Gastronomical ramblings

A Ph.D student by day, a baker/cooker/restaurant-goer at heart. Join me in my food adventures :) If you have any inquiries, please feel free to email me at: gastronomical_ramblings@hotmail.com Be sure to check out the facebook page (look down) and happy browsing! -theycallmemaggie

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Food adventure @ Purple Peanuts Japanese Cafe

Dr. V was flying off to a better land called Europe and so we three (Dr. V, K and myself) decided to have one last eating shindig before she jetted off. Dr. V suggested this little eatery, Purple Peanuts Japanese Cafe, up on Collins St close to Spencer St.

I was sort of expecting a purple-coloured cafe. It wasn’t the case. Better looking than what I had pictured in mind.

Daigo’s home made miso soup (made from all fresh ingredients AND NOT THE PACKET STUFF)

That’s what it said on their menu!

Definitely fresh ingredients and a few that you normally don’t see in miso soup. Japanese style minestrone soup? It was very delicious and lacked the typical strong MSG taste that comes with most miso soups. I don’t normally like miso soup but this I actually liked.

Kakuni Pork - slow cooked braised pork belly, served with rice and salad, with a hint of Korean chilli.

The only complaint K had was that the chilli was not very spicy! Other than that, tasty.

Seaweed salad.

Gammodoki Prawn Burger - their own home made tofu burger (tofu, beans, carrot, onion, oats, egg, sake, sesame and ginger), topped with prawns and served in a Turkish bread roll with mixed salad and teriyaki sauce.

Mmmmm… Both Dr. V’s and K’s favourite dish. I too for it was very tasty, but there was better to come! Turkish bread, crisp. Salad, fresh. Prawn burger, perfectly herbed and seasoned. Prawns, real and huge!

Chicken Burger - flame grilled chicken marinated in soy, sake, sesame and ginger, served in a Turkish bread roll and a miso-maple sauce with mixed salad.

And now for my favourite dish: the chicken burger. East meets west in a turkish bread roll. The first third of the description sounds just like a burger from, say Hungry Jacks but it was far from it. Better. The bread roll was again crisp. I struggle to put the taste in words but the combination of soy, sake, sesame, ginger and miso-maple sauce worked very well together. Very umami! It’s highly recommended.

It’s a shame that Melb uni is not that close to Collins St because this would be a regular lunch haunt for me if so. Highly recommended cheap eat!