Melbourne Culinary 2.3

Last day in Melb and we're trying to get the most out of it.. First stop is Hammer and Tongs cause I heard from one of my foodie that they got the best Soft Shell crab burger he's ever had and I'm on the quest to proof his testament ;p

When we arrived, the place was pretty empty since it was a weekday. The waiter told us that it was the first day of their new menu. My sis was warning me that we will be their lab rat for the menu and it might not be perfect or even delish.

Was waiting for quite awhile for the foods to come. We saw the Soft shell crab burger sitting out on the kitchen bench for atleast a good 15-20mins! My sis was saying I hope it is not for us. But unfortunately it does! The crab was too dry by then and it was cold >.< I can see that the flavs are good but sorry to say the service wasn't the best and I'm disappointed since hammer tong has been in my "wanted to go" list in Melb ;(

This new dish is their Steak with bone marrow something, couldn't remember. THe beef was cold, chewy and can't see any bone marrow lol. Dont know wht to say ...

The Peach Melba though was amazing! I think they changed their presentation on plate. It doesn't look like this anymore.

After that breakkie, we finally made it to Rice Paper Scissor. Made a booking for five and they have a rule that if you dine with more than 4 people, we have to choose 5 dishes from their set menu. It also came to a surprise that they're actually don't serve rice here! It's too bad cause their dishes are so good eaten with rice! It cost us $29/$39 pp.

The portions were so generous and all of us were satisfied by the taste! So we got the Balinese ROast Duck, Sticky Pork Belly, BBQ Lamb Ribs Mekong Inspired, Crispy Barramundi salad and BBQ King Prawns. My fave would be the pork and lamb! A friend told me their fried chicken is pretty good too. So in my next visit! definitely order that.

Before we head to the airport. As usual, we need to make several stops to buy some foods to go :) Our only 2 destinations as always will be Gyutan Don from Menya and this cute yummy lil buns from Nam Loong. There are 2 Nam Loong on the same street. One is a proper chinese restaurant and the other one is this little place selling all kind of buns and some local chinese foods! Their buns average price is $1.20. I highly recommend the Black Sesame Bun, Egg yolk Custard and the Chicken Bun!

So that's conclude my culinary trip this time. I will still be back to explore more brunch spots and the must eat Asian place in around Melbourne :)

Melbourne Culinary 2.2

Third day in Melbournee.. Queuing for Hardware Societe.. My sis and I was expecting a pretty average foods since our brunch venture yesterday..

The queue was pretty long cause there were 4 of us.. But trust me, it was worth it!
I got their Matcha Latte which I think was superb.. It wasn't too sweet and it got that Tea bitterness to it.

$4.50

This dish was the special of the day. I don't think they even have it on the menu. It was an amazing Black Forest Fried Brioche !! Comes with Coconut cream cheese, dessicated coconut, cherry compote and chocolate sauce. What not to love about this dish especially when the brioche were perfectly fluffy and chewyyy yumm ~~

The must get when you visited Hardware Societe is their Famous Baked Eggs. They got several choice from the veggie option, chorizo or duck. We definitely choose the chorizo (DEUX)! I usually am not a fan of baked eggs but this one is not tomatoey and not to wet! It just sooo good!

$18

We also got the Crispy Pork Belly with bacon and potato hash and spiced apple relish. It wasn't great but anything with pork belly is legit for me ;P

$23.50

Another amazing dish here is the Salmon Millefeuille :) What a fancy name haha. Confit salmon, Salmon Tartar, chives creme fraiche, pickled zucchini, asparagus, salmon pearls and poached eggs. One word. YUM. Must try!

$25

Got the Lobster Benedict as well.. It was alright..

$25

After feasting in Hardware, we went to La Belle Miette for their macarons and bought a range of flavours.. I don't think Im a macarons person cause I've tried many diff macarons but none has yet to make me wanna buy for seconds. Except the popcorn macarons by Le Maison in Medan (Indonesia)!
These babies here are good, don't get me wrong, it's just Macaron is not my thing ;P

For lunch, Mom wanted to have PHO24 so we went! The broth of the pho was flavoursome :) I usually find pho broth is bland but this one I love, especially with the chilli addition! Dad got the rice pork but it's not good according to him. My suggestion, stick with the pho ;p

For dinner, we went to Rice Paper Scissor but got rejected since their seating session are very tight.. So we went to this Italian place in Lygon st. It was so bad >.< Despite the friendly waitress, the foods took too long that we almost go out from the place and the flavs were too average!

After that we went to Stokers as always a must every time we visited Melb :)
Got the Almond with maple syrup pancake which is a simpler version of the rest in the menu.

And the Maha Banana Flambe Pancake! Awzzuuummm ~~

That's pretty much my third day in Melbourne :))

Melbourne Culinary 2.1

Second Day in Melbie.. started with breakfast in Industry Beans which is located in Fitzroy. An interesting area with heaps of cool Graffiti covering almost all the walls here.. !

Personally loves the design place itself! we were hoping to get the outdoor seating as the lighting is better but it was too full even at 9:30am! So we got ourselves a table near the entrance..

The dish here are veryy prettyyyy but I think taste wise is just okay.. Its just personal preference though and maybe I ordered the wrong dish..

Coffee Garden below comprise of Coffee Custard Pudding, Coffee caviar, cold drip gel, chocolate soil pistachio sponge and tulle. My mom and sis loves this one. The coffee caviar is the one that impressed me and yeah maybe cause im not a fan of coffee, I don't really like it.

$14

Love the Steel Cut Oats! Lavender Mango, Coconut yoghurt, crumble and freeze dried fruit. A simpler dish that works well with the combinations I think.. :)

$16

Green Papaya and Peanut Crusted Egg with Blue Swimmer Crab (optional)! Love this one, as usual my fave papaya salad done right with just the right tanginess of the nahm jim sauce and the crusted egg are just yummm. What I dont like is the blue swimmer crab in the salad, which we ordered because mom loves them hihi...

$25

Overall, I think the foods are very well priced, the Asian inspired menu is inviting, I might come back to try our their other dishes! The Shanklish Omelette even though sounds ordinary is actually an interesting one as it went through to the table next to us! :)

After a hearty breakkie, we went to Victoria market and as usual got the Donut and this time we actually have some nibbles along the way.. We had a late lunch in Chin Chin, thinking it won't be busy after lunch hour which was around 2PM. We still had to wait for quite a bit.

The place can accommodate a lot of crowd with 2 levels dining area. The basement has the bar-dim-light atmosphere (bottom photo below) and the upper area is more to a casual dining.

Even though we were full from the snacking in QV market, the taste of the foods here in Chin Chin still impressed us to the max! We got an option to do A la carte or an option to let them choose a number of their popular dishes so we can try a bit of everything. We choose the a la carte.

Went with the Butter Chicken Curry - Caramelised Sticky Pork with Chilli Vinegar - Crispy Baramundi & Green apple salad with cripsy pork - Grain Fed Wagyu sirloin with Jungle curry Paste. I take back my words that there's no good thai restaurant in Melb!

I remembered someone told me Chin chin is exxy and the foods are so so. From there onwards, I never ever will take anyone's words regarding food taste cause in general, taste is just personal and diff people will have diff likings :) The foods here are awesome. My family loves them and is proven by the never ending queue ;P The flavours in each of every dish are different from other Thai place. A good different though. I think you should at least try out Chin Chin if u ever visited Melb.

From that late lunch, we were toooo very fuull! Went back to the apartment for a bit then I asked my sis whether we're doin Huxtaburger that day. She said yes and so we go! A short stop to huxta before our dinner appointment with a family friend. Huxta have 3 different locations if I'm not wrong.. I went to the one in Collin St (CBD). The place is hidden in an alley.. NOt a surprise, it's melb afterall. everything are hidden in a laneway..

We got the THEO which is Huxtaburger with double patty, double cheese and Bacon! The only reason why we visited this place is because one of our friends claimed that the burger is better than Bar Luca's. First bite of the burger, literaaalllyyy brought me to Maccas's Beef burger taste >.< What we do love is the BUN!! It's awesomeeee.. fluffy and crispy. Just right for what a burger bun should be according to me and sis.

$14

Another stop before our main dinner in Chinatown is Crazy Wings. I know we got crazy wings too in Sydney but trust me the level of chilli for the crazy wings are wayyyy different! One small bite can literally squeeze your tears out. My dad took a bit, throw it out almost instantly and still got his mouth burnt with the spiciness!

This is only to try out your chilli tolerance and I guess just for the fun of it. Not for taste or pleasure at all hahah!

After the dinner in one of the Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, we weren't that full (wasn't good but really crowded, don't know why!) so My bro and I went to Gami Chicken as our Melb friends said it is better that Arisun's Soy chicken!

The Original fried chicken was good but the soy, seriouslyyyy cannot even be compared to Arisun. haha! I supposed Syd still got the best KFC (Korean Fried Chicken) whatsoever said by Melbournian hohooh..

Overall the second in Melb I concluded that Industry beans serves great coffee, Chin Chin is a must visit, Gami chicken MEh.

Melbourne Culinary 2.0

Another Melbourne postttt ! It's been my favorite city to visit lately. In fact I am planning to go again in early April just for culinary purposes ;P I appreciate coffee more because of Melbourne hihi.. 

So this post was during my visit back in Dec 2015. I know right, its been too long! That time I traveled with plane and yeah, I conquer my fear of flying, sort of ;p

First stop is to St.Ali in South Melbourne. I reached there at around 2PM and was in shock cause the people are actually still queuing for table! It amazed me at the same time how wide their dining space are. The cafe itself has the central spot on the top left pic below, but they got other dining area which are just across this spot and next to it. 

How cool is that Pool of Bottled Ice Coffee! :)

They have DJ in da hood too! how Cool is that ......

We seated after almost about 20mins of waiting and I got their Ice Cold Latte.. I think this ice coffee down here is my favourite so far in both Sydney and Melbourne! It was light in terms of mouth feel and yet the flavour is pretty strong and aromatic! Highly Recommended...

$6

For the foods, we ordered My Body is My Temple. A vegan option which comprise with Pistacchio Sponge, Pecan, Dark Chocolate, crunchy Puffed Grains, Banana Matcha Mousse, Fresh bananas and Lime. I love the texture but flavour wise, it wasn't great, just love the banana ;P

$18.5

The next dish that we ordered is actually the 1st dish on the "Hall of Fame" category in their menu which is called My Mexican Cousin ^^ I really like how they named their dish :) SO it's a Corn fritter made with their secret recipe with poached egg, Grilled Haloumi, Corn and Cucumber Salsa, Spicy tomato puree and Green Salad. Almost every table ordered this dish, so I thought might give it a go.. Again, it doesn't impressed me much, despite the perfect oozing poached egg and the freshness of the combination, the corn fritter wasn't the best I've had.

That may also be because we were too full from the previous lunch that we had in Menya and the tiredness since we caught the really early flight on the 1st of Jan after watching the fireworks the previous day.. muahaha..

For Dinner, we straight away went to Ma Brown. Which I did book early for their quails! I still go to the one in Balwyn. Even though it's quite a drive, I think its always worthed for good food. Recently my friend dine in the one in the city but he told me it was just good and not life changing good.. I wonder whether the taste are the same.. I am really curious, wanna confirm it but don't wanna risk my chance of paying for un-delicious foods ;p

PS: If u go to Ma Brown, take photo and upload it on insta wwith hashtags, they give our free dish if u win.. I won a deep Fried Calamari on my next visit! I wonder if it's still redeemable in my next visit to Melboourne hihi..

Its the first time my dad visited the place and heee lovesss it. Can't get enough of them :)

That's basically summed up my first day in Melbourne..