Cafe Adventures @ Operator 25

Today's Food 'Operation' is Operator 25! Located in the heart of the Melbourne CBD, These guys have been serving up some great brunch dishes and are seasonally changing their menus to showcase their skills and show us what they have in store each time :).

Lets move on to today's selection

Today's Selection

(If only it wasn't raining, then we could've sat outside and get that perfect natural lighting shot)

Polenta Soldiers ($22)

broken egg, wilted greens, corn and tomato pesto, thick cut streaky bacon & poached egg

A mixture of everything, this is equivalent or similar to many 'Big Breakfast' dishes, that cafes serve. I would consider this to be Operator 25's version of a Big Breakfast. Plentiful and presented neatly each ingredient worked well together. Though the star of this dish would definitely be the thick cut streaky bacon which is an extra $4, but trust me, its worth it.

(3/5)

Doctor Reuben ($18)

Dr Marty's Crumpets, Gameskeeper pastrami, poached eggs, Russian hollanaise & Mizuna leaves

The 'Doctor Reuben' looked the most delicious out of all the dishes in my opinion, and i was not wrong. The Russian hollanaise sauce just made the dish 10 times better, Though i regret not switching the gameskeeper pastrami to smoked salmon as i felt that would've been a much better combination. Overall still a very enjoyable dish

(3.5/5)

Balinese Marinated Pork ($20)

Squid ink brioche, pickled vegetables, coriander labna, poached eggs, fried shallot, & traditional Balinese sambal

This was definitely an interesting dish when it came out. My friend had ordered this and expected something completely different to what it was presented to be. Overall he felt like the dish lacked flavour and didn't pack that punch that most dishes would give in terms of flavour. 

(2.5/5)

Food - 6.5/10

Ambiance - 6/10

Service - 6/10
Total FoOodie Points- 18.5/30 

 

Dessert Adventures @ Sweetie Mustache

Newly opened on Russell St, Sweetie Mustache is a dessert cafe / bar which specializes in desserts such as cake, honey toast, waffles, and also serves up bar food.

It's a shame i didn't take a photo of the interior of Sweetie Mustache as it was really nice and had a laid back atmosphere.

One thing i want to point out that disappointed me about this place is that there if you want to eat here, there is a $8 minimum per head rule which is pretty stupid.

Jasmine Green Tea ($4)

A pleasant start, though it turns out it was a packet of lipton green tea but it didn't really matter to me since it was good. Oh, and the fact that the cups were adorable and mustache-ficent, (no?, yeah that was pretty bad HAHA)

(3/5)

Lemon Cheese ($9)

NY cheese cake, lemon curd, lemon infused crepes & cream

The Lemon Cheese sponge cake was nice and had a creamy texture. Pretty good cake in my opinion, considering i don't actually like cakes that much. But i have a soft spot for cheesecakes so it was definitely a +1 in my books

(3.5/5)

Honeycomb Honey Toast ($18)

crispy honey toast cubes, vanilla ice cream, natural honeycomb, custard, honey, vanilla chattily, salted caramel pistachio,

The  honey toast was visually appealing and tasted great, it was unique that you were able to pour natural honeycomb and custard over the dish which made the experience better. The ice cream and toast combination, alongside the other toppings were pleasing. 

(3.5/5)

Nutella Supreme Waffle ($14)

banana, strawberries, nutella, salted caramel, vanilla ice cream

The waffles were actually quite disappointing, though the toppings were fresh and delicious, the waffle itself was way too dry for it to be satisfactory.

(1.8/5)

Food - 6/10

Ambiance - 8.5/10

Service - 4/10
Total FoOodie Points- 18.5/30 

 

Chinese Adventures @ Red Silk

A restaurant of many specialties, Red silk serves up all kinds of Asian dishes, from Chinese, Malaysian, Thai and Japanese. There's endless options to choose from.

Crispy Chicken Wings ($7)

Crispy and flavourful, you can't go wrong with fried chicken. There was nothing special about these as they felt quite average. But it was still quite enjoyable.

(3/5)

Pipi's in XO Sauce ($26)

The Pipi's were quite disappointing, first of all there wasn't enough Chinese donuts so it seemed like the restaurant is pretty stingy for the price of the dish. Second, the pipi's lacked flavour which resulted in the overall dish being dull and not as enjoyable as expected. Can definitely find better elsewhere.

(2/5)

Wonton Noodle Soup ($11)

Nothing too spectacular, Wonton Noodle Soup is one of those dishes that make you feel like your at home when eaten. Wonton's were cooked satisfactory and the overall dish was quite nice. Though i felt that the soup was lacking in flavour but its something a bit of salt can fix :).

(3/5)

Deep Fried Ice Cream ($6.8)

You can't go wrong with deep fried ice cream, well in most cases. But Red Silk has delivered successfully. It wasn't until recently that i actually tried this dish, and oh my, i fell in love. A guilty pleasure since i'm supposed to be dieting ;D.

(4/5)

Food - 5/10

Ambiance - 7/10

Service - 5/10
Total FoOodie Points- 17/30 

 

American Adventures @ Big Boy BBQ

Located in Hardware Lane, Bad Boy BBQ is an American BBQ restaurant which serves up their specialty meats and platters.

The Dorothy ($11.90)

Kansas city style saucy beef brisket with pickles and coleslaw

My friend went for 'The Dorothy', it was disappointing because the ingredients didn't mix well together. As the beef brisket, coleslaw & pickle, individually, had strong flavour. So when i took a bite from the burger, it was too much and the flavour was overpowering.

(2/5)

The Zee Man ($13.90) w/ chips ($4.90)

Sliced beef brisket, smoked cheese, fried onion strings and BBQ sauce

As you can tell, the presentation was appalling, but if you didn't plan on taking photos and just wanting for a good feed, then this is a plus. The 'Zee Man' was actually quite nice, the fried onion strings provided a great crunch to the burger and made the burger more flavoursome. The chips were quite nice, crunchy and cooked properly, there were no faults.

(3.5/5) (2.5/5)

For the amount of hype this place gets, i was pretty disappointed as i was expecting more in terms of quality.

Food - 4/10

Ambiance - 4/10

Service - 6/10
Total FoOodie Points- 14/30