French Twist

French Twist

u6/5-61 Petrie Terrace, Brisbane

Ph (07) 3876 4714

After brunch that day with S & T I said I felt like something sweet so S suggested Bittersweet at Paddington so we went there but then we found out it was a chocolate boutique not a dessert place so we went to the only place selling desserts (there was a Movenpick as well but I didn't feel like icecream).

S said she had tried this place and it wasn't very good but I decided to give it a shot. We ordered a Ricotta Tart and a Chocolate Gateau and 2 English Breakfasts to share.

Ricotta Tart

The waiter said this cake tasted like a cheesecake which was what I felt like, but it was not like a cheesecake at all. It was quite crumbly and not very strong cheesey tasting - slightly disappointing. But the pastry was good though - nice and crunchy yet slightly crumbly =)

Chocolate Gateau

The Chocolate Gateau was quite nice though, not too rich but sweet enough for me.  The layers of mousse, cake and cream with the chocolate icing over it really did it for me =)

English Breakfast

I liked the tea set the best - came with teacups, cup of milk and cubes of sugar =) Though the strainer was a little bit strange - you had to hold it at an angle so the tea would go through the strainer without burning your fingers and it wouldn't sit on the teacup - yeah a little bit strange.

They had comfortable (but slightly dirty and old) couches there so we chilled for a few hours. All in all was a pleasant experience.

7/10

C.
xo

James St Bistro

James St Bistro

39 James St, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane

Ph (07) 3852 5155

It was Easter Saturday and I wanted to catch up with my Brissie friends T and S. We were initially going to go to Campos but it was closed on that day so we went to James St Bistro instead.

It was such a nice day so we decided to sit outside. I ordered a Chai Latte to start with - love cinnamon powder!

Chai Latte

P wanted the Breakfast Hotdog and the Big Breakfast so we decided to share that.

Breakfast Hotdog

We weren't really expecting a sausage in a bun, thought it'd be just sausage and omelette with a side of bread but it really was a hotdog! Surprisingly very tasty with deep fried onion strips and salsa =)

Big Breakfast

The Big Breakfast was... big. I wanted poached eggs but P doesn't like them so we got fried eggs instead - I always think we should go out and eat what we can't make at home (ie. poached eggs) but whatever. The homemade hashbrown was the best - it was made from strips of potato, cut into a block and deep fried to crunchy-ness =)

At about 1pm a musician came and set up to sing and play guitar for us. So we sat and chillaxed for about 4 hours =) Awesome atmosphere and good food!

6.5/10

C.

xo

Mos Burger

Mos Burger

Sunnybank Plaza, Brisbane

I was only going to blog about Melbourne food but then decided I have to blog about the famous Mos Burger - the first one in Australia is in Brisbane! Surprise surprise =P

We went on a Thursday afternoon at 2pm, a week or two after they started doing the full menu. The line was about 15 people long - crazy! I've tried Mos Burger in Japan, Hong Kong and Thailand before, so it wasn't that big a deal for me but I thought I should try it here anyway.

I ordered the Wagyu Cheese Burger and M ordered the Ginger Pork Rice Burger (which I didn't manage to take a photo of before she dug into it)

Wagyu Cheese Burger

This was $6 for a very small burger, tasted quite nice but I couldn't really tell it was Wagyu - tasted like any other beef. M's rice burger was quite nice though the rice patty wasn't crunchy like I expected so it was kinda floppy in the bag. I think J Cafe's sushi burgers in Melbourne are tastier and more worth it.

Overall, worth a try but I don't think it's worth lining up for! I find Brisbane hypes things up pretty crazily in general =P

7/10

C.
xo

The Point

The Point

Aquatic Drive, Albert Park Lake

Ph 9682 5566

I came here at the start of the year for P's birthday but thought I'll post about it now here anyway since it's a 2 Chef's Hat Restaurant in the Age Good Food Guide 2011 and also awarded the Best Steak Restaurant award in 2010. 

We had an Entertainment buy-1-get-1-free card for this restaurant so we thought we'd give it a try. As you can probably guess, we had high expectations of this place =) 

I had booked a table and so we got a nice table by the window with a lakeside view - it was very romantic indeed with sail boats and swans swimming past us =)

We took forever deciding - we knew we had to have steak here because that was their specialty but there were so many to choose from! In the end we settled for a 900g steak to share - mistake on our behalf haha.

They gave us complimentary fig and rhubarb spring roll things - neither ingredients I like very much but it was free so no complaints.

Fig and rhubarb spring rolls

The waiter said our steak would take 20-30mins to slowly cook so P wanted to order an entree. He got the Western Plains suckling pig, grilled marron. sauce ravigote and carrots vichy and we shared it
.

Suckling pig

It was a very small portion because we shared it between us - the chefs separated it into two plates for us - but it was very tasty nonetheless, soft tender meat with the crunchy skin =)

Our steak to share was a 900g grain fed Clare Valley Rib Eye, baby gem salad, coarsely mashed potatoes, pink peppercorn sauce, carved at your table.

900g Rib Eye

And so we watched our waiter carve our steak in front of us - there was so much meat.

And here was my plate - we ordered rare and it came out medium rare - as expected but just how we wanted it. There was enough fatty bits to counter the tender soft rawish meat inside and the crunchy outside.

But there was wayyy too much for me to finish, too much that by the end of it I felt kinda sick and it wasn't very pleasant at all =(

Me with my plate of steak and all our sides

After we finished our meal I told P I wanted to walk for a bit to walk off all that steak. There was a revolving staircase behind the restaurant that links all the levels together. We thought we'd go and check it out but once we got to the top we kinda regretted it - it was very rickety and vibrating with the wind. But it was quite romantic watching the sunset from up there =)

On my way down - glad to be on solid ground again =)

Definitely one of the best steaks I've had but for anyone thinking of coming here - don't overfeed yourself or you'll regret it and it becomes not a very pleasant experience overall.

8/10

C.

xo

+39 Pizzeria

+39 Pizzeria
362 Little Bourke St, Melbourne
Ph 9642 0440
☆☆☆


+39 Pizzeria was voted Best Pizzeria of the Year 2010 by the Age Epicure and given ☆☆☆s by the Cheap Eats Guide so I was having high expectations.

I told P to book a table 'cause we were going to the Bruno Mars concert after but when we got there it was quite empty at 6pm on a Saturday night. The table for 2 was very small - only about 40cm by 40cm, and no table cloth or anything. The tables were quite tight packed, and the toilets were behind us, so heaps of people walked past us to get to the toilets - kinda annoying.

Quick look at the menu and we were stunned - so many to choose from and with so many ingredients that we hadn't heard of before. P ended up choosing Salsiccia (tomato, mozzarella, italian sausage, porcini mushroom & parmesan).

The food came in like 5mins - we later realised how this was possible. Their oven was set at 382°C - that's crazily hot!

Salsiccia

It was okay - the italian sausages weren't that special and there wasn't that much stuff on the pizza. I've come to realise that restaurant pizzas always have very little toppings - compared to what I make at home. I like lots of toppings and lots of cheese. The crust was very crunchy but it was very salty. P thinks they purposely put salt on the edge so it dries up and crisps up in the oven.

I ordered a Sole e Luna (half calzone filled with leg ham and mozzarella & half margherita). I couldn't think how it could be half calzone and half margherita but when it came I understood =) and it really looks like a moon!

Sole e Luna

This was pretty good - the calzone was FILLED with mozzarella.. mmm cheese =) But yes, again the crust was too salty, so even though I love crunchy things like pizza crusts normally, I didn't finish my crust 'cause it was too salty.

They do degustation here too - there were heaps of people around us having it. When we walked to the counter I saw this - soo soo many types of cured meats and cheese! There was a gorgonzola cheese that was like 10cm high it was crazy!

When we walked out at 7.15pm the restaurant was packed - so lucky we booked / came at 6pm.  Not sure if I'd say it's the best pizzeria around but worth a try.

5/10

C.
xo

Mart 130

Mart 130

107 Canterbury Rd, Middle Park
Ph 9690 8831
☆☆☆


I had heard about this cafe ages ago from another friend so when my Brisbane friends E and C came down and wanted to go brunch with me, I knew I wanted to take them here =)


We took the 96 tram to St Kilda Beach and got off at Stop 130-Middle Park Station/Light Rail (Middle Park). The cafe is actually the old tram stop building redone into a cafe, so there's nothing else at the tram stop except the cafe - pretty cool =)


We got there at around 11.30am on a Sunday morning and there was a massive line outside! The waiter said we had to wait at least 20mins so C ordered a cappuccino which she said was fantastic =) After about 10mins  the waiter said we can sit out the back but if we wanted to sit at the porch we'd have to wait longer - we were hungry so we took the table.

I ordered the Mart oven-roasted corn fritters with grilled bacon, homemade relish, sour cream and coriander. I had heard lots of good stuff about it - and boy it was good, well worth the $17.90! 

Corn fritters

E ordered the same thing and said it definitely lived up to the Melbourne food expectation! C ordered Mart Eggs #2 - free range poached eggs with avocado, grilled bacon and hollandaise - she took like 40mins eating it, savouring every bite =)


Will definitely come back here again!


9/10


C.
xo

City Blue Fish

City Blue Fish
620 Collins St, Melbourne
Ph 9614 1476


This place is not in the Cheap Eats Guide 2011 but it was in it previously so I thought I'll post about it anyway!


It's actually in the alley downstairs from our place so me and P just thought we could get take away there and bring it home to eat =)


Fish and chips and salad for $9.90 - so worth it!

The fish was so fresh and such a big piece with complimentary tartare sauce and lemon =) lots of chips too! too much to finish =P but the salad wasn't very good, had too much dressing and wasn't even a nice dressing, but oh well - definitely will go back especially 'cause it's so convenient for us!

8.5/10

C.

xo

Jungle Juice Bar

Jungle Juice Bar

20 Centre Place, Melbourne

Ph 9639 8779

I hadn't seen E for ages so we decided to go brunch on the only day we have off together - Sunday. To relive our memories of New York, we decided to get bagels =) She found this place through food review - a hidden away cafe specialising in bagels!

Took us forever to find the cafe, we were looking along Degraves Place at all the little cafes there - eventually we found it sort of hidden away at the end of the strip of cafes.

The waiter gave us 2 Disney story books and we looked at him funnily before realising the menu is inside!

The Menus!

How cute =)

I ordered a BALT (bacon avocado lettuce tomato) bagel - $10

BALT Bagel

So crunchy and full of stuff - I was so stuffed after finishing it! Very much reminded me of New York =)

E ordered a bagel with chorizo sausages inside and she said it was super tasty too! Though her cappuccino wasn't very good but oh well - the bagels were well worth it!

7.5/10

C.
xo

Goshen

Since I've been to a few of the places mentioned by the Cheap Eats Guide before, I'll post about them here too =)


Goshen
189 Smith Street, Fitzroy
Ph 9419 6750
☆☆


The Age and Cheap Eats Guide were doing a $5 Eastern food week to celebrate the Cheap Eats Guide's 25th Anniversary so I bought the Saturday Age and decided to pick one out of the ~10 places - it was a specific place and a specific dish for $5 and only one dish per voucher.


P decided to go to Goshen so we trammed there and found this Western looking Korean restaurant. It's really dark inside but we sat at the corner table so we got cushions to sit on =)


Started off with a Korean Seafood Pancake - $9.50

Korean Seafood Pancake

It came with a slightly sour dipping sauce - quite nice with baby octopus and mussels and all, but not sure if worth $9.50.


The $5 voucher was for the Beef Stone Bowl so we had to get that.

Beef Stone Bowl

The rice wasn't as crunchy as I would have liked it to be, but oh well only $5. Lots of bean sprouts and other veges so that was good 'cause I'm not a fan of rice =P


P wanted some beef with rice so we ordered the Beef Bulgolgi with Sweet Potato noodles and rice - $17.50

Beef Bulgolgi

Tasted kinda like the beef stone bowl rice but quite tasty nonetheless =)

Not sure if I would bother trekking all the way out there again for this but worth a try!

7.5/10

C.

xo

Hardware Societe

Hardware Societe
120 Hardware Street, Melbourne
Ph 90785992
- Breakfast ☆☆☆

Carrying out my Cheap Eats Guide for the first time today, I decided to go brunch with J this morning, despite the wind and rain today (stupid Melbourne weather!). I was looking for a 3☆ (the highest rating given by Cheap Eats Guide) breakfast place in the city and came across Hardware Societe, which I've heard lots of good stuff about from people =)

It's located at Hardware Street, NOT Hardware Lane (as I stupidly realised after walking from Lonsdale St to Bourke St along Hardware Lane, trying desperately to find the cafe, before using my trusty but crap LG phone to search for the location again). It's a very small cafe without any big signs outside so it took me a while to find it. Lucky I called in the morning to check what time they do breakfast till (11am for those wondering) or we would have missed out!

It wasn't what I expected - it is a very small cafe for the reputation that it has. We sat down inside since it was still raining and I realised I didn't have any cash so I was hoping that they had card facilities - which they unfortunately didn't!

The waiter told us to order first or we would miss out on breakfast, so I ordered Coddled Eggs with Three Soldiers ($15) - it sounded interesting! J ordered the Omelette with goats cheese and mushrooms. Everything on the menu had a Spanish yet French twist to it =)

So after I ordered I decided to go searching for a CBA ATM while they cook my food - took me AGES to find one (ended up going to Melbourne Central haha). J messaged me and told me my food had arrived - I rushed back to find this

Coddled Eggs with Three Soldiers

It wasn't really what I expected 'cause I thought the 2 cups had custard in them, but they were the eggs! mmmm

The Three Soldiers were different but very delicious - Soldier 1 was cherry tomatos with pesto, Soldier 2 was  tuna sashimi (?) on yoghurt, and Soldier 3 was marinated canned tuna (i think!). Well worth the money!

J had dug into her omelette by the time I got back so I didn't take a photo of her food - she said it was very good =)

We saw the macarons at the counter so J decided to get 2 - salted caramel and raspberry + rhubarb... mmmmm =) $2.50 each, not as good as Lindt but very close!

Will definitely come here again!

8.5/10

C.

xo

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After like 2 years finally came back here again! There had been many instances I wanted to return but either the line was way too long or we came at the time between breakfast and lunch (between 11.30am and 12noon) where the kitchen is closed o_Oa I've never heard of any cafe closing for 30mins like that before =/

There was still a short wait this time so I checked out the cabinet of sweets and breads..

And the freshly baked breads which you can purchase to take home! Plus they have fresh eggs and milk for sale here too! We were thinking of trying out some milk but knowing my mild lactose intolerance probably couldn't handle fresh full cream milk we passed. Though the milk did taste very sweet in P's tea!

I love the yellow decor of this cafe - the hanging lights, the stools, hooks on the wall - yellow happiness =)

P ordered a pot of English Breakfast tea - I think ordering tea out is just dumb 'cause you can make it so easily at home whereas coffees you can't! He won't listen to me but how cute is the teapot jacket! They have many different styles - which I later found you can purchase at T2 =) Not that I'd ever need one but how cute! And yes, the milk was very sweet and creamy.

I got a delicious Chai Latte - all drinks come with a small cinnamon sweet, what a nice gesture =)

Look at the big tray of condiments! 4 flavours of Bonne Maman Jam, a WHOLE WATERMELON?! what for lol?!

Wow a whole block of butter! I wonder if it was homemade butter? I don't think it was but it was very creamy and smooth, maybe cause it was in a fancy case that makes it seem nicer =P

Poached Eggs Un (1) - poached trout, preserved lemon hollandaise, pea & zucchini salad, brioche bun $19

This was one of the best brunches I've had <3 The poached trout was soft and creamy and the eggs were perfectly poached. Love brioche bread - sweet but not too dense, and the hollandaise was creamy and lemony - complemented the salmon perfectly =)

P had the other poached eggs =P Poached Eggs Deux (2) - smoked bacon slab, beetroot remoulade, maple candied apples $19

This was more of a manly dish with the slab of bacon =P Reminds me of the St Ali slab of bacon but looking back that had a lot more fat on it whereas this was more like a cross between bacon and ham and not as salty as well. The candied apples were a nice addition to the dish - added some sweetness to cut through the saltiness =) P enjoyed this dish very much, especially with spreading butter from the block onto his turkish bread =P

Food~
9/10 - definitely one of the best brunch places in Melbourne! Worth the wait but just make sure you don't come when the kitchen is closed! =P

Service~
4/5 - quick and attentive waiters

Atmosphere~
3/5 - a little squished by the corner on the large communal table but I guess that's the Melbourne cafe atmosphere anyway!

C.
xo

Finally starting this blog!

I finally got my Cheap Eats Guide 2011 yesterday at Borders Camberwell 'cause they're closing down so everything was 30% off or more =)

So I've decided I'm gonna go to at least one place every week and test out the food and post about it - since I love eating out and taking photos of food =)


C.
xo