Blue Chillies

If you find yourself looking for one area of Melbourne to best show off our city's eccentricity  characters and taste for the alternative, Brunswick Street is your one stop shop. Known for it's cultured dining district, bars and live music venues, you'll also find Blue Chillies quaintly snuggled in. 

Best known for their signature takes on classic Malaysian flavours with a Melbourne flair, Blue Chillies have served locals and visitors alike for the past 15 years. And on Sunday, we celebrated their 16th birthday - Happy sweet 16th birthday Blue Chillies !

In celebration of such a milestone, a few lucky bloggers were invited to attend a fun-filled dinner experience. Drawing from Blue Chillies' vast experience of hawker-style cooking on the Streets of KL and Penang, and exciting fusion of fresh local ingredients with authentic spices, we were treated to a specially designed menu of their signature dishes and cocktails.

Whitebait and Sweet Potato Fritters

Black Pepper Soft Shell Crab

We started with the Whitebait and Sweet Potato Fitters which were oh so light and oh so crispy, allowing the natural sweetness of the sweet potato to shine through. Coupled with a chilli lime dipping sauce, these were seriously addictive. We also indulged in their Soft Shell Crab dressed in a ground peppercorn sauce. Unfortunately, the soft shell crab lacked a crispy exterior, with it's moist, delicate flesh taking over. Nevertheless, delicious. 

Rockling

Next up was the Rockling, and in my eyes, the star of the show. Gloriously crunchy rockling fillets dusted with potato flour and wok hei'ed with fragrant curry leaves, chilli, spaced and fluffy buttered egg floss. It rocked

my world.

Yee Sang Salad

Traditionally eaten during Chinese New Year, the Yee Sang salad is a popular festive dish symbolising good luck, prosperity, health and all things auspicious. Always a dish I look forward to eating every year. At Blue Chillies, it consisted of fresh salmon with a variety of crunchy vegetables and roasted peanuts in a apricot plum sauce. Super saucy.

Duck Rendeng

King Prawns

Pork Ribs

Thrice Cooked Duck

For the mains, we tried the Duck Rendeng slow cooked with roasted coconut and Malaysian spices, fresh ginger-root garlic and chillies, the crispy King Prawns twisted in rice noodles on a bed of tomato puree with pineapple and coconut milk, their Pork Ribs caramelised in chilli jam and their Thrice Cooked Duck served with a blend of wild ginger flower, lemongrass, chilli and lime juice. The flavours, the textures, the presentations - all ticked.Somehow, by the end of the night, we still had room for the dessert, and boy was it a treat. A modern take on the glutinous black sticky rice pudding, layered with rich coconut cream, palm sugar and toasted coconut flakes.With food full of flavour and flair and service to boot, Blue Chillies is exactly where you need to be to beat the winter blues.

Black Sticky Rice Pudding

Somehow, by the end of the night, we still had room for the dessert, and boy was it a treat. A modern take on the glutinous Black Sticky Rice pudding, layered with rich coconut cream, palm sugar and toasted coconut flakes.

With heartwarming food full of flavour and flair and service to boot, Blue Chillies is exactly where you need to be to beat the winter blues.

confessions of a little piggy was invited to dine as a guest of Blue Chillies

Blue Chillies
182 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy, VIC
http://bluechillies.com.au 

 

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PappaRich

"Comeeeeee to PappaRich" - so does anyone else have the PappaRich radio jingle stuck in their head ?  Now, I'm not too sure if the aim was to use this 'annoying' jingle as a marketing technique, but that's exactly the effect it had on me. This catchy, annoying jingle was all I could think about on my way there, as I ate, when I left, and now as I write this blogpost. Kudos to you PappaRich.

Dry Curry Egg Noodle with Steamed Chicken

I always order the same thing from PappaRich. There is just something that always pulls me in to their simply fresh springy egg noodles tossed in a mixed dark soy sauce, garnished with spring onions, fried shallots and fresh chillies. I thought the steamed Hainan chicken was satisfactory, but would have loved it was a bit more juicy and smooth.

Iced Teh & Jelly

You know what's fun to drink ? Slurping up icy cool Teh Tahrik with grass jelly. With a layer of pulled froth sitting on top, the strength and sweetness of the Teh was just about right. 

For me, PappaRich is somewhere I would go only to when I'm looking for a quick meal at Chadstone Shopping Centre. PappaRich is nothing special - it's simple, no fuss kind and you get what you order.

PappaRich

Shop F029

Chadstone Shopping Centre

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Mamak

Let's go Mamak (lah) ! It was a cold cold night in Melbourne, and Roti was on our minds. And so, walking the streets of Melbourne in shoes not so suitable for long walks, we arrived at Mamak, blisters and all. A new comer to Melbourne, Mamak's roti has won over many. Proof ? The hungry Melbournians lining up outside on this nippy weekday night.

The menu here at Mamak is quite limited, but I suppose in terms of mamak style food, this is what they usually sell. Specialising in rotis there was also a handful of curries, rice noodle dishes and beverages. I guess they concentrate on what they do best, rotis, And that's something I can't argue with.

Roti Canai

This was what we came here for, what everyone comes here for. The freshly made roti was easy to tear apart and was soft, flaky, buttery and fluffy  - like "it's so fluffy I'm gonna die" fluffy. We doused this with the  two curries  and sambal it was served with. The rich curries had a nice kick to it and was just enough for us to mop up. Extremely satisfying.

Nasi Lemak with Curry Lamb

I was interested to see how well Mamak did their Nasi Lemak, arguably Malaysia's national dish. The fragrant coconut rice matched well with the slow cooked lamb was delicious and tender, and had a nice amount of heat to it. Though the portion of curry lamb was a little on the small side. The spicy sambal accompanied the boiled egg well, alongside a generous amount of crunchy peanuts and crispy anchovies. And of course some cool cucumbers to relieve the heat. Though tasty, this Nasi Lemak was not memorable.

Here at Mamak, the bare walls and floors gave way to a lot of background noise. Coupled with super close tables and wooden stools, it wasn't the most comfortable place to eat at. But hey, that's mamak style for you. Would I return ? For the roti, yes - but takeaway.

Mamak

366 Lonsdale Street 
Melbourne

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