Stuzzichino, Melbourne - Nov 2013

Over the weekend, Wenni and I went down to Melbourne for a wedding.
We decided to fly over after work on Friday to make the most of Saturday exploring what the city had to offer. So being true to the title of this blog, the first thing we did was to head out for a search of what Melbourne had to offer in terms of coffee. We headed North towards Lygon Street which reminded me of Leichardt due to the number of Italian restaurants. (We came back to Lygon St later that same night for Italian for dinner. YUM!)

At about 8:30am, it was still pretty dead so trying to judge cafes by the number of patrons proved difficult. Our only gauge was just to try and let ourselves be enticed by the menu....... or a cheeky manager.   

Whilst reading the chalkboard menu outside Stuzzichino, we didn't notice a guy sitting by the window who mentioned to us with a wink "One of the best cafes on the street! Can't go wrong." Later we realized he was the manager. That, combined with a menu that claimed to have "Best breakfast on the strip", we decided... "Why not."

Now whenever I'm at a new cafe, I'd always order the Eggs Benedict with salmon ($15.50) as a gauge. The eggs were poached perfectly, the salmon was nice and fresh,
The muffin was moist and still had a little bit of crisp to it but sadly, I was dissappointed to find that the hollandaise sauce was overbeaten
and a bit too salty for my liking. It almost had the texture of yogurt. Overall, I still enjoyed my meal. 


Wenni on the other hand went for the Italian Toast ($16.50). This dish was surprisingly delicious! It was basically 2 slices of egg battered toast served with
a few strips of bacon, a grilled banana, drizled with maple syrup and a sprinkle of icing sugar. The next time I'm out and about, I'm gonna give this dish a try.   

Finally, the coffee. Stuzzichino's Barista does a damn good job of making a cuppa.  I had a quick chat with him to pass on my compliments and was informed that they use Circi beans.....not one that I was familiar with. If I had to compare it with Campos, I would say that Circi would be the older sister. 

Unlike the strong creamy flavour of her brother, Circi's beans are milder in taste, almost delicate-like but still have enough of a kick behind it to remind you that she's no pushover. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will definitely keep a lookout for it in Sydney!


 


Stuzzichino
169 Lygon St, Carlton
Opening hours : Early morning till late night
Website : link / Google Map

Le Petit Creme - July 2012

A cold winters morning.

When it's winter and the weather is all grey and gloomy outside, nothing much comes close to just wanting to stay in bed all morning and lazing about. Unfortunately, my stomach didn't agree with this and rumbled and groaned until I finally gave in. "Fine I'll go look for some food!"  I mentally told myself. I don't usually stock my kitchen up for Saturday brekkies as I prefer heading out somewhere and this morning was no different.

Realizing that it was late in the morning already and that the place I wanted to visit would probably be packed, I told Wenni dress up for outdoor seatings. So we put on our jackets and scarves and drove out to Le Petit Creme in Darlinghurst.

Wenni "Yup it's packed!"

True enough. the only tables available were the ones outside. "No worries! we came prepared!" I told Paul the owner and happily took our seats by the door. Interestingly enough, the little square table we sat at, had hinges on 2 of it's sides which left us wondering for a few minutes as to what it could have possibly been previously. Note to self - remember to ask Paul next time.

Le Petit Creme is a little French cafe that is famous for it's weekend only Eggs Benedict and that's exactly what we ordered. Wenni had the salmon one and I had the ham one.

Now for a gloomy winter morning, nothing beats a good coffee and the ones here come in a massive bowl! It also doubles up well as a hand warmer.

mmmmmm...warm.

Halfway through our coffees, the eggs Benedict arrives and we get straight into it!

Eggs benedict with smoked salmon and brioche

Firstly, I'd like to apologize for the above picture. I forgot to take one before digging straight into it so the half eaten plate and my description will have to do. Two perfectly poached eggs sprinkled with paprika sitting on top of a bed of smoked salmon covered in a generous dollop of hollandaise sauce. At first, I thought that the sauce (which is apparently a secret recipe of Pauls) bordered slightly on the sourish side but when you combine every element on the plate together with the beautiful slices of sweet brioche, I could straightaway see why people keep coming back for more. Everything on the plate worked well with each other harmoniously and in no time at all, we were both just staring at our empty plates.

Le petit creme is definitely a place worth trying out if you love your eggs benedict. I'll pop by here again sometime in the near future to see what else is good on their menu. :)

The dawn of a new era

I've been lazy.
It's years since I thought of the idea of starting up a food blog but I just never got around to it.

Once when I was about to start, a friend asked that I maybe just blogged on her site. So I did.

Then recently, my best mate asked that I did the same with his site. So I did.

I think it's finally time I did something about this.

IN  THE MONTH OF MAY, all the entries you see shall be of the old blogs that I've written up.

I'll put a date as to when I wrote it as well. So let's get to it! :)