Pacinos – Flemington

One day, my wife and I were driving back from a long road trip and we were feeling a little peckish. So we dropped into Pacinos and looked for one dish to fill us up. We ended up picking the BBQ pork ribs, which was a great decision, the ribs were amazing. We have since been back several times and on each occasion ordered the pork ribs. On this occasion my father and sister joined us so we also ordered the chorizo pizza. Pacinos is located at 300 Epson Rd Flemington, inside the Showgrounds village.

BBQ pork spare ribs full rack: 4/5

Very tender and juicy, the meat was almost falling off the bone. The beer battered chips were crunchy and fresh, a perfect complement to the ribs. One full rack will easily be enough for 2-3 people.

Chorizo pizza: 2.5/5

For a pizza this was a nice tasting pizza, however the topping look a bit scarce. I would of liked to of seen more chorizos, there were only 2-3 pieces per slice.

 

There is plenty of parking at the showgrounds village or if don’t have a car the 57 tram stops right outside the restaurant.

Pros

Great tasting pork ribs

Good service

Easy parking

Cons

A little bit on the pricy side

Service: 3/5 – Good standard service

Would I go back? Yes

Mook Ji Bar - CBD

Located at 406 Lonsdale St in CBD, this bar always seems to have long queues. My wife had previously been to Mook Ji a few weeks earlier with some of her girlfriends and was raving about the fried chicken. One day after work my wife and I and her cousin decided to have dinner at Mook Ji’s (had to give it a go, supposedly the fried chicken is better than the colonel’s 11 herbs and spices). So we joined the queue and 15mins later we were seated. We were seated next to the large 25kg rice and flour bags (obviously storage space was at a premium here). Anyway we managed to flag down a waitress to take our orders, fried chicken, pork belly and calamari, seafood pancake and lamb soup (can’t remember the proper name). 10mins our pork belly and calamari arrived, followed by the lamb soup, however we soon discovered that we were running out of table space. The tables were a bit on the smaller side, we quickly gobbled down the pork belly and calamari just in time for the seafood pancake. We only managed to finish half the pancake when the fried chicken arrived. With no space on the table we put the chicken on the pancake plate.

Fried chicken 3/5 – Very crunchy, tasty, definitely better than KFC thou not the much meat on the chicken, which was disappointing.

Pork belly and calamari 4/5 – The best dish of the lot, spicy, tasty, lots of flavour and smelt great

Seafood pancake 3/5 – Crunchy, not so much flavour, I ended up mixing in the sauce from the pork belly to give it a bit of hmpf, but still tasted good.

Lamb soup 1/5 (No pic) – Not sure what to make of this one, lacked flavour

Service: 2.5/5 – Only two waitress on the floor for the peak period, they really needed a third person to help (maybe a kitchen hand out to the front?).

Cost: Reasonable, you'd be looking on average between $15-20 for mains and $30+ for stews

Pros:

Great tasting food (except for the lamb)

Good size portions

Cons:

You may have to wait for a table

The tables are quite small

Would I go back? Yes

Danny's@525 - Elsternwick

One Sunday afternoon, my wife and I decided to drop into Danny’s as we were going pass it. There weren’t too many other people, I think we made it before the dinner time peak. We were quickly seated by a friendly waitress. Looking at the menu we decided on New York steak and Israeli Breakfast.
Before I get to the main meals, I have to mention that while we were waiting we were provided with some pita, hommus and chilli sauce. The hommus was great, however the chilli sauce was amazing. My wife wanted to ask for more so she could take it home

New York Steak - 3.5/5
Medium to well done steak, with chips and 2 side salads.
The steak was juicy and cooked as ordered. The chips were crunchy and the salads fresh. You had the option of picking any 2 of 5 salads




Israeli Breakfast: 2.5/5
2 toasts, scrambled eggs, tuna, small salad, olives & pickles and 4 different types of cheeses.
This dish is not for those who are lactose intolerant as my wife is. Needless to say I had the duty of finishing the bulk of the cheeses :(
Nice but nothing outstanding about this dish, I'm not much of a cheese connoisseur so I can't tell you if these were average or outstanding cheeses.

Danny's is located at 525 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick, there is adequate street parking or hop on the 67 tram, if you don't have a car.

Service 4/5 – Great service from beginning to end.

Cost: On average $18-30

Pros

Nice tasting food

Very friendly service

Generous portions

Cons

None that I can think of

Would I go back – Yes