I-Spicy2

First day, first restaurant! We're pretty keen on Thai food, so a walk along Victoria St brought us to I-Spicy2. What's with the name though? Is this an attempt to cash in on the love affair inner city hipster types have with their ipads, ipods, iphones, i-whatevers? Or is it a play on I Spy? Doesn't matter really, as long as the food is good ....


Now, as this is our first review, there's something you need to know. We aren't that adventurous when it comes to food - when we find a dish we like, we order it nearly every time we visit a restaurant. Is this boring? Maybe ... but we don't care. Our favourite Thai dishes? Penang Curry (with beef) and stir fried chicken with basil and chilli (Pad Grapow, or however it's spelt).

So what did we order tonight? Penang Curry and beef with basil and chilli. Oh yeah we had fish cakes for entree.

Onto the verdict (I.m not going to go into much detail here, I'm not a food writer).

Ambience: 7/10
It's a busy place, a bit noisy, but we could hear each other speak. When the loud talkers left a little later in the evening we really noticed the difference, and it became quite pleasant

Service: 8/10
Good. A little brash, but quick and effective. Didn't have to ask for wine glasses, or water, or menus. Food (entrees and main) was brought quickly, and the table was cleared at the right time.

Food:
Fish Cakes: 7/10
Sauce was a little sweet, but the fish cakes were fine. Nicely spiced, but could have been spicier.Next time I'd try something else though.

Penang Curry: 8/10
We've been spoilt by the amazing Penang Curry at Bayside Thai in Frankston - we'd give that a 10. This was fine, spice level was good, flavour was good, a few too many beans for us, but overall, very tasty. Nice sized serving too.

Crispy Pork with Basil and Chilli: 6.5/10
K doesn't like minced chicken (I don't mind though) so we ordered the dish with crispy chicken. Unfortunately we were given the crispy pork, but thought we'd try it anyway. The pork was a bit fatty for us, and given that the menu said it was spicy but it wasn't that hot at all, and taste-wise it was a little too sweet and soy-saucy for our tastes, we were disappointed. Perfectly edible though.

Price: $48
Seemed a bit high, but we did get an entree, so I supposed it's OK. We'll have to see how it compares to other places on Victoria Street.

Overall: 7.5/10
Would we go back: Yes - but I think we'll try some different dishes, and stay away from the "crispy" stuff.

Welcome!

Welcome to our little corner of Richmond (with occasional trips to Abbotsford and Fitzroy).

After a long long time living a long long way from the city, we're now officially inner suburban residents - which means walking to work, shops and restaurants around the corner, and being cramped into a 2-bedroom house with neighbours on the other side of the wall, when we're used to driving 5km to the nearest shop, 15km to the nearest decent restaurant, and hundreds of metres to the houses next door!

This blog is mainly just for us - a way to keep track of the local restaurants, so we know whether they're worth a second visit, and if we should order what we ordered last time. The first restaurant visit is coming up real soon .....