Hurray for good weekend weather. Since commencing full time work I have noticed just how often sunny days occur on week days as opposed to weekends, I guess that's Melbourne for ya 
 My best foodie buddy Miss S had recently celebrated her 22nd, I declared it is only fitting that we concluded her birthday week with a Sunday brunch. 

Destination: Three Bags Full. Our previous attempt in having brunch here ended in failure as limited offstreet parking and a bustling cafe clearly don't mix well. Also given the previous occasion was a rather miserable winter morning, neither of us were willing to put our name down on the waiting list. This time we arrived earlier a bit before 11am, which by my standards is far too early for any type of meal on a Sunday morning, but early enough to ensure avoidance of the usual brunch rush hour.

Even though we were lucky enough to score a parking spot (courtesy of miss s's awesome parallel parking skills) there was still a waiting list for a table and it took 10-15 minutes before my name was called out an we were led to a table close to the door. Miss S was rather impressed with the internal decor and I also secretly gave the cafe extra brownie points for the beautiful vase of dogwood propped against the wooden back wall.

I have heard many good things about the coffee at Three Bags Full, but their juices sounded so nice I had to order the pear, apple, lime and mint combination

What can I say, this concoction beats all juices hands down, (okay maybe all juices minus that crazily good place on Elizabeth Street, hint:bags of oranges everywhere). It was sweet and fruity yet the tangy sour aftertaste left the juice well-balanced, the hint of mint complements the pear and apple very well, If only i lived closer, this would for sure be my hangover cure, any day.

On to the menu, we were both keen to steer away from the 2eggs/salmon/other fancy shmancy cured protein/greens of some sort on toast section. Instead we settled for one savoury and one sweet plate to share. 

                                                Beetroot cured salmon, corn, pea + fetta fritter, avocado, rocket + dill sour cream



First up, the beetroot cured salmon, corn, pea + fetta fritter, avocado, rocket + dill sour cream came looking absolutely stunning. I am not a BIG fan of beetroot, but the salmon, despite being dyed deep blood red by the vegetable had little resemblance in taste and still very much tasted like, well salty salmon. My previous experience with cafe-served fritters were back at Amici Bakery Cafe some months back, and this version is definitely better than theirs. the fritters were fluffy and not over cooked, the avocado and dill sour cream tied all components together.

Now isn't that a good-looking piece of salmon ;) 

                                               Sticky black ginger bread, Vanilla bean mascarpone, candied cumquats + pistachio

I had been looking forward to the sticky black ginger bread for some time now and I could feel the excitement in my fingers as I cut through the dense cake that was heavily doused in syrup and candied cumquats. The ginger flavour was intense and fragrant and the cumquat and marscapone did a good job of complementing the richness of the bread itself, it was absolutely devine. When they mention it is black and sticky, it sure was black and sticky, VERY VERY STICKY. We both had a good workout afterwards of trying to discreetly but effectively remove the residual ginger bread that clung stubbornly to the back of our molars. 

Three bags full will be on my revisit list for sure, given that I still tend to dream about their delicious fresh juice here and there and there is still the coffee waiting for me to try. The forthcoming warm weather will definitely make waiting outside for a table more bearable.

On a side note, look what we found afterwards while on a weekly grocery trip to Box Hill. 

Epic conjoined strawberries! 

The below post was drafted a few days ago when I was caught up in the terrible rain and thunderstorm on my commute home: 

Don't you hate those rainy/windy/thunderstormy days when your already much-limited luck with the Melbourne public transport runs out and you find yourself running at full speed towards the station after work ignoring the fact that your shoes have been soaked right through, only to find your service has been delayed by 30minutes.. It's beyond disbelief and a few loud rounds of F-words may not resolve your issues, so I sit here drafting the latest blog entry, trying to distract myself from the unpleasant sensation between my toes and flats.

So recently I had a blissful RDO on a Friday and decided to make the most of it by heading to a cafe for brunch and hopefully knock off the first few chapters of my newly arrived CFA curiculum. 

Usually by default I would head to my beloved Snowpony for a latte and lemonade scones but maybe because the weather was rather delightful and i was feeling cheery in my newly acquired rather "hip" floor-lenght floral skirt I decided to venture out to Moka Pot Cafe on Doncaster road. I have been in search for a new local brunch spot that i could frequent, Snowpony was still good but I thought surely it would not hurt if I could expand my repertoire a little. 

So with this in mind, i arrived at Moka Pot Cafe, conveniently located in a strip of shops complete with parking an all. Stepping into the large spacious venue i immediately realised that i have come to the wrong place to study. Dispite selecting a rather secluded corner table, the seats to my right were soon occupied by 3 oldies and then followed by 3mums to my left each with an infant in tow. Needless to say i instantly abandoned my plans to study and decided to instead focus my attention on the menu.

Most of the items were standard cafe food and nothing really jumped out at me. I know I have a tendency to be indecisive and end up making a choice just as the waiteress arrives to take my order. 

The juice menu was enticing enough for me to opt for it in lieu of my usual soy latte. It arrived promptly looking quite promising, however one sip of it made me question whether my taste buds were functioning. Picture a fruit juice with all fructose removed from it and all that was left was water with a tinge of fruit feel to it. Or picture poor quality, flavourless coconut water. Whichever is easier.

The muffin was well flavoured given the ample amount of bacon it was sandwiching, however over all the muffin was dry and the spinach failed to enhance the flavour of the otherwise very much your average breakfast muffin.

I dont know why i ended up ordering this as it is clearly not an item to base judgements of a cafe on but maybe i was not satisftied by my cravings for chips at tank the previous day I decided to pig out on a whole bowl of wedges. Why oh why...they were okay nothing wrong with dencent wedges but the quantity was too gianormous that resulted in having to awkwardly request takeaway for the wedges I could not finish.

By this stage the mothers (young and old) on each side of me were having conversations at a volume that made focusing on reading facebook status updates on my phone difficult so I decided to declare this foodie adventure over and prematurely retired to my house. 

On my way to the counter to pay for the bill i did catch a glimpse of the array of sweets and cakes they had on offer and i must say they looked quite delightful. Going forward i will be sticking to my Mcpony's and grapefruit juice that comes in a medicine bottle but I won't fully rule out moka pot and their yummy-looking desserts. Just going to steer clear of the muffin and fruit juice, oh yes I will.

I am a real sucker for hype. Especially when it comes to foodie hypes, I tend to hype about hypes. Sometimes it can get out of control, making the actual foodie experience disappointingly underwhelming. When you allow your imagination to run amok, feeding off from various reviews and Urbanspoon ravings, it can sometimes get a bit out of hand. 

I had ample advice about Chin Chin before finally experiencing the hype last Saturday night. Most food blogs I follow generally gave thumbs up to this new Flinders Lane haunt, but speaking to friends and colleagues about my excitement in trying Chin Chin, I was advised not to expect too much of a WOW factor from the establishment.

Thus rocking up a little before 7pm on a Saturday night, I was somewhat glad that the infamous queue was more or less non-existent and I had no difficulty in locating 2 seats at the bar for myself and my friend.

The atmosphere was relaxed and bubbly filled to the brim with conversation, I felt somewhat out of place while I sat silently waiting for B….and took a few hipstamatics with my phone to kill time.

From the extensive drink list I decided to order the coconut ice which has a different flavour added to the concoction every night. Mine arrived scented heavily with apple and mint.

Coconut Ice of the Day - with Apple syrup and Mint 

 B rocked up 30minutes later, by when I had already settled comfortably at the bar, gazing lazily at the bartenders prepare cocktails and occasionally show off their throwing skills by sending empty coconut ice containers through the air from one end of the bar to the other. B decides to

be a copycat and order the same drink as we poured over the menu

spicy eggnet omlette rolls with spanner crab & chilli jam  ($12.00)

 The egg nets arrived shortly after B’s coconut ice. It was a fascinating thing to look at, and an even more fascinating thing to taste. The dry crispy egg casing contrasted brilliantly against the fresh and flavoursome spanner crab salad.

Chicken wings ($12.00)

The chicken wings were probably the WOW dish of the evening. I honestly believed that

B did a shitty job with his order and had no expectations what so ever for them, but they were
absolutely delish when they arrived. Crispy on the outside and uttermost tender and juicy on the
inside. The flavours made me reminiscence the fried chicken sold on the side of the road in
chinese cities, the type that is highly likely to cause one form of food poisoning or another.

Salt & pepper crusted soft shell crab with green papaya salad & Nahm jim ($23.00)

 The service was fast and efficient at Chin Chin and even though it was full house the entire time we were there, the remaining two dishes arrived shortly after we got our hands dirty with the

yummy wings. 

 B’s baby crab, so cute but B ain’t showing any mercy...nomnomnnomm...

Caramelised sticky pork with siamese water cress ($24.00)

The sticky pork was tender and the flavours were well balanced between sweet and

sour. The salad component (I assume it was the siamese water cress) that gave such an

intense hit of sudden spiciness that made both B and I simultaneously grabbed our glasses of 
water. 

Happy Happy Joy Joy indeed :)

There were plenty of items on the menu that would lure me back for a second visit in the near

future. As for the hype surrounding this new foodie destination in Flinders Lane, I think it should

shift some of the limelight towards the awesome dining atmosphere that Chris Lucas has managed to create in this establishment. The food is more than decent, the atmosphere is fun, an after work drinks/dinner visit is going to be on my agenda. 

125 Flinders Lane 

Melbourne, 3000(03) 8663 2000
www.chinchinrestaurant.com.au

random thought.

I sometimes catch myself being unintentionally stalkerish.
Being a long-time reader of some of my beloved food blogs makes me fall under the false sense that I am a friend of these people, and when they casually mention that their relationship status/significant other has changed, it is rather shocking to me that I wasn't the first one to hear about it.

Well duh, why would they tell you? You only should know where/what/how they dined out.

Well I just discovered today that one of my favorite foodie has long parted ways with her long term boyfriend and has already been seeing a new guy for 4 months. A little shocked that I didn't pick it up in previous posts...maybe I was too busy salivating over her pictures of cupcakes and beef pies.

somewhere between the post about Misschu and entry about Chin Chin, you find yourself gravitating towards these individuals, yet more often than not its just a one way relationship..just like most of my fantasy friendships...no I'm just joking ;)

end of rant for now, its been an exhausting week and my bed is calling my name,
wooo 6 minutes past midnight, TGIF :D

St Katherine's

Having brunch at 3pm is a new record for me. I suppose when it comes to making last minute bookings at hyped up places such as St Katherine’s, such exceptions are to be accommodated.

So 48hours after a hasty booking made sometime in the afternoon of last Friday, J and I turned up at George Calombaris and Shane Delia’s new addition to the ever-expanding culinary empire that is the Press Club Group for a quick catch up on a lazy post-down pour Sunday afternoon.

After reading many mixed reviews about this new haunt in leafy suburbs of Kew, I decided to embrace the dishes with an open mind and determined not to be swayed by any pre-conceived biases.

Upon arrival, we were promptly seated at a table towards the back of the restaurant, the interior was glowing with warmth that seemed to be coming from the beige walls which was a welcoming sight especially given the miserable weather that Melbourne is incapable of shaking off this winter. Having lunch a bit past 3pm, meant that I had a good deal of time to menu-stalk before even leaving the house and my mind was set upon a few things before I even sat down. We soon decided on a few savoury dishes to start off with and later determine whether we would have enough room for dessert (psshtt, of course there is always room for dessert)

The first dish arrived a mere 5 minutes after our orders were taken when I haven’t even started to suss out the latest developments of J’s numerous romantic prospects.

Turkish Lamb Dumplings, garlic yoghurt, sumac and dried mint

The Turkish Lamb dumplings ($18.00) came neatly arranged upon a bed of garlic infused yogurt, covered in generous amounts of sumac and dried mint. The flavours instantly unfolded within my mouth the richness of the dough covered lamb morsels went so well with the sharp acidic taste of the yogurt. Despite all these dominant flavours, a mild hint of olive oil was always present and it seemed to be the ingredient that bound all elements together. The texture of the dough very much reminded me of the texture of a steamed dumpling 

The daily bread was next to arrive and we soon discovered the best way to enjoy it was to mop up the dumpling plate with it ;) mmm carbs..

At this stage we were almost through with our dumplings and bread and I had managed to have J spill some juicy goss regarding the many dates he is juggling between (gees, life is hard for some people isn’t it?) and we were keen for something different to arrive and surprise our palate. We watched as plates of food were carried past our table to be served at neighbouring ones before this was finally placed on ours.

 Chips with tarama

Ever since I experienced the epicness that is chips and garlic aioli from Richmond Hill Café and Larder, I haven’t been able to find anything that accompanies fried potato chips better than that light, fluffy, garlicy emulsion. Until now. The tarama that came with the crisp golden chips was something to rival the RHCL aioli, with its ability to be light and flavoursome all in one go.

Snack Burgers from the grill (Chicken on the left, Fish on the right)

These mini bite-size morsels of goodness were worth every cent as the combination of the grilled chicken and mayo certainly did more than compensate for its tiny portion.

 Pide with lebanese lamb sausage, candied onions, vine tomatoes and thyme

The pide was also full of flavor but the lack of capacity in my stomach by this stage meant that I was unable to fully appreciate its goodness.

Now as mentioned earlier, no matter how full I am I will always have extra belly space for the sweet endings to any meal. 

Whippy Icecream, salted caramel, brownies, pomegranate and chocolate pomegranate sauce

I was very much looking forward to my dessert, as the title sounded very enticing. Upon arrival at our table, the presentation immediately reminded me of the late night snacks my house mate and I used to make, with scoops of icecream, one chocolate brownies and Malteasers. The only difference between St Katherine’s version and the one made at home was the hefty price tag ($9 for a standard gelati cup's worth) which made Movenpick and Ben & Jerry’s prices fade in comparison. 

The anti-climax was mostly due to the lack of acidity that the pomegranates should have provided and also the fact that salty caramel was anything but salted. Hence the layers of chocolate, icecream and caramel just made the whole dessert overly sweet and heavy.

Given the close proximity of our house to the restaturant I will definitely head to St Katherine’s once again in the near future. As mentioned in their website, the portion sizes are definitely suited for sharing between a group of people (4-6 would be ideal) The casual setting the warm ambience and the ability for carbs to produce happiness makes St Katherine a great place to catch up with friends and family.

So where exactly did June go? Most of it was spent indoors at my work desk slaving away trying to meet every possible EOFY deadline.

Oh yes I have been eating, the weekend outing type of eating and the binge-on-whatever-you-can-fish-from-that-top-draw-on-the-RHS-of-your-work-desk type of eating. 

Here are few of the highlights of the former kind

1. Takumi

B was going overseas for a few weeks so we decided to have a farewell dinner, aka a kind reminder than "I'm heading off to 4 weeks of awesomeness while you slave away in miserable Melbourne" and being excited with my newly acquired entertainment book, I suggested that we check out Takumi and pig out on all you can eat Beef karubi and Ox tongue. 

Although the meat was decent, the dipping sauces were flavour-some, it was not the best all you can eat BBQ experience that I have had, and I must say the entertainment book discount did ease the pain of paying a bit too much for what it's worth. 

2. High Tea at Grand Hyatt

High school friend H's birthday was coming up, and she had organised a lovely afternoon for the girls to have high tea at Grand Hyatt. It was somewhat surprising to realise given the girly girl that I am, I had never been to high tea. 

I planned my outfit for the afternoon well ahead of the day and ensured that I had enough floral skirts and pearl necklaces to please even the queen. 

   Miss S's bow ring...that has since gone MIA after a particularly memorable post-exam clubbing session at alumbra. RIP bow ring :(

Well now that I have been there and done that, I must say it is possible to have too much of a good thing 

Sweetness overload

Pretty macarons that lacked genuine flavour...

The sandwiches we gobbled up before our dessert buffet, the same sandwiches we craved for after 2 rounds of pure sugar over-load

I wished that they had a few savoury options also at hightea, in that perspective, I think the equivalent amount of money would have been better spent on yumcha. oh and get this,

Does not work at high tea :P Please reserve such behaviour for yumcha only. 

3. (actual yumcha) Tai Pan

Miss S and I visited Tai Pan last saturday, after a rather eventful night that saw us returning to my house around 4am earlier that morning.

Har gow is probably the only canto word I know....nomnomnom 

prettiness and yumminess all in one bite-size pastry.

Forget kebabs, yum cha is the best cure for a persistent hangover :D

Oh so true :D

ahaha.

It's been just over 3 months since I started this blog and I was initially anticipating frequent entries punctuated with lots of yummilicious images of food porn. Hello motivation and dedication, where did you guys go?

I decided to (finally!!) get off my lazy arse and start posting again, hopefully this time in a more constant and frequent manner.

I should have enough energy to see me through this entry given that I had accomplished a 10-hour slumber last night after a nightout consisting of 2 birthday parties, a few drinks (too many) and a considerably significant cab bill after 3 separate rides.

Must say, although I normally don't complain much about how shit the weather has been lately in Melbourne, but a sunny morning would definitely provide a whole lot more encouragement to me to get out of bed than an absolute down-pour. So when I woke up to the sounds of rain hammering the roof above this morning, I simply rolled over and went back to sleep. Yet somewhere around 12:30pm, my stomach was growling so badly I knew I had to feed myself in order to kick start my liver and process all that alcohol consumed several hours earlier.

Sunday brunch destination: where else but Snow Pony.

Snow Pony has been my go-to place for brunches mainly because the food is good and its so damn close to home. On most occasions I would head over with a friend so while waiting for food we could discuss over tap water or soy lattes the latest episode of Gossip Girl, or would catch up on our own gossip within our friendship circles. Today was one of those rare occasion where I'd visit alone, armed with a newspaper and my trusty iphone to distract myself and feel less self-pity about having to dine alone.

Snow Pony is a rather attractive Sunday brunch location and on any regular Sunday you would have to be prepared to wait for 10 or so minutes to be allocated a table. I thought given that 1. It has been non-stop pouring all morning 2. it was way after usual brunching hours and 3. my dining crew consisted only of one individual, I would be able to waltz in and be promptly seated at a table. Oh wishful thinking. After 10 odd minutes standing outside in the cold post down-pour weather my name was finally called and I was directed to a seat at the front of the cafe.

Normally being the sweet-tooth I would go for something fairly light in order to leave some room for dessert later, but I was hungry..and hunger does tend to make decisions on your behalf and I ended up with this

Scrambled eggs, bacon, avocado, slow roasted tomatoes and thyme buttered mushrooms on toast  - also known as the Giddy Up. Everything was delicious about this breakfast plate from the flavour-some mushrooms to the delicate balance between the salty, smokey bacon and the soft avocado EXCEPT one thing. The bread (hidden in the picture below the fluffy scrambled eggs) was so tough that it took some serious elbow grease to cut the crust into bite-size pieces.

Nevertheless it was gobbled up in no time and I still managed to smuggle home a few sweet treats

Lemon & toasted coconut cupcake and mandarin & almond teacake...mmm perfect compliments to a lazy day at home reading books and listening to the rain drops tap on the windows

hi hello:)

Creating a food blog of my own is an idea I have stored in my head for the past few years, but had never reached the realisation stage mainly due to the following reasons:

1. I’m lazy.

2. Although I enjoy documenting my culinary adventures in the form of photographs, I lacked in confidence in my English language skills and questioned whether it would do the food that I critique any justice. (I mean, did that last sentence even make sense?)

3. Uni got in the way. Not a legitimate excuse, I know, since I am known to be the type who procrastinates hard before any assignment falls due or when an exam is about to kick my ass. 

4. I didn’t think most of the restaurant I have visited in the past were deemed “food blog worthy”…a poor uni student cannot afford to Vue de monde it this week and then Movida it the next. (again, a not-so legitimate issue)

5. … and did I mention I’m extremely lazy? 

But (hopefully) everything is about to change.