Shark Fin House

Fancy some good Yum Cha?  Then head over to Shark Fin House.  This is one of four restaurants in the Shark Fin Group's chain of restaurants which was established in 1980.  Shark Fin House is located in the heart of Chinatown in Melbourne on Little Bourke Street.

I was there in June for dinner and had an enjoyable dinner.  I decided to go there again last month for a late lunch.  Would you believe that even at 1.30, there was a queue for tables?  The waiting staff was busy heralding groups of customers in and asking those without reservations to take a number.  After being told we had to wait about 20 mins, we were told our table was ready and was taken up to the 2nd floor.  There were quite a few big tables around us.  The trolleys of yum cha dishes looked delicious and we couldn't resist even though we had decided to have lobster.  We ordered our lobster but was too hungry and could not resist some dumplings while waiting.  The dumplings were delicious.

While waiting we noticed that the big tables around us were being filled up and this was already 2.30pm!  I think the Melbournians tend to eat late.

Our lobster dish finally arrived - cooked to perfection.  The Yee Min which accompanied it in XO sauce was al-dente.  There was sufficient sauce, and the 1kg lobster was finger lickin-good!

The service at this restaurant was great too... they were attentive and cleared our plates from all the shells.  Yum!

Magpie Cafe

On a recent trip to the Southern Highlands we decided to drop by Berrima.  It was a wintry and drizzly day and was definitely time to stop for a late lunch. 

There has been a few changes in Berrima in terms of new shops and cafes.  I suspect Magpie cafe has been there for a while and on this late afternoon, the place was full and bustling with activity and noise.  It had a charming cottage feel and easy to see why it was so busy.  Given the busy-ness of the cafe, it was hard to get service... we had to ask fo some water... more than 3 times... sigh!  And... had to even get our own menus.

Anyway, my friend's prawn risotto arrived and she absolutely loved the risotto!

I decided to just have a dessert with my cup of tea and my apple and rhubarb crumble was heavenly!  The crumble topping was crunchy and moist... the ice-cream and the crumble went down very well.

The food at the Magpie Cafe definitely made up for the lack of service!

New Kid on the block

House is the new baby of chef Sujet Saenkham of Spice I am fame.  I must say he has made a great decision as House is located just round the corner from Spice I am on 202  Elizabeth Street.  It is close enough to get the spillover customers from those who do not want to wait around for a table at Spice I am.

This new restaurant is located adjacent to the Triple Ace Bar.  From the street, one can see a new courtyard strung with lanterns and standup heaters warming the area.  It also features an open kitchen.  House definitely has more room than Spice I am, making for a more pleasant dining, not to mention, less rushed!

Open plan kitchen

House's cuisine predominantly features the street food of northeast Thailand.  It is not as packed full of flavour and uses less coconut milk as the dishes found in Spice I am but it is still spicy.  The beef "curry" we ordered did not look "red" but was spicy and tasty.  The yum woon sen however was simply sensational.  The taste was great and definitely one of the better yum woon sen (glass noodle salad) I have tasted in Sydney.  We ordered the crispy baby snapper but was disappointed with the lack of sauce which made the fish tasted a bit on the dry side.

The other good thing about House vs Spice I am is that is has desserts on its menu - yippee!  We ordered it's special - Better than Sex which is basically a thick slice of brioche topped with a scoop of coconut ice cream.  Terry Durack in his review in the Good Living had expressions of OTT and OMG to describe this dessert... hmm.. I certainly begged to differ.  It didn't exude this OTT and OMG feeling and I thought given the composition of this dessert, the price of around $15.00 was OTT!

Better Than Sex

House is definitely a good option if Spice I am is full but I would opt for the original Spice I am, anytime.