Banzai Restaurant, 8/583 Dominion Rd, Balmoral

Banzai is an oldie but a goodie and it is here that my love affair for Dominion Rd dining began.  Open for both lunch and dinner, and across the road from the Capital Theatre this place books out quick, so make sure you make a reservation first.  The occasion was girls night out and a movie and dinner at a Japanese BYO restaurant was the perfect choice especially as I had been dreaming all day of their udon noodles and incredibly fresh sushi.  The initial evening was marred by another diner across the room wearing the exact same loud print dress as me, but my friends reassured me that I look much better and from then on the rest of the evening at Banzai went as per usual without a hitch. 

There was a vegetarian amongst us, which was not a problem as unusually for a Japanese restaurant the vege selection here is great.  We started off with crispy tempura veges to share ($11), I was then feeling frivolous and hungry so proceeded to order the most expensive main on the menu which is the Yakiniku Prawns ($16) an interesting combination of garlic, onion, apple, miso paste and soy sauce with cashew nuts sprinkled on top.  My prawns were succulent and the vegetables were plentiful.  Our vegetarian friend had the lemon chilli tofu soup with udon noodles ($10) and declared it the best soup she has ever had.  Once we had, had our fill we needed to scoot to make it to the movie in time.  In usual Japanese style when we left we got a warm good bye from all the wait and kitchen staff.

There really is nothing bad to say about Banzai, the food is consistently reasonable, fresh and good, the interior clean and the service excellent.  .  It is the sort of place you don’t want anyone knowing about as you want to keep it all for yourself, so now you know mums the word!

5 STARS

Barillo Dumpling, 571 Dominion Rd, Balmoral

Not many places on Dom Rd are open for lunch, so I thought I’d give Barillo Dumpling a whirl as there were a few people eating there which is always a good sign.  I am guessing that dumplings to the Chinese are a bit like what pies are to Kiwi’s.  Something comforting, easy and what fond food memories are built on.  So it was with high expectations that I had a business lunch meeting in the somewhat dull looking Barillo Dumpling Restaurant,  a Chinese establishment specialising in dumplings.  The menu consisted of over 40 different dumpling fillings and a selection of fried dishes.  For the dumplings we decided to go with Pork and Cashew ($10), pork because it is the benchmark for dumplings and cashew to try and be a bit more adventurous. Although they were reasonable they we were most disappointing as they were bland and chewy.  For our ‘fried’ dish we decided to bypass the jellyfish and fried chicken gristle with cumin and go for something a bit more standard, and decided upon Chicken with Green Peppers in Chilli Sauce ($14), this was oily, bland and not at all spicy.  Not much business was discussed and not much food was eaten, with so many other great places serving delicious dumplings along the

Dom Rd

, I don’t think we will be returning.

2 STARS



Flavour House, 614 Dominion Rd, Balmoral

A newbie on the block Flavour House is a tidy little establishment featuring a vast array of Chinese dishes.  If you want a delicious cheap filling meal, it would definitely be a great place to go especially after a night out on the tiles as it is open till 5am.  Lots of intestines (which I worked out later was tripe) and other offal feature on the menu, we decided to by pass these umm delicacies and went for the Gong Boa Chicken ($14), Fried Squid and Veges ($13) and Fried Dumplings ($10).  The Gong Boa was a stand out dish, made up of lovely golden chicken, whole chillies and peanuts with crisp cucumber and carrot added to cut the heat.  The ‘veges’ in the squid only consists of baby bok choy, although lacking in vege variety the dish still managed to please as it was so lightly steamed and fresh and the squid was very tender.  The dumplings were delicious and were  made from scratch by the chef.

Yet again my eyes were far too big for my stomach and we could have easily feed 4 with what we ordered, when we left we asked for a doggie bag.  Our waitress came out with two polystyrene containers which we had to fill ourselves, not sure if this is the exception or the rule, but something I haven’t encountered before.  Never the less, the food was stand out and we will definitely we back for a return visit.

4 STARS

So what's so dirty about Dominion Rd?

I guess you could say I am a "foodie" although, I absolutely detest the term.  After all don't we all have to eat and are we not all entitled to enjoy what we eat?  Which is why I guess I love eating on Dominion Rd, for the price of a main in a not so fabulous restaurant you can gorge your self  on many an exotic plate of goodness.   The selection is vast, from Turkish to Malay restaurants, many a tasty a morsel can be found, not to mention the multitude of Chinese restaurants all specialising in their own region and without a scrap of English on the menus or walls.

So what is so dirty about Dominion Rd?  (before you protest to me using the term I must state that I literally live off Dominion Rd).  Nothing is particularly dirty but then again nothing is particularly flash, Dominion Rd is just not known for it's fine dining establishments.  Put simply, Dominion Rd dining is dirty because you go there just for one reason, the food, which surely is the reason you should go anywhere to eat.

So why a blog, why a challenge to myself to dine in every restaurant along the same strip?  Well I have lived on or around Dominion Rd most of my adult life and although I am a self professed “foodie” who is well travelled, I only tend to go to a handful of eateries.  Ashamedly many I am too scared to venture into, as although they are packed with people from the cuisines origin I am slightly intimidated that I will not know what to order.  However, on the rare occasion I have entered these places I have had the most amazing experience, filled with delicious food and lovely service which has not been too hard on the wallet.  I have then delighted in telling my friends to go.  So it is a new year and a new me, and I plan to make the most of living so close to so many great places to eat.