When it comes to bustling dining hubs in the South Eastern suburbs, Kingsway in Glen Waverely takes the cake by a country mile. The subsequent problem that eventuates in Kingsway is sifting through the raft of outlets on offer to find the true hidden gems. Precariously, we here at Hashtag decided to embark on such a daunting task.

First stop?

Straits of Malacca which specialises in Malaysian hawker street food.

The first thing that strikes you as you walk in is that this is certainly not a date night restaurant. Straits of Malacca may be a franchise but the interiors are struggling, the service is leaning on irreverent but we didn't come here for fine dining. We came here for the food.

The waiter wasn't messing around so we didn't either, going straight for the rice dishes with assorted fried goodies that were neither good for the heart nor keeping a clean set of hands.

As expected, the dishes came out both in an unceremonious manner and in a reasonable time.

The traditional wrapping and seaweed pouches for the vegetable cakes were a nice touch garnering some sort of semblance to the actual Straits of Malacca plastered grandly on the walls.

Of course, the fried stuff was good (Let's be honest, generally most things fried taste good). The accompaniments including the beans, chutney and other assorted vegetables were decent and rounded the dish off well albeit in an extremely oily one. (The rice and the pappadum were the standard fare)

Portion sizing was good and reasonable for the price but this certainly wasn't in the sub $10 'cheap eats' category.

Our 'cash-only' exit was brisk and utilitarian which funnily surmised the experience as a whole. Straits of Malacca is decent but easily lost in the sea of other eateries in the Kinsgway strip.

Stranded on the west side of Flinders Street with a ravenous appetite and burdensome shopping bags in tow, we decided we weren't going to move much for a lunch. So upon reaching the second joint along the street we pushed expectations aside and straddled into the most appealing and clean place we could find.  The name 'Four Seasons House' was not very indicative of what particular cuisine this outlet specialised in but we soon found out they focused on Malaysian dishes with Asians staples thrown in to bolster the menu. The lunch crowd was mainly office goers and a small space but it was obvious that value for money was the biggest drawcard here.   Indeed the Mongolian beef that we opted for, clocked in at only $9 complete with orange slices and spring rolls (the frozen party food variety).  It would be fair to say that the taste was satisfying for the price and decently presented.  Nevertheless, a good place for a quick and cheap Asian meal.  Follow Hashtag On Social Media: Tweets by @hashtagblogau