Station Hotel

Fine dining will always be my favourite eating experience. I love the ambience, the service, the exquisite menu options and the presentation of the food. I don't, however, like the damage that it causes to my wallet but you get exactly what you pay for and it makes me happy :)

My best friend took me to a renowned steak place in the Western suburbs (Footscray) that looks like your everyday pub from the outside, but surprisingly serves amazing steak. Looks can be deceiving though.

The dining area of Station Hotel was very fancy schmancy which I was a bit taken aback by. Before I had arrived, I had heard mixed reviews about the place. Some people really enjoyed it and some people thought it was pretty average. I personally enjoyed my steak. Please ignore the poor iPhone 4s image quality because I forgot my camera but I still wanted to share my experience with you all.

Complimentary bread. Very addictive. 

FRESHLY SHUCKED OYSTERS! $3.50 each

These oysters were tiny which was a shame. We really should have ordered more because the dressing in the middle complimented the oysters so well. I never used to eat fresh oysters when I was younger but I've grown to like them, a lot.

Duckfish sashimi with tempura oyster, mushrooms, soy and mirin dressing - $18

We also ordered the sashimi for entree and wow, the sauce was SO SALTY. The sashimi was drenched in the dressing so I had to drain it before I ate it. As for the Chinese mushrooms, they tasted a bit better than the ones in Shincup two minute noodles. I probably wouldn't recommend this dish for an entree.

My beautiful steak. 120 day grain fed Black Angus scotch fillet - $38

120 day grain fed? I hope the poor animal was also massaged on a regular basis and fed some wine considering it had that patience. My scotch fillet was cooked to perfection for medium rare. I find that sometimes steak places end up toooooo bloody when you cut into it which I don't like. I was a bit nervous that I couldn't finish 300g but in the end I swapped with Sarah because she couldn't eat her bloody (excuse the pun) Wagyu steak. 

The massive hot chips that are served with the steak are hand cut. Usually I'm a bit skeptical about hand cut chips because they don't have the same great taste but these ones did. The salad (at the time) needed a bit more dressing. 

Sarah's undercooked 450 day grain fed Wagyu X Holstein rostbiff - $36

How cute are the little saucers that the mushroom and peppercorn sauce come in? Sarah's steak was a big blob and was not cooked properly inside, leaving it red and too bloody for Sarah to eat so in the end we had to swap. 

ANOTHER CLOSE UP OF MY DELICIOUS SCOTCH FILLET + TRYING OUT BOTH OF THE DELICIOUS SAUCES. I wish it had more mushrooms in it. 

I have been to many steakhouses in my time but I would definitely recommend the Station Hotel, especially if you live around the area. My experience on the night was superb, and it was also due to the fact that the waiters were friendly. I have mentioned this so many times in my previous posts - service is everything, especially when fine dining. If you don't smile at me, I will endeavour to give you a hard time. Overall two thumbs up for me. Just be careful when finding parking around the restaurant as some areas are permit zones and we watched cars being fined as we were walking out. 

Station Hotel

Address: 59 Napier Street Footscray 3011

Contact: 96872913

Hours: Everyday 11am - late

Price: $$$$

Website: http://www.thestationhotel.com.au/

HOW TO GET THERE:

Lazy Moe's - Maribynong

Wow, what a wonderful day it was has been. Sundays are usually spent at home, cleaning my room or catching up on last minute tutorial work for the week. But today, it was spent with Giraffe, watching Madagascar, eating our hearts out, and watching cheerleading at MSAC. The sunshine was so lovely.

I drove my new car to Charlie's (dat place in Footscray)... only to realise that it opens at 5pm. I wasn't even aware of this! I was craving a huge steak for weeks now, so we went to the only alternative - Lazy Moe's. I was very disappointed that we didn't get to eat at Charlie's. However, Lazy Moe's was so cray cray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hadn't been there since September 2011 (I had to look through old Facebook photos to find the date, my memory isn't THAT good...) because I was pretty disappointed at the time, so we never went back. Today our stomachs were screaming to be fed, and I will tell you now that we walked out with food baby twins. Lazy Moe's is not the fainthearted!

Good and bad things about Lazy Moe's:

Good: Massive Servings

Bad: Massive Servings

Good: Menu with everything that you can think of, with breakfast being served until 4pm

Bad: Rude menu if you do not have a sense of humour

Good: Fantastic iced chai latte, the best I've ever had!

Bad: Expensive drinks, large drinks can be up to $8 - they are massive though!

Good: Value for money, the prices are decent

Bad: No split bill if you're going in a big group

As you can see from the first two points, massive servings can be seen as a really really good thing, and a really really bad thing. If you KNOW that you do not eat a lot, then do not order a lot. Simple as that. I HATE IT when girls who have small appetites order heaps of food, then end up leaving half the meal on the plate. Think about people, especially children, in third world countries. If you know that you're not going to eat a lot, then share with someone or ask for a smaller portion. Do not waste food!

With that being said, Lazy Moe's has massive portions. We hadn't eaten all day and managed to leave some chips and salad left over, so it was a fair effort. I ordered a medium rare steak (they only have one, porterhouse) and it was tender,  but too bloody for my liking. I also wanted more mushroom sauce, but the taste of it was perfect! Cravings satisfied. Giraffe ordered the calamari main, where he was given a mountain of calamari placed on top of a mountain of chips. His stomach just expands every time he eats (because he is a giraffe and he needs a lot of food because sometimes it gets lost in his long neck), but this time around he felt full from all the food, which was a first!

^ September 2011 date with our token couple back in the day.

Fish and chips with a standard coleslaw salad.

^ Steak sandwich on the left and delicious and fulfilling nachos on the right.

As you can tell, one year late and the portion sizes still haven't been reduced. 

^ Picture of both meals. If we had more time, I probably could have finished off the chips and salad... fat life argh!!!!!!!!!

^ Calamari main, $19.90

^ Porterhouse steak, medium rare. $27.90 

This price is extremely cheap, especially for the portion size and the delicious tasting mushroom sauce. If you go anywhere else, it would be at least $25-$35 and the portion would definitely NOT be this big and scrumptious!!!

^ Instagram: badasiandriver - follow me ;)

^ Saving the best until last. THIS IS SERIOUSLY THE BEST ICED CHAI LATTE I HAS EVER TASTED IN MY LIFE!!! I've had my fair share, the worst one being this joint on Brunswick Street which was too horrible to describe. Lazy Moe's has iced coffees, chocolates and chai lattes for only $5, and as you can see they even come with wafer sticks! Lovely!!!

Lazy Moe's are fortunately located in many places such as Forrest Hill and Tullamarine, but the one we went to was in Maribynong

Lazy Moe's 

401-419 Gordon Street, Maribynong VIC 3032

(03) 9318 5662

PATS The Philly Way

There was once a young man who laughed at me for ordering a steak sandwich.

"Steak and sandwiches do not go together...", he said. 

"Steaks are better alone", he said. 

I ignored these remarks and adamantly thought to myself that I will, and always will, love steak sandwiches. My love has been reaffirmed the second I stepped into PATS, The Philly Way , located on the end skirts of Bridge Road. Grill'd is two doors down from PATS, and although Grill'd may be a franchise, it does not stand a chance in terms of the quality of food and hospitality. We were greeted by a menu with an extensive list of steak/cheese/chicken sandwiches and a sweet couple who own the amazing joint. With the shock of the earthquake (which I did NOT feel at work), the owner made good conversation that secretly left me laughing with stitches. You do not receive this type of warm hospitality elsewhere, especially not at Grill'd. It was the type of treatment that I needed after a long night at work. They were still really cheery despite us arriving an hour before their closing time (10:30pm is the time they close, definitely good for late night cravings)! The environment and interior of the restaurant is nicely decorated with the theme colours being blue and orange! Everything was clean, organised and interesting to observe, especially the ceiling (third picture below). Try to look at the menu before you go in because you will look like an imbecile standing in front of the cash register with your jaw dropped and drool coming out of it because everything sounds spectacular!

I ordered a Bello Vitello steak sandwich which had eggplant, rocket, pesto among other delicious ingredients that felt like a party in my mouth. We also ordered Philly Hungry (Large chips) and later on received complimentary dipping sauces. It's these businesses that give you an extra warm feeling when you eat (I have felt this in several places such as LuxBite, Jungle Juice Bar and a local pizza place). I was extremely thrilled/happy/content/excited/in love with the burger, although they could have used a little bit less pesto. There was a lot of rocket which I larvvveeee and the chips were crunchy but not burnt, a really good thing to look out for! Tomato chutney and aioli dipping sauces were divine and at a mere $1 each, you definitely must buy them to add with your chippies!

Hospitality and the way that workers/owners approach their customers is so important because our perceptions can be altered so quickly. Word of mouth spreads around rather rapidly, so I really do hope my readers will try this place out and send me some feedback about what they think of the restaurants I post on my blog! I would especially love to hear some feedback about PATS because I had such an amazing experience and I endeavour to go back and eat everything on their menu at some stage! And since the earthquake occurred today, I'm going to attempt to make a joke and rate this place 9.9 on the richter scale of my stomach. Are you cringing? I'm so sorry!