Beans & Bagels

Beans & Bagels

121 Johnston St, Fitzroy

(Ph) 9417 0006

Bagels with E! =) Entertainment book had a voucher for this place so thought we'd check it out. We were going to walk there but it was pouring so no exercise for the day =P

We both wanted the Salmon Benedict - poached eggs, smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce on a bagel from the dine in only menu, which the waiter said came with a coffee. On the menu it said it was ~$13 and didn't say anything about a coffee, maybe because we were using the voucher we had to get a coffee too? Then he said the voucher was only up to $10 value o_Oa so in the end we paid ~$17 even though it was meant to be buy-1-get-1-free hmm..

My Chai Latte was pretty good though I'm not a pro coffee drinker =)

Yum! Looked delicious =) They didn't ask us what flavour bagel we wanted so we both got plain not that I would have minded. One of my poached eggs was perfectly soft yolk but the other one was overdone and wasn't runny enough =(

This was the good egg =)

Would have been nicer if they were more generous with the hollandaise sauce but overall was a very tasty dish. Bagel was quite dense so was difficult to cut but all bagels are like that so can't complain there.

Food~

5/10 - pretty good benedict, though all the breakfast dishes were the typical, would be nice if they had something special/unique like at Manchester Press with more choices.

Service~

3/5 - food came quite promptly

Atmosphere~

3/5 - quite a nice chilled cafe on Johnston Street =)

C.

xo

Vegie Bar

Vegie Bar

380 Brunswick St, Fitzroy

(Ph) 9417 6935

I had been to Vegie Bar back at uni and remember it to be quite a memorable experience despite being meatless. It's a very popular restaurant which doesn't take bookings. Surprisingly we managed to get a table on this Saturday night without too long a wait =)

It was February already but they still have a big Santa figurine hanging from the ceiling? =P

It's a very big warehouse with 2 rooms downstairs and an upstairs area. The walls are full of posters of bands/performances etc and lots of plants on the tables - a very hipster atmosphere. They have mainly communal tables in the main room but smaller individual tables in the second room which was where we were seated =)

Their menu is very international with Asian dishes, Mexican, Italian etc etc. They have specials written on the whiteboard on the wall. P went for the Faux Meat Lovers - minced seitan, crispy facon, mock chicken, jalapenos, topped with mozzarella & BBQ sauce - small $10.50, large $12.50

Of course he would go for the most meat-like dish of the restaurant =P This was surprisingly very tasty! I'm used to faux meat before (had it multiple times in Hong Kong) but P was truly intrigued! The facon really tasted like bacon, though the seitan (supposed to be fake duck) wasn't as real - it's all made from tofu or wheat etc. So clever =) Crust was very crispy - for $12.50 this was well worth it!

I went for the Mexican Burrito - tortilla bread with refried kidney beans, spinach, onion & mushroom, served with rice, topped with melted cheese, chilli, sour cream & guacamole $14.50

Wow what a big serving! The burrito was filled with very delicious flavours, topped with some salsa, cheese and some orange chilli sauce which wasn't too spicy. Loved how there's a side of corn chips and guacamole as well - nachos and burrito in one! It also came with a bed of rice which really was not necessary - the dish was so filling without the rice!

We also got a side of Chips - traditional straight-cut chips served with tomato sauce $4.50

Crispy thick cut chips - no complaint here at all =)

Food~
7/10 - even for P who normally can't have a meal without meat actually enjoyed his dish very much =) would love to come back to try some of their other dishes!

Service~
2/5 - it was quite busy on this Saturday night so kinda expected the service to be a bit slow but not too bad

Atmosphere~
3/5 - very hip atmosphere =)

C.
xo

Alimentari

Alimentari

251 Brunswick St, Fitzroy

(Ph) 9416 2001

Fitzroy! The cafe central area =) W suggested Alimentari for lunch - a deli but also a cafe.

Behind the front counter are lots of delicatessen foods and sandwiches and other premade meals like lasagne etc, and above it hangs strands of garlic and other things. The cafe has 3 rooms with a few large wooden communal tables and some stools to sit against the window.

On the weekends they do breakfast all day long so of course I would go for breakfast =) I went for Poached eggs, hash brown, hollandaise, bacon, spinach $16

Hash browns are homemade and super crunchy! Eggs were poached beautifully with slightly runny yolk =)

P got Corn cakes, avocado salsa, bacon, poached egg $15

The corn cakes were not as crunchy as we would have liked but the inside was quite fluffy =) Slightly sweet so even though the bacon was a bit too salty it went well together. Too bad they only gave ONE poached egg?!

Food~
7/10 - breakfast food was quite good! Would love to come back and try the lunch menu next time =)

Service~
4/5 - very friendly waiters here

Atmosphere~
3/5 - a very cosy deli/cafe, W sat here for a few hours studying and they

C.
xo

De Clieu

De Clieu

187 Gertrude St, Fitzroy

(Ph) 9416 4661

☆☆☆

Brunch again! <3 We decided to venture slightly outside the CBD this time - De Clieu was given ☆☆☆ by Cheap Eats Guide and 3 coffee cups by Good Cafe Guide. The chef actually used to work at Giant Steps/Innocent Bystander which we only recently visited =) We recognized one of the waiters also works at Seven Seeds, I guess they are the same group so they share workers and waiters? =P

Gabriel De Clieu managed to bring a single coffee plant from Paris all the way to the Carribean Seas, sharing his own water rations with the plant, and started the French Caribbean coffee plantations there. It was because of his dedication to coffee that the Seven Seeds group decided to name their new cafe after him =)

So of course J and I had to order a coffee each, even though we're not super fans =P I got a Chai Latte with soy, which is really cheating 'cause it's not really coffee, but yum! <3

And J got a Cappuccino - smooooth =)

The menu is full of so many interesting choices! I decided to go for the Sweet roasted Berkshire pork neck with fried free-range egg, spring onion roti & barbeque sauce $16.5

Wasn't sure what to expect but it had fully exceeded my expectations! A new take on bacon and eggs with toast - modern Australian indeed =) The pork neck was so soft, tender and juicy. The roti was crunchy yet slightly chewy, non-oily and just delicious with the sweet barbeque sauce =)

J got the W. A. King Brown mushrooms on white sourdough toast with scrambled eggs & white truffle oil $17.0

Big fat juicy mushrooms! <3 The scrambled eggs were very smooth and the toast was good, but the hero was definitely the mushrooms =) J likes her mushrooms hehe ^^

Food~
8/10 - definitely recommend the pork neck, delicious indeed! =) wanna come back and try some of their other very interesting sounding dishes too!

Atmosphere~
4/5 - quite a small cafe compared to Seven Seeds but very comfortable sitting against the window with the sun on our backs =)

Service~
3/5 - it was quite busy on this weekday so they were a bit short on waiter staff but we didn't mind sitting at the communal tables chatting~

Definitely a recommendation!

C.
xo

St Jude's Cellars

St Jude's Cellars

391 Brunswick St, Fitzroy

(Ph) 9419 7411

We were meant to come to Babka Bakery Cafe for lunch with a friend, but when we got there, we found out they were closed for 2 weeks for Christmas/New Years =( how annoying! I didn't bring any Entertainment vouchers (for example for Vegie Bar) so we decided to just walk around and see what looked good. We came across St Jude's Cellars - looked quite nice from the outside and P and I both thought we had heard it was a good place before (?)

We went in and asked for a table for 3 - the waiter made us wait a few minutes before seating us, even though the restaurant was quite empty =/ Most of the chairs are high chairs here - looks kinda cool but not very comfortable sitting on them for a while.

Looks like any other typical old-warehouse-turned-cafe place =P Very Melbournian =)

Fake flowers on our large communal table - not that there was anyone else at our table.

P wanted the Baked eggs with stewed tomatoes, chorizo, cumin, smoked pecorino and toast $11.50 but they had run out for the day! it was 2pm but it was meant to be all day brunch! I wonder what they could have run out of... eggs?! toast?!

He decided to get Chargrilled calamari with chickpeas, coriander, chorizo and seasonal citrus $17.50

This was an utter disappointment - look how empty the dish is?! And the calamaris was SUPER burnt - was so bitter it was horrible. The "seasonal citrus" was mainly blood orange - bitter again =/ There was like 2 pieces of chorizo - how stingy! This dish was so small and so unpleasant it was difficult to eat - but we were quite hungry so somehow stuffed it all down =/ I was just reading other blogs and apparently someone else had tried the calamari and said it was quite tasty?! though theirs didn't look as burnt but still =S Just shows can't really trust what other bloggers say =P

I got the St Jude's cheeseburger on brioche with cheddar, mustard, pickle and shoestring fries $16.50

 

This was better than P's dish, but the burger was so small and the pile of fries look a bit sad. The burger was quite tasty - melted cheese on toasted brioche though the patty was quite small. Fries were the only decent part of the meal lol.

Food~

2/10 - calamari was terrible, cheeseburger was alright but quite small =/

Atmosphere~

2/5 - quite a nice restaurant though the stools get a bit uncomfotable after a while.

Service~

2/5 - took a while seating us down, but the waiters were quite apologetic telling us they ran out of the Baked Eggs.

C.
xo

Old Kingdom

Old Kingdom

197 Smith St, Fitzroy

(Ph) 9417 2438

I had been to Old Kingdom since ~5 years ago, P loves Peking duck and found this place after much research online, and since then, have been coming here a couple of times.

Pretty much everyone who comes here comes for their Peking duck. $55 for a duck, served 3 ways - Peking duck, stir fry duck meat with bean sprouts, and duck and tofu soup.

Came here with some college friends - 6 of us, 3 girls and 3 guys - we couldn't decide whether to order 2 or 3 ducks, but decided to be more lavish and order 3 ducks (partly 'cause another guy was going to come but decided not to eat). You have to order how many ducks you want prior so they can prepare the numbers for the night - though we've never tried to just rock up at the restaurant. They do 2 sittings here - 6pm or 8pm. We booked for 6pm but knew we had to be kicked out by 8pm lol

P and I came late, we sat down and told them they could serve the food. The manager? (or a guy who was behind the counter and took our bill etc) came out with a Peking duck after only 5 minutes - we were hungry so we were happy =D He cut the duck in front of us, seemed like such a pro but I guess you would be after doing it so many times every day =P He asked us if we knew how to eat Peking duck, we said yes so he didn't bother explaining to us how, though it's pretty self-explanatory =P

Tada! A beautiful plate of Peking duck skin with bits of meat stuck on it =) He cut us the duck leg and wings as well - lots of meat on the leg! =D

A plate of very thin pancakes - the thinner the better but not easily ripped =P

A pancake, a piece of cucumber (normally with a spring onion as well - but I'm not a fan so I didn't put one in), some Peking duck sauce (kinda like a mix between plum sauce and hoisin sauce) all wrapped in the thin pancake - deliciousness! We finished one plate of duck, then they brought out another plate, all cut up already (finished performing in front of us so not necessary anymore =P) and another one. I probably had about 10 pancakes all together? I actually lost count but I was quite full from the Peking duck already. Plus one duck leg with it's delicious meat =)

Next came the second course of duck - stir fry duck meat with bean sprouts. The waiter separated it into 6 equal bowls of stir fry - should have given more to the boys but P said he was too full to have any of mine anyway =P

Our vegetables for the night lol - lots of tasty duck meat =) The boys said it was a bit too salty to eat by itself without rice, but we were so full definitely could not fit any rice in! I of course don't mind, I never eat rice anyway so I didn't find it salty but was full of flavour =)

Seriously could not fit anymore in, but the third course, the duck soup came last.

Duck broth with tofu and vegetables - a tad too much pepper but I quite like that. Cleanse the palate after all the duck oiliness - ended the meal very nicely =)

After we finished one large bowl of soup, the manager came and said we can ask for more soup if we want, so we did =P Except the duck bones piled up so there was only 80% of the liquid from the first bowl =P We finished the second bowl and asked the same waiter for another serving =P By the end of the third serving, the bowl was 50% filled with duck bones lol =P

Food~
Peking duck - 10/10 - definitely thumbs up! That's what we come here for =)
Stir fry duck with bean sprouts - 7/10 - a tad too salty to eat by itself but I didn't mind it
Duck broth - 8/10 - very nice way to end the meal, cleanse the palate =P

Atmosphere~
2/5 - very typical Chinese restaurant feel, and very squishy between the tables - lucky we weren't upstairs or it's even more of a squish there! I guess it's a very authentic Chinese feel =P

Service~
3/5 - the waiters were very prompt with serving up the food and clearing our plates =P Probably 'cause they wanted to kick us out by 8pm =P

We were all clutching our stomachs afterwards - definitely worth it and definitely will be coming back!

C.
xo

Tango Charlie

Tango Charlie

353 Smith St, Fitzroy

(Ph) 9078 3510

I had bought a voucher off Living Social a while ago for this place - $19 for 2 breakfasts and 2 drinks. Sounded like a pretty good deal =) A few months had passed and I read reviews of this cafe - people saying the food was bad and cold, and service was crap, so I was a bit disappointed and didn't have high expectations. Still, we had to use the voucher.

It was raining on this Sunday morning so the street was really empty and we were the only customers here. Which means we should have really good service (and we did!) =) We sat down at the couch tables, P was gonna sit on the wooden chair opposite the couch but I said the cafe was so empty anyway might as well sit on the couch with me =)

We were served by a very nice waitress who took our orders promptly. She was the only waiter there, with another man at the bar area making our drinks - P got an English breakfast tea (surprise surprise lol =P) and I got an orange juice.

Looks pretty good aye, until we saw this =P

Haha, P said the tea didn't have much taste =P

My orange juice was definitely not freshly squeezed and most likely from a homebrand bottle from the supermarkets too =P

Our food came really quickly! Definitely not the "waited one hour for a cold meal" that other people were saying. P got the Big Breakfast - eggs poached, fried or scrambled, bacon, mushrooms, hash brown, tomato, toast, chorizo and spinach normally $15.00

Big Breakfast

Was pretty good overall =) Though P said the eggs could have been fried a touch longer to more crunchiness and the bread was a bit hard - like old bread maybe? The chorizo wasn't hot at all which we didn't mind at all =P Could have been a bit more generous with the butter =P

I got the "Hangover Cure" - three hash browns, bacon, tomato, mushrooms, eggs poached, fried or scrambled and hollandaise normally $13.00

"Hangover Cure"

Yay lots of hash browns! If only there was avocado and spinach in it as well =P The poached eggs were good, still super runny inside and the soft egg white. I don't like it when the egg white tastes vinegary which I know is how some places poach their eggs - they weren't here =) The mushrooms were a bit sad though - was kinda a mush =P Lucky I love mushrooms of all sorts so I didn't mind =P The hollandaise sauce made some of the hash browns soft which was a bit annoying but there was enough hash browns to go around so was alright =)

Food~
Big Breakfast - 7/10 - P really liked it, the only downside was the homebrand bread =P

Hangover Cure - 7.5/10 - this was good =) nothing was really bad, just wish there was some greens in it!

Service~
4/5 - service was good here! the waitress was very attentive and polite, and food came out very quickly =)

Atmosphere~
4/5 - it was really nice sitting there on the couch (there were wooden chairs at other tables which looked really hard =/). With no one next to us, P and I could have a nice conversation without eavesdropping on others while the rain poured down outside =)

Definitely was a lot better than we expected and got our money's worth!

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