Restaurant Review – Page 3 – Awwyum Productions

Sezar

A couple of friends were celebrating their birthdays so it was a good cue to catch up together for dinner. Our friend recommended Sezar and we later found out that she was a semi-regular patron of Sezar (at least 5 – 6 visits). Based on that alone I had good expectations!

Before discussing the food it is worth mentioning the booking process. We booked online via the Flybuys dining website and unfortunately the restaurant did not pick up our booking on their end. No drastic consequences as we were seated in any case – however this could have turned sour quite easily.

Sezar is located in a laneway called Melbourne Place in the heart of the CBD. Like many Melbourne cafes and bars, if you weren’t looking for it particularly, you probably wouldn’t find it! The restaurant’s theme is Armenian inspired food, which appears to be very close to Turkish food in style, with some slight twists.

There was a downstairs and upstairs section. We caught a brief glimpse of the kitchen and downstairs area, before being seated upstairs (downstairs and upstairs pics below in respective order).

The restaurant has an appealing banquet option, but we chose to go with ordering from the menu. First up for entrée was chicken wings and a grain salad. Both were well presented and quite tasty. The grain salad had a good mix of textures and flavours (eg, crunchy, sweet, etc).

For our main, we ordered the lamb shoulder and were advised that it was the restaurant’s signature dish. It ended up being enough to feed the three of us (including the side dishes of dressed cabbage, chips and sauces that come with the dish)! The lamb itself was a little dry and sauce was essential as we ploughed through it. Not a bad dish, but a slight let down (particularly compared with similar Greek and Turkish restaurants).

Officially we were too full for dessert, but unofficially were keen to try their take on ‘baklava’, which is toffee/caramel ice cream sandwiched between filo pastry and topped with a caramel sauce and pistachios. Apparently when we pointed to the menu and wanted to order ‘one’ it was interpreted by our waiter as literally a single piece. The usual dessert serving is for two pieces. Nevertheless, they were very accommodating and the dessert was fantastic!

The atmosphere of the restaurant was great. It was almost entirely full, but still felt spacious enough and ambient enough for us to proceed with our birthday catch up!

Overall quality of the food was great (and good service throughout), and although the lamb was a slight let down, the choice of Sezar made it a great evening!

Kagu Ra Zaka

On a warm (Melbourne summer) Friday night I met a friend for dinner in South Yarra. We didn’t have a place in mind to eat, and I remembered eating at Kagu Ra Zaka a LONG time ago (more than 10 years!), and the food being quite good.

Perhaps it is a testament to the restaurant that my first meal there stuck out in my mind. The dinner we had was overall quite good. Nothing spectacular, but all dishes were tasty and used fresh ingredients. The restaurant itself had a distinct Japanese feel to it and was well laid out (which felt like ‘dining’ as opposed to being cramped and chaotic).

The restaurant is well signed from the street as can be seen above.

We started with the mixed sashimi platter as an entrée. It was a mix of tuna, kingfish and salmon, as well as some condiments such as wasabi, pickled ginger and seaweed. The quality of the fish was fantastic and the ‘fresh fish delivered daily’ signage in the restaurant certainly holds true.

The mains soon arrived, along with rice.

The first main course that we ordered was seafood in creamy garlic sauce. There was so many ‘potential’ ways that this dish could have gone wrong. However, the seafood of prawns, squid, pipis and scallops was still a fresh taste below the creamy garlic sauce. The sauce itself was very moreish and not too heavy (think ‘not carbonara’).

The second main dish was a beef fillet teppanyaki. The beef was tasty and good quality and when matched with sauce and veges on a sizzling plate it was good overall.

The service was overall quite good. My friend had some queries about the sashimi and seafood dishes, and they were all answered well by the wait staff. In typical Japanese style, the service was very efficient, but still friendly.

We ended the night with a quick look at the sushi prep area, where there is also ‘Japanese style’ seating.

Overall its a good Japanese experience, with friendly staff and good quality food. Perhaps it is lacking that ‘wow factor’, but certainly no complaints. A good meal!

City Grill Room

It is currently January in Melbourne and that means two things. Summertime (with longer days); and catch ups with friends for the new year.

I met up with a friend in recent days at the City Grill Room. It is a restaurant that has an affiliation with the Squires Loft franchise, and is one of the more established restaurants in the franchise.

Located in a laneway off Little Lonsdale Street, its typically ‘Melbourne’ in terms of location.

Once we had made our way down the cobblestone laneway, we were in!

The meal started with bread and water, which was a good start.

It is not the first time for me to visit the City Grill Room. It has been quite consistent over the years. With this experience in mind, we ‘cut to the chase’ and ordered our mains, with the possibility of dessert if we had room.

I ordered the rib eye on the bone with chips, and we shared salad. The rib-eye was cooked to a perfect medium rare (as requested) and the mixture of good quality meat and basting made it very enjoyable dish.

The green peppercorn sauce that I ordered with the meal also went well. Even though the sauce needs to be ordered separately on the menu, the generous gravy boat full of sauce is worth it, and can really transform your meal.

Overall it was good meal, with reasonable service and a good atmosphere. We attended on a weeknight, so it was a bit quieter than usual, but our waitress mentioned that they still are fully booked on weekends – a sign of a good steak, perhaps!

Bistro Guillaume

Our first post!

Having just returned from overseas (*hint* travel experiences will be uploaded in the future), I went to Bistro Guillaume with the family to catch up. We had a variety of dishes between us.

For those unfamiliar with Bistro Guillaume, it is a stalwart of the Crown Casino promenade dining strip and has been in its current location since 2009. Guillaume Brahimi is the brains-trust behind the restaurant – he has restaurants around Australia and has also been featured on a number of TV cooking shows (eg, Food Safari France). No doubt he is a busy man, but according to our waitress he does attend Bistro Guillaume and run the kitchen from time to time.

The atmosphere of the restaurant is casual with good décor, a high ceiling and both indoor and outdoor seating areas.

Now onto the food.

I had the crab salad for entrée. This was consisted of layers of avocado, crab meet, cucumber and watercress accompanied by cucumber and capsicum coulis. The crab itself was quite salty and the avocado had started to turn spotty, which may indicate that the dish is not made to order. It wasn’t the ideal start to my meal, but there were more courses to come.

One of my other family members had the octopus salad. I have tried this on a previous occasion and it was very nice.

Next up were the mains. The majority of the table opted for the steak frites. They didn’t disappoint. A prime cut of meat with well cooked fries and salad.

We chose to share a dessert, as the first two courses were quite filling. A reliable favourite of ours is the profiteroles. They are not traditional profiteroles, but rather are a mix of vanilla ice cream sandwiched between pastry, and topped with a chocolate ganache styled sauce. The dessert also includes some tableside theatrics, which can be seen below.

Overall, our trip to Bistro Guillaume was a mixed bag. There was some good, and some not so good. However, overall it is an enjoyable meal out with the family and a good atmosphere to catch up.