Chiangmai Thai Cuisine - Carlton

Name: Chiangmai Thai Cuisine

Address:
121 Lygon St
Carlton 3053 VIC

Phone: (03) 9349 1999

Food: Thai
Average price: $5.10-$12,Mains: $9.90-$25

Complimentary:  Nothing.

We ordered: 

Pad See Ew - $10.90
Stir fried flat rice noodle with vegetable, egg and dark sweet soy sauce.

I loved the blue and white plate and the choice of using chopsticks. I ordered the tofu version assuming it would be vegetarian but I think I spied some chicken on my plate, perhaps I was meant to clarify vegetable and tofu.
Other than that the dish was delicious - sweet and salty with a mixture of textures, just simple delicious food.

Gang Keow Wan - $10.90
Green curry with vegetable, coconut milk and bamboo shoots.

N says after trying this dish once she orders it every single time - it's so good she isn't tempted to try something new.

Cost: $21.80 for two main courses.

Service: Great. The service was deft but unobtrusive and we were given a large carafe of water which was replaced when empty.

Atmosphere: Asia neutrals meet shocking pink. The overall decor is a mixture of metallic and deep brown woods with ornate dividers and lantern lights. The accent the tables with fuchsia flowers which is lovely, however the completely fuchsia booths in the front are a little over the top but very comfy. The vibe is very chilled out and laid back with plenty of space between tables so conversation can flow freely.
 

Parking: Good - there's a decent amount of street parking.

Website:  http://www.chiangmaithai.com.au/

Hours: Daily 11.30am-3pm, 5pm-10pm

Would I return: Yes - if I am ever in the neighbourhood and hungry.

Esposito at Toofey's

Name: Esposito at Toofey's
162 Elgin St
Carlton 3053 VIC

Phone: (03) 9347 9838

Food: Italian, ModOz, Seafood
Average price: Entree: $19-$26, Mains: $26-$39, Dessert: $5-$18

Complimentary: 4 pieces of sour dough bread with olive oil and salt.


The bread was fine, cold but spongy enough.

Salad of seaweed, mint, parsley, dill and mustard dressing.


This got our taste buds jumping out of their chairs in excitement. The herbs, seaweed, dressing and chilli offered a multitude of flavours and was fun to eat.

We ordered dinner(I had the $35 for two courses, $15 for an additional course deal:

Entree: Mud crab, avocado and green apple salad, young spinach and spinach essence - $26


Ryan was more than a little shocked at the petite size of this entree. The strongest flavour was the apple, which he also felt made it a little runny due to the juice. He ordered it in anticipation of savouring the crab and avocado, but as the apple washed everything in it's tartness, he was left disappointed. He also felt the stale bread chips were superfluous.

Roasted pumpkin gyoza, burnt butter and sage with red and yellow tear drop tomatoes - $19 (part of deal)


As soon as my fork sunk into the doughy pasta I felt myself deflate, after having been excited by the complimentary appetiser. The pasta was stretchy and gluggy gooey, I couldn't eat it. I scraped the sweet pumpkin puree out and that was tasty. I couldn't really taste the sage though, just the tomatoes and pumpkin. Had the pasta been cooked I probably would have really liked it.

Mains: Quail wrapped with pancetta, caramelised pear tart, raddichio, vincotto - $24


This was an entree that Ryan ate as his main coupled with a side dish to beef it up. He quite liked it. The quail was well cooked (although he was a little put off by its little arms) and he loved the tart and vincotto. He said he felt like something was missing that would elevate it from a good dish to a great dish.

Salmon, battered zucchini flower with ligurian olive paste (part of deal)


This, sadly, was boring. The olive was the only flavour that leapt out to me. The salmon was cooked well (to medium) and I think it was wrapped in seaweed although I couldn't taste it. The few components didn't really add anything.

Side: Potatoes - $9

Some of the potatoes were good, others were bland and not completely cooked inside.

Drinks: Orange juice - $5.50
Ryan raved about this and even asked what type of oranges they used (navel). It was much sweeter and smoother than any orange juice I have had, and I found it a little artificial tasting because of that.

Dessert: Hot date tart with frangipane and vanilla bean ice cream - $18 (part of deal)


I'd heard good things about this, and after waiting 1hour+ for it I was hoping it was worth the wait, it wasn't. Overall the tart was dry and the date left a weird feeling in my mouth. The ice cream was half melted when it was placed in front of me, as there was no other decoration that made it seem even more sad looking. I couldn't really taste the fragrant vanilla in the ice cream either, which just turned to water almost in my mouth.

Corella pear tart with custard and blood orange sorbet - $17


This was pretty horrible. The pears were still too firm and devoid of any other spicing or flavouring. They were swallowed up in the cold plain custard, also devoid of flavouring, the one at the supermarket poured from cardboard cartons had more depth. The crust was thin, and flavourless. The sorbet had flavour but was also quite melted when it came, it also didn't work with the cold tart at all.

Cost: $131.50 for two entrees, two mains, 1 side, 1 drink and two desserts.

Service: OK. At first we found the wait staff really friendly, easy going and great. The starter, entree and main came out in lightning speed within 30minutes of ordering, we were gobsmacked and very happy as we didn't want a long evening out. Unfortunately it went downhill from there. The restaurant became full, including an upstairs function, and our desserts that we pre-ordered with the rest of the food just over an hour to arrive. After the first 30minutes the waitress told us our desserts would be out soon, they still took another 30mins after that. We were offered a free drink after 45mins which we declined. In the end they offered us 2 complimentary desserts at our NEXT visit which was nice but the wait was just too long when compared the the quickness with which the first three dishes came out.

Atmosphere: Wonderful. As soon as we walked in we felt comfortable and relaxed despite the small room and a table so close to the door. The waiters made us feel at ease and were very friendly. The decor is a mixture of woods and mustard against white, it has the ease of a beach side estate without being too sea side. It does get very noisy though. One thing we have to mention, there seems to be a certain ethnic majority out of the patrons, practically everyone in the restaurant, bar us and two people of Asian decent, all looked like Anglo-Saxon Aussies - absolutely everyone. And most were 30+, I can't describe it, but almost everyone looked the same, it was a little weird.


Parking: Ample street parking.

Website: http://www.espositofood.com/

Hours: Mon-Fri noon-3pm, Mon-Sat 6pm-10pm

Would I return: No.

Abla's - Carlton

Name: Abla's

Address: 109 Elgin St
Carlton 3053 VIC
Phone: (03) 9347 0006

Food: Lebanese
Average price: Starters- $15, Main - $25, Dessert - $3
Banquet - $50 per person.

Complimentary: Baked pita chips with some olives and pickled carrots(?).We had the banquet which consisted of:

• Mixed dips served with fresh pita - Labnee: this was tangy and creamy with a little heat. Nice.
• Hummus bi Tahini - a nice chickpea dip with lemon and peanut-y tahini.
• Baba Ghanooj - some found the eggplant overwhelmingly smoky but I thought it was nice.
• Makaneek (Grilled home-made spiced lamb and beef sausages)- everyone seemed to like these sausages.
• Silverbeet rolls (Silverbeet leaves stuffed with rice, chickpeas, tomato, herbs and spices) - similar in taste to dolmathes except the rice was a little chewy.
• Ladies' fingers (Filo pastry cigars filled with minced lamb, pine nuts and spices) -Well liked.
• Loubyeh (Green beans cooked in a tangy tomato sauce)- These were tender and flavourful, except they came out a little cool.
• Chicken wings (Tender chicken wings baked with garlic and lemon juice) - everyone liked these.
• Tabbouleh (Lebanese salad of parsley, tomato, mint, spring onion and cracked wheat)- Most liked this, I found it had a touch too much lemon.
• Veg Sub - beans with onions - it was nice but a touch bland.
• Kibbee (Casing of minced lamb and cracked wheat stuffed with spiced meat and pine nuts and served with laban)- everyone loved these balls of lamb, and I loved my veg ones - lovely soft texture.
• Falafel (Patties of chick pea, broad bean, parsley, coriander and spices served with tahini tarator)- these fried chickpea fritters were too crunchy and coriander-overloaded for me, but everyone else liked them.
• Lahem mishwee (Pieces of lamb fillet, marinated, grilled and served with tabbouleh) - chunks of marinated lamb - these were tender and Ryan wolfed them down.
• Chicken and rice (Exquisitely flavoured rice pilaff with minced lamb, chicken and almonds) - their most famous dish, wasn't super great, but it was nice.
• Mjadra (veg sub - Lentil and rice pilaff served with yoghurt) - this was my favourite vegetarian meal. The lentil, rice and caramelised onion pilaf went really well with the tangy yoghurt.
• Foulia Medammas (veg sub - Broad beans with tahini, garlic and lemon juice) - these were over lemony for me but everyone else thought they were too spicy.
• Eggplant with tomato - too watery and bland for me.
• Battered fish with sauce (veg sub) - the fish was moist and the condiment went well.
• Lebanese coffee - everyone enjoyed this.
  
• Baklawa (4pcs)- a bit dry.
  
• Turkish delight (4pcs) - no one had any so no idea what it is like.

Cost: $200 - 13 items of food per person for $50each.

Service: Ok- our water was never filled by the waitress, and on two occasions we had to ask for another bottle of water. Abla cam out to say hello and ask if we were ok (one of us was 1metre from the door so there was a lot of draughts). She was very friendly.

Atmosphere: Noisy - the room is tiny - about 8 tables downstairs. A table of 9 was next to us and they were very boisterous which made us have to raise our voices to carry on a conversation. The decor is very homely with dark green hues and maroon fabric chairs.


Parking: Decent - there is a large amount of street parking -however as it close to Lygon st it does tend to fill up quickly at night.

Website: http://www.ablas.com.au/

Hours: Thurs-Fri: noon-3pm;
Mon-Sat: 6-11pm

Would I return: No - i is good value for money, but my yia yia makes similar food for free and it gives me an extra reason to visit more often.

Embrasse - Carlton

Name: Embrasse

Address: 312 Drummond St
Carlton 3053 VIC
Phone: (03) 9347 3312

Food: Modern French/Mod Oz
Average prices: Entrees - $17, Mains - $32, Desserts - $18
Complimentary: Two bread rolls with butter, salt and pepper.

Tasting spoons: One with smoked trout, the other was kohlrabi, pumpkin (?). Can't remember the exact ingredients. They were ok, but nothing really memorable.


We ordered:

Entrees: Smoked ocean trout, grated cauliflower, young beetroots, peas Pimprenelle, yarrow - $17


This was rather interesting with the variety of textures and somewhat salty/sea-like flavours.

Milk poached calf liver, golden shallot, potato and fromage blanc, grenache syrup French sorrel, blooded sorrel - $17


Ryan enjoyed this dish but felt it needed more of the secondary flavours to balance the powerful taste of the liver.

Mains: Home grown meli melo of vegetables, sprouts, flowers and herbs, herbs emulsions - $29


I was really disappointed in this dish in that it was quite bland and boring. The vegetables all had that steamed partially firm texture and all seemed to meld into each other. It was quite watery and boring to eat.

Slow cooked beef cheek, pumpkin, chard - $35


Ryan did not enjoy the beef and found the texture unappetising.

Sides: Aligot – a Provincial cheesy mash potato from the South of France - $ 11

This came in a copper pot which the waitress twirled out to place on our plates. It was rubbery like a mozzarella but more so, but also with more flavour. More cheese than potato. but quite nice.

Desserts: Fresh berries from the garden - $16 dollars


Very simple but tasty berries served with cream. Probably not worth $16 though.

Apricots stuffed with our cheesecake; almond gateau and tuille - $18 dollars

I didn't enjoy this. The apricots were pretty much raw and a little tough to slice through with a spoon. The almond cake crumbs were really sweet just seemed to smother the other textures and flavours, I didn't like eating them. The cheese cake tuille was nice and provided much needed smoothness and a liquid component along with the foam(?). I felt the tuilles served no purpose.

Cost: $151 - 2 entrees, 2 mains, 1 side, 2 desserts, 2 bottle of water. Once again when we asked for water we were given the option of still or sparkling. We were hoping to receive tap water but instead were given a 500ml $12 bottle of water. If still means expensive bottled water then we should also be given the 3rd option of tap water.

Service: Excellent. The staff were friendly and accommodating. The chef came out at one stage to ask each patron if their meals were satisfactory.


Atmosphere: Dull. The restaurant only seats around 30 people, when we arrived at 8:15pm there were 13 other diners. There was very little noise, and very little atmosphere. We could see both the street and the kitchen from our table.


Parking: Limited. There is street parking which was full during our 20mins drive around. The nearest paid parking was full until eventually they allowed people to park in reserved parks. It was $8.50 and about 1-2blocks walk. Arrive early as you may be looking for a car park for a while, probably due to its proximity to Lygon street.

Website: http://www.embrasserestaurant.com.au/index.html

Hours: Wed-Sun 6.30pm-9.30pm
Fri noon-9.30pm
Sat-Sun 9.30am-2.30pm

Would I return: No. Food was OK but not spectacular, the ambiance was also lacking. The parking situation was also frustrating.