The Iluka Motel & Italian Restaurant @ Apollo Bay

Today I took a drive along the Great Ocean Road from Melbourne heading right up to the Twelve Apostles and as it reached mid day, we were just reaching Apollo Bay. Having spent some time here, we decided to have some quick lunch. As I was walking around this beautiful beach side town, I came across this restaurant and motel called The Iluka Motel & Italian Restaurant.

Iluka Restaurant at Apollo Bay

This was quite a huge restaurant and had a great number of patrons. They call themselves Italian Restaurant but they serve almost everything from Western, Italian as well as Greek food.

Sign at the entrance

After going through the menu, I decided to try something different altogether. So I ordered a Lamb Souvlaki for lunch. Not sure how it would be like and yet to taste it.

Lamb Souvlaki

The service here was pretty quick. I received my orders within 15 minutes.

A Closer Look

The Lamb Souvlaki was absolutely delicious. Unfortunately after having this I was pretty full and was not able to taste the other food. I wish I did could though. As I was looking at the other tables, even the Fish & Chips seemed very delicious. If you happen to drive pass this town, this is a highly recommended restaurant and the price is very reasonable too.


Address: 65-71, Great Ocean Road,
               Apollo Bay, VIC 3233,
               Australia.

Tel: +613 5237 6531

Website: http://www.ilukamotelrestaurant.com.au/

Delhi Rocks @ King Street, Melbourne

For the past few days, I have been having very rich Western Food and today for a change I wanted to try something light and perhaps something Indian. I know of many Indian Restaurants in Melbourne but they were a little far out and would have needed me to take a taxi ride there. I just decided to take a walk around the hotel and eventually I found myself venturing into King Street which is just a block away from Williams.  Not very far from the beginning of the first block, I came across this restaurant called Delhi Rocks.

Delhi Rocks on King Street

An interesting name I thought. It was the complete opposite of posh, plain and simple. From the plain decor I understood that it was a simple joint serving home cook food. The patrons inside were mostly taxi drivers and a few tourists like me. I heard a few of them mumbling that this is the cheapest meal one can get in Melbourne. Quite possibly I guess.

Simple Decor

Okay, the concept here is quite simple. It is AUD 10.00 per meal and they only serve Chapatis. Simple as that. You would have to take a plastic tray which has three gravy holding compartments. Here you are allowed to choose from a number of vegetables and curries and fill them. Please note that this filling is done by the restaurant operator and it is limited to three only and no refills. You then had him a 10 Dollar note and grab your plate to your seat. Then a man would come around serving Chapatis.

The Plate With 3 Choices of Gravies

The best thing about this place is that you can go on having any number of Chapatis. There is no limit as this waiter goes around filling the plates. If the gravies that you took initially had finished, you could still have the plain chapatis if you could still eat.

On the whole, if you are looking for a budget meal in Melbourne, this is the place as meals can be very costly there, especially to tourists.

Address: 212, King Street, Melbourne,
                Victoria 3000, Australia.

Opening Hours: 1030 - 2000 (Weekdays Only)
             

Curtin House Rooftop Bar @ Swanston Street, Melbourne

Today it was the entire sales teams day out and I just followed the group from office. We got onto the tram and head to Swanston Street to one of the very famous roof top bar and cinema in Melbourne called Curtin House. Yes it is a bar, and there is an open air cinema at the roof top.

At Curtin House

It is located quite close to RMIT University and Melbourne Chinatown. It is surely a very old building and we had to take a few fleet of stairs heading up. We did not head to the top floor but stopped somewhere on the fifth floor where there are like individual bunkers.

Red Rice Beer from Japan

Each of these bunkers have a buzzer and when pressed the waiter attends to you. The first thing that we ordered was beer. This beer that you see above was the very first variety that I tasted. It is brewed from Red Rice and Yeast and originates from Japan. It was a pretty smooth beer, amber in colour.

Us in the private cubicle

It was fun having a group of us squeeze into this little cubicle. Of course there were a few that were seated outside too as it was already a little cramped.

Do It Yourself Vegetable Wraps

As we were having beer, decided to have light food along the way. This was one such interesting dish. It resembles the Vietnamese Rice Papaer Wraps but in this case, you would have to do it yourself.

Fried Mushrooms

This side dish was another one worth mentioning. It was a great bite. The mushrooms were crispy and tasted very much like chicken. Tasty!

Fried Calamari & Fish

Another lovely dish at this place. Goes well with beer.

Knappstein Beer

This was our second round of beers,an Australian brewed beer.

Mountain Goat Beer

This was our third round of beers. Another Australian variety. Pretty good too.

XP Pale Ale

This was the last round of beer for the night. This is an American beer.

A Group Photo

Finally by the time we finished, it was almost 9 pm and all of us were pretty tired. This is surely a great place to spend time with friends. Great beer...good food and fantastic environment. Only setback would be that price is on the high end.

Address: 252 Swanston Street, Melbourne,
                Victoria 3000 Australia.

Opening Hours: Monday - Friday 1530 - 0900 (throughout the night)
                         Saturday & Sunday 1900 - 0900

Mo Vida Aqui @ Bourke Street, Melbourne

During my stay in Melbourne, I was staying at Quest on Williams and this evening when one of my friends called me out for dinner, I was pretty tired and asked if there were any good places nearby the hotel where we could just walk up. He understood that I was tired and suggested that we head to Mo Vida Aqui which was just behind my hotel and is accessible via Lt Bourke Street. It was a mere 5 minutes walk. This restaurant is located on the first floor and can be hidden to those who do not know or heard of this place.

However, it was another great joint. I heard that the chef here was one of the winners of the Australian Masterchef series. Thats impressive. Since I am a nerd to Spanish food, I let my friend to place the orders.

Calamari Burgers

This was the very first dish he had ordered. Hmmmm....they smelt good and was delicious making you crave for more with every bite. Absolutely fantastic dish.

Bread with Olive Oil

This I was told is a customary dish at any Spanish Restaurant. I believe it is a must have even among the Italians and it was something very different. I was also told the key to this dish is the Olive Oil itself which has to be well prepared yet remain fresh. It was something different.

Mildure Storm Beer

Not to forget was to try a locally brewed beer. This to me was thick as it comes under the Ale category. Nevertheless, a good drink it was.

Spicy Stuffed Potato with Spicy Cheese

I loved these too. They are potato balls which are spicy with a coating of spicy cheese. They literally melt in your mouth. Goes well with the beer.

Potato Bombs

Another interesting dish, the name is though. But Indians would be quite familiar with this. In Malaysia, we call these Potato Cutlets.

Prawns Stuffed with Pork Sausages

This was a dish that I loved too. However, I felt that the spices could have been more balanced. Nevertheless a good dish to order too.

Clams & Potato

This was by far the best dish and also the most expensive dish at this restaurant. It was lovely. We ended up ordering more bread and cleaning the dish off any left gravy with the bread.

My buddy & I

On the whole, it was a great dining experience. Though we have many Mo Vida's in Malaysia, the menu is somewhat different. This was definitely a memorable dining experience.

Address: Level 1, 500 Bourke Street, 
                NAB Building (via Lt Bourke Street),
                Melbourne, Victoria 3000,
                Australia.

Tel: +613 9663 3038

Opening Hours: Mon - Fri : 1200 to late
                            Sat 1800 to late
                            Sun Closed

Website:  http://movida.com.au/movida-aqui/

Rococo @ Saint Kilda, Melbourne

This evening after work, a friend of mine called me out for dinner. Since I was in a country that I was not too familiar with, decided to follow him for some good Italian dinner. From William Street, we took a cab to this area called St Kilda which is a beach front area that was absolutely beautiful. It seems that most of the diners are located here and I could see even some Malaysian restaurants here. This seems to be the place where the locals chill their evenings with their loved ones and friends as their homes are not too far from here.

Rococo at St. Kilda

We head to this Italian Restaurant called Rococo. It seemed pretty full house and getting a seat was a mojor problem here. We had to wait a while before we got our seats though it was only two of us. That is a good sign as it means the food here is good as it is preferred by the locals.

The Neighborhood Filled With Restaurants

This Street is famous cake shops too

As you could see from the above photos, this area is bustling with restaurants and diners.

A Posh Bar Counter in Rococo

The Interior of the restaurant

What can I say, the restaurant was surely considered posh. Everyone was so busy moving very fast and serving the patrons that you had to wait a while before they attended to you. Also you would have to call a number of times before they reach your table.

Local Brewed Beer

The first thing that I wanted to try was the locally brewed beer and I was surprised to know that they had a brewery unique to even this little locality called St Kilda. The beer was good and it tasted somewhat like Anchor Beer in Malaysia.

Garlic Infused Artichokes

Okay, this dish was pretty new to me and I do not know how to rate it if it was good or bad, in a nutshell, I did not like the taste but hey, it may have been good for those who love it.

Olives

Just loved these Olives. They were great.

Pork Bacon

I just loved this Bacon. It was tender and soft and I have never tasted such a Bacon here in Malaysia even though they were imported from Australia or any other western country.

Baked Cheese

Oh la la....this was heavenly!!!

Char-grilled Squids

I liked this dish. The cuttlefish was soft and tender and the garlic taste was very mild too. It definitely brought out the natural flavour of the squids.

Grilled Lamb with Herbs & Spices

Okay...this is one of the dishes that I feel could have been better. Perhaps, I am comparing to Indian / Arabic style of grilling lamb when in this case it was done by the Italians. Nevertheless, it could have been much better.

Mexican Style Pizza

This was also pretty good and I loved their cheese toppings. Embarrassingly, this is also where I learned how to properly eat the thin crust as opposed to the different way of eating the think crust. I had always treated the eating style for both variations similarly.

That was pretty much our meal for the night. But yes, there were a number of beers and it was indeed a good meal shared between two of us. The total bill came up to AUD 200.00 and that is very expensive when compared to Malaysia but definitely the norms in Australia. I would definitely recommend this restaurant.

Address:  89 Acland Street, St. Kilda,
                 Melbourne, VIC 3182 Australia.

Tel:  +613 9525 3232

Opening Hours: 0730 - 2300 Daily

Tooradin Original Fish & Chips @ Tooradin, Victoria, Australia

I was on the way to Phillip Island from Melbourne and that is when I stumbled this beautiful little town of Tooradin. We stopped here and I was looking for a quick lunch and I came across this restaurant. Though there are not many varieties here in this town when compared to that of Malaysia, the Fish & Chips here was something that is worth to mention.

Tooradin Original Fish & Chips Diner

This was a great restaurant. Though they differ to us Malaysians culturally, I believe they had a great menu to offer. It was a self service restaurant which just two tables outside the restaurant for patrons to sit while waiting for their orders to be made.

Refrigerator at the diner

It was interesting to note that they also served ice cold drinks when it was ice cold outside too. Hehehe

One of my Favourite Drinks

I also found my favourite Bundabereg drink here. To my surprise, though being an Australian produce, it was more expensive here than the price that I buy it in Malaysia.

The Menu & Prices

The menu and the price listings was well listed at the restaurant.

Variety of Fish To Choose From

The great thing that I found here which is not available back in Malaysia was that you can choose the type of fish you want but of course the price may vary based on the type of fish. But it is good that you have the flexibility here.

Customers Waiting To Place Their Orders

Once I had placed my orders and while waiting, I could see loads of customers walking in and taking out their orders. Seems like a common practice here.

Seated Outside While Waiting For My Orders

My Fish & Chips

It was interesting to note that the Fish & Chips here is served in just paper wrappings. It seems to be the norms here as it is not acceptable in Malaysia. However this concept was quite cool too as we can go on with whatever task we have in hand and yet continue to have our meal so as not to waste time dining there.
Indeed this was a great experience for me and yes coming back to the food, it was extremely good. No mayonaise or tar tar sauce to dip in yet it was very tasty. Lightly salted and I guess it must have been fried in butter. The fish itself was very fresh and tasted yummy.

Address: 87 South Gippsland Highway,
                Tooradin Victoria 3980,
                Australia.

Tel: +613 5998 3284 

Opening Hours : 1100 - 1700