tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7131646885228675722024-03-14T02:17:38.631+11:00Yellow EggsThe search for the best places for the most important meal of the day... and random little things in betweenMikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.comBlogger298125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-80826217527276561452014-11-30T19:48:00.000+11:002014-11-30T19:48:57.668+11:00East Elevation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>351 Lygon St, Brunswick East Vic 3057</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Date visited: 22nd November 2014</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">East Elevation. The cafe shares the same building and business with chocolate factory Monsieur Truffle - what a most excellent idea. I've been enticed by amazing photos of their food and drinks of Instagram and have put East Elevation on my must visit list, but the final straw was when I saw this <a href="http://evelovelle.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/east-elevation.html" target="_blank">post</a> on Evelovelle's blog. Grrr. Need to go now!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The cafe is easily accessibly by tram. Like many other Melbourne cafes, the only clue that a cafe lies within this dull grey building is a nondescript entrance, in this case it's bright red door. Enter into a open airy warehouse space, with a big chocolate machine in view. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just some photos of the sweet treats and <b style="color: #783f04;">chocolate</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was packed when we got there, so service was a bit slow. We got our menus and had our drink orders taken, but there was a little lull before our drinks arrived and the waiter returned to take our food orders. No matter - we sat at the window seats overlooking Lygon Street and there is nothing better than having a coffee and watching the world go by :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">East Elevation is famous for their chocolate drinks, but I'm addicted to caffeine, so I as much I wanted to try it, I couldn't get past my usual coffee. So I got my default <b>Cappuccino</b>. Their coffees are from Padre - Daddy's girl which is a Columbian/Indian blend. This was what it promised, sweet and chocolatey. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cappuccino $4</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan had the <b>Iced chocolate</b>. Surprisingly the iced chocolate itself wasn't overly sweet - nice mixed in with the ice cream and chocolate shards.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Iced chocolate $5.50</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had their signature dish, the <b>Croque Monsieur</b>. This was a disgustingly good version of the classic! Mouth watering just writing this up. The thick coating of cheese on the slices of sourdough looked as though they melted and bubbled up to that beautiful golden brown colour. The corners were the best bits, with their chary, crispy crunch. Inside was free-range ham, more Swiss gruyere, mustard, béchamel and braised leek. The salad on the side was nice and refreshing to cut through all that richness. It got a bit salty halfway through but that was okay, as we did swapsies!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Croque Monsieur $19</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As always, MerlinFan the sweet tooth got the sweet dessert, the <b>Ricotta and rose stuffed crepes</b>.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ricotta and rose stuffed crepes $17.50</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The crepes were nice and thin, with ricotta enveloped inside. There was only a mere hint of rose - would have liked that to be a bit stronger. Surprisingly this wasn't as sweet as it looked, with a generous heap of fresh blueberries, strawberries, saffron-lemon syrup and crunchy hazelnut praline.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We both enjoyed our lunch here at East Elevation - mental note to myself that I need to come back and try the hot chocolate!</span><br />
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<a allow_ssl="true" class="image" href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1607000/restaurant/Melbourne/Brunswick/East-Elevation-Brunswick-East" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0144a7; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="East Elevation on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1607000/biglink.gif" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 146px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1607000/restaurant/Melbourne/Brunswick/East-Elevation-Brunswick-East"><img alt="East Elevation on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1607000/biglink.gif" style="border:none;width:200px;height:146px" /></a></span>MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-86941735792831237452014-11-30T18:09:00.002+11:002014-12-02T23:07:19.180+11:00Mr Hendricks Cafe<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">469 Whitehorse Rd, Balwyn 3103</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Date visited: 9th November 2014</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mr Hendricks is a relatively new Melbourne cafe, located out along the shopping strip of Whitehorse Road in Balwyn. Parking was easy on the road, and we took it as a good sign already that there were quite a number of people waiting outside although we came for a semi-late lunch. Don't you just love all day brunch!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After not too long a wait, we were shown inside. Staff were friendly and pleasant, and our food and orders didn't take too long to arrive. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Their coffees are from Padre, in their Mr Hendricks House Blend. MerlinFan had her <b>Latte </b>and I had my <b>Cappuccino</b>. Both were smooth and nutty - my cappuccino could have been just a tad stronger but I'm nitpicking.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan had the <b>Buttermilk fried chicken bap</b>. Delicious buttermilk fried chicken sitting atop a bed of cabbage and carrot salad, topped with picked cucumber and siracha mayonnaise. It was faultless - MerlinFan really liked it. She also got </span><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rosemary</b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> fries to go with it. Whereas MerlinFan found the rosemary too overpowering for her, I liked it, so I was happy to finish it off for her. And I swear the chips tasted better and better the more you dug into the bottom of that mound of crispy fried goodness!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Buttermilk fried chicken bap $15, Rosemary fries $3.50</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I knew what I was going to order before I even came. Yes, it was their signature <b>Crispy Eggs</b>. This dish was simply amazing. The eggs were soft boiled on the inside and covered by a shell of deep fried panko breadcrumbs. Cut into it and out gushed a golden flood of yolk - perfection. The sweet potato puree gave it another burst of creamy sweetness, which just brought it to the next level. Served with chunks of smoky, tender ham hock, crunchy sourdough slices, and a superfluously generous mountain of fennel, radish, red anion and candied walnuts, you've really got yourself a splendid breakfast. One of the best I've had all year.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crispy eggs $19</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Overall, I'm very impressed with Mr Hendricks Cafe - the food was superb and I only wish it were closer to the CBD so I could visit more often! Highly recommended.</span><br />
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<a allow_ssl="true" class="image" href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1819094/restaurant/Melbourne/Mr-Hendricks-Cafe-Balwyn" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0144a7; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Mr Hendricks Cafe on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1819094/biglink.gif" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 146px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1819094/restaurant/Melbourne/Mr-Hendricks-Cafe-Balwyn"><img alt="Mr Hendricks Cafe on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1819094/biglink.gif" style="border:none;width:200px;height:146px" /></a></span>MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-49850966416449121122014-11-30T17:13:00.002+11:002014-11-30T17:26:26.643+11:00Candied Bakery<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>81a Hudsons Rd, Spotswood 3015</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Date visited: 8th November 2014</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our food adventure of the day was not yet through! Because it was such a stinkin' hot day, and we were already in Footscray, we decided to make the short drive down to Spotswood, to none other than Candied Bakery, another spot that I've always wanted to visit. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was quiet when we got there mid afternoon. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Look at their indulgent array of goodies. Doughnuts, brownies, cakes, pastries, tarts, cookies, pies... my kinda heaven!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Too hot for a regular coffee, but perfect for a <b>Cold drip</b>. This one was a Brazilian, syrupy and almost liquor-like with notes of fruitiness. Lovely.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We also tried the </span><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Soft serve</b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. Candied Bakery has an always changing array of flavours, and today's was raspberry cheesecake. This was just absolutely divine! Smooth, creamy soft serve interspersed with chunks of semi-frozen tangy raspberry cheesecake with a slight chew. T</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">his was seriously one of the best soft serves I've had. Sooo good.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lastly, we also bought a slice of the <b>Key lime pie </b>for later. The combination of the salty sweet biscuity shell and tangy lime centre was perfection. Loved this too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Everything we sampled at Candied Bakery was outstanding, and can't wait to go back and try more of their delectable goodies!</span></div>
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MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-41363440728117025892014-11-30T16:37:00.002+11:002014-11-30T19:50:16.298+11:008bit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>8 Droop St, Footscray Melbourne 3011</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Date visited: 8th November 2014</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally! Am horribly backlogged with entries for a few weeks ago. Third and final exam done and dusted, I'm now ready to catch up with the good ol' food adventures.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've had my eye on 8bit for quite some time now. We were craving burgers yet again, so MerlinFan and I made a trip down to Footscray one scorching hot Saturday for some chow. Driving there was such a mistake, because there was no free parking in sight! Being cheapos, we circled around for a little while before realising that the parking fee was actually pretty affordable. Our bad.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8bit has beef and chicken burgers, a mushroom burger, hotdogs and beer battered fries with <i>toppings</i>. How good does that sound? Their milkshakes (salted caramel, peanut butter, strawberry cheesecake and chocolate bar shake anyone?) sounded amazing too, but it was ridiculously hot, so we were more in a soft drink mood.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were greeted by 80s video games inspired decor and memorabilia as we made our orders at the counter. Cute. We got a couple of seats at the counter over looking the kitchen. Staff were friendly and efficient, seemed to be having a good time. Our food came out in no time. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We just had to try the <b>Chilli cheese fries</b>, which were beer battered fries, chilli beef, cheese sauce, jalapeños and spring onions. As nice as it looked, the wet toppings rendered the fries soggy far too quickly. In truth, the fries may have already been that way to begin with - even the ones that weren't covered in sauce lacked any sort of crispness. The chilli beef and jalapeños also didn't pack a spicy punch at all. A bit disappointed.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chilli cheese fries $7.50</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We both went for the <b>8bit with cheese</b>. I added bacon for $1. The burger was nicely wrapped and perched in a cute cardboard box, ready to be lifted out, its wrapper peeled back for convenient eating. Nice. I liked how the bun held its shape and didn't fall apart even toward the end, and how the cheese was just melted upon the beef. The patty itself had good flavour, however was really thin in comparison to the bun and seemed lost amongst the tomato, lettuce, red onion, cheese, pickles, and heaps of mustard and 8bit sauce. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Burger joints have stiff competition when it comes to Melbourne. 8bit has shown that it can stand its own - personally, their burger ticked all the right boxes flavour-wise, but would have been great instead of good had the patty been just a tad bit thicker. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><a allow_ssl="true" class="image" href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1824056/restaurant/Melbourne/8bit-Footscray" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0144a7; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="8bit. on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1824056/biglink.gif" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 146px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1824056/restaurant/Melbourne/8bit-Footscray"><img alt="8bit. on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1824056/biglink.gif" style="border:none;width:200px;height:146px" /></a></span></div>
MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-63190123274155186742014-11-03T17:29:00.000+11:002014-11-03T18:27:53.284+11:00Shortstop Coffee and Donuts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>12 Sutherland St, Melbourne 3000</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Date visited: 3rd November 2014</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monday blues. Only I have none of that today, because my fantastic employers let me do a shift swap to get my Monday off due to Melbourne Cup holiday tomorrow, knowing that I live in Melbourne and work almost three hours away. So, hooray for a long weekend for me!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had no partner in crime today, but that was okay, I was prepared to do my own solo brekkie. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, I've stalked Shortstop Coffee & Donuts for months, checking regularly when they would open, only to discover that they only opened on weekdays, which meant I couldn't visit as I was only back in Melbourne on the weekends. Torturous, no? But, since I was free today, I knew exactly where I was heading for my coffee and breakfast. MerlinFan had her course so she couldn't come, but she didn't approve anyway... "donuts are not breakfast" she said prissily, but I beg to differ. Anyway, if I go too late they might be sold out!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was just after 9am, so there were no other customers and I had a good pick of goodies from the glass display cabinet. </span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uVG5T5Fvlts/VFcjyJ7VazI/AAAAAAAALEI/CIuYHBUa1gA/s1600/shortstop%2Bint.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uVG5T5Fvlts/VFcjyJ7VazI/AAAAAAAALEI/CIuYHBUa1gA/s1600/shortstop%2Bint.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, Shortstop really is like a hole in the wall donut stop (albeit a very cute one) and there were only two small tables and some seats along the wall, so I was glad I was there early and got a table to myself. I happily settled with my Market Lane coffee, which was smooth and faultless.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you're wondering, no, I did not eat all three donuts in the photo below!!! I got a civilised <i>one</i>, with two more donuts for later (to share with MerlinFan, of course). I just wanted to take a photo of them before they potentially got mushed on the way home.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I chose the </span><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Peanut butter and jam</b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> donut to have this morning. I bit into the fluffiest, pillowy soft doughnut coated with rich, chunky peanut butter icing. God knows I love anything peanut butter, and I get disappointed sometimes when peanut butter flavoured things are too thin or not creamy enough. This was certainly not the case! The icing was like eating chunky peanut butter from the jar (I used to eat it on the spoon as a kid!) - fantastic. There was also a generous amount of tangy jam crammed into a small doughnut. Messy, but finger lickin' good.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peanut butter and jam $5</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I really wanted to try their Cruller but they didn't have any at the time. Anyway, the other two I got for home were the <b>Red Velvet </b>and <b>Earl Grey</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The <b>Red Velvet</b> was a 'cake donut' which was denser than the fluffy filled donut. It was filled with cream cheese icing and dipped in a dark chocolate glaze which made it not overly sweet. Pretty good, but I can't get over my eternal love for red velvet cupcakes.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ps-pYJ_m_C4/VFbapbg7V4I/AAAAAAAALDk/ihoe0WVr2MA/s1600/Shortstop%2Bredvelvet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ps-pYJ_m_C4/VFbapbg7V4I/AAAAAAAALDk/ihoe0WVr2MA/s1600/Shortstop%2Bredvelvet.jpg" height="640" width="458" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red velvet $4.50</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last but not least was the <b>Earl Grey and Rose</b>. To be honest, I don't even drink Earl Grey because I find it too flowery and the bergamot too overpowering for a tea, but I couldn't resist this pretty donut dotted with rose petals. And you know what? It was divine. This dough too was denser and cake-like, fragrant with Earl Grey tea and then injected with lemon myrtle. The donut is then dipped into a rose water and rose petal icing - I love rose water and this was inspired. Such a delicate and beautiful balance of flavour.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AC2A7Ds8d4A/VFckGBk8GCI/AAAAAAAALEQ/GL0joR4rZAo/s1600/shortstop_earlgrey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AC2A7Ds8d4A/VFckGBk8GCI/AAAAAAAALEQ/GL0joR4rZAo/s1600/shortstop_earlgrey.jpg" height="640" width="610" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Earl grey and rose $4.50</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been waiting for ages to try Shortstop Donuts and I have to say they certainly lived up to expectations! I can see why they are sold out by lunchtime - awesome donuts and coffee. Definitely will be back to try their other goodies - now, if only they also opened on weekends... would love to be able to get my donut fix then too.</span><br />
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<a allow_ssl="true" class="image" href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1829227/restaurant/CBD/Shortstop-Coffee-Donuts-Melbourne" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0144a7; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Shortstop Coffee & Donuts on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1829227/biglink.gif" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 146px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1829227/restaurant/CBD/Shortstop-Coffee-Donuts-Melbourne"><img alt="Shortstop Coffee &amp; Donuts on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1829227/biglink.gif" style="border:none;width:200px;height:146px" /></a></span>MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-60572385810971983782014-11-03T15:11:00.000+11:002014-11-03T15:11:16.424+11:00Ascot Food Store<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c28FhA6LMG4/VFbTBFoKOOI/AAAAAAAALB0/2mbeuRSxdTQ/s1600/Ascotfoodstore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c28FhA6LMG4/VFbTBFoKOOI/AAAAAAAALB0/2mbeuRSxdTQ/s1600/Ascotfoodstore.jpg" height="406" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>320 Ascot Vale Rd, Moonee Ponds Vic 3039</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Date visited: 2nd November 2014</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our trip up to Ascot Food Store was kind of a spur of the moment - we were looking up a spot to brunch, when I remembered some photos I'd seen online and on Instagram of the fun syringe-stabbed doughnuts. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a chilly, dastardy Sunday, but that was okay, we figured hot coffee and brunch would hit the spot. I made the drive up to Moonee Ponds, and we got parking fairly easily in one of the neighbourhood streets. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The joint is pretty unassuming, looking rather dated and almost retro from the outside, but the interior was very much your hipster Melbourne cafe. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When we entered the warm interior of the cafe, we were offered a table straight away, and we thought great, how opportune. Until we sat down and people departed, opening the front door. Argh, the cold arctic winds! Brrr! Then again, it was better than being stuck outside in the frigid wind, but still! It was borderline stifling one moment and I'd want to remove my jacket, then someone would open the door and I'd be blasted by cold air again. If only people would close the damn door! At least there was a diligent waiter who kept going to close to door every few minutes - maybe it was his job for the day (poor guy) but it was much appreciated!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The menu is awfully impressive, with offerings that range from Coconut sago pudding to 62 degree eggs, soft shell crab burgers and ramen. Their coffees are from Proud Mary, and they also offer Mork hot chocolate, juices, milkshakes and an array of teas. Awesome.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had coffees to start off with. MerlinFan had a <b>Latte</b>, which she liked as it had a sweet, candy-like scent. I had a <b>Cappuccino </b>which was all right - a bit weak for my liking.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cFTaPeWH8uU/VFbYr4PzIqI/AAAAAAAALCc/aNchFzIMKlQ/s1600/Ascotfoodstore%2Bcoffee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cFTaPeWH8uU/VFbYr4PzIqI/AAAAAAAALCc/aNchFzIMKlQ/s1600/Ascotfoodstore%2Bcoffee.jpg" height="640" width="444" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I loved the potted plants by the window sill, and the little test tubes used to hold salt and pepper. How adorable is that!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Latte</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KSp9aYFIah4/VFbYuVyhDwI/AAAAAAAALCk/q91LPGOOTKw/s1600/Ascotfoodstore%2Bcappuccino.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KSp9aYFIah4/VFbYuVyhDwI/AAAAAAAALCk/q91LPGOOTKw/s1600/Ascotfoodstore%2Bcappuccino.jpg" height="640" width="468" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cappuccino</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had intended to get some form of breakfast fare, but changed my mind the moment I saw the <b>Gippsland beef grass fed fillet, shaved fennel parsley salad, tomato jam </b>on the menu. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OM_KbbFRXuw/VFbTEe1-7aI/AAAAAAAALB8/aH7qngY6LPA/s1600/Ascotfoodstore_fillet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OM_KbbFRXuw/VFbTEe1-7aI/AAAAAAAALB8/aH7qngY6LPA/s1600/Ascotfoodstore_fillet.jpg" height="640" width="518" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gippsland beef grass fed fillet $20</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Such vibrant colours! Admittedly, when I saw the eye fillet, I was a bit wary as it was my least favourite cut of beef. Not because it may be too rare in the middle, but because the opposite - sometimes the edges get overdone and dry. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fear not, this fillet was perfect. Nicely pink and succulent in the middle, but still tender all around. Lovely sauce and tomato jam, however the dressing of the shaved fennel parsley salad was reminiscent of Strepsils, so I left that aside. Not that it mattered, because we also got a side of <b>French fries</b>. Crunchy, salty shoestrings. Yum.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sHV2qBtV7BE/VFbTFfyrUlI/AAAAAAAALCE/nG9uDI9a5o8/s1600/Ascotfoodstore_chips.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sHV2qBtV7BE/VFbTFfyrUlI/AAAAAAAALCE/nG9uDI9a5o8/s1600/Ascotfoodstore_chips.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">French fries $5.50</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had food envy when I saw MerlinFan's dish. She chose wisely, going for the </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Duck egg, toasted brioche, shitake mushrooms, parsley butter and shaved pecorino</b>.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ocnnB79nDag/VFbTHLe9lGI/AAAAAAAALCM/e8MLfnawP0Q/s1600/Ascotfoodstore_duckegg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ocnnB79nDag/VFbTHLe9lGI/AAAAAAAALCM/e8MLfnawP0Q/s1600/Ascotfoodstore_duckegg.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Duck egg brioche $17.50</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Such love and art put into this beautiful presentation. The perfect duck egg sat atop a bed of shitake mushrooms and a thick, indulgently buttery toasted brioche. It was then finished off with a generous sprinkling of shaved pecorino and a few greens. Smashing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was tempted to have dessert, but MerlinFan had enough of the unpleasant blasts of cold air from the front door left ajar. We decided to get some goodies for the road.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There were a few doughnuts left in the box on the countertop, rather comically (considering Halloween just come and gone) with "used" syringes tossed on the side >:D On offer were the raspberry jam, chocolate and lemon meringue doughnuts.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HBHtobsILag/VFbuqOCJ81I/AAAAAAAALD4/WRPvBMIOwLw/s1600/Ascot%2Bdoughnuts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HBHtobsILag/VFbuqOCJ81I/AAAAAAAALD4/WRPvBMIOwLw/s1600/Ascot%2Bdoughnuts.jpg" height="546" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The girl did warn us that the doughnuts were a bit squashed. That was an understatement, for the meringue on our lemon meringue doughnut was an unsalvageable mush on the box cover and disappointingly, she had also removed the syringe for the raspberry doughnut which also removed the novelty of "injecting" our own doughnut. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes I don't know why cafes don't get boxes that actually can fit their takeaway goods? We eat with our eyes first and that kinds of defeats the purpose, if you know what I mean. So obviously no pictures of the hot mess.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The doughnuts itself were nicely crunchy on the outside, the dough just slightly savoury. Without the novelty factor, I suppose they were just another doughnut, so if you're going, you might want to have them there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Arctic winds and squashed doughnuts aside, I did enjoy our meal and do still want to try a few other dishes on their very impressive menu. Service and staff were efficient - I would like to return - on a warm day, of course. </span><br />
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<a allow_ssl="true" class="image" href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1855215/restaurant/Melbourne/Ascot-Food-Store-Moonee-Ponds" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0144a7; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Ascot Food Store on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1855215/biglink.gif" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 146px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1855215/restaurant/Melbourne/Ascot-Food-Store-Moonee-Ponds"><img alt="Ascot Food Store on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1855215/biglink.gif" style="border:none;width:200px;height:146px" /></a></span>MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-64751643709958043442014-11-03T13:53:00.002+11:002014-11-03T13:53:37.322+11:00Ribs and Burgers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-koLY8Zxd5O0/VFbO4SARw2I/AAAAAAAALAk/1IN55XuR-CY/s1600/ribsandburgers%2Bribs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-koLY8Zxd5O0/VFbO4SARw2I/AAAAAAAALAk/1IN55XuR-CY/s1600/ribsandburgers%2Bribs.jpg" height="408" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Shop 1/ 862 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn, Vic 3122</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Date visited: 1st November 2014</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hate Jamie Oliver! No, not really - but I keep watching his shows and his amazing burgers make my stomach growl and crave burgers right after dinner. Evil, I know. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan and I were in Hawthorn today, so we made plans to pop by to Ribs & Burgers for an early lunch. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was still pretty quiet when we arrived. We perused the menu at the front counter, then ordered and headed inside, where the staff said we could sit wherever we wanted. The interior was very cosy, with shiny wooden floors, bar stools and booth seats which I love.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were also given our own bucket of condiments and cutlery.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our food didn't take long at all to arrive. We decided to get ribs and a burger to share. MerlinFan chose the <b>Cheese burger</b>.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DDYKWO2ZYvs/VFbPBZlXXlI/AAAAAAAALBE/vOiueKOaAA0/s1600/ribsandburgers%2Bcheese%2Bburger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DDYKWO2ZYvs/VFbPBZlXXlI/AAAAAAAALBE/vOiueKOaAA0/s1600/ribsandburgers%2Bcheese%2Bburger.jpg" height="466" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cheese burger $12</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We split the burger in half. Look at the juicy pink patty. Now you're laughin'.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The beef mince patty was grilled and basted, topped off with iceberg lettuce, tomato, Spanish onion, dill pickles and their pink and BBQ sauce. You could choose Swiss or American cheese - we opted for the latter. The sesame seed bun soaked up the juices nicely too without becoming too soggy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next up was the <b>Pork ribs</b>. </span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bvaI-ozgCwY/VFbRXLL0_nI/AAAAAAAALBg/8lGpz-YqMMw/s1600/ribsandburgers%2Bporkribs2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bvaI-ozgCwY/VFbRXLL0_nI/AAAAAAAALBg/8lGpz-YqMMw/s1600/ribsandburgers%2Bporkribs2.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now you could choose from chips or cabbage salad - are you kidding me, of course we were having chips. The ribs were marinated and slow cooked for eight hours, grilled and caramelised with their secret basting. They were juicy and full of flavour, easily peeled off the bone. And those crunchy chips - they were awesome!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />A nice spot for a quick, fuss-free meal for carnivores. </span><br />
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<a allow_ssl="true" class="image" href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1838202/restaurant/Melbourne/Ribs-Burgers-Hawthorn" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0144a7; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Ribs & Burgers on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1838202/biglink.gif" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 146px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1838202/restaurant/Melbourne/Ribs-Burgers-Hawthorn"><img alt="Ribs &amp; Burgers on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1838202/biglink.gif" style="border:none;width:200px;height:146px" /></a></span>MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-22582695928802262562014-10-28T23:50:00.000+11:002014-10-28T23:51:57.058+11:00Jones the Grocer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gy6Q2c1FkNk/VE9ud-wVxeI/AAAAAAAAK_Q/Hxi7q0aZFaI/s1600/DSC08537b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gy6Q2c1FkNk/VE9ud-wVxeI/AAAAAAAAK_Q/Hxi7q0aZFaI/s1600/DSC08537b.jpg" height="372" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Shop 8 Lvl 3, Emporium Melbourne, 287 Lonsdale St, Melbourne</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Date visited: 12th October 2014</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan and I headed down to Emporium once again, this time to try Jones the Grocer. Jones is just what it claims to be - a grocer selling gourmet food, only with its own in-store cafe. We were glancing at the menu at the counter when a friendly waitress offered us menus and then showed us to a table when we were ready.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Near ceiling height shelves of goods</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was pretty quiet on a Sunday post noon, and food didn't take too long to arrive. I had the </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Twice cooked pork belly, caramel apple, prune puree, pickle fennel and walnut salad</b>. The star of the dish, the pork belly was tender and moist and the skin was crispy, although I would have liked it saltier - and by that, I mean insanely salty. Not the healthiest, but that's just the way I like my crackle. And let's face it, if you ordered pork belly, chances are you weren't after a healthy meal in the first place.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NXrTEnT5FuY/VE9uZ7XGXLI/AAAAAAAAK_I/1_M7AYsyb94/s1600/jones%2Bpork.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NXrTEnT5FuY/VE9uZ7XGXLI/AAAAAAAAK_I/1_M7AYsyb94/s1600/jones%2Bpork.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pork belly $24</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan had the <b>Tempura battered barramundi, rustic chips, miso tartare and lemon</b>. We both agreed the fish was juicy and nicely cooked, with light, crisp tempura batter that just fell away. Chips were good but we couldn't detect much miso in the tartare.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eHZdzD_QKB8/VE9vPVhU9GI/AAAAAAAAK_Y/JU1O2HjLhDY/s1600/jones%2Bfish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eHZdzD_QKB8/VE9vPVhU9GI/AAAAAAAAK_Y/JU1O2HjLhDY/s1600/jones%2Bfish.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tempura fish and chips $19</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had their <b>Bolivian filter coffee</b>, which had a medium acidity and peachy, fruity tones.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E8TmboDX4vI/VE9ve66auZI/AAAAAAAAK_g/JHui9q4EtGk/s1600/DSC08554b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E8TmboDX4vI/VE9ve66auZI/AAAAAAAAK_g/JHui9q4EtGk/s1600/DSC08554b.jpg" height="640" width="428" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Filter coffee $5</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Overall, meals were pretty good, although not mind-blowingly so, and slightly on the pricey side for the size. Service was very friendly and attentive the entire time we were there. I enjoyed my coffee and would love to return to try their selection of desserts and cakes.</span><br />
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<a allow_ssl="true" class="image" href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1880328/restaurant/CBD/Jones-the-Grocer-Melbourne" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0144a7; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Jones the Grocer on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1880328/biglink.gif" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 146px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1880328/restaurant/CBD/Jones-the-Grocer-Melbourne"><img alt="Jones the Grocer on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1880328/biglink.gif" style="border:none;width:200px;height:146px" /></a></span>MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-69218997295103055082014-10-28T23:49:00.000+11:002014-10-28T23:55:39.129+11:00Beatrix<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--NphLmdhwIM/VE-K3llveOI/AAAAAAAAK_w/aMPBKb0xgnI/s1600/beatrix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--NphLmdhwIM/VE-K3llveOI/AAAAAAAAK_w/aMPBKb0xgnI/s1600/beatrix.jpg" height="406" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>688 Queensberry St, North Melbourne</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Date visited: 11th October 2014</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Geez! So out of date with my posts. Have been busy on study break for exams and hadn't had time to blog, so this post is two weeks overdue. Will make it snappy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan and I popped by into Beatrix for some take home goodies after yet another brunch at Twenty and Six Espresso only a block down. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Everything was crammed into a minute space containing several tables and a counter and glass display chock full of cakes, tarts and cookies. The girl that served us was friendly and enthusiastic.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZJHE_auFzYM/VE-MAOKGxRI/AAAAAAAALAM/Gbtm_MN4pYM/s1600/beatrix1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZJHE_auFzYM/VE-MAOKGxRI/AAAAAAAALAM/Gbtm_MN4pYM/s1600/beatrix1.jpg" height="640" width="548" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan and I love our <b>Red velvet</b>, so of course we were going to get a slice of that vibrant red cake. My only peeve was that the only two pre-sliced portions left were uneven, with a huge and a small one. Even before I ordered I knew who was going to get the small one. Sigh - me (in case you didn't realise). The cake itself was moist and fluffy, the cream cheese frosting light - altogether yummy but MerlinFan and I agreed it just doesn't beat our beloved red velvet cupcake! </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red velvet</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our second pick was the <b>Strawberry cheesecake</b>. It looked beautiful in the display. I liked the texture of this rich, creamy cheesecake and the strawberry layer, however it was laced with a strong spice that I didn't particularly enjoy. I like my classics traditional, and the spice was a tad overpowering, which distracted and detracted from the lovely cheesy, tangy flavour of the cheesecake. That's just me, someone else might absolutely love it.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CES3rya3vSk/VE-K-AoUArI/AAAAAAAAK_4/7PsuaY3U5Ds/s1600/beatrix_cheesecake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CES3rya3vSk/VE-K-AoUArI/AAAAAAAAK_4/7PsuaY3U5Ds/s1600/beatrix_cheesecake.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Strawberry cheesecake</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Overall, Beatrix offers pretty cakes in good sizes (<i>bigger</i> sizes if you're lucky). Dining room is limited, so best bought as take away.</span><br />
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<a allow_ssl="true" class="image" href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1584175/restaurant/Melbourne/Beatrix-North-Melbourne" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0144a7; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Beatrix on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1584175/biglink.gif" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 146px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1584175/restaurant/Melbourne/Beatrix-North-Melbourne"><img alt="Beatrix on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1584175/biglink.gif" style="border:none;width:200px;height:146px" /></a></span><br />
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MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-50536662374264689632014-10-05T16:01:00.002+11:002014-10-05T21:36:53.250+11:00Stagger Lee's Revisited<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-__uXsND5YYc/VC_lWhxnZWI/AAAAAAAAK9s/UPnD1oiYcRY/s1600/stagger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-__uXsND5YYc/VC_lWhxnZWI/AAAAAAAAK9s/UPnD1oiYcRY/s1600/stagger.jpg" height="376" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>276 Brunswick St, Fitzroy 3065</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Date visited: 4th October 2014</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had intended to revisit Stagger Lee's to try their French toast - only I hadn't foreseen it being this soon. We had wanted to return to Hammer & Thong to try some new items on their menu (changed since we first visited) however when we got there before noon, there was already a hoard outside and we planned to catch a movie in the arvo so were not keen for a long wait. Anyway, we backtracked and walked down to Stagger Lee's instead.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It wasn't completely full and we got seats straight away. Unfortunately, after our waitress brought us water, we were left unattended for probably 10-15 minutes without even menus to look at whilst the staff chatted, socialised, I'm sure you get the picture. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sigh. Usually I'm more tolerant but was already pretty impatient as like I said, we had intended to catch a movie, so I had to ask the waitress for menus. I think she then remembered we were there and took our drink orders too. Bizarre, how she returned a few minutes later with a coffee asking me something incoherent over the blaring music. Turns out she was confused over coffee orders - anyway it wasn't mine and she went asking my neighbours if it was their order. @_@</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan had <b>The Regulate</b>, which was strawberry, apple and coconut juice. She's into juices these days, was pretty refreshing.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Regulate</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had their <b>Magic</b> today. Velvety, silky smooth, went down very easily.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Magic</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan had the <b>Frank 'N' Beans</b>.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wKOq-eQVyns/VC_lhMuwApI/AAAAAAAAK-E/BgGASlWy0zE/s1600/stagger_beans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wKOq-eQVyns/VC_lhMuwApI/AAAAAAAAK-E/BgGASlWy0zE/s1600/stagger_beans.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Look at the yolk ooze. A perfectly poached egg and buttered toast sat upon a mound of saffron baked beans, smoked tender ham hock, chorizo sprinkled with herb and garlic crumb. The bold flavours worked wonderfully together, however the tang and saltiness got a bit overwhelming for MerlinFan toward the end and she had to wave the white flag. Being a salt freak, I was happy to steal some off MerlinFan's plate, but it would have been nice to have two eggs instead of two chorizos to neutralise some of that intense saltiness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Surprise, surprise, I had the <b>French toast with coco pops and salted caramel</b>.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ka630IQh38s/VC_lmi4ApQI/AAAAAAAAK-U/FwedF91joAI/s1600/stagger2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ka630IQh38s/VC_lmi4ApQI/AAAAAAAAK-U/FwedF91joAI/s1600/stagger2.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This sure takes the cake for one of the prettiest French toasts I've laid my eyes on in a while. It tasted every bit (if not, more!) as good as it looked. A slab of thick, fluffy, buttery brioche amongst smears of coco pop cream pat and drizzles of salted caramel. The toast was still eggy in the middle, and the bits which had soaked up that amazing salted caramel were both caramelly and salty - just heavenly! Throw in chunks of honeycomb, coco pops and tangy raspberry crumble, a few purple flowers to add to that vibrancy and you've got yourself a piece of edible art. The vanilla ice cream was the only thing vanilla about this dish, but was perfect to cut through the explosion of flavours on the plate. The delicate portion size was perfect as well, not too rich or sweet to the point that you feel a bit queasy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The food and coffee at Stagger Lee's are definitely worth the trip, and there are believe it or not, <i>still </i>other dishes I really want to try here. Service, could still be improved - was a bit slow too, even the other day when it was less busy. Would still return for the awesome food and coffees, but perhaps on a less busy period because hey, let's be honest, no one likes being left waiting.</span><br />
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<br />MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-90060813162442331342014-10-01T21:34:00.000+10:002014-10-02T22:48:06.229+10:00Admiral Cheng-Ho<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>325 Johnston St, Abbotsford 3067</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Date visited: 29th September 2014</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Admiral Cheng-Ho. I am just tickled by the name of this specialty coffee cafe, named after the the eunuch mariner-explorer during the early Ming Dynasty. It brings me back to the (not so) good ol' days studying history at school. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Admiral Cheng-Ho serves up fair trade teas and single estate coffees and is sister to Monk Bodhi Dharma in Balaclava. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the o</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">utside, it looks like a darkened, old antique furniture store - I would have never guessed it housed a kooky roastery. The interior was tiny and there were a few single tables and a larger communal table. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Admiral Cheng-Ho takes its coffees very seriously. No wonder, they have six grinders, filter coffees, as well as house range teas and organic milk chai lattes and hot chocolate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The coffees smelt so amazing in the making. AS had a <b>Latte</b>, no complaints here!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was lured by their filter coffees - they offer brews from El Salvador, Panama and Ethiopia, starting from $8 to a whopping $25 per cup. I decided upon the <b>Ethiopia - Nekisse Ruby N2</b> for $15, which was described as limited liquid gold with notes of blueberries and passionfruit. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My brew came in a large glass - it appeared so mysterious and magical, the steam swirling up innocuously. I even made a video of it on <a href="http://instagram.com/p/te6956q9Qq/?modal=true" target="_blank">Instagram</a> - hey, sometimes we need some cheap thrills!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was seriously one of the best filter coffees I've ever had. It was just stunning - full of complex flavours, vibrant, with notes of berries. Sigh. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Admiral Cheng-Ho offers a short all day vegetarian breakfast menu, so please don't expect a plate of bacon and eggs. Vegan and gluten-free options are also available.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our food took a little while to arrive. AS saw someone with a sandwich and decided she wanted to have one as well. I didn't taste it, but think there was pumpkin, feta, beetroot and avocado inside.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I went for the <b>Umami Mushrooms</b>. Loved the mound of fat, juicy slow roasted king oyster, oyster and swiss brown mushrooms with the sprightly shitake on top. The goats cheese was a bit chalky and crumbly, didn't give the dish a savoury punch that it needed, and the thyme and red chilli oil wasn't really detectable as well. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately, the house made pumpkin, spinach and sun dried tomato polenta bread was also slightly dry and stodgy, and there just wasn't enough sauce to pull things together, overall lacked that whack of flavour. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan of course chose the dish that inspired me to come here, the <b>Northside Quinoa Pancakes</b>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was a rather lovely dish. The quinoa mini pancakes were light and fluffy with crisp edges, and had a sweet, coconuty flavour to them. They were served with raw vanilla cream, two slices of candied orange (loved it!), pear and a sprinkling of Lotus Solkiln Geisha (Ninety Plus Estate) coffee soil. The syrupy butterscotch sauce came in an oriental spoon so that you could drench your pancakes to your heart's content.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Overall, I think Admiral Cheng-Ho excels in what it does best - coffee. If you're a dead set meat-lover, you may find yourself a little limited with what's on offer food wise, but it's definitely worth the visit for a most satisfying caffeine fix.</span><br />
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<a allow_ssl="true" class="image" href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1803649/restaurant/Melbourne/Collingwood/Admiral-Cheng-Ho-Abbotsford" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0144a7; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Admiral Cheng-Ho on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1803649/biglink.gif" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 146px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1803649/restaurant/Melbourne/Collingwood/Admiral-Cheng-Ho-Abbotsford"><img alt="Admiral Cheng-Ho on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1803649/biglink.gif" style="border:none;width:200px;height:146px" /></a></span>MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-75499579243993976392014-09-30T20:35:00.000+10:002014-09-30T20:35:08.847+10:00Lt Nic<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>262 Lonsdale St, Melbourne 3000</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Date visited: 30th September 2014</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan and I popped into Lt Nic for an afternoon filter coffee session. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We tried the <b>La Estrella</b>. This was a vibrant and crisp tasting brew, an all round good filter. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The other was the <b>Hunkute</b>, which was an Ethiopian coffee with notes of jasmine, citrus and cinnamon. This was fruitier, brighter and had a crisper mouthfeel.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hunkute $5</td></tr>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G-4c9HAMqJ0/VCjBlrmSFCI/AAAAAAAAK7w/j-Ne7OdLrsk/s1600/Lt%2BNic2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G-4c9HAMqJ0/VCjBlrmSFCI/AAAAAAAAK7w/j-Ne7OdLrsk/s1600/Lt%2BNic2.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Love finding coffee spots in the CBD - would love to pop by again and try their food or even just have a leisurely coffee break.</span><br />
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<a allow_ssl="true" class="image" href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1824373/restaurant/CBD/Lt-Nic-Melbourne" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0144a7; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Lt. Nic on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1824373/biglink.gif" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 146px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 200px;" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1824373/restaurant/CBD/Lt-Nic-Melbourne"><img alt="Lt. Nic on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1824373/biglink.gif" style="border:none;width:200px;height:146px" /></a></span></div>
MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-33268716327869069782014-09-30T19:57:00.000+10:002014-10-05T22:37:45.372+11:00Raw Trader<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-me8zktCptdk/VCjFWo60iEI/AAAAAAAAK8U/m1X2Llxrl8s/s1600/raw%2Btrader1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-me8zktCptdk/VCjFWo60iEI/AAAAAAAAK8U/m1X2Llxrl8s/s1600/raw%2Btrader1.jpg" height="372" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>10 Sutherland St, Melbourne 3000</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Date visited: 27th September 2014</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I stumbled upon Raw Trader when I was looking for a dessert spot in Melbourne to try. Very interestingly, Raw Trader is a cafe specialising in hand made healthy treats that are organic, raw, vegan, vegetarian, paleo, gluten free, dairy free <i>and </i>sugar free! Rightly so, they proclaim to be about the "decadence without the guilt." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan and I wandered over to this little joint to get some sweet treats for dessert later in the day. They offered a range of tempting treats like breakfast chia, bliss balls, slices, cakes/ cheesecakes, mousses, deconstructed tarts, chocolate as well as ice cream and sorbet. Tea, coffee and smoothies are also available.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6O_PcXq5O2w/VCjFadIU50I/AAAAAAAAK8c/WTf0QkFoL0o/s1600/IMG_8526.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6O_PcXq5O2w/VCjFadIU50I/AAAAAAAAK8c/WTf0QkFoL0o/s1600/IMG_8526.JPG" height="640" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan and I settled for the <b>Mint chocolate chip cheesecake </b>and <b>Caramel slice</b>. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, we haven't heard of or tried 'raw' desserts before, so we were very curious.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7aCMcexQI_0/VCjFbUN6Z1I/AAAAAAAAK8k/PTUsbi3e9A0/s1600/raw%2Btrader.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7aCMcexQI_0/VCjFbUN6Z1I/AAAAAAAAK8k/PTUsbi3e9A0/s1600/raw%2Btrader.jpg" height="418" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The mint came through the cheesecake, with little speckles of chocolate, but overall lacked sweetness (may have been the sugar free part). The cheesecake was like a hybrid of mousse and a no-bake cheesecake that you refrigerate overnight. The base texturally was slightly coarse, similar to grounded nuts or coconut, not your standard cheesecake biscuit base.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The caramel slice also tasted quite different from your run of the mill caramel slice. This also had that fibre-y texture in the middle, and I'm not sure what they used instead of sugar, but it didn't quite taste like caramel either. T</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">o be honest, I can't say that raw desserts is really my thing. For me it was like a carnivore eating vegetarian food - reminded me of when a family friend had vego food at their wedding made to look like drumsticks/ fish ball </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">but on eating it, you know it's not meat. Anyway, this felt teasingly like it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Love it or hate it - it's great that Raw Trader caters for people with food intolerances and those seeking decadence without the guilt. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whilst the idea is unique and definitely interesting, it all comes down to personal tastes. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm all for the decadence, only I am also more than happy to bear the guilt.</span><br />
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<a allow_ssl="true" class="image" href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1868261/restaurant/CBD/Raw-Trader-Melbourne" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0144a7; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Raw Trader on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1868261/biglink.gif" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 146px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1868261/restaurant/CBD/Raw-Trader-Melbourne"><img alt="Raw Trader on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1868261/biglink.gif" style="border:none;width:200px;height:146px" /></a></span>MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-62856233767951851682014-09-21T21:05:00.000+10:002014-10-05T16:03:13.021+11:00Stagger Lee's<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U3856m3wceg/VB6EzGZXFLI/AAAAAAAAK30/wYpne3ftLzU/s1600/staggerlee1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U3856m3wceg/VB6EzGZXFLI/AAAAAAAAK30/wYpne3ftLzU/s1600/staggerlee1.jpg" height="396" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>276 Brunswick St, Fitzroy 3065</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Date visited: 21st September 2014</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Typical Melbourne - always a new cafe popping up somewhere - not that I mind, that makes brunching out on the weekends exciting, never dull. This one, from the owners of Proud Mary, is curiously named Stagger Lee's, after a pimp who shot his cell mate for stealing his hat. Gee, must have been a <i>really </i>nice hat. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, finally! After weeks of saying we have to visit Stagger Lee's, MerlinFan and I finally made it there. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was just after 1pm, and the cafe wasn't full, which I was very pleased about. Unsurprisingly, we managed to snag seats straight away, which is always nice.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A5xwGkOybC8/VB6E1LhEhuI/AAAAAAAAK38/24Vq3eFIKSY/s1600/staggerlee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A5xwGkOybC8/VB6E1LhEhuI/AAAAAAAAK38/24Vq3eFIKSY/s1600/staggerlee.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I went with my default <b>Cappuccino</b>. Beautiful coffee art, great coffee as expected.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UA5gSxyVrUU/VB6E8l1b0HI/AAAAAAAAK4c/H2cTISlznA8/s1600/staggerleecoffee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UA5gSxyVrUU/VB6E8l1b0HI/AAAAAAAAK4c/H2cTISlznA8/s1600/staggerleecoffee.jpg" height="640" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cappuccino $3.80</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan felt like a juice, so she had the <b>Nice pear juice</b>. This was a mixture of apple, pear and tangy lime with the lingering aftertaste of mint. Very nice and refreshing.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Juice, nice pear $7.50</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan can never resist ordering a burger if there's one on the menu (never mind that we just had Grill'd the day before yesterday!) so she had the <b>Stack & Billy Burger</b>.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MyTX1JKPAV4/VB6E6bca-jI/AAAAAAAAK4I/z6ubCRr9S5g/s1600/staggerlee_burger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MyTX1JKPAV4/VB6E6bca-jI/AAAAAAAAK4I/z6ubCRr9S5g/s1600/staggerlee_burger.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stack & Billy Burger $16.50</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This burger had a thick Black Angus Shin patty that was still juicy and nicely pink in the middle, topped off with cheddar, bacon, American mustard, catsup, aioli and pickles. MerlinFan said it reminded her of a Big Mac with bacon. It was nice enough, but admittedly, there are better in Melbourne. The croquettes were delicious though, fully of smoky bacon flavour - they outshone the burger, to be honest.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was all set to order the Coco pop and salted caramel French toast (had my name written all over it!!!) but I was starving after spending all morning at a workshop, so I painstakingly changed my mind at the last moment, and went with my second choice, the <b>Shrooms 'N' truffles</b>.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IoFGpBtn9rE/VB6E6ulknXI/AAAAAAAAK4M/esOfzZ13120/s1600/staggerlee_shrooms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IoFGpBtn9rE/VB6E6ulknXI/AAAAAAAAK4M/esOfzZ13120/s1600/staggerlee_shrooms.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shrooms 'n' truffles $17.50</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This dish was everything hearty yet indulgent - earthy pan roasted local pine mushrooms, slivers of salty pecorino pepato and rich, creamy polenta fragrant with the perfume of truffles. Don't forget the gorgeous yellow globe of the confit egg yolk and c</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">rusty, crunchy farmhouse toast</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> on the side. Absolutely delicious.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Argh, still want to try the French toast and their vanilla coconut rice pudding dish which sounds amazing... we were greedily saying we should order a third to share but we were too full. Sometimes I wish I had four stomachs like a cow - definitely need to make a return visit soon!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P.S. Second visit <a href="http://yellowyelloweggs.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/stagger-lees-revisited.html" target="_blank">here</a> - had the amazing French toast and Frank 'N' Beans!</span>
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<a allow_ssl="true" class="image" href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1824278/restaurant/Melbourne/Stagger-Lees-Fitzroy" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0144a7; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Stagger Lee's on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1824278/biglink.gif" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 146px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1824278/restaurant/Melbourne/Stagger-Lees-Fitzroy"><img alt="Stagger Lee&#x27;s on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1824278/biglink.gif" style="border:none;width:200px;height:146px" /></a></span></div>
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MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-66294962620730483112014-09-21T20:05:00.001+10:002014-09-21T20:05:49.432+10:00Operator25 Revisited<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sqGm0u_KJvg/VB6Lwf67_zI/AAAAAAAAK4s/Mc27wzLI0m0/s1600/operator25%2Btop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sqGm0u_KJvg/VB6Lwf67_zI/AAAAAAAAK4s/Mc27wzLI0m0/s1600/operator25%2Btop.jpg" height="382" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">25 Will St, Melbourne 3000</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Date visited: 20th September 2014</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan and I visited Operator25 some time about a year ago, not too long after it opened. It was still pretty quiet then, a huge change from what it was when we revisited yesterday. We arrived at lunchtime on Saturday, and the cafe was almost full. We were still able to get a couple of seats on a communal table straight away, though.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We got the impression that the staff were under the pump. We had our coffee orders taken as soon as we were seated, however, we came to realise halfway through our meal that our coffees were not coming - the waitress had forgotten. Oh well, at least MerlinFan got a chance to change her order from an iced coffee to one of the filter coffees.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OGPp7mGyAs0/VB6L3qJ4gXI/AAAAAAAAK48/jJCfcD4Xk6I/s1600/operator25%2Bcoffee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OGPp7mGyAs0/VB6L3qJ4gXI/AAAAAAAAK48/jJCfcD4Xk6I/s1600/operator25%2Bcoffee.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Filter coffee, Cappuccino</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had a <b>Cappuccino,</b> which was smooth and very easy to drink. MerlinFan's single origin <b>Finca Las Nubes</b> was much more interesting, with tasting notes of honey dew, jammy currants, floral, pecan and dried tropical fruits. We found it light and fruity.</span><div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-emXneMrd-Kw/VB6L5X8G4tI/AAAAAAAAK5E/TT9WHQm2r7s/s1600/operator25%2Bfilter2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-emXneMrd-Kw/VB6L5X8G4tI/AAAAAAAAK5E/TT9WHQm2r7s/s1600/operator25%2Bfilter2.jpg" height="640" width="610" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finca Las Nubes</td></tr>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b5ePxDICTIA/VB6L2PjcriI/AAAAAAAAK40/cEkBpcoQbPs/s1600/operator25%2Bfilter%2Bcoffee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b5ePxDICTIA/VB6L2PjcriI/AAAAAAAAK40/cEkBpcoQbPs/s1600/operator25%2Bfilter%2Bcoffee.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was tossing up between a sweet breakfast or a savoury lunch. Now I rarely order salads when I'm brunching out, but today, I couldn't resist the <b>Duck confit salad with grilled stone fruit, fried duck egg, morcilla, sorel leaves, watercress and balsamic glaze</b>.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZjZZd0nRuVE/VB6L5nzu7SI/AAAAAAAAK5I/IcHGcEg0yhY/s1600/operator25_confit%2Bduck%2Bsalad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZjZZd0nRuVE/VB6L5nzu7SI/AAAAAAAAK5I/IcHGcEg0yhY/s1600/operator25_confit%2Bduck%2Bsalad.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Duck confit salad $18</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Half a grilled nectarine lay buried beneath the nest of greens. The sorel leaves and watercress were punctuated by generous chunks of rich, salty morcilla (blood sausage) and shredded duck that had the consistency almost of pulled pork. The balsamic glaze added that punch that just elevated all the flavours to the next level. Last but not least was this dish's</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> crowning glory, the lone fried duck egg, its yolk still nicely oozy. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was one of the most delicious salads I've had. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan, as usual, couldn't be normal and decided to order a sweet breakfast <i>and </i>sweet potato wedges on the side. WTF, I know.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_wSTDdZpiok/VB6L62-YamI/AAAAAAAAK5U/SrBCJrMB91M/s1600/operator25chips.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_wSTDdZpiok/VB6L62-YamI/AAAAAAAAK5U/SrBCJrMB91M/s1600/operator25chips.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sweet potato wedges $7</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The <b>Sweet potato wedges</b> were as awesome as we remembered - they were melty and sweet on the inside and crispy, crunchy and perfectly salted on the outside. Loved the tangy dipping sauce too - it complemented the wedges so well. If only they gave us a bit more to go with the generous serving size of sweet potatoes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan of course had to order the <b>Cold mango rice pudding, macerated berries, pistachio and cherry foam</b>.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j11J-_j6nrk/VB6L8JWG-fI/AAAAAAAAK5c/gjFKweMF5uY/s1600/operator25_pudding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j11J-_j6nrk/VB6L8JWG-fI/AAAAAAAAK5c/gjFKweMF5uY/s1600/operator25_pudding.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cold mango rice pudding $9</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As pretty as a picture, this was - look at all the colours. It was tangy and refreshing, topped off with a vibrant orange flower. And the cherry foam did not taste like maraschino cherries (which I despise) and that was a plus.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Overall, I'm very pleased to have a nice cafe like Operator25 so close by without the horrible queues and overhyped craze. It was however, a shame that they did forget our coffee orders. Missing orders are quite a rare occurrence for us in our years of brunching in Melbourne, so this did stand out, although they were understandably busy. I would still return for their good food and lovely coffees, perhaps for early lunch when it's less hectic.</span><br />
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<a allow_ssl="true" class="image" href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1747683/restaurant/West-Melbourne/Operator25-Melbourne" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0144a7; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Operator25 on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1747683/biglink.gif" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 146px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-46203194253725866132014-09-13T23:30:00.000+10:002014-09-30T22:19:15.780+10:00Meatmaiden<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R-qcqDPW0mI/VCj2veaww9I/AAAAAAAAK80/o34JKdimo9o/s1600/meatmaiden%2B2nd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R-qcqDPW0mI/VCj2veaww9I/AAAAAAAAK80/o34JKdimo9o/s1600/meatmaiden%2B2nd.jpg" height="356" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>192 Little Collins St, Melbourne 3000</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Date visited: 13th September 2014</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been dying to visit Meatmaiden, sister restaurant to Meatmother ever since I found out they had opened in the basement where Little Hunter was previously situated. Meatmaiden specialises in meats off the grill and the smoker - now, how can we carnivores resist? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The venue is well signposted by boards, arrows and a row of lights leading down a metallic stairwell that make you feel as though you're descending into some mysterious subterranean shelter.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UAZkENclzws/VBQhtH9UGzI/AAAAAAAAK2g/o9n5yyUOWY8/s1600/meatmaiden2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UAZkENclzws/VBQhtH9UGzI/AAAAAAAAK2g/o9n5yyUOWY8/s1600/meatmaiden2.jpg" height="640" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The interior was dark but elegantly beautiful. It was surprisingly quiet when we arrived at noon on a Saturday, and we got our pick of a comfortable, roomy booth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, I reached into my bag and realised with horror that the worst had happened - I had forgotten my camera! Kicking myself and my early onset dementia, I was left to make do with my phone in dim lighting. So, sorry for the grainy photos.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CfqxdoKns00/VBQhypO9pZI/AAAAAAAAK2o/SqMZa1r8Gw8/s1600/IMG_8167.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CfqxdoKns00/VBQhypO9pZI/AAAAAAAAK2o/SqMZa1r8Gw8/s1600/IMG_8167.jpg" height="640" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were presented with complimentary crisps whilst waiting.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BzZQYzz8o0A/VBQ0Wm4FZ9I/AAAAAAAAK3k/QlO01pcbNiY/s1600/chips.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BzZQYzz8o0A/VBQ0Wm4FZ9I/AAAAAAAAK3k/QlO01pcbNiY/s1600/chips.jpg" height="640" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We started off with drinks - I wanted a Maiden Sweet Tea, but they didn't have it today, so we both had <b>Southern Lemonades</b>. Soft version. They were awesomely tangy, and so beautifully presented in these jars then sprinkled with sugar sugar.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vtnK5T9Ap-c/VBQnjqqCC_I/AAAAAAAAK3U/HeTaEf04Gqc/s1600/IMG_8177.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vtnK5T9Ap-c/VBQnjqqCC_I/AAAAAAAAK3U/HeTaEf04Gqc/s1600/IMG_8177.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Southern Lemonade $7</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We ordered three things to try. I should mention the portion serves are quite small, so perfect for ordering a few to share.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan is not a huge steak person (how can we be related, seriously) so she chose the <b>Southern fried chicken ribs with tequila mayo</b>. These ribs were deliciously crunchy - they reminded us of the ribs at <a href="http://yellowyelloweggs.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/rose-garden.html" target="_blank">Rose Garden</a> without the spiciness. I didn't detect tequila in the mayo, but I felt the chicken didn't need it anyway.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MDRw9FkHgXk/VBQh2YxKORI/AAAAAAAAK2w/mbDXXSNIhXs/s1600/meatmaiden%2Bfried%2Bchicken.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MDRw9FkHgXk/VBQh2YxKORI/AAAAAAAAK2w/mbDXXSNIhXs/s1600/meatmaiden%2Bfried%2Bchicken.jpg" height="508" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Southern fried chicken ribs, tequila mayo $14</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The other dish we came for was the <b>Lobster Mac</b>. The macaroni was rich and cheesy with a lovely crispy topping. The icing on top of the cake, the lobster medallion itself was sweet and full of lobstery flavour. Although it looked small, the portion was quite filling even shared between two.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q27Pqt8Bh5w/VBQh3fQhqqI/AAAAAAAAK24/47pfdrzHUXA/s1600/meatmaiden%2Blobstermac.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q27Pqt8Bh5w/VBQh3fQhqqI/AAAAAAAAK24/47pfdrzHUXA/s1600/meatmaiden%2Blobstermac.jpg" height="521" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lobster mac $22</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I've already mentioned, MerlinFan isn't fond of steak (especially ones that are not well done @_@), so she let me make the choice from the smoker/ grill. Such a tough choice - I was torn between the wagyu brisket, beef short rib and the flat iron steak, but in the end, my love for a steaks won over and I decided to go for the <b>O'Connor pasture-fed flat iron steak</b>.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YoU8xCUOvPQ/VBQiLlOUCzI/AAAAAAAAK3A/7GkRl9U8W-g/s1600/Meat%2Bmaiden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YoU8xCUOvPQ/VBQiLlOUCzI/AAAAAAAAK3A/7GkRl9U8W-g/s1600/Meat%2Bmaiden.jpg" height="387" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">O'Connor pasture-fed flat iron steak 220g $22</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was fantastic. The 220g of flat iron steak came out perfectly medium rare, just like how we requested - really, I think it's a crime to have it any more done than that. The meat was tender, juicy, buttery and very flavoursome. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan was too full for dessert (although secretly I suspected it was because she wanted to pig out at the movies after this) so we made a rare decision to pass on dessert. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All the dishes we sampled today were excellent, which is rare for any first visit. Great food, friendly and efficient service - Meatmaiden, you have me won over. Will definitely return to try the beef brisket and the ribs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>Second Visit</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Date revisited: 27th September 2014</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were back again only two weeks later so I couldn't be bothered making a revisit post, just a short add on. My OCD tendencies made sure I had my camera in tow this time, however I realised it didn't make a <i>huge </i>difference, lighting was shocking anyway ;P</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We went for the <b>Mash & rye gravy. </b></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've never been a fan of watery, overly smooth mash that is more liquid than solid. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now <i>this </i>is my ideal mash. It was creamy but still had that fluffy yet dense potato texture. Perfectly seasoned and topped off with delicious rye gravy, this was everything a great mash is supposed to be for me.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IwDzDIMWW4k/VCj3yAbw2cI/AAAAAAAAK9A/MqNRkFY-BNU/s1600/meatmaiden%2Bmash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IwDzDIMWW4k/VCj3yAbw2cI/AAAAAAAAK9A/MqNRkFY-BNU/s1600/meatmaiden%2Bmash.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mash & rye gravy $8</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The other thing we came back to try was the <b>Gippsland beef short rib</b>. Unfortunately, this fell a little bit short compared to the flat iron steak we had at our last visit, as well as the brisket, which I will talk about shortly. Most of the ribs were overcooked and really chewy around the edges, which was a disappointment.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tRvaPhaJ2D0/VCj3ydlTEUI/AAAAAAAAK9I/MpvZK3ofKEc/s1600/Meatmaiden%2Bribs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tRvaPhaJ2D0/VCj3ydlTEUI/AAAAAAAAK9I/MpvZK3ofKEc/s1600/Meatmaiden%2Bribs.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gippsland beef short rib $25</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last but not least, we had the <b>20-hour Rangers Valley wagyu brisket with native Tassie pepper berry rub.</b></span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bsWoG0CFPq8/VCj3xsBiryI/AAAAAAAAK88/HqOzYl6Vv7k/s1600/meatmaiden%2Bbrisket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bsWoG0CFPq8/VCj3xsBiryI/AAAAAAAAK88/HqOzYl6Vv7k/s1600/meatmaiden%2Bbrisket.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">20-hour Rangers Valley wagyu brisket $10 per 100g</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OMG. I would have to say this was our favourite between the ribs, flat iron steak and brisket. Beautifully smoky, push apart tender (no knife needed), the fatty corners bursting with robust meaty flavours. Just awesome - a highly recommended must try. Even though we were disappointed with the beef ribs, Meatmaiden totally redeemed themselves with the perfect mash and drool worthy brisket.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan and I already have a few favourites at Meatmaiden - no doubt we'll be back again!</span><br />
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<a allow_ssl="true" class="image" href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1879671/restaurant/CBD/Meatmaiden-Melbourne" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0144a7; font-family: Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Meatmaiden on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1879671/biglink.gif" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: 146px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1879671/restaurant/CBD/Meatmaiden-Melbourne"><img alt="Meatmaiden on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1879671/biglink.gif" style="border:none;width:200px;height:146px" /></a></span><br />
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MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-7819586182802080002014-09-13T20:30:00.000+10:002014-09-14T10:01:13.557+10:00Miss Marple's Tearooms<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F3ZQI5wWLvY/VBQYeDV40vI/AAAAAAAAK1k/w4sRVyT9q0U/s1600/MissMarples.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F3ZQI5wWLvY/VBQYeDV40vI/AAAAAAAAK1k/w4sRVyT9q0U/s1600/MissMarples.jpg" height="402" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>382 Mount Dandenong Tourist Road, Sassafras VIC 3787</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Date visited: 6th September 2014</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">AS, MerlinFan and I made another drive up to the Dandenong Ranges again to visit the Rhododendron Gardens. We stopped in Sassafras for lunch, and of course, the beautiful English cottage of Miss Marple's Tearooms caught our attention at once. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were told upon entering it how long the wait time would be - reasonable, so we sat and waited with many others, admiring the beautiful shelves of jams and rows of teapots (of different shapes and designs!). We ended up waiting longer than the anticipated time, but oh well. If we can wait 45 minutes for brunch in Melbourne, half an hour here wouldn't kill us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan and I were rather taken by the interior of the tearoom. It was very reminiscent of the houses we visited on our trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon several years ago, opened the floodgates to nostalgia and good times. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We got coffees each - AS had a <b>Skinny Latte</b>, MerlinFan had an <b>Iced Coffee</b> and I had a <b>Flat White</b>. No coffee art :( I got a bit of a start when I sipped my coffee - this was the hottest coffee I've had in a long time, burnt my tongue. Other than that, it was fairly unremarkable.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Iced coffee, Latte, Flat white</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">AS had one of Miss Marple's famous fingers - she chose the <b>Fresh chicken, cheese & asparagus fingers</b>. This was okay, however, slices of chicken would have been preferable over the rather monotonous texture here that was more of minced - almost ground - chicken.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HPZ3KdrMakU/VBQXyqjRVYI/AAAAAAAAK1U/Xkg8Q2164i0/s1600/MM_chickentoast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HPZ3KdrMakU/VBQXyqjRVYI/AAAAAAAAK1U/Xkg8Q2164i0/s1600/MM_chickentoast.jpg" height="428" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fresh chicken, cheese & asparagus fingers $14.50</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan chose the <b>Welsh Rarebit Fingers</b>. MerlinFan felt this was a pretty ordinary rendition of cheese on toast, really. Neither of us detected any of the eggs, Guinness, mustard or spices that was meant to have gone into this dish - I <i>do </i>love my cheese and toast, so we ended up exchanging dishes. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Welsh rarebit fingers $13.50</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My choice was the <b>Cottage pie</b> - there was an option of chicken or beef and I opted for the latter. The tomato based beef filling was topped off with mashed potato. Although hearty, I personally felt this was overall under seasoned, however MerlinFan likes anything with potato so she was happy to take mine instead.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were lured by the temptation of desserts that were going out to each table, so we chose two to share. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our first choice was <b>Mr Stringer's sticky toffee pudding</b>, served with pouring cream. I would have to say dessert fared much better than our mains. The pudding was warm, moist and rich, topped off with sticky toffee, cream and a sliced strawberry. Yum.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mr Stringer's sticky toffee pudding $14</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course we couldn't say no to the traditional <b>Trifle</b>. The serving was massive! Layers of jelly, soaked sponge, custard and topped off with cream, nuts and strawberries. We enjoyed this, although the deep sundae glass made it rather inconvenient (and messy) to try and get the jelly right at the bottom.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trifle $14</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mrs Marple's Tearoom is obviously a popular spot in Sassafras that has quite a touristy feel with its attractive old English theme. Portion sizes are large, food is pricey but honestly, rather underwhelming. Did enjoy the desserts more, and our visit was still pretty fun just for the experience.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><a allow_ssl="true" class="image" href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1439038/restaurant/Melbourne/Miss-Marples-Tearoom-Sassafras" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0144a7; font-family: Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Miss Marple's Tearoom on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1439038/biglink.gif" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: 146px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-30905029825199717432014-08-31T22:42:00.000+10:002014-08-31T22:56:34.145+10:00Waffee Waffles + Coffee Emporium Revisited<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l1HECG_JVG8/VAMC4SVbsFI/AAAAAAAAKb4/W7w4iLbqIWM/s1600/waffee%2Bchicken.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l1HECG_JVG8/VAMC4SVbsFI/AAAAAAAAKb4/W7w4iLbqIWM/s1600/waffee%2Bchicken.jpg" height="410" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>LG Emporium, 287 Lonsdale St Melbourne</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Date visited: 31st August 2014</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We're back! I had a craving for something sweet for brunch, not to mention been thinking of those Liege waffles we had at Waffee a few weeks ago. MerlinFan was keen on trying one of the savoury waffles, so that was how we ended up back at Waffee for round two.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan had a <b>Mocha</b>, which had a nice balance of chocolate and coffee. I remember the first time I came I had the cappuccino, which was a bit milky, so I decided to forgo my usual and try their take on the <b>Magic</b> a.k.a double ristretto topped up with steamed milk. It was velvety smooth, with a nice lingering finish. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mocha $4.50, Magic $3.90</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We decided to go for one sweet and one savoury and do swapsies halfway. MerlinFan chose the <b>Buttermilk Fried Chicken</b>. Two </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">chicken tenders covered with a deliciously crispy, crunchy batter sat atop a hearty helping of creamy ranch-styled slaw. The fluffy savoury waffle had deep grid pockets - perfect for pouring on the maple syrup >:D</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-66Py9pgKW80/VAMCyXdMkvI/AAAAAAAAKbo/GsrNYu7f3Jw/s1600/waffeewaffles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-66Py9pgKW80/VAMCyXdMkvI/AAAAAAAAKbo/GsrNYu7f3Jw/s1600/waffeewaffles.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Buttermilk Fried Chicken $17.50</td></tr>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lOIZznLXpWQ/VAMC6fkGu2I/AAAAAAAAKcA/gZkTIwpvZOY/s1600/waffee%2Bbuttermilk2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lOIZznLXpWQ/VAMC6fkGu2I/AAAAAAAAKcA/gZkTIwpvZOY/s1600/waffee%2Bbuttermilk2.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I chose the <b>Chocolate Galore</b>, which again was two Liege waffles with a scattering of balsamic glazed berries and two scoops of indulgent chocolate ice cream. I was glad the rich chocolate sauce came on the side, because I liked savouring the delicious waffles on their own. Again, loved the dense, buttery sweet waffles with their glistening crunchy coating.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chocolate Galore $15.50</td></tr>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xDJdj3pHoGs/VAMC7-_PKOI/AAAAAAAAKcI/Ll6o1g0W0xg/s1600/waffee%2Bchocolate%2Bgalore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xDJdj3pHoGs/VAMC7-_PKOI/AAAAAAAAKcI/Ll6o1g0W0xg/s1600/waffee%2Bchocolate%2Bgalore.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Delicious, indulgent sweet as well as savoury waffles. I enjoyed their Magic a lot, so might have this again next time around. Staff were also super friendly and enthusiastic. I'm sure we'll be back - after all, I can resist everything but temptation.</span><br />
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<a allow_ssl="true" class="image" href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1829751/restaurant/CBD/Waffee-Waffles-Coffee-Emporium-Melbourne" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0144a7; font-family: Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Waffee Waffles+Coffee(Emporium) on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1829751/biglink.gif" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: 146px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
<span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1829751/restaurant/CBD/Waffee-Waffles-Coffee-Emporium-Melbourne"><img alt="Waffee Waffles+Coffee(Emporium) on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1829751/biglink.gif" style="border:none;width:200px;height:146px" /></a></span>MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-45240966421237221862014-08-31T19:48:00.000+10:002014-08-31T19:48:02.367+10:00Supernormal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ccscdcKhnpA/VALRl9PEcjI/AAAAAAAAKYo/STfUIMhnFqY/s1600/supernormal%2Bparfait1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ccscdcKhnpA/VALRl9PEcjI/AAAAAAAAKYo/STfUIMhnFqY/s1600/supernormal%2Bparfait1.jpg" height="376" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>180 Flinders Lane, Melbourne 3000</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Date visited: 30th August 2014</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There has always been some regret on my part, that I never got to visit Golden Fields when it was still open. I held some consolation when Andrew McConnell had opened a new venture, Supernormal not long ago, and to make things even better - it was in the CBD, just on Flinders Lane. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The dishes at Supernormal are based on McConnell's personal interpretation of food he experienced in Shanghai and Hong Kong, including favourites from Golden Fields. After learning that Supernormal was awarded Victoria's best new restaurant of the year at the Good Food Guide awards, I decided that it was our cue that a visit was in order.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We headed down to Flinders Lane on a sunny Saturday for lunch. We were greeted at the door and offered either a table for two or seats at the bar. We opted for the former. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The interior was simplistic, full of clean lines and a more Japanese rather than Chinese feel. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our waitress was friendly and helpful, proceeded to explain the menu and make recommendations. We decided to go with four dishes to share, knowing full well we planned to leave space for dessert ;)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Each table had its own platter of condiments. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had the </span><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pop up cocktail </b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">which was </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">sake, seasonal syrup and soda. Refreshing with just a faint touch of alcohol.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pop up cocktail $16</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan had the lemonade. Could have used less ice for $8.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fresh lemonade $8</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We started off with salty, roasty pumpkin seeds.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We couldn't not try the <b>New England lobster roll</b> - the "signature dish" at Golden Fields. It was even tinier than I expected - about the size of the palm of my hand. The warm, toasted brioche bun held chunks of cold poached lobster, watercress and was topped off with Kewpie mayo. Although many rave about the awesomeness of this roll, I am going to be brutally honest here - it was pleasant but we really didn't see what the fuss was all about.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New England lobster roll $16</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next we tried one of their more popular dishes, the <b>Prawn and chicken dumplings</b>. The fillings were decidedly prawny, the slippery wontons sitting in a pool of tangy chilli and vinegar sauce. Again, nice but rather unremarkable.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prawn & chicken dumplings, chilli & vinegar sauce $14</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For our main, I would have loved to try their 600g rib eye, however, MerlinFan the picky eater isn't a fan of steak, so we settled on the <b>Whole roasted flounder</b>. It said on the menu it came with spring onion and ginger, but it turned out to be coriander - I hate coriander! That was pushed aside. The fish itself was delicious, the meat silky, the skin salty and crisp, covered in a fragrant gingery sauce.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We shared a bowl of <b>Steamed Japanese organic brown rice</b> to go with the fish.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steamed Japanese organic brown rice $5</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were comfortably full, with good space for dessert. We got two to share. First up was the <b>Miso and Pink Lady ice cream</b>.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Miso and pink lady soft serve $9</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The bi-coloured soft serve came with a thin wafer of sesame for texture. I was intrigued by the curious combination of flavours. The pink lady tasted more like dried sour plum than apple. The miso flavour wasn't prominent either, more savoury and almost like very salty salted caramel. Whilst MerlinFan proclaimed it to be rather peculiar and funky, I really liked it, found it interesting and refreshing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lastly was their other infamous dish, the <b>Peanut butter parfait, salted caramel and soft chocolate</b>.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peanut butter parfait, salted caramel and soft chocolate $15</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, this dish lived up to all expectations - it was nothing short of sensational. Creamy peanut butter parfait drowned in gooey salted caramel, a generous sprinkling of peanuts and topped off with a quenelle of soft rich chocolate. Indulgently, sinfully good.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had high expectations of the best new restaurant of the year. Mind you, nothing we sampled was bad but food was pricey and had a few hits and a few mediocrities, which was a little disappointing giving its status. I'm glad to have tried it, but don't think I'd be rushing back anytime soon, although I sure will be thinking of the peanut butter parfait.</span><br />
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<a allow_ssl="true" class="image" href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1793335/restaurant/CBD/Supernormal-Melbourne" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0144a7; font-family: Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Supernormal on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1793335/biglink.gif" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: 146px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1793335/restaurant/CBD/Supernormal-Melbourne"><img alt="Supernormal on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1793335/biglink.gif" style="border:none;width:200px;height:146px" /></a></span>MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-36541258165008979902014-08-24T17:31:00.003+10:002014-10-02T23:06:06.887+10:00Miss Katie's Crab Shack<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y_8XBvhSC7Y/U_l9wWCfDaI/AAAAAAAAJzM/tBC0GCP7PSY/s1600/miss%2Bkaties%2Bcrab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y_8XBvhSC7Y/U_l9wWCfDaI/AAAAAAAAJzM/tBC0GCP7PSY/s1600/miss%2Bkaties%2Bcrab.jpg" height="398" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>238 Victoria St, North Melbourne 3051</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Date visited: 24th August 2014</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had a craving for waffles or something sweet for brunch and MerlinFan had something American on her mind. The threat of rain was growing as ominous dark clouds started to roll in, so MerlinFan and I did a quick search on Urbanspoon and decided on... Miss Katie's Crab Shack. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Miss Katie's Crab Shack offers their take on Southern style dining. It is located conveniently on Victoria Street just a few minutes walk from the CBD. With the Victoria Markets just across the road, they source their seafood and poultry fresh daily.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The interior of Miss Katie's does make you feel as if you've just walked off a sandy beach and stepped into a slightly dingy shack with old peeling ceiling and walls - don't forget the fishing nets, model boats and floating buoys dangling from the ceiling. Tables were covered with old newspapers and adorned with flowers and a hurricane lantern.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You make your order and pay at the counter (cash only) and obtain your drinks separately at the bar.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rg_mdcMa8Go/U_l5efTwQ_I/AAAAAAAAJyA/hnqfPMmEJWU/s1600/miss%2Bkaties%2Bmenu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rg_mdcMa8Go/U_l5efTwQ_I/AAAAAAAAJyA/hnqfPMmEJWU/s1600/miss%2Bkaties%2Bmenu.jpg" height="346" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our food didn't take too long at all to arrive. I got the <b>Katie's Fried Chicken</b>. You could add French fries or Belgian waffles with real Canadian maple syrup for $5 - I opted for the latter.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Katie's Fried Chicken $17<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These were seriously one of the most juicy, succulent fried chicken I've had in a while. Coated in a golden fried, crunchy shell made from a secret blend of herbs and spices, these were awesome. The fragrant, herby flavour of the skin was like Southern style version of our Asian five spice chicken - I loved it! I didn't even touch the ranch dressing. At $17 for six pieces of chicken (two drumsticks and two thighs halved if I'm not mistaken) it could easily be shared between two people, so that meant MerlinFan had herself some of that yummy chicken too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The waffles were soft, fluffy and missing that chewy, dense crunch - the kind I like to fondly refer to as <i>panffles</i> aka look like waffles but with the texture of pancakes. I never particularly liked these type of waffles, but drizzled in sweet Canadian maple, these made a nice enough accompaniment to the chicken.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan had <b>Katie's Low Country Boil</b>. This chilled-out crab looks like it's having a leisurely yawn.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Katie's Low Country Boil $25</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was an Australian blue swimmer crab, corn and smoked kranski cooked in Old Bay seasoning and garlic butter. MerlinFan was presented a cute wooden hammer. In actuality, it was probably too lightweight to do much damage (other than making noise like a judge banging his gavel) so she ended up biting through the shells like a beaver. There wasn't a lot of meat in the blue swimmer, but what was there was juicy and soft. The flavour of the crab was somewhat overpowered by the garlicky, buttery broth and MerlinFan said she would have preferred her ultimate favourite mud crab for the more firm texture and distinctive taste. MerlinFan didn't really need the kransky, but she sure enjoyed being a menace biting into the corn cob and spraying corn juice all over me (WTF dude!).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan and I finished our deliciously indulgent meals and left feeling incredibly satisfied.</span><br />
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<a allow_ssl="true" class="image" href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1775743/restaurant/Melbourne/West-Melbourne/Miss-Katies-Crab-Shack-North-Melbourne" style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: left; color: #0144a7; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Miss Katie's Crab Shack on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1775743/biglink.gif" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: 146px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-50335171407391840582014-08-23T19:47:00.001+10:002014-08-23T19:52:03.708+10:00New Shanghai<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JADCvZ0wBcA/U_hGi5rzWUI/AAAAAAAAJv4/z2_4a6pBNDc/s1600/New%2BShanghai1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JADCvZ0wBcA/U_hGi5rzWUI/AAAAAAAAJv4/z2_4a6pBNDc/s1600/New%2BShanghai1.jpg" height="402" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Shop 323 Level 3, Emporium 287 Lonsdale St Melbourne 3000</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Date visited: 23rd August 2014</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today we continue our journey of eating our way through Emporium. Not literally. MerlinFan and I had been meaning to try out New Shanghai after we spotted it at the corner of the Level 3 Emporium food court the other day. We were in the mood for dumplings and Asian desserts, so today was the day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New Shanghai offers modern Shanghai style cuisine, covering mainly soup dumplings, pan fried buns, noodles and hot pots. The front of the house was unattended when we arrived and there were already quite a few people waiting this Saturday noon. After a few minutes one of the staff returned - you get a number and wait for it to be called. The turnover was fairly quick, so that was okay.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The interior was beautifully decorated with dark ceilings and dark tile, dark wooden columns with old lanterns and bright red shutters over the windows. You sit on tables with red wooden stools, which make you feel as if you are eating outside somewhere in a colourful vintage Shanghai street. If you sit at the bar, you can also enjoy the theatre of watching the dumpling making.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dumpling making fishbowl</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New Shanghai offers quite nice range of drinks. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had the <b>Special blended lychee green tea</b>. I liked the sweetness of the lychee and the slightly astringent aftertaste that came with the green tea, although it was not as pretty as AS and MerlinFan's drinks.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Special blended lychee green tea $4.80</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan loved her <b>Lychee blended ice</b>. Tasted like... lychee blended ice. Sorry, couldn't help it. Reminded her of frozen lychee popsicles we used to have as kids, only in blended form.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P73Jsd1OrYo/U_hJJ3eaYeI/AAAAAAAAJxI/10zfhrhkXUM/s1600/NS%2Blychee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P73Jsd1OrYo/U_hJJ3eaYeI/AAAAAAAAJxI/10zfhrhkXUM/s1600/NS%2Blychee.jpg" height="640" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lychee blended ice $5.80</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ditto for AS' <b>Mango blended ice</b>.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mango blended ice $5.80</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We ordered the <b>Drunken chicken </b>to start with. Drunken chicken is a Shanghainese dish that is traditionally served cold, often as a starter to a banquet. This version was slightly more spiked than the ones I'm used to in restaurants back home, where the flavour of the rice wine comes across more subtly. The chicken was silky, slippery and succulent.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drunken chicken $9.80</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our main carb for the day was the <b>Shanghai noodle stir fried with shredded pork and vegetable</b>. To be honest, it wasn't as tasty as it looked. Although the noodles were chewy and al dente enough, it was just basically like noodles coated in soya sauce and literally shreds of pork. Overly salty too, and I already have a high salt tolerance. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shanghai noodle stir fried with shredded pork & vegetable $9.90</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">AS wanted to try their <b>Xiao Long Bao </b>a.k.a. the mini steamed pork buns. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Xiao Long Bao $7.80</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After watching a show about dumpling making, I have so much more respect for these chefs - how many times have we sat in a restaurant and mutter that the skin is too thick, it's not juicy enough etc etc, but in reality, these dumplings are not easy to make. From the meticulously twisted tops to the calculated amount of thickness of the dough in order not to break in the steaming process, but to survive to your spoon and get that squirt of broth when you bite into the dumpling - it all takes skill and a lot of effort. None of ours broke, and the skin was nice and soft, not overly thick and had a nice spoonful of broth with the juicy minced pork inside.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spilt some of the broth, unfortunately!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">AS was uncertain about ordering two pork bun dishes, but MerlinFan and I waved her off, cos we sure do love our pork! And we had our hearts set on the <b>Pan fried pork buns. </b></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VhCzVbDuPCo/U_hGePY80BI/AAAAAAAAJvg/DTogtzuPVlg/s1600/NS%2Bpork%2Bbun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VhCzVbDuPCo/U_hGePY80BI/AAAAAAAAJvg/DTogtzuPVlg/s1600/NS%2Bpork%2Bbun.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pan fried pork buns $10.50</td></tr>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oYFwP7gfapQ/U_hGeQy7k4I/AAAAAAAAJvk/J64x44GhAAc/s1600/NS%2Bbun2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oYFwP7gfapQ/U_hGeQy7k4I/AAAAAAAAJvk/J64x44GhAAc/s1600/NS%2Bbun2.jpg" height="420" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan and I were both trying to find the ones with the most <i>chao ta</i> (Hokkien for burnt) bottoms (cos we love them!). Okay, fine they weren't really burnt - these soft, fluffy buns were pan fried, their bottoms browned to a crisp, toast-like consistency. I absolutely loved the bready skins of these buns! Take a bite and you will be rewarded with a delicious, gingery broth and a meaty pork ball.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We couldn't leave without dessert, so we ordered two to share. First we had the <b>Fresh mango shaved ice</b>.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fresh mango shaved ice $10.80</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The shaved ice had a coarse, grated texture that you could actually crunch your teeth into. Drowned in condense milk, mango and a ball of vanilla ice cream, this would be a refreshing dessert in Summer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Halfway, a waiter came and told us the next dessert we ordered, the <b>Baked pastry filled with red bean paste</b>, would take about ten minutes. Surely more than ten minutes elapsed before our last dish of the day appeared at our table, rather oddly (and haphazardly) presented. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baked pastry filled with red bean paste $9.50</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The pastries looked distinctly different from one another - why did one have sesame seeds and not the other two? I turned them around and ah... mystery solved.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not sure if they were deliberately overturned because they had split open in the cooking process (hiding the evidence - seems like other reviewers noted this too!) or what, but they weren't exactly the prettiest of dishes. T</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">aste wise they were pretty mediocre. Although the pastry was flaky, it lacked a distinct flavour and the red bean paste was on the dry side and also lacked sweetness. Can't say it was worth the wait.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Overall, New Shanghai has some hits and misses, however prices are reasonable, location excellent and they have a vast selection of dishes with a few I would still like to try.</span><br />
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<a allow_ssl="true" class="image" href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1829552/restaurant/CBD/New-Shanghai-Melbourne" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0144a7; font-family: Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="New Shanghai on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1829552/biglink.gif" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: 146px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
<span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1829552/restaurant/CBD/New-Shanghai-Melbourne"><img alt="New Shanghai on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1829552/biglink.gif" style="border:none;width:200px;height:146px" /></a></span><br />
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MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-17282235053670692122014-08-17T19:31:00.004+10:002014-08-31T22:49:46.216+10:00Waffee Waffles + Coffee Emporium<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CYtahC6yC2M/U_Bm8lBTK6I/AAAAAAAAJuI/b90c7rOgkOw/s1600/waffee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CYtahC6yC2M/U_Bm8lBTK6I/AAAAAAAAJuI/b90c7rOgkOw/s1600/waffee.jpg" height="408" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Lower Level Emporium, 287 Lonsdale St Melbourne</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Date visited: 17th August 2014</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Where did the week go? A bittersweet moment - last day of annual leave. Need to drown sorrows (again) in some indulgent dessert. After lunch at <a href="http://yellowyelloweggs.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/pho-nom.html" target="_blank">Pho Nom</a> <i>(again) </i>MerlinFan and I popped just next door to the new Waffee Waffles + Coffee, the new gourmet waffle store in Emporium.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Waffee offers handcrafted Belgian Waffles which are baked freshly daily and on demand. According to their Facebook page, their waffles come from an age old family secret recipe from a waffle master. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The shop has some tables to eat in, as well as waffles for takeaway. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Flavours on offer include Original Belgian Liege waffles and assorted flavours like Chocolate glazed (white and milk), Chocolate stick (chocolate sticks </span><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in </i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the waffle!)</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, Blueberry, Spicy Cinnamon and the deluxe - Raspberry white chocolate. The shop has some tables to eat in, as well as waffles for takeaway. There were actual waffles in a glass display at the counter but there were too many people queueing up and I didn't want to look like a perve taking photos of people's butts.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Whas2Y4Mhcc/U_BnGLgmI1I/AAAAAAAAJuQ/XhEYpSAiwhU/s1600/menu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Whas2Y4Mhcc/U_BnGLgmI1I/AAAAAAAAJuQ/XhEYpSAiwhU/s1600/menu.jpg" height="640" width="442" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They also offer gourmet savoury and dessert waffles.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-P9wGMl1VfJA/U_BnnD254mI/AAAAAAAAJuw/apQX86RzVbg/s1600/IMG_7698.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-P9wGMl1VfJA/U_BnnD254mI/AAAAAAAAJuw/apQX86RzVbg/s1600/IMG_7698.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Display only =P</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They're cash only at this stage. Staff were friendly and service was speedy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I got a <b>Cappuccino</b> which was rather bitter and a bit too much on the milky side. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eUF_sfRlm1s/U_BnM5IL47I/AAAAAAAAJuY/PNjLAI0gxww/s1600/waffee%2Bcappuccino.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eUF_sfRlm1s/U_BnM5IL47I/AAAAAAAAJuY/PNjLAI0gxww/s1600/waffee%2Bcappuccino.jpg" height="640" width="620" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cappuccino $3.90</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan and I decided to share one of the dessert waffles. We went for the <b>Gone Bananas</b>.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gone Bananas $15.50<br />
Bruleed bananas, fruit dressing, rhubarb ice cream, duo Liege waffles</td></tr>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kRepDKzkN38/U_BrwWXVZ_I/AAAAAAAAJvE/1p_-HUkbNx4/s1600/waffee%2Bgone%2Bbananas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kRepDKzkN38/U_BrwWXVZ_I/AAAAAAAAJvE/1p_-HUkbNx4/s1600/waffee%2Bgone%2Bbananas.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Liege waffles traditionally contain pearl sugar which caramelises as the waffles are baked, giving it that beautiful glistening sweet coating. These waffles were crisp on the outside and dense and slightly chewy on the inside - yum. With fantastic bruleed bananas (yes, it had a delicate layer of caramel that cracked as you sliced into the banana) and tangy rhubarb ice cream, it was a match made in waffle heaven. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Waffee waffles are perfect for a sweet afternoon treat - would love to return and try their other chocolate glazed and chocolate stick waffles.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Second visit <a href="http://yellowyelloweggs.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/waffee-waffles-coffee.html" target="_blank">here</a> </span>
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<a allow_ssl="true" class="image" href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1829751/restaurant/CBD/Waffee-Waffles-Coffee-Emporium-Melbourne" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0144a7; font-family: Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Waffee Waffles+Coffee(Emporium) on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1829751/biglink.gif" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: 146px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-74968096278114751542014-08-16T21:33:00.001+10:002014-08-16T21:33:32.524+10:00Kong BBQ<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h_CVE8Ooa5g/U-8GZzhBJ0I/AAAAAAAAJsg/yVyNzvF4VVw/s1600/kong%2Bbbq.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h_CVE8Ooa5g/U-8GZzhBJ0I/AAAAAAAAJsg/yVyNzvF4VVw/s1600/kong%2Bbbq.jpg" height="392" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>599 Church St, Richmond 3121</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Date visited: 16th August 2014</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kong BBQ was brought to my attention a few weeks ago by MerlinFan. Only, she told me it was a restaurant that served bananas (aka King Kong gorilla feed) @_@ Lame!!! In actual fact, Kong is a fusion of Korean, Japanese and American barbeque flavours from the creators of Chin Chin and lead by chef Ben Cooper. We were craving something salty and Asian, so off we headed to Kong BBQ this Saturday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was just past 1pm and I was worried it would be a long wait, but was pleasantly surprised when we were shown to seats straight away at the end of a long communal table. There were plenty of bar seats, a number of four person tables and a long communal table. The atmosphere was just buzzing - the din from neighbouring conversations bouncing off the walls, the blaring music overhead. The interior was very Melbourne warehouse, with brick walls, exposed ceilings and hanging tube lights.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Similar to Chin Chin, the menu is on the paper place mat on your table and most of the dishes are made for sharing. They had small plates that ranged from kimchi to beef tartare, roti rolls, natural fire BBQ, buns, rice, noodles and greens. There were so many delectable sounding options it was difficult to choose only a few. BTW, off topic, but we also saw Ben Cooper >=D</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We started off with some roti. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I didn't expect the roll to have four pieces each so we ordered two. The first MerlinFan chose was the </span><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pulled pork with slaw, kimchi and burnt chilli mayo</b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. The roti was light, delicately thin and crisp at the corners. I was never the hugest fan of kimchi, and the pork was tucked away on one corner of the roll so most of it felt like eating a roll of spicy and sour fermented vegetables. It was okay, not my favourite dish of the day.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pulled pork roti $12</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I chose the <b>Teriyaki roast Ora King Salmon with wok fried broccoli and tomato</b>. This I liked much more - enjoyed the sweet teriyaki sauce and the nicely cooked salmon.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Teriyaki salmon roti $12</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We tried their <b>Korean fried wings with honey, garlic and sesame</b>. The wings were juicy, the skin crispy and crunchy, coated with a sauce that was sticky and indulgently, insanely sweet. Perfectly fried wings, although a tad too OTT with the flavouring.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Korean fried wings $12</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lastly we had the <b>BBQ baby pork ribs with soy and sesame</b>. You could get a half serve for $22 or a full for $36. Now, these ribs were amazing! Deliciously succulent meat with charry corners and sweet caramelised bits on top. The sauce was awesome too - couldn't stop rubbing my ribs into the pool of dark sticky sauce at the bottom of the platter. Sigh of contentment.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BBQ baby back pork ribs with soy & sesame $36 (full)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were full already after our carnivorous meal, but we couldn't resist getting a dessert to share. We chose the <b>Apple and walnut tart with miso butterscotch and Japanese whiskey ice cream</b>. At this stage we were requested to move tables as the large communal table was required to accommodate a big group but that was okay - staff were polite and incredibly gracious about it.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apple walnut tart $13</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was intrigued by the promise of miso butterscotch, however I didn't detect much miso flavour at all. Not like it mattered much, because this dessert was absolutely fantastic. A silky ball of ice cream with Japanese whiskey ripple (yes, you can taste it) melting upon a warmed, delicately thin crusted tart with soft apples and crunchy walnuts - hell yes!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan and I were in and out in 90 minutes (I was watching the time because of my two hour park - such a pain!) which I was very happy with. Staff were friendly and efficient, and those ribs were everything ribs should be. Loved that dessert too. Kong BBQ is overall very similar to Chin Chin, with big punchy Asian inspired flavours but I think I have to say I enjoyed Kong much much more. Would love to return and try their other dishes.</span><br />
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<a allow_ssl="true" class="image" href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1849012/restaurant/Melbourne/Kong-BBQ-Richmond" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0144a7; font-family: Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Kong BBQ on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1849012/biglink.gif" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: 146px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1849012/restaurant/Melbourne/Kong-BBQ-Richmond"><img alt="Kong BBQ on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1849012/biglink.gif" style="border:none;width:200px;height:146px" /></a></span><br />
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<br />MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-54550615750243487102014-08-15T21:52:00.002+10:002014-08-19T00:48:26.160+10:00Jinda Thai<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>1-7 Ferguson St, Abbotsford Vic 3067</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Date visited: 15th August 2014</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm sure everyone has seen photos of the infamous multi layered crepe cakes floating around on Instagram and online, as well as heard rumours of the amazing boat noodles here at Jinda Thai. Another spot I have been dying to visit, naturally. Still on annual leave, I went with MerlinFan and AS to do our tax return (gets more and more depressing every year - whoever created that old ad of ecstatic people prancing around celebrating EOFYS should be shot) I came out with the tiniest amount of return <i>ever</i>, only falling short of having to pay back tax (FML). So, to drown my sorrows, I suggested heading over to Jinda Thai for lunch.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jinda Thai, in a nondescript Ferguson Street rather than the main road, is probably better visited by tram; however AS managed to find parking in one of the smaller lanes near North Richmond station. We were greeted at the door by a smiling waitress. It was about three quarters full on a week day, so we were seated straight away.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With beautiful exposed brick walls, hanging lights, chalkboards of the menu and 'window seats' along the walls with floral patterned cushions thrown in, Jinda Thai's interior is quite unexpected of a Thai restaurant. Very country rustic. Deeper into the restaurant you find more Thai inspired ornaments and lanterns.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They have quite a good range of rice and noodle dishes, salads, stir fry, also grilled meat, crab and fish dishes</span>. <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The waitress came to take our orders not long after we received our menus, and our drinks arrived within a very speedy wait time. Awesome.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> It was a bit chilly out, so AS had a <b>Latte</b>.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Latte</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan and I honed in on the cold tea and coffees. I had the <b>Cha Yen</b>, which was their famous iced milk tea. It came in the tiniest glass jar, but was the tea was fragrant and wonderfully sweet. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan and the </span><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cha Dum Yen</b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, sweet iced black coffee. Similarly it was really strong and sweet - just the way she liked it.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cha Yen $3, Cha Dum Yen $3</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jinda Thai offers a good range of curries, but you can only get the Green chicken curry and Massaman beef as a smaller meal on rice. AS had the <b>Green chicken curry with rice</b>. I didn't try this, but AS said it was spicy and not overly creamy - she finished everything, so it must have been good!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Green chicken curry with rice $9.90</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At this stage, a wooden carrier of self-serve condiments arrived at our table. There was no explanation that went with this and we didn't even end up needing them so I'm can't say for sure what each were, mainly chillis.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here, you can choose your choice of soup (pork, beef, spicy pork, boat noodle or yen ta four - pork based with brewed bean curd and picked squid) followed by your choice of noodles (rice stick, flat rice, rice vermicelli, egg or glass), and you can even choose to have your noodles dry without soup. It comes in small for $6 and large for $9.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I couldn't come to Jinda Thai and not try the infamous <b>Boat noodles</b>. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boat noodles large $9.00</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thai boat noodles traditionally got their name from being hawked from boats along the riverbank. They are not well known (yet) in Melbourne, and I have to admit I haven't seen them on menus in Thai restaurants here before. We got a large one to share. I chose our favourite egg noodles and beef (option of beef or pork).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The star of the dish here was undoubtedly the steaming hot, dark, aromatic broth. It was salty, a tinge sweet and full of intense, complex flavours. We felt it was similar to one of our favourite hawker dishes from East Malaysia, the <i>gubak mee</i> (beef noodles) just more herbal and punchy. It was completed by crispy pork skin, meat balls and tender thinly sliced beef. This was absolutely fantastic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan chose the <b>Fried rice pla salid</b>, which came with crunchy dry fish, fresh chilli and garlic served with Thai condiments.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fried Rice Pla Salid $12.90</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The fried rice had a slow rising heat. Topped off with shredded omelette and a slice of crunchy dry fish, this dish sure packed a fiery punch - a</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">lmost too spicy for MerlinFan who ended up red-faced and moping her face with tissues.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> It also came with cucumber and green apple on the side for that added freshness to neutralise the heat.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lastly, we got a <b>Red duck curry </b>to share. T</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">he curry was creamy, sweet and fiery and contained a</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> generous amount of juicy duck, eggplant, lychee, pineapple, carrots and bamboo shoots. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite being pretty lame when it comes to spicy food, I liked how Jinda Thai didn't tone down the heat in their cuisine. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eating a curry just isn't the same without that fiery kick.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red duck curry $15.90</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A meal is never complete without dessert. MerlinFan and I just had to try one of their infamous crepe cakes. There were five flavours on offer, being coconut, Thai milk tea, green tea, pandan and taro. We went for the <b>Thai milk tea cake and ice cream</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like all the other dishes, it came beautifully presented. The cake was made up of meticulous layers of moist crepe, and topped off with a generous pouring of milk tea flavoured sauce. It wasn't as sweet as I expected it to be. We both loved the coconut ice cream on the side - it came with little chunks of frozen coconut too. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cake and ice cream $8.50</td></tr>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9pR_WYKvqDg/U-2_p6WrqhI/AAAAAAAAJrw/tWUvOxNIGfQ/s1600/Jinda%2BThai%2Bmilk%2Btea%2Bcrepe%2Bcake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9pR_WYKvqDg/U-2_p6WrqhI/AAAAAAAAJrw/tWUvOxNIGfQ/s1600/Jinda%2BThai%2Bmilk%2Btea%2Bcrepe%2Bcake.jpg" height="308" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After our visit here today, I can see what the fuss surrounding Jinda Thai is all about. They are more than deserving of all the hype and I would strongly recommend trying the boat noodles when you visit. As for me, a return visit is a must for them boat noodles alone.</span><br />
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MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713164688522867572.post-28295046289010151422014-08-15T01:00:00.000+10:002014-08-15T01:02:38.043+10:00The Kettle Black<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>50 Albert Rd, South Melbourne 3205</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Date visited: 14th August 2014</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Exciting news. MerlinFan told me the other day that the crew from Top Paddock and Two Birds One Stone had opened yet another new cafe in South Melbourne, called Kettle Black. I had a week of annual leave so we grabbed this opportunity to head over there this sunny Thursday and avoid the weekend crowd. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The cafe is easily accessible by tram, only a few minutes walk down Albert Road from the Domain Interchange. There was a coffee cart parked outside for takeaways, and they even had doughnuts and other pastries on offer. Ingenious idea.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We arrived before noon and the place was not yet full. We were greeted by a smiling waitress who showed us to our seats at the end of a beautiful marble bar. The cafe was decked out in white walls and light coloured wood furnishings, accentuated by shades of pastel green and shiny gold accents. With the natural light streaming in from the glass windows, the interior had a very airy, relaxed feel to it.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6dmGtcvuhQM/U-xiRXzozqI/AAAAAAAAJog/V2dKoTaTunU/s1600/the%2Bkettle%2Bblack%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6dmGtcvuhQM/U-xiRXzozqI/AAAAAAAAJog/V2dKoTaTunU/s1600/the%2Bkettle%2Bblack%2B2.jpg" height="556" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The waitstaff were chirpy and efficient. Our coffees arrived amazingly fast after our orders were put in. I had a <b>Cappuccino </b>and MerlinFan had her <b>Latte</b>, both were velvety smooth and creamy. Nice.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cappuccino and Latte</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The menu was rather interesting and had the infamous Ricotta Hotcakes from Top Paddock. They had tempting sounding dishes like muesli, coconut yoghurt, polenta porridge and the usual eggs and toast. If you're after something different, they also have scrambled eggs with wallaby, King Island crayfish, or Wagyu steak in a black bun to name a few.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Being <strike>boring</strike> not too adventurous and craving some good ol' poached eggs, so I opted for the <b>Benedict style eggs with free range pork shoulder and aerated hollandaise</b>.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Benedict style eggs $17</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I loved the crunchy slightly chewy toast. The pork was tender but slightly under seasoned - nothing a little salt and pepper from the table couldn't fix. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My poached eggs were gooey but not runny and t</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">he slightly tangy aerated hollandaise was delicious but sadly there wasn't much of it. Without both, my second toast ended up pretty dry without much to hold the elements together. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MerlinFan couldn't resist and got the <b>Hotcakes with house made ricotta, blueberries, pure maple, double cream and seeds</b>. Yes, they were just as good as they were at <a href="http://yellowyelloweggs.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/top-paddock.html" target="_blank">Top Paddock</a>. A fluffy pancake with crisp corners, dotted with blueberries and ricotta and topped off with maple. The blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, flowers and seeds added that extra tanginess and texture.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ricotta hotcakes $18</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you fancy, they also have doughnuts from <a href="http://yellowyelloweggs.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/doughboy-doughnuts.html" target="_blank">Doughboys Doughnuts</a> and other goodies like frangipane tarts, brownies and croissants.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Overall, Kettle Black has lots of expectations to live up to, being the sister of two powerhouse cafes. The pork shoulder could have used more hollandaise and seasoning, but overall good coffee and the same yummy ricotta hotcakes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>MikhaelfBluehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12006863948224207327noreply@blogger.com0