Melbourne Eats | The Vertue of the Coffee Drink (ﾉ≧ڡ≦)

When visiting Melbourne, brunching is inevitable! One fine morning we went to a cute little brunch spot in Carlton with my boyfriend and his mum, who works in Melbourne most of the time so she knows all the good eating spots. We were told the food here was really good, so of course we had to try it. 

The Vertue of the Coffee Drink

8 Raffa Place, Carlton, Melbourne

Opening Hours: 

MON-FRI: 7AM - 4PM
SAT & SUN: 7:30AM - 4PM

Ph: (03) 8592 4677

INSTAGRAM

FACEBOOK

FCBA x Haven Specialty Coffee (≧∇≦)/

A couple weeks ago I was invited to lunch with the FCBA community at Haven Specialty Coffee to try their some of new and signature dishes.  

Haven Specialty Coffee

30-34 Chalmers Street, Surry Hills, 2010

Opening Hours: 

MON-FRI: 7am - 3pm
SAT & SUN: 18am - 3pm

Ph: (02) 8317 6390

INSTAGRAM
FACEBOOK

Café in the North // Little Giant Roasters °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

I've always drove past a few cute looking cafe's in Willoughby, which I've never been to before, even though I live in the North Shore area. So, last Sunday I decided to take my mum out to lunch, where my elder brother and his partner decided to join us on this foodie adventure. 

FCBA x MonteAltoRoasters // Casual Dining with fellow instafoodies! (*⌒▽⌒*)θ～♪

On Thursday, 11th August, I was invited by FCBA community to join them and a group of other foodies for a feast at the newly opened Monte Alto Roasters located in Crows Nest. They have been up and running for just over a month now and they have been expanding their good food, drinks and music with many of the locals. They are opened for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as offering a unique drink menu from the bar. 

TRUFFLE SEASON // Cavalier Speciality Coffee in St Leonards *(*´∀｀*)☆

Last Tuesday I met up with my friend, Virginia, for a catch brunch session. We decided to try something new and close to the both of us, so we decided on Cavalier Specialty Coffee, which is a 8-10min walk from St Leonards station. My main reason for choosing this place was because of their truffle menu that they are offering in July. So we ordered 3 dishes topped with truffle, along with a cup of coffee each. 

Cavalier Specialty Coffee

34 Oxley St, Crows Nest, Sydney

Opening Hours: 

Mon: CLOSED

Tues & Fri: 6:30am - 2:30pm

Sat & Sun: 8am - 2pm

Ph: n/a

INSTAGRAM

The truffles they are using are the highest grade truffle available, and is also locally grown down on the farm in Pemberton, where little mate Peri sniffed them out on his hunt. I was so lucky to get to see these two large truffles in their beautiful form and boy do they smell amazing!!!

First off, I ordered a mocha with truffle milk, topped with a pinch of salt and slice of truffle. I must say, when I heard truffle milk I was a bit weird-ed out. However, once I tried it, it actually had a really lovely taste, slightly mellow yet sweet, as the salt slightly enhanced the flavors of the truffle, milk and chocolate. 

The first main dish I tried was the Spanner Crab Brunch, topped with truffle (AUD$23 + $10; for truffle). It is a slow poached Queensland spanner crab with jersey milk, smoked sea mayonnaise, basil and 2 poached eggs. I absolutely loved this dish! It was light yet full of delicate flavor's!! However I couldn't really taste the truffle in this so I probably give this dish a miss for the addition of truffles. 

We also ordered another hot dish, which was their 3 Cheese Mushroom Macaroni, topped with truffles (AUD$16 + $10), which came with melted Mozzarella and cheddar cheese, macaroni, mushrooms, crumbs and snowie 50 month Caccionerone. It was quite a heavy and rich dish, I couldn't really taste the mushrooms much, but the truffles came through a bit here. 

Now I did save the best till last and it was their Tiramisu French Toast, topped with truffles (AUD$16 + $10). This is Cavalier's take on french toast with layers of mascarpone cream, chocolate and dulce de leche coffee cream served on brioche. Their french toast was absolutely divine!! It doesn't leave you with that sickly sweet after taste at all, which was perfect for me! I loved how the combination of the sweet ingredients went very well with the flavors and aromas of the shaved truffles! This is such a beautiful dish and I highly recommend everyone to try it out! 

I must say the spanner crab and french toast was my favourite dishes of the day. However I would have loved if the spanner crab was a little bit bigger in serving as it was quite a small dish. Regardless, I can definitely see myself coming back here for some more of the truffle milk coffees and trying their other dishes, maybe without the truffle this time as they do make the dish that much more expensive! 

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[120716]
Good morning guys! As you are reading this I am at work, learning more about my role and all!! Life is definitely going to be more and more busier every day, but since I'm young now it's good to work as hard as you can to earn that extra cash and invest into your relationships (with friends, family and your partner) as well as your future! 
Anyways have a lovely and beautiful morning, while I sit at my work desk craving for some truffle milk mocha!! 

Remember to like my facebook page, subscribe to my youtube channel, follow my instagram:"lazypandah" & LOOKBOOK:lazypandah for daily updates! 

Comments are love ♥

-LAZYPANDAH

 

Flower Child Café ೭੧(❛▿❛✿)੭೨ // Picturesque & delicious food? YES PLEASE!

Flower Child Café brings together two concepts, a garden and an eatery. It is a super cute place to relax and enjoy with friends and family as it creates the perfect gathering atmosphere. Breakfast, brunch and lunch is served all day long so you no meals of the day would be missed.

Flower Child Cafe
391/1 Anderson St, Chatswood, 2067, NSW
(next to Topshop in Westfield)

Opening Hours:
Mon-Sun: 8am - 5pm // Thurs: 8am - 9pm

Ph: n/a

INSTAGRAM

Today I went to a café in Chatswood called Flower Child Café. I have heard of this café but I didn't know that it was so close to home! It's located right next to Topshop Westfield. 

I was meeting my lovely friend, Nancy there for breakkie as we haven't caught up in a very long time! Nancy is also an instafoodie under the name @nixxynoms.

We had troubles decided what to get because we literally just wanted to order everything, but obviously we wouldn't be able to finish it all. So we decided to get 3 dishes with two sweet and one savoury. 

Of course we ordered our coffee for the day, I ordered a soy chai latte and Nancy ordered a soy latte. Along with the drinks came a small twig with adorable flowers on the plate! I know these are not lavender but whatever flowers they are, they are super cute. We decided to place them on top of our drinks to make it look even cuter for photo's.

The soy chai latte (AUD$4) was very aromatic and quite delicious too. It went down smoothly and the chai taste does linger for a moment. 

When our dishes came it was time to do what foodies do best. Take photos! We definitely took a good 15-20 minutes just taking photos and we were both starving because we hadn't eaten anything beforehand. But my camera will always get the first bite of the food and like Nancy says "professional foodies at work!". 

BREAKFAST PLATE (AUD$19)

Poached eggs, avocado, bacon, grilled asparagus, goat's curd, Roma tomato, quinoa, figs and grilled sourdough. 

This dish was presented beautifully, which also tasted quite lovely and hearty. However only one egg was poached, the other was cooked a little too long, it became soft boiled. Regardless though, a nice dish to have for breakfast. 

FLOWER CHILD FRUIT SALAD (AUD$16)

Seasonal fresh fruits with compressed pineapple, watermelon, strawberries, orange, lychee, peaches, figs, roasted pistachios, free-dried raspberries and yoghurt sorbet. 

This was super delicious and really refreshing. I loved how the yoghurt sorbet matched the different fruits really well. 

Also it paired perfectly with the Flower Child French toast as it balanced out the flavours of the toast so you don't get a sugary-sweetness overload on your palette. 

FLOWER CHILD FRENCH TOAST (AUD$17)

Banana mascarpone, sliced banana, dark chocolate crumbs, fresh berries and salted toffee. 

This French toast was DIVINE! The banana mascarpone was really interesting, it tasted like a mixture of banana, caramel and cookie dough. The toast was slightly crunchy on the outside, but fluffy and soft on the inside. The salted toffee on the side was delicious too and went so well with the mascarpone and toast. The berries definitely made this dish more delightful to eat but my favourite part was the dark chocolate crumbs. They were literally balls of goodness with that extra crunch. I think it was definitely my favourite dish as of today!

Overall, I had the most amazing time eating here for the first time and I am happy to say that I definitely will be returning for its' fabulous looking and tasty menu. Also the prices are quite decent compared to other cafés and I live so close to Chatswood so I can literally pop by any time. I hope Flower Child Café will welcome my big appetite when I do come again! 

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[120416]

Today was pretty much a full foodie day as I picked up cake after breakfast, which I will also blog about soon...maybe even today too!!

Remember to like my facebook page, subscribe to my youtube channel, follow my instagram:"lazypandah" & LOOKBOOK:lazypandah for daily updates! 

Comments are love ♥

-LAZYPANDAH

 

Breakfast at Sokyo // Another morning munch with mum (*･▽･*)

So by now you probably know that my mum and I love eating at Sokyo,

especially my mum. If she could she would have breakfast, lunch and dinner there all in one day. So the first time I went here was last year boxing day and I didn't have an appetite cause I was so tired but this time round was different. I was hungry and ready to eat! 

Starting off they have their continental buffet breakfast, where they have a selection of light breakfast foods, such as fruits, yogurt, crackers, congee, cheese, bread, juice, etc. Also I apologize about the quality of the photos I had to snap them with my phone as I didn't bring my camera along with me.

I like to start off with a bit of buffet breakfast while I choose a dish from their breakfast menu too. Their breakfast menu offers hot meals that a more filling and have many different types to choose form. 

My favourite so far is their Traditional Choushoku breakfast, which comes with the fish of the day, miso soup, chawanmushi, Hokkaido yumepirika rice, nori and Japanese pickles. Their fish is always perfectly grilled and the taste is light yet full of flavour. I ordered this the last two times I came here. 

Another dish that my mum ordered the last two times was their seafood bowl. It comes with Glacier 51 tooth fish, salmon, octopus, flying fish roe, cucumber, beni shoga, Hokkaido yumepirika rice and onsen tamago. Another light and refreshing dish with the flavours of the fresh fish and seasoning. 

The dishes that are produced at Sokyo are always amazing in taste and quality of ingredients. I cannot wait to come back again for breakfast as they have just added a new dish, their Pork Katsu sandwich to the breakfast menu. At the moment the best place for pork katsu sandwich, in my opinion, is at Cafe Oratnek, so I cannot wait to taste Sokyo's one and compare the two!

 

Sokyo

80 Pyrmont St, Pyrmont, 2009, NSW
Level G, The Darling, The Star

Opening Hours:
[Breakfast] Mon-Sun: 7am - 10:30am
[Lunch] Fri & Sat: 12pm - 2pm
[Dinner] Mon-Sun: 5:30pm - 10pm

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[140316]

Good morning to my wonderful readers, hope your day has been going well so far. As for myself, I shall be running a few errands after lunch with a friend of mine but hopefully I will be able to finish editing the first vlog video of NZ soon. 

Remember to like my facebook page, subscribe to my youtube channels (old/new), follow my instagram:"lazypandah" & LOOKBOOK:lazypandah for daily updates! 

Comments are love ♥

-LAZYPANDAH

Breakfast at Sokyo // Sydney eats (❁´▽`❁)*✲ﾟ*

I have been to Sokyo since it first opened and have been in love with their food since. When I heard about their breakfast menu I was so eagered to go try the food. I finally got the chance to on Boxing Day as my mum wanted to have breakfast there (as she has been a few times already, and loves the food too!). 

While we waited for our main breakfast meal, they have a continental buffet which offers a selection of food to choose from. These include cereal, congee, soba, fruits, muffins, cronuts, juice etc. 

As I was having some small eats, my main arrived. I ordered the Akashiyaki, which includes Binchotan grille octopus, omelette, butter roasted Kipfler potato, créme fraiche, white soy micro greens and niban-dashi. This dish was not what I would expect it to be, taste-wise I thought it would be more flavourful. However, I wasn't feeling too well that morning, so I didn't have much of an appetite to begin with. 

My mum ordered the Bimbimbap, which includes 48 hour wagyu beef cheek, pickled mushroom, yamagobo, spinach, zucchini, bean sprouts, steamed Hokkaido yumepirika rice, fried egg and gochujang terriyaki. It was an enjoyable dish to have with all the flavors and textures mix together.  

Before we left, I picked up two mini muffins from the buffet because of their flavors, which were black sesame and matcha. I really enjoyed the black sesame muffin! Plus they were both really moist and packed with flavor!

Sokyo
Level G, The Darling at The Star, 80 Pyrmont St, Pyrmont, Sydney, NSW

Opening Hours: Mon-Sun: 8am - 4pm

Ph: (02) 9657 9161

INSTAGRAM

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[130116]

It's really warming up here in Sydney and I cannot believe only 7 days until I go on a mini vacation up north, to the Gold Coast! Super excited to be going there in forever!! I use to go there every month as a kid with my cousins and relatives, where we enjoyed all the theme parks~!!

Remember to like my facebook page, subscribe to my youtube channel, follow my instagram:"lazypandah" & LOOKBOOK:lazypandah for daily updates! 

Comments are love ♥

-LAZYPANDAH