The Alchemist Bar & Cafe

361 Brunswick St
Fitzroy 3065 VIC
Phone: (03) 9419 8250
Website: thealchemistbar.com.au

On Saturday night I went to The Alchemist to attend a Welcome Back party for a friend of mine who has been overseas for god knows how long. To be honest I even lost track of where in the world he was, point is he's back!

Tiamo's Restaurant & Bistro

303 Lygon St
Carlton 3053 VIC Phone: (03) 9347 5759

Amazon decided we were going to eat lunch on Lygon this Tuesday seeing she had an exam at REB later that arvo. She had heard good things about Tiamo, and so we were eager to try it out.

Next to Tiamo is Tiamo 2, we originally tried going into Tiamo 2 but they couldn't seat the 7 of us since there had already been reservations made by a large group. We even spotted Red Symons eating there!

Laksa King

Shop 3
320 Racecourse Rd
Flemington 3031 VIC
Phone: (03) 9372 6383

For someone who isn't fond of coconut in their meal, I have to say I've been eating all the wrong cuisines. This all comes down to the fact that I have many friends who really enjoy their Malaysian, Thai and Indonesian food.

So last night my friends decided to go to Laksa King to get their much needed dose of Laksa. I know what you're thinking, I can't believe I agreed to go either.

Amazon actually made a reservation before we headed down to the place, you start to understand why when you arrive... the place is pretty packed for a Thursday night, and supposedly it's like this every day! Not only is it full inside the place, but there's also quite a number of people waiting outside for takeaway.


I had a hard time deciding what to have, I even asked the waiter what he would recommend off the menu that didn't consist of any coconut. Because I couldn't make up my mind, I decided that I would order after my friends got their meals so I would be able to try a bit to see which one I'd prefer.

Chicken Satay (4 skewers) $6.80
We ordered two plates of these, they were pretty good - the chicken was still quite tender and moist.

Seafood Fried Crispy Noodle - Combination of seafood, veggies topped with gravy $11.80
I don't think I've mentioned anywhere on my blog yet that I'm allergic to crustaceans, I did however try a bit of the noodles and it was quite enjoyable. (Tasted pretty shrimpy, obviously)

Curry Laksa - Mixed noodle with shrimp, fishcake & chicken $8.50

The mixed noodles consist of hokkien mie and rice vermicelli, personally I preferred the rice vermicelli over the hokkien mie. According to my friends, Laksa King has the best Laksa's in Melbourne.

Hainanese Chicken Rice - Chicken steamed to perfection served with chicken rice & soup $8.50
This is the dish which Charlotte ordered, she thought the sauce for the chicken was a bit too salty but thought the rice was quite nice. Charlotte doesn't eat much spicy food, so Amazon VERY happily obliged to finish the chilli sauce for her. You could tell she really enjoyed it.

Nasi Lemak Special (beef) - A unique combination rice dish served with pickled anchovies, egg, peanut & a choice of curry chicken or beef $9.20 (My friend just told me this is usually called Rendang)

After trying a bit of each dish, I thought that the Nasi Lemak Special was probably the nicest out of all the dishes, however I decided to go with the Laksa since the place was obviously known for their Laksa's. For someone who doesn't enjoy coconut in their meal, I did manage to finish the whole thing bar the broth. I didn't drink any of the broth because although MSG is supposed to make things taste better, it makes me dizzy and VERY thirsty. I found the Laksa to be okay, not something I'd really crave for or want to order again.

Next time I go back though I'm definitely going for the Nasi Lemak Special instead.

Price: The mains can range from $8.50 to $16.80 depending on what you order. A noticed that most of the people in there ordered Laksa's though which are priced between $8.50 to $10.50.

Overall Score - Casual Dining: 14/20

• Food: 4/5
• Range of Choice: 4/5
  
• Value for money: 4/5
• Venue: 1/5
  

NOTE: you go to Laksa King for their range of authentic Malaysian food at affordable prices, not the venue. They do not skimp on the portions. If you order seafood you get your worth of seafood.

I asked Amazon what she would rate Laksa King out of 20, and she said 18. She loves her Malaysian food, so I'm sure she knows more about it. Although all my friends enjoy eating at Laksa King, they thought she may have been a bit generous.

Whilst I was browsing around for other reviews on Laksa King, I stumbled upon Journal of the Whills. According to Wuching, Baba House is better than Laksa King. I'll have to bring this up with Amazon! But for now I would like to take a break from coconut in my meals.

Useful Information:

• Your Restaurants
• Blog Reviews: Hausfrau in Melbourne (May 18, 2009)
  
• Blog Reviews: Tummy Rumbles (March 23, 2009)
• Blog Reviews: Crushed Guava (October 26, 2007)
  

Opening Hours:
Monday to Saturday
Lunch: 11.30am-3pm
Dinner: 5pm-10.30pm

Blueprint - Bar, Eatery & Kitchen

222-224 Pelham St
Carlton 3053 Vic
Phone: (03) 9347 3691
Website: blueprintcatering.com.au

Blueprint is one of the places I go to quite regularly due its proximity to Uni. On my first trip to Blueprint, a Uni staff suggested that I try this ham roll, which was so good that it has now become one of my staple lunch foods! Too bad I never remember the name of it and refer to it as "the roll with ham in it, which looks kind of like the salmon one". I do remember that it was somewhere around $8.


So upon arrival today, I was hoping that my ham roll would be there. When I asked where the "roll with the ham in it that looks like that salmon one" was, they said they had already run out of it for today! Darn it, I'll have to arrive earlier next time.

Fish & Chips with squeezable tartare & tomato sauce $9.90
I ended up having this instead, the batter was nice and crisp, not soggy or overdone at all. My friend said the fish tasted like those baked fish that you buy frozen, but what the heck, it was still good!

Sausage Roll served with salad and sauce for the sausage roll. (I think I really need to start learning my sauces, it tasted kind of like barbecue sauce but I could be wrong, most likely am wrong)
It tasted okay, a sausage roll which is pre-made and then heated up can only go so far. Speedy didn't seem to mind it.

Blueprint Burger (Beef) in Salad & Chips $9.90

One of my friends always orders the Blueprint Burger when we come here. I tried a bit of the burger meat and I found that the consistency and taste was really similar to a sausage roll except more dense, a bit strange. I'm sure it would've tasted better if I had ate the whole thing together.

The highlight of lunch today was probably finding out Amazon couldn't eat burgers properly, she had to unstack the burger before she could eat it haha.

Blueprint also offers a breakfast menu that goes until 11am, muffins, yogurt, fruit salad etc. the types of food you'd typically find at this kind of cafe. They have a set lunch menu but they also have daily specials.

Pricing: The lunch menu can range from $9.90 to $18 depending on what you order. You won't be feeling hungry after ordering one of the dishes off their lunch menu. The rolls, pies etc. are around $8 or so.

Overall Score - Casual Dining: 14/20

• Food: 3.5/5
• Range of Choice: 4/5
  
• Value for money: 3.5/5
• Venue: 3/5

Oh, a thing about the venue... the decor is quite nice, but those are some small chairs! I always see these business people cramped up in them, it can look quite funny at times though haha.

Garage Cafe & Bar

221 Berkeley Street
Carlton 3053 VIC Phone: (03) 9349 5000
Website: garagecafe.com.au
I had trouble sleeping last night, no thanks to the hail outside. It started around 11pm or so and was on and off up until 6am. Ended up sleeping at 6am in the morning, only to wake up at 10am to find that it was all white outside! Most of the hail had actually melted by then, but you could still see bits of it.