Vine Restaurant

Vine Restaurant

158 Moray St, New Farm, Brisbane

(07) 3358 6658

Back in Brisbane for a weekend, and of course I had to go have brunch with T! =) We wanted to go to Little Larder again at New Farm - we went there last time but they have super comfy couches there and we can sit there for hours =) but when we got there at 11.30am on Sunday morning, there was a line of at least 15 people =( we were hungry so decided to drive around and find another place to eat. We turned the corner and saw another strip of cafes - Vine Restaurant looked pretty good, there were quite a few people sitting inside so can't be that bad =P I looked up afterwards and apparently they only do breakfast on the weekends =) We sat inside 'cause there were couches and it was so hot that day so aircon was definitely a plus!

We decided to get one sweet and one savoury dish to share - we always do =P French Toast with Summer Berry Compote and Vanilla Mascapone Cream $17.0 and Zucchini and Meredith Feta Fritters with Smoked Salmon and Soft Poached egg and Rocket Salad $18.50

I started off with the savoury dish.

Zucchini & Meredith Feta Fritters

The fritters weren't really what I expected - flavours were interesting but it wasn't as crunchy as fritters are meant to be like =( pretty sure it is pan fried rather than deep fried which is what fritters are meant to be according to Wikipedia - "any kind of food coated in batter and deep fried" =P Meredith feta is meant to be one of the best fetas but I can't really tell =X especially when it was mushed up with the zucchini in the fritter. The poached egg was lacking something - a sauce or something, was quite dry by itself. And one of the poached eggs was overcooked - yolk wasn't runny at all =(

T had the french toast first - she loves french toast... and pancakes =P

French Toast

3 tiny pieces of French toast, and wow the berries looked a bit sad and lacking =/ the french toast was soft and drenched in maple syrup and delicious though =) and mascapone cream always goes well with french toast =)

Food~

Zucchini and Meredith Feta Fritters with Smoked Salmon and Soft Poached egg and Rocket Salad - 5.5/10 - was alright, but definitely many components could be improved on

French Toast with Summer Berry Compote and Vanilla Mascapone Cream - 6/10 - if they were more generous, especially on the berries!

Atmosphere~
3/5 - we sat on the couch for at least 3 hours, even though they kept asking us if we wanted anything else, they didn't shoo us away or anything =P

Service~3/5 - very good =) food came very quickly, and the waiters filled our water glasses and took our plates promptly too =)

Sooo good seeing you again! =) Food was alright but the company and the atmosphere was definitely a thumbs up! Miss you already =(

C.

xo

Auction Rooms

Auction Rooms

103-107 Errol St, North Melbourne

(Ph) 9326 7749

☆☆☆

Brunch time with J again! This time wanted to try Auction Rooms - another breakfast place recommended by the Cheap Eats Guide with ☆☆☆ :)

This apparently used to be, as the name suggests, auction rooms. They renovated it and brought in some lockers doors?

And some wind chimes lol!

It's very roomy with high ceilings, can choose to sit outdoors, in the courtyard, high stools at the bench or little tables - we sat at a little table =) We didn't have to wait at all - plenty of tables, but I guess it is a Thursday morning, compared to when we went to Dead Man Espresso lol..

I was running late so J had ordered a Flat White... coffee art! <3

We're both coffee n00bs but she said it was so smooth didn't even need to add any sugar in! =) Though the sugar looks a bit dodge and dirty in the old can soup tin..

Kinda gross looking aye?

We both ordered the same thing (again! like at Seven Seeds =P They actually have a "La Fin de Elvis Presley" - french toast filled with caramelised banana & rum puree & creamed peanut butter, served with crispy pancetta & vanilla cream here which is very similar to the dish we got at Seven Seeds). We got "The Shady Deal" - moroccan tomato & chorizo stew, with eggplant, olives, poached eggs, dukkah & feta, served with grilled flat bread $16.50

Mmmm looks so delicious! and tasted delicious too =D The flat bread unrolls into like a crown-like shape... how cool =)

The stew was full of flavours - delicious dipping the flat bread into it =) cherry tomatoes and eggplant and chorizo =) One of my poached eggs was a tad too cooked so the yolk wasn't as runny though =( I was asking J what the cheesy mush was, 'cause it kinda tasted like goat's cheese but kinda like feta too, and they took the menu away so we forgot what it said =P it was actually "dukkah & feta" - dukkah is apparently "a side dish consisting of a mixture of herbs, nuts & spices", so I guess it was a mix of feta and other mush stuff =P very tasty though =)

We were STUFFED after our dish - it doesn't look that big but it was soo filling!

Food~

7.5/10 - super yum and full of flavours! =) Wouldn't definitely like to try some other dishes here!

Service~

2/5 - they were very attentive to order coffees but when we wanted to order food they took forever to come take our orders!

Atmosphere~

4/5 - very nice open place with high ceilings, large variety of seating areas =)

<3 brunch!

C.

xo

Ramen Ya

Ramen Ya

108 Bourke St, Melbourne

(Ph) 9662 1001

We were coming here for A's birthday - I'm not a fan of ramen but I wasn't doing anything and P wasn't here so decided to come out and see the buddies =) Also, I found an ad in a magazine for this place earlier this week and the ramen looked so tasty!

Hopefully it'll bring me back to Ramen Alley in Hokkaido! =D

We were meeting there at 7pm - I was late and got there at 7.10pm and no one was there yet!

By the time they all arrived, I was starving and decided to order first. You have to go up to the counter to order and pay, so it's kinda like fast-foodish. But what do you expect for the cheap food - $10 for a bowl of ramen =) I decided to get the House Special - Charshu Ramen (sliced marinated pork) with Tonkotsu (pork) soup base. Even though the Gyoza Ramen looked very tasty but thought I should get the house special.

Charshu Ramen

This looks slightly disappointing - the sliced pork wasn't lined up nicely like they do in the picture, hidden under all the other stuff. They only gave 3 very thinly sliced pieces of marinated meat - what a rip (and I definitely searched thoroughly)! Maybe they were running out so they were being stingy but then I saw S's bowl had 4 slices and hers came later than mine! And the slices were so thin and small you can barely taste anything =/ And they gave soo much spring onion - you can see it fills up pretty much half the bowl! So much bamboo shoot and pickled vegetables which I don't like =( The ramen was alright, parts of it were stuck together so that wasn't very good. The soup base was pretty tasty though it was quite salty by the end of the bowl.

Should have definitely ordered the gyoza ramen instead - at least they would have given more gyoza (or I'd hope =/)

Food~
4/10 - didn't really like this, kinda disappointing - next time I'll try a different soup base and with gyoza instead.

Service~
2/5 - apart from the fact we have to go up to order and get our own water, the food came out very quickly and the waitresses took our plates promptly. They accidentally gave us an extra bowl of ramen which was cool by us =P

Atmosphere~
2/5 - quite casual, not bad =)

P will definitely want to come try this at some point since he loves ramen so maybe I'll come back later with him, but it'd definitely not be something I'd choose =P

C.
xo

Dorayaki Cafe

Mister Dorayaki Cafe

Diners Life Food Court, Centro Box Hill

We were walking around Boxhill Centro after our afternoon tea at Jade Cafe and came across a Dorayaki cafe! I really like dorayaki's =) it's what Doraemon eats!

There was a line outside since it was newly opened. P said he's never had one before (even though I'm pretty sure we had some when we were in Japan! and I took him to the one in Sunnybank in Brisbane!) so we decided to get some even though they're pretty expensive here - $2.90 each! I'm 100% sure the one at Sunnybank in Brisbane sells them at <$2 each and has been there for over 5 years - that's another thing that Brisbane got before Melbourne! (the other is Mos Burgers =P)

It's one for $2.90 and 2 for $5.00 so I decided to get one as well =P

They have the same flavours as the one in Brisbane - custard, red bean, chocolate, green tea, taro, peanut, coffee, black sesame cream cheese, tuna... think that's all of them. They don't have coconut here which is my favourite flavour at the one in Sunnybank =(

P wanted custard - the natural flavour. I wanted to get the cream cheese but they had run out of cream cheese =( I didn't want red bean since I always get that so I got peanut instead.

These are bigger than the ones at Sunnybank though.

Custard

Runny custard inside a pancake-like crispy cake. I'm not a fan of Asian custard (奶黄) - too creamy and milky for me, but then again I don't really like Western custard much anyway =/ I'd much rather lotus paste or red bean =)

Peanut

My peanut dorayaki was surprisingly delicious! The peanut mush is crushed with some paste mixed with it - reminds me of the sesame sweet bean paste (麻蓉) bun at Plume yumcha =) Much like!

They gave us a loyalty card but only put one stamp on it - I looked at it closely and it's "one stamp per $5 spent"! Cheh! Waste of effort! It's like the new Brumby's loyalty card - only get one stamp per $8 spent when it used to be one per loaf of bread - not gonna buy from there anymore!

Food~
8/10 - quite tasty! want to try the cream cheese next time =) too bad they're not cheap..

Service/Atmosphere~
2/5 - was alright, think the workers were newbies 'cause some were a bit lost lol

Next time we come to Boxhill will try some other ones =)

C.
xo

Jade Cafe

Jade Cafe

39 Carrington Road, Boxhill

(Ph) 3981 9991

After our shopping trip it was like 1.30pm already - P said he wanted yumcha but by the time we get to any of the yumcha places, there'd be no food left. We trammed out to the CBD to try and find some Honky cafe food 'cause that was P's second choice of food. In the end we decided we wanted to try the new Taiwan Cafe on Swanston St - normally we always see a massive line outside it so we wanted to see what the big dealio was =P Since it was 2pm there was no line! We were just about to step in, when we saw a sign on the door saying "Cash Only" Grrr cheapo Asians! So we decided to go to QV and get some stuff from Woolies and come back for food. We only left for like 15mins but by the time we came back there was a line of at least 5 groups of people outside! Crazy! o_Oa

We got so fed up with trying to find food that P said we should just drive to Boxhill and just eat whatever there =P

I tried to Google for a Honky Cafe here - apparently Jade Cafe was alright so we parked at Centro and went looking for it. We went out the wrong end of the shopping centre and had to walk in the rain and finally got to the cafe! By then it was 3.30pm already - we were starving we didn't care anymore =P

Once I stepped in I recognized I had been here before with my parents and family friends and remember it too be not too bad..

And yay! They start serving Afternoon Tea at 3.00pm! 3-5pm =) So of course we had to order something from the Afternoon Tea menu since it's so much cheaper.

P decided to get a Fish Chowder Soup $4.50 from the normal menu. I think it was after the tasty Puff Pastry Creamy Seafood Soup at New Age Cafe that P got this since he never orders soup - but I told him to not expect it to be as tasty and that this one doesn't have puff pastry which is totally the best bit =(

Fish Chowder

Seriously Fish CHOWDER?! Chowder is meant to be thick and cream but this was so liquid and thin! And there was barely any stuff in there - small mushy bits of "fish" and some fake crab stick and LOTS of spring onions =/ And it was a bit too salty. The piece of sandwich bread looks so unappealing - aren't you meant to get bread ROLLS with soup?!

P got the Mini Steak and Onion Roll $6.50 from the Afternoon Tea menu. I didn't realise but you get a free drink with all the Afternoon Tea sets - choose any of the $3.20 drinks, so P got an Apple Cider.

Mini steak and onion roll

The steak wasn't really a steak - it was super thin and didn't taste of meat at all =/ The gravy was very thin and there was like 2 pieces of onion. Was not very tasty overall =S

Apple cider

The Apple Cider was tasty though! =D

They don't have a mini Baked Pork Chop Rice here so I got the Pan Fried or Deep Fried Pork Chop Roll $5.50 - of course I got deep fried pork =P With a Lemon Coke - I don't normally like ordering this (I normally get cold lemon tea) 'cause you can make it easily at home but I felt like something fizzy =P The waitress was like "is that hot or cold?" LOL hot Coke seriously?!

Deep fried pork chop roll

Crunchy pork chop =D though it would have been nice if they had some lettuce or tomoato or something in the bun, and they were super stingy with the mayonnaise didn't even have enough to spread on one side of the bread =/

Lemon Coke

Mmmm a can of Coke is more than one cup of drink so I got some bonus =)

Food~

Fish Chowder Soup - 2/10 - not very tasty and very salty =/ very disappointed compared to the super delicious one at New Age Cafe even though that was double the price but was very worth it and very delicious!

Mini Steak and Onion Roll - 3/10 - didn't taste of much =/

Deep Fried Pork Chop Roll - 5/10 - this wasn't too bad, if only they had a bit of lettuce or something in the bun as well

Service~

3/5 - the waiter was very attentive - I still can't believe she asked me if I wanted my Coke hot or cold haha =P

Atmosphere~

3/5 - very family friendly restaurant, very Honky feel with the booths along the walls =)

I kinda remember this place being tastier than it was and I definitely expected tastier Honky afternoon tea..

C.

xo

Monarch Cakes

Monarch Cakes

103 Acland St, St Kilda

(Ph) 9534 2972

Had to come to St Kilda for a doctor's appointment again. I had read about awesome cakes at Monarch Cakes - apparently one of the best take away cake places in Melbourne according to The Age. I didn't even realise the other day when we came to the Acland Cake Shop but it's actually just next door! The cakes don't look as tasty at the window here that's why that time we didn't come here =P

P wanted to get a slice of French Vanilla, after our delicious vanilla slice at the Acland Cake Shop last time but then we saw a fly was sitting on one of the pieces of French Vanilla and that totally put us off =P What is the difference between French Vanilla and Vanilla slice anyway? French Vanilla just looks taller and a whiter cream compared to the Vanilla slice. 

I know the Chocolate Kooglhoupf is their most famous cake here - had heard about it for ages, people travel across Melbourne for this cake =) And they actually have a mini version of it! How cute =) So P got a slice of that instead =)

Chocolate Kooglhoupf 

The waiter man took our orders and we paid and sat outside. Then we saw him chatting to other customers and not getting our cakes out - how rude! He took forever - how hard is it to put a slice on a plate?! But then we realised he heated up the kooglhoupf and dusted some icing sugar on it =) Very interesting cake - it's like a mix between a donut and a cake - delicious! with chocolate marbled through it and crunchy on the base =) 

I ordered a slice of the 100 year old Polish baked cheese cake - of course I had to try it =)

100 year old Polish baked cheese cake

The cake was super smooth and cheesy but not overly rich - I liked =) The biscuit base wasn't as crunchy as I would have liked it though - the cheesecakes I've been having lately don't have a crunchy biscuit base to my disappointment =(

The cakes were ~$5.90 each, at first we thought it was quite expensive but that's actually quite reasonable in this day and age for cake - *sigh* everything is so expensive now!

Food~
Chocolate Kooglhoupf - 7/10 - very delicious and unique!

100 year old Polish baked cheese cake - 6/10 - the cheesecake was yum, if only the base was crunchier!

Service~
2/5 - not very good taking so long to bring out the cakes though! it's really not that hard!

Atmosphere~
2/5 - was alright but it started raining which ruined it a bit but not their fault! =P

Next time we'll try the French Vanilla!

C.
xo

Crouton Cafe

Crouton Cafe

520 Victoria St, North Melbourne

(Ph) 9329 5304

I saw this voucher on Spreets - $12 for a dozen macaroons from Crouton Cafe! I had never heard of this cafe before but $1 for a macaroon is super cheap no matter how good/bad they are =P

They pre-pack the dozen of macaroons for you so you can't choose the flavours - they have the boxes in the fridge. I didn't know macaroons need to be refrigerated - they never do at Lindt cafe or any of the other places?

The owner made sure he got us a box of unbroken macaroons =)

Mmmm looks delicious!

Flavours were - strawberry, lemon lime, honeycomb, cookies & cream, dark chocolate x2, passionfruit x2, coconut x2, pistachio and blueberry =)

They were all really tasty! Crunchy meringue cookie with delicious flavoured filling =)

Dark chocolate, passionfruit, blueberry

I really liked the passionfruit one - P didn't like it much but that's 'cause he doesn't like the seeds in passionfruit =P Blueberry was yummy too but tasted like blueberry syrup - which it probably is =P Dark chocolate was really good too but the filling was a bit too thick so felt like we were eating a praline.

Pistachio, strawberry, dark chocolate, cookies & cream

Pistachio was super tasty too as well as the cookies & cream <3 strawberry tasted like syrup again but I guess that's expected - can't put real berries in macaroons =P

honeycomb, passionfruit, coconut, lemon lime

The honeycomb and passionfruit look exactly the same! The owner actually told us they were mango but none of the yellow ones were mango =P Honeycomb was our favourite one! Tasted just like a crunchy <3 wish we had more than one of that! I really liked the lemon lime one too but P thought it was a strange combination. It's like the new mixed flavour ones at Lindt (like apple & cinnamon) which I haven't tried yet since they are so expensive now! (up to $2.90 now!)

The macaroons are $2 each normal price - definitely worth it and definitely worth the trek here! (this cafe is a bit out of nowhere and definitely would not "stumble"across it =P)

Food~
8/10 - the macaroons here are delicious, interesting flavours and definitely not overpriced like the other ones!

Service/Atmosphere~
3/5 - the owner was very polite and explained what the flavours were etc. The cafe looked really nice, wouldn't mind trying the other stuff on offer here! :)

C.
xo