Demitri's Feast

I'm a firm believer in the idea that no one cooks meat like the Greek's do. Being an avid meat lover, I always look forward to heading out to a Greek restaurant for dinner, knowing that a big mixed grill plate of various types of chicken and lamb awaits me. It never occurred to me that this hearty cuisine could be consumed for breakfast or lunch...that was until I headed to Dimitri's Feast.

Nestled amongst the hustle and bustle of Swan Street lies this tiny little Greek eatery. The place is very cosy, with only a couple of tables placed inside, but features a courtyard out the back which often opens at the beginning of the lunch rush. 

Homemade granola

Okay, so it wasn't as if I was ordering a meat platter for breakfast. But I had never really tried anything on the lighter and lunchy-er (?) side of the Greek cuisine. Even though I have already been twice for both lunch and breakfast, the interesting and creative Greek inspired menu never ceases to amaze me.

Today I went for the scrambled eggies. Now I make a pretty mean plate of scrambled eggs, and very rarely do I order them out. So I definitely had my judgmental shoes on. These ones came with goat feta on toast, confit tomatoes & sauteed spinach ($17.50).

Scrambled eggs w. goat feta on toast, confit tomatoes & sauteed spinach ($17.50)

Although I couldn't finish the 8 eggs they probably scrambled, I made a decent dint, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The eggs were speckled with bits of feta which gave a nice salty surprise, and the tomatoes were sweet and juicy. Somehow the bread underneath my egg mountain remained toasty and hard which was a bonus. #soggybreadisfkd.

My lovely friend had also visited Dimitri's before, and on her last visit tried the semolina pancakes. She had been instantly swayed and couldn't resist ordering them again.

Semolina pancakes w. sweet yoghurt, rose jam, pistachios & orange blossom syrup ($15)

Who had even heard of semolina pancakes anyway? I hadn't thats fo sho. But imagine this. Imagine the BEST crumpets you have ever eaten. Yep. Well this was close. They were crunchy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside. Fill me up with these over regular pancakes any day. The pistachios gave that nice crunch and the orange blossom syrup that extra gooey sweetness (which possibly wasn't even needed but was mopped up regardless). I thought the yoghurt might be that tart Greek yoghurt that hippies and health freaks love but thankfully it was creamy and sweet.

Lots of homemade Greek sweets. Surely made by someones Yia Yia...

No wonder this place has won so many awards. How many other places do you know that provide modern Greek cuisine for breakfast and lunch? Not many my friend. The menu features SO many dishes you wouldn't find at any other brunch joint. Thanks for the feast Demitri. Oooooopa!

Demitri's Feast 

141 Swan Street, Richmond

Izakaya Chuji

This week marked the closure of a cafe that I had worked at for the past couple of months. Hey unemployment.  So last night, the now-jobless work gang decided to get together and spend what little tips money we had accumulated.

In just under 6 months, our cafe had made a grand total of $350 in tips....wow  - _-  I'd like to take a moment to thank anyone who decided to tip us more than the usual generous 5c...

We decided we would all have a night on the town and spend our earnings. There were 5 of us so decided to go somewhere were were could share dishes. We went with Izakaya Chuji.

Now I apologise in advance for how poor the photo quality is. The ol' trusty iPhone isn't so good at taking pictures in the dark...

Inside, this place was buzzing. The restaurant is quite narrow and long, however it didn't feel like we were squished or crowded. We had luckily booked a table and were seated right away. 

At the end of the corridor sat a nice little sushi and sashimi station, where a happy little sushi man was working.

The menu was about 7 pages long, and there being 5 of us meant we chose a couple of different dishes each to share.

The first dish we chose was the takoyaki (pancake balls with octopus meat). These are very popular in Japanese cuisine and are seen at most japanese cafes/restaurants.

Takoyaki (pancake balls with octopus)- 10 pieces for $10.80

Next we ordered a serve of the vegetable yaki soba noodles ($12.8)

Next came a serve of corn butter- which was practically corn and bacon cooked in a buttered sauce.

Corn butter ($8)

Then came my favourite dish, the Age Gyoza. It was found on the specials board and it was deep fried prawn and vegetable dumplings (5 pieces for $7.50). It came with big dollop of that amazing Japanese mayonnaise.

Nothing beats a good chicken teriyaki. Every Japanese restaurant will have it on their menu, and you can be guaranteed every restaurant will do it differently. This chicken teriyaki was a winner.

Teriyaki chicken ($15)

Ok I lied. Maybe this dish was my favourite (also deep fried). It was the tempura combination which featured prawn and vegetables deep fried in batter ($18.80). We felt piggy so ordered two serves :)

Tempura prawn has to be up there with the best tasting thing in the world

Nasu dengaku (eggplant with miso topping)- ($9.80)

Gyu kushi (grilled beef skewer with teriyaki sauce) $4 per piece.

Edamame (boiled soy bean pods) $7

Ok I promise we are almost finished with dishes... Another we ordered was the small sushi selection ($20). I'm not a big fan of raw fish- and am a bit of a stubborn whimp and won't try them- so I just had some of the prawn sushi.

LAST but not least we ordered the shitake ebi hasamiage (mushrooms stuffed with prawns). Once again these goodies were deep fried....so you can't really go wrong.

Prawn stuffed mushrooms ($10.80)

So that's it on the food side of things! We also ordered two bottles of wine and the bill came to a total of $260. Wow, almost $350 dollars goes fast. So with our leftover $100, we all thought we'd stop by a cool cocktail bar called Seamstress. If you haven't been, I suggest you GO. It's dimly lit (good for a sexy date) with a cool vietnamese-sweatshop and garments hanging from the ceiling kinda thing going on.

Props inside stairwell of Seamstress

Ni hao ma

So pretty, pity about my photo

The cocktail menu was very extensive and we all chose something different.

I chose the "Grapefruit Julep". It had vodka, lime, honey, mint & pomegranate topped with fresh pink grapefruit juice and was served in a ballon of crushed ice ($14).

This one was called the "Champagne Daisy", raspberry syrup, cointreau, brandy, lemon juice & whites shaken and topped with champagne ($13).

This one was my favourite- "Sherry Cobbler". It was a beautiful blend of dry sherries, orange curacao, pineapple, lemon and orange wedges with a splash of sugar ($11).

I can't remember what this was...sorry

So that was our Japanese and cocktail night out! I would love to head back to seamstress sometime to check out their dinner menu...

Izakaya Chuji

165 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne CBD

Seamstress

113 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne CBD

Chin Chin

I can't even tell you how many times I've said "We HAVE to go to Chin Chin". One day however, myself and a friend thought we would go in early and see what it was like. We thought a quarter to six was pretty early- and agreed that surely it wouldn't be busy. WRONG. We arrived to a huge line of city slickers who looked like they had been waiting hours. We were told there would be a three hour wait- so pretty much said you've got to be kidding me and left.

So that was Chin Chin. The end.

Nahhht. 

This time I went super early and snagged a table. There was only three other tables full so I was feeling pretty smug slash weird that we were about to eat dinner at 4:30pm.

Rookie photographer 

Empty tables at 4:30pm

Loner

Whilst I waited for my hot date to arrive, the waitress proceeded to fill my water glass and ask if I needed anything 3 or 4 times. She was so friendly and chatty, no doubt she thought I had been stood up. If she was any nicer she would have sat down and eaten 4:30 dinner with me...

When my date arrived, I had practically memorised the menu and knew exactly which cocktail I was starting with.

Drinks menu, naughty

Now, I didn't document the exact flavour of my cocktail nor take a picture of the cocktail menu- so my cocktail went a little along the lines of...

Jasmine green tea infused vodka with elderflower and passionfruit juice...? ($15)

It was so sweet, fruity, and tasted just like a fruit punch. Very very easy to drink. Somehow whenever I see elderflower syrup on the menu, I order it, regardless of the fact I have no idea what it is. It tastes like heavvvvven.

Now it was time for some food! By now it was about 5pm, and funnily enough was already starting to get busy. I was pretty much in charge of the menu due to the fact I could practically recite it.

Y u put so many good fings on menu

I had recommendations from a friend of some of the dishes she loved, as she had been a couple of times (one of those weirdoes that waits 2 hours for a table).

The waitress came over and gave us the low down of the whole "sharing plates" deal. So, we ordered two entrees and two mains to share. I love sharing. The first that came out was the chin chin pork roll ups- which came with red braised suckling pig, pancakes, slaw + asian herbs. We knew we had made the right choice because it seemed everyone around us was ordering it too.

Chin chin pork roll ups- red braised suckling pig, pancakes, slaw + asian herbs ($18)

Look how good mine was

From the entrees we also ordered the wok fried salt and pepper squid with nuoc cham + vietnamese mint (small $14).

Crishpy squid

For mains, I knew we had to go for the massaman curry with braised beef because I had heard it was amazing. We were leaning towards the grilled chicken green curry with salted egg (-_-) and something else but we decided to go with just the one curry and something else. 

Massaman curry of coconut, braised hopkins river beef brisket with kipfler potatoes, peanuts & crispy shallots ($25)

The bowl did look nicer, but to be honest, I forgot to take a picture before I ate it. Cardinal rule of food bloggers whoops.

We also ordered the pad thai noodles with king prawn, peanuts, dried shrimp & cucumber ($27).

Sorry chinny chin, but my local thai restaurant does a preeeeety good pad thai- and this being three times the price didn't make it any nicer. The prawns were very fresh though, and tasted like they had literally been caught and cooked. I didn't like the mini dried shrimps either....a bit of a crunchy-salty fishy-surprise in every bite that I didn't particularly need.

We couldn't even finish the curry we were so full. The dishes are quite substantial and the price is pretty decent considering how immaculate the food is. 

Booked out by 5:30pm...on a tuesday.

If you are waiting for a table, theres also the option of heading downstairs to the "go go bar", where you can have a drink and get silly before a table becomes available.

Downstairs in the go go bar

Tres romantique (don't think thats a  real word)

Theres no doubt in my little food obsessed mind that I will be coming back. It would be a great idea to come with a group (EARLY) as there are so many dishes you could share and try. I would have dinner at anytime of the day if it was THIS good...

Chin Chin

125 Flinders Lane, Melbourne CBD

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