D) All of the above

. . .

[St Kilda Pelican, 16 Fitzroy Street St Kilda, Melbourne]

Food envy for me is part and parcel of my dining experience, that’s why I love when its tapas style – “mi casa es tu casa” (so to speak) & I’ve been to Pelican on numerous occasions, ironically never for breakfast and it’s always been on a warm summers eve getting amongst the warm summer vibe…

I know, I know, Melbs hardly experiences a TRUE winter (we’re currently sitting on 12.5 degrees….however, I AM COLD! …How did I ever survive a German winter…?

In this instance, I once again pretended it was summer and we sat outside… rookie error! Who can concentrate on pretending its summer, sipping a pretty summer drink when its freezing??

So we migrated to the cosy comforts of the indoors, surrounded by the aromas of the kitchen and the light hum of the conversation, normally quite busy – it was intimately quiet. 🙂

As I was too preoccupied trying to get my gear off at pretty much every mouthful and every drop of wine, this unfortunately hasn’t been properly visually documented.

However, I do have a little mish mash of photos from previous visits….(excuse the bad lighting and flashless phone camera)

Arancini balls lying on a bed of “heart attack” 🙂

(Fcking delicious)Moroccan lamb meatballs in sauce with yoghurt:

Char-grilled Calamari with a side of rocket drizzled with “delicious”

The one thing I couldn’t help but document was the dessert.

My English teacher taught me once that DESERT (as in “Bear Grylls stuck in the middle of a…”) has one “s”, and the other-DESSERT (the sweet delicious kind) has 2 “s” because you want more.

Fair enough.

And boy did I want more! We in fact went for an option called “All of the above” – I thought it was a joke, and cross my heart (Burz, this is for you beb) this was no joke!.

Please see below for “how I got diabetes”: (clockwise)

1) Creme Brulee with short bread (O.MY……..sweeeet Jesus, Mary and Joseph…..)
2) Minted lamington (hmmm, could’ve gone without)
3) Peanut brittle ice-cream (I went to the bathroom, and came back to find it mysteriously gone….so the verdict is good 🙂 )
4) Rich chocolate mousse cake (heavens above!!)
5) White chocolate Rocky Road with pistachio (mmmmmm)

Excuse the commentary, but seriously?? What in the world of decadent, moorish heaven was that??

I suppose “all of the above” options eliminates any chance of “food-envy”, it did however leave me in a severe sugar/life high.

(Pinky promise, my next Pelican visit will involve breakfast :))

. . .

Tastefully yours,

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A little European mid-week adventure

. . .

[The European, Spring street Melbourne]

Open: 7.30 to 3am

“…Breakfast to supper, 7 days a week, The European serves honest, simple food, sourcing only the best produce from Australia and Europe. This institution is a must visit, even if it’s just for one of this cities finest coffees…” (http://www.theeuropean.com.au)

It wasn’t our initial intention to be at The European (although, it is always a delight being there), Miss H and I started our day eager to try an ACTUAL breakfast at Cumulus inc

We’d previously been paralysed with culinary joy at a share platter of something sweet and savoury, but had never returned due to my adventure to Germany, so luck & fait were our ladies that day as Cumulus was a bubbling over with way too many people and we made our way to try something a little more “European” as there is nothing more frustrating than “enjoying” a breakfast whilst tactfully “crowd surfing”, and NOT eavesdropping on a billion (very fast paced) conversations. (What I didnt get was, they were all in suits – hello work anyone? hahah)

So, when we stepped foot into a less “stock market vibing environment” to a more relaxed one at The European, our tummies were looking for some yummies!

It was particularly humid on this day, and a hot breakfast was not really looking appetising – although, being inside the warm hues of The European, you immediately get transported to somewhere very Winter in Europe and long for that glorious aroma of “home-style, slow cooked” meals.(I immediately was transported to many a cosy feast in France, Luxembourg, Germany…)

So.. Miss H ordered her favourite Brioche with assorted jams:

And I opted for some fresh fruit salad:

It was very exiting to see the “usual suspects” of a fruit salad were absent, rather a myriad of delicious bite sized delights which simultaneously stimulated my 5 senses were very much present. 🙂

It was AS bursting with flavour as it was bursting with colour, aroma and the assorted textures. Uniting the flavour differences was a delicious natural yoghurt, and whimsically presented pot of honey.

I was in culinary, breakfast heaven. 🙂

There is nothing like the sheer, unadulterated joy of a simple, yet flavoursome breakfast. (or any meal really) Its exiting when the produce is so good, it really doesn’t need much else.

Upon leaving The European in one of my post breakfast bliss moods, we made our way to explore a little bit of Melbourne city that I had missed!.

Living in Melbourne allows us to experience such treats that transport our senses to another place. We live in tumultuous times, but its nice to know that a little adventure to Europe is a stones throw away.

. . .

Tastefully yours

A perfect embodiment of a concept

. . .
[The Paragon, 651 Rathdowne Street, Carlton North VIC]

Phone: (03) 9347 7715 ‎

Paragon, definition:

• an ideal instance; a perfect embodiment of a concept
• ideal: model of excellence or perfection of a kind; one having no equal

Had to get out of the house on this particular day… so Ang and I took a drive down to her ‘home away from home’ in leafy carlton – and we took a stroll to The Paragon.

Did some reading, and this establishment has been around for over 25 years!!! whoah baby! and I’d never stepped foot into nor heard of it before… awkward.

Ang, being a big foodie and coming from a big family of foodies, had heard about this place, so we just had to try it.

We werent that hungry (due to the heat) and so we were fancying a shareplatter of some sort.

Antipasto platter:

Looks amazing doesn’t it?…and it was except for the ‘so off it was tangy’ roasted capsicum… fail!.

Fortunately for us, the waiter/waitress was amazing (we had one older charming gentleman, and a friendly waitress fighting for our table ;)) and were able to promptly bring us out another platter…that wasn’t tangalicious.

Take 2:

With a beautiful wine in hand, we people watched, and enjoyed the balmy evening in leafy Rathdowne street.

Prices are reasonable for such a polished establishment, and service was quick and very charming – pity the food wasn’t checked before sending it out… uhoh!

One of the beautiful qualities of melbourne is our love of food, and the outdoors…I’d missed that being away. Sure there is an unbelievable amount of culture and history in Germany, but the variety choice doesn’t exist.

Having said that though, my stadt (city) Trier, in Germany, was one of the most amazing places I have visited. Living there had its ups and down, but overall I enjoyed coming home to Trier. It was my home away from home.

Sara, if you’re reading this HELLO! 🙂 wie gehts? Ich vermisse dich! and ofcourse Russell – greetings to you too! (Hope you’re well lubed up with a cocktail or two for birthday celebrations!! blue cadillac much? :))

To all in the fairy tale city of Trier, I hope you’re safe, warm and having fun. I miss you all and hope to see you all one day very soon.

bis bald!

Tchuess!!

. . .
with love and tastefully yours,

Melting white chocolate dumplings??? oh YES PLEASE!!

. . .
[Oriental Tea house, 455 Chapel street South Yarra]

[From their website]:
Welcome one, welcome all! Feast your sense on the Oriental Teahouse – Melbourne’s premier tea and yum cha destination. A magical, culinary myriad of taste, aroma and atmosphere, here to welcome you with open minds, open arms and open menus.

Stace and I had a reunion over brunch the other day, and as I hadn’t seen her beautiful face since 2010, it was certainly an afternoon filled with laughter and tears of joy.

She took me to this beautiful YUM CHA style restaurant, Oriental Teahouse. Now this isn’t everyones ideal place for breakfast, and to be quite frank I did have ‘my first meal of the day’ already…. however thats what breakfast is all about isnt it? Indulging in it all day…. DROOL!

We drove to Chapel street (in Melbourne) to feast on yummies, as stace divulged in her stories of ‘yummies’ over the summer. 😉

We both decided, as the sun was high and scorching, an iced tea would be suitable.

I ordered iced toothpaste and licorice tea …(peppermint/aniseed… what a mistake!!!)

And Stace ordered a dreamy berrilicious tea

For food, we decided on a banquet for 2:

“Big dumpling lover” ($21.00 pp)
* Seafood basket dumplings
* Chive & baby pea leaves dumplings
* Variety Basket dumplings
*Pork shu mai & Buck wheat vegetable dumplings
*Satay Pork dumplings

and let me tell you, they tasted as good as they looked!!! YUM!!!

Prices:

after all that, we decided, YES we are still hungry. how?? I hear you ask? I will tell you how!

check out this: Steamed white chocolate dumplings ($5.90 for 3 pcs)

OH YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

we’re definately going back for the CHOCOLATE steamed dumplings. WHOAH!!

. . .

Tastefully yours,

Joanna

High street, not low street

. . .
[ Grapeseed cafe, 1084 High street Armadale]

I have a friend called Angela, and all throughout highschool we called her Ang – and spelt it without an ‘e’ at the end…all of a sudden she decided to add the ‘e’… it has totally thrown my meaning of life… I guess its another reminder that nothing is permanent and I will have to get used to the change…

Change can be a wonderful thing, but often isn’t the easiest thing… so in the spirit of change, Ang(e), I have decided NOT to write about a certain amazing visit to Carlton, but in fact to complete the back log of yummies to get all up to date.

This gorgeous little place – actually not so little inside, is situated on High street near the corner of Kooyong and is a hub for the ‘yummy mummy’ type mixed in with the ‘pre-child young couple’ type and 20 somethings that wonder down for a quick bite or ‘lartay’ – clearly thats Ozzy for cafe Latte for those playing along at home. 🙂

I was here to meet my ‘little sister’ of Dining Room Diaries for a great big ol catch up since it had been a while.

We joked and ate and shopped all morning and just enjoyed the relaxing energy of High street.

She ordered 2 Free range poached eggs on Sour dough with a side of Avocado

And I ordered what I believe was from the lunch menu: Avo/Tomato/Crumbed fetta on toasted turkish bread. But in the spirit of ‘available all day’, who says you can’t eat ‘lunch’ for breaky?…. unless the waitress specifically says so, then i guess you’ve been told. *awkward*

I have to say, a little bit more on the presentation would have just done it… it was missing a gorgeous drizzle of olive oil for taste and aesthetic value. (Same goes for lil H) But it was still very delicious and very melbourne…and thats really what I was after.

And ofcourse, to wash this all down I ordered a fabulous soy chai latte which was pretty damn creamy and tasty 🙂

Prices are very average and anyone on any budget can find something delicious and quick to munch here, the service is quick and very friendly, and if you’re there on a sunny yummy day like ours – you’re mostly likely to sit back and soak in the warmth of the sun and energy of high street.

Now Ang(e), I do promise you will be ‘famous’ :), but as they say patience is a virtue… but you’re right, basically I need to stop procrastinating and get my groove on with these blogs!!!…

Please take a moment to pray for/think about the victims of the Floods in QLD and now Victoria… its time like these you realise your problems aren’t as big as others.

Please donate to the Queensland government to show your support. Click here for website

[If you’d like to view a review: click here]
. . .
Tastefully yours,

Joanna

Adiós. . . for now ☺

[Caffe Fiorino, Barcelona]

Heres a little picture story for my last spanish blog post…. for now 🙂

We started with creamy coffees and fresh OJs at Caffe Fiorino.

The view inside is warm and inviting with quick and simple food.

[Euskal Taberna, Barcelona]

We then decided lunch would be a ‘grazing’ affair, and in true spanish style we dabbled in tapas and sangria @Euskal Taberna. 🙂

The sangria was sweet, delicious and just what we needed after being on our feet all day.

[Taller de Tapas, Barcelona]

Paella was on the menu for dinner @ Taller de Tapas

Galician style octopus was amazing as usual, the fresh grilled ciabatta with garlic and tomato was crunchy and a nice break to cleanse the palatte.
And the Paella in broth was morish but quite simply not enough. We wanted more 🙂
We ended with a perfect espresso which was oddly strong for Barcelona, but still very welcomed.
As we were also quite close to Gelaaati di Marco, we once again had a nice serving of diabetes… eek!!

This concludes the ‘foodaholic in Spain’ segment… for now 🙂
Stay tuned for some more german flavoured tasty adventures 🙂

. . .

Tastefully yours,
. . .

Delicious & beautiful

[La Llavor dels Origens Restaurant, Barcelona]

Love it when I see a forecast like this! It’s sunny and blue skies. Even though the actual temperature is low, the sun is warm and soaks right into your skin.

So, yesterday morning [when I STARTED writing… finishing now :)] I was listening to Rosie on Triple J requests whilst indulging in some natural full fat yoghurt with honey – streaming it of course and some Live recordings of Jonsi came on – what a perfect way to spend a little blogwritn in the sun listening to that magical sound. 🙂 right?

Lets get right into it then….

Restaurant La Llavor dels Origens has 4 destinations tucked away in Barcelona – we happened to stumble along the one in the ‘Born zone’ [please click here for other locations] I think it’s always a good sign when a restaurant is filled to the brim with locals! – and this was no exception.

A lot of work has been poured into the overall ambience, menu, website and the ‘brand’ . By promoting locally produced and organic goods the restaurant holds strong and in the minds and mouths of the customers.

The vibe is adjacent with the view – its warm, inviting, relaxed and ‘organic’…if that makes sense? i.e. everything has a very natural feel including the very personable staff and the presentation. Very ‘home-cooked’ and oozing with love in every corner. Its warm and informative staff glide across the restaurant floor chatting and taking orders and laughing. I know… it sounds all very exaggerated…but it honestly just felt as thought they were merrily gliding along they merry way.

We were presented with what is essentially a magazine… menu yes, but it definitely covers all questions, if you had any, about the produce, the wine even right down to the vinegar.

Initially we were overwhelmed, but our angst was quickly lessened by the information provided – it essentially empowered the consumer to make the right choices for the evening and beyond.
As the menu seemed extensive and so very packed with useful information, the decision was becoming harder and harder to make.

The tasting platter choice was appealing, however maybe a little TOO much food… even for me. 🙂

Wine for the evening was the local speciality:

Now, the photos really don’t do the food justice… the lighting was low and all I had was my phone. But I tell you, the food was amazing! seriously tasty and simple food. Def worth a second, third… repeat visit.

We ordered a few dishes to indulge in together, starting with the Roasted zuchinni with mozzarella:

& Stuffed octopus with squid ink:
[this was delicious but were left with black teeth and mouths… so maybe dont order this on a date :)]

Slow cooked rabbit with caramelised onion and potatoes:
I’m not a fan of rabbit…so I didn’t have much of this one.

& Last, but not least, baby octopus stew type thing cooked in own juices and served with soft and delicious beans.

I felt satisfied and ‘culinarily’ loved through and through… after all that wine and gorgeous ‘homestyle’ local food – I was pretty much ready for a lie down and taking off the belt :)…BUT…we somehow found some room for gelato, which was down the road at Gelaaati di Marco.

This was some seriously delicious gelato with the usual and the very unusual flavours : eg Avocado, croissant, Rice…

You can never really be too full for amazing dessert like this…. really 🙂
Hopefully this cleared the bad taste in your mouths after reading ‘a huntsman abroad‘… sorry about that 🙂

. . .

Tastefully yours,