Poynton's Nursery Cafe

Poynton's Nursery Cafe

Corner Vida & The Boulevard, Essendon

(Ph) 9337 8111

Had to pick up parents from the airport but only had about 2 hours to get some quite afternoon tea so went somewhere close to the airport. I never eat around north/west side of Melbourne so had absolutely no idea - went to search the Entertainment book again =P

Came across this cafe inside a nursery along the Maribyrnong River - the nursery was huge! All sorts of plants and herbs and fruits and flowers and everything! I think I might come back again to get some stuff to grow - though I'm not very good at it, I've killed multiple herb plants and even a cactus before! =/

The cafe would havee been really nice with the river view though on this afternoon they were painting the cafe walls so everything was covered up and the tables were stacked up and didn't feel very inviting at all =( 

We had to get some food here so sat down anyway. I got a Iced Mocha $5.20

While dad got a Strawberry Milkshake $6.50. Bit expensive for a milkshake hmm

The only savoury dishes they had now were some open toasted sandwiches. Braised lamb with house made eggplant dip and yoghurt dressing $16.00 - a bit expensive? This wasn't quite what I expected for the open toasted sandwich - more like a toasted turkish bread. The braised lamb was quite flavoursome though was a bit dry from being baked in the oven and couldn't really taste the eggplant dip.

Scones - these delicious light and moist scones are served with jam and freshly whipped cream $7.30. Scones were indeed light and fluffy - delicious with the jam and cream =)

 

Chef's Speciality.. Tiramisu - this simply irresistible treat is house made, with sponge finger biscuits soaked in coffee and Frangelico liqueur, layered with whipped mascapone cream and chocolate powder $8.30

Mum and I both love tiramisu but this looked a bit sad - a mush of cream with some chocolate powder on top. There was more cream than cake/sponge fingers - way too much cream for our liking =/ We saw later when they uncovered the cake cabinet (after they finished painting over that part of the restaurant) that the tiramisu was actually a big tub of mushy cream - doesn't look very appetizing at all, how is this chef's speciality?!

Probably wouldn't come back just for the cafe but maybe if I come back for the nursery!

C.
xo

L'Apres Midi

L'Apres Midi

167-169 Russell St, Melbourne

(Ph) 9663 8258

Bought a Groupon voucher for a cake here - I had walked past this place a few times in the city but had never got around to trying it out.There had been some not so good reviews on Urbanspoon but thought we'd give it a try anyway.

Mum loves Strawberry Cheesecake (and so do I - good excuse to order this cake as P doesn't like it =P)

It came in such a massive box! The cake was quite small inside the huge box =P

This was a 6 inch cake - yay it was bigger than 6 inches =P

Quite a light fluffy cheesecake - the cheese layer was surprisingly not too cheesy so even P liked it! The layer of strawberry coulis was sweet yet sour. The base layer was quite different to the normal cheesecake - kinda wet with syrup so was quite sweet but complimented the sourness of the strawberry coulis =)

Yum! Happy birthday Mum! <3

8/10

Movenpick

Movenpick

53A, 1A Main St, Boxhill

(Ph) 9890 6392

I had bought a Groupon voucher - $12.95 for 2 desserts so pretty much half price. Even though it's been a freezing Winter, I love icecream in the cold =D

I had been to the Movenpick at Doncaster multiple times before but was the first time to the Boxhill one - it's much nicer and newer as a separate restaurant instead of the open space in the Doncaster shopping centre.

You can choose between pancakes, waffles, a 6 flavour sampler, sundaes and banana split. We thought we'd get pancakes and waffles =) Then you get to choose 2 ice cream flavours and sauce flavour.

Pancakes with Tiramisu and Creme Brulee with Strawberry Sauce and White chocolate flakes

Waffles with Macadamia and some berry ice cream can't remember the name of it with Chocolate Sauce and Dark chocolate flakes

The waffles were delicious - Belgium waffles <3 Crunchy yet not too battery - the chocolate sauce was a very dark chocolate sauce so went very well with the tangy berry ice cream. The pancakes were alright, nothing too special, I could probably make better pancakes myself - we should have got 2 serves of waffles instead =P

The ice cream is really to die for here - rich creamy and full of flavour, my favourite is the Maple Walnut (which I didn't get this time 'cause I've had it numerous times before) and definitely the Tiramisu =)

Food~
5/10 - a little pricey if not for the voucher, go for the waffles and Maple Walnut if you come! =)

Service~
3/5 - food came very promptly, made me wonder whether the pancakes were premade, pretty sure the waffles are and they just heat them up

Atmosphere~
3/5 - quite a nice place to hang out =)

C.
xo

Cupcake Central

Cupcake Central

Shop 7, 672 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn

(Ph) 9077 4542

I had an Entertainment voucher for Cupcake Central so had been meaning to try it out for ages! <3 Cupcakes!

They have standard cupcakaes at $4 each, or babycakes at $2.20 each. Or gift boxes - starting at 4 for $15 =)

They have a Cupcake flavour calender, rotating more than 20 flavours everyday - some popular flavours are baked everyday, while there are other daily specials. And they rotate the calender every season or so =) They're apparently the only cupcake bakery that bakes all their cupcakes daily from scratch each morning (but i'm not sure about that =/)

They only had one Salted Caramel left which is one of their daily flavours, and given we came at midday on Sunday, I fail to believe it was baked fresh that morning. So it was a little disappointing it was a little dry =( the cupcake was just a chocolate cupcake, the icing was mainly vanilla with some salted caramel on top - would have liked it better if the salted caramel was more within the cupcake too!

Cookies and Cream <3 I like how they put half an oreo on there - we ate this one the day after so the oreo was a bit soft =( But the cupcake was still very moist - vanilla and chocolate flavours - the beauty of cookies and cream =)

Vanilla Vanilla - vanilla vanilla and more vanilla! Nothing more to say but it was, like the others, super moist cupcake with a creamy icing.

So far all of them have been everyday baked flavours but Banoffee Pie was one of the flavours of the day - banana cupcake with toffee inside, caramel flavoured icing and crumb bits on top <3 this was my favourite - super moist cupcake with a light creamy icing =)

Food~
6/10 - not sure if I would pay full price for their cupcakes but I gotta say they're one of the best in Melbourne - compared to Cupcake Bakery's cupcakes which were sometimes dry these were much tastier!

Service~
3/5 - very friendly smiling waiter =)

Atmosphere~
2/5 - small cafe where you can sit and enjoy your cupcakes too, but we took ours away to enjoy at home

C.
xo

Lindt Chocolat Cafe

Lindt Chocolat Cafe

Chadstone Shopping Centre, Dandenong Rd, Chadstone

(Ph) 9563 3355

I had bought a voucher - $19 for Lindt Favourites Sharing Platter for two with chocolate brownies, macarons, waffles & more PLUS two hot chocolates

When I bought the voucher I had to choose which store to redeem it at so I thought we'd go to Chadstone. I had been to the city store before but never been to the Chadstone store. We already decided to go the week after Mother's day, thinking that would be a very busy weekend but wow it was still super packed! When we got there at 2pm it was packed and there were many groups of people waiting for tables and most of the people there were having the sharing platter, probably with the voucher too! Finally we were seated, but it took ages for them to come and clean our table =/

Lindt Favourites Sharing Platter (value $25.50) - Fresh chocolate brownies, A selection of salted caramel and hazelnut macarons "delice", Two pieces of warm waffle served with Lindt's signature ice cream, Two freshly dipped connoisseur chocolates and luscious strawberries served with Chantilly cream, A pot of Lindt chocolate.

Massive platter of goodness! The only downside was the icecream (think it was vanilla bean) was melting very quickly =/ maybe they had scooped it out in preparation already?! The waffles were deliciously crunchy - too bad they're not Belgium waffles =P The brownie was super crazily chocolatey with some nuts inside - if we didn't have such a big platter to eat I think we would have enjoyed it more - or if they gave us another scoop of icecream to go with it! The coupon said we would get a salted caramel and a Hazelnut delice but we got passionfruit and cookies and cream (I think?) instead which were still very good but I would have preferred salted caramel instead - they shouldn't promise us flavours if they weren't gonna give them to us! Lindt macarons are definitely one of the best around - crunchy outsides with the soft airy meringue inside and the delicious ganache between <3 By this stage we were fully chocolated out so couldn't enjoy the connoisseur chocolates as much - one had caramel insides and the other one was all chocolate haha =/

Swirls of Lindt’s finest flowing milk or dark chocolate are combined with freshly frothed milk and topped with a chocolate shard for the ultimate Lindt hot chocolate experience (value $14)

What a cool hot chocolate experience! First I poured in the frothed milk

Then went some chocolate - super smooth and silky

Tryout out my chocolate art? What a fail haha =P

Tada! =) This was one of the best hot chocolates I've had - I like how you get to make it yourself =) We took the Lindor's home 'cause we were seriously chocolated out - didn't think that was possible for me haha

Food~
6/10 - If not for the voucher I'd recommend sharing this platter between 3 people, 'cause we felt quite sick of chocolate by the end of it! Or just come for the hot chocolate and the delice <3

Service~
1/5 - took ages to get our tables cleared and cleaned, but I guess they can't help being so busy!

Atmosphere~
2/5 - very loud and and busy on this Sunday afternoon

C.
xo

Dukes of Waffles

Dukes of Waffles
B46, Shop 10, 744 Bourke St, Docklands
(Ph) 9602 4838

Found a coupon on LivingSocial - $10 for 2 Dessert Waffles. How could I say no to waffles? =P Had read some so-so reviews about this place saying they weren't open when they were meant to and running out of waffles etc etc - we decided to try our luck on a Sunday morning. Whee they had waffles for us =)

We sat outside under the warm sun waiting for our waffles while the owner, an Asian man, came and asked us for our voucher code.

We got the 2 most expensive waffles =P P got the Strawberry Sensation

Looks pretty good aye? The waffles were a bit disappointing though - they were quite soft and lacked the crunchiness you'd expect of waffles =( P's strawberries weren't that sweet - you'd think they would be though given it's summer time!

I got the Apple & Cinnamon

Mine was better than P's but the waffles were still quite soft - how could they be soft if they came straight from the waffle iron?! My apple and cinnamon mix was quite delicious though.

Food~
4/10 - what a disappointment soft waffles =( Maybe they need to leave them in the waffle iron for longer or slightly change the batter recipe but waffles need to have a crunch! I guess for $5 each not too bad.

Service~
3/5 - waitress were quite polite and food came quite promptly

Atmosphere~
3/5 - quite nice sitting under the sun =)

C.
xo

Gelare

Gelare

Level 2 (next to Village Cinemas)

Westfield Doncaster Shopping Center

(Ph) 9840 0006

Entertainment had a buy-1-waffle-get-1-free voucher and we wanted some dessert on this afternoon while we were at Doncaster so ventured up to the top floor. It's a cafe in the sorta open area like the other restaurants on this floor.

The waffles were quite expensive - regular for $5.20, large for $8.00 The display picture was of the full circle of waffle so we thought that was the "regular" - wouldn't you normally advertise for the regular size?! But as we found out when our waffles came it was the large on display =/ Toppings were extra on top of that - ice-cream 1st scoop $3.50, 2nd scoop $2.80 We decided to be sneaky and get one with 2 scoops and the other without any icecream.

The "regular" waffle was so small! This is seriously like a "small" =( And it was quite soft after being drenched by the maple syrup - how hard is it to make crunchy waffles?!

We got a scoop of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and a Honey Malt Crunch. We saw the waiter was about to walk out with our waffles and then went back and scooped one of the scoops off the waffle and replace it with another scoop - they must have given us the wrong flavour or something. By the time it came to our table the icecream had started to melt already =/ I wonder what they did with that scoop of icecream =P

Food~
4/10 - quite disappointing, if I'm paying this much money I expect good quality waffles and non-melting icecream! Would definitely go to Max Brenner for waffles instead!

Service~
1/5 - pretty poor given they nearly gave us the wrong order and the icecream was melting...

Atmosphere~
3/5 - was quite nice sitting by the window though

C.
xo

Patterns Cafe

Patterns Cafe

254 Swanston St, Melbourne

(Ph) 9650 8868

A new cafe opened up on Swanston Street, which happens so frequently that it doesn't surprise/interest me usually but there was a poster on the window saying they sell Hong Kong Style Egg Waffle! <3 My favourite! And there was an opening special - $3.90 down from $5. Still quite expensive (usually only HKD$10 which is AUD$1.20 =P) but I've never seen it sold in Australia before so had to come try it out!

Bonus, on this day they were handing out 20% off vouchers =) It's a small cafe with some tables at the back and a bar area with high stools too. I wondered why they would call this cafe "Patterns Cafe" but then realised they were priding themselves on the patterns on their coffee. We didn't try any 'cause it was such a hot afternoon but looking at other people's it just looks like normal leaf etc coffee art - how does it compare to Manchester Press?! Oh and they need some help with their English/grammar - lots of spelling mistakes and random typos on their menu =/

We were really thirsty so P got a Watermelon with herb jelly $5.50

I cringed at the sound of this - watermelon with herbal jelly?! I don't like grass jelly normally though P thought he would like it as he normally likes pearls and other jelly in his bubble teas, but thought it was very slimy and didn't go well with the watermelon juice =/

I got the Taro Ice Blended $3.90

Forgot to tell them I didn't want cream =( Delicious love taro <3 P who usually doesn't like taro really enjoyed this =) even though this doesn't taste like real taro (is it like some taro syrup or something?) and doesn't look the colour either (bright purple? =P) it's a good substitute and definitely quenched my thirst =)

P wanted something savoury so he got Fried Calamarine (spell check?) $5 - we figured they meant calamari =P

Was quite good though there was only $5 pieces - $1 per piece? Very crunchy and not overly battered.

Last came the highlight, the reason we came into the cafe - the Hong Kong Style Egg Waffle!

It wasn't as good as the ones in Hong Kong =( The batter was quite crispy so the edge bits were good, but the inside was filled with cakey batter. It's meant to be slightly hollow inside so when you bite into it it's mainly crunch, but it was more like little balls of cake =( They didn't have the batter consistency quite right but I guess it was better than nothing given I haven't had it in a while!

Food~
5/10 - egg waffle was slightly disappointing, maybe next time I'll try their macaroons and cakes in their dessert cabinet =)

Atmosphere~
3/5 - small cosy cafe

Service~
3/5 - not bad for an Asian eatery, but it is new so you'd expect that =P

C.
xo

Monga Sweet Cafe

Monga Sweet Cafe

Level 1, 217 Russel St, Melbourne

(Ph) 9654 4885

After the greasiness and spiciness of Crazy Wings, we wanted some sweet refreshing drink to wash it all down. Walked past Monga Sweet Cafe and decided to try it out =) I had heard about it in Boxhill, and how it serves genuine Asian, especially Hong Kong, desserts and Tea Cafe foods. There are actually quite a few Asian dessert places popping up in the CBD, like Dessert Story (2 stores in the CBD now!).

You go up the stairs to the cafe, the first floor looks like a typical modern cafe, with some sofas for you to relax on as well. Unfortunately the first floor was full on this night, so they asked us to go upstairs. There's a sign saying "1970s Hong Kong Style Venue Upstairs" and wow! It really feels like you're transformed back to olden day Hong Kong! It's quite dark there, with many square tables of 4, looks kinda like a mahjong den =P

And there was a genuine Bus Stop sign right next to our table!

You can come here and play games (cards, chess etc) - but you do have to rent it. And there's a room with dart machines in it too! Though that doesn't feel very Honky lol =P

We were going to go for a set - drink + pineapple bun, but then E wanted to try the following 2 desserts so we decided to not get a drink and just go for the 2 desserts =P

First was the Deep Fried Sweet Potato w/ Golden Syrup $4.50

We weren't going to go for something deep fried after the greasy chicken wings, but we're both suckers for sweet potato =P surprisingly wasn't too greasy and was very crunchy, though there was more batter than sweet potato lol. If only they were a bit more generous with the golden syrup =P

My favourite Honky dessert - Hawker's Waffles  (Peanut butter & condensed milk) $7.00

Doesn't look as appealing with the waffle drenched in peanut butter and condensed milk but the taste is what matters more! deliciousness <3 Crunchy waffles with a watered down peanut butter and condensed milk mixture - whoever thought of this mixture is a genius =)

This is the original one from the most famous place in Hong Kong <3

LOVE <3

Food~

7/10 - quite good, definitely feel like I've been transported back to Hong Kong =) whenever I feel slightly homesick will definitely come here! Wanna try some of the other savoury Tea Cafe foods too =)

Service~

4/5 - since we were one of the only 2 tables upstairs, the single waiter (I actually think he was the manager as he was in a suit!) was very prompt with our orders and bringing us water and everything =)

Atmosphere~

3/5 - bit too dark for my liking but love the Honky decor!

Will definitely be back =)

C.
xo

Waffle On

Waffle On

Shop 9, Degraves St, Melbourne

(Ph) 0401 408168

I've always <3 LOVED <3 Belgium waffles, always get waffles at Max Brenner's and I even bought a waffle iron and pearl sugar and make my own waffles, though they're not as tasty =( I was taking my friends around Melbourne and was having a waffle craving. We came to Degraves Street on Sunday and *shock horror* Waffle On is closed on Sundays! =O We didn't feel like Max Brenner's so we just came back later in the week to fulfill my craving - w00t! It's called Waffle on here but they do some good baguettes here too. There are no tables here, it's pretty much takeaway for all, but there is a bar table at the side, normally with 3 stools but the stools weren't here on this day =O

You can get a plain waffle or get toppings with it. Since we were gonna eat at the bar table, I decided to go for the Mikado - waffle with icecream and chocolate sauce $6.50

I don't think the waffles are made on the spot for you as you can see a pile of premade waffles in the kitchen, but I'm pretty sure they're made on the day as they still taste fresh. Crunchy on the outside, doughy inside with little bits of pearl sugar. Delicious with some icecream =) I could really have waffles everyday haha =D

P wanted something savoury so he got a baguette. Le Fermier - chicken, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato $9

Such a simple baguette but so delicious - the bread is so fresh and crispy that it hurts the roof of your mouth after eating it for a while =P Lots of mayo just how I like it =) If I had room I would have so had a baguette too... and another waffle haha =P

Food~
7.5/10 - one of the best takeaway places ever =D <3 waffles!

Atmosphere~
3/5 - the owner(s?) talk French to each other so it's got a very genuine feel, only downside is where are the stools on this morning?!

Service~
there isn't much of service here as it's pretty much takeaway =P

Definitely give it a try if you haven't before!

C.
xo