Universal Restaurant (Lygon St, Carlton)

Huge chicken parma. A value for money joint.

 

At the suggestion of my dinner partner, we headed down to Universal along Lygon Street. There was a short queue, but it moved pretty fast, and we were soon ushered into the restaurant within 15 minutes.

What caught my attention was this brown statue which I thought was St Clare, and after enquiring turns out to be that of Mary.

My dining partner and I order a Chicken Parmigiana and a small Meat Lovers pizza to share between the both of us.

 

The pizza wasn’t fantastic. It was dry. The only saving grace would be the amount of processed meat slapped onto the pizza.

The size of the chicken was a bit of a nice surprise. It was my first time eating chicken parma in Australia. It was crispy. The meat was still tender and wasn’t dry, but it somehow lacked juice. I probably enjoyed the beer battered chips more.

Based on these two dishes which came to about 26 or 27 for two, Universal is one of those value-for-money places where you could enjoy a hearty meal without bursting one’s wallet.

You can’t say you have had the complete Aussie experience if you miss out on a chicken parma at a pub.

 

I have always turned my nose up to chicken parmigiana or chicken parma.

Perhaps I think it’s just pub grub…nothing too exquisite, exciting or exotic that the pretentious foodie in me would like. It’s probably as humble and common as the chicken wings that our Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong queued up for at Redhill.

Or maybe I just think chicken parma is artety clogging and fattening. Breaded fried chicken breast + cheese + ham = recipe for putting on weight.

Eventually, I succumbed to chicken parma. Many cafes, restaurants, pubs, food courts, eateries have this on the menu (unless they’re fanciful or pretentious). Australia is just crazy over chicken parma.

The most important thing about chicken parma is size. It needs to be big to be that satisfying. The chicken breast is then breaded and crumbed and fried. The crumbs should be light, crispy with a nice orange/gold hue. The tomato sauce or Napoli sauce should be tangy and piquant enough to balance out the melted cheese with a gold hue and the fried chicken. Some places would add in a piece of ham, although this is arguable whether it is necessary.   

For the Singaporean – think chicken parma as your chicken cutlet slathered with cheese, Napoli sauce.

After last week’s chicken parma at Universal (which I will blog about in another post), I was left craving for chicken parma. Well, let’s just say, I didn’t want to wreck my brains on what to eat, and since T suggested going to a pub, why not? It was between one in North Melbourne and The Imperial at Bourke Street (the end). After checking out the menus, I thought The Imperial was more appealing and so The Imperial it was.

According to the website, The Bourke Street Imperial is the third oldest pub in Melbourne. It screens sporting games so it gets pretty crowded during such telecasts. It was when I arrived at around 7 on Saturday but we managed to get seats.

I had the pub’s specialty –The Imperial Parma (Hand crumbed chicken breast fillet topped with champagne ham, basil infused tomato ragout, and two cheeses served with beer battered fries and cherry tomato, rocket & parmesan salad). I washed the heaviness of the meal with a cider.

While the chicken parma didn’t look as massive as the one at Universal from last Saturday, it certainly made up in terms of taste and quality.

I’m not saying Universal’s was bad. The chicken was crispy and succulent. It was neither too soggy on the parts where the cheese was slathered on, nor did it feel too bready or dry. Thankfully the ham wasn’t too salty and the cheese wasn’t overpowering. The sauce added a nice kick and tang to the chicken so it didn’t require additional condiments or sauce. Oh, and I enjoyed the beer battered fries. Best chips ever.

 And a trip to the pub without a drink? No way. The cider was a nice refreshment with just the right alcoholic content to pair with the grub and for chilling on a Saturday evening. 

At $25, it is however a little pricey, but overall, the meal was satisfactory and I enjoyed the chicken parma very much. Not bad for a pub grub, and to bring myself a few notches down to enjoy simple everyday common nosh.

Pidapipo, Carlton, Melbourne (now closed)

A pop-up gelato shop. Parting is such sweet sorrow. Adieu...So long…till we meet again in September.

By the time this post is published, Pidapipo would have sold its last scoop of gelato.

Pidapipo was meant to be a “test kitchen”, “test lab” or a pop-up shop. It opened last December along Faraday Street in Carlton.

I was first introduced to this place by Diane when I had dinner with her a few weeks back. And I had wanted to return here ever since, before it shutters down.

According to articles on the internet, the owner, Lisa Valmorbida, who has Italian roots, headed all the way to Italy, spent some number of weeks there to complete in an intensive gelato course at a gelato university, following which she spent some time working in a gelateria. She hopes to bring an authentic Italian gelato experience with traditional Italian flavours and quality ingredients.

So far I have tried four flavours over the two visits – Nutella swirl (which is Nutella drizzled on top of a fior di latte which is really just milk – no additional of vanilla or any other flavouring; peanut butter, Bacio (Hazelnut and chocolate), and Crema, rhubarb and vincotto swirl.

The texture of the gelato was smooth and creamy, but not too overly rich. It also looks natural – and not artificially coloured. I’m not sure if this is close to the real thing in Italy – it has been a while since I had gelato in Italy, but this gelato is definitely one of the better ones around Carlton.

Above: Bacio and Crema, rhubarb and vincotto swirl

I enjoyed all the flavours – particularly the Bacio for the taste of hazelnut, the Nutella swirl, the generous drizzle of Nutella uplifts the fior di latte, where you could really taste the milk and cream and in unadulterated form. I like the Crema, rhubarb and vincotto swirl as the sharp, tart and tangy taste of the rhubarb bits helps to balance the creaminess of the gelato.

Above: Nutella (Nutella over Fior di latte) and Peanut butter

At $4 for a scoop, $6 for two scoops and $7 for three, it is still rather affordable and good value for money, product wise. I would miss you in the meantime. Hope to see you again soon.

The Tippler Co (Wellington Parade, East Melbourne)

Might be pricey. Nice place to chillax. Glad I didn’t go with wait staff’s recommendations.

Number One on Tripadvisor's list of Restaurants for Melbourne.

97 percent likes on Urbanspoon.

This has to count for something right?

The menu looks fairly interesting when I checked out the website. And I was dead set that this had to be one of the places I just wanted try in the immediate future.

And when the opportunity to have dinner with James on Friday, here I was with him, at The Tippler Co on Friday night at 58 Wellington Parade.

It wasn’t crowded when we arrived there at about 7.15pm. I had a reservation for about 8.15pm but we were promptly shown to our seats – at a high table with a view of the outside street (Wellington Parade). 

We took a while to peruse the menu. James began to strike off some options. I would think that rather certain options didn’t quite appeal to him.

As The Tippler and Co is a bar cum eatery, food options are similar to tapas – mostly small plates for sharing. Meanwhile the ambience is very laidback and inviting – with high stools and tables, industrial lighting (which might explain why my photos are blur/dim or I am just a bad photographer), with wooden fittings. James remarked that this place seems to be a good place to chill out, and without a huge crowd that evening, it made for a relaxing mood.

I’m not so much of a wine/alcohol person, so I won’t be able to comment on the drink offerings. Browsing through the little booklet did yield a good selection of drinks. James decided on the cider and I followed suit. It was my second time having cider that week, after the JD mentor-mentee evening drinks when my mentor kindly bought me a cider. Thanks Angus!

 

Back to the menu, both of us were none the wiser after poring over the options for some time and we asked the wait staff for recommendations. He suggested a small duck liver pate, the cauliflower salad and the gnocchi.

 

I wasn’t impressed. My dining partner probably felt the same way. So in the end, we decided on the prawns, and considered the fries or patatas bravas to go with the cider. I chose the lamb as the main. But in the end we decided to skip the fries and opted for the arancini.

And boy, are we so glad that we just ordered blindly, based on intuition, rather than on the staff’s recommendations.

The Pumpkin and Three Cheese Arancini (rocket, walnuts, pepitas) kicked off the meal on a wonderful note for me. The balls were crispy and cooked to a nice golden hue. Taking a bite off each morsel led to an explosion of savouriness and gooeyness of the melted cheese. However James complained that the batter was a little too salty, but washing the arancini down with a gulp/sip of cider was an excellent pairing as the acidity/alcohol content of the cider somewhat tees off the savouriness/heaviness of the arancini.

      

I must say that the Kataifi Prawns (tomato and eggplant kasundi, coriander) (IN THE FIRST PICTURE)was my favourite dish that night. The prawns came served in a bright yellow-golden hue. The prawn meat was moist, juicy and had some bite. The little threads that encased the prawn were fried to a nice crisp so much so I could hear them crackle in my mouth. The prawns didn’t turn soggy even though we left them for a good few minutes as we partook in the arancini. This dish would put a few less than skilful dim sum chefs out there to shame. 

Meanwhile the accompanying tomato and eggplant kasundi lent a nice spicy, exotic lift and touch to what would probably be an ordinary dim sum-esque dish. The use of the coriander in the accompanying sauce evoked thoughts of Indian-vegetarian cuisine.

There was an aromatic fragrance when the slow braised lamb shoulder with chickpea stew (almond and raisin couscous, green chilli yoghurt, coriander) was served, evoking fond thoughts of nasi biryani. Once again, it was probably due to the spices. Chunks of the meat were mixed in with the couscous and stew. This dish was rather satisfying and hearty for an autumn/wintry evening but nothing too memorable to rave about a few days down the road.

 

Overall, The Tippler Co provides a nice place to chillax, knock down some drinks and bar food

Sofia Restaurant, Burke Road, Camberwell

Not gourmet food…

  

When I suggested to my Korean hyung Eric that I wanted to eat Italian/pizza, I really had no idea that we would end up at Sofia Restaurant in Camberwell which started in 1969, and used to be a pizza parlour.

Heck, I didn’t even know what Sofia Restaurant was as I had my heart set on some choices that I read online. And when I checked out the reviews for Sofia’ Restaurant on Urbanspoon (50 percent likes), I really wanted to suggest another alternative, but since he was helpful enough to suggest, I thought, “Whatever, let’s go with it.”

Let’s just say I went in with little expectations and came out feeling something like this, “This isn’t too bad. I probably could have worse.”

The menu is pretty standard, probably what one can get in Pastamania back home in Singapore. No surprises. Eric hyung ordered a large spaghetti marinara. He told me he used to do takeaways or something like that when classes finished late for him and Sofia Restaurant was the only eatery still open in the late hours. Some nostalgia there.

Meanwhile, I ordered a large Sofia Special (pizza) with tomato, mozzarella, mushrooms, green peppers, shredded mild salami and anchovies. Frankly, I didn’t give it much thought into my order as I wanted gourmet pizza, and the options didn’t look too appealing so I just randomly picked one option which had meat.

As I studied my fellow diners, I couldn’t help but notice that people were packing doggy bags. This is probably in testament to the humongous portions they serve. One couple I saw practically had their two pastas left half unfinished. Meanwhile the Indian diners next to me were tucking into their meal with gusto [they had three dishes…some seafood main, lasagne and fries]…the daughter’s girth is probably a testimony to her appetite…Sofia also serves a large gelato/ice cream which I didn’t feel appealing to the unnatural bright colours.

The only good thing I could say about Sofia Restaurant is that the portions are huge enough to make you feel that it’s worth the buck (that is…if you’re not a fussy, picky eater). The portion of the spaghetti marinara was enough to feed two people. And it came with a generous amount of medium-sized prawns (maybe 20 or more) and a few scallops…of course I don’t think the prawns are fresh…probably frozen or something when I tasted. The pasta wasn’t too bad, just a bit bland and lacking oomph…nothing that a sprinkle of parmesan or chilli flakes couldn’t fix.

 

The Sofia Special was huge…cut into eight slices…it costs about $15.80, probably about $2 a slice. If one isn’t a huge eater, one could eat this whole pizza over four meals (Oh! The horror). It wasn’t too bad, just that it looked kind of messy, but I liked that the crust had some burnt cheese…and the crust wasn’t really that thick or doughy. However, hyung complained that it was a bit salty due to the anchovies. Well, at least it balances out the rather bland pasta. *Smirks*

Anyhow, both of us left with a doggy bag from our unfinished meals. As of this time of writing I still have one slice of pizza left in the fridge.

Overall, what Sofia offers not an elegant or fine dining or gourmet experience, but rather edible and value for money grub for the untrained palates.