Pacos Tacos

Pacos Tacos is like the rebellious younger brother of the Movida group - bucking the trend of serving traditional Spanish cuisine, Pacos has instead opted for a Mexican inspired menu.

The venue itself is Paco's biggest draw-card.  Being one of the few places in the legal district which offers outdoor seating for dinner, it's the perfect spot for a casual catch up after work on a hot Summer's night.

The nachos are the highlight of the menu. Smothered with feta cheese, chiptole sauce, salsa verde, BBQ corn salsa, sour cream, coriander and pepita seeds, they taste lighter then the usual culprit, with the pepita seeds giving it an incredible texture.

 

If leaning towards a taco, I would highly recommend going for one of the seafood options.  The calamari was cooked perfectly in the calamari taco with iceberg lettuce, pico de gallo, jalapeños and mayonnaise, and a fellow diner raved about the spice crumbed blue grenadier taco.  However, whilst the meats were definitely cooked well, the flavours left me wanting in the 14 hour slow cooked pork shoulder taco and the slow cooked smoked brisket taco, and I would recommend moving on to a different menu item. . 

Paco's is a great spot for an after work drink on a hot Summer's night, especially if you are looking for somewhere gym-wear appropriate.  However, next time if I'm hungry I'll probably just stick with ordering the nachos.

Food: 3/5
Venue:3.5/5
Service: 3/5
Total: 9.5/15
Verdict: like - get around to trying it at some point

 

Royal Stacks

Did you just ask whether I would like cheese on my potato gems? Well played Royal Stacks, well played!

Whilst there is an abundance of delicious burger joints opening up in the CBD and inner suburbs, there was an apparent gap in the market in the Spencer Street station part of town.  But a gap there is no longer with Royal Stacks recently (well, perhaps now a few months ago) opening its doors!

The venue itself is a no frills kind of place - its interior is more like a Hungry Jacks than an American diner, but without the ostentatious branding.  Luckily though, the food makes up for the lack in décor. 

The potato gems with cheese sauce was a must from the menu and thankfully didn't disappoint - crispy on the outside, moist and fluffy on the inside, a small serving of these delicious morsels just wasn't enough! 

With my love for mac'n'cheese, I couldn't go past the King - beef pattie with tomato, butter lettuce, hand made mac'n'cheese croquette, American mustard and special burger sauce. Whilst the bun was sweet and fluffy, the beef pattie juicy and the special sauce delightfully tangy, the mac'n'cheese croquette made the burger overly creamy and next time I'll probably just stick to the traditional Single Stack.

Royal Stacks, it was a pleasure to finally meet you and I'll be back again soon! 

Food: 3.5/5

Venue: 3/5

Service: 3/5

Total:9.5/15

Verdict: love - get around to trying it soon

 

Palinka Bar

Move over Spanish tapas, hello Eastern European tapas.  For anyone familiar with Eastern European cuisine, you'd know that many of the dishes aren't calorie friendly - we're talking hearty goulashes, sizzling schnitzels, gooey cheeses and plump kransky sausages. Whilst also offering lighter options, Palinka Bar's new Eastern European inspired tapas menu in this regard definitely doesn't disappoint.

Situated on Brunswick Street in Fitzroy, the venue itself is just oozing with character. Offering both outdoor and indoor seating options, the couches situated outside are the perfect date spot if you're looking for a drinking hole with a causal but trendy vibe.

In terms of the food on offer, the tapas menu is divided into 2 sections - the 'Yummy' dishes being smaller dishes and the 'Fancy' being on the larger side.

The dish of the night was the pork belly which came from the 'Fancy' side of the menu.  Having being cooked for 12 hours, it was tender, sticky and just bursting with flavour.  Keeping with the trend of cooking their meats well - the meat in the goulash was also cooked perfectly. 

From the 'smaller' side of the menu came the crispy camembert and the home-style baby chicken schnitzels. Unfortunately both dishes came out cold (I was hoping that the crispy camembert would ooze out when cut open) and both dishes needed more seasoning.  However, the homemade sauces which accompanied the dishes (a Csiki beetroot apple mayo for the schnitzel and a raspberry cumberland sauce with the cheese) were packed full of flavour. 

The Somloi galuska was another highlight of the night - house made sponge layered with walnut, Belgian cocoa and creme anglais - delicious! The apple strudel however, whilst promising to come out piping hot from the oven, came out cold (it must have been a cold night in that kitchen!) and having the walnuts ground instead of whole gave the dish a unique taste and texture which may not be to everyone's pallet.

The highlight of the night, however, was trying the traditional fruit brandy Palinka for the first time - easily a drink I could sip on all night and definitely a drink you must try if visiting Palinka Bar.  

With its great vibe, outdoor seating and incredible drinks menu, I would definitely recommend heading down to Palinka Bar for a drink of Palinka on a hots summer night. 

Food: 2.5 / 5 

Service: 4/5

Venue: 3.5/5

Total: 10/15

The New Fave dined courtesy of Palinka Bar

 

Misty's Diner

Starving? Hungover? Or pretty much just looking for a heart attack on a plate - then look no further than Misty's Diner.
 

Situated on High Street in Prahan, the venue definitely has an American diner feel - with its brightly coloured booths, ornamental juke boxes and pictures of old movie stars lining the walls, it's easy to think that any minute Elvis may just walk through the door. The menu is also true to the American dining experience - think dishes along the lines of jalapeño poppers, mozzarella sticks and mac'n'cheese.

Personally I couldn't go past the Hangover Cure - a burger piled high with mac'n'cheese, jalapeños, bacon and chilli con carne. Sounds pretty ridiculous right....and boy was it a monstrosity! Whilst the mac'n'cheese could have done with more a bit more bite and the chilli con carne with more chilli, the overall dish was satisfying and actually didn't make me feel ill after. 
 

For such a casual venue, I was surprised at how incredibly friendly and knowledge the staff were - bubbly and attentive, our waitress Sophia made us feel welcome as soon as we walked through the door. And did I mention the burger challenge - for $35 you could score yourself a free t'shirt and a  photo on the wall of fame. All you have do is 5 patties, 3 buns and a half serve of fries in 15 minutes. Misty's...challenge accepted!

Service: 4.5/5

Venue: 4/5

Food: 3/5

Total: 11.5/15

Verdict: love - get around to trying it soon

Hawker Hall

I'm not going to lie, I was as giddy as a school girl when I found out that I was finally going to get to try Hawker Hall - the latest member of the Lucas Group (i.e brother to Chin Chin, Kong and Baby Pizza),

Specialising in South East Asian cuisine and situated on the Windsor end of Chapel Street, Hawker Hall is surrounded by some pretty tough competition. But luckily for  Hawker Hall, it was able to hold its own. The venue itself is very similar to the others restaurants in the Lucas Group - cramped, noisy and crowded, but still managing to carry off an incredible buzz and a funky vibe. 

To start with we shared the prawn and ginger dumplings with chilli and black bean sauce, and the yellow curry potato filled martabak with cucumber pickle. The dumplings were generously stuffed with juicy prawns and the black bean sauce was a clever compliment.  And the martabak?  Well martabak just so happens to be a favourite dish of mine, so I went into the dish with great expectations. Luckily these expectations were met as the roti encasing the parcels was buttery and flaky and the filling was well cooked and fragrantly spiced - a dish that definitely left you wanting for more. 

For mains we shared the Portuguese devil chicken curry and the short beef ribs with oyster sauce, red chilli and coriander. The chicken curry came with a warning - real hot! And real hot it was. But despite the heat, the dish still managed to cleverly carry with it a real depth of flavour, and the chicken was perfectly cooked.  The short beef ribs, however, were not cooked so perfectly. Whilst the flavours were definitely enchanting, the meat was unfortunately tough. 

Whilst not hitting a home run on the food front just yet, the flavour combinations were spot on and Hawker Hall definitely has potential - I look forward to trying some of the other scrumptious looking items on their menu soon. 

Food: 4/5

Decor: 3.5/5

Service: 4.5/5

Total: 12/15

Verdict: love - get around to trying it soon

 

School of 7 Bells

I really wanted to like School of 7 Bells, like really, really! With its incredibly attentive and friendly staff, trendy vibe and mouth wateringly looking menu, this cafe located next to door to Windsor Station surely had to be hit?! But unfortunately the food didn't quite hit the mark.

Back to the positives for a moment - the staff truely were an attribute to the cafe. Full of smiles - they were a refreshing start to an otherwise fragile Sunday morning (they also get brownie points for taking my coffee order within seconds of me sitting down!). The venue itself is a mixture of indoor and outdoor seating - great if you want to enjoy your breakfast in the sunshine. 

To eat I ordered the Croquette Benedict ($19.50) with slow cooked pork shoulder, sweet potato and pea croquette, wilted spinach, poached eggs and apple cider hollandaise. Sounds amazing right? But unfortunately the pork was fatty and the sweet potato was watery - not the dish I was hoping for.

 

Whilst School of 7 Bells definitely has potential, it unfortunately hasn't made my recommendation list.

Food: 2/5

Service: 4.5/5

Venue: 4/5

Total: 10.5/15
Verdict: As much as it pains me to say it, the verdict is don't bother - not when there are so many other amazing brunch places around.

 

Balderdash

Brunch is quickly becoming one of my favourite meals of the day and with places like Balderdash offering delicious brunch-time cuisine at such great value, it's easy to see why.

Located on Bay Street in Port Melbourne, Balderdash is a quaint little cafe offering both indoor and outdoor seating. Bustling to the brim, we were lucky enough to snatch up a couple of seats at the end of one of the outdoor tables and it only took seconds for the incredibly friendly staff to pop over to ask if we'd like a coffee. 

With such a drool worthy looking menu, the toughest part of the dining experience was deciding what to order - so we ended up sharing both the corn fritters with goats cheese and relish, and the pulled pork eggs bennedict with prosciutto crumb. 

Whilst corn cakes can often be a risky choice, these cakes were packed full of corn and just bursting with flavour. The pulled pork eggs benedict however, was the dish of the day for me and my number one recommendation - the eggs were poached perfectly, the pork was rich and tender and the prosciutto crunch added an incredible texture to the overall dish. 

Balderdash is definitely on my top 5 brunch spots list for Melbourne and I'll definitely be back soon. 

Food: 4.5/5
Decor: 4/5

Service: 4.5/5

Total: 12/15

Verdict: the new fave - put it as number one on the to do list