~ Curious Charlie ~

Peko 3 @ Wednesday, January 11, 2012

It was this dark when we finally left, around 9.30pm.

Last night we went to dinner at Peko Peko (3rd time I've been there) for our bi/tri-annual group dinner catch up. It's a great place to meet for atmosphere (loud, though not as loud as a bar), price ($25 per person max, main, drinks & dessert) and location (tram stop no.19).

Arriving at 7.20 for a 7.30 booking we were seated right next to the door most of the time (table for 5, with bookings), and it was windy outside (relevance was that our hair got messy everytime someone opened the door, and it was cold outside). Very glad we followed recommendations and made a booking, as although it was not in the cbd itself, it's very close, and packed, with people waiting for tables hovering near the door. Peko Peko is far off from the city (not literally) and a place that you wouldn't stumble upon, rather a secret everyone's passing.

The menus were BIG (A3), for a small cozy eatery it wasn't suitable. It would have been better in A4, a brochure layout - like their take away menu. A great idea though was to have the drinks menu separate, as when it's very busy and they're out of menus, customers can start with drinks.

Starting off with drinks, S ordered a Coke, though the waitress forgot till we reminded her after all the mains had arrived. Jas had earl grey tea (or some sort of tea), and I had a chocolate milkshake (from Hudsons - the place for great shakes). Like chocolate cafe's they had water in tall bottles, provided, which was nice. Like most asian places, they had chopsticks, which is always a good conversation topic (provided that everyone in the group isn't asian), I love my spork, though out and about I asked for five forks instead. It's always fun watching people with chop sticks XD, jas was doing quite well (until I commented I think) not being a chopstick fan I didn't try the chopsticks, unlike J who likes them (he likes all things asian, e.g. manga, martial arts), I do believe that he was the only one (other than Kimiko, who is asian, as you may have guessed by the name) who used chopsticks the entire time.

My main was the first to arrive, followed by Kimiko's (honey chicken!), S's, Jas's and then lastly J's. We all ordered bento boxes, though here they're called "peko" boxes. The boxes contained, steamed rice sprinkled with sesame seeds, a delicious! spring roll of carrot/pumpkin arranged decoratively on a scattering of grated cabbage, a side of veggies (that change each time we're here, this time it was sliced cucumber, served cold), and the chicken/beef we chose.

We had...
BBQ Satay Beef - Me
Honey Glazed Chicken - Kimiko
Sweet n Sour Chicken - S
Black Pepper Beef - Jas
Sweet Crispy Onion Chicken - J

Click here for a bigger picture.

The others might do reviews, and I'll come back and edit this later on.

The BBQ Satay Beef was nice (normally a filler word, which means no, but in this case means average), sadly it was just well, average with the flavours been a bit bland - though I still loved that spring roll, I wonder if they have them as an entree dish... With the beef a few pieces were a bit on the chewy side. Not recommended sorry.

Kimiko (2nd visit) had Honey Glazed Chicken the which I had last time, hence doesn't have to do a review, unless she really wants to. I loved the Honey Chicken, though the last few pieces were a bit on the chewy side - like the BBQ Beef, though I'd still recommend it, as I did.

After mains, Kimiko was too full for the dessert, as appose to me (there's always room for dessert - unless it's an entire chocolate mud cake...), we all (except K) ordered dessert. Dessert is a bit on the pricey side (starting at $7.00), though it's justifiable it as, as mains, peko boxes were 12.50, and hence the entire meal would be reasonable.

For dessert we had...
Vanilla & Black Sesame Ice Cream - Me
Vanilla Ice Cream - S
Soft Center Choc. Pudding w. Vanilla Ice Cream - Jas
Black Rice Pudding w. Green Tea Ice Cream - J

Click here for a bigger picture.

Being one of the most adventurous people at the table, J decided to go for something completely foreign (or perhaps it just looked foreign to me XD), there were red beans (which looked like baked beans XD) scattered around an black rice pudding island, topped off with green tea ice cream. S being the polar opposite (in terms of dessert) went for vanilla, and I was placed in the middle with a scoop of Vanilla & Black Sesame Ice Cream, the vanilla ice cream was nice, slightly above average, KoKo Black still has unbeatable vanilla ice cream though. The black sesame was very nice, I like it :) and would recommend it. And jas had Soft Center Choc. Pudding w. Vanilla Ice Cream which looked interesting, (how do they make it? O.o).

After dinner and dessert, though around 9.30, Peko hasn't closed (on the door they said they closed at 9pm), it was dark outside, though not late enough for any of us to go home (except for S maybe, who wanted to get home at a reasonable hour). Kimiko suggested a rooftop bar (I think it was a bar) though she didn't have ID (with her) and neither did I (though I don't actually have ID, even though I'm well over the legal age); so we went to a park instead. Across the road from Peko (once you get to the main st, Swanston) was the Shrine, which had the flame (fire in a big bowel shaped thing). It was warm :), a fantastic place to hang around if you're homeless, though jas says that the cops do rounds and will tell you you can't hang around there.

It does look that amazing at night - only better when you're there.

We hung around the flame for a while, then everyone decided it was a good idea to roll around in the grass and in J's case do rolls and tumbles over a terrified Kimoko XD. That was fun, till Jas and I realized in dry clean/$$ suits it was not a good idea to go near grass. And then it rained - the only time I didn't have my umbrella with me, it rained! I still need it to rain to try out my new (and hopefully perfect) Oroton classic.

A tram ride later and we were at the station, according to J we missed the train by a minute (probably my fault) and the next one was in 30mins. Fortunately for K her train was still at the station for another 30 seconds and she made it. Jas ended up driving us home, as he was going in that direction, and he we all made it home alive - despite the belief that I think he's going to get us all killed XD.

We all had a great time, ~~even if there was no alcohol.~~ Highly recommended for any occasion, it's not often that you find a place where you can bring your date, friends and have a party there. Service was good, and the waitresses are very friendly. Though if you're going for dinner, don't forget to book. We'll be back, and I'll get the Pop Chicken on our 4th visit. :)