soundingblue

With the warmer weather arriving, it’s time to get out and get some colour into the winter pale. Googling came up with Mt Alexander Fruit Gardens in Harcourt offering pick your own cherries so it’s off we went. Harcourt is about an hour and a half drive from Melbourne, taking the CityLink toll towards Tullamarine, then onto the Calder Freeway.

“Pick your own” Lewis and Supreme cherries were going at AUD$10/kg while the ready picked ones were $12/kg.

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Sambal Kampung - 234 Little Bourke St, Melbourne

How can any restaurant fuck up stir fry is beyond my belief but Sambal Kampung managed to do it.

The service staff there do not even take your orders. There is a crappy piece of photostatted paper where you write your down your order before handing it to the wait staff. Since it was our first time there, I asked one of the waitress to recommend something they are famous for which turned out to be Sambal Chicken on Rice. My wife had the laksa while another friend, the fried noodles.

When dining in Chinatown where you pay less than AUD$10 for a meal, one cannot really expect too much. My dish looked like it was put together by a Uni student who had just moved out and learnt how to cook. Bits of chicken (semi cooked I think), way too much onions and some limp vegetables in what I make out to be a bland tomato-ish sauce.

The laksa did not fair any better. It was almost tasteless. I did not go further. The fried noodle? Well, there were noodles and it was cooked. Nothing special, nothing worth mentioning. Pathetic.

I have forgotten how bad Asian food can get in a Western country. I still remember that bowl of tasteless wanton noodles I had in Anaheim, California when I was 12. It was that bad. Visiting Sambal Kampung in Melbourne brought those memories right back.

Verdict: If you like small servings of badly cooked food at slightly higher than average price, you will love this joint. Else avoid.

Update: Some guy decided that my review did not match his expectations and wrote a profanity laced comment which I promptly deleted. Apparently he loves the food there. Good for him. Maybe the standards have improved but the customer base does leave something wanting.