#30 Ying Thai (235 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Craig, Steph and Rob

And so we move into the home straight of the Chopstick Chowdown Challenge and the first restaurant on the odd-numbered side of the road. There is some confusion as we think we’re going for Indian. I am mislead by the Spice Guru sign, which does not actually correspond to an eatery. Instead we find Ying Thai unassumingly tucked between some computer repair stores.

It must be good. We are the only Caucasians there and every table is full. We are given menus and told to stand in a corridor. It immediately feels authentic with its gaudy orange décor and over-lit nature, just like some of the most authentic restaurants on this strip.

As soon as the food comes out there is silence, as we and the tables around us tuck into its deliciousness.
The satay skewers are a shiny golden colour and delicate. They come with satay sauce on the side which has a healthy layer of oil. As much or as little sauce as you want seems ideal for condiment lovers like us. It also comes with white toast. I’ve never seen that before. But our apprehensions are soon displaced as the toast proves useful for sopping up the remaining sauce. There are extra half marks being thrown around when it comes to the ratings for the bread.

Everyone seems to be ordering a dish involving mince meat, which we conclude is larb and decide to get on board. We get the pork larb and having minmum experience with larb, I conclude it is very larb-like. Chopped chillies are piled on the top and the dish has a great kick but is also very refreshing with shredded red onions, cabbage and coriander and a light dressing.

Thai green curry is one of the Thai standards for ChChCh and we pick the seafood option. The seafood is generous with prawns, squid and reconstituted fish. It has the necessary hotness to it and a flavoursome sauce.

Number 27 is penang beef. It’s overwhelmingly beefy and I am disappointed with the lack of vegetables. Steph comments that they mustn’t use artificial beef tenderiser as the beef is quite tough. The sauce however is very tasty and has a great blend of flavours including a strong hint of lemongrass.

The dish of the evening for me is the pla nun manow - a whole fish. It is oh so fresh and fun to eat communally. Dipped in the hot and sour dressing it bursts with flavours as well as fresh herbs and chillis. Picking away at a whole fish is like having it straight out of the sea and the primal novelty factor is enjoyable. We manage to get all the meat off leaving just the head and bones.

Again Craig declares this is one of his favourites so far (doesn’t he say this every week?) Indeed he enjoys it so much (particularly the rice bucket refills) that we almost need a stretcher to carry him out of there.

Ying Thai serves authentic Thai food and is not afraid to lay on the spice. Its food is fresh and highly satisfying.


Ratings
Satay skewers 8.4/10
Green curry (seafood) 7.6/10
#27 (penang beef) 7.3/10
Special (pla nun manow – whole fish) 7.9/10
Pork larb 8/10

#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

#28 Oriental Spirit (54 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Craig, Steph, Penny and Andrew

After a few Sunday afternoon 'brewskis', I arrive at Oriental Spirit convinced that it is larger than it is and that my other friends are tucked away in another section. It must be the oriental stone statues and indoor plants at the entrance that confuse me. Or perhaps it's the black and red theme.

We pick up the menu and all the entrees are appetising. Spring rolls? For sure. Satay sticks? Definitely, it’s one of Thai standards! Thai rice paper rolls? Well rice paper rolls are one of the standards for Vietnamese so we should try them. Peking duck? I love duck! No, there is some conjecture that $6.80 is pricey for one piece. Should we cheat on number 27 and get entrée scallops instead?

As for mains, well... Green curry prawns is a standard and there has been a special request for Pad Thai. Number 27 is a mixture of garden salads. The prospect is so uninspiring we pretend number 25 is it and get the green papaya salad.

My enthusiasm for the spring rolls burns my mouth. The pastry on them is quite thick and the insides don’t hold much excitement. The satay chicken skewers are delicious. Tender chicken covered in a creamy satay sauce that has a great texture and the right balance of spicy and sweet peanutty flavours.

The Thai rice paper rolls are different from the ones we’ve been having at the Vietnamese restaurants. They seem to be warmer and amongst the fillings are bean shoots and cabbage. Maybe I’ve been watching too much Masterchef but I detected a soapy flavour to them.
From the specials we have soft shell crab. It’s colourful and delicious with a medley of reds and greens on fried noodles. The crab melts in your mouth.

The green curry is spicy, as it should be. There’s a good serving of vegetables including beans, carrots, bamboo shoots and eggplant. It’s a light colour (almost has an orange tinge to it) and kicks you in the back of the throat.

I’m not a great fan of the papaya salad. It is strandy and chewy, composed of thin strings of papaya, carrot and bean shouts with a dash of sweet chilli dressing.

The Pad Thai has a nice kick to it. Peanuts and chilli powder come on the side delicately placed on a spoon, for those anaphylactics out there.

Finally, bonus points are given for the music selection. It was enough to bring out the karaoke-er in the best of us. “You were always on my mind...” lalala. Camy’s Shanghai Dumplings has a new competitor in the background music stakes.



Ratings
Spring rolls 6.2/10
Thai rice paper rolls 5.5/10
Satay skewers 8.5/10
Special (salt and spicy soft shell crab) 8/10
Green curry 8.1/10
Pad Thai 7.7/10
Cheats’ #27 Green papaya salad 7.1/10

#27 Koreana BBQ (58 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Craig, Annabel, Joe, Penny, Andrew, Niki and Zac

This week we diversify with another cuisine, Korean BBQ. The sign on the door tells us the restaurant is new and the décor has a homely feel with lots of light brown wood, colourful banners and roll-down bamboo blinds sectioning off the back area.

With our group of eight that’s where we are tonight. With the boys lined up on one side and the girls on the other we have a Japanese style table, where the table is level with the platform floor and there is a pit below for your legs. Flexy wooden seat with a cushion are provided and it makes for a comfortable dining experience. The waitresses kneel down to serve out the food and drinks. It is not until the end of the meal that we notice there is doorbell at the end of the table. Little wonder I was having problems getting their attention by waving my arms when they were patiently waiting for the bell.

The only disappointment is that our table does not have its own grill (like the tables in the main area). This seems to take away one of the main joys of Korean BBQ – paying to cook it yourself. Instead the dishes come out from the back on sizzling plates and, with Korean BBQ being particularly predisposed to communal dining, the large group makes it fun and expands the variety we can sample.

There is a selection of teas, beers and even Korean sake. Annabel and Joe sample Korean beers and they are quite different to the ones we brew here, one having a particularly metallic after taste.

In fact we are struck by how similar Korean is to Japanese and it reminds me that probably the last time I had Korean BBQ was in Japan. With no standard dishes for Korean we go with the closest entrees – dumplings (gyoza) and spring rolls. The dumplings are delicate and juicy, perfectly pan-fried on one side. The spring rolls are crunchy and piping hot and come with a plum dipping sauce – something a little different.

Next we have the BBQ meat platter A – beef bulgogi, pork bulgogi and chicken bulgogi. With a couple of people on our table fearing spice, we ask for two to be of the mild variety. Each bulgogi taste quite different. The beef is thinly sliced with aromatic flavours of garlic and soy. The pork is saucy and has a reddish tinge and though it is the hotter one, it's still not very spicy. The chicken is on the sweeter side and similar to teriyaki. Each comes on a bed of bean shoots. The house chilli sauce is a great addition – like a tomato sauce with a vague chilli flavour, which can be used in large quantites.

The BBQ comes with little sides of candied potato, kim chi, cucumber and a salad of iceberg lettuce with creamy dressing. I’m not usually a fan of kim chi (a fermented chilli cabbage) as I have often found an oddly off-tasting pickled flavour but this is one of the best ones I’ve had.

The pork ribs come out in a sizzling frenzy but the piece I have is disappointing – more than a little on the chewy side I’m still chewing away a minute later and not making much progress.

As a nod to the Chopstick Chowdown formula we get number 27 - the mushroom BBQ. It comes with a huge variety of mushrooms including field, enoki, shimeji and a large unidenifiable slice that takes up of the grill plate. I end up eating it whole as the spoon wont cut it. The dish depends largely on the mushroom flavours without another other sauces or spices.

Not quite satisfied we order another round of food. I delegate the ordering to Joe and some people think he’s joking when he says he got the ox tongue and pork belly.

But sure enough, here it comes. The ox tongue is thinly sliced and spread out in a fan formation with a drizzle of sweet soy sauce. Andrew comments that it is a bit like chewing on your own tongue. However, Joe (the one with the most ox tongue experiences) says it’s exceptionally tender and some of the best he’s had. He gives it a high rating to redeem it from the low ratings from less experienced members of the table

The pork belly looks delicious. It is thinly sliced with speckles of pepper and lightly browned. Although it is not quite as flavoursome as it looks, the pork belly is very tender and only requires a couple of bites to get it down the hatch.

Koreana BBQ provides a convivial atmosphere combined with overall tasty food and good service.

Ratings

Gyoza 7.3/10

Spring rolls 6.4/10

Pork bulgogi 6.9/10

Chicken bulgogi 7/10

Beef bulgogi 7.2/10

#27 (mushroom BBQ) 7.1/10

Ribs BBQ 4.5/10

Ox tongue BBQ 6.1/10

Pork belly 7.3/10

#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

#24 I Spicy 2 (80 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Craig, Annabel, Chloe

We have hit our first Thai restaurant on the Chopstick Chowdown Challenge as we approach Hoddle St. The name is intriguing. I Spicy? Is there an “am” missing? Is it trying to tap into the Apple IPod, IPhone, IPad phenomenon? Should Apple be claiming royalties?

It’s another tight space, with the majority of downstairs taken over by an open kitchen, leaving room for only about 20 diners. It’s like a cooking demonstration is going in, as throughout our visit one of the chefs cooks an unending stream of coconut pancakes. At least that’s what I work out they are from a video on the plasma screen.

Alas! At I Spicy a key component of the Chopstick Chowdown Challenge is missing. Chopsticks! We make do with forks.

With Thai comes a new set of standards: satay sticks, green curry prawns and, of course, number 27 and a daily special. After some deliberation at the menu (which gives a description of each dish and its Thai name) along with a lack of any specials, we decide to cover all major meat groups.


We open with Thai spring rolls and satay sticks. The spring roll pastry is rather thick and filled with vermicelli and an unidentifiable mince. I can’t remember what the menu says it contained. The presentation of the satay skewers is pretty, though we are not sure what to do with the accompanying watery substance with cubes of cucumber and chilli.


Number 27 is a hot and sour chicken feet stew. Despite some opposition we stick with formula and take a plunge. The chicken feet are less than visually appealing (in fact they have a resemblance to wrinkled granny hands) but I find the broth addictive. It is clear and very spicy, reminding me of tom yum with its tangy hot and sour flavours. The scraps of meat we scrape off the chicken feet just taste like braised chicken.

As Chloe fights back watery eyes at her first ChChCh, she comments “someone should have warned me it was going to be spicy!” Maybe the name and the accompanying chilli graphic should have given that away!


The green curry is based around beans and eggplant and has a fragrant kick. The penang curry is a striking reddish-orange colour garnished with slices of fresh red chilli and a dollop of yoghurt. It is even more spicy and full of creamy flavour.

The hit of the night is the crispy pork with Chinese broccoli. The greens have been infused the smoky, BBQ flavour of the pork and have a good crunchiness.


The pork has a wonderful crispy skin and is supple inside. Even with streaks of fat it only takes a few bites before melting down your oesophagus. Here’s one dish without the spice.

When Annabel asks for the bill, the waitress quizzes her about what we thought of the chicken feet soup. When Annabel says we liked it, the waitress remains friendly but sceptical, “but there was so much left behind.” Unfortunately gnawing on chicken feet is not our cup of tea.

I Spicy lives up to its name. And with so many restaurant skimping on spice for a Western market, it great to have some Asian food full of heat and flavour.


Ratings
Spring rolls 4.8/10
Satay skewers 6.9/10
#27 (hot and sour chicken feet stew) 5.9/10
Green curry prawns 7.4/10
Penang curry beef 8/10
BBQ pork with chinese brocolli 8.3/10