Stalk my Noms: Joe's Bar & Dining Hall St Kilda

Before you read on, repeat after me. Two serves of fried chicken, thank you. You got that? Let's say it again. Two serves of fried chicken, thank you. You need to get this ingrained into you like the Five cougars thanks ad.

I was so excited to finally make it to Joe's Bar! I have to say that there is not much that will make me go to St Kilda. Once upon a time, I used to love St Kilda. I knew where to snatch free parking, I had friends who also lived there and best of all I used to be 10 minutes around the corner. These days, all I can think of is the Punt Road nightmare. I become passenger from hell, yelling instructions on which lane to go to as it's faster. I had missed the invite for the winter menu tasting session, I told the folks at Joe's that I would come down one weekend after the boys and myself recovered. So I braced myself and packed the boys into the car. Mick was keen as mustard when I told him it's fried chicken, mac and cheese plus blueberry pie. I had him at fried chicken. Mmmm two serves of fried chicken, thank you.

Slow cooked Ribs, Pickled cabbage and BBQ Sauce

We were given chipotle popcorn to start the meal. Talk about a big spicy kick.. oohhh.. it was so funny because Pickles kept grabbing some more and then yelling spicy! The first dish that came out was the slow cooked ribs and we had our sides of fries as well. The ribs look pretty innocently doesn't it? The BBQ sauce is sweet at first taste and finishes on a spicy note as well. Wow.. I was starting to think that Joe's needs to put a rating scale on their food. Perhaps the hotter it is, the higher number of chipotles next to the food descriptions on the menu.

Southern Fried Chicken, Chipotle Mayo and Slaw

Say hi to my new best friend ... JFC - Southern fried chicken. Yummyyyy... moist chicken meat covered with a spicy crispy skin. I have not been to southern states of the US and had the real deal Southern fried chicken before. But I think JFC would come pretty close! I would love to find out from people who have tried both and can comment. I cannot rave about this enough and if you follow me on Twitter, you will know that I am obsessed with fried chicken. This one dish will be my motivation to drive all the way down Punt Road! Mmmm Two serves of fried chicken please.

Kat's Mac 'N' Cheese

I also have a total love affair with Mac and cheese plus this is one dish that I love making at home. Is there anything better than carbs and cheese? But Kat made it better by adding a crunchy sage and garlic crust on it! I have to say that I am very sorry to Kat but I think your mac and cheese must be totally authentic,  I found it too salty for my taste. I kept trying to eat more but I just could not finish it. It is still a must try for me because who goes to an American style diner and does not order Mac and Cheese? You will also be happy (or not) to know that it is not made using that plastic orange cheese. It's made with Cobot Vermont cheese.

If you are not already jealous of salivating, check out the blueberry pie. For $7, you can afford to get your own dessert. 4 of us shared this pie! The boys vacuumed up the pastry and ice cream. Mick dug around for the blueberry. I am not usually a blueberry fan either, but I was spooning lots of berries into my mouth! The pastry was thin and crispy as well! Oh my! 

Overall I thought for St Kilda, Joe's Bar is seriously competitively priced. So do yourself a favour and skip those stale cakes on Acland street and have your dessert at Joe's as well. I went up to the bar ready to pay for my meal and I was told that it was on the house even though I missed the blogger's tasting.

Joe's Bar is family friendly and I was not the only one who took the kiddies along. When I was there, they had a few group bookings for Saturday lunch. So make sure you book a table if you are wanting to go on a weekend, tweet them (they take twookings) or call (so primitive) on 9525 3755. They are at 64-66 Acland St, St Kilda.