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.

bistro guillaume, melbourne, australia

bistro guillaume is the bistro of sydney chef guillaume brahimi and it shows.. that he's from sydney, that is.  first, he may not have been paying attention to his fit out when he was in sydney.  on warm sunny days, a variety of places in the restaurant will be directly in the sun's path.  the way the roof is designed means that there's little escaping the sun at some time of the day.  secondly, the bear bones table setting, appropriate in my view for a bistro, still left us finding the table dirty with crumbs... qantas needs you to bring your dustpan with you, mr brahimi.

but onto the food.  for entree, i had six beautiful sydney rock oysters.  there was also the option of pacific coffin bay oysters ($3.50 each), but i opted for the rock oysters i knew and liked.  they seemed freshly shucked and still full of juicy sea flavours.  they were served simply on a bed of ice with lemon and red wine vinaigrette.  i also tasted a beautiful salad of beetroot with asparagas and goats cheese.  simple flavours delicately balanced with a fresh and tasty beetroot ($18).

for mains, i had the berkshire pork belly served with lentils and taragon vinaigrette ($32).  the hero of the dish, as many of these cooking shows on tv will say, was lifeless and dead to me.  the pork belly made me sad for the rest of the day - what a waste of calories and of a good piece of pork - i could have gone to auction rooms for brunch instead!  the pork crackling was soggy and boring from a lack of rendering.  because of the taragon vinaigrette, the lentils had this strange aniseed flavour to them that (for me) didn't work.  having said that, others who tasted the dish said the pairing was nice.. a matter of personal opinion. oh my crackling.. i'm sad again.

the pork belly made me so sad that i didn't have the heart to try for dessert... i was afraid of what i would get and, sorry guillaume, i won't be going to your melbourne bistro any more.. maybe you should come south more often and see what's going on?  your sydney joint is much better.  for those of you who want to go to the bistro in melboune, perhaps try two entrees instead?  we seemed to have more success that way...

you can find more on bistro guillaume here:

for the love of food
the age
taste.com.au

st edmonds, prahran, australia

 st edmonds is a trendy cafe in trendy prahran.  unlike its south yarra cousin, prahran doesn't have the "sydney bling" and is, for me, a much more real place to visit.

the coffee's good and there's some interesting (in a good way) flavours to their menu.  brunch day consisted of poached eggs (a bit watery - i don't think they were drained properly), almost inedible potato gems due to their strange vinegary flavour, amazing mushrooms in a spicy salsa and equally beautiful chargrilled sausages and bacon.  the grilled tomatoes also came with melted cheese on top - i'm not a tomato fan, but i could see people who like tomato for breakfast loving it. it's a relatively pricey $24 for a big breakfast, one that i'm not sure many except the hungover could finish.  the mushrooms and sausages really made it for me - next time, i'll just get the poached eggs with them:

overall, a worthwhile visit to an established inner city brunch spot.

you can find reviews of st edmonds here:
urbanspoon
broadsheet
time out 

cumulus inc, melbourne, australia

who'd have thought that cumulus inc would have a good brunch crowd.  it doesn't have the waiting times of the outer city establishments, but its food is just as good and rivals cumulus' own dinner menu.  we arrived at around 10.00am on a sunday and easily found free on street parking (1 hour).

for breakfast, we had two dishes. the first was grilled lyonaisse sausages with beans and a poached egg.  the second was the cumulus inc breakfast, consisting of a boiled egg, toast with three preserves, berry yoghurt, organic orange juice and a coffee.  this came to a rescession proof price of $17.60.

if you aren't able to get into cumulus inc for dinner (no bookings unless you get the big table of 7), sunday brunch is a good substitute.

 

you can find other reviews of cumulus inc here:
almost always ravenous
gourmet traveller australia
time out magazine

hardware societe, melbourne, australia

hardware societe is tucked away at the arse end of hardware lane, away from the touristy restaurants and bars.  unlike many of melbourne's new hipster brunch places, the fit out at hardware societe is simple and modern.  in other words, no old wooden chairs or exposed brick in this place.  the coffee is great and the staff are attentive (perhaps too much).  the food is good but pricey for what it is... for that price, they should also accept credit cards... all up, a reasonable brunch place with good coffee and food, though i would personally question whether i got value for money here.

some hardware societe reviews can be found here:
Urbanspoon
Broadsheet
Sydney Tarts

mrs macquarie's chair, sydney, australia

going for a jog at 7.00am is made a lot easier when the sights are spectacular.  this is taken from mrs macquarie's chair, which has a good view of both the opera house and harbour bridge.  the run from the opera house through the royal botanic gardens to mrs macquarie's chair is around 5km return.  this is also the spot where sydney holds its moonlight cinema.  what an amazing background for an open air theatre.

hyde park, sydney, australia

walking through hyde park, sydney, after dinner in darlinghurst.

coin laundry, armadale, melbourne

coin laundry takes its name from its former use - as a laundromat.  nowadays, it pumps out some music, food and coffee instead.  my personal view is that the food isn't as good as many other brunch places in melbourne, but if i lived in armadale, i'd probably go more often.  otherwise, there's a heap of great brunch places dotted around melbourne that i'd go to first... though, their staff are all pretty hot...

some coin laundry reviews can be found here:

Broadsheet
The Age
Urbanspoon

crown atrium, melbourne

each year, crown casino puts something related to chinese new year on in its atrium.  a small light and sound show accompanies the display.  you'll be able to see a golden dragon near the bottom right of the photo.  2012 is the year of the (water) dragon in the chinese zodiac.

happy chinese new year!

duchess of spotswood, spotswood, vic

adrian and i try to get to a different brunch spot around melbourne each weekend.  the duchess of spotswood is located in (drumroll) spotswood.  its one of a few decent weekend brunch places in the western suburbs of melbourne.  like all brunch places, there is a sizeable wait on weekends (around 15 to 30 minutes depending on the number of people).  our food was pretty good and the coffee was great.

the duchess has been written up in the following places:

Urbanspoon
The Age
Broadsheet

australia day, melbourne

our fourth annual australian day bbq went off without a hitch.  hopefully others had as much fun as i did.

jewish wedding reception, melbourne

my second ever jewish wedding receiption.  i love non-christian weddings.  they have their own little cultural quirks such as hoisting the bride and groom on two chairs, throwing the groom around and lots of circular dancing.  the groom also brings about 3 changes of his shirt so he stays pristine during all the sweaty dancing. 

ajay

ajay is a silver abyssinian who we got about 1.5 years ago from a breeder in queensland.  meow.

carnival, midsumma festival, melbourne

midsumma is a GBLTQI festival held each year in melbourne just prior to its larger cousin, the mardi gras in sydney.  carnival is a picnic event where everyone comes to share some food, drinks and music and wander around the various stalls set up around birrarung marr.  luckily, 2012's carnival was held when melbourne was at its sunny best.

barwon heads, vic

barwon heads is a sleepy beach town that is slowly turning into its larger neighbour, ocean grove.  it's a shame and hopefully it won't happen too quickly.  at the end of the pier is a great restaurant called "at the heads" where you can enjoy some good food whilst looking out to a magnificent vista.