Tataki #470

Tataki - in pictures (really bad pictures because it is a blackberry I am working with here)

We love Tataki , we have been here often.  It is sooooooo busy tonight so we eat in the full back room.  The light shades are round with flowers cur into them.  Nice

Sally is the only child tonight.  Matt is in Paris and Lisa is at a birthday party.  Sally gets all adventurous and orders a Japanese soft drink.  It tastes like a Japanese schoolgirl - sweet, musk sticky and cute.

The tables are bare wood and the crockery has a personality.  The vinyl 80's style chairs are comfortable which is  good because we have to wait a long time.  It is just so busy and they really need more waiters.  They are letting themselves and their food down.

The California rolls have those little roe things on top which pop in your mouth.  The Sashimi is fresh and delicious.

Generous and fresh

And then disaster strikes.  No Tataki duck wrapped in pancakes.  They have run out.  Not good.  We go for the soft shell crab rolls instead

Teriyaki chicken - yum.  Just come here - it is highly recommended - one of the best (and busiest) Japanese restaurants on the Road.

Moors Head #480A

The trend at the moment is to take 2 different things and "mash" them together to make a new, different thing.

For example, I am working on a "Krank" at work at the moment; part Kransky and part Frank, it tastes like a delicious kransky but in the convenient, bun size of a frank. 

Some fellow "mashed" a mobile phone with a hand held gaming device and got an iphone. 

Some other dude "mashed" a surf board and roller skates and cane up with a skate board and we are still waiting for someone to mash (sick of putting it in "") the skateboard with an antigravity device and provide us with the much anticipated and needed hoverboard.

So it only right that someone on Glenhuntly Rd takes the middle eastern cuisine that we have been enjoying over the past year in our travels up and down this road and mashed it with the ever popular pizza.  This is where we are now; Moors Head.

A wall of cans

They offer mezze (tapas style dishes like dips, meatballs, cured beef), salad (including a Roquette that involves shankleesh (spiced and dried cheese) and Iranian raisons).  Wow, a bracket within a bracket - my grammar is at a new low. 

And Round Pizzas called Manoushe and Long Pizzas called Pide.   There is then middle eastern desserts and a nice compact drinks list full of interesting stuff.

The pizzas are all named interestingly but I am no au fait with Iranian in jokes so don't really "get" them.

We order:
Mezze :  Fresh cut Lebanese cucumber, salt, evoo, nigella ($6)
Mezze:  Dip with house baked bread ($8)
Manoushe:  "Fred the Dead".  Free range chicken minced with baharat and garlic, green olives, roquette, tahini yogurt ($19.5)
Manoushe:  "Emir Bashir II"  Hummus, beef sujuk, fresh tomato, olives, parsley ($19.5)
Pide:  "The Bosphourus"  Tomato, prawns, chilli, garlic, coriander
Pide: "Istanbuli"  Pumpkin, spinach, caramelised onion, tahini yogurt, dukkah  ($18)
Pide:  "Omar Sharif"  3 cheese, oregano, nigella mint, soused onions ($17.5).

The most delicious cucumber ever

We are here on a Monday night, the whole family, celebrating the end of Matt's school year and having an early Christmas dinner because Matt is leaving for Paris for 6 weeks.  He opens his presents.

The place is busy.  We sit at a pine veneer table and admire the Michael Esher type decorated bar as well as the can covered wall, not sure what was in the cans before they were stuck on the wall.  The waiter is gorgeous and has a great smile and gracious manner. 

Moors Head really plays up it's inauthenticity - a clever marketing position given the plethora of restaurants which talk about being true to a provenance.  I like the playfulness,  Still they obviously care about the food - it is delicious.

The 3 cheeses pizza is subtly flavoured with lemon which makes it shine.  We loved the lamb pizza on the moreish crunchy pide.  The pumpkin pizza is spicy and sophisticated. 

The simplicity and honesty of the beef salami pizza was beautiful - I eat salami everyday for work - this is special.

All pizzas are served unsliced and accompanied by an industrial pizza slicer so we can do our own.  A great touch.

We LOVE  this place.  Highly recommended.  We are returning.

Mergellina #480

It was hot.

Gorgeously hot

34 degrees Celsius.

I have spent the day renovating a restaurant in The Sims Freeplay.  It is a two story job   It has booths and nice mood lightening and a welcoming open fire downstairs.  Upstairs is a funky bar with an outside balcony..  Very swish. 

 

Talking about outside drinking, this restaurant is the first restaurant where we dine outside.  The scene is very Elsternwick; we overlook the legendary Coles Elsternwick and Bumps.  We are wedged between the Kosher Kingdom Grocerys and a dance studio.  A real Elsternwick scene. Unfortunately, this means I cannot tell you what the light shades look like.  Sorry.

I can tell you about the food though. 

It is really hot so we really only need light food tonight – no pizza’s.  (Although the 4 hour slow cooked lamb shoulder sounds great for winter).

Our very scenic outlook

On this gorgeous hot night, Mark orders the Seafood Linguine and I order the grilled barramundi.  We opt to share a greek salad.

My barramundi

Mark's linguine

Greek salad

There is no one here. 

The food is at pub standard.  Good.  Basic.  Not thrilling and overpriced for what they serve.  Maybe their specialty is pizza’s and we haven’t given them a fair go. 

The Bill - $57 - not bad

 

Giardino #550

 

This is such a winner in our family.  It is usually full and buzzing with families and it is with great trepidation that we arrive here at 7pm.  More often than not we are gently turned away because tables are all occupied.  However, tonight the place is nearly empty.  We sit at a prized window table and marvel at the emptiness of it all.  We put it down to Dendy Park Carols by candlelight. 

To keep the running gag around light shades going, I will not that the lights are just the stock standard downlights.   We sit at the bare, basic,  wooden tables placed on the old terracotta floor tiles and listen to the phone ringing at the pizza station at the front of the restaurant.  Not flash, but neither are the prices.  This is the sort of bistro you take your kids to when you can’t be bothered cooking or need to celebrate the basketball end of season.

Sally orders a pizza and Mark orders a pasta – the usual yummy fair.  I go for something different and order lamb cutlets.  Basically, pasta or a large pizza is around $15, a bottle of wine at $20 and the lamb cutlets at $25.  So, it is a little bit of Lygon St but 33% more in price.

By the time I enjoy my tender lamb cutlet, people are spilling in and the happy murmur of voices ramps up.

Recommended.

La Piazza Allegra #572 - 574

Off to La Piazza Allegra we went on a Sunday night

We admired the orange pineapple rings that were the lights.

This place serves, pasta, parma’s, veal, steaks, pizza and seafood

And the waiter speaks fast and loose but not rude.

I’m not sure if having such a spread of food types is that great

They did win the 2010 “Battle of the Steak”.

These are very pricey at 33 dollars

In fact all of the pricing makes us a little hot under the collars.

 

Some oldies come in with a quaint “Décor” wine cooler colours lime

I haven’t seen one of these in a long time

It kind of sums up this whole place;

Stuck in the  ‘80’s and not kept up with the pace.

Lisa has the chicken and mushroom risotto –it’s good,

Especially if you like garlic in your food.

Sally’s lasagne features a generous amount of meat,

Matt’s pizza has jalapinos – quite a treat.

I have the veal and it looks like a bolognaise covered mess.

Once you scrape away the oil slicked sauce its ok, I guess.

Mark has an al dente fettuccini marinara, which isn’t too bad,

We chat about Monopoly Empire- our new gaming fad.

All up, the meal is satisfying and nice

However, Giardinos is just down the road at a much better price.