Swan Palace Restaurant Review

96 Swan Street
Richmond Vic 3121
Ph: (03) 9427 8491

Food
Vietnamese cuisine. An interesting selection on the menu. We had plenty of time to look right over it as we waited and waited to be served. We could choose from such interesting dishes as Combianation Seafood and Vegetables, X.O. Sauce Specia, Pork with Black Beab, Sate and Oyter Sauce, a few different dishes with 'prwan', work fried noodles, coleslow and many more.. The soup was pretty ordinary, our water tasted frighteningly like detergent and appeared to be rather blue. The garlic prawns or 'prwans' were about the only redeeming feature in the mains. The calamari was ok but a little strange tasting. I felt a bit sick afterward but not sure if that was due to the food or the taste of detergent I couldn't seem to get out of my mouth.
Service
The one waiter flew around the place like a bumbling bee, with smoking hot dishes flying at people and the man barrelling backwards through doorways straight into customers exiting the toilets, flying so fast in every direction that I felt I needed to duck at times. And yet despite all this frantic flying about, the service was as slow as I have ever come across, and when we were finally served he ran away before we could barely get words out of our mouth to order. When he cleared dirty dishes off customers' tables he just piled them onto other tables and left them there. To be honest I nearly got up and left the restaurant before the mains finally came out.
Value
Reasonable prices. No banquets available.
Decor and Atmosphere
Pretty plain, not a lot of style. A cute row of christmas santas hanging along the wall.. in late March.

Gurkhas Nepalese Restaurant Review

190-192 Chapel Street
Prahran
Ph: (03) 9510 3325

Gurkhas have several restaurants in Melbourne, located at Brunswick, Richmond, Carlton, Melbourne and Prahran. This review is for 'Gurkhas Brasserie' in Prahran.
Food
Nepalese Food, a cuisine from the Himalayan Kingdom. I have to admit I'm not much into vegetarian dishes, but the 'Gurkas Special" vegetarian appetiser was refreshing and scrumptious - a vegetable mixture topped with yoghurt, sauce and plum sauce. I particularly enjoyed the goat curry in the mains and the chilli chicken wasn't bad. The nepalese rice pudding was a great way to top off the meal as a sweet and tempting dessert. All of this was provided in their 'simple feast' banquet option, along with tea or coffee. Also available are main courses from their 'vegetarian bazaar', 'meat bazaar', 'seafood selection' and 'gurkha grill' and most of these are reasonably priced individually as mains.
Service
There were plenty of waiters on hand and they provided prompt and professional service.
Value
Some excellent value options with 4 banquets to choose from starting with the 'simple feast' at $21.50 per person, and most individual mains at reasonable prices as well.
Decor and Atmosphere
Dim lighting, tastefully decorated, photos and pictures to set the cultural atmosphere.

Purple Shells Restaurant Review

153 Acland Street
St Kilda 3182
Ph: 9525 4988

Food
Seafood and BBQ Chinese Restaurant. No added MSG. Mostly your standard sort of chinese fare as generally found around Melbourne. Large servings of soup which were hot and filling. Good selection of hot entrees which I enjoyed. The mains were a bit more luke warm and ordinary, but not too bad. Lemon chicken was a bit too battered and deep fried. They also have a vegetarian's selection, omelettes, roast dishes and prawn/scallop dishes available.
Service
The first waitress was a bit scattered, but a second lady took over and took control and looked after us.
Value
Good value banquets available. Your standard mains are reasonably priced. You'll pay a bit more for individual seafood and roast dishes
Decor and Atmosphere
Neat and colourful, not overdone. A few simple decorations.