Green Refectory

"I have been looking for a breakfast place for quite a while now and I think I found a perfect one in the Green Refectory! Located in Brunswick, Green's is accessible and popular with an amazing breakfast menu at a cheap cost. I enjoyed it very much and will definitely become a regular customer there from now on."

- Yin

Hehe, well that is my sister's 2 cents. Anyways, I was craving for a good big breakfast so between the 4 of us, we ordered their Big Breakfast, their breakfast stack and their pancakes. Instead of the usual maple syrup for their pancakes, they coat it with glorious caramel which is heaven to anyone with a sweet tooth, a little too sweet for my liking, but I would have to say, 3 pancake stacks with banana is really worth it for the price of $7.50. As for their big breakfast, I think its more worthy of being called their MASSIVE breakfast cause seriously, the plate is just been piled up with a whole lot of yummy yummy food, sausages, baked beans, mushrooms, caramelised onions, eggs, toast~ heaven! Last but not least, their breakfast stack was my favourite of the 3 dish, mash potato pattie top off with grilled tomatoes and grilled cheese with poached eggs. Was abit disappointed that the eggs were not poached to perfection but I just adore the potato pattie and its salsa sauce surrounding the dish, just brings it all together beautifully.

Definately coming back for more! I;ve heard that they are quite famous for their open burger, plus their lamb cutlets sounds sinfully delicious as well! Defo going back for more yums food!

The Coffee Club

So it was a rainy moody morning, and what better way to cheer this day up by starting it off with brunch at the coffee club??

Firstly, my apology for not updating my blog for quite some time now, because of exams and dance, my baby has been hibernating and starving!! So I'm so gonna start filling my baby up with more and more glorious food!

So brunch with Bex, hehe catching up over awesome food? Yummmy oh yum! We started of with some drinks, a hot chocolate for Bex and a mocha for me, and man mine came with those teeny marshmellows! First time having marshmellows in my coffee, half melt and gooeyyy, mmmmm, and on a rainy day! Doesn't get as good as that! Bex ordered their eggs benedict with spinich and mushrooms and a side of avocado while I settled on their specialty big breakfast. My protein fix for the morning included the usual, sausages and bacon, all the good stuff you get when you order breakfast, but but but...mine came with a piece of steak as well! I was like whoaaaa! hahaha Although the steak was a tad bit dry, it was a nice combination when you eat it together with their scramble eggs and sauteed mushrooms. Bex's food...its benedict with mushroom, spinich and avocado man. Nuff said. hahaha

Overall it was a nice day despite the weather, man I can't wait for our next brunch session!

Auction Rooms

While I've been reviewing brunch places acound North Melbourne, one of the most talk about cafes would be Auction Rooms. The menu for Auction Rooms is very spoilt for choice, I can never decide what to get! My first trip to Auction Rooms was with Adrienne and the second trip I decided to bring some of my high school friends there for some catch up brunch.

I would say the coffees at AR are amazing, the strong aroma of coffee is absolutely delightful. Their mochas are my favourite because of the rich italian chocolate used. Now on to their food! Firstly I would talk about their twice-cooked pork belly, served with smoky backed beans and house-made corn bread which is one of their well known dishes on the menu. Their corn bread was spectacular, the sweetness of the corn was completely dominant which is what a good corn bread is suppose to have and the texture was flawless. Their pork belly was cooked to perfection and their beans just compliments the entire dish beautifully.

Next up! Their lamb and white wine pie, served on a smoked eggplant puree with a greek 'peasent' salad. The only problem I have for this dish was......erm...none. LOL I just wanted more! The eggplant puree just bind the entire dish beautifully and the pie was amazing from texture to flavour.

Now on to some breakfast! Auction rooms have their breakfast specialty call their 'opening bid' and its where you start of with 2 poached eggs on toast and you can slowly add on whatever you want for a certain amount of price. Having had a little catch up session with my high school girlies, Yuong decided to try their opening bid! Ended up bidding on avocados, mushrooms and baked beans. Chin decided on their 'shady deal' which consisted of moroccan chicken & chorizo stew, with eggplant, olives, poached eggs, dukkah & feta served with grilled flat bread. Isis went vegetarian and gotten their coriander falafel & poached eggs on grilled flat bread, with cumin & mint yoghurt, tabouli, dukkah & tahini sauce. The rest of the girls and I all got their salmon pastrami, with a watercress & rocket salad, sauce gribiche & a poched egg, served on a crumbed potato & fish cake. Only fault was that our eggs were not poached to perfection, being slightly overcooked but other than that, oh man the crumbed potato & fish cake with chunks of salmon was heavenly.

Moving on to something sweeter on the menu, I present you 'la fin de Elvis Presley', which is french toast filled with caramelised banana & rum puree & creamed peanut butter, served with crispy pancetta and vanilla cream. Man I'm telling you, this dish just brings french toast up a whole new level! The caramelised banana was gorgeous plus this little hint of rum puree. Beautiful indeed, and who would have thought that the crispy pancetta neutralised this dish perfectly with a bit of savoury? This dish has been very well thought and very well preapred. I would recommand sharing this dish as it gets abit too much in the end.

Huge thumbs up from me for Auction Rooms, their menu is exciting and very much spoilt with choices plus the environment is soothing indeed. I would recommand coming on a weekdays as the weekends can get really really pack. Hope you guys would enjoy it as much as I did!

Auction Rooms on Urbanspoon

Wooly Bully

Finally a day off on Sunday for me! and what better things to do then to catch up with friends over awesome food on a glorious sunny day! Bex have always wanted to try Wooly Bully which is situated on Errol Street, just right opposite Auction Rooms. It's a tiny yet quirky cafe with an 80's twist. One side of the cafe was just filled with old records and a record player, a tiny black and white tv could also be seen in the corner and just heaps of old comics hanging around the cafe, and they are all for sale!

We started of our brunch with some drinks. I had a mocha whilst Bex tried their hot chocolate. Their coffee was alright and Bex claimed that their hot chocolate tasted abit diluted. Moving on to zee food, oh man they have THE BEST MAC AND CHEESE I'VE EVER TASTED!!! A serve of macaroni and wholegrain mustard cheese sauce with spinich and herbs. The spinich and mustard just brings a simple classic dish up to another level which is just simply orgasmic indeed. Bex and I just couldn't stop digging into their mac 'n' cheese! We also ordered toasted sesame bagel with cured tasmanian salmon, capers and peppers with cream cheese. Their bagels was good but not as good as the one I had Manchester Press but for the price of $7.50 it was worth it.

It was great spending the day with Bex, we havent done that for a very long time, and the awesome food was just another huge bonus. Can't wait to go back for more mac 'n' cheese! om nom nomz!

Manchester Press

A catch up session was very much needed hence Adrienne decided to bring me, Nic and Iz to Manchester Press. The place is very much hidden away in an alley on little Bourke street but the interior of the place is very nice. The atmosphere had an urban chic feel to it, the smell of coffees were delightful and oh man, if you are a bagel fan, you HAVE to go to Manchester Press because their bagels are TO.DIE.FOR!

Me and Adrienne started of with some coffees. Manchester Press is very famous for their coffee art as well. We both ordered lattes and when Iz and Nic joined us, they both had a go at their chai lattes. We started of with one of their breakfast bagels, which was bagels with peanut butter, caramelised bananas and fresh strawberries. They were...Y.U.M.Z. Adrienne claimed that ANYTHING with melted peanut butter would be a hit in anyones' book, I sooo agree!

Moving on to some mains! Well their open bagel sandwiches are 12 dollars each. Iz decided to get their Soft egg bagel with smoked salmon whereas I got their bagel with cream cheese, smoked salmon, dill and capers. Adrienne ordered their avocado and feta bagels whilst I've forgotten what Nic had but it has slices of ham on it. All our bagels has salad on the side and it has a sweet glaze to is. DELICIOUS! They were very generous with their toppings of salmon, ham and avocado.

Thanks Adrienne for introducing me to Manchester Press! I can't wait to bring my mum here, I know she would just love the bagels :)

Chef Lagenda

From time to time, I would have some guest stars to share their love for food with me. For this post, my sister Yin has decided to share her thoughts on Chef Lagenda. Hope you guys enjoy!

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HAPPY BIRTHDAYYY PIGGIETATS!

For the very special occassion of my little sister turning 14, we decided to take re-visit the flavours of our hometown by going to Chef Legenda, a cosy little restaurant tucked away in Flemington.

The atmosphere of the restaurant is quite homey while the intererior design manages the incoporate rustic and contemporary art. When we arrived, the restaurant was quite packed so its good to make a reservation beforehand.

We were led to a quiet little table in the corner which was quite good because we had some privacy. However, I noticed a charming little balcony where there some tables for you to dine out in the fresh air. If you'd like to dine al fresco, you could ask for a table out on the balcony.

The menu is quite authentic and boasted almost all of the delicious Malaysian dishes. My sisters and I decided on ordering the Hainanese Chicken Rice, Fried Hokkien Noodle, Hokkien Noodles in Laksa Soup with BBQ Pork and Soya Duck, Pan-friend Pork Dumplings as well as  the Sago pudding and Passion Fruit Milk Tea for dessert.

The laksa soup was absolutely to die for. I felt like I could get high from the creaminess of the soup. I definitely recommend that. The meat in the dumplings was really smooth and tasty. However there was just too much skin and not enough meat. The fried hokkien noodles was a little bit too much and can be overpowering for those with weak stomachs. The chicken rice was average but I think the rice can be more flavoursome. The sago pudding was too sweet and we had to pour some water into to dilute the Malacca sugar but otherwise it was okay.

The service was pretty good and we manage to meet the owner himself on our way out who shared his thoughts on hayfever and the medical bills that come with it. It was an interesting conversation.

Overall, it was a pleasant experience and I'd definitely choose Chef Lagenda over Laksa King. Thanks to Matthew Tran for recommending me this place. Its always nice and comforting to have some Malaysian food from time to time.

~Yin

Lunch at Fandango

More lunch dates with my girls! I really wanted to try Fandango hence we decided to head off to Errol Street for lunch. I didn't know that they stop serving breakfast at 11am so I was really really disappointed that I didn't get to try their beetroot eggs or their egg pesto. Ah well, all the more reason to re-visit Fandango! I won't rest till I try their beetroot eggs!

The interior of Fandango might be small but it is very cosy place to dine in. There is a courtyard at the back of the cafe which was just adorable. Its nice to just chill there over a nice cup of coffee or tea when the weather is warm and sunny. I was really craving for chai latte on the day but I found out that their house specialty is actually their chai tea. I was curious so I decided to try it, and man was the chai tea deeeeeelicious. It even came with honey and a teapot with those little teapot warmers on. Adorable indeed!

Lunch menus were mainly sandwiches or wraps. I ordered their chicken toasted sandwich with avocado, swiss cheese, spinach and mayo. Dari had their ham, cheese & tomato toasted sandwich with homemade relish. Jiamin ordered their egg and bacon sandwich which consists of fried egg and bacon with spinach, cheese and tomato relish on toasted sourdough whilst Sharon ordered their B.L.A.T sandwich which has bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato and mayo. They were really good sandwiches, great bread and fresh ingredients.



Egg & bacon sandwich

Ham, Cheese & Tomato toasted sandwich

B.L.A.T Sandwich

Chicken avocado sandwich

Will definitely come back to Fandango, I am determined to try their eggs! Probably next week when spring break starts. Till then , stay tune for Fandango part 2!