Cafes

The Unblogged Files: May 2014

6/01/2014 10:08:00 PM

Welcome to my Unblogged Files for May! After all of my April birthday craziness, May just kept on rolling. In addition to the remainder of my seemingly endless birthday celebrations (four more posts to come), May was a big birthday month for friends and family, and there were loads of dinners, cafe catchups and even a trip to Mildura! We did the full degustation at Stefano's and it was aaa-mazing! Full blogpost to come.

The Cheese Course at Stefano's

Here are some breakfasts!

Top left: Toaster waffles with coconut yogurt
Top right: Baked banana oatmeal with pecans walnuts and cream
Bottom left: Scrambled eggs
Bottom right: Rye toast with scrambled eggs, pine mushrooms and goats curd

Top: Bruschetta with goats curd and vegetable pasta sauce
Bottom left: Bruschetta with goats curd and truffle honey
Bottom right: Avocado toast!

It was my Dad's birthday in May, and we took him to Mister Bianco (285 High Street, Kew 3101) for dinner. Lots of deliciousness there, and I loved this cute dessert of Sicilian-style donuts 'sfinci' with macadamia gelato and a strawberry jam injection. Hoping to blog this one!

Sicilian style donuts ‘sfinci’ with macadamia gelato + strawberry jam injection - $16

I caught up with the girls at work for a comforting Bavarian meal at Hofbräuhaus (18-20 Market Lane, Melbourne 3000), and couldn't resist the Wurstplatte (sausage platter), with bratwurst, cheese kransky and three little Nürnberger sausages, with mashed potato, sauerkraut, mustard and crispy onions.

HB WURSTPLATTE - A selection of German Bratwurst, Käsekrainer and Nürnberger - $29.50

And now some homecooked meals! Despite being tired from going out so much, we did manage to do a bit of home cooking, and didn't rely on takeaway too much, yay. (Just one sneaky home delivered Indian meal)...

Top left: Potatoes, scrambled eggs, spinach
Top right: Grilled trout with chickpea salad
Bottom left: Saffron-scented chicken pilaf
Bottom right: Bratwurst, potatoes, creamed Brussels sprouts

Left: Roast Beetroot salad, walnuts, goats curd
Top right: Cajun spiced polenta crumbed chicken, peas, roast veggies
Bottom right: Spicy Mexican soup 

Spaghetti with sardines, garlic, chilli, basil

I'm totally obsessed with the new Emporium shopping centre, and am always finding excuses to go there to eat (or shop!) My favourite outlet in their "cafe court" is Rice Workshop (spicy chicken on rice for the win). I Love Pho was very disappointing (chicken tasted weird and the spring rolls were very greasy). Jimmy Grants was just as good as the original venue - yay. Whilst I didn't like the grainy and weak "Island Coffee" at Thr1ve, the date and walnut bread was very nice and I am intrigued by their health-focused menu. I'll definitely be back to try more things!

Top row L-R: Rice workshop - Ontama salmon don; spicy teriyaki chicken don; tempura udon
Bottom row L-R: I Love Pho, Jimmy Grants, Thr1ve

I visited Lt. Nic (262 Lonsdale St, Melbourne 3000), with my friend Alaina for lunch one day - loved the bright fitout and friendly service. I had a "My Asian Brother" baguette (5-spice rubbed crispy roast pork with sesame and apple slaw), a "The Ronin" salad (pumpkin, brocolli, chickpeas, sundried tomatoes) and sparkling water. All for $15!

Pork sandwich, salad, water - $15

And speaking of baguettes, I was invited to attend the launch of the new winter menu at Ba'Get (132 Russell St, Melbourne 3000), where we got to sample refreshing cocktails, fab taro and pork spring rolls, loads of their famous banh mi (in cute miniature form), and learned how to make bo kho (Vietnamese beef stew). Perfect winter warming food! Thanks to Duy for the invitation and the fun night!

Baby Banhi Mi

Bo Kho with Baguette

Also this month, I finally got to try one of those Matt Forbes donuts that everyone is talking about - by which I mean I managed to convince my buddy Jimbo to buy one and give me a tiny slice so I could taste it without having to eat a whole one, tee-hee-hee. (He didn't need much convincing). It was soooo good! If you happen to see one of these babies around town, try them!

Salted caramel donut

I visited Middle Fish (122-128 Berkeley St, Carlton 3053) this month. I'd avoided it for the longest time because my parents had a terrible experience there a year or so ago - rude service, bad food, uncomfortable seats - however, Sandra wanted to go and it was her birthday! Thankfully the service was friendly and we liked the food - I'm hoping my parents' experience was just a once-off. I would be curious to hear other people's opinions of the restaurant! I really liked the home-style Thai breakfast I ordered - rice, crispy pork belly pieces and a soft-boiled egg in clear broth. Comforting and delicious.

Kao Tom (with pork belly)

So like I said, Sandra's birthday is at the end of May - hooray! In addition to the impromptu lunch at Middle Fish, we had a few proper, planned, celebrations...

First up was dinner at Merchant Osteria Venezia (495 Collins St, Melbourne 3000), which is a favourite of mine for their fab arancini, octopus salad and duck polenta! (See my previous post on Merchant).

Dinner at Merchant

We also celebrated with our blogger buddies at Rita's Cafeteria (239 Johnston St, Abbotsford 3067). They're famous for their very good pizzas, but I was blown away by their crispy roast potatoes in bone marrow. ZOMG. They were super fluffy, super crispy, totally amazing! (Blogpost to come).

Potatoes roast in bone marrow

Together with my parents, we went to Tutto Bene (28 Southgate Avenue, Melbourne 3006), which is a family favourite for the easy location, good prices and excellent risotto. (Wow, now that I look back I see that Sandra really wanted Italian food for her birthday!) Particularly impressive were the seafood linguine, and the Capesante risotto with scallops, truffle and samphire.

Tutto Bene

On her actual birthday, we did drinks at Lui Bar (495 Collins St, Melbourne 3000). I love that place - love the views, love the service, love the inventive and beautifully presented cocktails. It was a bit too dark in there to get good photos of the cocktails, but I had to be naughty and take a flash photo of their incredible nutella donuts.

Lui Bar nutella donuts - $18

Following the drinks we needed some salty, spicy, carby food, and Noodle Kingdom (264 Swanston St, Melbourne) did the trick nicely.

Noodle Kingdom

And that was May! Looking back, I seriously cannot believe I ate so much! I'm hoping June will be a little quieter, hehe! We have a couple of dinners planned, but apart from that all I want is gym, sleep, homecooking and couch!

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5 comments

  1. Don't tell anyone but of this entire post, I want your homecooked meals and breakfasts the most.

    PS Except for the roasted potatoes n bone marrow because WTF GIVE ME THOSE

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  2. I heart your homemade breakfasts too!

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  3. It all looks good but all I'm thinking of is seving my next batch of donuts with a jam injection! :D

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  4. What an amazing month of eating! (Is it bad that the most appealing meal to me were the toaster waffles? I think I'm craving carbs!)

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  5. I guess my love for food has increased by a lot just by reading your post. There goes my diet plans for tomorrow! I am visiting a self storage around that area and I am sure I will find myself ending up somewhere around these eateries instead. Thanks for sharing with us your fabulous May adventures and we are definitely looking forward to many more to come!

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