Gurney Drive - 284 Victoria St, West Melbourne

Heard rumours of a new and decent Malaysian restaurant that has opened up not too long ago on Victoria St and as I’ve been craving for spicy food the whole week, we went off to Gurney Drive in search of good Malaysian hawker food.

Fully expecting to be greeted by the smell of spices and grease typical of Malaysian hawker centers, I was disappointed when we were greeted by a newly renovated, clean, neat and tidy restaurant which reminded me more of a mid-upper Chinese restaurant than Gurney Drive in Penang. After all, with a name like Gurney Drive which is famous for producing some of the best hawker food in Malaysia, I would probably have decked it out in plastic chair and tables. The strong crowd and nice-looking plates of food on tables looked promising though.

As I was with a group of friends, we managed to order a few different dishes. First up, the Hainanese chicken rice which I was told was pretty good though I think the chicken tasted a little bland. The rice was nice and soup was typical MSG soup, I guess.

The Penang Nasi Pattaya which came wrapped in an omelet was visually impressive and tasted pretty good though I must say I am not a big fan of fried rice when eating out as I think they tend to be a waste of money.

Another fried rice dish that was ordered was the pineapple fried rice, served in half a pineapple. It was visually impressive but also tasted pretty good, I must say. Fried with a nice mixture of spices and seasonings, it brought back memories of a favourite childhood dish.

I didn’t get to try the Mamak Mee Goreng but was told that it was just ok, a bit on the sweet side though(not as spicy as my friend had hoped it to be).

The Malaysian style roast chicken was a winner with a tasty offering of chicken and nice chili and ginger paste to go with it. The rice was also spot-on with its flavour.

The Curry Laksa had a good soup base which is the most important thing. It definitely reminded Ms K of Malaysia and her primary school canteen-more of a curry than a laksa, according to her. Being Malaysian, I know what she’s talking about but perhaps, not many of you would. 

It was a busy Sunday night and so service was a little slow but food came out in good time and staffs were always courteous. Would I return? Probably (and indeed, I have been back since this first visit). Next time though, I’d like to try the nyonya fish which looked amazing. I was also told by the boss that it’s one of their popular dishes. Also, amidst all the food we had, we had forgotten to order the CHAR KUEY TEOW, a lapse that I corrected on my second visit (though forgot my camera). The noodle was nicely fried with the necessary burnt/smoky aroma to it (what we Malaysians call ‘wok breathe’). I have seen in other blog of people lamenting the lack of egg and lap cheong and I have to agree that it lacked an egg or two but I can easily do without lap cheong, a food that reminds me of dissections…

Filou's Pattisserie - Corner of Fenwick and Lygon St, Carlton North

Finally, a beautiful day forecasted…and most importantly, a nice breakfast to look forward to. We got to Filou’s early in the morning and was greeted by the sweet smell of pastry (butter :D). The staffs were busy bringing out fresh pastries and other goodies from the kitchen and I couldn’t help but feel myself being drawn to the display cabinet full of tempting offerings.


For savoury, we settled for the spinach slice and mushroom pie and for sweets, an almond croissant, or should I say, croissants aux amandes…to wash it down, it was my usual long black.

The mushroom pie had a slight sourness to it that I personally thought overpowered the taste of the mushrooms. We were trying to work out where or what was added to it and I think it’s either sour cream or lemon…the pastry, however, was divine. Flaky without tasting oily, the crunchiness of it going ooh so well with the creamy mushroom filling.

The spinach slice was a very generous serve of vegetables. One could be forgiven for thinking it’s healthy but there was no masking the melt-in-your-mouth pastry that encased it.

It was just after 8am but yes, we just had to have something sweet to finish this deliciously sinful meal off and for me, the crux of French patisseries is the croissant. Being indecisive (and having not seen the vanilla slice), I decided on the almond croissant. The flakiness of the croissant was evident even from the outlook and we were not disappointed. The almond filling gave it a slightly cake-like/moist texture on a croissant that would otherwise be flaky but perhaps, a bit dry or over baked. Personally, I love my croissants to be flaky on the outside with a slight chewiness inside, so with the almond filling, it ticked the right box though without it (the edges), it was slightly on the dry side for me.

There’s nothing much to say about my coffee as I thought it was slightly burnt and didn’t quite enjoy it that much. So, I guess I’m off to Green Refectory for my second cup today…