Up a discreet flight of stairs on to the 1st floor on Bourke Street, we found The Grand Trailer Park Taverna. A homage to the vintage American diner, you will find Milkshakes, Fries and Burgers of all varieties here. We braved a wintry a Melbourne night to try its fare.


While not terribly extensive, the burger list has decent variety and comes complete with names that generate a smirk to slight bewilderment. Personally, we opted for the The Chunk - Double Double ($16.50) and a large bucket of Beer Battered Chips ($5.50). The atmosphere was quite dinerish with a great mix of families, the after work crowd and couples.


Packed with two beef patties, cheese, onion, pickles, jalapenos, pickles, mustard & tomato sauce in between a brioche bun, the Chunk seemed messy and overloaded at times. Despite being of decent size, the Chunk failed to hit the nail on the head conclusively.  It left us satisfied but was not the knockout blow we were looking for.

The jalapenos were a welcome kick of spice and the patties were cooked well but the sweetness of the brioche bun combined with the sauce failed to close the deal. On a side note, the chips were good in their crunchy batter without being too thick.

While batting above average, The Grand Trailer Park can't claim the crown of Melbourne's best this time around. We'll certainly be back though if we are craving burgers around the Parliament end of Bourke Street.

 

From humble beginnings in Sydney, Pie Face scaled the fast food franchise ladder all the way to Japan, United States and Singapore and then came crashing down into administration in 2014. Having secured financing to continue however there are still franchises dotted around the country to deliver the famous variety of mass produced pies. But how does the Pie Face pie stack up to the mum and pop variety? We found out.


One of Pie Face's CBD outlets is located at Southern Cross Station close to the entrance on the corner of Spencer and Collins Street. Given the range of pies on offer was dwindling as were the crowds as it ticked past 6 PM on a rainy Thursday, we opted for the classic Steak and Peppercorn pie. Service was abrupt and disengaged (expected of most chain/franchises) but the pie was delivered warm nevertheless.


Biting into the pie, the pastry held up decently and was sufficiently flaky. The meat as well was chunky with legitimate pieces opposed to the minced mess that we typically steer away from (Four N' Twenty we are looking at you) and the peppercorn delivered a nice punch amidst the salty gravy.

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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Gazi was the first feather in George Calombaris' now giant Greek casual dining empire that encompasses the Hellenic Republic chain and Jimmy Grants souvlaki outlets. Taking over the prime position of the Press Club on Exhibition Street, Gazi was certainly a bold move at the time.

Now, Gazi is entrenched as a go-to-destination for casual Greek dining in the CBD and we had to check it out for ourselves.


Arriving in the midst of peak time on a Wednesday night, we were lucky enough to snag a seat at the bar and we wasted no time getting down to ordering from the reasonably curated menu (the menu changes often so unfortunately we couldn't recall the exact names of all the dishes we tasted after some research online). The spit roasting meat situated on the wall of the open kitchen was too hard to resist so we had to grab the Chicken with White Beans, Tyrokafteri and Walnut Dressing ($28.00) and Beef. Additionally, we ordered two salads to accompany our meal as well as the Fish with Walnut Dressing ($23.50) and not forgetting the popular Chicken Souvlakakia with Chips, Parsley, Onion and Mustard Mayo ($9.50). 

Chicken with White Beans, Tyrokafteri and Walnut Dressing ($28.00)

Fish with Walnut Dressing ($23.50)

Chicken Souvlakakia with Chips, Parsley, Onion and Mustard Mayo ($9.50)

Despite being in the mid-range tier when it comes to price, all the dishes did not disappoint and the flavours managed to beautifully complement each other in traditional hearty Greek fashion. With pleasant service to boot and a beautifully quirky interior, Gazi may be a trailblazer but it's certainly here to stay.

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As we continue our way around Clayton, we venture to Taste of Taj which is located just opposite Clayton station to abet our Indian food cravings. The constants of any traditional Indian take-away joint seem readily apparent here; blaring Bollywood dance music, a small T.V. attached to side of the room, near non-existent service and glimpses of a steaming kitchen.

Having glanced at the menu and firmly decided that we were here to remain on a budget, we opted for the reasonably priced lunch special ($8.99) and thali special ($10.99). As per usual, we foolishly requested our food to be spicy which produced a wry smile on the waiter's list which alerted us to the fact that she may know more than us about exactly what 'spicy' connotes. Sure enough, as the food arrived and we took our first few bites and we were quickly left seeking water and supplementary roti to cool the fire.

The Thali Special

Nevertheless, the food was of a decent quality but nothing special. The same could be said about the accompaniments with the complementary yoghurt drink extremely watered down and the papadam emerging drenched from a bath of oil.


Is it by any means bad? No. Is it good enough to warrant a return visit with the swathe of other Indian options that dot the centre of Clayton? Certainly not for some time.

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