Kublai Mongolian Barbeque

Kublai Mongolian Barbeque caught our eye when we drove by on the way to Sofia's in Croydon. So as we were driving down the road one night, it caught our eye again and we decided to try our luck. I thought it may have been a bad move when we were given a "Naughty, naughty" when we said we had no booking. But we got one of the last few tables.

The same man came over a few minutes later & explained to us the concept of the restaurant. Basically, he said, there's Asian food that you can get anywhere or you order the Mongolian BBQ. It's a buffet where you choose your meat, vegetables and sauce and hand over your bowl to the chef who then cooks your dish on a huge flat hot plate (sorry but I forgot to take a photo of the most important thing in the restaurant! Just image somewhere that you can cook a huge crepe on & you get the gist). Did I mention the chef uses basically a set of huge chopsticks to cook with?? It's all about the flair & flick of the hands as the cooking area is enclosed in glass so you watch as your dish is cooked for probably less than a minute.

Now we're told what most people get wrong is the sauce. There are about 11 types so to make things easier, there are about 6 recipes on the wall that you simply follow. Of course ET would have none of this. He tried his own & was very impressed with the outcome. And even though we were warned about the chilli, ET wasn't at all put off by it.

Now this all sounds well & good but did I mention the meat comes as shaved frozen pieces?? You get taken aback when you first see it, but obviously you need to keep the meat fresh and stop it from going off quickly. Plus having it thinly shaved means it also cooks quicker. There's actually an explanation for all this - including the reason for the frozen meat. I can explain it to you, or you could just go visit & read the menu for yourself  : p

You get four choices of meat.  There's a seafood and vegetarian/tofu version, which I would guess is served separately if you choose to order it.   The vegies on offer  include carrots, tomatoes, capsicum, cabbage, bean shoots, something I don't know the English word for, and one or two others.

Apparently the record is 8 bowls for women (sadly I could only do 2 1/2. But in my defence I was coming down with the flu) and 13 bowls for men. If you can beat it, you get a free dessert!

Most people went up at least a few times. After all you gotta try a few different sauces. And everyone seemed to order the unlimited steamed rice.  For $2 per person, how can you go wrong?

I noticed throughout the night that two different waitstaff would come up to us to take an order within minutes of each other. It wasn't until after we left that ET explained when, for instance, we turned down dessert the waitress looked to the manager and shook her head. The manager then grabbed the attention of a waiter and sent him directly over to us. We still said no to dessert and the waiter also shook his head at the manager when he walked off. Considering the manager worked the floor so well, chatting to all the customers and even offering ET his own special chilli sauce when ET made mention he was handling the chilli quite well, we can only guess he's invested in this place.

This place is entertaining and would make a fun night out with a group of people who have never been before.  (I actually found another review with the heading "Bizarre Experience")  But it's certainly not a place we would visit often. The showmanship of the chef makes a difference, the hard upsell is not for us, and quite frankly, how much meat, veg and sauce can one have? 

Lastly, while trying to find info on this restaurant for this here blog, I came across the fact that Alex, the owner, was actually on Australia's Biggest Loser a few years ago.  So, if like me, you thought his face familiar, that's probably the reason why!

Kublai Mongolian Barbeque & Asian Cuisine

434 Maroondah Hwy, Croydon West

The Firehouse (IV)

Back again, you may ask.  Yep.  This time an early dinner was booked and I thought we should try more  tapas/share dishes.  Although ET wasn't so keen on the polenta with green beans, he was kind enough to order it to appease me.  And just as well - because he thought it delicious!

We both loved the braised chicken's nice color and taste. 

ET thought the whitebait "interesting".  For me, it wasn't crispy enough and tasted a little more fishy than I thought it should.

However overall ET thought we chose a great combination of flavours for entree.

For mains I opted for mussels; one of Firehouse's medium dishes.  This was just the perfect size considering our somewhat gluttonous start.  The mussels were nice, not at all chewy and I liked the dollops of butter which melted into the dish.  Although by the end of it I had a bowl full of soup (for lack of a better word) which probably could've been mopped up with crusty bread if they hadn't served the dish with just one thin piece of turkish bread :(

ET went for the 8 hour slow cooked lamb.  There was an unidentifiable mash under the lamb (see photo below) but the dish had plenty of bold but complementing flavours which he really enjoyed.

Which brings me to our waiter for the night.  He seemed really knowledgeable and explained on ordering that the lamb would be a piece of neck and that, indeed, the dish would have strong flavours.  He also enquired how I liked the warm turkish apple cocktail I ordered.  Apparently I was the first one to ever order it!  I'm not sure I liked being the guinea pig.  But the drink was not for me.  I liked the candied apple garnish better!

ET also noticed the waiter's interactions with other diners and couldn't help but be impressed by his passion.  His attitude alone could've given any place a thumbs up.  This, coupled with the great food, made for a very good enjoyable night out for us.


The Firehouse
253 Maroondah Hwy, Ringwood

Sapporo Japanese Restaurant

Having just watched at tv show about Japanese food, it was no wonder ET & I had a hankering for getting some of our own.

Sapporo was booked out when we arrived so they offered us seats by the ‘bar’ in front of the preparation area.  Having seen the giant boat (known as the House Special) be assembled, ET & I were quite happy to stay where we were even when they offered us a table later on in the night.

The first dish we tried was Salmon Sashimi that ET thought quite nice.

We both then had Miso Shiru which we both quite liked.

For mains the Teriyaki Chicken got a good rating from ET.  Although I noticed that the chicken on one half of the plate was a different color from the other half.  Or perhaps that was just a trick of the light?  Have a look at the photo below and let me know what you think.

My Tatsuta Age received a not bad from ET.  I thought it a little oily.  I realise it’s deep fried marinated chicken, but at one stage I’m quite sure I spurted oil when I bit into one piece!!

After all these dishes, we were too full for dessert.  I had managed to keep up with ET step by step so it wasn’t much of a surprise :p  And here's another shot of our mains - just for the hell of it! 

Staff was quite good but they forgot to give us menus so ET had to steal from the table behind us.  And although we didn’t ask for water, I saw them take out a bottle from the fridge so I can only guess it would be nice and cold and pass my water wellness test.

Sapporo Japanese Restaurant

432 Mitcham Rd, Mitcham

Bucatini Restaurant and Bar (II)

We managed to get a table due to our early-ish arrival for dinner; but we had to wait a few minutes until menus were handed over.  At this stage the waiter went thru the specials, took our drinks order and poured us water from a bottle which was left on the table.  Water was nice and cool and ET managed to polish off the whole bottle before the end of the meal so they offered to refill it.  For this, they get a thumbs up from me for water wellness.

To start off, ET ordered the T-bone steak rare.  He thought it was spot on, unlike his previous steak order at Bucatini which was below par.

My Barramundi special was fine.  But nothing too special, I must admit.

Bucatini doesn’t have large serves so we decided to go on to dessert.  I ordered the orange and almond flourless cake.  Again, I thought it nothing special.

ET enjoyed his sticky date pudding.  Even though the angle of the photo may be a little deceptive, you can tell the pudding wasn't a very big server either.

On the night it was not always easy to get staff attention.  Although both the waiter and manager asked how our meals were within minutes of each other.  But I’m not really a fan of this.  I think asking for feedback once per meal is enough.

And finally, as we drove off ET noticed their sign and said quizically "Restaurant and bar"?  Although there's a big display of assorted bottles of alcohol, we have yet to see an area where people enjoy drinks by a counter.  And after all, isn't that the definition of a bar?

Bucatini Restaurant and Bar

454 Whitehorse Rd, Mitcham

The Firehouse (III)

Fantastic.  It seemed that was ET's comment of the night.  From the taramasalata & tatziki dip with warm bread to his (second) wine and my atlantic salmon dish.  Admittedly his first wine was a little too sweet for his liking.  And although his steak was good, he thought perhaps he should not have ordered it to be rare.  But that, my friends, was his mistake.

 (Here's another shot of my salmon below, just cos I like the photo!)

We noticed The Firehouse has updated its menu since our last visit.  Presumably this is to go with the change in weather.  Happily they still had the chickpea churros we loved last time.  But we decided on the bread and dips this time.

Water wellness though, wasn't up to scratch.  I saw them take a bottle from a windowsill, which is where they seem to keep an assortment of items.  Then the waitress proceeded to pour water into our glasses, holding the bottle at the bottom and pouring as if it were wine.  Which probably would've been better since the water was room temperature.  But I prefer cool, if not chilled, water.

ET did make mention afterwards that The Firehouse is not by any means cheap.  And even though we booked (for a change!) we were seated next to a door in the back room, a room that he believes lacks ambiance; so ET didn't feel as if we were dining in a nice restaurant.  Which is a pity considering the waitstaff weren't bad.  At one stage the straw fell out of my glass as it was being served.  And, much to my amusement, the waitress returned with a straw placed on top of a serviette on a saucer!  I almost laughed from the absurdity of it!

And one final thing.  As our mains were served I did my usual preening and photo-taking.  One of the waitstaff came over and asked how everything was.  I told her we hadn't tasted anything yet and she said she noticed me taking photos and wanted to ensure there was nothing wrong.  After telling her it all looked great and that's the reason why I was taking photos, she left us to it.  I wonder if I should've said I have a blog in the hopes they'll remember us and be extra nice next time we come and visit.  After all, I'm sure there'll be a next time...

The Firehouse

253 Maroondah Hwy, Ringwood