Co Do

Co Do

196 Victoria St, Richmond

(Ph) 9421 2418

☆

It was yet another shopping day at Richmond, and of course P wanted Pho... I'm sick of these 

Vietnamese restaurants!

We randomly stumbled across Co Do which is actually in the Cheap Eats Guide rated ☆ only but still!

Of course P ordered Special Beef Pho =_______= I wasn't that hungry and wanted something small but also wanted that egg pancake thing I've seen at the other Vietnamese restaurants along Victoria St. There were no pictures in the menu =( We asked the waiter what "Special Vietnamese pancake" was - I couldn't really hear what he said (what's what that lately eg. Cafe Vue) but he said something like it'll be a 15 minute wait and that we make it ourselves or something? Didn't sound right so I decided to get something else. Saw on the wall the Specials list and decided to get Grilled Minced Beef Wrap in Vine Leaf - sounded interesting =)

This was so funny when I saw it - they bought jars of Lee Kum Kee Hoisin Sauce and took the label off them and stuck them on their own bottle =P

I wonder if they really fill it with LKK Hoisin Sauce or some random brand's one...

Wow they gave so much garnishing vegetables for P's Pho - the plate is like bigger than the Pho bowl!

Then we realised they prepare these plates beforehand and give the same plate whether one or two people order Pho - so I guess... bonus? =P

P's Special Beef Pho $8 came first.

Special Beef Pho

Looks pretty tasty but the soup was a little too salty =( There was an assortment of meats and tripe etc but there was no beef brisket.. my favourite! T___T I didn't like this soup much (cf Thanh Nga Nine), it tasted more of coriander! =P But it was quite oily and salty =/ There was so much vegetables on the garnish plate - P only took some of the bean sprouts and the mint leaves. At the end, he decided to break some of the lettuce up and put it in the soup - was quite strange actually, don't think lettuce normally goes in Pho?

My Grilled Minced Beef Wrap in Vine Leaf came out - no idea on the price, couldn't find it in the menu even when I tried to match the Vietnamese name to the names in the menu =(

Grilled Minced Beef Wrapped in Vine Leaf

Looks kinda like little poops aye? =P but it was surprisingly very tasty! Little rolls of minced beef wrapped in vine leaf and fried to crispiness, sitting on a bed of vermicilli squares (I wonder how they make the vermercilli such perfect squares?) A bit of vermicilli dipped in the fish sauce, with a bit of the wrap and some peanuts = YUM! =D

P went to pay for it and was shocked it was $21! Which means my beef wraps were $13 =O I thought it'd be definitely <$10 so was a bit shocked - probably wouldn't have tried it if I knew it was $13 initially which means I would have missed out on this yummy dish hmm..

Food~

Special Beef Pho - 4.5/10 - was not very tasty given Pho is meant to be such a basic dish for Vietnamese restaurants... and so much lettuce? fusion? haha

Grilled Minced Beef Wrap in Vine Leaf - 7.5/10 - this was definitely very yum! probably not worth $13 but was quite tasty indeed =)

Service~

2/5 - waiter was a bit impatient when we asked what the Vietnamese pancake was and when we said we wanted a few minutes and he just said "well just call me when you're ready" in a blunt tone... food came quite quickly though but that's usually expected in these cheap Asian restaurants lol

Atmosphere~

3/5 - pretty good given it's an Asian restaurant... though I don't like it how we get our own cutlery from the buckets at the end of the table.. seems like everyone else can touch the cutlery before you, but all Asian restaurants are like that... ah well Asian! =P

C.

xo

Indya Bistro

Indya Bistro

643 Rathdowne St, Carlton North

(Ph) 9347 6387

I had bought a voucher from Zizzle a few months ago - "Just $34 for an unbelievable 8 course Indian banquet for two at Indya Bistro - Voted Victoria's best Indian restaurant!" It sounded like a bargain at the time - this when when online deals seemed so awesome =P

I had booked a table online for 7pm so thought we'd get a decent table, but when we got there, the waiter said we had to sit right next to the door, and when we asked if we could move to one of the inside tables she said "they're for groups of 4" =___= and then 5 minutes later, a group of 2 came in and the waiter separated the 4 people table and let them sit at one of them!! =O how rude!

She gave us this sheet of paper that had listed all the choices for the "8 courses" and told us to pick what we wanted in each course. We finally came to a decision, and then 'cause there were only 2 waiters, and they were serving the tables who sat at 600/630pm so were too busy to take our orders =(

P decided to order a Mango Lassi, thinking the curries would be really spicy, and also 'cause he likes the drink =)

Mango Lassi

It was so thick, thought they're normally slightly thinner, but it was yum! I wonder if they put real mango in it or just mango powder/flavouring?

Course 1 was the Sheekh Kebabs - featuring spicy aromatic minced lamb kebabs cooked in the tandoori oven

Sheekh kebabs

Doesn't look very appealing but it was really tasty! I was saying to P how it doesn't look like kebabs at all, but then he said they probably roasted it on a stick in the oven and then took the stick out when serving it, making them look aweful lol. Spices went well with the yoghurt sauce =)

Course 2 was Samosa & Chickpeas - lightly spiced & seasoned vegetables in a homemade pastry served with chickpea & chutney

Samosa & Chickpeas

The samosa was super crunchy (well the top was) though it was filled with chickpeas/lentils AND covered in chickpeas - wish they had a bit of variation =P the chickpea chutney sauce was quite tasty though it kinda made the samosa a bit soft - samosas' are meant to be crunchy!

Course 3 was Aloo Tikki Chat - spicy potato patty served with chickpea & chutney

Aloo Tikka Chat

Omg chickpea and chutney again?! We didn't even read the menu properly =S it said so in it's description =( This was not very good - the potato patty was very mushy, like potato mash, and didn't taste of much, could only taste the chickpea and chutney sauce over it. P really wanted to try this though which was a disappointment =(

Should have instead ordered the Indya Dips - a selection of Indian dips served with freshly baked naan bread for course 2 and Samosa - lightly spiced & seasoned vegetable pillows in a homemade pastry for course 3 =(

Course 4 was Chicken Tikka - tender pieces of tandoori-grilled chicken infused with aromatic spices - didn't get a choice with this one.

Chicken tikka

But it was surprisingly good =) The chicken was chicken thigh so even though it was tandoori ovened, it was not too dry or tough and yes was "infused with aromatic spices" indeed!

We waited like 20 minutes before the main meals come - P was saying how he thinks we might need to get some drive through afterwards 'cause all the "courses" are so small!

Finally course 5 came - Lamb Rogan Josh - tender lamb cooked in a rich onion sauce, garnished with fresh coriander

Lamb Rogan Josh

This was a disappointment - it was so watery, like they ran out of curry so just decided to add water to it =S And it was very bland - didn't really taste of anything and definitely not hot at all! There weren't very many pieces of lamb and they were all quite small pieces - it was quite soft which I liked but P thought it was a bit too mushy.

Course 6 was Paneer & Spinach - delicious Cottage cheese cooked in aromatic flavoured spinach

Paneer & Spinach

This was alright - quite different to what we're used to in Indian restaurants. P said it tasted like salted preserved vegetables (mei cai 梅菜) you get at Chinese restaurants - I totally don't agree 'cause 1. they're usually salty duh =P and 2. they're usually chewy and not mushy like spinach is =P Cheese and spinach in curry is really rather strange though I quite liked it, even though it was so mushy and kinda felt like baby food =P

Course 7 was the Freshly baked Naan and basmati rice

Naan

The naan bread came like 5 minutes after the curries and rice came, so I was just sitting there waiting for them to give us the bread, tried to catch either waiters' attention but both were so busy. You'd think given everyone needs to book for this restaurant, that they'd know how many people are coming and have enough staff to cater for us all =/

Naan bread was quite good though - crunchy and puffy. If only the curries were tastier...

Finally it was dessert time! Course 8 was Gulab Jamun - a juicy sweet dumpling fried and bathed with rose syrup and Vanilla Ice cream. I don't know why P ordered one of each - should have got 2 Gulab Jamuns!

Gulub Jamun

This was another thumbs up - the dumplings were infused in the syrup. They were so stingy and only gave us 2 little ones - we had one each and a scoop of ice cream with it.

Vanilla Ice cream

Lol the ice cream bowl was so much bigger than the Gulab Jamun bowl =P It actually was very tasty with the ice cream - good end to the meal!

Food~

Sheekh Kebabs - 7/10 - this was yum! though they probably need to work on their plating =P

Samosa & Chickpeas - 5.5/10 - not too bad, but would have been better if we had ordered just the samosas without the chickpea chutney softening the crispy pastry

Aloo Tikki Chat - 3/10 - this was not nice, mush and more mush =/

Chicken Tikka - 7.5/10 - yum! if only they weren't so stingy! I looked on the official menu, you're meant to get 3 pieces of you ordered it normally!

Lamb Rogan Josh - 2/10 - very disappointing... you'd expect good curry at an Indian restaurant, especially "Victoria's best Indian restaurant"... maybe we should have stuck to Butter Chicken but this was really not very nice =/

Paneer & Spinach - 5/10 - interesting mixture of flavours, probably would have been nicer if it wasn't so mushy and had a bit of texture in it

Naan bread - 7/10 - this was good =P it was be horrendous if an Indian restaurant can't get their naan bread right =P

Gulab Jamun - 7.5/10 - this was the star of the night =P yum indeed! if only they weren't so stingy and gave us more than 2 little dumplings...

Service~

1.5/5 - was not that great... wouldn't give us the table that we wanted, and then giving it to someone else a few minutes after us! and only having 2 waiters working on the night, so we had to wait ages to  order, wait for our plates to be taken, and wait for our naan bread to come while the curries go cold (not that it mattered much but still!)

Atmosphere~

2/5 - small restaurant for "Victoria's best Indian restaurant", the decor was quite basic and nothing resembling Indian culture. They had an upstairs which I think they didn't want to open 'cause they only had 2 waiters working, so they got the customers waiting for a table to go upstairs and have a drink and then when a table was ready downstairs, to bring them down to eat =/ they kept turning the upstairs lights on and off to take customers up/down =/

Not going to buy these online vouchers anymore! Tried quite a few and the service and food quality is just so much poorer than what we would have got if we went without the voucher =( ah well worth a try!

C.

xo

Le Petit Gateau

Le Petit Gateau

458 Little Collins St, Melbourne

(Ph) 9944 8893

After Cafe Vue's delicious Paris Brest dessert P and I really felt like we wanted some more sweets =P As we were walking home, we walked past Le Petit Gateau and I said I wanted to go look inside, but once we got inside P said he wanted a piece of cake =P I had an Entertainment buy-1-get-1-free for a piece of cake so we decided to get 2 pieces and take it away to have later that afternoon.

P got a piece of Blackforest and I got a piece of Peanut, chocolate & raspberry jelly sandwich

The waiter said the total would be $16!!! Our jaws nearly dropped! Even with the voucher it was still $8 for the 2 pieces of cake - 2 very small pieces of cake! It's no wonder it's called le PETIT gateau... their name tells us it's small why do we fall for their trap?! =P

Peanut, chocolate & raspberry jelly sandwich

Though this piece of cake was very tasty - crunchy bits of peanut amongst chocolate cake and chocolate mousse. Didn't really like the raspberry jelly much but P thought it was good contrast to the chocolate.

Blackforest

P's Blackforest was not very nice =/ the chocolate cake was good, but the cherries were SO drenched in liquor, so bitter it made me shiver =/ Not sure what the top pink dusting was but it didn't taste of much. If only the cherries weren't so full of alcohol... reminds me of the Christmas Pudding we had at Miss Marple's Tearoom ><

Food~
Peanut, chocolate & raspberry jelly sandwich - 6/10 - can't say it's my favourite cake, but it was quite unique and different.

Blackforest - 3/10 - hmmm really didn't like this at all, the cherries were really quite horrible =S And given the price of the cakes here, definitely would not come back if I didn't have some sort of discount/voucher!

Service/Atmosphere~
Can't really comment much here as we didn't eat here, but the waiter who served us said "that's $16 thank you" so bluntly... would have been nicer if she had said the cakes were $8 each but anyway... not a big dealio!

Until next year when i get another voucher... =P

C.
xo

Cafe Vue

Cafe Vue

430 Little Collins St, Melbourne

(Ph) 9691 3899

☆☆

Lunch with P again =) This time I wanted to go try out Cafe Vue's Lunch Box - I had been to Cafe Vue before but only for breakfast and I had been to Bistro Vue for dinner so had to complete the meals of the day with a lunch outing =) and plus it's in the Cheap Eats Guide ☆☆ =)

We got there and there were no tables free - the waiter said there'd be a ~5min wait, it's a bit awkward 'cause there isn't really a waiting area so you feel like you're in the way a bit in the cramped cafe. Bumped into J and a friend there! I know he really likes Cafe Vue =P

We only waited a few minutes and got seated at a tiny table where one side is the couch but the other side is a cork-like stool - very funny looking chair that I made P sit on =P he said his butt was a little sore after sitting on it - though I thought it would be soft? But P said it would have been squished and compacted by all the people who had sat on it beforehand... hmm true =P

I knew what I wanted to order - the Lunch Box $15 =) We asked the waiter what was in the Lunch Box and he just listed the things, and didn't say there was a choice so I'm assuming they have particular Lunch Boxes on particular days?

Lunch Box

Looking back at the menu online, it seems like they had given me the Vegetarian Lunch Box - smoked potato croquettes; Waldorf salad; braised fennel, charred onion on beetroot chiabatta; Paris brest with hazelnut creme $15

Seems like they had run out of the normal lunch box and just given me the vegetarian one instead =( was a bit disappointed he didn't say that specifically to me.

The potato croquette came in the paper bag which I thought wasn't very good for appearance - it was quite tasty, but was cold =( was still crunchy but would have been better if it was freshly fried =( 

I've never heard of a Waldorf salad before so now I know what it is - lettuce, celery, apple pieces, grapes and walnuts. It was very refreshing - strange combination of ingredients but works well together! I didn't like the celery - but I've never liked celery, so I ended up picking them all out and giving them to P =X 

The beetroot chiabatta was a little bit strange =/ I couldn't hear what the waiter had said it was, but I had looked on the menu online before and had seen the Braised beef cheek on chiabatta and was expecting that - totally didn't taste like braised beef - was a lot of mush between the chiabatta so was a bit disappointing. Though the beetroot chiabatta was very flavoursome though - unique in a good way =)

The best part was the Paris brest - crunchy profiterole like puff with deliciously creamy hazelnut filling... could really do with another one!

P ordered the Vue Burger with Pommes Frites $15

We saw heaps of other people had ordered it - except everyone else's had come on a wooden board with the tomato sauce draped across the front, but ours only came on a plate - think they ran out of the wooden boards =P Bun was so soft and the pattie was herbed and delicious! The fries were crispy like Maccas fries - I don't normally like fries with skin on it but this was definitely thumbs up! The tomato sauce had vinegar in it, which was the only thing I didn't like about the dish.


Food~
Vegetarian Lunch Box - 5.5/10 - not sure if I'd order it again, especially with the beetroot ciabatta, probably would want to try the normal one next time, though I do <3 their sweet! Serving is a bit small but it's alright for a girl =) Appearance didn't look that good with the croquette still in the paper bag and all the components looking like they had just picked it out of a premade pile instead of personally made for me.

Burger with Pommes Frites - 8.5/10 - definitely yum though I would have liked the wooden board plating better =P

Service~
3/5 - Service was pretty good, waiters were very polite and attentive, though it would have been nice if he had told us it was a Vegetarian Lunch Box instead of the normal one.

Atmosphere~
2/5 - pretty cramped tables with a very uncomfortable cork-stool for P to sit on! I know cafes never have much room but this was pretty cramped with people sitting to the side of the corridor leading to Bistro Vue.

Maybe I'll try next time for an EARLY lunch so I miss the lunch rush and so they don't run out of the normal lunch box?

C.
xo

New Rating System

P suggested I should have a better rating system for my blogs - since 99% of the restaurants have a rating of above 5/10 which means all the restaurants I've tried are "above average" which can't be the case - or maybe I'm just really good at picking good restaurants haha =P

Anyway, we've decided to break it down into -


Food out of 10 - where I'll base the rating on the taste of the dish, the appearance of the dish, size of the serving, worth the money etc

Service out of 5 - that's pretty self-explanatory, how polite/attentive waiters are, how long the food takes to come out etc

Atmosphere out of 5 - where I'll talk about the atmosphere of the restaurant, how close the tables are, how comfy the chairs are etc

So it'll be a total out of 20 =)

Hope that gives you all a better rating rather than all "above average" =P

C.
xo

Universal

Universal

139-141 Lygon St, Carlton

(Ph) 9347 4393

Catching up with E again! We initially wanted to go to Ying Thai since E felt like Asian food but there was a massive line! On a Wednesday night at 6pm! We ended up going across the road to Universal - Italian food again argh!

I decided to NOT get pizza this time - I remember the last time we came here P had steak and the chips were delicious so I decided to get the Pork Ribs & Chicken Wings - tender marinated & grilled pork ribs & chicken wings served with Universal's beer battered chips & salad $14.90

Pork Ribs & Chicken Wings

Mmm I love pork ribs <3 Beautifully marinated and grilled =D Too bad there's not much meat on either the ribs or the chicken wings =P The chips weren't as good as I remembered them to be - I guess I like crunchy thin chips more and these are more like steak chips.

E can't get away from her pizza and ordered The Lot - tomato,cheese, ham, mushroom, hot salami, capsicum, onion, olives, pineapple & bacon - small for $10.90

The Lot

She said she was gonna order a Small 'cause she wanted to save room for dessert, even though she's decided to go on a non-unhealthy food diet with her bf - she said she doesn't have to tell him she ordered dessert tonight tsk tsk =P We had decided to get the Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake - New York style cheesecake with chocolate brownie chunks on a chocolate biscuit crust $9.00 sounds so tasty and reminiscing our NY memories! =D

There was literally EVERYTHING on this pizza lol - not much meat though. The crust was thicker than I'd like it to be, and it's not crispy at all =(

After we finished our mains, I was stuffed from my plate but still felt like dessert - there is always room for dessert! But then E said she felt guilty and didn't want to eat dessert boo =( so we left lol

Next time!

6.5/10

C.

xo

------------------------

Last time I came here with P, I ordered the Chicken Avocado gourmet pizza - tomato, cheese, mushroom, grilled chicken tenders & fresh avocado

Chicken Avocado

Which was delicious! Gourmet indeed served on a wooden board =) chicken + avocado + mushroom = YUM YUM =D And it was wood-fired to a crisp! =D I wonder why the gourmet pizzas and the traditional pizzas are so different...

P ordered the Rib Eye - high country prime yearling, 21 day aged 200 day grain fed 350g, served with mushroom sauce, salad & Universal's Beer Battered Fritz

Rib Eye

The steak was grilled on the outside but tender inside and medium rare - perfecto =) Mushroom sauce is the best for steak! It's the only time P likes mushrooms =P Lol they used to call their chips "Fritz" and realised the name was too fancy and now call it "chips" on the menu haha =P Don't know why but when we try to make beer battered chips at home the batter is always super thick - like tempura... why are restaurant beer battered chips always so crispy and without batter?! Now I feel like steak...

=P

C.

xo

Lee Lee Hot Bread

Lee Lee Hot Bread

2/240 Victoria St, Richmond
(Ph) 9427 7580

P and I had been wanting to try one of these Vietnamese rolls on Victoria St for a long time - only $3.50ish for a roll so cheap! We just walked into any random bakery, they all look the same =P

Walked in Lee Lee Hot Bread - there are about 8 different rolls to choose from, we decided to get a Grilled Chicken Salad Roll $3.50 and a Mixed Ham Salad Roll $3.50

We bought them and then took them to Albert Park and had a spur of the moment "picnic" there =)

Grilled Chicken Salad Roll

The roll was full of grilled chicken, though there was a bit too much coriander in the salad >< really ruined the roll! P thought the roll tasted a bit stale, though I didn't think it was. After I picked out all the coriander, the roll was really tasty, with the grilled chicken sauce absorbed into the roll =)

It doesn't quite look like the picture they had at the bakery - look at that long piece of spring onion in there?!

And thank goodness we asked for no chilli 'cause I would have died!

We didn't eat the Mixed Ham Salad Roll that day - P wanted it for lunch the next day.

Mixed Ham Salad Roll

He toasted it up in the mini oven and said it was delicious! The bread was crunchy and warm but the salad and mixed ham was still cold like it's meant to be! They gave 3 types of cold cut ham which P gave the thumbs up for - so wasn't too bad afterall! But P didn't ask them to not put chili in this roll so he said his mouth was on fire, he's trying to train himself to eat more chili lol

Definitely worth coming back for a cheap lunch!

6.5/10

C.
xo

Minh Xuong

Minh Xuong

209-211 Russel St, Melbourne

(Ph) 9663 2895

We were catching up with the college people - we were meeting up at QV but hadn't decided a place yet. P and I thought we were going to Pacific House 'cause 1. we always do =P and 2. it's right next to QV, and I was kinda craving their Baked Pork Chop Rice. 

But in the end, one of the guys decided to go to Minh Xuong on Russel St. I wonder why this restaurant is called Minh Xuong - it's a Vietnamese translation of 明昌. This restaurant is a "seafood and BBQ restaurant" which you'd think is a Chinese restaurant - if you translate it in Cantonese it would be Ming Cheong, if you translate it in Mandarin it's Ming Chang... hmm? There is actually another Minh Xuong in Richmond with Roast Ducks hanging in the window as well - pretty sure that one is opened by Vietnamese people =P but not sure if the 2 stores are related?

When my parents came down a few months ago, we had a mahjong session at our family friends' place and they told us to come to Minh Xuong to get some BBQ Pork, Roast Pork and some Roast Duck to take to their place. My family friend works in the seafood wholesale industry and is in close contact with most of the restaurants in Melbourne - and they suggested us to come to Minh Xuong out of all the BBQ restaurants in the city so it's gotta be one of the better ones =) And it was DELICIOUS! Even though we took it all the way to their place before we ate it, the Roast Pork skin was still crunchy and not too salty and had good layering of fat and meat. The BBQ Pork was yum as well - though I might be a bit biased 'cause I LOVE BBQ pork =) it had bits of fat and bits of meat too - unlike some places where the BBQ pork is just meat and is really tough. The Roast Duck wasn't as good as the other 2 BBQ meats, but the skin was crispy and was separated by a thin layer of fat to the meat - gotta say it's definitely one of the better BBQ restaurants in Melbourne!

We sat upstairs 'cause we were a group of 9. The kitchen is downstairs and they put the dishes in the food elevator and the light turns on when the food comes up - pretty smart aye?

Food elevator

This time at Minh Xuong, I didn't really feel like a BBQ meat rice dish - P and I had lunch really late so I was not really hungry.

In the end I decided to order a BBQ Pork Chiffon on Rice $10 - I was kinda wanting something with sauce (like Baked Pork Chop Rice from Pacific House =P) so the next best thing on the menu was this, which I thought would be like the Chiffon Rice at A1 with their sweet plum sauce to pour over the omelette.

BBQ Pork Chiffon on Rice

Was a bit disappointed it doesn't come with the pour over sauce here =( Even though their BBQ Pork was tastier than A1's BBQ Pork, the chiffon rice felt like it was missing something.

P got a Char Kway Teow $10 - I keep telling him we should go to Old Town Kopitam Mamak for some genuine Malaysian food and he keeps saying no even though he keeps ordering Malaysian food elsewhere =_______=

Char Kway Teow

They put EVERY SINGLE meat on the universe in it - okay maybe not quite, but seriously they must have put all their leftover meats from other dishes and stir fried it together. There was beef, chicken, BBQ pork, squid... I'm pretty sure you're not meant to have so many types of meat in it =/ I just looked it up on Wikipedia and it says it should be stir fried with prawns and clams traditionally... hmm. Think they over-fried it a little bit, 'cause the bean sprouts are meant to be crunchy but they weren't.

Friends down the table ordered BBQ pork and Roast Duck rice.

Looked so tasty from my end of the table - though the BBQ Pork looked a little bit on the meat side without much fat. The problem with ordering a half portion of Roast Duck is that they can give you either the leg meaty half or the back boney half, which in this case was the leg so that was good, but if they had given the other half you can't really complain. Next time will go for some BBQ meat rice!

5.5/10

C.

xo

Dead Man Espresso

Dead Man Espresso

35 Market St, South Melbourne

(Ph) 9686 2255
☆☆☆

S, J and I were going out for a girlies brunch catch up =D I looked up good brunch places a little bit out of the city, we figured since it was a Sunday we could venture out a bit =) I came across Dead Man Espresso in the Cheap Eats Guide which gave it ☆☆☆

The owners used to work at another reputable brunch place, St Ali, which I'm yet to try but since Dead Man Espresso was in the Cheap Eats Guide I thought we'd try here first =)

S had messaged me at 8am and asked me to confirm we were meeting there at 10am, but then at 10am she messages me and says she'll be ~15mins late and will be catching a taxi there! Haha how funny she had fallen back asleep after messaging me in the morning =) so J and I decided to get a table first - they ran out of tables inside but said we could sit outside which we initially said yes. But after a few minutes, we were burning hot, so decided to go inside and wait for a table there =P We didn't have to wait long, maybe 10mins and we got a table and S had arrived just in time! =D

I love the decor inside - wooden tables with plenty of sunlight shining in, we sat at the communal table which I've found is very common at brunch places like Journal and Stellini Bar.

I had read about the Rosti - herb & potato rosti with poached egg, avocado & smoked salmon or bacon $17.50 and decided I must try it =)

Rosti

Combination of my love of hashbrowns, avocado, poached eggs and smoked salmon! What more could I want in a brunch =D The "hashbrown" was the best part - herb and potato rosti <3 It was so crunch yet so much texture and flavour not just like a normal hashbrown =P was delicious with my egg yolk and avocado <3 Was a bit small though, felt like I could do with another whole serve lol =P

Both J and S ordered the Panmolle - pork sausages with fresh tomato salad, char grilled bread, topped with a poached egg $17.50

Panmolle

Both of them thoroughly enjoyed their dish =D The pork sausages were tasty and the salad was super fresh. They were both super hungry that morning so had finished their massive brunch and was still feeling kinda empty haha =P

So S ordered a Vanilla cupcake with pistachio icing and a Soy Mocha

Vanilla cupcake

The cupcake was a little bit dry though =( a bit disappointing given you'd think cupcakes would always be moist!

Soy Mocha

The Soy mocha was good though - I heard from a barista that you can't do coffee art in soy coffees 'cause the soy milk is not "full/fatty" enough for the pattern to stand still, but this is pretty impressive yeah? =)

J and I shared a Scones - traditional scones served with Dead Man Jam & cream $6.50

Scones

Yum! The scones were heated up and was not too crumbly but not too fluffy - just like how scones should be =) The jam was made locally in the cafe so tasted more "real" with bits of real berries inside =) I never like cream normally but only with scones - it's the only time that it compliments everything! The scone really settled my craving for sweetness =)

Was delicious - definitely will want to try St Ali next!

8.5/10

C.

xo

McDonald's

McDonald's

EVERYWHERE!

I know I don't normally blog about fast food (eg. I went to Grill'd and took photos of their burgers but then decided not to blog about it) but I thought this deserved some mention =D

I finally managed to go to McDonald's and try out their Shake Shake Fries and their McFeast Burger! Well I actually tried the McFeast a week ago but they ran out of the Shaker Seasoning at that Maccas =O how is that possible?! During their 40 year anniversary celebration how could they run out of the Shaker Seasoning? Was so disappointing.

Anyway, so I finally got hold of the McFeast Burger - re-live the taste of the juicy 4-ounce all beef patty, with fresh tomato, mouth watering lettuce, onions, mustard and ketchup served with succulent cheese in a mouth watering soft sesame seed bun.

LOL they really talk up their burgers and make it sound so heavenly haha =P

Though I gotta admit, was quite tasty =P I haven't had Maccas in a while but this burger didn't taste as "unhealthy" as some fast food burgers feel. The tomato and lettuce helped =P P never likes beef burgers at Maccas and ALWAYS gets the McChicken but he tried the McFeast and actually quite enjoyed it =)

And of course, the star of the meal - Shaker Fries! Spice up your fries for free with a blast from the past as our legendary Shaker mix returns to our menu. Rip open the flavour, sprinkle on your fries and shake it in the bag to spread the delicious flavour.

Shake shake shake! T'was fun shaking the bag =)

This was a little bit disappointing actually - was a bit too salty for my liking. I think they over-salted the fries anyway and the seasoning just sky rocketed the salt level. And the seasoning didn't really taste of anything. I was expecting something like the Shake Shake Fries in Hong Kong, where you can choose the flavour of seasoning, eg. seaweed, chargrill, French onion and salt + pepper.

Ah well, I guess Australia is a bit slow in everything =P

I guess it was the hype more than anything!

7/10

C.
xo

Pie Face

Pie Face

Corner Queen St and Little Collins St, Melbourne

(Ph) 9670 7373

(and various other locations..)

We got the free pie offer from Ouffer for the Pie Face Pie Jam promotion a few weeks ago - came to Pie Face last week but then realised we didn't bring the voucher and they needed the physical vouchers, couldn't just show them the barcode on my phone - so we went to Dikstein's Corner Bar instead that day.

This week I made sure I brought the vouchers with me =D We got a Chicken & Mushroom and a Chunky Steak Injected with Cheese. Can't remember exactly how much the pies were ('cause we got them for free =P) but think they were $5.00 each - bit expensive for the size of the pie. Then had to pay 25c for each tomato sauce gah.

Chunky Steak Injected with Cheese - filled with 2cm chunks of 100% Australian beef shin and topped inside with a layer of creamy cheese sauce

Chunky Steak Injected with Cheese

Why does this pie have to have such an ugly face?! Makes it look not very appetising =P

Was quite tasty inside, though couldn't really find the layer of creamy cheese sauce and it was a little bit too salty.

Chicken & Mushroom

Yay the chicken pie had a happy face =D

Chicken and mushroom pies are always delicious! Though there was a little bit too much liquid inside this one - nonetheless, the chicken was very soft and tender and <3<3<3 mushrooms!

P wasn't full after his pie - it was quite small. So he went and got a Sausage roll for ~$3.95 and then another 25c for a tomato sauce. Forgot to take a photo of it - he was so hungry he chomped right into it =P It was quite tasty though - spurred us to want to make our own sausage rolls! =)

It's been forever since we last paid for pies here - they're not bad but a bit too overpriced! Think we make better Chicken and Mushroom pies ourselves at home =)

Tada! =D

7/10

C
xo