Arabesque Dining & Bar

With its incredible blend of spices and textures, Middle Eastern food would have to be one of my favourite cuisines. So, with its drool-worthy menu,  I was pretty excited about walking through Arabesque Dining and Bar's doors.

Situated just off Glenn Huntley road in Elsternwick, Arabesque's dishes are made to share - offering both banquet and al a carte options. On this occasion we tried the Helim & Fig (grilled haloumi with fig jam topped with a capsicum and red onion salad and crispy air dried beef), the Manti (Turkish dumplings), the Makloubeh Chicken (chicken on top of grilled eggplant and spice lamb pilaf rice) and the beef kofta (beef meatballs served on a saffron pilaf rice).

The marriage of the flavours in the Helim & Fig were absolutely drool worthy. The Haloumi could have come out a touch warmer - but the flavours definitely made up for it!

Munti is one of my favourite dishes and this one was pretty good. However, to qualify as one of the best Munti's I've had, it needed a handful more of pine nuts for texture, and at least another decent glug of red pepper sauce.

The Makloubeh Chicken was a delicious collection of tastes and textures - however, I did find the lettuce a strange touch as it ended up going soggy with the heat from the rest of the dish.

The beef kofta was my least favourite - whilst it came our looking absolutely magnificent, and it had all the makings of a delicious dish, unfortunately the koftas themselves were unpleasantly salty.

The venue itself is a touch old fashioned, but the staff were attentive and friendly, and the overall place had a welcoming vibe.  Arabesque is the sort of place that is definitely worth a second try.

Service: 4/5
Food: 3.5/5
Venue: 3/5
Total: 10.5/15
Verdict: like - get around to trying it at some point

Shop 1, 1-3 Carre Street, Elsternwick

Glovers Station

The biggest draw card of Glovers Station in Elsternwick is its venue - transformed from what once used to be a service station from the 1930s, the cafe which prides itself on using locally sourced organic produce is bright and spacious on the inside with a courtyard for brunch in the sun on the outside.

Using only seasonal produce, Glovers Station changes its menu monthly to make the most of the local produce in season.  On this occasion i ordered the smoky beans with mozzarella, pesto and corn purée.  The dish came out looking magnificently drool worthy and he flavours of the beans, pesto and corn purée worked beautifully together. However, I wouldn't have called the beans "smokey" as it lacked any smokiness flavour (or any big flavours) and the couple of tiny dollops of mozzarella were completely lost in the dish.

Whilst I loved Glovers Stations' concept of using only organic local produce and my dish was "nice", unfortunately on this occasion it wasn't a dish that I would run back for.  At least next month there will be a new menu to look forward to!

Food: 2.5/5
Decor: 4.5/5
Service: 4/5
Total: 11/15
Verdict: Like - get around to trying it at some point.