Eat, Eat, Eat and Eat!

Day 117 (27 November 2010)

Our food adventure in the suburbs started at 10am and ended at 11pm.

Other than eating, it was still eating!

Jiaqi suggested renting a car to get out of the city and we were all game for it. She was our "Interactive GPS" for our food adventure, a GPS that gave directions in Hokkien, told the drivers to signal and even warned them of red light. Haha. She knew the way very well as she used to live in the area where we were going during her university days. The suburb feels so different from the city, no tall buildings, traffic weren't so heavy, no trams but it seems more happening than the city!

We picked up the car at 10am and this time round, there was no free upgrade. We were given a Nissian Mirca, a little too small for the 5 of us. The boys took turns to be the drivers and sat in front. Luckily the 3 of us were small enough to fit into the back. :)

Our first stop - Dim Sum at Imperial Kingdom

Imperial Kingdom is Jiaqi's fave dim sum place. When we reached at 11am, the restaurant had just opened its doors and some of the waiters looked las if they had just got out of bed. There was a smell in the restaurant and everything looked rather old. We waited for a while for the dim sum to be pushed around and everyone tucked in immediately as we were hungry! The dim sum was hit and miss. Some were good, some were average. The 炸云吞 was my favourite. It was fried to perfection. The skin was crispy and the filling was moist and delicious. The sweet and sour sauce was a perfect complement! 鲜虾肠粉 is a must for me whenever I have dim sum. I was very happy that their 鲜虾肠粉 was good too. We have tried 肠粉 that were too cakey and had shrimps that were more like 蝦米 but the one here was smooth and had big and plump shrimps. The 虾饺 was huge and filled with prawns. However, their 流沙包 was rather disappointing. It was flowy but the salted yolk taste was overpowered by the milk.

The 5 of us were stuffed and could hardly move. Mr Tan found the food better than Shark's Fin House. The bill came up to be less than $100, which was cheaper and definitely a better dining experience than Shark's Fin House.

Second Stop - Chadstone Shopping Centre

With our stomachs full, it is time for some exercise. We headed to Chadstone for some shopping!! There is a 50% storewide discount at Polo Ralph and needless to say, that was our first stop. I bought a polo-tee for myself while Mr Tan bought 2. Jiaqi and Jasmine bought alot! I was deciding if I should buy for Bro but I think he has more than enough clothes and his current fave brand is Fred Perry so I shall not waste my $ on him. Haha. Chadstone is a huge shopping centre with luxurious brands such as LV, Miu Miu, Chanel and Gucci. There are so many shops that I can spend at least 2 days there. But I am not working now, so I need to curb my spending. Moreover, I intend to shop when I go back to shopping paradise in Dec! But I will be going Chadstone the next time I need some retail therapy. Mr Tan can head to Toys R Us while I am there. :P After walking around for a while, we decided to go for desserts. Yes, eat again!

Third stop - The Pancakes Parlour

Jiaqi and Shenton have a friend working at Pancake Parlour so we headed there for some pancakes. We had Alice in Wonderland and Chocolate Jubilee. We only ordered 2 to share among the five of us. It was enough as we were still quite full from the morning dim sum. Shenton was busy talking to his friend while the four of us devoured the pancakes. Pancakes always taste so good with ice cream. Yummy.

Fourth stop - Asian Grocery Supermarket

Time for some grocery shopping. Our GPS (Jiaqi) couldn't remember the place and we were lost. She could only remember that it was in Springvale. She called a friend for directions and we were there at our fourth stop within 5 minutes. The shopping centre was like "Little Vietnam". Vietnamese bread, vietnamese restaurants, vietnamese signboards and lots of vietnamese. They sell the same stuff as the Asian Grocery stores in the city but according to Jiaqi, they are cheaper but the variety is not as much as the ones in the city.

Fifth stop - Rock Kung Chinese Restaurant (發記)

The 5 of us were in shorts and the weather has turned chilly. It was windy and so so cold. We did not make any reservations at the restaurant and had to wait for a table. We were hungry and had already decided on the menu. Crabs, Duck and Pork Ribs. We had 2 crabs, each was 2.25pounds. 1 was cooked with salted egg and the other with 姜蔥. There was no chilli crab here and sadly, both crab dishes were almost tasteless. There was no sweetness of the crab and the salted egg yolk was insufficient to make any impact on the dish. I prefer the chilli crabs from Pacific House. Luckily the pork ribs and duck were not too bad. The meal came up to be $200 as the crabs cost $25 per pound which was much cheaper than Pacific House. I won't want to return here for dinner again. I'm sure there are better options in the area.

Everyone was not really full after the meal but there were only 3 dishes and after a while, 有點膩 and Mr Tan was craving for dessert again.

Last stop - Giorgios

Jiaqi said that she will bring us to have this place where the Sticky Date Pudding is the best in Melbourne. It was raining and freaking cold when we reached there. It was past 9 but Giorgios was crowded. Thankfully we got a seat inside. The Sticky Date Pudding was really big and came with butterscotch sauce. The pudding, coupled with the butterscotch sauce was simply, heavenly. It was indeed the best I had tasted so far. We had so much fun on our 13-hour adventure and it certainly brought me closer to Jasmine and Jiaqi. Cheers to our friendship! :)

 

p/s: the post only managed to be up on Sunday but the adventure was on Saturday!