fancypants mac & cheese

I distinctly remember being ten years old and looking forward to Tuesday tennis lessons not for the tennis itself, but for the post-training visit to McDonalds. Needless to say, I was slightly, *ahem* heavy as a kid. Fast forward to now, and I find myself forgetting how exactly drive-through works as I head to Maccas for the first time in more than two years.

While their burgers just aren't as appealing to me as they used to, one bite of the piping hot fries reminded me why so many others in keep coming back. It reminded me of all the other guilty pleasures from childhood that I can't seem to quit, even after my tastes have changed.

Yu-u and yakitori

Despite talk about it having some of the best Japanese lunch sets in Melbourne, there's a lot of mystery that surrounds Yu-u. A quick google will find some Urbanspoon reviews and a couple blog posts about it, but don't expect to find an official website or any pictures of the food. Yu-u has earned the reputation of being one of Melbourne's best kept secrets, and judging by its nondescript entrance off in a side alley in the CBD and strict no photo-taking policy, it seems intent on keeping it that way.

on my plate - betel leaf topped with chicken @ red spice road

Places like Red Spice Road in the city make me glad I work in the city. Sure, the 45 minute commute on the train after the daily struggle to find a parking spot can be tough, but it makes being surrounded by hundreds of restaurants makes it worth it. Whether I actually have the money to afford eating at these places, is another story. 

I ended up bringing my lunch for two weeks in the lead up to my Red Spice Road lunch banquet, just to make sure I wouldn't feel guilty about the minor splurge. And guilty, I do not feel at all. The much-anticipated pork belly was not overhyped at all, and the watermelon and barramundi salad was also pretty good. Before all the mains arrived though,  came the betel leaf topped with chicken, coriander, and chilli.  Small, light, with a slight kick from the chilli, it had my mouth watering and excited about what was to come next. 

Red Spice Road

27 McKillop St, Melbourne

omurice

I don't know why Japanese people seem to be the only ones to have stumbled on the secret formula for amazing food - the addition of rice to other foods (Japanese or otherwise) will increase the awesomeness exponentially. 

Don't trust me? Then you have to try their taco rice. Or if you're looking for a more 'Italian' influence, maybe, some doria, which is essentially a gratin with rice in place of the pasta. And people in Nagasaki swear by their Toruko rice (Turkish rice). 

on my plate - xiao long bao @ Hutongs

I must admit - these became one of my favourite dumplings at yum cha purely because of the novelty - I love the idea of biting into a dumpling only to find it filled with steaming hot soup. That being said, I'm usually disappointed when I do order them since nine times out of ten, they're not as juicy and full of flavour as I had imagined them to be. Unfortunately, I've found out the hard way that places that do a mean Shanghai pork bun are few and far between.

After hearing that xiao long bao was Hutong's speciality, there was a part of me that was expecting them to be overhyped. Could they really be bursting with that much soup?

It took a couple visits, but I can now safely say yes. I couldn't tell if they were that juicy or I was salivating that much, which is why I had to go for a second time. And order two serves. You know, just to be sure.

Hutong
14-16 Market Lane
Melbourne

ga prow gai thai basil chicken

In hindsight, one of the benefits of working at the family restaurant when I was younger was the free meals that came with every shift. Request anything on the menu (and sometimes off the menu), and the cook would whip it up on the spot. Of course, being raised on Thai food my whole life meant I never really appreciated it, and just thought of it as 'food'. It was only when the restaurant closed down and my mum returned to Thailand did I then start to miss Thai food, and also realise that some of the other local Thai restaurants didn't really cut it for me.

It's been almost nine years since the restaurant closed, but I still remember the look the cook would give me every time I requested my meal: Khao Ga Prow Gai, hold the basil. With my limited Thai, I didn't realise what I was saying, and only on a recent trip to Thailand and talking to my mum, did it finally click.  I was asking for 'Basil chicken and rice' without the basil.

Those strange, judgemental looks I received finally make sense.

on my plate - chocolate cream tart @ le petite gateau

"Urgh. Chocolate."

It's not what you'd normally expect to hear from someone who thinks about food 24/7, but I've found that recently, I'm not as pro-chocolate as I used to be. I don't hate it, but I usually find myself choosing fruit-based desserts over cocoa ones. I don't know why - maybe because my taste buds are maturing. Or maybe it was the excessive chocolate binging that would happen on a weekly basis for about a year. I guess we'll never know.

But add coffee to the equation, and all my aversions to chocolate will soon be forgotten. This coffee chocolate cream tart found that happy medium between cloyingly-sweet and overly bitter. The vanilla bean-infused cream balanced out the bitterness of the dark chocolate and coffee filling. And true to the shop's name, the cake was quite petite. It's probably a good thing. I'd hate for me to lose my taste for mocha-flavoured things too.

Le Petite Gateau
458 Little Collins St
Melbourne