Colonel Tan's

Colonel Tan's in Prahran is located up a very long flight of stairs. Quite an interesting venue with quirky furnishing. It is the sister restaurant of Cookie (city). We had been to Cookie many times and so had quite high expectations of this place. We weren't disappointed. It was lovely and we had:

Pork and prawn donuts, chilli jam (AU$12.50)- Very springy and delicious morsels. Perfect for sharing or as a little snack, you get two skewers and they go so well with the chilli jam.

Betel leaf salad, snapper, peanuts, ginger, chilli and lime (AU$11.50)- A very tasty DIY salad. The small snapper bites were crispy and well seasoned.

Soft shell crab and green papaya salad, lemongrass, little fish and peanuts (AU$16.50)- Perfect little salad with wonderful texture contrasts and flavour.

Sour orange fish curry, acacia omelette, rice and tomato relish (AU$18.50)- Great to order if you are after something a little different. Loved the texture of the omelette cakes and the tomato relish can be added to make the curry less spicy.

Service: :star :star :star :star ½
Quality of food: :star :star :star :star ½
Value for money: :star :star :star :star ½

Type of venue: Thai.

Worth a return visit? Yes.

Address: 229 Chapel Street, Prahran VIC 3181

Borsch, Vodka and Tears

We felt like trying something new and ventured along Chapel St, Prahran for something tasty for dinner. We have walked past Borsch, Vodka and Tears many times but never tried it. All we can say is the service is excellent, the vodka/drink list is amazing and they serve up excellent Polish food. We can't wait to go back.

Salt cod and potato croquettes - crispy salty deliciousness. Good snack to have and went well with the vodka tasters we had.

Polish dumplings with porcini mushroom and sauerkraut with a bread-crumb coating - first time having Polish dumplings and we really enjoyed the mushroom and sauerkraut filling and the unique coating/shell.

Char-grilled Kiełbasa, roasted Kransky, Russian salad, horseradish, German mustard, onion jam, ajvar, pickles - enjoyed the different condiments and salad on the plate. The sausages were interesting, a little dry but maybe that's how it is supposed to be. Will still order it again as it is quite nice.

Service: :star :star :star :star :star
Quality of food: :star :star :star :star :star
Value for money: :star :star :star :star ½

Type of venue: Eastern, European, Polish

Worth a return visit? Yes.

Address: 173 Chapel Street,  Prahran VIC 3181

Hanoi Hannah

A walk-in only Vietnamese restaurant in Prahran, Hanoi Hannah offers some traditional offerings such as pho, spring rolls and salads,  as well as more modern interpretations such as chicken rib buckets and soft shell crab with chilli, lime and mayo. We ordered three dishes to share and two drinks and although still feeling a little peckish,  decided to get the bill and leave. Why? In short, because it was quite underwhelming.

Pork sliders - the actual pork belly was chewy and too fatty; 80% fat and 20% meat. Chewy skin is a big no no.

Coconut marinated pork ribs - slightly better than the pork sliders as the meat comes cleanly off the bone but the coconut sauce/marinade was not detectable.

Green mango salad with crispy fish - mango was a little too ripe and wasn't the crunchy texture that the green mango has. The fish was crispy but the salad dressing was a little too sour,  too one dimensional.

Service: :star :star :star
Quality of food: :star :star
Value for money: :star :star :star :star

Type of venue: Vietnamese, Asian 

Worth a return visit? No.  

Address: 180 High Street, Windsor VIC 3181