On the iOS App Store and the Google Play store, there comes a game every five months or so that seems to shake the genre to the core. Often these works of art resound across the globe as beacons of light shining the truth that mobile is a truly unique and valid gaming platform.

One of these games is ustwogame's Monument Valley (available on iOS, Android and Windows Phone). A pure revelation.

An absolutely stunning art style, breathtakingly intricate and striking details and a beautiful attention to the little things makes this game a pleasure to play.



Monument Valley charts the journey of the adorable Ida equipped with a white cone hat and she is your's to control at the tap of the finger as she traverses an array of majestic environments. The game's core mechanics as a puzzler lays in its optical illusions which seem to defy physics and enchant us at the same time.

No doubt, it is the picturesque graphics that draw us in but it is the puzzles that keep us engaged as they nicely increase in difficulty and complexity as the game progresses.


Finally, the electronic soundtrack and sound effects just add to the mystery of it all and rounds off an incredible game that is worth much more than its $3.99 price tag.

Hats of to you ustwogames!

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For the hungry Monash University students that teem around Clayton, the quick solution to their lunch or dinner problems seem to be the McDonald's on either corners of the campus on weekends when on-campus dining is scarce. Yet there are a wealth of a reasonably affordable options to be found on Clayton's main street and town centre which is aptly named Clayton road.

One of the many Korean options available is the Hodori Korean Garden which is situated just off the corner of the intersection between Centre Rd and Clayton Rd. The entrance is quite unassuming with the words "Korea House" emblazoned outside but the restaurant opens up into two floors with the main dining floor located on the top floor. Hodori is clearly a family run cash-only affair with what appears to be the mother cooking away in the kitchen, the son waiting tables and the dad scurrying about managing the accounts.


Unfortunately, the service is fairly apathetic and it seemed we were in a constant tussle to garner the waiter's attention despite the table top buzzers. Nevertheless, we ordered our favourite Korean staples of Beef Bulgogi ($15.50) and rice (sorry we can't recall the price) with the accompanying ban chan of course that we thought would be a good measure of the strength of this Korean outpost.


Worryingly for Hodori, the ban chan was quite under par and whittled in comparison to the offerings elsewhere including Oriental Spoon in the CBD. The Kimchi was under done and lacked the punch and depth of better options while the bulgogi seemed lacking in value and flavours were slightly over sweetened. The other ban chan too seemed to lack any sense of vibrancy and energy leaving the meal to be slightly underwhelming.

Hodori is by no means bad for a suburban outpost but there may be superior options just down the road. We'll have to give them a try.

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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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Seldom has a chip garnered such support when it was pulled from shelves and rarely does one chip flavour have such a cult following yet Kettle's Chilli Chips are no ordinary chips. These bad boys can't be found anywhere else in the world and it's important to remember that Kettle Australia are completely separate from the American company of the same name.


It's easy to wonder what the fuss is all about but take it from us that these chips are some of the best on supermarket shelves. A distinct crispiness, subtly fiery chilli and relatively low sodium and saturated fat levels in comparison to other chips make this a no-brainer to alleviate your fried snack cravings.


Admittedly, the chilli has been dialed down in comparison to its previous iterations but that is only a slight blemish to one of our favourite snacks.

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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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Okay. We admit. We were late to the party but damn is Adele's teaser single, Hello, from her freshly released album 25 simply incredible. We've had it on repeat here at Hashtag for a couple of days now and started hitting the stage where we can't get enough of that melody and are on the hunt for the best remixes and covers to sustain our cravings. Here are some of the best (in no particular order of course :)) :

Lydia Lee

Conor Maynard

Alice Olivia