~ Curious Charlie ~

Main Street Eats - The Grand Tofu @ Monday, July 24, 2017

Saturday 1st July

We just moved houses! Well, in the progress of one. Moving from Hawthorn to Glen Waverley. Since we were last a couple years ago many new places have popped-up offering not asian food, though The Grand Tofu is not one of those places XD I am not a fan of chinese food, so local eats are going to be struggle if it's not brunch.

With ugly deco this is a cheap no frills spot, somewhere we wouldn't normally go, but Andy insisted we lunch on a budget, and wanted asian food. Sadly Waya on the same strip was not within the 'cheap eat' budget, which is <$15 per main.

Iced Red Bean Coconut Milk $4

Starting with a drink that could be counted as dessert too, the red bean and coconut milk drink was quite nice though I do miss the four coloured drinks of Richmond. Does anyone do that out here?

This seems to be the dish that everyone's going for.

From what I gather this place is a very popular 'create your own dish' place where you can select a bunch of things (pictured above) to have with a noodle soup, there's three soups to choose from: curry, braised and tom yum. We didn't do that as I recognize about two of these things. Asking me to dine at a place that isn't friendly towards people who don't speak their language and trying something completely new is too much to ask.

No. 48 Crispy Chicken with Steamed Rice $12

Andy had a basic yummy fried chicken though felt that there could have been more chicken to the ratio of rice. All the flavour came from the essential sweet chilli sauce, without it the dish would be bland. This dish is pretty basic. There needs to be a seasoning in the chicken batter, also a salad dressing.

No. 32 Kampong Nasi Goreng (Fried Rice) $14

Father had the fried rice with fish cake and lettuce. No comments. Which is a good thing. No news is good news. Like mother he believes in keeping your opinions to yourself, unless it comes to judging other people's driving. XD

No. 71 Ipoh Curry Chicken, Dry Noodle $13

I had the Ipoh Chicken Noodles which I didn't think would finish but surprisingly did. Saucy noodles, balanced with spices, sweet and x though not too salty. Wasn't a fan of chicken skin... but other than that the chicken was bland, not marinated but totally fine for the dish, as there was plenty of sauce.

It was pretty good for a $12 dish and I'd definitely get it again with an additional egg on top.

Interesting Note - Ipoh is the administrative capital of the Malaysian state of Perak and is famous for its cuisine.[1] Its food culture is driven by its majority Chinese population who are largely of Cantonese and Hakka descent. I would have thought it was a flavour or something?

It was definitely the most interesting non-basic dish we ordered, and the only one I can't make.

Lunch at The Grand Tofu. $45 for three, mains and one drink.

Service was the most minimal it could be, placing dishes in front of us without a word nor glance. This is what I decribe as the classic asian level of service. Non-exsistent. It does happen with other places too (Henry & the Fox) though it seems to happen more at places ran by people who prefer not speak english...

The flow of the place was busy and steady even at 3.30pm.

We need a good & cheap Japanese place in the area... though the area ain't cheap except for chinese food which I am generally not a fan of.

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