Porgie + Mr. Awesome

Porgie + Mr Jones
291 Auburn Rd,
Hawthorn


We have been meaning to check this place out for a while now. Truth is, we don't know why it's taken us this long to come here, considering it is right in our area. But boy, are we glad we finally made the trip to P+MJ.

This delightful cafe is located on Auburn Rd in Hawthorn and features three rooms and a courtyard. Everything about this place seemed to click; and from the moment you walk in you know you are in a happy place. The cafe is upbeat, homely & friendly. The staff know when you enter, and make you feel welcome before you've even had a chance to take in your surroundings (which are pretty awesome).

The vibrant feel of the place is tied into every aspect of the cafe. From the floors to the ceiling and everything in between, you could tell the owners had an image to convey and they pulled it off with charm. Blackboad-like walls complete with cute messages scribbled in chalk, and an array of artwork (which you can purchase) throughout the establishment gave it its own life. Did I mention the whole place smelt like roasting cawfee? Double points.

latte

P+MJ

I ordered a latte to start. Velvety smooth with a hint of bitterness. This is one of the better coffees I've had in a while. My P+MJ - poached eggs, bacon, slow roasted tomato, avocado and thyme buttered mushrooms all piled on slabs of sourdough was merry-making in the mouth. The bacon was crispy and very flavoursome. The buttery bread served as the perfect base to pile on all the other elements of the dish.

summer fruits

Bun's Summer fruit dish consisted of fresh watermelon, strawberries, passion fruit, kiwi, blueberries and cherries with yoghurt, rose water, honey and oat crumble was the best fruit ensemble she has ever had. The rose water added a delicate layer of extra sweetness to the fruits, whilst the oats added a satisfying crunch. As I write this, Bun is declaring how she would happily eat nothing but that dish for a week.

Flawless staff, outstanding coffee, delicious food, and all in a great looking place. What more can you ask for in a cafe? Porgie + Mr. Jones is a standout establishment and definitely one of our favourite places of all time.

Addit: "We make everything in our kitchens using as much organic, free range happy and local produce as financially and commercially possible". We have all the excuses we need to make multiple trips back in the future. Not that we need any.

BUNnings

The Hardware Societe
120 Hardware St
Melbourne


The Hardware Societe is a cosy cafe in the CBD offering rustic French and Spanish influenced creations. Bun and I rocked up at about 2:25pm, to discover that the kitchen is only open till 2:30pm. Thankfully though, the owners said we could still order, as long as we did so quickly.

I scanned the menu and chose the first thing that caught my eye - veal & rabbit terrine with cumin, carrot & orange relish and pickles. I had no idea what a terrine was, and was expecting some sort of meat stew dish. Then the waiter presented this in front of me.

terrine, lolwhat?!

Turns out a terrine is a french style mixture of lean meat emulsified with fat - similar to pâté. It reminded me of spam - that disgusting (delicious according to Bun) wobbly "meat" in a can. Terrine is served at room temperature, and this immediately had me thinking of the various forms of bacteria growing in the meat which lowered its appeal even more. The actual taste was not so bad. By itself the terrine was a bit bland and had the texture of canned tuna, but together with the sour pickles and sweet relish was much livelier. At this point I was jealously eyeing off Bun's delicious looking and smelling lamb dish.
I politely offered Bun a taste of my terrine, and he enjoyed it so immensely he decided he would eat it, and I could have what he ordered instead (rejoice!). Bun decided on the braised lamb with prunes, preserved lemon, pedro ximénez (a dessert wine) and israeli cous cous.

braised lamb

This dish was a little too sweet for my liking. But the lamb was cooked very well, super tender and oozing with meaty goodness. The Israeli cous cous was very different to any other cous cous I've tried. These had the look and texture of sago balls, with a distinctive nutty flavour.

To finish we couldn't resist trying the macarons on display above the counter. We unfortunately report that these were the worst macarons we've ever tasted. They don't even warrant a photo. Let's just say these 'macarons' did not present any of the qualities a good macaron should have - crunchy shell (fail), chewy inner (double fail).

Based on what I tried this time I probably would not come back. Bun says he would come back for the terrine (wtf).

Ooh ah, Ramen Ya

Ramen Ya

Shop 25G, 350 Bourke St,

Melbourne

Nestled in the laneways of GPO is Ramen Ya, busily churning out steaming bowls of Japanese noodle soup, or 'Ramen' for noobs. We joined the queue lining up to order and spotted a pile of cute origami templates on the counter. We ambitiously grabbed four templates, which we would later attempt to make whilst waiting for our food to arrive.

origami templates

We both decided to get the Charshu Ramen (ramen with pork), with different broths. I got the Miso base which was flavoursome but a little too salty.
Bun got the Tonkotsu base, which is a pork bone broth. Bun's ramen had the winning soup. Rich salty broth with a slight sweetness and almost thick in texture- very tasty.
In the soup were generous amounts of noodles accompanied with tender pieces of pork, pickled ginger and radish, spring onions, seaweed, bamboo and half a boiled egg.

We, in our infinite wisdom know what makes a good ramen (based on information obtained from internet land), and we were disappointed in a couple elements of our noodle soup. Firstly, the egg yolk was over cooked, and not the gooey texture it should have been. Our ramen also lacked bean shoots, which, although not necessary, would have been nice.

charshu ramen

To go with our ramen, we also got a serve of Gyoza. Lightly fried and not too oily, these crispy pork parcels had hints of ginger and chives. Once dunked into a tangy vinegar, they were yummeh. Bun enjoyed these more than he enjoyed his noodles.

gyoza

Oh by the way, this is our awesome origami.

our amazing origami skills...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p_c5DqjaQk&feature=related

Girls

Las Chicas
203 Carlisle St,
Balaclava

St Kilda may have lost the finals this year, but all is not lost for the...general... area around St Kilda. Situated in Balaclava (a suburb right next to St Kilda) is trendy Las Chicas. Generous offerings of cafe staples, fantastic coffee, and a cool, laid back atmosphere make this place stand out more than most.

 

Latte

berry smoothie

Despite being extremely busy, service was quick and friendly. Bun's latte was creamy and of perfect temperature. My berry smoothie was super thick, I struggled getting it through the straw and resorted to using my spoon to eat it. It was a refreshing blend of sweet and sour - it was berry nice...

brekky burrito

Many have tried to conquer the monstrous breakfast burrito, and Bun was up for the challenge. The soft tortilla could barely contain the filling - made with four eggs, four rashes of bacon, aioli, crisp rocket, topped with tomato salsa, and a heap of avocado. The fluffy scrambled eggs and the fresh juicy tomato salsa were highlights of this very tasty meal.

BBB - bikini blowout benedict

The bikini blowout benedict - avocado, bacon and two poached eggs on bagel toast topped with a giant dollop of hollandaise sauce. Bun's first thought - 'the poached eggs look like balls'. After piercing the sacs and letting the runny yolk cover the rest of the dish, this quickly became a messy wonderpalace. Although it didn't retain its prettiness after my initial hackings, the taste was undeniably delish (albeit a little heavy at parts due to the hollandaise sauce). I had to break up my meal by taking bites out of Bun's. HA!

Make sure you get here early because this place packs out, especially on the weekends. And if the weather permits, ask for a spot in the sun-speckled courtyard out back. We shall return.

Le Yummeh Bunneh

Parisian Patisserie
19 Keilor Rd,
Essendon

When I was at school, we were taught a trick to help us spell dessert. Spell it with a double 's', because you want double servings. In the case of Parisian Patisserie, dessert would be spelled desssssssssssssssssert, because you'd want that many servings of it... get it?

Step into this bustling haven, and you are enveloped by that warm, fresh-out-of-the-oven aroma. The very thought of dining here makes your ass grow a few inches. And you still can't help yourself. We dragged two other people with us on the 45min drive, just so that we could order more...

We arrived at 9:30am Staurday morning and the place was already full. The entire time we were there, constant streams of people came in for their sugar hits.

Strawberry Tart

First up was a strawberry tart. Each bite filled our mouths with fresh juicy strawberries, sweet creamy filling, and a buttery pastry. A very exciting preview of things to come.

Lemon Tart

I'm a sucker for lemon tart, and this one is up there with the best I've tried. The rich lemon filling was the perfect balance of sweet and sour, and paired with the shortbread crust - I could've scoffed the whole thing down in one go. But alas, I had to share. Shitballs.

Ham and Cheese Croissant

The patisserie is known mostly for its sweets, but its savoury pastries are also of note. Enter the best ham and cheese croissant we've ever had. Crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy in the centre. Nothing like the soggy/too dry specimens I've tried elsewhere.

Escargot

Normally with escargots, I like to slowly peel apart the swirl so that I end up with one long piece of dough. But this one, with its sweet and sticky outer glaze, and plump sultanas scattered throughout didn't allow for such luxuries; I was far too impatient and couldn't eat it fast enough.

Almond Croissant

The famous almond croissant was the last to come out. The patisserie is said to sell 160 of these a day - and more often than not, sell out before midday. Despite feeling quite full, my mouth watered at the sight of this. This croissant was sinfully good. Fresh from the oven, the hot sweet crust melted away to reveal an amazing buttery interior. The crunchy flaked almonds texturally took the croissant to another level. This alone, was worth the drive.

Macarons (From top left: lemon, rasberry, hazelnut, pistachio, cassis and chocolate)

Of course we couldn't resist taking home some macarons to enjoy. These lasted about 2 hours before we devoured them. Unfortunately, these were not the best samples of macarons we've had. They lacked that satisfying crunch and crispiness of the shells, and the fillings were average.

Still, Parisian Patisserie is a shining jewel of a real French bakery. If you are watching your weight, stay away from this place with all your might. But for us, we left full, happy and with nicely elevated blood sugar levels.

A sweet start to the weekend.

AYO Mehico

Mamasita
Level 1, 11 Collins St,
Melbourne

Mamasita roughly translates to "hot babe" in Spanish. Nice.

What's also nice is the restaurant itself, which is now undoubtedly one of the hottest new restaurants in Melbourne. In fact, Mamasita is so in demand that people line up outside before the doors open at noon... as if it were a nightclub. But boy is the wait worth it. I've been here 4 times already; mostly due to the fact that the food is phenomenal, and partly due to the fact that it's conveniently located near my office. Bun has been here twice - the first time we came together we were so impatient to eat that we didn't get any photos taken! Here goes round two.

The first thing you realise when ascending the stairs to 'real' mexican food heaven are how efficient and friendly the staff are. If you are early, and lucky enough to find a table without having to wait for too long, you are whisked to a table and presented with the easy to follow menu. The wait staff will ask if you have been here before, and if you haven't, they happily explain all the elements of the menu items to you. This is absolutely brilliant service considering how busy the place is, and that most of the dishes names are in spanish...

To start Bun and I got the Mexican 'Street Style' Corn. For what I thought was a simple corn on a cob, I was literally unprepared for the intense flavour assault of awesome which took place in my mouth. The bitey queso cheese covering a sweet corn cob with chipotle dressing offered the perfect blend of sweet, spicy, sour and salty mouthful on a stick. Be warned though, these are a little hard to eat (unless you have a huge mouth) and you'll soon have parts of this dish all over your face.

chargrilled corn with queso cheese, chipotle mayonnaise and lime

Next we got the Tostadita tasting board of four. These are little fried corn chips garnished with a selection of delicious toppings. Albeit a bit of a mouthful, these are totally worth looking like an idiot while trying to fit a whole one in the mouth hole. The tostaditas were fresh, zesty and of course, chilli! Mamasita sure knows how to pack in flavour into little packages. A definite must when sharing the experience with friends, or if you're a very fat bun.

Tostadidas (From left to right: slow braised pork shoulder with encurtidos and jalepenos, crab meat one that we forgot to write down, market fish with lime, gaucomole, nasturdiums and serrano chilli, chargrilled chicken, avocado, queso fresco and chipotle mayo)

Fish tacos came next. Let's just say these aren't your average Old El Paso tacos. Soft, chewy tacos encasing tender pieces of market fish, fresh crunchy greens and a zesty achiote sauce make these tacos truly memorable. Definitely a favourite for the buns - these come highly recommended.

grilled fish tacos with lime, achiote paste and red onion salsa

Our quesadillas - a perfect little mexican pizza, were simple and delightful. Beautifully seasoned chicken, layered with gooey cheese and other delicious tid bits with a crispy tortilla casing made these truly hard to share.

char-grilled chicken quesadilla with 'pico de gallo', coriander and queso freso

At this stage we were pretty super full, but having glanced the dessert menu prior, we knew what must occur before we departed. It was a hard decision, but we decided to go with the Chilli Chocolate Pudding with cinnamon and choc sorbet. I love desserts with varying temperatures, and this dish delivered those elements in bounds. Cold sorbet + warm pudding + my mouth = jizz in my pants, and mouth.

chilli chocolate pudding with cinnamon and chocolate sorbet

Muchos yummeh!

Tap(as) this

Añada
197 Gertrude St, Fitzroy

Legend has it that an old King recovered from a long illness by drinking wine and eating small dishes in between meals. Once he recovered, he declared that all taverns under his rule would not be able to serve alcohol unless accompanied by a small snack "tapa". This is just one story of many on the origins of tapas, and I will have to leave google to satiate your lust for knowledge on the matter.

Añada is a cosy little tapas restaurant/bar in Fitzroy. Modestly decorated, its warm ambience, good food and fine selection of Spanish wines keeps the customers coming back.

The simple menu incorporates a range of traditional tapas dishes and... bigger tapas dishes, or 'Raciones'.
Be sure to order generously, as the tapas can generally be devoured all in one bite.
House made sourdough was presented first as we waited for our first wave of dishes to arrive.

To start, we got the chorizitos, chargrilled quail with frekah and pomegranate salad, salt cod croquettas, stuffed calamari and crumbed lamb brain with pork belly red lentils to share between our group of five. Each dish was petite but packed a lot of flavour. Favourites included the salted cod croquettes - a gooey puree of salted cod and garlic shoots encrusted in a crunchy shell, and the baby calamari with the sumac stuffing.

Stuffed calamari with sumac

salt cod and garlic shoot croquetta

For the Raciones (the equivalent of tapas mains) we ordered the pork belly, beef cheeks, wagyu beef, king fish, spanish mackerel and a gem lettuce salad. My favourite was the beef cheeks - tender morsels of meat rolling in Oloroso and fava bean puree.

slow roasted beef cheeks with oloroso and fava bean puree

pork belly with fennel seed and smoked aubergine

king fish in clam pil-pil with fava beans

wagyu beef wrapped in potato

Our tapas and bigger tapas were good, but our bellies weren't quite satified yet, so we ordered four out of the five desserts... (fat bun style).
If the tapas, in terms of taste, was like a giant rainbow in the mouth, then the desserts would be like riding a giant mediterranean unicorn on this rainbow to Spain.
The pomegranate and orange blossom sorbet with sugared pistachios was zesty and refreshing. Crema Catalina was my favourite; Crack open the perfectly caramalised top and expose the sweet cinnamon and lemon custard inside. Yummeh! Pedro Ximanez and muscatel ice cream tasted like a gourmet rum and raisin blend. Even Bun, who doesn't normally like rum and raisin, voted this dessert his favourite. Lastly, we all shared churros with a rich dark chocolate dipping sauce. These were crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle, paired with the bitter sweet sauce - a heavenly end to our evening.

pedro ximanez and muscatel icecream

churros with chocolate

Please sir, can we have Añada?

Miso Hungry

Eat Drink Bento
115 Hardware St, Melbourne

A Bento Box. The traditional Japanese lunchbox. They usually have little dividers inside with each different food kept in its own little compartment, so that it doesn't catch cooties off its neighbours. Eat Drink Bento have many a la carte items on their menu, but are best known for their bento boxes.

All bento boxes come with miso soup, house entree on mixed salad, steamed rice or cold soba noodles, and a house dessert. Miso soup was brought out first. It was yummmmmeh. The bowls arrived steaming at our table with cubes of tofu, wakame (seaweed) and scallions floating lazily inside. With just the right amount of salt, this delicate, mellow broth whetted our appetites perfectly.

Miso Soup

The accompaniments to our main were much more than mere accompaniments. Tempura sushi on a bed of greens, steamed rice with a sprinkling of sesame seeds, and white chocolate cake (from bakery de Coles). Each section of the bento were an impressive dish on their own.

Seafood and vegetable tempura bento

Bun got the 'seafood and vegetable tempura' and I got the 'wafu steak' bento box.
The tempura was the best he's tried. The batter was hot and crispy, and gave him the satisfaction of eating fried food without the excess oil. Also, the amount of seafood in his bento was generous for the price.Two prawns, a giant scallop, three pieces of fish, and an assortment of vegetables (including broccoli which was surprisingly nice).

Wafu steak bento

My wafu steak was cooked medium rare, drizzled with a peppery sesame sauce and sat on mountain of crunchy salad. Every piece was juicy and oh so tender.

Definitely one of the best bento boxes we've ever had.
私のボールを吸う!!!!!!    (o^_^o)

A view on Vue

Café Vue
430 Little Collins St, Melbourne

For those of us who can't afford to blow a week's wage on a meal at Vue de Monde (Shannon Bennett's 3 hatted restaurant), there is Cafe Vue - the little, little sibling of the aforementioned gem of a dining experience.
Attached to the side of Vue de Monde, Cafe Vue offers quick lunch & breakfast meals, quality coffee, and a selection of desserts for the every day suits who frequent the area.

Bun and I arrived a little before noon, and as such, the kitchen was not yet serving hot lunch meals. To pass the time we ordered some macarons, and by some I mean a box... and a box comes with 6.

From top left: Orange, Pistachio, Raspberry, Passionfruit, Mocha, Vanilla

Having recently tasted what I believe to be one of the finest examples of macarons at EARL Canteen, we were excited to evaluate these ones as they were coming from a French establishment. The macarons were a little larger than one's we'd sampled elsewhere, and the consistency was varied between the different flavours, but overall, it was a dignified batch. My favourite was the Pistachio, and Bun's was the Raspberry. The best macarons from this batch had a crispy shell and a chewy/airy interior. Perfect.

For our post dessert main I got the 'Vue Burger with French Fries' and Bun had the 'Chicken & Poccini Mushroom Pie'.

Vue Burger

My burger, although I thought it initially small, turned out to be quite hearty and packed much more flavour than your eyes would have you believe. The patty was seasoned beautifully with herby & peppery elements. The other fillings (rocket, cheese, bacon, beetroot) all came together very nicely in the mouth and worked well with the aioli-ish sauce. The french fries were unfortunately nothing special, and at times a little too salty.

Chicken and Porcini Mushroom Pie

Bun thought her pie was pretty crap. Oversized chunks of chicken, minimal mushrooms, and a grainy sauce that looked like cement - not what Bun had hoped for. The pie lacked any discernible flavour, and would fail in a pie-off against her school tuckshop's famous chicken and & veg pie. (She goes to pie-offs all the time so she would know).

The menu selection is limited, but the place is definitely worth checking out. Also there are macarons, so what other reason do you need?