying a new place... and I have to say that I am not disappointed at all. The food, was good very italian style and the service nice. Price? reasonable considered the food that we got and that it is good Italian restaurant.

We sat outside, because even with the booking the place was crowded and there were only free tables outside for the time we booked. Not that bad, it is always cool having a look at Lygon street while you are eating...

My first interest was to try Pizza but we delighted ourselves with a starter: Tre, due, uno - Gnocchi. Gnocchi is a special kind of pasta made with potatoes and that can be dressed with different sauces and flavours, such as Napoli sauce, cheese sauce, and spinaches or basil. Guess what we got? a trio of dishes including gnocchi with Napoli Sauce, Ricotta Cheese, and spinaches. They were very good and warmed up our expectations and appetite.

We then moved to the main course and we decided to have two pizzas and some Gamberi impanati (breaded prawns) with a dressing of lemon juice, capers, and capsicums. The prawns were quite good and my friend was happy with her choice. I really liked the dressing that was really light and tasty. Let's now move to the pizzas that is the thing that more interests me...
We ordered two very different pizzas: Pizza Caserta ( Fior di latte, Raw ham, and basil and rocket) - quite classic, and Pizza Suprema (White pizza with ricotta cheese, rocket, roasted pumpkins, pinenuts, ...) - not too classic. Both of them were good and I have to say that there is only another place in Lygon where I ate pizzas like this and it is D.O.C.. This is the very Italian pizza i like not sweet, with a thin crust, and well baked.

The serving was very rustic and impressive: pizzas were served on wooden boards and they were quite abundant in size, tasty, and salty enough. I am very happy to have found another good Italian restaurant where I can feel at home. I also have to say that the service was really welcoming and ready to free your table from dishes (yeah the table was quite small and the large pizzas were occupying the entire table...) and to ask if everything was ok. I had a really good evening and after that... since we were close, we stopped at Gelobar to conclude the italian food trip with some ice cream and desserts. Very good evening!

Price? all together: 79 bucks. Gnocchi: 13 dollars, Pizzas were about 20 dollars on average, and Prawns 17 dollars ( yeah we got also some orange juice 3.5 dollars each..).... Quite good I would say.

I have to say that the pizza was a little bit soft, but this is just a personal taste. If I compare it with its direct competitor D.O.C., the advantage of 400 Gradi is that you can have a wider selection of food. This is normal since 400 Gradi is a restaurant while D.O.C. is a pizzeria and mostly prepare pizzas. Pizzas are both very good, the advantage of 400 Gradi is that you can book. Thumbs up for 400 Gradi then!

Your Thai Rice and Noodle Bar

Address:  255 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia
Phone: +61 03 9663 8010‎

I have been few times at the Your Thai Restaurant and this evening it wasn't even my first choice because I was looking for a new place to explore. Lately, I have been preferring Ghin Khao for Thai. Anyways, this time since it was a long time I was not going there I stopped by to have a dinner with my friend Sharlini that I discovered visiting her aunt in Melbourne.

I have always come out satisfied from Your Thai and this time it has not been different. The place is really colorful: not classy but with a lot of energy and freshness. The walls are painted orange and light green and you never have to wait for a long time to get served. Among the plethora of different dishes and combos available we got two chicken dishes:

- Crispy Chicken
- Lemongrass Chicken Rice
- Ice Blended Coffee
- and Sparkling water with ice..... (yeah today was very hot... around 43 degrees...)

We did not have to wait long for getting served and the portion were quite decent in terms of quantity. The presentation was good as well and the taste definitely ok. The crispy chicken came with a tomato flavored cup of rice and a fried egg on top along with some stick cut veggies. Sharlini was in charge of that order, while I was working at the Lemongrass chicken sided by a cup of rice and some stick veggies. During the dinner we all the time for chatting and getting brief each other about we did in the last two years... the place was lively but not so noisy where you cannot have a nice talk..

Once the dinner was over... we payed the bill and went out for a stroll near the Yarra river at Southgate... oh.... well the price? less than 25 dollars for everything that is a very good deal considered the quantity and the quality of the food... the only flaw I can reckon is that they do not accept debit card but only cash...... :(

I will definitely go back again for a quick easy and nice dinner with a friend.

Wabi Sabi Salon

Address: 94 Smith St., 3066 Collingwood, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Web site: http://www.wabisabisalon.com.au/en/
Phone: +61 03 94176119

I really have to give credit to my friend Huong that suggested me to drop by this very nice and stylish Japanese restaurant... the Wabi Sabi Salon. So I picked up my usual friend for eating outs and went there. The place is located at 94 Smith St, in Collingwood An area that has been renewed with new restaurants in the last two years... anyways, let's move to the hot part.. the food and the place!

As soon as we entered I thought... "oh, I love this place... very traditional and cosy place. A waitress, very kindly took us to our booked table where two couple of chopsticks where waiting for us placed in avery elegant way near the cups we would have used for the rice.. As you may know the price range of Japanese restaurants is a little bit over the average, and this restaurant does not make an exception to the rule.. We quickly skimmed the menu and found out that there were very good entrees from 8 to 13 dollars, sushi and sashimi in between 15 and 18 dollars, and mains from 23 to 26 dollars. Quite acceptable I would say... :)

For a dinner of two people we ordered: one entree, one sushi/sashimi, and one main with a cup of rice each.

As entree after a small contention we ordered the Spicy Squid (11 dollars). The cup came with a mildly spicy squid fried and sided with a very light mayonnaise and a leaf of salad. The combination was fantastic and delightful: the mayonnaise was very light and the crispy squid matched perfectly. Not really spicy but just as necessary. The dinner started very well...

We then moved to the Lightly Scorched, Yellow Tail Salmon (sashimi, 15 dollars). This dish come with a selection of salmon an other fishes in small pieces - 6 to be exact - 3 different types. We both tasted each different type and they were very delicate and special I especially like the tuna one.

As main dish we decided to go for the Wabi Sabi Signature Broad Bill Tuna (26 dollars) that is tuna with pumpkin, and other veggies all of them in a very nice lightly sour sauce. The tuna was very delicate in taste and the sauce quite nice. I really liked this way of having tuna (well I normally eat tuna by buying cans at the supermarket then you can imagine....).

All the food was really good but I still felt a little bit hungry so I went for a fusion sashimi dish: Salmon and Avocado Fusion Sashimi (18 dollars)!... The combination of Avocado and Salmon was quite tempting and my guess was absolutely not disappointed when the waitress came with the course: a perfectly and raffinate composition of slices of salmon and avocado organized in a veery artistic cylinder topped with red onion stripes... oh that was incredible... and the taste as good and delicate as its appearance.

Well time to sum up, we did not select any dessert, and went straight for the bill, which was 84.50 dollars... well not really cheap but it worth it all. I strongly recommend this place to anyone who likes Japanese cuisine... the atmosphere, the food, and more...

Thanks Huong!

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!

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!

Papa Gino's

Address: 221 Lygon St, 3053 Carlton, Melbourne, Victroria, Australia
Web site: http://www.papaginos.com.au/index.html
Phone: +61 03 9347 5758

We came there yesterday Me, a colleague, and my supervisor Michael. We were uncertain about the place to stop so we went looking in Lygon and stopped at Papa Gino's. The name and the website suggest that this place is run by Italians... Well I cannot say, but they service Italian food.
It's the first time I stop eating in a supposed to be Italian restaurant... because I generally prefer to try different kind of food here.... but I will also have to try this to see how is it.
Papa Gino's has a full menu of Italian dishes and it also features pizzas. I decided to go for the pasta and I had meat ravioli with tuna sauce as a cream on it. This was a really weird decision because it si definitely not Italian in the combination of the flavor.... but anyways it was my choice and not the proposal of the restaurant: for pastas they allow you to combine the kind of pasta that you want with any other sauce that they offer... another interesting but strange thing.
My supervisor got a pizza, and my colleague pasta Carbonara.
The food tasted good even with my awkward combination. The ravioli were nice, the tuna sauce tasted really good, and the dish was generous... Its presentation was also nice. Even my colleagues were pretty satisfied... well I have to say I've never seen a Carbonara made with ham instead of bacon..... but anyways.
The price? not really expensive as you can see from their on-line menu.