Pancake dessert house - OK, it must serve pancakes and desserts!
Hmm, not entirely.
Oh, I see - steak and chips! Spaghetti too. OK, it serves straight Aussie food then!
Hmm, not quite!
Pancake Dessert House is a frenetic Hong Kong-style eatery that serves Hong Kong-style Western food along with a voluminous pan-Asian menu. The "winter special" of baked spaghetti caught the eyes of Mum and me in the city one day and we decided to take a punt on this crazy combo.
Spaghetti with smoked salmon with pepper in creamy sauce, $12
Sometimes there's a lot of lip curling and suspicious poking of food that goes on when we're eating somewhere that's not Vietnamese or Italian. The kids were suss of Pancake Dessert House, sure they were going to be forced to eat some experimental (for us) fish-stuffed vegetable thingy, until they got the baked spaghetti. Watching their faces was like seeing someone find a vintage Chanel dress among a mangled pile at Camberwell Market. This was really crazy - oiled spaghetti topped with a thick, condensed-soup style sauce with mushroom and chunks of smoky salmon. It was tasty though!
Chicken fillet with tomato and Portuguese sauces, $11.80
Similarly, the baked rice arrived as fried rice topped with a juicy chicken thigh and covered in a bubbling layer of our choices of tomato and "Portuguese" sauce. The tomato tasted just like Heinz Big Red soup (which I file in my shameful secret love food stash, along with frozen spicy wedges and taco kits) while the Portuguese was actually quite yummy, creamy with a hint of curry.
Stir-fry round bean with mince chicken on rice, $9.30
This variation on the classic pork dish had minced chicken with well-fried green beans. Serious wok hei was going on - the smoky, charred "breath of the wok" taste that is so sought after. This was a great dish - I'm very keen to try their other wok-fried dishes, as it's rare to find such proper, big-flame flavour here in Melbourne.
Back entrance on Little Bourke Street
I did some research and found out that Hong Kong actually has a Western-style canon of food. British colonisation between 1864 and 1997 has infused Hong Kong's cuisine with Western flavours, and touches of other European nations have also been absorbed into the island's food culture. Some particular favourites are Hong Kong-style toast (deep fried and served with melting pats of butter) and scrambled eggs, as experienced by Thang of Cabramatta's Noodlies.
"Pappa Fish and Chips" - from PappaRich, a chain in Malaysia.
Having Western food as interpreted by another culture when you're a Westerner yourself is fraught with difficulty. I know Bryan (originally of Singapore) finds it harder to have anything "Asian-esque" here as it never quite hits the mark of what's back home. I guess you have to ignore that voice in your head which jumps up and down saying "But! But! That's not how you make pasta/noodles/chilli crab!", close your eyes and judge a dish on taste alone...and with that guideline, Dessert House was great.
teenagefoodie, originally from HK, rates Dessert House too for authentic HK food.
Pancake Dessert House
Mid City Arcade, 200 Bourke Street
Phone: 9663 1400
Hours: Lunch and dinner 7 days
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Perhaps having Western Food bettered by another culture is equally fraught with difficulty! Haha. Believe it or not, there are quite a few hawker centres and food courts in Singapore that have a Western Food stall, selling pork/chicken chops with chips, a fried egg and a splodge of Baked beans ... the quality of the meat is pretty woeful ... but I used to hanker for those crinkle cut chips when I was young. Western food was exotic for us, don't forget!
ReplyDeleteWell there you go! Crinkle cut chips... Sounds like the equivalent for Anglo Aussies is the sleazy fish and chip shop dimmie, which - despite my esteem for great XLB and love of yum cha - I still hanker for, those soggy little lumps in their double-lined paper bags with lots of viscous black soy sauce!
DeleteI love their spicy spare ribs on rice. It is pork spare ribs coated with flour and deep fried. Lots of my friends love the pork chops.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds delicious!! I even hear their CKT is good, because of the great wok hei.
DeleteTheir CKT is good but a bit oily for my liking. I love CKT at Nam Loong @ Russell Street close to QV Building. It has nice wok hei and not overly oily. BTW I love your blog .. It is my bible when i need to find place to eat in Footscray area
ReplyDeleteThank you! :D Good old Nam Loong! I'll check that out for sure. Thanks for the tip!
DeleteYou haven't tried their hallmark dishes yet. They make the best Spicy Chicken/Pork Spare Ribs with Steam Rice in the town. Their Chicken and Eggplant dish is fantastic as well. Any time you go there (or their other branch opp QV on Swanston St - next to Don Don), you'll find at least 10 patrons enjoying the former dish and that too for under $10.
ReplyDeleteMake West Best, you always give me great tips and this is another goodie. I adore chicken ribs, and chicken and eggplant sounds great too. Hopefully I will get to try them sooner rather than later!
DeleteFakegf likes this place. We also went to Sichuan dining room opposite & liked it too. I'm nit picky w Malaysianesque food in melb & yum cha here indeed! But will have to admit the way HK has tweaked their cuisine into Western baked spaghetti & baked rice is Also rather odd, but the HK breakfast of toast n butter sounds great. Koreans also have this unusual hot pot that contains sausages in it. Shows that there is indeed much borrowing of styles in between cultures indeed. I'm trying to be less 'nazi' w Malaysian food in Melb, but it's hard. ;)
ReplyDeleteYes, that crazy hot pot is called "army base stew" I believe, as it was inspired by the frankfurters and baked beans the US soldiers on the bases would eat! *gags*
DeleteLook, it is hard. I know in the States I just 100% don't eat fish and chips and don't order espresso as I am always horribly disappointed compared to what is available in Australia. Hard though when you crave it, as you must with SG/Malaysian food - you are willing to give local versions a try, but it often leads to disappointment.
I used to go there way too often during my uni days. Like commenters above, you need to try the spicy spare ribs. I don't know if they still have it now, but they used to have a section where you could build your own noodle soup, choose your own ingredients and your own soup base. Amazing. I got that 99% of the time. XD
ReplyDeleteThis place was one of my weekly Uni haunts too ! SO good so cheap, and (hopefully you can still get this) you could get a drink combo with your dinner and I'd always hit the almond milk and the pork ribs. Mmmmmm
ReplyDeleteTHAT'S IT - I *NEED* to try these spicy pork ribs NOW. They are famous!!!!
DeleteOne dish you should try there - the Hong Kong Style Noodles (pick 3 dishes, chuck into a noodles)
ReplyDeleteI like fried stuffed eggplant, fried chicken wings, stuffed tofu with rice vermicelli in beef brisket soup Yum!
I'm loving how well-loved Pancake Dessert House is - saving up all these great recommendations and hope to head back really soon!
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