Kaga #580

Next up is a Japanese Restaurant which is great as I love Japanese and Glenhuntly Rd usually does it well because of the Japanese school nearby.

We walk in on a  Sunday at 6.50pm and it is empty, dead, bereft of people, morgue like.  We sit at a wooden table placed on tiles that look like rocks and stare at the boring light fittings.

There is no ambience.

To make matters worse, the waitress sits behind a bar like thing and just stares at us.  The whole time.  Just stares. ......And listens in on our inane conversation. ........And stares

She does stop staring for a minute and goes to fetch a free starter.  Bean things in oil and displaying a subtle hint of chilli.  Promising!

And then she gets back to staring.......

Next we have the Gyoza - 5 pieces of japanese style dumplings.  It is hot and light.

Staring still............

Then we have a Okanomiyaki , a japanese pancake made out of grated cabbage and stuff topped with BBQ sauce and that mayonnaise stuff.  I do it at home and this one is far superior.  Mark is not that impressed.

Staring...........

We then get stuck into Kaga Sushi and Sashimi set (for 2).  I curse myself for forgetting my phone.  This really needs a photo to illustrate it.  It is served on one of those wooden boat things.  Good stuff.

Staring, staring, staring

This place serves good food and it is amazingly priced - just $59.

However, there is no buzz, ambience and you get stared at .  A lot.

White Village #582

10 (actually only 7) Things I learned about Greece by eating at White Village

1. Blue and White is not just the colours on the Greek flag but also the colours that all Greek restaurants must be.  Blue walls and tablecloths with white, scribble worthy paper over the top of it.
   
2. People are happy.  The hum in this restaurant was jovial, generous and welcoming.  We seated ourselves at the round table at the front.  
3. Greek waiters are unflappable.  The service was amazing - just one man (I think the owner), who served 20 tables without a notepad and with great good humour.  He has clearly done this before.
4. The food is delicious.  We ordered the dips, marinated octopus, pan fried calamari, flounder, moussaka, lamb gyros and salad.  The marinated octopus was better than the stuff you buy from Queen Vic market - fresh and home made.  The deep fried calamari was crisp. 
   
5. They know how to cook lamb.  It was delicious - well seasoned and melted in the mouth.
6. They also know how to grill a fish.  Just YUM. I forgot to get a photo of the flounder - sorry - just come and order it yourself

   

   The flounder- sorry

7. You can experience a little bit of Greece in Elsternwick by going to this restaurant.  And it is cheap enough to bring the kids.

Coco Thai # 586

Do you know that feeling of having something that you have absolutely loved to bits and then one day you realise you are over it?  Like a favourite pair of jeans that are a bit different (covered in zips for example) and one day you put them on and realise you are completely over them.  You have moved on.

 

Or the computer game you have obsessed over for a year (yes, I am talking to you Sims) and one day you log in to your finely curated families and houses and realise you are over them.  You have moved on and zombie killing is your new thing.  You just don’t feel that thrill anymore.

Well Mark and I had that feeling tonight.

Actually, the first feeling we had was one of dread.  The next restaurant was an Indian one that we had not heard good things about.   However, rules are rules and we had to take the good with the bad.  We took the kids to distract us from the food.

The next feeling was one of joy.  We had walked in to the Indian restaurant which will remain unnamed and the lovely mono-browed waiter informed is that they did not have a licence to serve alcohol. Not even a BYO licence.  One of our rules is that it a restaurant must serve alcohol.  So we skipped out of there and went to the next one which is an old favourite; Coco Thai.

Rules are rules.

 

The décor is unextraordinary.  All 4 walls are different but align to a brown flower theme.  They don’t follow the extravagant light shades theory that most of the other Glenhuntly Rd restaurants adhere to and have installed plain downlights.  There is a weird plant that greets you as you walk in the door.  Lisa checked it out – it’s fake.  The Thai royal couple smile down on you from a photo on the wall.

We ordered all the old favourites;

Prawn Crackers, Mixed Entrée, Chicken Pad Thai, Green Curry Chicken, Steamed Ginger Fish, Duck curry, Massaman Lamb curry, Steamed rice.

The Pad Thai is oily but has a nice citrus tang.  We thought we would get a whole steamed fish but we just got rubbery bits of it.  Do not order.  The duck is tender and sweetened with pineapple.  It was voted “good”.  The green curry chicken is OK but even the kids believe it should have been spicier.  The lamb in the massaman was a cheap cut , expertly slow cooked.  The star of the evening.

This place really is a good, family friendly, basic entry level point into the world of Thai food.   But I think we have moved on to more  complex flavours and ideas like those found at Red Shallots.

Sorry Coco Thai, you have been relegated to the place where I put the Sims and those interesting  zippy jeans.