Junior Tan Hawker Kitchen — Restaurant in Melbourne

0s (Received for crimes against food. DO NOT GO unless you have bulimia)[4]: Franco Choo's (Prahran)[RIP] Gypsy Bar (Fitzroy)[RIP] The Mitre Tavern Bistro (CBD) Woodstock Cafe (East Brunswick)

1s (Melbourne Eateries with ordinary food. If you're willing to play bingo, you might win the jackpot of a good solid meal. However, you won't be seeing me there again. Food needs significant development)[10]: Big Mouth (St Kilda) Django Django (Fitzroy) 400 Gradi (Brunswick) Kallista Tea Rooms (Kallista) Pomodoro Sardo (CBD) Soul Mama (St Kilda) [RIP] The Estelle (Northcote) Trattoria Emilia (CBD) Truffles Chocolaterie (Richmond) Wabi Sabi Salon (Collingwood)

2s (Melbourne Eateries that I wouldn't rush back to, but wouldn't be adverse to going back to either. Food needs some development)[35]: Cicciolina Back Bar (St Kilda) Da Guido La Pasta (Carlton) Emporer Court (Mitcham) Fonda (Richmond) Georges (Croydon) [RIP] Grants On Sherbrooke (Kallista) Harry's On The Esplanade (Cowes) Laurent Boulangerie Patisserie (Albert Park/Camberwell/Doncaster) Matteo's (North Fitzroy) Matsumoto (East Brunswick) Minh Xuong (Richmond) Nude Food (San Remo) Ocha (Hawthorn) Pope Joan (East Brunswick) [RIP] Rumi (East Brunswick) Sarti (CBD) Small Block (East Brunswick) Spot + Nosh (Heathmont) Stalactites (CBD) Sugardough (East Brunswick) The Corner Hotel (Richmond) The Court House (North Melbourne) The Firehouse (Ringwood) The Groove Train (Cheltenham) The Press Club (CBD) The Restaurant At The Herb Farm (Lilydale) The Studley Park Boathouse Cafe (Kew) Thirty Eight Chairs (Carlton North) Tiamo 2 (Carlton) Tien Dat (Box Hill) Tin Pot Cafe (North Fitzroy) Trotters (Carlton) Warwick Thai (Brunswick) Wild Cattle Creek Estate (Seville) Woodstock Cafe (North Fitzroy)

3s (Food is competent)[52]: Allegro (CBD) A Minor Place (Brunswick) Bar Idda (East Brunswick) Bekendales (Croydon) Boire (Collingwood) [RIP] Brunswick Flour Mill (Bunswick) Cafe Terroni (Yarraville) Carlton Wine Room (Carlton) Carsons (Yarraville) Chapelli's (South Yarra) Cheeky Monkey (Richmond) Chez Bob (Armadale) Cicciolina (St Kilda) Collins Kitchen (CBD) Cornershop (Yarraville) Di Palma's (East Kew) D.O.C. Mozzarella Bar (Carlton) Donnini's (Carlton) Dragon Boat (CBD) Empire Cafe Gallery (Brunswick) En Izakaya (Balaclava) Enoteca Vino Bar (Carlton North) Fiorelli (Hawthorn East) France-Soir (South Yarra) Grossi Florentino: The Restaurant (CBD) Izakaya Chuji (CBD) Kinya (Docklands) Kofi Beans Organic Cafe (Croydon) L'atelier de Monsieur Truffe (East Brunswick) Laurent Boulangerie Patisserie (Toorak) Lau's Family Kitchen (St Kilda) Lindt Chocolat Cafe (CBD) Little Creatures Dining Hall (Fitzroy) [RIP] Miss Marples (Sassafras) Mr. Wolf (St Kilda) Orange (Windsor) [RIP] Pumphouse Hotel (Fitzroy) Punch Lane (CBD) Reunion Cafe Dining (Surrey Hills) Sapa Hills (Footscray) Secret Kitchen (Doncaster) Shujinko (CBD) Thanh Phong (Richmond) The Carlisle Wine Bar (Balaclava) The Green Refectory (Brunswick) The Kent Hotel (Carlton North) Tim Ho Wan (CBD) Truffles Patisserie (Balaclava) Vines Restaurant at Helen's Hill (Coldstream) Wing Loong (CBD) [RIP] Zelena Cafe Bar & Restaurant (Croydon) Zen (Hawthorn)

4s (Melbourne eateries with great food. Food is a strength[24]): APTE Cafe (Alphington) Bamboo House (CBD) Biagio's (Niddrie) Chin Chin's at Koto Moon (Carlton North) Choi's (Hawthorn) Cumulus Inc. (CBD) El Mirage (Brunswick) Estivo (Kew) Ezard (CBD) Flower Drum (CBD) I Carusi (East Brunswick) Junior Tan Hawker Kitchen (Bayswater) Locale at De Bortoli (Dixons Creek) Ladro (Prahran) Mule (Brunswick) [RIP] Papa Goose (CBD) [RIP] +39 Pizzeria & Degustation (CBD) Ribs & Burgers (Hawthorn) SUD Food And Wine (CBD) Tao's (Bulleen) The European (CBD) The Grand Dining Room (Richmond) Vue de Monde (CBD) Wall Two 80 (Balaclava)

5's (The Best Melbourne Eateries. Food is very much a strength)[1]: L'uccellino (Yarraville)

Eatery of the Year 2011: Tao's (Bulleen) Eatery of the Year 2016: Ladro (Prahran) Eatery of the Year 2017: The...

A recent addition to the suburb of Bayswater, this is the Malaysian the suburb needed to have. Entering this place was beautiful. It used to be an old Nandos restaurant. I guess the place just couldn’t survive here. Not enough gym people. But I digress.

The service was prompt and we were taken to our seats really quickly. First up was the drinks. Their version of lemon lime bitters was delicious, better than what you can get in stores and rivals some of the better established places. To boot, they were served in these nice tumblers that I just couldn’t stop taking photos of.

Then…as is always customary when I go out with people, they just seem to have eyes bigger than their stomachs so we ended up with more food than either of us could manage.

However being brought up with the image of starving kids in Africa, I was consumed (oh yeah, bad pun totally intended) by the desire to finish all that I had ordered.

The Ramen burger was different. First of all, it’s a chicken patty on a bed of vegetables dipped in bbq or hosin sauce wrapped in egg in a wholemeal bun.

There are moments in life where you are so impressed with the presentation that your heart breaks at actually devouring the meal. Alas, the grumble deep in my belly when the scent of the meal met the newly found hunger told me otherwise. Compressing the damn fine thing, I took a bite to see what’s in it.

The explosion of flavour from the warm burger was highlighted well with the sauces and offset with the crunchiness of salad. My mouth was in heaven and my stomach was arguing to quit dreaming and keep eating. I felt like yelling for more but images of jabba the hutt stopped me.

The chips on the other hand….I’d give it a miss to be honest. In my opinion you either go KFC with the chicken salt for warm fluffiness or Nandos for the spicy Peri Peri seasoning.

The second dish of cashews and beef was divine. #winning is all I can say for this dish. The ginger really came through and when mixed with the spice of chilli, crunch of cashews and the tender beef strips, you could have eaten this all by itself and not worried a bit. Which is what I should have done and will be doing next time.

To be fair, I couldn’t stomach any more food that sitting.

But sitting I will be! For this is my new favourite local place. Next up on the list is coffee from the place. They use good quality beans and whilst they don’t have a barista (yet), I’m still keen to try a place that serves one of my...

I went to this Malaysian hawker style restaurant for lunch with my wife a few months ago. I do not think the food was that good then. When a friend organises a catch up dinner at this place, I decide to give it another try, and I go with an open mind .

The restaurant has an interesting interior decor. The wall paper depicts a collage of Malaysian / Asian streetscape, advertisements, products and well known female personalities from yesteryear. They do bring back some good old memories. I remember some of the cosmetics were used by my mum decades ago.

I feel that with that ambiance, some Malaysian background songs and music is more suitable than the bang bang bang pop songs. Come to think of it, I have not come across a place that play in the background Malaysian songs or music.

A young lady takes the order. In fact all the service staff are just young people in late teens or early 20s. Although we each order our own dish, we do end up with only 4 varieties, and one is of 3 identical menu item.

The beef rendang of Nasi Lemak with beef rendang looks more like beef curry, because rendang is meant to be dry. The presentation is a complete flop. The plate of Nasi Lemak and complements fill up a circular plate. If not careful, the content can just fall off the plate onto the table.

Wah Tan Hor is described as wok seared rice noodles & greens covered with silky egg blend gravy. There is so much gravy, it virtually drowns the noodles. It is more like a soup noodle dish.

Har Mee - 'Hokkien' noodles with prawns, bean shoots & spinach in a prawn consomme is the most tasty dish of all. The soup is fairly concentrated, and very likely a lot of prawn shells were used. The prawns are rather small and lack flavour. They are similar in size like the shelled cocktail prawns sold in Woolworths.

Myself and other two friends order the crispy yee mee noodles & greens covered with roast duck. The rather salty gravy soaks through the crispy yee mee, making the noodles rather soggy. It is rather disappointing that the roast duck tastes more like braised duck. The serve of noodles is rather small, and insufficient to...