Prior to Bear going back to Sydney, we did manage to squeeze in a pho date in the West. Pho is one of my favourite things to eat in the Melbourne winter. It's warm soup noodle and best of all, it's generally good, fast and cheap.
During a project with A, he introduced to me Hung Vuong calling it the best pho in Melbourne, he took me and he was right. I then told Bear, Miss P and Mario about it and they were all keen to try it so off we went to the west.
Miss P got the BBH which had a nice rich broth and a soup loaded with topping.
Bear got the pork chop rice. It came with lemongrass scented pork chops, shredded meat load, cucumber, carrots served on a bed of broken rice and fish sauce on the side. The pork chop was well marinated and cooked till it was soft enough to be cut through with a spoon. Quite a satisfying meal.
Mario got the beef special. This is basically a pho version of 'burger with the lot', it had fresh beef, beef balls, tripe, beef sausage, blood and silky soft rice noodles. The broth was intense with flavour.
I got the fresh beef with tripe. This is my go to dish each time I go to pho. I prefer mine simple. There was plenty of beef and by the time I added in all the beanshoots, I was a happy camper. The intensity of the broth was just right.
Overall 17/20 I definitely agree with A, this is the best pho in Melbourne!
This is a name that has been popping up a number of times in the newspaper recently. Melbourne and Sydney have been going through a gelato craze so there has been a number of articles on the best gelato in town. Fritz's name has popped up quite a few times.
Anyway I was near one last Saturday night, so the time had come for me to try one. D and I visited the one in Richmond. It's located on Bridge road, near all the restaurants.
We walked in and was greeted with a friendly guy behind the counter offering us to taste. The strawberry panna cotta caught my eye, so I had that to taste. It was too sweet for my liking. I really wanted pistachio when I walked in and sadly they didn't have any that day.
In the end D and I decided to get a 3 scoop to share, it was like 3 degrees outside and we couldn't decide on the forth flavour so we just got 1, 3 scoop to share. We got the hazelnut, blood orange and strawberry sundae.
The hazelnut was the winner out of the 3, velvety texture and strong hazelnut taste. Blood orange had all the right notes. good tangy and sweet balance. Last flavor was the strawberry sundae, this was a bit 'ordinary' compared to the other 2 flavours. It was a really good strawberry gelato taste to it, but I felt like I wanted more, after tasting the other 2.
Next time I go back, I think I will get the salted caramel. There were 2 ladies near us to got it and was saying how good it tasted. I definitely had gelato envy!
Overall 17/20 great gelato and just makes me want to go back for more!
Baby Pizza is part of the Chin Chin and Kong family. The eccentric cafe is located in Richmond right opposite Top Paddock. It ticks off all the boxes for cool, hip, funky setting with creative and good food. Baby Pizza has been open for awhile but it always got me curious as to why it didn't receive the same hype as it's sister stores, Chin Chin and Kong. I read reviews and it all rated the place to be average but I prefer to try things myself so I ventured there for dinner with D.
We got there around 8.45pm on a Saturday night so we got a table without any issues.
We decided not to eat ourselves silly (for once) and just got 2 pizza and a salad to share.
First pizza was the malanzine, this had eggplant, buffalo mozzarella, basil, cherry roma tomatoes and chilli served with a fior de latte cheese. The pizza base was nice and thin and had just the right amount of topping to not have the base too soggy.
Second pizza was the polpette which was a meatballs pizza. It also came with san marzano tomatoes, chilli, basil and pecorino. The intensity of the pecorino was good match to the meatballs.
As a side we got the cavolo e pieselli salad which came with cabbage, peas, chilli, raddish and parmesan. This was a huge salad, it was quite and relied on the parmesan for taste, I found there wasn't enough on it but once we asked for more, it was perfect. It was lovely and refreshing, went well with the pizza to balance out all the heaviness.
Instead of a dessert I opted for their granita drink of the day which was apple. Light and refreshing. D went with a tomato juice mix.
Overall 16/20 I think it hits the right spots for me. The menu has a wide range of selection and good choices with your non conventional traditional Italian menu. I am looking forward to going back and trying more things on the menu.
Recently I was fortunate enough to be invited by Hiro to try Eis' crispy chicken wrap and grilled eggplant. Prior to Hiro's email, I had heard about EIS from the ET book but that was about it. So this gave me the perfect excuse to try it.
Located in Albert Park it's a close neighbour of Andrew's Hamburgers, where it's a small residential shopping area. It's a small, cosy local Japanese restaurant. Unlike most other Japanese restaurants who either go down the path of fusion of traditional, Eis offers both to accommodate what it's guest may feel like for the day.
We decided, just chicken wrap and grilled eggplant wasn't going to be enough for us, so we decided to go all out and have a proper dinner.
To start I got the special which was a grilled oyster with yuzu miso paste. This reminded me of a Japanese oyster kilpatrick. I really enjoyed it, I could easily eat a dozen of these.
Also got the seared wagyu tataki with roasted garlic (also a special of the night). Loved the thin slices of beef and the tataki flavours infused with robust garlic hits.
Then there was the gyoza. It sat on the traditional side of the menu but to met it was more a modern twist to the classic gyoza I know of. It was deep fried and served with sweet chilli sauce and salad. The gyoza skin was very crispy but I still have a soft spot for the traditional way.
Next was the crispy chicken roll. This was like a cross between a peking duck pancake and a rice paper roll. The crispy chicken and sweet soy combo worked well but the wrap was a bit small.
Final tapas we got was the grilled eggplant. Nasu dengaku is one of favourite dishes to order when I go to a Japanese restaurant. Eis did theirs with plenty of miso paste and grilled the eggplant to a soft silky texture.
For mains, D and I decided on the curry udon and sashimi platter. I've never had a curry udon before so I wasn't sure what to expect. However I was very glad I got it. The curry sauce was served in a heavy soup consistency and it went beautifully with the soft, silken udon. Hiro noticed that we were sharing and was thoughtful enough to halve it in 2 bowls for us. This was definitely my favourite dish of the night.
The other main was the sashimi, good assortment. I was really happy to see scallops on the plate too. Not many places offer scallop on their sashimi platter but it's one of the most tasty seafood to eat fresh.
Hiro was nice enough to spoil us with dessert as well. Green tea ice cream served with red bean paste and almond. It was a great way to end the meal.
Overall 16/20 I like their offering of tapas. I really loved their oysters, curry udon and grilled eggplants. The choice of both traditional and fusion is creative and it's a place I will go back to again with friends
Do you like pastries? Because I do? In fact I love baked goods; bread, cakes, muffins, scones. If it can be found in a bakery or a patisserie, chances are I will like eating it. So when D told me about this amazing little store in Elwood that opens for only 3 days a week and people line up for it, from 6am in the morning I was intrigued.
Lune is located is a quiet suburb area of Elwood. It's by sis/bro team Kate and Cam. Kate had extensive experience under her belt prior opening this little quaint shop with her brother. If you haven't read the newspaper articles, you might be wondering why line at up 6am and not go later? Well, Lune only bakes a limited amount of pastries each day. Tickets go out around 6.30am and the first 30 people in line will get a choice of everything on offer for the day and the subsequent numbers, less as the number goes up.
I actually made 2 visits to Lune, the first time was a Sunday. I got there at 6.20am on a Sunday morning and we were number 72. By the time it reached us, there was still pastries but only plain croissants were left. We left with only 6 plain croissants (6 is the limit per person).
Even though I didn't get any flavoured croissants I was not disheartened. 2 weeks later I went again but this time I went with Miss P. We got there at 6 this time was number 32 and 33. This time round we had almost the choice of everything. The Danish and ham cheese croissant was sold out by the time it got to us. This was a tad disappointing because all morning while waiting in line, Miss P kept saying how badly she wanted that one.
For my 6 I got 1 plain, 2 cruffins, 1 twice baked, 1 rosewater, pistachio chocolate and 1 choc almond.
The cruffin flavours were tiramisu and peanut butter and jam. The cruffin was fluffy and the mascapone was piped into the centre of the cruffin evenly and a hint of coffee. It was buttery, creamy, sweet, and just so damn good.
The PBJ cruffin was Miss P's favourite. A good ratio of peanut butter to jam to highlight the salty and the sweet.
I actually wanted a pain au chocolat but when I heard what was in it, I changed my mind in a heartbeat. The rosewater gave it that beautiful fragrant and the pistachio that nutty goodness. Loved it
Choc almond croissant also came with a hint of orange frangipane. Fluffy like the rest and the perfect amount of buttery goodness.
The twice baked coconut pandan was my favourite out of everything I tried. The top was covered in crunchy almond flakes and filling was stuffed with coconut and pandan granache. I loved how the pandan ganache wasn't too sweet and didn't take away from the actual pastry and the butter taste still had a gentle linger.
If all you can get it plain, I would still take it. These babies were airy and fluffy. I got 6 the first time and stuffed 2 with cheese and ham when I got home. I ate it plain, I ate it with jam. Mum ate one and also agreed it was one of the best croissants she's tasted.
Over 18.5/20 this place kicks ass in terms of it's produce. Is it worth waking up that early for? Hell yea! However still wish she will make more, so I can buy more and get more sleep.
MissyNess was lucky enough to be invited by PappaRich to have private dining session with Masterchef season 1 runner up Poh. She is my mum and my all time favourite Masterchef. Mum ecstatic when she found out. Poh is the very first ambassador for Papparich Australia so it was a real privilege to be there. I have a Malaysian mummy so she had always loved the idea of someone taking Malaysian cooking to the next level and showing the world how delicious it is, like how she showed my sister and I, as we grew up.
When we sat down, I started with my favourite soy milk with grass jelly and mum got her kopi o.
Papparich spoiled us and gave us an array of things to feast on. I got the fish fillet noodle soup. This was delicious milky like soup base with many pieces of deep fried fish fillet. Great alternative if you feel like something not so coconutty.
Mum got her favourite curry laksa. This had the signature creamy laksa soup base loaded with lots of ingredients. Can't go wrong with this one.
There was also the wat tan hor. Very similar to a sa hor fen, with heaps of egg gravy and goes perfectly with green chilli.
We were also give satays and rotis to try. The satay chicken was served with a peanut sauce that was just right. Not too spicy.
Roti kaya is a favourite of mine. Fluffy warm roti bread and coconut jam.
Roti planta, buttery roti bread served with curry sauce, sambal and dahl.
Towards the end there was also dumplings too. Just in case we weren't full enough, there was prawn dumplings and vegetarian foo jook rolls.
As we were all entering our food comas, Poh was such a darling and signed all our aprons and made sure she got a photo with everyone.
Not long after, mum and I followed her into the shopping centre where I got to stand behind the stage for her cooking demonstration.
Thank you Papparich for inviting us to this great event.
This is one of those places I love going to but don't go as much as I like to. Most people think of sweets when they hear Chez Dre but they offer more than that. They have a great selection for brunch with heaps of savory options too.
When D and I went for brunch, we picked out 2 savory options as we knew, we were going to take some cakes home after.
D got the duck sandwich. This was pulled duck with red cabbage, onion jam, apple and truffle mayo on a panini. Won't lie, it was really the truffle mayo that attracted us to this dish. D and I both love our truffles so when truffle is an option on the menu, we would gravitate towards that option. This proved to be a good choice too, the duck was beautifully confit and the crunch of the cabbage with the sweetness of the apple, made it a very filling meal but not to the point you feel disgusting. It was one of those great sandwiches, that you want more of.
I got the baked eggs. I always have great difficulty deciding what to get for brunch, I love my savory and my sweet. This time, savory won, because I knew I had to take a cake (or 2) home. The baked eggs came with eggplant, chorizo, onion and zucchini served with toasted baguette. This was one of those hearty winter morning meals. The warm eggs came with a kick from the chorizo, the egg was just runny enough and there was plenty happening with intense flavours off all the ingredients.
I've been here quite a few times but still struggle when it comes to cakes. They have a great selection but the problem is.... they all look so enticing. After much pondering I finally decided on the lychee dome and strawberry, vanilla fraisier.
The lychee dome had lychee mousse, lime curd, raspberry jelly and finished with coconut. This was a light and fluffy dessert, great for people who don't want something heavy.
The strawberry and vanilla fraisier was more on the cake side. It had multiple layers consisting of orange, vanilla, basil olive oil biscuit and strawberry jam. I love the different components and the texture that came with each mouthful.
Overall 17.5/20 this is one of my favourite brunch places in Melbourne, I love the diversity they offer from sweet, savory to coffee. Definitely a brunch institution in Melbourne.
