Smoken Joe’s Cafe

Walking into Smoken Joe's Ringwood, the first thing we noticed was its large size and colorful setting.  It has that American diner-style setting.  There’s even a lounge/bar area and because the place is fully licenced, ET thinks this might be a good place to have a function.  Although I think it might get a bit loud if you have a raucous party.  Since we were there for a weekend lunch, we didn’t have to put up with any of that.

To begin with, I have two things I must make special mention about their rather large menu – you have to check out their “gourmet” pizzas.  To ET & I, they sounded more like “weird” pizzas.  As in: Nacho pizza, anyone? :s   Kudos, however, for having something called a "Big Ass Breakfast" on the menu.  I kid you not!

Anyway, after going through the menu, I was tossing up between two dishes and ended up with the lasagna.  Which was a bit of a disappointment.  Although there was plenty of mince in the bolognese, it was actually quite dry and I would’ve preferred more sauce.  Also, the pasta was quite chewy in some parts.

The dish I passed on was the French Farmhouse Chicken because ET had decided on it while I was still tossing up my choices.  Anyhow he fared better that I did but he did mention the sauce was a little over the top.  You can see it drowning the chicken in the photo below.  

Nevertheless ET said the coffee was nice (which is always a bonus) and we have no complaints about the wait staff.  Although ET said the woman behind at the register was a bit weird.  I didn’t notice anything because I was too busy taking photos.  But may be that’s why she was acting weird – she was suspicious of me taking a picture of the lounge area!

But the best bit (at least for me, anyhow) is we got to sit at a booth – the kind where you sit across from each other and no one’s stuck on an uncomfortable chair while the other is on an either too high or too low bench.  This one was a real, proper booth.  And who doesn’t love a booth! :)

Smoken Joe's Cafe

305 Maroondah Hwy, Ringwood 

Sofia Croydon

To be honest, we were headed for the restaurant across the driveway but they seemed pretty full and ET thought Sofia had a better looking setup as we drove by.  I had also heard this place had large servings (which I thought was a huge bonus since I was starving).  And seeing the huge piles of pasta being delivered to the tables around us, and the fact most people left carrying take-away containers of uneaten food, they weren’t wrong.

ET ordered the minestrone soup to start with.  The soup was almost spilling out of the bowl and it looked a little watery to me; ET’s verdict was just an "okay".

The herb bread I ordered was doused in the stuff.  ET thought I should have ordered it with cheese and not just plain herb and he may have been right.  I literally had to scrape the herb off the bread – there was just way too much dry herbs.

The small lasagna I ordered for main was a little bland in the middle.  Or perhaps there was just not enough sauce.  I counted 6 sheets of pasta without much sauce between them :(

ET’s rare steak was cooked to order.  And although it wasn’t great, ET certainly wasn’t complaining about the size.

Sofia Croydon is a huge restaurant and was mostly empty when we were there for an early dinner on a weekend.  There was mostly large tables setup so perhaps they were expecting larger parties later on that night.  Et commented there were more staff than tables with customers.

Staff were relatively good, asking upon picking up our empty entrée plates if we were ready for mains or if they should tell the kitchen to wait.  But it was a little strange that two of them came up separately to ask us how the mains were within the space of 2 minutes when we were close to finishing.  And one of them even asked if I’d like to take the small piece of lasagna home for take-away. Was a nice offer but I still had my cutlery crossed over on the plate, as I had not quite finished eating yet.  And just one last thing – ET’s words when referring to the lemonade I ordered: “Straw in a can?”  It’s just not a restaurant thing to do, is it?

Sofia Croydon

99 Maroondah Hwy, Croydon

Enrik's Restaurant (III)

Having only ever visited Enrik's for dinner, we were happy to see many tables occuppied when we arrived for a weekend breakfast.

ET thought the latte he ordered was nice.  So was mine but my layer of foam was larger than his.  Was it because mine was soy, I wonder.  Also, is it nit-picking to wonder why there was no design on the foam?  Yea, I guess it is.  But there was really nothing else to pick on during that visit.

Anyway, back to the food.  ET ordered something like turkish bread with bacon, eggs and, I think, pesto (I can't remember exactly what was in it or what it was called) with a side order of sausage.  As soon as ET took a bite of his sandwich, all he could say was "That's delicious".

I ordered the french toast which arrived as 2 pieces, each of which was about the same size as the plate.  Upon orderng I thought it wouldn't be enough to fill me, so I also ordered bacon as extra.  And no wonder they served it on a side plate, considering how much room the french toast took up on the plate!  Needless to say, I didn't finish my meal.  If I knew how big the french toast was going to be, I would never have ordered the bacon.

ET agreed their servings for breakfast were quite generous and we both enjoyed our meals, so Enrik's is now definitely on our list of breakfast/brunch places to go to.

Enrik's Restaurant

25 Railway Rd, Blackburn

Blue Chillies

We arrived at Blue Chillies just as a couple was walking out the door, so we were lucky to grab the only available table.  This place is open until late which is a bonus specially when, like us, several people came in late in the evening without a booking.

For entrée I requested the whitebait and sweet potato fritter from the specials.  It really didn’t have much taste so you needed the sauce to give it some flavour.  Unfortunately it was full of chillies so I had to take it quite easy.  ET, on the other hand, seemed to douse his fitter in it.  And being a chilli lover, he wasn’t complaining.

Pre-blog visit, ET & I had ordered a squid entrée we both loved.  Unfortunately the squid we ordered off the normal menu was not that dish.  This one arrived battered (seen in the background of picture below) and although it wasn’t bad, we were disappointed we weren’t able to get the dish we got last time.  Oh well, I guess that’s why they’re called “specials”. 

For main ET ordered strips of beef.  We probably should have shared this dish as it’s too much beef for one person.  You can see it all piled up on a dish below.

I went for crispy fried noodles with beef & bok choy.  The beef was a tad bit chewy and lacked some flavour but was not at all spicy, which was my hope.  Although I found it quite funny ET also ended up with a non-spicy dish when I found it difficult to see anything on the menu without chilli on it!  This is just as well, considering the restaurant’s name.

Blue Chillies
182 Brunswick St, Fitzroy 3065 VIC