CONCLUSION

"Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it." - Greg Anderson

The climax of Chopstick Chowdown Challenge was more of an anti-climax. We turned up ready for the last restaurant only to realise we had already been to the last restaurant. So we went back for a third helping of chilli fish.

Now when I walk back along Victoria St, I see new restaurants have sprung up. Others have disappeared. But this is the kaleidoscopic nature of this vibrant strip which we have had the pleasure to thoroughly sample.

It only took about 16 months but we did it! We completed the challenge of eating at every Asian restaurant on Victoria St between Church and Hoddle Streets. And what an epic experience it was. We delighted our palates, we tried foods we never thought we'd try, we made some wonderful discoveries. My mouth waters again as I go through the blog and am reminded of our culinary experiences. It has also been a portrait of friendships (some transient, some enduring), social experiences and the banter that comes with a group of people sharing a meal. People may come and go but true friendships and good food remain!

However, for those who like their conclusions less philosophical and more mathematical, here are the stats.

THE STATISTICS

Participants: 29
Restaurants: 36
Dishes eaten: 196
Number of bowls of pho consumed: 19

BEST RESTAURANT

I performed two types of statistical analysis on the ratings I had from participants for each restaurants:
i) the mean of the top 3 rated dishes
ii) the mean of all the dishes minus the top and bottom ranked.

In both cases, the top ranking resturant came out the same. Drumroll please...

#1 YU XIANG LAPOPO

It seems we just couldn't get enough of that chilli fish. But Victoria St is known for its Vietnamese restaraunts, right? The runner up (or best Vietnamese restaurant) according to the first analysis was...

#2 (i) THANH HA

And according to the second analysis

#2 (ii) THANH THANH

The bronze medal winner was the same...

#3 QUAN 88

Other restaurants making up the top 10 were...

Ying Thai
Vinh Vinh
Tom Toon Noodle House
Binh Minh
Oriental Spirit
Saigon Rose
Thy Thy

Although I have allocated winners, it is only according to the results of this little experiment where ranking were often very close and scores affected by variables (such as who attended, how generous they were with their ratings, personal tastes, experiences on the day, etc). At the end of the day it is a matter of personal preference but hopefully I have managed to capture a sample of the best picks on Victoria St.

BEST DISHES

Overall the dishes which scored the highest (the mean participant rating on the night) over the course of the challenge were:

#1 Vietnamese Salad - Vi'em Cafe (9.1/10)
#2 Pad Kee Mao - Tom Toon Noodle House (9/10)
Chilli Fish Bowl - YuXiang Lapopo (9/10)
Coconut Beef - Quan 88 (9/10)
#3 Peking Duck - Binh Minh (8.9/10)

At the start of this challenge I promised to find you the best pho and a list of other dishes. Here are the results.

Best Pho
#1 Thy Thy
#2 Thanh Ma

Best Ricepaper Rolls
# 1 Tran Tran
#2 Vinh Vinh

Best Spring Rolls
#1 Binh Minh
#1 Thanh Ha
(Special mention for Quan 88's duck spring roll special)

Best Peking Duck
#1 Binh Minh
#2 Pacific BBQ House

Best Green Curry
Tom Toon

Best Satay Skewers
Oriental Spirit

Personally there are some dishes that stand out in my mind, that I continued thinking about for days after. So here are my special mentions:

• Soft shell crab - Thanh Thanh
• Peking duck - Pacific BBQ House
• BBQ pork with Chinese broccoli - I Spicy
• Whole fish with spicy sour sauce - Ying Thai
• Szechaun mud crab - Xiao Ting Box
• Chilli fish - YuXiang Lapopo

Thanks again everyone who participated, especially Steph (for saying "let's do this" and putting in the most ChChCh appearances) and Craig (for being our most enthusiastic and consistent participant once recruited from England).

There is a gap on Sunday nights now - a time when you want to savour the last moments of the weekend and not think about the impending working week. Maybe we can begin a new challenge...the mission to find the best Indian food in Melbourne...Curry Chowdown Challenge?!?

#35 Vinh Vinh (387 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Craig, Steph, Mark, Lauren

Another Victoria St special – a Vietnamese restaurant with a name that contains the same two words. Better not get our Vinh Vinhs and Minh Minhs and Thanh Thanhs mixed up! Another restaurant with tablecloth-less hard tables and chairs. But this is not just another Victoria St restaurant.

The palm trees on the front sign are particularly inviting. The specials are on brightly lit boards and there is much to tickle our taste buds. So much so that we can’t decide, hence much of the order comes off the specials board.

The cuisine is mainly Vietnamese with a touch of Chinese. We have the obligatory rice paper rolls which are of an excellent standard. We also get one of Steph's favourites, satay skewers and the dim sims off the specials boards to round out a tasty and extensive entree.

Number 27 lands us on crab and asparagus soup (and a conversation about the effects of asparagus on the scent of future discharge). It another one of those soups that it is difficult to get excited about as I feel the same effect could come from a tin.

There has been a lot of pho eaten on our way up and down Victoria St and Vinh Vinh's stands up strongly.

The peking duck comes out with all the pieces to build your own wrap. It is fantastic. Delicate morsels of duck with a bright, crispy skin, crunchy vegetables and the delicious hoisin sauce which goes quickly.
The most unique item we get off the specials is the BBQ scallops. They look impressive. A massive tray of slightly charred scallops in their shells, floating in a shiny sauce. I can't quite get a taste for the sauce but the scallops are evidently fresh.

Without having done the statistical analysis, I would say this is one of the best overall restaurants. Whereas at other restaurants we might have one or two outstanding dishes and the rest being average, at Vinh Vinh everything is very good.


Ratings
Rice paper rolls 8.2/10
#27 (crab and asparagus soup) 6.4/10
Pho 7.4/10
Dim sims 7.1/10
Satay skewers 7.5/10
Special (BBQ scallops) 7.3/10
Peking duck 8.7/10
Salt and pepper squid 8/10

#33 Vi'em Cafe (345 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Craig, Steph, Annabel

The weather has turned in Melbourne (making our Pom very happy) and the next restaurant on the route has an open coutryard-like area facing onto the street.

We've seen some novel decor but I'd say this one takes the cake. Most striking is the feature wall of fake rock with cascading water that makes you feel like you are in an Indiana Jones film. The lighting casts a green tinge over everything. It is like being in a Vietnamese restaurant theme park.

Even the drinks menu is fun. Unfortunately for Annabel they won't give her the three colour drink so she has to settle for the two colour. Don't ask us what was in it. Coconut milk seems to be the base and little balls of green and red make up the colour. At the bottom are chunks of...something. Maybe cream, maybe lard, maybe something else...

Perhaps the waitress has been staring at the green lights for too long because two minutes after taking our order she returns to take our order. Uh yeah, we just did that.

The spring rolls are quite tasty and and rice paper rolls are good. We substitute pho with a beef soup, which is highly disappointing. It has all the ingredients to make a successful dish (chunks of beef, plump noodles and a colourful broth) but it is tasteless bordering on wrong tasting.

For #27 we have a Vietnamese salad, which is light, tasty and refreshing. Steph being a massive fan of these salads doesn't hold back on giving it a 10 in her ratings. We also have calamari with XO sauce (not bad but not as flavoursome as it could be).

And then kang kong. We order this partly because of the name (I'm have flashes of gorillas on tall buildings) and partly to get our nutrients. This green veggie (it seems to be variation of bok choy) turns out to be stringy and chewy and it doesn't go down like hoped.

But it all doesn't matter because Craig is just happy to eat all the rice he likes under the pretext of 'carbo-loaing' for the Melbourne marathon.


Ratings
Rice paper rolls 6.8/10
Spring rolls 7.4/10
Beef soup 4.1/10
#27 (Vietnamese salad) 9.1/10
Calamari with XO sauce 6.4/10
Kang kong 5.9/10

#29 Binh Minh (40 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Craig, Steph, Rob, Imogene

Binh Minh marks a milestone in the Chopstick Chowdown Challenge. It is the last restaurant on the south side of Victoria St before Hoddle St. Hence it marks the official point where we turn around and make our way down the other side of the road.

It is busy and we are given a table upstairs. As soon as we walk in we are greeted with delicious scents of garlic, sweet soy and chilli. With the smell making my taste buds tingle, I am looking forward to eating.

The specials board is tantalising (albeit partially rubbed out, leading to some conjecture about whether it actually says duck or something less appetising). Along with lobster and peking duck there are dumplings. Bonus!

Number 27 is a wonton soup with xa xiu. This turns out to be Vietnamese for BBQ pork. The wonton are quite delicious, the soup has a balanced stocky flavour and the BBQ pork is tender.

Rice paper rolls are declared to be some of the best we've had with big colourful prawns and a good balance of flavours. The spring rolls are of the delicate and tasty variety, served with iceberg lettuce and a sweet dipping sauce.

From the specials, the prawn dumplings are plump. Wonton wrappers filled with minced pork and prawn. The dipping sauce of kecap manis and a dollop of chilli sauce make this a great entree.

The satay sticks are an impressive sight making an enormous wagonwheel on a giant plate. It looks far more than 5 skewers then I realise they have been cut in half. There is a ton of chicken on each skewer (along with a slice of onion and carrot) and the chicken is plump but the sauce is not as tasty as might be expected.

Chilli and lemongrass eggplant sounds like a hit from the menu but in reality lacks flavour. The dish is contaminated by slimy and a heavy soy based sauce.

At Binh Minh it is DYI peking duck. Bonus points for this novelty! What you get is a plate of duck, a plate of wafer-thin wraps and a plate of vegetables (shredded carrot, sliced spring onion and cucumber). Now compile and wrap it yourself. I’m so into the wrapping that I forget to note the taste. All good it seems. The duck is tender with wonderfully shiny maroon skin.

Binh Minh is one of the best overall dining experiences we have had on the Challenge.

Ratings

Rice paper rolls 7.9/10

Spring rolls (vegetarian) 7.9/10

#27 wonton soup with BBQ pork 7.4/10

Satay skewers 6.5/10

Special (prawn dumplings) 8/10

Peking duck 8.9/10

Eggplant with chilli and lemongrass 7.1/10

#26 Tho Tho (66 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Steph, Craig, Rob

Tho Tho is massive and one of the more commercialised establishments along Victoria St. A full bar goes around the corner and smiling waiters in branded starched white shirts circulate with efficiency.

It’s popular too. The large dining room is almost full when we settle in at 7.30pm. However within half an hour it has cleared.

Strains of "happy birthday to you" sound out on more than one occasion that evening. The birthday person is presented with a fried banana and balls of ice cream dessert complete with sparklers. Surely some of these birthdays are fabrications just for the novelty factor of a phallic sparking dessert landing on your table.

The service is excellent on the night we go. The food comes out in record time and in no particular order.

First up we have the rice paper rolls which are exceptionally long and floppy leading to some interesting analogies. We must have phalluses on the brain. The skin of rice paper roll is rather thick and the pork part of the filling overwhelming.

Next comes one of the specials – deep fried soft shell crab with a spicy sauce. It comes out smelling delightful (of aromatic chilli) and looking great, infused with rich golden and red hues. The shell is malleable with a light crunch and the combination of spices makes this a memorable dish but still stands in the shadow of the soft shell crab at Thanh Thanh.

We can never go past dumplings so we choose the fried pork and prawn dumplings also from the specials. More like deep fried wontons they come with a sweet chilli dipping sauce.

Number 27 is rice with garlic lamb. The rice is coloured brown and has a tasty sweet soy flavour to it with a fried egg on top. The lamb is good, with a slight chargrilled flavour and not too chewy.

The pho broth is very tasty but I mark it down since the noodles and beef are not as soft as we have previously experienced.

Finally comes a seafood Vietnamese pancake. It doesn't stay together very well and while the pancake is light and crispy, its innards are rather plain.

Overall a very satisfying dining experience, as we add another nationality to the Chopstick Chowdown crew - Welsh.

Ratings

Rice paper rolls 6.1/10

Beef pho 7.8/10

#27 (garlic lamb with rice) 7.3/10

Special (deep fried soft shell crab with chilli) 8.3/10

Special (dumplings) 7/10

Seafood vietnamese pancake 7.5/10

#25 Tran Tran (74 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Craig, Steph, Kylie

I have passed this restuarant a few times thinking ‘whoa it’s bright’. Sure enough, inside it is hospital ward-white walls and tables - light reflecting off everything white! It is a stylish design with taffeta light shades and artistic wall hangings depicting rural scenes. They have some inspirational quotes about the role of cuisine and friendship. Even the menu is white. It's not until I get menu that I know we are in Tran Tran.

The quote on the menu reads "All cuisine is a reflection of the society from which it emanates. Cuisine is the result of culture..." It makes me feel a little fuzzy inside.

I am being quite inquisitive of the waiter. What is that flaming dish that just arrived on that table? Chilli beef. Is the rice noodle soup equal to pho? It's kind of like pho. They seem cheery and polite and read back our order to us.

For entree we have the usual rice paper rolls and spring rolls. The rice paper rolls are very good. The right balance of ingredients coming together nicely with a tasty dipping sauce. The spring rolls are fairly standard.

Number 27 is a combination egg noodle soup with thin egg noodles, BBQ pork, fish cake, prawns and assorted vegetables. The broth lacks any discernable flavours and is inoffensive. The beef rice noodle soup is not pho. It lacks the aromatic tang of pho and just tastes like plain old beef stock.

With a bit of a craving for seafood we order the seafood combination. It comes on a sizzling plate with that ubiquitious transparent sauce. It's a good mixture of seafood - squid, scallops, prawns, fish cake, white fish, along with veggies. Unfortunately, there is not much flavour to it.

What is it with the lack of specials down this end of Victoria St? We get the ‘Kylie special’ – vegetarian Singapore noodles. Another dish that fails to spark any excitement, it is little more than thin noodles with capscium and curry powder.

There is nothing much to stand out in my memory from this restaurant except perhaps whiteness.

Ratings

Rice paper rolls 8.3/10

Spring rolls 7.6/10

Beef rice noodle soup 6.2/10

#27 Combination egg noodle soup 7/10

Seafood combination 7/10

Singapore noodles (vegetarian) 6.3/10

#23 Ha Long Bay (82 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Steph, Craig, Annabel, Joe


Ha Long Bay translates to Descending Dragon Bay. In Vietnam it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in Melbourne it is one of the many Vietnamese restaurant on Victoria Street.

Ha Long Bay makes the most of its Vietnamese theme with its décor. Like a tourist brochure, the feature wall showcases large evocative canvas photographs of rice paddys and rickshaws. Bamboo stalks, green walls and colourful paper lanterns complete the picture.

It feels spacious, unlike the tightly packed interiors of many of the restaurants along this strip. Overall it is a pleasant dining environment. Unfortunately there is nothing much original about the menu.

We begin, as is customary, with spring rolls and rice paper rolls. Standard. I’d been tipped off during the week that rice paper roll dipping sauce is a combination of peanut butter and oyster sauce. Something doesn’t taste right about this one though.

Number 27 is crab meat and sweet corn soup. It’s OK but no taste sensation.

The beef pho is a much lighter colour than we are accustomed to, with thinner noodles. It is not particularly flavoursome but with the addition of condiments convinces me to go for seconds.

For mains we pick lemongrass chilli scallops and beef samba. Again standard. The scallops seem fresh and the sauce tastes as expected. We chose the beef samba to see if it would be doing a Brazilian dance. Not such luck. It turns out to be stir fried beef with a lightly chilli sauce. Celery must have been on special this week as it features in all our mains.

The most original thing we can find on the menu is pork spare ribs. By original I mean this is not usually on Vietnamese restaurant menus. It was, however, our staple food travelling across America.

I forget to order the ribs (the special component) the first time around. We persist in getting them and it’s lucky because they are the highlight of the night. The ribs come hacked up in a clay pot with a salty, lemongrass-flavoured sauce. The meat is soft (though not falling off the bone like some of the delicious ribs we had in America) and the sauce very tasty.

Food aside, it is the banter that makes our night on this occasion. Energetically covering topics from Japanese gameshows to violent children’s behaviour to mating habits of animals, dinner stretches for an enjoyable two hours until we are the last people left in the Descending Dragon Bay.


Ratings
Spring rolls 7/10
Rice paper rolls 6.4/10
Beef pho 6.4/10
#27 (crab and sweet corn soup) 6.6/10
Special (pork spare ribs) 7.9/10
Lemongrass and chilli scallops 6.7/10
Beef samba 6.6/10

#22 Saigon Rose (86 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Steph, Craig

A newspaper article announces “laminate gone” and indeed Saigon Rose gives an upmarket impression. Tables are a dark wood, the back of the restaurant is carefully decorated with patterns of wine bottles and a large marble counter. Clean lines and strategically positioned lighting. Waiters take up their position and are ready to serve.

It’s all very clean, crisp and precise. But there’s a lack of atmosphere. One of the joys ChChCh has been the chaotic, no frills restaurants with their haphazard, bustling service. A few strains of contemporary music can be heard but no one in Saigon Rose seems very excited.

The specials board has rather floral descriptions. The soft shell crab is ‘flash fried’, the pork belly ‘comes on a bed’. The menu itself takes a minimalist approach, utilising white space and neatly categorising dishes, with a limited number in each category. I’m not sure what cuisine this is. Saigon implies Vietnamese but there is no pho and there are dishes on the menu with Cantonese sauce. I can only deduce it is Vietnamese/Chinese.

There are no numbers so we count down to 27 and come upon spinach soup with a choice of chicken or seafood. It comes out in a small Saigon Rose bowl (it’s all branded here) and seems to wobble. “Gelatinous”, I declare. But upon tasting it turns out to be better than expected. There are generous chunks of soft squid and scallops. It has a faintly grassy flavour but I find it’s gone before I know it.

The rice paper rolls are good, moist enough and slightly warmed. However the dipping sauce is rather bland.

From the specials we take the soft shell crab. It doesn’t have the crispness I would have liked and it lacking any distinctive seasoning. At entrée size, for $18, you only get two big pieces.

Intrigued by the banana chicken we order another entrée. Breaded, fried chicken is stuffed with melty banana and comes with a red dipping sauce. It looks great but on tasting I am again left wanting more seasoning. I don’t know if there is some aversion here to strong flavoured dishes in order to attract the Western audience.

Pick of the night is the sizzling duck with peking sauce from the house specialities section of the menu. It is a generous serve and the duck is tender, complemented by a sweet and spicy sauce that makes me want to keep eating.

While Saigon Rose is carefully manufactured and difficult to fault, its precision left me slightly cold.

Ratings

Rice paper rolls (pork and prawn) 7.6/10

#27 (spinach soup with seafood) 8/10

Daily special (soft shell crab) 7.2/10

Banana chicken 7.7/10
Sizzling duck 7.9/10

#21 Quan 88 (88 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Craig, Steph, Paddy

Quan 88 is another winner. Best of all it is easily distinguishable. An orange theme and 88 in the name. Funnily enough it is at number 88 Victoria St. Plus it would be a great place for a date if you want mood lighting or don’t want the person opposite to see you properly! As each one of us turns up to dinner the first comment is about the low lighting.

From the specials two things immediately scream at me: crispy duck spring rolls and coconut beef. I soon realise that they equate to the Vietnamese specialities in the menu. We have a weekly specials insert that accompanies the menu so choose one from here too.

I’m immediately a fan of the duck spring rolls. Crispy on the outside the filling is soft and bursting with a peppery flavour and a touch of mushroom.

The rice paper rolls are a bit stingy on the prawn and pork. The 'prawn' is disappointing shrimp. The shreds of pork are minute but tastes of Chinese BBQ and there is sufficient mint.

Steph comments the food is fresh and I point out the little blurb at the bottom of the menu that outlines their commitment to organic food and sustainable eating. I ponder whether organic carrot were on special this week as all the dishes we order contain carrots.

The papaya, prawn and dried beef salad is the most exotic thing we find on the weekly specials. It is crunchy and overall refreshing. I'm not sure where the papaya is so I assume it has been finely jullienned as the basis for the salad. The 'beef jerky' is also very fine and barely distinguishable. A spicy sweet chilli sauce and crushed peanuts finish it off.

Number 27 is steamed salmon with ginger, onion and soya sauce. The salmon is well overdone making it rather dry and the flavouring which sounded so promising is strangely tasteless. Still Asian flavourings always go well with salmon.

There is much praise for the pho, which comes with the usual trappings and is so flavourful is doesn’t require further condiments. It’s got a unique flavour that is on the sweet side.

The coconut beef is a perfect blend of flavours – creamy coconut milk, spice and a hint of lemongrass. The beef is tender and I want more. It scores the first 10 of the Challenge from one of the punters!

We enjoy Quan 88 so much we hang around for some dessert. Both the cream caramel and fried ice cream (like a donut covered ball of ice cream) are sastisfying.

Ratings

Rice paper rolls (pork and prawn) 6.5/10

Beef pho 7.8/10

#27 (salmon with soy and ginger) 7.1/10

Weekly special (papaya, prawn and dried beef salad) 7.5/10

Duck spring rolls 8.6/10

Coconut beef 9/10

#20 Minh Minh (94 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Craig, Penny

I have fond memories of large group banquets upstairs at Minh Minh after a day at the MCG with plate after plate of delicious dishes coming out. It’s certainly a popular restaurant with Westerners and as I looked around on the night we go (coincidentally Mother’s Day) there is nigh an Asian face in sight.

After experiencing so many delightful, little, authentic Vietnamese eatiers, I am now a little skeptical coming into Minh Minh. Serving Vietnamese, Thai and Lao are they spreading themselves a bit thin?

To attract the Westerners some effort has been put into the décor. The black tables contrast with the oranges walls. Traditional musical instruments and colourful material squares are arranged on the wall. There is no plasma for distractions. Tea is charged at $1.00 per head, which seems a tad fascist after the cornucopia of free tea we have been experiencing. As is the sign about dinner sitting times on busy nights and recommendations to order the banquet. However, the service is spot on the night we go.

We choose a mixed selection of spring rolls but neither taste nor look can tell them apart. Whatever the mush inside it, they are quite tasty. The rice paper rolls have a generous filling of prawns and pork with a good sauce.

Number 27 is egg noodle soup with wontons. A wheel of bbq pork with chopped spring onions and fried onion adorns the top, hiding a mass of thin egg noodles. The broth has sweetness to it which I find quite intoxicating. Even sweeter are the pork wontons themselves.

A handwritten scribble announces today’s specials and we take a plunge on the third one. Stewed rat beef? We can’t decipher it. When the waiter confirms our order, it still sounds like rat beef. More likely ‘red’ beef, though. It comes out in a rich mahogany soup with tender slices of beef and chunks of carrot on top of another lot of thin egg noodles.

It makes me think of rendang. Penny comments that it tastes like “Indian with thai…Indian-Thai”. Craig just says it’s “gorgeous”. The kitchen must have been excited about us ordering the dish as an Asian lady comes out offering us “beautiful” bread to soak up the sauce. It’s got a good kick to it and a unique flavour that makes it the hit of the night.

I remember having enjoyed Minh Minh’s duck last time I was there and noticing another specials board we go for the Mongolian duck. It comes out on a sizzling plate with lean piece of duck slightly charred. I’m not entirely sure Mongolian sauce and duck are the ideal combination and the flavours are pretty standard.

I can see why Minh Minh is popular as the dishes are overall tasty. Best of all Minh Minh serves up another culinary treat in the rat(red) beef thanks to the ChChCh formula.


Ratings
Rice paper rolls (pork and prawn) 6.8/10
Spring rolls 7.2/10
#27 (Egg noodle soup with wontons) 7.5/10
Today's special (stewed red beef) 8.7/10
Special (mongolian duck) 7/10

#19 Vinh-Ky (114 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Steph, Craig

This restaurant has a black and white theme and after a few moments of absorbing the surrounds I discern it to be one of the more upmarket eateries on the strip. Steph sighs in exasperation at yet another encyclopaedic menu. There are banquets offered but we create our own in yet another excessive sampling of dishes.

There’s a few odd service elements. The waitress memorises our order and impressively doesn’t miss a thing. When I ask for spoons for the pho, we only receive two, leaving Steph to eat with the ceramic spoon in the main bowl. Having left the lid of the teapot upturned as the universal symbol for more tea, the waitress simply turns it back over without refilling. At a random point during the meal, the waitress brings out steamed rice and dishes it into bowls for us (without waiting for consent) only to bring out the fried rice we actually ordered two minutes later.

The table next to us has a dish come out wrapped in foil ...flaming. The waiter lifts each side up with tongs fanning the purple and orange flames. Not sure what it was but I wish we’d ordered it for the theatrical value.

There are no pork and prawn rice paper rolls so we opt for the straight prawn which come with a dark and very soya sauce-flavoured peanut sauce. The spring rolls look fresh and crispy but have an oddly sweet filling of mashed corn (or pumpkin, as Steph suggests).

Pho is served without its usual accompaniments but even myself, a lover of condiments, acknowledges it doesn’t need anything added.

Number 27 is from the entree section and is grilled beef with lemongrass and comes on a bed of thin rice noodles. It doesn’t look like something that would feature in a Donna Hay cookbook but has a wonderful chargrilled flavour.

The scallops which we chose from the specials (opting for XO sauce) look magnificent. Still in their shells they are lightly cooked with an oily and spicy dressing. For a moment we wonder where the sixth one is and discover it under a forest of coriander.

Finally another special (restrained of us considering initially Steph wanted to order the whole specials menu) – seafood hotpot. The seafood is squid, fish cake and some prawns topped up with tofu, carrots and sweet corn. I find the texture somewhat off-putting. It is stewed in a viscous, bland sauce. The squid is rubbery, the tofu is saturated and the whole thing is slimy.

We are stuffed but satisfied with the overall quality of the evening's meal.


Ratings
Prawn rice paper rolls 7.7/10
Beef pho 7.5/10
Vegetable spring rolls 6.2/10
#27 (grilled beef with lemongrass) 7.3/10
Daily special (fresh scallops with XO sauce) 8/10
Daily special (seafood hotpot) 6.5/10

#18 Thy Thy House (118 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Steph, Emma, Bo, Bobbie, Jimmy, Lodgey, Richie-Rich, Jamie

Who am I and why am I at dinner with these people? And why is Chuck Bass here? It is Anzac Day and my friends from Queensland are down. We have been to the footy and consumed the requisite amount of beer. Nevertheless Chopstick Chowdown Challenge must go on. We gather at the Aviary and collect a group of rag-tag individuals with beer-soaked palated to sample the food at Thy Thy House.

Thy Thy House looks a little classy for the likes of us on this particular evening with its rendered feature wall and mood lighting. Our group of 9 is bustled up the stairs. There are also tablecloths which is a novelty. There is no tea provided though this could be on account of us already being laden with alcohol.

There is a fair amount of chaos with the ordering and eating this week. Random dishes start flying out in all directions.

There are some crispy wonton, spring rolls and rice paper rolls – nothing particularly memorable about those.

Bo declares herself as the ultimate litmus-test of pho as she has never eaten beef before. She gives the broth the thumbs-up but declares the beef as leathery. Although I point out that she has nothing to compare it, the beef is thicker than we are used to in pho.

On the other side of me Steph keeps telling me how much she loves Mongolian beef and this one is a winner. Across the table Lodgey is talking about his job as a swimwear designer. I'm confused.

The small piece of crispy duck I manage to salvage from the eating hoards is delicious – battered and fried but tender with a light sauce. It is also Bo’s first ever taste of duck and she seems very pleased with it.

Those that try it are divided about number 27, which is a tomato rice with beef. A pile of slightly red-coloured rice with wedges of raw tomato and chunks of flavoured beef. Bo continues on her red meat eating rampage and pulls a face at the “leathery” beef. I challenge this, “you don’t even know what it is supposed to taste like!” For me the whole thing tastes randomly like Mexican. Perhaps the wine is getting to my taste buds…

Unfortunately Thy Thy House may end up being an anomaly in this little experiment but here the ratings anyway…for what they are worth…

Ratings
Rice paper rolls 7.1/10
Spring rolls 6/10
Pho 6.8/10
Mongolian beef 6.9/10
#27 (tomato rice and beef) 6.4/10
Special (crispy duck) 7.3/10

#17 Thanh Ha 2 (120 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Steph, Emma, Imogene, Paddy, Penny, Andrew

Chopstick Chowdown Challenge was back with a ravenous vengeance this week after a leave of absence. Thanh Ha 2 was the location and one of the best overall tasting experiences on the route thus far. The menu is like an encyclopedia complete with pretty pictures. We make quick work of it though, following the ChChCh formula, along with some of our favourites – duck and squid.

The service, on the other hand, is ineffectual. We’ve become accustomed to the quick 'in-out' approach of these eateries, where waiters are anticipating your order as soon as you open the menu, dishes are whipped out at lightning speed and waitstaff are attentive. Being busy isn’t an excuse as many of the restaurants seem to become more efficient the busier it gets.

As Paddy says there appears to be a “tea allowance” which we used up within 5 minutes of arrival. It takes four requests to finally get another pot of tea which turns out to be as simple as the waiter picking it up off the counter where they are all ready to go.

The wine list is also a lie. After attempting to order two different types of white by the glass, we are informed they only have the house wine.

When the spring rolls come out we notice the lack of bowls and chopsticks as Penny ponders using her tea cup as a bowl. We finish the rice paper rolls by the time we get any napkins. Just as puzzling is the Masterfood squeeze bottle of tomato sauce that is put on the table. I was convinced it was a Chinese BBQ sauce in a ketchup container, but no it is in fact tomato sauce.

However I am on good terms with the food from first bite. The vegetable spring rolls are delicious with finely shredded filling and a peppery flavour. The rice paper rolls are the best we’ve had, juicy and all the ingredients coming together, warm and perfectly shredded with enough mint and a tasty peanut sauce.

From the specials on the back wall we get the Vietnamese pancake. Crunchy bean shoots, shredded carrot and other vegetable are combined with prawns and pork, enveloped in a crispy savoury pancake. On the scale of small to large, this is massive. Accompanying lettuce, vietnamese basil and mint means you can wrap it up like a spring roll with some sweet chilli dipping sauce. An excellent example of this traditional dish.

Duck with plum sauce gets extra points for presentation but is rather fatty. The squid with tamarind sauce from the house specials tastes odd. I would say more like a fish cake than squid.

Last but not least is our proxy number 27. Since number 27 was the rice paper rolls we are already obliged to get, we order number 13 – mung bean pies. Having no idea what these would look or taste like, I don't expect them to look like fried muffins and taste like samosa filling. But there you have it. With a dollop of chilli sauce these are addictive!

It's clear we all agree on the quailty of the food. Consistently high ratings on all the standards is a testament to the taste.

Ratings

Rice paper rolls 8.1/10

Vegetarian spring rolls 7.9/10

Beef pho 7.6/10

#13 Mung bean pie 8.7/10

Daily special (vietnamese pancake) 8.6/10

Duck and plum sauce 6.3/10

Squid and tamarind 5.8/10