A25 Pizzeria - Docklands

As I work nearby, this place has become a favourite haunt of mine, particularly on Monday and Tuesdays where they have amazing specials. 

I've come here 3 times so far and I've enjoyed every visit. The $14 pizza specials on Mondays are definitely good value for money - the serving is great and I love the fact that they are generous with their cheese toppings (my favourite!).

I've also tried their pastas and this also tasted amazing. The serving was smaller than what I expected but nevertheless, it did hit the spot.

This place is definitely good for work lunches with a small group of people but I would not recommend coming here with a large group or for a business meeting - this place is incredibly popular and hence, can get very noisy inside. 

Martini & Co

As this place is a fairly new restaurant, I thought I had to give it a try despite the low Zomato ratings. I came here with a small group of friends on a Monday night and understandably, it was rather empty. The staff were great and were very friendly and helpful. 

I ordered the  House Fettuccini Carbonara and I honestly had fairly low expectations for it. The food took about 20 minutes or so to arrive and at first glance, I was surprised by the serving size. Having been to the Groove Train on the Ground Floor of Pacific Werribee, I was expecting it to be on the smaller size of things. However, there was definitely a generous serving of it and I hoped that it was more of the good stuff and not the bad.

I actually really liked the Carbonara and relished every bite. I've been to places where the sauce has been to thick and I've started feeling icky and quite sick halfway through. However, I raced through my meal with no problem and was even feeling disappointed that there wasn't more towards the end!

Overall, the group of friends that I was with enjoyed their respective dishes and I'll definitely be coming back here again to try the rest of their menu. 

House Fettuccini Carbonara

For more information, visit https://www.zomato.com/melbourne/martini-co-hoppers-crossing 

French Fusion

I stopped by this restaurant with a Groupon voucher valued at $100 to spend. My partner and I ordered the Cumin spiced salt and pepper calamari i for starters, Lapin A La Cocotte (Rabbit) and the Beef Bourguignon for the mains and the sticky date pudding for dessert. For drinks, we had lemon lime bitters. 

The calamari was nice but the beef stew was dry and salty - I left feeling quite thirsty afterwards.

Overall, the staff were really nice and accommodating and were quite lovely. However, it is quite overpriced for what you get in my opinion. 

Cumin spiced salt and pepper calamari

Lapin A La Cocotte (Rabbit)

Beef Bourguignon

Sticky Date pudding, Butterscotch Sauce

Din Tai Fung

Address: 4, Emporium, 287 Lonsdale St, Melbourne VIC 3000
Phone: (03) 9654 1876

I went there with my colleagues last week. We managed to miss the lunch hour rush (we arrived at around 1.40pm) so we only had to wait about 5 minutes before we could enter the restaurant. The waiting time for the food wasn't that long and our xiao long bao came out hot and fresh. We had a few fried dishes like the dumplings and calamari. these were quite nice too. Overall, the staff were very attentive and helpful, food tasted quite nice but for dumplings, it is a little steep in comparison to other restaurants.

Vegetable Jiao Zi

Battered Calamari with Dipping Sauce

On my next visit here, I had the Dumpling Gems and the Xiao Long Bao. The Dumpling Gems were definitely an interesting experience but for the $15.80 price tag, I'm not sure if it's an experience that I'll repeat again. Each had their unique flavour as stated in the menu and were made like a Xiao Long Bao (so there was the soup inside). However as you can imagine, they're not exactly filling so you probably need to order something else if you're looking for a proper meal.

Steamed Pork Dumpling (Xiao Long Bao) - 8 pieces

Dumpling Gems - 7 pieces

Flavours

Emerald: Salad Green

Topaz: Golden Corn

Pink Diamond: Seafood

Ruby: Bolognaise

Citrine: Cheese

Onyx: BBQ

Sapphire: Garlic Pork

Pelicans Landing

Address: 1 Syme St, Williamstown VIC 3016
Phone:(03) 9397 0155

I came here with an Entertainment card but the staff didn't seem to be sure of what we could and couldn't order using that. Despite that, the staff were really friendly and attentive. 

My partner and I ordered the Spaghetti Marinara and this was cooked quite well. There was a decent amount of seafood in this dish and it tasted quite fresh.
The ambiance of the restaurant was nice for dates and family nights out.

Spaghetti Marinara