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,

From Luxembourg, with love

. . .
[Dead man espresso, 35 Market Street South Melbourne VIC]

Phone: (03) 9686 2255
Open: Weekdays 7am-4pm; Weekends 8am-4pm

Broadsheet review: click here

With my special orange parcel all the way from Luxembourg in hand, I went to meet Ash (or ashie, if you’re my mother)

This little Mr had been waiting patiently for a very special gift from a very orange shop… you may know? Hermes?? 🙂 They had run out of stock of a particularly gorgeous scarf (or tie if you’re from Lucky coq), and as a result ordered it from Luxembourg to be preciously hand delivered via Germany and Qatar- a well travelled little tie. Scarf. 😉

We ventured down to his local- ‘Dead man espresso’ and enjoyed the sun, company and some quality melbourne service and food.

What I should’ve done is ordered a coffee to taste this special dead man blend from seven seeds, but instead I very unsurprisingly ordered a Chai latte (soy ofcourse)…. I just can’t help myself. Its either that or an ICED chai latte…no icecream, just plently of ice and chilled – seriously amazing sh*t.

Ash’s Latte: 

We both decided on toasties – and I must say, dunno if Ash agrees or not, I chose very quickly! 🙂 I normally take so long, the waiters will try to order for me….awkward.

Ash ordered an eggy bacony lovely number.
Before:

After:

And I was craving some smoked salmon, so I went with that:

The bread was fresh and smelt amaaaazing, lightly crusty exterior and soft and bouncy interior, fresh smoked salmon, spanish onion, mint and cream cheese.

Life is pretty sweet when you’re sitting in the semi sun, enjoying a gold ol’ catch up and taking it down the slow lane.

Dead Man espresso, is off busy Clarendon street, on a very quiet corner. This foodie’s sanctuary is exactly what the doctor ordered for a lazy sunday brunch or even a quick coffee on the go. Its buzzing with energy, happy satisfied tummies and the aroma of fresh beans linger softly against the humming of conversation.

enjoy!

. . .

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

RAINING like a mother*beep*

[La Taverna del Bisbe, Barcelona]

I must have some sort of crush with Spain, b/c here we are again, eating our way through this beautiful country. This time round it wasnt AS stinking hot and rain was rather looming at every corner!.

After a long day sightseeing and having super tourist fun…[light sarcasm] we were in real desperate need for yummies, AND a well earnt rest. We debated to sit in or out for an excessively long amount of time, but after about 1000 years we opted for the inside! LUCKY-when it rains it POURS in Barcelona. I swear I could’ve been in Vietnam during one of those crazy downpours. LIKE BOOM!

Crisis diverted, we were snuck inside enjoying the ‘lunch menu of the day’. For 10 Euros we were treated to 1 entree, 1 main, 1 dessert, 1 drink [alchoholic or non] and even a drink top up.

I’ve been reading some of the reviews for this place, and its not good…. the only good thing was the price and the close proximity to Barcelona cathedral…BUT, I beg to differ… I really enjoyed the food and the service and quite obivously the shelter. There wasn’t really much to complain about for the price we paid. [except maybe the LOG-OF-A-POO in the ladies toilet which just wouldn’t flush….VOMMIT]

Here we have some photos of the location in question: [pretty nice]

I ordered Gazpacho, fresh tasty and most importantly cold! [couldn’t complain there]

The other option for entree was Spaghetti Carbonara [not amazing, but still very edible and fast]

For main I ordered ‘white fish’…. I really coudln’t understand what it really was. This was also not amazing, but it was tasty and for 10 Euros, I dont think I really had the right to complain. 🙂

The dessert I must say has not made the photo list…. it was actually terrible! We ordered Creme Caramel… it was more like rock hard egg thing drowning in some sort of sweet caramel flavoured liquid…sorry, but THAT was a shocker!.

Just to reiterate, I want to defend the place for providing value for money and a pretty nice place to be enjoying your food. The food wasnt amazing, nor would I go back in a hurry, BUT for 10 Euros, I really couldn’t complain.

Oh and the coffee was pretty good!…no complaints there.

Adiós!! until next time 🙂

. . .

Tastefully yours,

. . . .

P a r i s : n i g h t s… [part une]

[ Vapeurs, Paris ]

In Paris for a limited time to see the wonderful, enchanting beautiful Corinne Bailey Rae…

Now,what I’m about to say next isn’t too appealing…

‘airplane food’…

oh! but to the contrary, we discovered this interesting destination as an alternative to a sad looking menu accross the road somewhere in Paris [near Saint Lazare metro].

My initial thoughts were…’there is something very different about this place…’, followed by utter confusion. From what we could gather with our poor poor french, was that

a) there were a selection of premade ‘raw’ food, and

b) the ‘food’ was then ‘vapeurised’.

Luckily for us, on this rare occasion in Paris, the ‘garcon’ spoke english – albeit it was the speediest french-glish I have ever heard.[I think I preferred it when he spoke french…] We were kindly and speedily advised about the ‘steaming’ of the food of choice and all the health, environmental benefits… anywho, we bought the salespitch and went on our merry way to soak in a little bit of that parisienne culture.

Now, let me revert back to the term ‘airplane food’.

As this concept of carefully organised raw foods, arranged in eco-friendly, recyclable trays then ‘steamed’ is relatively new, I can only describe is as the new ‘healthy out-flight taste alternative’- HFTA, cuz you just HFTA try it….[oh dear, yes I went there]

I ordered a visually unique ravioli dish [they were all connected like in a sheet or something], and Paul chose fresh salmon with rissotto and Polenta – I sooo nearly stole this food, and yes I always get food envy! What is with that!?

Honestly, the flavour isn’t so amazing that I would consume it often, nevertheless, the atmosphere is very inviting with warm chocolate tones highlighted with contempory lighting and seat placement.

I did feel as though it was a bit mishmashed in execution, as some elements were so unique, like most of the decor and definately the idea, however others were juxtaposed with the highly monotonous and commercial. I felt as though it was a little confused in aesthetic execution, however has to be the one innovative tummy destination I’ve encountered and overall a every exiting experience.

Ironically, their philosophy states the following:

Full Steam is not just a restaurant. I wanted with my team, putting the project in his time and express environmental values and human. We are all motivated to offer something homogeneous, while both in terms of business management and supply to customers.

We carefully select our staff for the team is a reflection of innovation and humanism that drives us.

On the other hand, we select our suppliers for the quality of their products, of course, but also how they work, their desire to preserve a knowledge and authentic values.

ok, so…. I think to ‘offer something homogenous’ isn’t something you really want to be promoting, but maybe it got lost in translation.

Overall, Vapeurs offers an eclectic and creative mix of lifestyle, contrast and intrigue. Which as a Melbournian in Paris is the vibe I’m getting from the city.

[stay tuned for the next installement in paris nights… :)]

…………………………………….

tastefully yours,

Joanna