This post is sponsored by Nuffnang.  Please see here for my policy on sponsored posts and advertising.

I was lucky to get some awesome gifts for my birthday last week, but Mother's Day is coming up and it's time to start thinking about what to get your mum!  Magshop are currently running a Mother's Day promotion where you could win an amazing trip for 2 to Italy!  All you have to do is subscribe to one of their many titles.  A magazine subscription could be a great gift for your mum: there are titles for every taste, and the gift lasts all year long.

For Mother's Day this year, I'd like to make my mum a delicious Italian meal featuring her favourite ingredients.  My mum loves pumpkin and feta, so maybe a pumpkin and feta risotto, with homemade basil pesto and a rocket salad.

Another option could be homemade pizza.  My mum doesn't often eat pizza at home, so it would be a special treat.  I'd make the dough from scratch, and top it with thin slices of pumpkin and decadent buffalo mozzarella.

For the final in my series of Panasonic Lumix TZ10 posts, I thought I'd share some different pictures from various food-related adventures over the past few months.  Hope you enjoy them!!

The first picture is the stunning bar at JJ's Bar and Grill at Crown...

Ooh.. don't touch, kids!

Next up are shots from the birthday dinner I made for my friend Kristine back in (eeep!) July.  She specifically requested the meat-on-meat goodness of the pork wellington she'd seen on my blog.  For those of you who don't remember, my pork wellington was an improvised recipe - pork fillet wrapped in proscuitto, sealed in a pan, wrapped in homemade puff pastry and baked.  This time I changed it up a little, making a parmesan pastry (pastry recipe from Snowflakes and Schnapps).

Before baking

And out of the oven...

You'll see I added the birthday girl's initials to one of the rolls!  These were served with a rocket, parmesan, pear and walnut salad, a potato gratin and creamy mushroom sauce.

And for dessert, I made an old favourite, Nigella Lawson's chocolate fudge cake, this time with milk chocolate in the icing instead of dark chocolate.  And a little edible glitter sparkle for our Twilight-loving girl!

Huge slab of cake and a bit of self-loathing? Hehe.

I know every other blogger has been, and I daresay the hype has died down already, but I wanted to let y'all know that I really enjoyed 3 Bags Full, in Abbotsford.  We went late-ish on a Sunday arvo, and despite the long wait (first for a table, and then for our food to come out), the atmosphere was pleasant and staff were friendly and didn't forget about us. Food and coffee were great too.  Yay!

Cappuccino - Single Rosetta milk pattern

I was particularly impressed by my meal - cauliflower fritters with grilled halloumi, rocket and relish.  Really tasty, and full of some of my fave ingredients!  Must figure out a recipe for this to make at home.  I think the combo would work spectacularly as a little canapé or starter.


And now for something not quite as impressive as 3 Bags Full - Max Brenner.  Funny thing is, I used to love it!  I first visited the Max Brenner in Harrods back in '04.  This was after a mammoth trip around Europe, which was awesome, but really exhausting as well.  I was travelling solo around the continent, lugging my massive suitcase up and down rickety stairs in dodgy hostels, and at one point even had my camera stolen.  (I know, A-holes!)  But with all that adventure behind me, I was finally back in comfortable London (staying with an aunt), about to fly back home to Melbourne, and treated myself to some Max Brenner goodness.  I sat by myself on the top floor of Harrods, and enjoyed a rich suckao hot chocolate and a huge chocolate chip cookie. I felt like I was having the most decadent, indulgent treat ever.

You can imagine how excited I was when I came back and learnt that Max Brenner was opening up in Melbourne!  That was 6 years ago now, but I can honestly say it's never been that good here.  I mean, I like their food and drinks, but they are overpriced.  And the service has deteriorated greatly over the past few years.  It seems uniformly poor across the different outlets - confused, slow and inefficient, especially during busy periods.  If you're paying $6 for a hot chocolate, shouldn't table service be part of the deal?  Or at least a clean table? Or the ability to flag down a waiter if you want some water?

But, I suppose if you have a bit of cash to splash and you're not in a hurry to get anywhere, why not?  I went with some friends a couple of months ago, and had a pleasant enough time.  (I must say the company was far superior to the cafe experience!)  I can't remember if it was me or someone else in the group who suggested chocolate that day, but at any rate, apologies to the D-man for putting him through the stress of their ordering 'system'!  But having said all that... we did get our food in the end, and I definitely enjoyed it!

Molten chocolate pudding

Waffle with chocolate sauce - yum!

Hot chocolate in hug mug

This one seemed promising...

... but was rid-onk-ulously overpriced and just, well, a bit crap.  Looking back on it, I'm not sure what else I would have expected from a festival - cheap prices and no queues? - hardly.  But oh well, we live and learn.  I was not paying $8 for a paper cup of Gluhwein!  Not unless it's a proper Christmas market and there's snow and Bratwurstfilzl and Flammkuchen and roast chestnuts...  We stayed at the festival for about 20 minutes and then went for pho, hehe.

But not before one of these...

Hurricane Potato!

It's a potato, cut into a giant corkscrew shape and deep fried on a stick! Genius! Super-expensive at $5 (WTF!!) but I just had to try one.  Giant-deep-fried-potato defeats rational thought, every time.  It was crunchy and soft and yum!  I doused it liberally with paprika and salt for added deliciousness.

Acland Street

Two Sundays ago, we enjoyed Melbourne's first properly warm and sunny spring day. Yay!  So, like the rest of Melbourne, we thought it might be a good idea to drive down to Acland street and enjoy the sunshine.

Just like this little fella... how cute is he?!

Awww...

We started off at Leroy Espresso for lunch.  Usually there's a long wait, but because of the traffic we only got there around 2:30 and were able to get a table straight away. Woo-hoo!


Leroy Espresso
191 Acland St
St Kilda
VIC 3182
(03) 9525-5166

Left: Iced Mocha - $4, Right: Iced Coffee - $4

Sandra ordered her usual - beef burger with egg and bacon, no salad.

Beef burger and chips

I ordered a lamb wrap, which was massive!

Lamb wrap with tzatziki

I seriously found a whole tomato in there, haha.  Apart from the tomato, it was full of tender and juicy grilled lamb, loads of onions and salad, olives and a big lob of tzatziki.  The wrap bread itself was thin and crunchy, and soaked up all the sauce deliciously.

Su ordered a spicy chicken wrap, which, as you can see was also massive, with half an avocado plonked on top and heaps of salad.  Again very filling, but super tasty.  There are some other cafes and restaurants around town, that trade on their massive portions but have no regard for taste or freshness.  Leroy, on the other hand, makes fab food in big quantities.  Win!

Cajun Chicken Wrap

I forgot to make note of the prices, but from memory the burger and wraps were about $15 each.




After a spot of shopping, we stopped at my favourite Acland street cake shop, Europa.  They make the best cheesecake in town!  And powidl-filled Polish donuts, if you are into that sort of thing.  (I can see no earthly reason why you wouldn't be!)

Europa Cake Shop
81 Acland Street
St Kilda
Vic 3182
Website

Sooo much cake...

Different cheesecakes, cakes, and slices

Pretty meringues!

Blackforest Cake, brandy snaps, fab plain cheesecake below

Best. Cheesecake. Ever.

With that huge lunch, there was no room for donuts, coffees or cake.  We just bought one slice of cheesecake to bring home.  Marvel at my restraint, peoples!

I will admit that I am a total noob when it comes to Korean food or culture.  In fact, my Korea-related knowledge is limited to having watched Winter Sonata (but dubbed in Japanese - oh Yon-sama!) and My Sassy Girl, which made me cry like a baby!  As an erstwhile language student, I always found listening to Korean frustrating, but only because I always used to think it was Japanese at first... until I realised I didn't understand a single word!  D'oh!  I don't think I'll be able to pick up Korean any time soon, but I certainly want to learn more about the cuisine!  And I was very happy when the lovely Duncan suggested Oriental Spoon for a cheap-and-cheerful catch-up dinner.

Oriental Spoon
254 LaTrobe St
Melbourne 3000
Ph: (03) 9654-9930


Oriental Spoon is just opposite Melbourne Central, and I think it's been refurbished recently, hence the fancy looking interior above.  It was relatively quiet when we got there at about 6:30 on a Monday night, but it slowly got busier as the evening progressed.

Honey & Citron Tea - $3.70

Front: beanshoots, Back Right: Kim Chi, Back Left: Some sort of noodle/mayo thing

The above condiments are provided free on every table.  I'm still not a huge fan of kimchi - it's an acquired taste I haven't quite acquired yet - but I loved the beanshoots!  Tau Geh is one of my fave things to eat.  The bowl at the back on the left was some sort of cold noodle thing with a thick mayo sauce.  I didn't mind it, but I don't think anyone else on the table was too crazy about it.

Sandra had a spicy chicken bulgogi, which came in a huge portion!  It could have easily been shared between 2 people.  You can order it in a varying levels of chilli-intensity - I believe this was "hot". It wasn't mind-blowingly hot, but just a nice comfortable level of chilli.  (Although I do realise that chilli-heat is a subjective thing!)

Spicy Chicken Bulgogi - $16.90

Duncan and I each ordered the stone-bowl beef bim bim bap, which came with a bowl of soup.  I'm not quite sure what it was - it looked like miso, but didn't have that fishy dashi-broth taste to it.
.

Beef Stone Bowl Bim Bim Bap - $16.90

I quite liked the bim bim bap, especially the combination of all the different veggies (and more of those fab bean shoots!)  Even though it was a huge serve, it didn't seem too heavy or rich.  However, whilst I did enjoy the dish, Duncan mentioned that it was missing the expected crunchy rice on the bottom of the stone bowl.

I think Oriental Spoon was a pretty good find - cheerful, reasonably efficient service and tasty food, all in a central location.  However, at $16.90 for individual dishes, I think it's quite expensive, and I'm sure there are cheaper (and probably better) options around.

So speaking of which... what are your favourite Korean restaurants in Melbourne? Do you have a favourite Korean dish?

On Saturday night last week, I'd planned to have a quiet night in and cook some pasta. Then I saw this delicious looking post on Agnes' blog. I called Cafe Vue, booked a table, and we drove straight over. Oops!

Cafe Vue
401 St Kilda Road
Melbourne Vic 3004
Ph: (03) 9866-8055
Website


For some reason it was very quiet, despite it being a Saturday night. The busy breakfast and lunchtime crowds were nowhere to be seen. In fact, apart from us, there was just one group of about 10, and only 3 other couples all night. (One of which included a fellow food blogger - HI!) Perhaps people just don't realise it's open for dinner!

For dinners, they do a fixed price menu: $45 for 2 courses, $55 for 3. It's $10 cheaper if you go for lunch. The meal starts with some delicious house-made baguette, which comes warm in a little cloth bag. It's actually a re-useable cloth envelope, interestingly enough. The waitstaff were super nice and quick to refill the bread too - one of the bonuses of coming on a quiet night, I think.
Butter is my friend.

The menu had changed a bit since Agnes' visit, so the braised beef cheek with confit potato which caught my eye was, unfortunately, not available, but the new menu had quite a few nice options as well. We both got a main and shared a dessert - I really don't know how anyone could manage 3 courses to themselves!

I went for a seafood option - poached kingfish in curry sauce.

Kingfish poached in curry sauce


The kingfish fillet was gently poached in a coconut-based yellow curry, served atop pommes mousseline (AKA really smooth and creamy mashed potatoes), with a refreshing cucumber-coriander leaf salad. Scattered around the plate was 'curry mix', kinda like Malaysian keropok - a crunchy mixture of wild rice, couscous, corn, pecans and other little spicy goodies. Such an unusual combination, but it worked so well! I absolutely loved it.

Sandra went for braised wagyu with pickled radish. Not knowing how the pickled radish would taste, she asked if it could be left out. However, our waitress let us know it was a good flavour combination, and suggested that they bring it out separately so that she could try it and see if she liked it - clever!

This came with pommes mousseline as well, although the presentation was a bit more whimsical, and "what is life without whimsy?"

Braised wagyu

And here is the pickled radish. How cute are the little pieces! They were both refreshing and mild in taste, and a great foil for the rich braise. I'm really glad we still got them.

Not having entrees meant we had room for a side! The fries were slightly chunky, with the skins left on for extra tastyness. Fabulous, although they got a bit too salty towards the bottom of the plate.
Pommes frites - $8

As soon as I saw "cookie" on the dessert menu, y'all know I had to order it! Below we have the deconstructed cookie with milk ice-cream. Ta-dah!
Deconstructed cookie with milk ice-cream

There were chocolate cookie crumbs, piped blobs of dark chocolate mousse, 2 scoops of light milk ice-cream, and a few shards of dark chocolate, which, infathomably, didn't melt no matter how long I held them between my fingers! When I asked, our waitress said they were tempered - but I still don't get why they wouldn't melt. Any ideas, food techie people?

Mmm... milk ice-cream.

The serving of this was massive, and even between 2 of us we struggled to finish it. But, of course, we did.

All up, dinner for 2 was less than $90, with dee-licious food, a nice relaxed atmosphere and great service. Great value for a special little dinner, and definitely more accessible than the whole shebang down at the original Vue De Monde. Thanks to Agnes for the heads up!

Read about my previous visit to Cafe Vue here.