The casa does durian gelato

And it is good.. preserving the flavour and smell (stinkiness) of the King of Fruits. Its on the menu, but not displayed outside alongside the other flavours. When you order it.. the guy goes around the corner, possibly to a -40c fridge enforced by 20 inch steel doors to scoop out a durian gelato.

You know the casa is making it with the the real stuff.. my partner was as appalled by the gelato as the spiky fruit itself.

If you are keen to be left alone by touts on Lygon St.. Grab yourself one of these and watch the footpaths clear.

Avoid the English menu

Have a sneaky suspicion that Pacific House still operates on a 2 menu system. We made the mistake of ordering Szechuan Seafood hotpot from the English menu. Although the pieces of seafood were nice and edible, it was covered in a thick sweet sauce which and definitely not spicy, a trait Szechuan food is famous for. It was more akin to the ubiquitous Mongolian sauce used to flavour the dishes of old school Aussie-fied Chinese restaurants, which usually made it's way to the table right after ubiquitous prawn crackers.
Cmon guys.. We want real Chinese food. Or at least the proper menu translated into English.

Meet the Sake master

Newly opened Maedaya is run by sake master Toshi. Apparently there are over 60 types of sake in this izakaya/ bbq restaurant and the plan is to have a display which begins with sake from the Southern Japan all the way to the North. So much to learn, so little time.

oh .. and the okonomiyaki and izakaya style food on the lower level is very good. While the upstairs has hwaro style BBQ with unlimited sauce.