Burch and Purchese Sweet Studio

South Yarra is certainly spoilt for choice when it comes to dessert options and Burch and Purchese will not disappoint. The cabinate display is so tempting that numerous impulse purchases have been made. Their various spreads are pretty good too but don't have much of a shelf life so it would be good if they made smaller jars for singles or couples. 

67% Madagascan Single Origin Chocolate and Tonka Bean Eclair  - Chocolaty but not overly sweet due to the high quality dark chocolate used.

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

Type of venue: Dessert

Worth a return visit? Yes.

Address: 647 Chapel Street,  South Yarra VIC 3141

 

Entrecôte

Entrecôte is a French steakhouse located on Domain Road opposite the Botanic Gardens. Loved it! Wonderful service, food and decor. You have a few options for entree and dessert but main is a simple choice between the ever popular steak or a veg/pescatarian option. Limitless sliced baguette, fries and salad is a nice touch. Just a shame we didn't have dessert this time. The heated outdoor seating looks cosy enough for dessert and drinks.

French onion soup ($17.90) - Served with gruyère crouton, the soup had a light onion flavour and wasn't too salty. Perfect with the gruyère.

Steak Frites ($39.90) - Grilled Hopkins River Porterhouse, frites, sauce maison au berre et aux herbs. Accompanied with limitless crispy thin fries and soft leaves - radish, walnuts, Dijon vinaigrette. Steak is cooked to order and had it medium rare. Delicious! Had an extra serving of salad and it was so satisfying.

Salmon Confit ($39.90) - Tender and perfectly cooked salmon. Simple and delicious.

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

Type of venue: French. 

Worth a return visit? Yes.

Address: 131-133 Domain Rd, South Yarra VIC 3141

 

Lucky Penny

Those who are after a quick brekkie or lunch in South Yarra will certainly get their fix at Lucky Penny. A smallish cafe but with consistently good drinks and food available. This time we had:

Pork belly roll - Apple coleslaw, sriracha mayo, crackling (AU$14) - We reckon they make some of the best rolls out there. Served on soft Turkish bread, the filling is very generous and great to have when you are feeling particularly famished. All the flavours work well together as you have sweetness and crispness from the apple, spiciness and richness from the mayo, and the crunch from the crispy crackling.

Fried cauliflower - with hummus, coriander, cashew cream, a poached egg and charred bread (AU$16) - Perfectly cooked cauliflower, they are slightly charred on the outside and so meltingly soft. Generous serving that goes well with the poached egg and cashew cream. A great veg option.

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

Type of venue: Cafe

Worth a return visit? Yes.

Address: 481 Chapel St, South Yarra VIC 3141

 

Brother Burger and The Marvellous Brew

After coming back from a couple of weeks away in Hong Kong and Japan, we were craving something Western; meaty, rich and cheesy.  Brother Burger and The Marvellous Brew in South Yarra opened recently and we were excited to give it a go. The restaurant itself is quite large with comfy booths and seats with an open kitchen. We had:

Hot stuff (AU$14.80)- 100% Wagyu beef patty, double bacon, cheese, house-made pickles, mustard-mayo and chilli jam - Certainly one of the better burgers out there. The patty was cooked perfectly medium rare, the bacon crispy and it was cheesy and juicy. A few slices of jalapeño on the side was a nice touch.

Royal blue (AU$15.80)- 100% Wagyu beef patty, blue cheese, bacon, house-made onion jam, pickles and ketchup - If you like blue cheese, this burger is certainly for you. Strong blue cheese flavour throughout and again, the patty was cooked perfectly. Delicious!

Thick chips (AU$5.60) - This was the small size and it was enough for two or three people. Very nice chunky super sized chips. Will try the onion rings next time.

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

Type of venue: Burgers

Worth a return visit? Yes.

Address: 560 Chapel Street, South Yarra

A La Bouffe

French food is something we love and at one stage we were spoilt for choice. We had a few favourites, namely PM24, France-Soir, Le Grand Cirque and A La Bouffe. Sadly, two of them closed down but we still have two local French places to satisfy our cravings. A La Bouffe is what we will be reviewing. It has an extensive menu and we will happily eat our way through it. We had:

Soup A L'Oignon - French onion soup with cheese "gratine" (AU$14.5) - We do love a hearty, sweet and cheesy onion soup. This version was ok. It would have been better with more onion and cheese.

Escargots De Bourgogne - snails in garlic and fennel butter (AU$19.5) - The snails were served in tiny serving cups instead of in shells. The tiny morsels were rich and delicious.

Ravioli A La Langouste Et Aux Cervettes - lobster and prawn ravioli in a creamy bisque sauce (AU$36) - Beautiful colour, rich sauce and perfectly cooked ravioli. What more could you ask for?

Kangourou A La Bouffe - kangaroo fillet with sautéed baby spinach, sweet potatoes, poached pear, chocolate glaze and jus (AU$36) - This must be the best kangaroo we have ever had. Beautifully rare, perfectly seasoned and the interplay between sweet and savoury went perfectly well with the slight gaminess from the kangaroo. Delicious!

Ile Flottante - oven baked soft poached meringue on a hazelnut creme anglaise (AU$14) - Very unique and delicious. We had heard of it but never had it before and it is certainly an interesting dessert and worth trying. Quite rich with the creme anglaise.

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

Type of venue: French

Worth a return visit? Yes.

Address: 268 Toorak Road,  South Yarra VIC 3141

Wagyu Ya

Waygu Ya in South Yarra serves up delicious Wagyu beef and other tasty Japanese fare. We heard that Novak Djokovic had his meal here one year and decided to have their soy milk hot pot for dinner. They also do good value lunch sets and this is what we had this time:

Harami set - the thick part of the diaphragm muscle, extremely limited portion with only 1kg per cow. Full flavoured and delicate texture. The set comes with potato salad, fried chicken pieces, salad, miso soup , yummy steamed rice and a piece of orange. You also get three sauces but the meat doesn't need any extra sauce. The steamed rice also comes with this braised fatty meat that is so addictive.

Japanese style soy milk hot pot - smaller version of what you would have for dinner. The unique flavour of the hot pot goes really well with the Wagyu beef that is sliced perfectly thin. Literally melts in your mouth.

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

Type of venue: Japanese

Worth a return visit? Yes.

Address: 156 Toorak Road, South Yarra VIC 3141

Red Hot Wok

Whenever we feel like some Malaysian Chinese dishes, we head to Red Wok in South Yarra to get our fix. We usually order three dishes to share and this time was no exception. We had:

Sambal kangkung - our go to vegetable dish. Slightly spicy, the water convolvulus is cooked perfectly with just the right amount of seasoning.

Flaky tofu - deliciously soft egg tofu with a light soy dressing.

Salted egg chicken ribs - chicken ribs are popular everywhere right now. The seasoning on this is just right; slight saltiness from the salted egg granules, the taste is reminiscent of butter prawns as there is the addition of curry leaves as well. Juicy, crispy goodness.

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

Type of venue: Chinese,  Malaysian

Worth a return visit? Yes

Address: 313 Toorak Road, South Yarra VIC 3141

Mr Burger

Mr burger is the closest burger joint to where we live and it is very good indeed. What started out as a food truck(it still operates) is very popular and they have added quite a few things to their menu recently including the burger reviewed below and milkshakes(which are quite good). So, we had:

Mr Hot - beef patty, cheese, onion, onion rings, chilli Mayo and jalapeños. The jalapeños give this burger a nice kick. Some places serve up jalapeños that are just too mild. Definitely no confusion here and suits its name perfectly. Had a double beef patty and the other ingredients go very well together. Generous, the beef was cooked to perfection, juicy and slightly pink. A must try and Mr Hot is a good alternative to Mr Meat which is another favourite of ours.

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: American,  Burger, Fast Food

Worth a return visit? Yes.

Address: 364 Chapel Street,  South Yarra VIC 3141

Drug Store Espresso

Been walking past this cafe many times and finally decided to check it out as it is always busy. The first time was a bit disappointing as although the food was fresh and good, the service and wait time wasn't. In fact, we waited about an hour for our meals to arrive and the staff seemed to be very unorganised.

But, as we did enjoy what we ordered, we thought we would give them another go but we were prepared for a long-wait for our meals. Thank goodness this time it wasn't too bad at all. And the food was once again superb. However, we ordered earl grey tea for one of the drinks but ended up with a pot of hot water instead.

We both ordered the "Fresh coconut husk bowl" with banana, strawberries, Croissant powder, chai seeds, sesame seeds, brazil nuts and dates. The coconut water is served to you while you wait for it to arrive. Just be careful of small pieces of the husk mixed in when you tuck into this deliciously fresh and undoubtedly healthy option.

Definitely a good cafe to try if you are in the area. Good healthy options on the menu and the coffee is very good.

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

Type of venue: Breakfast,  Brunch,  Lunch,  Cafe,  Coffee

Worth a return visit? Maybe

.

Address: 194 Toorak Road,  South Yarra VIC 3141

Steer Bar and Grill

This steakhouse located in South Yarra serves some of the best steaks in Melbourne. For those who want something different, oysters are available as are different entree, main and dessert options. The only difficult thing is deciding what to have.

Steak - choose from pasture, grain or ration fed steaks, all served with bone marrow. Your server will bring along a large wooden board with different cuts of meat and explain them to you to hopefully help with your decision making. New York strip steak was delicious and cooked perfectly to order and you can have it with your choice of condiments or sauces.

Oysters - Done either natural or three different ways.

Tataki - the Sher F1 Wagyu tenderloin was so tender and almost melted in the mouth.

Caramelised scallops - the scallops were cooked perfectly and tasted divine with the buttery sea urchin foam.

Reese's peanut butter cup - nice peanut sorbet with a warm brownie, served with a salted caramel sauce. Very rich and decadent and best for sharing.

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

Type of venue: Smart casual,  Steak house

Worth a return visit? Yes.

Address: 637 Chapel Street,  South Yarra VIC 3141

Tivoli Road Bakery

Tivoli Road Bakery (formally MoVida Bakery ) is situated in South Yarra and you can't say you have been there until you have tried one of their signature doughnuts with 3 different types of fillings to choose from. If you don't have a sweet tooth, their home made sandwiches made with their freshly baked breads might interest you.

Today we had a chicken sandwich with walnut,  pears and grapes,  and a smoked salmon bun with rocket salad. Finished off with a delicious salted caramel filled donut!

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

Type of venue: Bakery, Coffee, Donuts

Worth a return visit? Yes!

Address: 3 Tivoli Road,  South Yarra VIC 3141