little byrd and crumbs bakery, ascot vale, victoria, australia

crumbs is an awesome bakery that mostly sells to the hospitality market.  their hcb's are great - they have two varieties, a wheat one and a spelt one... and i've never seen a hbc loaf before.. yum.  a welcome snack after breakfast at little byrd (below)

canberra, australia

what's worse than a cold melbourne day? a cold canberra day... one of my iphone pics from last week in canberra by lake burley griffin at around 7.00am.  tranquil, peaceful with fresh wind to keep you cool whilst jogging around a quiet city.  off in the distance is parliament house with the australian flag flying above the triangular structure

the premises, kensington, victoria, australia

i found this place whilst looking for brunch spots on google.  the age had recently done a review of the cafe as part of its five of a kind summer breakfasts, which opened about 18 months ago with little fanfare. 

the premises is on busy bellair street in kensington.  in other words, its a bitch to park.  it also has two separate entrances in a funny L shape, one on bellair street and one on macaulay road.  the brunch menu is limited compared to the larger brunch places like auction rooms, but it still has a great variety.  it is also serious about its coffee, as can be seen from the coffee blackboard (see below).  that day's beans were sourced from seven seeds and proud mary in collingwood.

for brunch on this lovely mild melbourne sunday, we had panfried sardines with preserved lemon, pinenuts, green olives, poached egg on toast, mine being gluten free toast ($16.50).  the waitress was careful enough to warn me that the sardines would have a light gluten batter, but that was fine with me.  at least she knew her menu - a pleasant surprise given some other reviews have questioned the premises' service mentality at busy weekend brunch times.

the sardines were cooked really well.  the radishes, pine nuts and poached egg worked (i was skeptical).  im not sure about the olives, but they tasted nice on their own... i guess the olives were there for the saltiness factor, but im not one for salty foods.  i rarely have sardines because i dont like the feeling of the bones going down my throat, but im glad i ordered this.

to complement the savoury, we also ordered the special of the day - pancakes with homemade lemon curd, vanilla mascarpone and an almond crumble: 

the pancakes were light and fluffy and the lemon curd was delicious.  i liked the addition of the almond crumble for texture and presentation, but i dont think it really added much by way of flavour.

all up, a fun brunch place that is relatively good value.  will i be back? yep, you betcha.

urban pantry, canberra, australia

i was stuck.  day 2 in canberra.. a sunday.. and lonsdale street roasters was closed.  oh, where to go?  luckily, a friend who frequently visits canberra told me to go to urban pantry in manuka.  manuka is home to many diplomats and their families.  in fact, im told that its not unusual to go to the manuka coles only to see a mum yelling at a kid in french or italian.

back to urban pantry though, what a great little place.  it shows that canberra really is getting its act together.  urban pantry was buzzing with life, hot staff, good coffee and some really interesting breakfast dishes.

now most people wouldn't associate bacon and pancakes, but its a match made in heaven and i've had it numerous times around the traps.  but this was the first time i've seen it on the menu at a good cafe.  i had to try their ricotta pancakes with bacon and maple syrup ($22 on sunday):

the pancakes were fluffy, the bacon crispy on the edges as i like it and all up, a great flavour match.

also on the menu (sorry for the bad pic) was a sweet corn & zucchini fritter ($22 on sunday), which came with rocket, avocado tomato salsa, sour cream and optional smoked salmon.  like many fritters around the traps, it was a bit doughy and could have done withi more corn/zucchini.  i dont think i've found a corn fritter that i've liked anywhere.. maybe its me.

this isn't one of those hipster places.  urban pantry is more about families and well dressed couples.  the staff are attentive, polite and friendly.  i'd love to come back and try their lunch or dinner menu.. maybe next time, but perhaps not on a sunday due to their "sunday surcharge".  for example, the same two dishes there would cost $16 (pancakes) and $20 (fritter) on a saturday.  there are also further price variations for public holidays.  a flat $2 surcharge also exists for all credit card payments.

in any event, it's defintely another one to put in the address book for canberra visits. 

you can find more about urban pantry here:

sydney morning herald
beanhunter
missklicious

canberra wine district, australia

canberra's wine district, creatively called the canberra wine district, is mainly in new south wales.  there are a few wineries in canberra, but due to their unique landholding system (being long term leases), wineries really haven't flourished.

the pick of the bunch from us were clonakilla and helm.  on the way back from helm, we crossed a rickety old bridge that could barely hold a car... well maybe it could easily, but it didn't look like it.  canberra and the act have had a substantial amount of rain over the last few weeks and it was clear that the little bridge would have been flooded.

helm is probably most famous for its rielsing, particularly its premium riesling.  its winemaker spent a while in germany learning about the wine and it shows.  the cellar door is an old school (see below), which has been shifted slightly away from a creek to its current location.

all up, canberra's wine district was surprisingly good.  its cold climate makes for great pinots.

lonsdale street roasters

in the very non-hipster city of canberra lies a few hidden gems.  well, not so hidden that its highly rated by urbanspoon, but that's not the point.. or is it?  lonsdale street roasters is one of those gems.  it makes good coffee, melbourne standard in fact, with one proviso.  its coffees are consistently WARM.  i'm not sure why this is the case.  is it that canberrans only want warm coffee?  i would have thought not, but one cannot be that choosey about coffee in canberra.

hipster street roasters was made more hipster on our visit by the residency of applespiel, doing a comedy act/radio show for the YOU ARE HERE festival.  check them out, they're a great little university comedy troop that may one day follow in the footsteps of the d-gen.

alongside its coffees are a number of great little paninis.  amongst them was this mushroom and rosemary truffle panini (delicious, but slightly one dimensional after half of it) ($11):

and this cuban slow roasted pork chipolte corinander panini ($11):

canberra and brunch don't really seem to get along, but this is one place that deserves a visit or ten.  just make sure you ask for your coffee "hot".  you might even find yourself in amongst a hipster event like applespiel.

you can find more about lonsdale street roasters here:

decaf sucks
corridor kitchen
rummage

canberra, australia

welcome to the nation's capital, home of public servants and government departments.  canberra keeps getting better and better.  that's not hard when it started at such a low base.  its quite picturesque and very planned - kind of like a mini singapore.  it could do with a bit of grit.

upon this rock, ascot vale, australia

 

upon this rock is a recently opened cafe in ascot vale in melbourne's inner west.  new management took over this cafe approximately 6 months ago.  unlike many of the hipstercafes and brunch places, this place has dark floorboards, white walls and the original architraves.  it's cosy, but the fit out lacks any real charm.

for breakfast, we tried two dishes.  first, the eggs flamingo ($11.50), which consisted of oven baked eggs (which were not oven baked, but as the photo shows, pan fried) on top of a potato, green pea, capsicum, tomato and chorizo "stew".  there were a lot of flavours going on there for me, mostly salt.  it also came with multigrain fingers/soldiers.

the second dish was the monte cristo sandwich ($14.50), a sort of deep fried club sandwich.  it had three layers with swiss cheese, ham, chicken fillets, all dipped in whipped eggs and panfried with grilled spiced tomatoes (read, one tomato cut in half and without much, if any, spice)

perhaps the consumer and credit code needs to go through the menu and see what's actually happening... 

back to the food, it was generally tasty and, for the price, good value.  when you can go to places like proud marys and get a good breakfast for more than $20, an eggs flamingo or monte cristo sandwich at upon this rock's prices makes you reconsider whether you can genuinely compare the restaurants.  its a good value cafe for a suburban strip with good friendly, family style service.

singapore

a day shot of singapore to accompany the night shot from yesterday.

this is a shot looking north towards fort canning.  just beyond fort canning is singapore's little india, where a cheap and tasty feed awaits.

singapore

at night, singapore can be a fantastic place to visit.  one great way to look at night time singapore is by going to the top of the marina bay sands complex.

another way is to just take a photo from your hotel balcony.. even at night, the humidity creates an eerie fog that covers the beautiful skyline.

riverside walk/raffles hotel, singapore

no trip to singapore is complete without the best dish that singapore has to offer - singapore chilli (or pepper) crab.  somehow, in all the heat and humidity, chilli crab always tastes better.  for the first time, i also tried these sweet buns that were used to mop up the sauce.. i never have had the buns before and, i guess, since i was ignoring my new diet of eat less (including carbs), i went for them.

the most famous place for chilli crab (usually sourced from sri lankan waters) is jumbo seafood.  there are quite a few outlets around singapore, including the original one at east coast, which is incredibly close to the airport.  i'd generally suggest that you book, especially if you want to eat during traditional dinner/lunch hours.

you can find more reviews of jumbo seafood here:

too many meals a day
hungry go where

after a great meal, and since we're following the touristy route to singapore, we also made a pitspot at the long bar at raffle's hotel.  the long bar is home of the singapore sling.  peanut shells are flung around the floor in line with the old traditional colonial ways.

the sling is generally too sweet for me and at around SG$28, pretty damn pricey too.  but hey, you're paying for the tourist factor and it's another thing you can tick off the list... or in my case, once again tick of the list...

you can find more reviews/information about the long bar and raffles hotel here:

worlds best bars
inside cuisine
gourmet pigs

Melbourne to Singapore - QF9

I've always had a fascination with planes.. how can this whale of a plane get up in the skies anyway? no, i don't want a physics lesson.  flying is just a little romantic.

the romance is helped by this lovely yoghurt bery cheesecake with chantilly cream and a glass of tattinger reserve champagne (left).  the yoghurt filling isn't what i expected.. i thought it would taste more cheesecake-y, but it had more of a sweet bircher museli texture.  it was still nice and i'm glad i tried it, but i won't be eating it again.

once in the plane, in my quest to eat less this year, i opted only for a main instead of the three course dinner they laid out for us.  the main was a roast duck with asian greens, mushrooms and egg noodles (right).  i have to say the duck was surprisingly tasty and well cooked.  i reckon i picked the best of the mains, which is no mean feat when i usually get order envy.