Hawker style in style

Busy, hectic and lively, the overall ambience is great! Chinta Blues is second Chinta Ria restaurant in St Kilda. The other sister restaurant - Chinta Soul is actually just down the same road at the other end. Out of the two restaurants, Chinta Blues is more lively and exciting. Plus it is right around the corner from one of the hottest bar in St Kilda - Mink Bar.

But back to Chinta Blues, it is a Malaysia style restaurant, with a fast pace hawker style ambience. The food is great, but I wouldn't say it is 100% authentic. Get in early, especially on a Friday or Sat. They don't take booking, so if you rock up late, be prepared to go in the waiting list on a busy night.

Crave Seafood?

Based in Victoria St, Richmond, Pacific House is busy everytime we go in for dinner. It is your typical Chinese restaurant with colourful paper stuck up along the wall with special dishes that is usually not in the menu.

One of the specialty of Pacific House are their seafood dishes and how fresh they seafoods are. I believe Pacific House also own the seafood shop next door, therefore fresh seafood is just a door step away for them.
My favourite would be the XO pippies and if you are going all out, try their Singapore Chillie Crab. I give it a 7 out of 10.

They also have another outlet in Toorak, but I still think the Richmond one is the better of the two.

Quick Korean

This place brings back memories of Uni days at Swiny. Just pop in during a class break and grab a cheap, tasty lunch before heading back to the labs again.

Their lunch menu is pretty good, especially their boxes where you can get a portion of rice, kimchi, fresh fruits and your choice of a main stir fried dish. I usually go with the chillie octopus as it is very tasty.

On a colder day, try one of their soup and rice dish from the lunch menu. I have only tried the Kimchi broth and the Tofu soup. And both of them are mad. A bit on the spicy side, but 'be a man' and enjoy it as it comes out in a sizzling claypot!