Andrew’s Hamburger

Andrews Hamburger, originally uploaded by yongtze.

Ph: (03) 9690 2126; 144 Bridport St, ALBERT PARK 3206

I moved to Albert Park 6 months ago and I am extremely delighted that Andrew's Hamburger is just 5 minutes walk from my house.

The shop front and the interior will bring you straight back to the 70's, when food was still properly made with quality ingredients and patience. Every time when I was there the queue is always so long that it snakes out onto the foot path. Consider yourself lucky if you are told there is a 15-minute wait during dinner hour. It opens from Monday to Saturday until 9:30pm, but get there earlier because the beef patties are always sold out well before the closing hour.

No you won't get fancy ingredients here. These are good old, honest burgers that are cooked to the perfection in front of your eyes. The patties are grilled till the edges are crunchy, with cheese melted over the top. Below the patty are big fat thick tomato slices and finely shredded
white cabbage and iceberg lettuce.

No photo of burger here because it is always most eagerly consumed after a well-worth wait. Take my word for it – you won't be disappointed.

Andrews Hamburger, originally uploaded by yongtze.

Fiesta!

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Fiesta is a Mexican restaurant in South Yarra.  It’s established in 1986, more than 20 years old.

The food: good serving size, nice salad. Lime chicken on salad is very appetising and refreshing.

However, the chimichanga is a bit disappointing: not spicy enough and the burrito is a bit too thin and not deep-fried properly. It’s reasonable if it’s your first chimichanga. But for us it just didn’t quite deliver the “chimichanga-factor” as the one we tried at Tres Amigos in Lakes Entrance.

On the other hand, the taco beef is yummy. The beef is full of flavour and tender. I just can’t get enough of it.

The dessert is a bit of a surprise. Dessert menu is short but interesting. We had bread and butter pudding with orange sauce and you can find caramelised apple in the moist pudding. Not too sweet and not too rich, but very satisfying, especially in winter 🙂

Also, don’t forget to try the margaritas!

Dainty sichuan food

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Dainty sichuan food is the best Szechuan restaurant I’ve been to so
far. The food is great and very well priced, given the generous serving
size. The restaurant is always crowded and most customers are Chinese,
suggesting that food is truly authentic. Just a note: people who can’t
take spicy food probably won’t be able to enjoy most of the food on the
menu. However, you can always wash the food down with a big bottle of
Tsing Dao beer. And if you can’t finish the food, the waiter/waitress
will be happy to provide you plastic containers to take away the
leftover.

A must try for Szechuan food lovers. Try cummin pork/lamb spare ribs too.

Pellegrinis Bar

Open: mon-sat 8am-11.30pm; sun noon-8pm; Unlicensed

Some
said Pellegrini’s has had one paint job in over fifty years. Some said
Pellegrini’s claims to have been the first establishment to serve
espresso coffee in the proper way. All I know is:

This Italian
espresso bar has been unchanged in decades and for a good reason. It
delivers history, atmosphere, the Italian cool, more importantly,
excellent coffee, granitas, honest home cooked pasta, and a good
variety of cakes and dessert.

Stepping inside this tiny cafe,
you will notice the faded photos of Italy, faux marble, the long bar,
old furnitures and radio etc. Instantly you are no longer in year 2007.
Time seems to have stopped here. The shop itself is a living history.

The
cheese cake is light and not too sweet. Sometimes the cake is a little
bit burnt on the side, but still tastes great. It is this kind of
imperfection that makes everything a little bit less boring and
special. Try the coffee and you can easily forget about starbuck’s
coffee (or whatever fancy names with the fancy prices). No you won’t
get any gourmet food here. What they serve is just hearty, honest home
cooked pasta with a good serving size.

You will neither get a
proper bill after your meal. The staff obviously can’t be bothered to
perform precise mental arithmetic – “make it ten dollars”. Or they are
just lazy to give coin changes.  And that usually leaves me walking out
the shop with a grin =)