Manchester Press - #MELB2014

DAY 2 - Breakfast

Another place that was on my list of places to dine in Melbourne was Manchester Press. I knew it was hidden in a laneway so I expected it to be a little difficult to spot. We eventually tracked it down and thought it was closed because there was absolutely no indication it was even open! The laneway was completely empty, but we noticed the signage and found the entrance with ease.

Already pretty busy! Spot the cold drip coffee maker to the right.

Baked goods at the counter which we spotted only after we were absolutely stuffed and paying for our meal at the counter. I would've loved to try the Salted Caramel Cookie Sandwich!

Juice of the day $6 

Apple, Watermelon, Strawberries & Mint

BEST. JUICE. COMBO. EVER!

 Salami & bocconcini closed bagel $11.50

w/ pesto & roquette

Michelle's dish contained one my absolute favourite sandwich combinations ever, and it definitely didn't disappoint! Also, I've never seen rocket referred to as 'roquette'...

 Basil pesto & pasta salad $13

w/ tomato medley, kalamata olives & pine nuts

A super simple pesto pasta salad of yet another foolproof combination of ingredients. Kym thinks this would've been perfect for lunch!

 Open Smoked Salmon Bagel $13

w/ dill cream cheese & baby capers

If you love smoked salmon, this is what you must order. This is a very simple combination of flavours, with the bagel absolutely piled up with smoked salmon. Now I'm a huge fan of it myself,  but there was SO much of it. Camella was struggling!

Reuben Rachel closed bagel $13

Thick cut pastrami w/ swiss cheese, sauerkraut & thousand island dressing

I saw pastrami on the menu and just had to order this, and I'm so glad I did. All four of us agreed it was the best dish ordered! The pastrami was tender and full of flavour, and the sauerkraut wasn't too overpowering. Paired with swiss cheese and the dressing, and you've got yourself a winner! If anyone in Adelaide can suggest any places where I'll be able to get a good pastrami/Reuben/Rachel sandwich, I will be forever grateful! I seriously haven't been able to stop thinking about this combo. 

Up close. I'm craving this just looking at the picture while I type up this review!

Hands down our absolute favourite meal we had while in Melbourne. Nothing disappointed us, with the food all being delicious and at such fabulous prices! No wonder this place is well loved. I can't wait to come back to Melbourne just to have these awesome bagels again! I've heard the pulled pork is also amazing. Couldn't recommend it anymore!

Suda - #MELB2014

DAY 1 - DINNER

The original plan for dinner on Day 1 was to go to Chin Chin on Flinders Lane, but we were too exhausted from our crazy day of shopping to go looking for it and then be forced to wait at least an hour for a table. Instead, we visited Suda, a place closer to our apartment which came highly recommended by another friend who'd dined here multiple times and has never been disappointed. Looking at the menu before I was even in Melbourne, I'd say it's a fusion Korean restaurant with lots of modern takes on traditional Korean food.

The address was a little confusing, apparently located at 550 Lonsdale St which turned out to be in a lane just off Lonsdale St. It can easily be spotted by the sign out the front featuring a purple snail.

 Hot green tea

I first tried it earlier this year in Adelaide and just fell in love with it. I'd ordered green tea but found that the bag of green tea also contained brown rice. The rice gives it a really comforting, woody smell. Upon further research, I've discovered this is called Hyeonmi nokcha, a roasted brown rice infused green tea. So good!

Minty Plum Iced Tea $4

Apparently this tasted like cordial because of its sweetness!

The four of us opted for the 'Feed Me' option. For $29 per person, we had a chef's selection of 11 tapas and main dishes, as well as a dessert.

Soft tofu salad 

First up was a little salad presented in a cappuccino cup. Silken tofu sat on a bed of lettuce, topped with a creamy dressing which had flavours of soy and mustard. We all really enjoyed it and I thought it was a great way to start the meal with something light and refreshing.

Mini tteok-galbi burgers

Tteok-galbi, brioche, mayo, cos lettuce

Galbi is a marinated meat, usually beef or pork, that is very popular in Korean cuisine. The small burgers weren't that impressive, although I really liked the slight sweetness from the galbi marinade.

K-popcorn chicken

Korean style crispy chicken, peanut, spring onion, sweet chilli

I could have eaten this entire plate by myself! Perfectly sized, crunchy pieces of chicken covered in a sweet, sticky and slightly salty glaze. I feel like this would be perfect to snack on over a cold beer!

Lotus root chips and spicy mayo

These were probably the best lotus root chips I've had so far! I liked that the chips themselves weren't too salty so they tasted great with the mayo, which wasn't too spicy but still packed a bit of a punch.

Tteok & Haloumi

Crispy rice cake, grilled haloumi, plum honey, seeds

I love tteokbokki so it was different to see tteok used in a completely different dish. Tteok and haloumi is a combination I'd never even think of! The tteok was very glutinous and chewy, and had a very thin crispy skin as well as a sweet glaze of plum honey. A little odd, but I think it's worth trying!

Crumbed Seafood Pancake

Spring onion, seafood, bread crumb

Chunky bits of spring onion and squid were easily identifiable amongst the rest of the pancake. So tasty, especially with the light soy dipping sauce!

Gorgonzola garlic pizza

Gorgonzola, garlic, plum honey, seeds

I really liked the thin, crispy texture of the base but I found the plum honey way too overpowering. There was so much of it, it was dripping everywhere and eventually soaked into the base. Not our favourite dish of the night.

Bulgogi pasta

Bulgogi, shiitake mushroom, shredded egg

Our first main dish of the night and I really liked it! The pasta was cooked al dente and was coated in a delicious, slightly sweet savoury sauce. The bulgogi was also delicious, very tender and full of flavour. I could've finished this entire plate!

Tteok-galbi & kimchi gratin

Kimchi pilaf, cream sauce, mozzarella

The slightly spicy kimchi rice under the layer of galbi and mozzarella was ridiculously good. It packed the perfect amount of punch and I feel like it would be perfect on a winter evening. Also, the galbi was so, so tender. 

Kimchi pork belly stew

Slow cooked pork belly, kimchi, potato, tteok, a bowl of multigrain rice

This reminded me a lot of the tteokbokki I make at home using gojuchang, which is a Korean red pepper paste. This stew had a very obvious gojuchang base, and the pork belly was very tender and fatty. It was a pretty chilly night so this was perfect to have just before we headed out the door!

We'd originally chosen desserts to finish off with, but we were just so full after the mains. We ended up paying only $26 each. We loved almost all of the dishes, finding that our least favourites were all a little too sweet. The service was nothing special, but I do have to point out that they weren't very subtle at checking whether or not we had finished with each course. I guess I can't complain though, because everything was perfectly timed as we were brought out dish after dish. The 'Feed me' option is such fantastic value for money and I will happily come back here the next time I'm in Melbourne to try out more of their menu!

Public

One day feels like one year in girl time amongst besties. So technically, I hadn't seen my best friend for 10 years! Having both been interstate and just returned home, we decided a catch up over breakfast was more than necessary and hit up a place we'd been meaning to try for a while. We always walk past Public on our walks to the Central Market from Rundle Mall but were a little intimated by the number of business people there for their morning meetings or lunches. Once we'd arrived at around 10am, it was still quite busy with a number of morning business meetings still occurring, however we managed to grab a booth along the wall.

Zing juice $7

Apple, pineapple & fresh lime

Simple and very refreshing. Great start to the morning!

The Cure $7.50

Apple, cucumber, spinach, lime, ginger, aloe vera juice & a dash of pink Himalayan mineral salt

Wow, the complexity of Angela's juice in comparison to mine! I got a big thumbs of from her, she loved this.

Ricotta pancakes $15.50

House made hotcakes with caramelised apple and fig vincotto

I felt like eating something sweet for breakfast today, and these didn't disappoint! The pancakes were super fluffy and not sickeningly sweet, so it was perfect with the caramelised apple.

 Eggs Benedict $14.50

Two poached eggs, house made muffins, black forest leg ham and hollandaise

The muffins were not as fluffy as you'd typically expect, a little denser but still enjoyable. The rest was pretty good but didn't stand out amongst other versions we've tried. At least they perfected the poached eggs!

A great spot for a meal if you can get past the number of business people in the space! Having said that, the space is fantastic - lots of natural lighting and filled with chic and classy furniture. The service was friendly and professional without being too uptight, and the atmosphere there was generally just lovely. I will most likely be returning for lunch as they also do rolls and salads which are displayed in their refrigerators by the main entrance and counter. They also open specially on Friday evenings which are recommended for ending the working week and feature a great food and cocktail menu. I'd say it's worth paying them a visit!

The Hardware Société - #MELB2014

Day 1 - Brunch/Lunch

To celebrate successfully finishing our first year of optometry, 3 of my absolute closest optom friends and I decided to treat ourselves with a short trip to Melbourne! As soon as we checked into our apartment in the morning, we rushed to the first of the places on my list of food places to visit - The Hardware Société - to have brunch with 2 of my friends from high school. 

This was actually the line up when we had finished eating. Crazy! Thank goodness my friends had arrived early and were seated at a table for all of 6 us.

Cappucino

 Homemade lemon & mint iced tea

 Omelette $20

Pea, asparagus, crab & lemon salad

I was pretty excited seeing this on the menu because it was different to something I would usually see on menus at similar places in Adelaide. Unfortunately the omelette was unevenly salted, with portions tasting very bland in contrast to others which tasted like a teaspoon of salt had been dropped in that particular area. The crab meat was dry and could have used a little bit more lemon, or even a wedge of fresh lemon to squeeze over the entire dish. I really regret not ordering baked eggs which I think are their most popular dish!

 Pork belly & fried eggs $21

Buttered crushed potatoes & leek, apple aioli

According to Michelle, the pork was very tender but the skin was not even close to being crunchy as you'd expect it to be. I'm all for a runny egg yolk but even I could agree that the egg was raw. The whites were basically uncooked.

Chicken Cordon Bleu $22

Camella: "Good but nothing special".

 Scrambled eggs $20

Un: chorizo, onion & capsicum sofrito, crispy jamon, olive bread

Kym also found her dish difficult to eat was also unevenly salted and contained a lot of chorizo. I didn't try any of it, but I think maybe more salad would be required to 'lift' the flavours of the dish and contrast the salty chorizo.

BLT  $15

Pork rilette, confit baby tomatoes, herb aioli, beetroot caponata, brioche bun, celeriac coleslaw

Rina's dish looked delicious! No complaints here, except that the board it was presented on was a little thin and made eating the burger neatly sans-crumbs quite difficult. 

The Continental $16

House made granola, five:am organic vanilla yoghurt, caramelised pineapple & blood orange, warm croissant

Eileen enjoyed this dish but thinks the serving size was rather small for the price. I agree!

For all the hype surrounding this place, I was actually quite disappointed. I'm not too sure exactly what I was expecting, but most of the dishes we ordered were nothing special. I probably should've ordered the baked eggs! Also, for the prices of some of these dishes ($20 for an omelette or scrambed eggs?!), I don't think it's worth it. The presentation was great though, with all the dishes looking fresh, vibrant and delicious!
Understandably, it was super busy on this particular day we were there and service wasn't the best, however the food didn't take too long to come out. I will probably pay them a visit the next time I'm back in Melbourne only if I've run out of brreakfast/brunch/lunch spots to visit!

East Terrace Continental [3]

I had the most random craving for Caesar salad this week and realised that I have never actually ordered one for myself whenever I eat out. Upon mentioning this to my friend, he decided he was craving it too! My next dilemma was deciding on where to eat. Who would've though it would be that difficult to find a decently priced Caesar salad in the CBD?! I ended up spotting it on the lunch menu at ETC, and realised I'd never actually ordered anything on the lunch menu there since I'm usually there for breakfast (Previous visits 1 & 2). We ended up heading there where I would be killing 2 birds with 1 stone - hopefully satisfying the Caesar salad craving and trying something off the lunch menu!

Classic Chicken Caesar $16.50

Cos lettuce, freshly grilled bacon, parmesan, anchovies, poached egg, croutons 

When this first arrived at our table, I looked at the chicken and immediately thought it would be super dry and tough. I was very surprised to find that it was in fact very juicy and had a bit of light seasoning which didn't compete flavour-wise with the other components in the salad. I was unfortunately let down by the caesar dressing which really lacked that tangy kick you'd expect. Other than that, a very generous serving size of crunchy croutons, grilled bacon and a perfectly poached egg along with some crunchy cos... you can't go wrong! (Unless you dislike whole anchovies like I do - I just picked them off)

We had a super late lunch, arriving at 2pm. There were only a few tables to be served so I think the waiting staff were really taking it easy. The service was very casual, which I didn't mind at all. $16.50 is a pretty decent amount to pay for a slightly healthier lunch option in the CBD but I think I'll have to find somewhere else to satisfy my Caesar salad cravings. Any suggestions for the best Caesar salad in the CBD (or just Adelaide in general)? Please leave them in the comments below!

Not my favourite experience at ETC, but it definitely won't deter me from coming back. I just love their breakfast menu and poached eggs too much!

Sean's Kitchen [2]

Forget Breakfast at Tiffany's... do breakfast at Sean's! ;)

Soooo I've visited Sean's Kitchen 3 times in the span of 7 days - once for lunch and twice for breakfast. Today's post will be covering breakfast!

The first time we went, we chose to sat outside and enjoy the beautiful morning sunshine. I soon realised this was a big mistake as my poor temporary iPhone 4 camera just couldn't handle that sunshine! 

English Breakfast Tea $4 

Soy cappucino $5

(Still cringing at the lighting in this photo. I apologise!)

Gypsy Eggs $12

baked free range hens eggs, chorizo, spicy tomato & bean casserole

What drew me to this was the baked eggs and spicy tomato. I loved the texture of the baked eggs, especially since they both had runny yolks, as well as the flavour of the spicy tomato casserole. Just the right amount of punch and not too rich, although it was what I would consider a hearty breakfast. I'm not too sure how I managed to miss the beans listed on the menu (it was clearly too early for me), but there are quite a few so maybe leave this dish alone if you're not a huge fan of beans like myself! The only complaint I have would be that bread - it was rock hard and almost impossible to bite through. I didn't manage to finish the dish but it would be good size for anyone feeling super hungry in the morning.

For our second visit, we arrived to an empty restaurant just before 8am. Learning from previous experience, this time we sat inside so I could capture some proper photos!

 Latte $4

 Bacon & Egg Butty $6

bloody mary tomato ketchup

Angela ordered this on our first visit and I just had to try it when we returned! I loved it - the egg was fried perfectly with a runny yolk, the bloody mary tomato ketchup had the most deliciously rich, spiced flavour and bacon was... well, bacon. 

On our first visit, someone was ordering about 30-40 takeaway butties so it took about 20 minutes for our food to come out. On our second visit, being the only ones at the restaurant at the time we ordered, the food was ready within only about 5 minutes. The usual fantastic service and great atmosphere were evident on both mornings, particularly with all the gorgeous sunshine through the glass windows! I would love to come back, but maybe not for another month or so... 3 times in 7 days has been rather excessive. The bacon & egg butty is dangerously addictive and so affordable, let's just say it's a good thing my university isn't based in the city because you can also get it to-go in the mornings!