Cellar 47

My wife and I went to Cellar 47 a few months ago. It was her birthday so I wanted to take her somewhere special. Though the place was a bit pricey but the food was reasonably good. The place is big so plenty of areas for a quiet corner for couples and the staff are very friendly. Their seafood dishes are my recommended choice and wood oven pizzas if you want something lighter to share.

We had baked scallops to share for entrée. My wife had the signature Cellar 47 steak. My wife recommends this if you love both seafood and steak as you'll get both in one dish! I had the veal as my main. For desserts, we had Tiramisu - which my wife loved! The best Tiramisu she ever had, she said.

I do recommend giving it a try if one comes to Shepparton.

Baked scallops with bacon & tomato

The signature Cellar 47 steak

Veal with mushroom sauce

Tiramisu

Ping's Dumpling Kitchen

Prior to leaving Melbourne last weekend, we visited one of our favourite dumpling restaurant in Clayton. The dumplings' standard as always been consistent but we missed the best dumpling ever (so far) that we had recently in Shenyang, China. We are still searching for the best dumpling in Melbourne but so far Ping's dumpling has been on the top of the list.

For a dumpling to be good to me, the wrapping has to extra thin, juicy on the inside and the wrapping not to be broken or sticking together on serving. Though Ping's dumplings still lack the extra thinness in the wrapping, they are still well boiled, pan fried and the fillings are consistently juicy with each visit. The cleanliness though may need improvement as one of the cup served to us still has lipstick stain on it - unfortunately for that I can't give it a 'Like' rating.

We had our usual to share with my brother and sister - boiled dumpling, pan fried dumpling and Shanghai fried noodles.

Shanghai fried noodles

Pan fried dumplings

Traditional boiled dumplings

Saving for Mobile Phone - Blocking Premium SMS

Worried about paying premium SMS - usually offered by 3rd party companies selling jokes/horoscopes/ring tones/competitions? Sometimes this could be "accidental" via wifi scam or SMS competition & trivia scam.

There is a way to stop this! I use TPG as my mobile provider and the TPG online account allows switching "off" premium SMS services. I am sure this can be done as well if you uses other providers - whether you can do it online or by phoning the mobile service company's customer service line.

Authenticity at Ho Chak, Glen Waverley

We caught up with friends last night who suggested dinner at Ho Chak. Ho Chak is a Malaysian seafood restaurant. This is the 1st time here for us and the food was very impressive. I was surprised that food tasted so authentic like those I had in Malaysia.

We had curry fish head, stir fried green beans, pork in claypot and chicken with mushroom. If one is a fan for the extra hot curry, the curry fish head is a must try! If not, my friends stated the crab and clams are delicious too. Unfortunately for us the clam had sold out, but we'll definitely come back to try it.

Stir fried green beans

Chicken with mushroom

Clayton pork

Curry fish head

Keep your eyes opened ... For Deals!

I was driving back to Shepparton today when we stopped to get iced coffee as I couldn't keep my eyes opened. We stopped at a petrol station along the freeway to grab some. When I was grabbing for 2 x Icebreak coffees, my wife asked why 2 instead of 1? I pointed to the pop-up sign "2 for $5" and the normal retail price of $4 for 1.

Always stop for breaks when you're fatigue driving on a long trip. But also always keep your eyes opened for deals even when you're tired! *wink

2 IceBreak for $5 at Caltex

Last minute at Taipei Delight

After the fiasco at Cafe Logam, we went to Taipei Delight in Glen Waverley as we know we can get in last minute without any reservation. This place has been one of my old time favourite since my uni days at Monash University. It's a small establishment with no fancy deco but great place for fast and reasonably cheap Taiwanese munchies & snacks. We had our favourite 'must eat' fried tofu, cold noodles with shredded chicken and sesame sauce and pork mince with rice.

Fried tofu

Minced pork with rice

Cold noodles with shredded chicken & sesame sauce

Sweet Treats at Cafe Oreo, Carnegie

Since we had the afternoon off, we decided to get some coffee and cake. We are wowed by the hazelnut flavoured iced coffee and the cupcakes served at Cafe Oreo. The friendly service we got was one of the best we've experience by far There are 2 sections to this cafe but definitely worth heading upstairs if one wants to enjoy a quiet area to sit down.

Beautiful cupcakes

Counter area (upstairs)

Cafe Oreo

Cheap movie at Hoyts - Movie of the week

This may not be news to some people, but we're pleasantly surprised when we bought our tickets to watch Taken 2 at Hoyts today. The girl at the counter said that Taken 2 is 'movie of the week', so it's only $10 per ticket!

Lunch time at Maguro

Today I have the day off so we decided to head back to Melbourne for the weekend. This is the 2nd time we've dined in at Maguro Japanese restaurant and just like the 1st time we're very pleased with the dishes served. Tea leaves are used for our pot of green tea. We ordered takoyaki (octopus balls), salmon sushi, deep fried prawn katsu don (fried crumbed prawn with rice) and pork katsu ramen .

Takoyaki is definitely better than the ones we had on the streets in Japan! There's more octopus in them and very soft and creamy texture on the inside is just the best. The main meals are just as impressive. The salmon sushi is pretty good too though the best is still at Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo that we had 2 years ago. The lunch specials are $9.50 each at the time of writing. For the price and quality of food here, I'll recommend this restaurant anytime!

Interior - wall decoration

Interior - counter area

Takoyaki

Salmon sushi

Pork katsu ramen

Deep fried prawn katsu don

Conned by Café Lagom

A supposedly pleasant night out with my wife turned out to be a waste of time, money and effort. She has bought the 3 course voucher from Groupon for Cafe Lagom and booked it 1 month ago (before the expiry). When she was making the booking, the person over the phone said it is fine to book us in with our voucher on the friday (1 week past the expiry date) since the cafe did not have the time slots available that we wanted prior to the expiry and that we have to drive down from Shepparton.

A very different story when we arrived today. The staff today stated there was no notes made in their booking regarding our arrangement. Phone call was made by the staff today to the owner who insisted we could not use our voucher even though it was the cafe staff who stated it was okay over the phone during the booking a month ago.

First we were blamed for letting the staff make the booking date past the expiry date. After we explained that it was the staff over the phone who stated it was fine, all we got was an apology from the manager that it was the staff's fault for stating it was okay but they will not serve 'free' dinner to us since our voucher has expired. We left after much frustration. I will never come back again and will be seeking a full refund from Groupon for this absurdness.

Late Breakfast at The Teller Collective

My wife and I tried the breakfast at The Teller Collective for a change in Shepparton last week. If one is into Chai tea, this is the place to go in Shepparton. It's served in a teapot with tea leave unlike many places that uses tea bags. I had egg benedict with mushrooms and my wife had bacon, tomato & basil omelette. The egg benedict was okay but the omelette was pretty good. One should ask for the home-made chutney when having the omelette. The home-made chutney is to die for! Price is approximately $15 for a breakfast dish on average.

Interior of Teller Collective

Bacon, tomato & basil omelette

Egg Benedict with bacon & mushroom 

We're impressed with the Chai tea served here

Monthly Affair with Friar's Cafe

My wife and I like to spend our weekend for brunch at Friar's Cafe. The building was originally a church and it's located in Shepparton. My wife's favourite is the Chai latte. This weekend we had open marinated lamb Souvlaki and open Portugese chicken burger instead of our usual egg Benedict and topless steak burger. Friendly staff. Option to seat on the upstairs balcony - which is our favourite spot!

Open marinated lamb Souvlaki

Iced Mocha

Open Portugese chicken burger

20% off $50 iTune gift card at Dick Smith

As mentioned in my post on how to save on iTune. Yes, Dick Smith is currently selling $50 iTune gift card for $40. Don't miss out!

How to save on iTunes

I was visiting Dick Smith yesterday with my wife and we were contemplating of getting the TomTom navigation app on iTunes. It's $75 for the Australian version on the app store and Dick Smith has the iTune gift card for $50 on sale for $40! That's 20% off!

If I get the iTune card and pay the rest of the app, that's only costing $65 ($40 for gift card with value of $50 + $25 from credit card or Paypal), saving of $10.

Look out for your local stores, there's always sale for iTune gift cards seasonally.

In addition, some apps get discounted or go on 'free' special at times. There are apps that track when apps on sale or becomes free.