Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Chicco & Luxbite

Hello Readers!
I've cut my hair! It's now the shortest it's been since I was 14! What do you think?


Anyway back to business as usual, I've been to some rather delightful cafes lately and so I thought I'd share my experience.

As a part of our family day of togetherness we picked a new cafe to go to called Chicco. I'm really glad we chose this one cos I was extremely satisfied with the brunch we had there.



It's a very melbourne-style cafe so it's very quaint with lots of interesting interior decoration and even their own blend of coffee. My dad is even considering having his birthday here.



This is what I ordered, it was simply called The Baguette. It had eggs, organic bacon and their tomato chutney inside. This was possibly the best bacon I've ever had in my life. I'm not sure whether it being organic had to do with the amazing crispiness and flavour of the bacon but it was just perfect, I could not have asked for anything more.

A word of warning though, I don't recommend the salmon. It wasn't very fresh and tasted veeerryyy fishy.


Finally as usual my meal was finished with a nice cuppa tea.


I also noticed this on their wall on my way out, it's like a flower made of chairs. haha

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Now if you've got a sweet tooth, these next few pictures are for you!


Luxbite is a well-known cafe on Toorak road and has a wonderful selection of desserts.



Luxbite also has a very good reputation for their macarons, it's apparently one of Melbourne's top 20 macarons as well. There was so much to choose from our family ended up being greedy and getting 5 desserts! 


This was mine, a very rich dark chocolate with some raspberry flavour as well. An excellent combination.


This was my sister's. I'm not a fan of rose so it wasn't my favourite but the raspberries and macaron consistency were very nice.


This one my family agreed was superb! An adorable little meringue with watermelon yoghurt inside, it also had a nice zesty biscuit base as well. It had all the elements of a great dessert. It was light and sweet with great textures.


This one would be great if you're a Forrero Rocher lover, it has similar flavours but so much prettier.


Another unanimously voted favourite by my family, well suited for those who like a citrus, zesty kind of flavour and biscuit bottoms. 


We had such a wonderful time at Luxbite, it was just so nice to bond with my family over some incredible desserts. The service was also amazing, extremely helpful and friendly. The waitress said we were the cutest family she's ever met and that we made her miss her own family, I think her name was Gift.

In conclusion, I will definitely be coming back to try their next season of cakes!

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Thanks for reading! Going to end this blog with just a few other things I've had the pleasure of eating.


Big brekkie from Globe on Chapel St.


Tonkatsu Ramen from Ajisen.


Chicken Salten-Boca and a Duck Risotto from Zest 89


Baked eggs with cheese and bacon and a side of herby bread made by my sister and me.


Crazy Wing!


and finally a cute little Korean cake in the shape of a fish. 



Tuesday, June 19, 2012

KoKo Teppanyaki

Hi Everyone!
Hope your exams went well, my last one is tomorrow!
I've just finished studying and decided to take a break by writing another food blog.

As a last minute decision we tried to get a booking at KoKo a Japanese teppanyaki restaurant located at Crown Casino. Unfortunately we were told they were fully booked until 9:45pm...but 20 minutes later they called us back saying they had a table at 7:45! What luck! 


Such a terrible photo but the restaurant is gorgeous. It has a very traditional Japanese theme with a large pond right in the center of the restaurant! Very cool.

If you don't know what Teppanyaki is, it's a really exciting dining experience where a chef cooks and serves the food right in front of you on a large grill. 

The way KoKo works is they have a variety of set menus to choose from we chose the one called Kaze ($129pp), which means Wind in japanese. 


Dinner started out with some lovely sashimi. As usual the tuna is delicious, but I also found their salmon was particularly tasty as well!


It was then followed by Lobster Tempura with wasabi mayo. I absolutely loved this dish, there's nothing quite like biting into a big succulent piece of lobster that's been fried in a delightfully light tempura batter. I should also mention again that Wasabi mayo is and forever will be "the bomb"


This adorable little tea pot had a really flavorsome soup in it, the waitress said it was made from seafood. It was called Dobinmushi.


Finally we got on to the real Teppanyaki, which started off with seafood! Prawns and Scallops!
All of the seafood was excellent quality and I was really happy with the way they were cooked.

Scallops were great! So plump on the inside, exactly how they should be.
I'm really glad that the Prawns were good as well, the chef even cooks the head for you.


Next was a bit of salmon, as you can see it was cooked perfectly and the sauce you dip it in made it even better! I also adore the tableware at Koko too, the plate in the photo is absolutely gorgeous!



The chef then proceeded to make us our wagyu fried rice! It's just so fun to watch him make it right before your eyes, it's literally dinner and a show!


We then moved onto the Wagyu sirloin, the chef was very nice and asked us how we liked our steak cooked.


Finally we reached dessert, which was the most amazing vanilla ice cream I've ever had! It was smooth and creamy. You can even see the little bits of vanilla in the ice cream.


As usual we ended our meal with some tea, accompanied by some very interesting conversation with some Scottish gentlemen sitting next to us. 

So in conclusion, I recommend you try this place out one day. It's lots of fun, if you're a bit tired of KBBQ like I am at the moment, Teppanyaki is a really fun easy going experience where you can just sit back and relax whilst the chef does all the work for you!

The service at KoKo is superb as well! Our waitress, Kaori was so nice and very courteous. Despite being RIDICULOUSLY busy she tried to have a conversation with me for as long as she could. 

So that's all! This was my first ever Teppanyaki experience and I loved every minute of it!
See you next blog, it will be a dessert lover's dream!


Sunday, June 17, 2012

Hwaro (화로 멜번 구이)

Hi Readers!

I'm back with yet another food blog. 
I've just realised that a lot of people think that this blog is a food blog cos of all of my posts!.... but the truth is I just don't do anything more interesting than eating. I promise the next blog will be something new! Anyway, just wanted to write a few quick things about one of my favourite KBBQ places in Melbourne, called Hwaro.

After my first time there, which was around 2 years ago my standard for Korean BBQ changed dramatically.


The quality of their meat, their friendly service and even the interior of the restaurant were all reasons that landed this place in my top favourite Korean places. 

 My most recent visit was for my friends 20th birthday, we had an enjoyable evening catching up and celebrating over some damn good meat and refreshing peach soju. There are actually 2 Hwaro's in Melbourne now, the second one is smaller a lot more casual and offers an all you can eat deal as well. So if you're the kinda person who eats a lot of food, you'll like the second Hwaro. The downside would be you're sacrificing quality over quantity, which is the case with most buffet places but if you're hankering for a succulent cut of meat definitely give this place a go. 


 Just look at the marbling on the meat! Dat Wagyu! 


 We also ordered a lot of other meats as well, another favourite was soy marinated pork belly! Such a great flavour! 


 It was such a great night, the birthday girl could not have chosen a better place to celebrate. 


 My sister and I bought her a Russian teacup. 


She loved it! Haha 


 Another thing I love about this place is this wall, it immediately catches your eye! I think it's lovely idea that you can leave a little something behind at the restaurant, the messages are pretty cool to read. I even found a message I wrote almost 2 years ago.

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 Ending my blog with some more yummy food pics.


A moroccan spice stew with chorizo (boyfriend's dish)


An egg's benedict with bacon


And that glorious moment when the yolk oozes out.


A shepherd's pie with mash. It just tasted like bolognese though. lol

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Anyway that's all. I'm gonna be blogging heaps in the next week or so! Lots of things I want to share.
Until then~


Saturday, June 2, 2012

The Unknown Fire.

Hi Everyone!
I'm back with another food blog today. Let's start off with Cafe Vue. Just in case there's any confusion, there are actually 4 Cafe Vue's in Melbourne. The one I took my mum to last time was in St Kilda, this time I went to try out the Collins Street one with my boyfriend.




Both Cafe Vue's have the same menu so I opted for something I hadn't tried yet and ordered the Duck egg quiche whilst my boyfriend had the Wagyu burger. In all honesty I was a bit disappointed.....Although I always enjoy a nice gooey egg yolk, the quiche lacked flavour. I was also saddened when the boyfriend said his burger was dry and bland as well. I don't think it helped that we were seated into a really awkward corner either.

So in my opinion, if you want to experience the best of Cafe Vue make the extra journey out to the St Kilda one. The Collins st one is more for your business types on their lunch breaks, The St Kilda is a lovely Sunday brunch place.

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Now for the exciting part!

This Friday night, the boyfriend and I tried a new restaurant in Glen Waverely called Shira Nui (which means the unknown fire). 


It's a modest looking Japanese restaurant that has its windows all covered up so it barely even catches your eye, but believe me this place is like a hidden treasure.
Highly recommended by my boyfriend's workmate, I was really eager to try this place out. If you wanna know what the sushi is and hover your mouse.


Japanese Pike

Tuna

Kingfish

Ootoro

Oyster

OH MY GOD! I am so glad we tried this place out. We managed to fit into their 6pm sitting as their 8pm was fully booked and we sat at the bar (which I recommend you do) for the Omakase, which is the Japanese version of the chef's menu, I suppose. I only took photos of some of the dishes we had but we had 9 courses of sushi all up. Everything from tuna, beef, oyster, kingfish, cod, japanese pike....We even found out that they had Ootoro and asked for an extra slice just before we tucked into dessert. Woo!

Speaking of dessert.....





Here it is! It's the most adorable Black sesame and Green tea Crème brûlée ever. The Crème brûlée was exactly how one should be, with that delicious tap tap sound on the top and a gorgeous consistency of custard on the inside, accompanied with a small bowl of fruit and ice cream cubes. Need I ask for more?

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Now the head chef's name is Hiro Nishikura and he is a very delightful man!


Nishikura-san's knife work is very impressive and together with his team works with great speed and diligence.  Needless to say he was quite intimidating at first but towards the end of our dinner service, the orders stopped piling up and he began to relax! He's actually super nice and said my Japanese was quite good, he gossiped with me about his regulars and I found out that he even knows my old Korean lecturers. Such a delightful man!


Before we left he gave us a gift each, it was a pen with the restaurant name on it. I was so touched, I just love how he is so friendly even with new customers like myself. If I could afford it, I'd become a regular too!

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Finally a little extra food porn. (Especially for Hieu read his movie blogs, they're sick)


Salt and Pepper Pork spare ribs.



An amazing slice of pork belly made by my freaking masterchef boyfriend.


The crispiest potatoes I've ever had also made by the boyfriend.


Some tapas.


And finally, finishing this blog just like I do with my meals in real life with some tea.

Bye for now!