Earl Canteen

Earl canteen has been the talk of the town for quite sometime now, and I've always wanted to try it out. Having not caught up for a very long time, Piek Chea decided we should have lunch together and we both agreed to head off to Earls. Yippie! finally I got to try their food and we weren't disappointed one bit!

Situated behind an office building, it has a relaxing environmental feel, together with a few more other cafes and restaurants, it is quite isolated which I think is great. I can see that most of the customers here are working people on their lunch break. A place to get their mind off daily stress and work and to just enjoy good food and a cup of coffee, even if its just an hour :) Makes it all the more reason to enjoy it! It was great seeing Peik Chea after not seeing her for almost half a year. We choose to sit outside, taking advantage of the glorious warm day which we rarely get during winter.



Look who decided to drop by?



While scanning through the menu, we were told that their signature pork belly baguette has been sold out. I decided to have their duck confit which has duck confit, caramelised figs, walnuts, onion jam, radicchio and watercress serve in ciabatta. Oh man, it was soooooo good! They were very generous with the duck confit which I was very please and the sweetness of the caramelised figs and the onion jam just brought the whole dish together. The texture of the walnut gave the dish a crunch texture and with the radicchio and watercress just makes it such a beautiful dish. Highly recommended! 

Peik Chea ordered their Mushroom and goats' curd which consists of roast field mushrooms, goats' curd, pesto, chestnuts and rocket, served with ciabatta as well. The mushrooms were roast to perfection and very juicy, plus the amount of pesto in the ciabatta was beautiful. The goats' curd was good as well, not too salty although they might have put abit too much of them. Overall it was a beautiful dish.

I have heard that their macarons weren't very consistent so we were doubtful whether or not we should get some to try. There were only 2 flavours that were available, their salted caramel and their earl grey tea flavoured macaron. Having tried a fair share of macarons, earl grey was quite new to both us hence we decided to try it. Oh man, the macarons were delightful! not only was the texture spot on, the flavour was great, with just a hint of earl grey tea in there, it was just what we need to finish our beautiful lunch.

Overall, we enjoyed the food very much and most importantly the company It was great catching up with you Peik Chea! I'm sure we would have many more lunch dates to come ;)

EARL Canteen on Urbanspoon

Chocolate Indulgence with the people you love

Happy birthday my dearest Jiamin!

well, technically it was last friday, but awww my little food buddy has hit the big TWOZERO! I know she has been bugging me to go for high tea in a while now but we just never got round to it because high tea can be very expansive, but on her birthday we decided we just had to go! Once a year hahahaha, we shall see about that ;)

So we choose to go to the Langham hotel's Aria. Their signature Langham Tiffin afternoon tea and the Chocolate indulgence afternoon tea are an ARIA tradition, popular with Melbournians and visitors. They have 2 selections on their menus. First the Tiffin afternoon tea set which serves a traditional three tiered silver stand including scones with chantilly cream and preserve and twists on old English favourites. Served with leaf tea, espresso coffee or hot chocolate. The other, which is the Chocolate Indulgence afternoon tea is like the Tiffin afternoon tea, but with an extra selection of delectable chocolate treats that will satisfy the strongest of chocolate cravings.

We choose the chocolate indulgence set and started off straight away by ordering some tea. They have a huge variety of exotic teas. Dari had their apple tree which has a delicate clean refreshing finish with a vitamin c boost for health. The colour of the tea was an attractive pink and it smelled lovely. Same goes to Jiamins'. She had a greentea and also berry green which has a subtle palette of raspberry, strawberry and red currents. The tea smelled lovely but when you actually drink it, it tasted just like any normal tea. I had their latte but as the day progress I eventually tried their cappuccino, chai latte and this flavoured tea called tea party which is a rooibos tea enhanced with the elegance of rose petals. It was delightful indeed. Dari also tried their White Rose which was a potent dose of anti oxidant which is slightly sweet to the pallete.

Now on to the food! As stated above, it was served in a three tiered silver stand. Starting from the bottom stand, it was a delightful selections of sandwiches. The sandwiches that was served were smoked salmon, cucumber ribbon, egg mayo & cress and cream cheese &chives. My favourite would be the smoked salmon, fresh and made delicately.

The second stand consisted of scones served with jam, butter and clotted cream. There were 2 types of scones, plain ones and  chocolate chipped scones. The texture was lovely but the shape was abit wonky and those scones were so filling! Dari absolutely adored the cream, they were whipped well and the taste wasn't too strong, goes with the scones perfectly.

Now on to the final plate, the little dessert bites which consisted of valrhona chocolate and malibu souffle, lime and bitter trifle, jaffa chocolate torte, chocolate truffle marquise, strawberry chocolate vacherin & elderflower cream, and last but not least, amarascataroulade with cocoa nibs. By the end of these, I could honestly say, death by chocolate literally. My favourite would probably be the jaffa chocolate torte, the sweetness of the orange and the bitterness of the chocolate are match made in heaven indeed with a little layer of orange jelly in the bottom. I wanted more of those! The lime and bitter trifle was something new, but I would say it was abit too sour for our taste buds.



Overall the experience was delightful, we finally had our first high tea experience! I'd say the price wasn't really worth it, although the food and drinks were free flow but we were pretty much full when we finished the first servings. Definitely because of the scones. But catching up on old times and just talking was great, I have missed you girls :) and like I've stated, chocolate indulgence with the ones you love, priceless.

Seven Seeds

I first found out about Seven Seeds through my food chem lecturer. As a coffee lover, she highly recommended theirs so me and Chian Woon decided we just had to go there and try their coffee. My fondness for hidden alleyway cafes was yet again being fullfield cause it doesn't get any hidden then this. When Nicole brought me there I was like....no way...I would never have found this place!

Walking in, the place hits me with a rustic chill urban style feel which I really enjoy, the smell of freshly brewed coffee instantly fills up your senses, reminding you why you're here in the first place. Me and Nic decided to grabbed a coffee and just some quick bites to munch on. I had a flatwhite whilst Nic decided on their hot chocolate. Now Seven Seeds are really famous for their hot chocolate, rich and dark, oh boy it was authentic bitter sweet dark chocolate that just slides down your throat and just makes you close your eyes and just feel. Feel and savour the chocolate, its just one of those little things that just makes life wonderful. We were told that it usually comes with a chocolate stick that melts into the hot chocolate but they were out of it :( ah well, all the more reasons to come back for more :p



There were selections of little treats and bites on the counter. Man so seductive, I could just hear them going :" come onnnnn~~ you know you want someeee~~" You bet I do. So I chose a little carrot cake. When I bit into it, I was glad to find that it wasn't very sweet, with chunks of walnut in there and little carrot bits. The texture was light and crumbly, and the little knob of cream cheese on the top just seals it perfectly. Nic had this meringue muffin sorta? haha its funny, Nic calls it a hybrid muffin. The outer layer was a crunchy meringue but when you bite into it, it has a crumbly muffin to it. I would say it's sorta like a macaron feel? but just the fact that it has an inner muffin like feel just make me go "?!?!?". But man it was gooooooooooood! I highly recommend people to try it, something new and foreign for the tastebuds ;)



*left* hybrid muffin xD *right* carrotcake muffin





Besides those I've also tried their chai latte. It has an earthy spicy taste to it. The flavours weren't very strong but it just has this little kick to it? I liked it but it wasn't my favourite. Their coffee in the other hand was delightful. I could just see me going there everyday to get my daily dose of coffee, how fortunate that the place is just a 3 minutes walk away.



*left* chai latte *right* flatwhite



Besides coffee and cakes, they do serve main dishes as well which looks really delightful and healthy, maybe I'll try them out soon, probably with my mum soon, I know she would just love this place! At the mean time, can't wait till tomorrow so I have an excuse to grab more coffee!

Seven Seeds on Urbanspoon

Ramen Ya

After a month of much needed break, the winter holidays were over and it was back to uni for another hardcore semester, bring it on! Well first day back in uni was always a great time to catch up with friends, I had a 2 hour break so me and Jiamin wanted to grab something quick to eat. We decided to head of to ramen ya as we heard they have some cheap and good ramen.

Ramen ya was situated in a little lane way between the GPO and the new Myers building. I realised that I sort of have a thing for hidden restaurants at alleyways recently, maybe its the 'in' thing now? being hidden and mysterious, not knowing what you're gonna expect? haha life is about expecting the unexpected anyways. So as the name stated, they have a variety of ramens, not only that, they serve bento boxes as well. After deciding, Jiamin decided to get their chef's speciality, the charshu ramen and I got their gyoza ramen. There are 3 different soup base to choose from which was tonkutsu, miso and shoyu.

First impression we got when the dish came was...where's the charshu? There was only a miserable few thin slices, which was disappointing. Jiamin had a tonkutsu soup base and she claimed that it tasted abit weird. But the texture of the ramen noodles was good and for 10 bucks, the ramen was quite a decent size.

I had a shoyu soup base for my gyoza ramen. The soup was alright but it left a little weird after taste in my mouth. The gyoza was good but I think it lacks filling, would love to have more meat in my gyoza. The ramen noodles, again, was good and the dish came together pretty well.

So in conclusion, for 10 bucks you get a pretty good decent size bowl of ramen, would probably come back and try their bento boxes, fingers cross it won't be as disappointing as their ramen.

The Quarter

So Nicole and I decided to have lunch at Degrave's street, and we couldn't decide on which cafe to go for. As we are walking along Degraves, I remembered having eaten at The Quarter before, but I've only tried their breakfast menu and if memory served me right, I really enjoyed their breakfast, so why not give their lunch menu a shot? no harm done right? well we weren't disappointed that's for sure.

Although the place was really small and packed, their service was pretty good. They have a wide variation of food on their menu, which made it even harder for us to decide what to get. In the end I went for their chicken and chorizo risotto arborio rice with marinated chicken fillets, which has spicy chorizo sausage and green peas tossed in a light red sauce and topped with parmesan cheese whilst Nic had their pasta of the day which was penne with seared scallops calamari, black olives and spinach in a garlic and napoli sauce. They both tasted as good as it sounded, although my only complain would be the risotto needed to be cooked just a teewee bit more, and it would have been perfect, but the flavours were all there and tasted amazing.



Penne with seared scallops, calamari, black olives and spinach in a garlic and napoli sauce





Chicken and chorizo risotto



Nic's iced chocolate ~

As for the breakfast menu, I remembered having their Eggs Salmon which consisted of 2 poached eggs with smoked salmon and baby spinach on toasted turkish bread, topped with hollandaise sauce. I had hashbrowns on the side just cause I was craving for them xD My friend had their Spanish eggs cooked Mediterranean style with chorizo which was on special on the day. Breakfast was agreeable with my eggs poached to perfection! Of course no breakfast would be completed without coffee, my friend and I ordered a flat white and a hot chocolate.



flat white & hot chocolate




Eggs Salmon





Spanish Eggs

 Overall, The Quarter offered great food and great service, would definitely come back to tick of the rest of the menu!

Root Vegetable Cottage Pie, Shepherd's Style

Shepherd's pie is one of those classic dish that everyone just love to eat, and for some reason I was craving for it so why not attempt in making one myself? I gave mine a little twist, by adding one of Melbourne's current seasonal vegetable, the pumpkin! I totally underestimate the time of making this dish, although scheming through the menu it seems easy enough but who knew it took me like close to 2 hours to make it, probably cause I had some distraction from my dinner guests at the time xD but overall, I shall say the dish is a success! Oh one of the comment I've got was that the dish had abit of an Asian taste? although there was nothing Asian in it, so that was interesting feedback, why not you guys try it out and let me know what you think? :)

Ingredients

450g Brushed Potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 Medium Parsnip, peeled
500g Beef Mince
1 Small Brown Onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp Fresh Chopped Thyme
1 Medium Carrot, peeled and cut into small dice
1½ cups Butternut Pumpkin, peeled and cut into small dice
2 tbsp Tomato Paste
1½ cups Beef Stock
Milk
Butter
Melted Butter, for brushing

Methods
Serves 4

1. Preheat oven to 190˚C.  Place the chopped potatoes and parsnip in a large saucepan and fill with enough water to cover. Add salt and bring to the boil. Cook until both are tender and good for mashing. Strain the potatoes and parsnip and mash. Add in warm milk and butter(approx) and whisk till mash has a creamy consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

2. Meanwhile, heat some oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat and cook the beef until browned and just cooked through, breaking up any large chunks. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Strain the beef from the pan and reserve on the side. Return the pan to the heat.

3. Add the onion and cook for 1 minute, then add the garlic to the pan and cook for 3 minutes or until translucent. Add the carrots and cook for 1 minute, then add the pumpkin to the pan and cook for 4 minutes stirring occasionally. Add the tomato paste and stir to coat the vegetables, cook for 2-3 minutes being careful not to scorch the tomato paste.

4. Add the beef back to the pan and stir well to mix, then add the beef stock, stir well and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat and cook covered, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

5. Pour the mixture into 4 small individual baking dishes or ramekins and prepare the mash. You could either pipe the mash with a decorative pattern or spoon the mash over the filling and using a fork make cross hatch marks or swirls. Brush the top of each cottage pie with melted butter and place on a baking tray and into the oven.

6. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and the filling is heated through. Remove from the oven and allow the pies to sit at room temperature for 5 minutes before serving.

So in conclusion, thumbs up from my guinea pigs! ;) you know who you are hahaha, yumz~

Giraffe Cafe

It's been awhile since I've last been to giraffe cafe. I would say that it had to be my favourite cafe to go to for a cup of coffee or desserts back in 2009. The interior of the cafe is adorable and is design to make the customers feel like home, I could just sit there for hours easily. Oh! and hidden around the shelves are little games that could be played such as uno cards and jenga. I remember the time where me and my friend were trying so hard not to lose at jenga cause everytime it crashes, people around us would stare at us and we would just burst into giggles xD lovely memories~

Now on to the food! My absolute favourite from giraffe cafe would be their chocolate pudding. I would describe it as orgasmic. Yeap, heavenly orgasmic, when the cold vanilla ice-cream melts and blend with the hot freshly baked chocolate pudding, prepare yourself for 5 minutes in heaven. Highly recommended!

Besides that, their signature cheesecake was delightful as well, although I wouldn't think I could finish one on my own. I've also tried the chocolate brownie with ice-cream. It was good but it wasn't a standout, and it won't make me scream out for more. Oh! another one of my favourite desserts was pear with Belgium waffles. Deeeeeeeelightful.

Besides their dessert, they do have some savoury dishes as well. I highly recommend their sesame chicken noodle salad, this dish is healthy and fresh, with the dressing on the noodle and salad, its refreshing and you wouldn't have guess that such simple flavours could go so well with one another.

Their cold soba with dumplings was good and is also a vegetarian dish. Their shepherd's pie was pretty good as well. What's bad at giraffe cafe is their pastas :S Tasted abit like it's cooked from a can, but their mushroom risotto was pretty good, not too creamy. Their creamy pumpkin curry was yum, but it tends to get abit too much towards the end, my friend had difficulty finishing a bowl although the portion wasn't very big.



So in conclusion, stay away from their pastas and pleaseeeeee do have their chocolate pudding! You'll regret it if you don't!