It's been a slow and sweeping revolution. From the fringes of Richmond and Springvale to sweeping the outer metropolitan suburbs and the CBD. Roll'd rode the wave all the way to becoming a mega-successful franchise. We're talking, of course, about Vietnamese street food.

In the lull of the usual food court offerings, Roll'd has certainly been a breath of fresh air taking its upmarket price offerings to the suburbs. We are devout devotees of Roll'd's Rice Paper Rolls but this time we decided to venture out and try the Bun Noodle Salads.

At $10.90 a pop for the Bun Noodle Salad with Lemongrass Beef and then with Tofu & Vegetarian Rolls, this certainly wasn't Maccas.

Bun Noodle Salad with Lemongrass Beef ($10.90)

Bun Noodle Salad with Tofu and Vegetarian Rolls ($10.90)

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.

Capitalising on the rising trend of Korean food in Melbourne, Suda presents a quirky mix of Korean fusion that seems to be spreading its tentacles across the city. Nestled in the confines of Healeys Lane in the heart of the city's legal district, Suda serves a steady stream of office workers during the busy lunch hours and a more select crowd for dinner.

Given it was lunch time and we were on the hunt for an interesting take on Korean, Suda was a perfect match. The restaurant itself was fairly busy but the waiter was eager to please and the service was quite good overall and we appreciated the fact that they were hasty to meet all our needs.

We didn't have much time on our hands with just under 25 minutes till our next meeting so we opted for the Bulgogi K-School Lunch Tray ($10.00). 

Bulgogi K-School Lunch Tray ($10.00)

The food came out at a reasonable speed and we were quick to tuck in. Overall, the food seemed a little underwhelming and nothing special really. The bulgogi was nothing to rave about and same could be said about the rice and the accompaniments. Perhaps, we didn't have a go at the true stars of the fusion menu, but for now, Suda just seemed to miss the mark slightly which doesn't bode well given the wealth of Korean and Asian options around it.

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At the very heart of it, Zambrero is a brilliant concept as healthy Mexican food chain dreamed up by Dr. Sam Prince that donates a meal to the hungry in a developing country or Australian community every time a meal is purchased with over 7 million meals donated to date. However, any food outlet has to deliver tasty food to survive in the fearsome CBD food scene that is Melbourne so we had to try it out.

Black Rice Powerbowl with Beef ($13.90)

A quick glance of the nutritional information from the Zambrero website says that all is pretty good if you stay away from the sauces (the sauces could send the sodium content soaring to an alarming percentage of your recommended daily intake).

The bowl itself is well balanced with well cooked rice and a variety of tried and tested Mexican flavours. The beef is flavoursome but the meat is little too minced for us and we would definitely prefer a few more substantial pieces. Further to this, the Jalapeños add a nice kick and are must to get those spice senses tingling but the portion as a whole could be on the lighter side for someone with a large appetite especially for the price.

Nevertheless, not a bad way to get a feel good Mexican fix, albeit on the slightly pricier side.

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It's Melbourne's "It" restaurant. The name on everybody's lips and the king of Chris Lucas' casual dining empire. Chin Chin (which is actually Japanese slang for penis). And we're here. Minus the typical queues given the unusual dining time of 2:30 PM on a weekday.

Despite the timing we are still bundled right next to (perhaps uncomfortably so) another pair of diners reminding us that this is certainly not the place for a business meeting or any private conversation for that matter. The noise is jarring, the music loud and the cacophony of it all means Chin Chin is certainly not the place for a quiet lunch.

Nevertheless, food reigns supreme and for all the buzz that is still Chin Chin's main drawcard. Glancing at the menu, prices are not cheap but aren't inordinately expensive either.

Given that we were keen to return to our Christmas shopping this was going to be a quick stop and we went straight to the mains. A simple combination would do so it was to be the Grain Fed Sher Wagyu Sirloin stir fried with Jungle Curry paste, krachai, cha om & holy basil ($28.50) and the Seared Yellow-Fin Tuna ($28.50) (apologies, we can't recall the exact accompaniments for that particular dish) accompanied by two lots of steamed brown rice of course ($4 each).

Grain Fed Sher Wagyu Sirloin stir fried with Jungle Curry paste, krachai, cha om & holy basil ($28.50)

Seared Yellow-Fin Tuna ($28.50)

Knowing that much of Chin Chin's dishes are prepared nearly completely offsite in Moorabbin before final touches are added in the CBD kitchen (as this terrific Broadsheet feature profiles), the fact that the dishes arrived in almost five minutes was no surprise.

The tuna was a decent affair with a subtle cooling tanginess to it from the salad but didn't amount to much in comparison to the punchy Wagyu stir fry.  As with many other restaurants around Melbourne, the waiter fulfilled the courtesy of warning us that the Wagyu would be hot. Twice. Upon ordering and then again on the dish's arrival. As with other restaurants, we dismissed these warnings as exaggerated for the quasi-spice dishes they were bundled with.

How wrong we were.

The wagyu was delicious but strikingly hot at the same time which left us wondering why there weren't more cucumbers to cool down with. Despite the heat, this was certainly a winner with an appropriately generous lump of wagyu sitting in the devilish curry paste to boot.

Coconut Sago with Sweetcorn Ice Cream Praline and Puffed White Rice ($14)

Finally the Coconut Sago with Sweetcorn Ice Cream Praline and Puffed White Rice ($14) was a delightful end to the meal with a sublime mix of crunchy texture intertwined with some iconic Asian desserts.

But the question remains: Is Chin Chin worth the hype? Service was nice and attentive and the food was generally pretty good. Definitely on the pricey side though but certainly some great flavours.

By no stretch of the imagination is Chin Chin Melbourne's best restaurant but it's pretty good and the perfect start to a noisy and exciting night.

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The shopping frenzy that is Christmas is fast approaching and if you're like most Melbournians, you would have left it to the last minute and that means much frantic pacing around the air conditioned meccas of Chadstone and other outer suburban shopping super centres. As a result of these hasty pursuits, food can often be overlooked but it need not be, especially at Chadstone where they're hoisting in food trucks just to spice up the food offering (a clever use of free space we might add).


On the fringe of the MYER carpark, the latest outpost of David Zhou's teahouse empire (after outlets in South Yarra and the CBD) resides snugly beside similar casual dining competitors in PapaRich and Dessert Story.

Teas are of course centre stage here but we were primarily concerned in obtaining a fulfilling meal. However, we did have a pot of Long Jing green tea ($4 per person) to complement our meal and it had a hearty taste and worked well, as expected, with the Chinese cuisine.


Prior to the mains, we ordered the Chili Pork Dumpling ($8.80 for 6 pieces) which were fairly impressive and quite nice with the accompanying bed of sauce.


The success of the dumplings did not extend to the main event however with the Mixed Asian Veggies ($14.80) being the standard stir-fried fair while the Szechuan Pepper Chicken ($13.80) was overwhelmingly salty which dampened the shine of its deep fried goodness.


Unfortunately, Oriental Teahouse was a bit and hit and miss which leaves it to pale in comparison to its sister restaurant in Prahran, David's. The group menu does appear to have some promise so we may return if we need a big refuel after some lengthy shopping.

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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

Amidst the platoon of eateries along Crown's Southbank dining precinct, there is a corner on the St Kilda road end that is home to the most awarded collection of restaurants within the casino. Given this, we made a beeline to this cluster of Qantas touting Australian celebrity chef Neil Perry's Melbourne establishments. The iconic Rockpool Bar and Grill (modern Australian steakhouse), Rosetta (traditional Italian fare) and Spice Temple (contemporary Chinese) had all bagged two stars apiece in the latest iteration of The Age's Good Food Guide. Given our tendency for Asian cuisine, we opted for Spice Temple which is headed up by young and rising Benjamin Pollard.

Bottling high expectations, we entered and we were  promptly escorted to a table for two. The premises is split into two levels with the ground floor much more aesthetically pleasing compared to the painfully dark lower level (good for ambience not reading menus).

Service was great with waiters attentive, dishing warm greetings and enthusiastic to explain the menu.

The menu itself is inspired by different regional provinces with each showcased their individual flare. Admittedly this is not the economical meal you will find in Chinatown and some of the dishes are quite pricey for average portion sizes. Nevertheless, we were looking at the "hot and numbing wagyu beef" accompanied by steamed rice and vegetarian noodles but upon our waiter's recommendation of something less dry, we went for the "House fried rice-house made lap cheong, peas and salted chilli" ($18) and some "Handmade vegetarian noodles with tofu, sesame and Handmade vegetarian noodles with tofu, sesame and Sichuan sauce" ($12).

House fried rice-house made lap cheong, peas and salted chilli ($18)

Handmade vegetarian noodles with tofu, sesame and Handmade vegetarian noodles with tofu, sesame and Sichuan sauce ($12)

We were a bit disappointed at the wait time for the food but the balance of flavours of was very well done. Now. The name 'Spice Temple' adorns the entrance for a reason and boy is the food HOT. We didn't even go for the extra spicy dishes marked in red on the menu but we needed a extended breather halfway through the meal. Some would label this kind of spice overpowering but as spice lovers, we quite enjoyed it. However this level of spice should be an occasional venture.

To cool down, we went for a "Lychee granita with poached gooseberries and elderflower" ($16) (unfortunately we couldn't get a photo) and it was another quite good dish that rounded off the meal nicely.

Having had a chance to sample Spice Temple and one of Neil Perry's restaurants, we will definitely be returning to have more extensive taste of the menu and popping into Rockpool sometime soon as well.

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