Loving Hut.

After a long, hot day at the beach yesterday, I found myself craving rich and "meaty" Asian food. It took me about ten minutes of brain-storming before I remembered the new Loving Hut at Northcote was on my 'to try' list. About fifteen minutes and an awesome car park later, I was eagerly sitting in Loving Hut talking to the very lovely staff. Basically, I wanted everything.

First off we got the BBQ skewers - 3 for $9. I actually spent the whole day thinking of these, they were CRAZY DELICIOUS. I even just went out and bought the mock meat they use to try and master myself. These guys were rich, smokey, charred and BBQlicious. I almost licked the plate.

The main reason we visited was because we heard of this dish - southern fried chicken - $14 (?) Although these pieces look small in the picture, they were actually huge, almost fist-sized. Basically what we have here is vegan KFC. That's right, vegan crack. Silent awe blinking was all we could muster while nomming these.

I saw this on another table as we walked in and read the menu a good few times before I gave up and asked the waiter where it was. Turns out it was a special, and a delicious one at that. Crispy noodles with a garlicy lemongrassy tofu and veg topping - $12. This was fresh and rich and crunchy and perfect. Also a huge serve.

Loving Hut at Northcote completely won us over. Thank goodness as it's a lot closer than Richmond and serves aforementioned vegan KFC crack. Great service, great prices, great food, easy parking and table availability... really, how can I not go there every night?