2014 - B for brunch, C for coffee, D for dates and E for eat!

hola hola, I AM BACK!!!!!!!!!

I'm finally back here at my little space, I (finally) feel compelled to blog tonight.

It's quite unimaginable to me that 2014 is over and we are now in the second month of twenty-fifteen! One of the new year's resolutions (#bullsh*t) is stop being lazy, so here I am, updating my life in 2014.

Key events were those brunch and coffee dates, so let's start with those.

B for brunch, C for coffee, D for dates and E for eat!

Happiness aplenty: fuss-free, good service, great food with organic ingredients. Who says 'grass' can't be good - high fives for salad.

    When in Malaysia, going out for typical Malaysian breakfast like char kueh tiaw is too mainstream.

So we went on a discovery trip for 'Australian mocha'. 

The meal and coffee made us miss Aussie brunch even more. ><"

 

Little duckling deserves a photo. There, along with my 'fat' white.

Long afternoon well-spent, working on church fellowship video.

Located at the heart of Paddington where I normally brunch, Kettle & Tin calls for really wonderful photo opportunity :P
Thanks to the colourful elements, adding a dash of tangy excitement to our meals.
@Kettle & Tin, Paddington.

 

Introducing the best coffee on campus: Genies!

Hiding in the shadows of Bioscience Precinct Building, it's Our usual meet-up spot where memories were built.  

Every uni day should be like this, great company, good coffee and quick catch ups after hectic lectures/tutorials/pracs.

Great discovery along the Burnett Lane at the city.  a hidden gem.

Felix, a health conscious cafe, so no guilt to indulge!

What time is it!!!!!!! It's breakfast thymeeeeeeeeee!

Cheddar & thyme scones from Felix, again :P

 

Spent some time alone before meet-up with friend after lecture.

Daily fix of caffeine at Felix.  Yeh yeh, it has made into my list of favourite brunch/coffee spots.

Friends didn't like it due to the healthiness of organic food. hahaha!

Beetroot pearl cous cous salad was the boom!

@Raw Paw Paw, New Farm.

 

Found a spot which was opened during public hols.

Great catch-up with friends who work and appreciate public holidays, so here we went!

Itching for something sweet, so I had the homemade granola topped with greek yoghurt.
@ Chester Street, Newstead. 

Then, bunker coffee along Brisbane River. 

Never a fan of chocolate milk, but i've been raving non stop for their 70% dark chocolate milk.

 

This happened after a Saturday groceries-shopping date,  :p

Sweet potato fries were shooooogood. Not a huge fan of chips in particular but if I had a choice, sweet potato chips that is!

@Bare Bones Society, Jindalee

Oh yes, food after our food exams!

Despite lack of sleep, I still enjoyed my food. I always do bahaha

Couldn't really remember what I ate, everything's good in a nutshell.

@ Shouk Cafe, Paddington

 

Food was mediocre to me, but nothing can spoil good company.

Great catchup with a long-lost 'bojio' friend.

@Scout Cafe, Petrie Terrace

 

Rainy day (Yes, i still rmba!)

Brunch, no, lunch @ Little Paw Paw, Kenmore.

Was craving for the sweet potato fries but we didn't get that.

So..... definitely a perfect potato-time destination in future ;P

 

Brunch in pjs? Tried doing it with friends after sleepover. 

Fresh avocados - they're so green! 

and spot those edible rose

 

Heat wave in December, couldn't bear with anything hot anymore, so opted for yoghurt and granola.

Something fancy on the side: lamb kebab with lotsa elements.

So.. That's all for 2014.

On the other note, one of the 2015 resolutions is - continue stuffing myself silly with brunches and coffee!  hehe, I've already listed them down. It's like a wishlist, and I assure myself that I'll successfully-wonderfully-awesomely make this resolution realistick. 

Last but not least, F comes after E :(

F, for fat. 

26042014 - Brunch @ Ave Cucina & Coffee Bar, Cooparoo

Ello Ello!

Holidays has come to an end. Keep calm and back to uni. hmm.

The week before mid sem break, I was dying in jealousy over seeing incredible photos of juicy mushrooms, poached eggs, mega iced coffee etc etc on instagram/facebook, so I grabbed my eating buddy in crime and trekked over to Ave Cucina & Coffee Bar @ Cooparoo.

I remember our last brunch date was... 1 or 2 months ago?

Gotta love the presentation! Look at the art of modifying and decorating food...

Espresso Frappe, a good kickstart with caffeine.
A lil too sweet for me but it has a fairly smooth consistency!

I would opt for a cup of hot coffee on a windy day though..

Green detox juice

After a week of indulging (too much good food!), I felt the need to detoxify my body.

Vege breakfast (not really, I added on smoked salmon)

The homemade pumpkin toast is the absolute bomb! Like, seriously, I'm not generally a bread person, but it is pretty mind blowing with its fluffy texture and crispy crust >< ohh, and pumpkin seeds in every bite. My friend had pretty much the same, she had baked potatoes instead of toast; sour cream instead of homemade pesto sauce!

It looks like Ave Cucina is a gem in southside areas for brunch lovers. The service is knowledgable and friendly.. The toast will have me returning anytime soon!

Eat Street Market, Hamilton

It's taken me a while to drag myself out for dinner on Friday - Normally I would love to hide myself at home for some quiet time as Friday is too hectic.  In fact, last night was a random dinner date. We headed to the Eat Street Market @ Hamilton to explore more international food! We reached there around 7.30pm and it was really crowded.  Finding a parking slot was a nightmare, S-parking was even terrible. We spent 10 minutes to properly park the car.

Pay your entry fee ($2) at the entrance, and there's the massive crowd welcoming you!

Pastry is always the default choice. So we had Spinach, cheese and mushroom pastry to start the adventure. Sad to say, it was average, nothing special. 

There was this cocktail bar at the end of the market. We ordered the "honey rider" which contains tequila, honey and mango puree. This 12 bucks deal was disappointing, it was like mango smoothies.

BBQ Pork Ribs is definitely the highlight of the market. $14 for two pork ribs which are served with coleslaws.  The sauce added some zint and it was like there's a party inside my mouth! They are crazy addictive..

Hungarian "THE LOT", which is the garlic bread topped with shredded cheddar cheese, tabouleh and sour cream.  The bread again let us down, it was soggy, probably because of the tabouleh salad.

Oh, we couldn't resist to get the spiral potato chips because it's twisted ($5).  Try chicken salt instead of normal table salt! To say that they were amazing would be an understatement, wandering around with a potato stick in hand - some people even asked where did we get that! :p

To conclude our food hunting night, we had our 'buy one get one free' Gelato at the city. Pistachio and Tiramisu are the best combination, as well as the pistachio and hazelnut! Had a nice chat along Queens Street Mall, enjoyed the breeze, but definitely not seeing drunk people falling over. Oh well, just because it was a Friday night.

If you are feel like having a dinner or a snack, or even dessert, this is the place to come! This is a real offbeat thing to do - really intriguing to see different types of food within a small area.

080314 - The Nook Caffe @ Jindalee

Week one of uni was busy, a little bit stressed out at the end of the week (just a little bit hey), so I decided to pamper myself with food. yayy, food. 

I went for a Saturday brunch with my usual food buddy! I'm so thankful there's someone out there sharing the same passion - our tastes are basically the same! (hmph, we eat everything anyways hahaha)

Brunch @ The Nook Caffe, Jindalee

The Nook Caffe Restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. We decided to try on their lunch menu cos it looks more tempting. (YES! Never forget to do research before a meal :P) 

We reached there around 11am and the kitchen was closed for lunch preparation. So we ordered our drinks first! I'm always on for cold drinks - especially during hot days. I can't wait to give winter a big welcoming hug, so that I can sip on my favourite flat white.

The Quenchers

Sorry guys I couldn't remember what's exactly in the drinks!

The waitress told us that it was made of crushed ice and fresh fruit syrups. It isn't too sweet so I love it!

Caprese Salad

 I love cheese and smoked salmon - so I ordered this Caprese Salad! I was quite surprised with that small portion but it was filling!  Also there is this guacamole that I love A LOT.

Caramelised pork belly

The scallops were really fresh and the salad topping was awesome! Didn't get to try the pork belly though. 

So that concluded my Week 1 of uni! Stepping into Week 3 tomorrow, mentally and physically tired, but I have faith in God. He will bring me through all the hard time. 2 quizzes next week! Bring it on!

Lure on Latrobe @ Paddington

The summer is back. uhhh. 

Thank God I'm done with my summer courses assignments! And there comes my final exams in two weeks time. :( Clare has been slacking throughout the whole summer semester and she is now regretting while doing her last minute work -.- AGAIN, I am again doing last minute revision. 

I should never ever do that again next semester - the promise that I should not promise aye? 

Anyways, brunch / / Lure on Latrobe

It started with a random text: HEY I'M SO HUNGRY let's go for brunch.  Okay so on the sunny and windy Saturday we rocked up to Paddington with an empty tummy and camera.  Lure on Latrobe it is!  It rolls out a new menu in the beginning of the year and we decided to give it a go. 

Paddington is a great place with beautiful scenery and good food. It definitely provides a feast for the senses!  Check out my previous brunch @Paddington here: Anouk Cafe

Firstly, beverages to wet the whistle!!! It wasn't a hot day but we were craving for cold drinks.  Summer coffee and Mango Smoothies are refreshing to wake us up.  Initially I wanted to order Iced Coffee with no ice cream, but the waiter recommended me this summer coffee, which is basically the iced drip cold coffee with skimmed milk.

Oh the staffs are super approachable and treat customers like their friends!

 We were asked to wait for a couple more minutes when they were getting ready for lunch menu. Both of us had opted for a healthier version!

Rootveg and Slow Roasted Lamb Salad. 

I have my heart set on this plate of salad, oh well, I love salad.
The roasted pumpkin and sweet potato can fuel you up; the roasted lamb was smothered in the sweet and tangy mint yoghurt dressing and hey! there's my favourite chickpeas :p

Slow Roasted Lamb and Baked Atlantic Salmon Salad. 

I reckon salmon is the most versatile fish to work with in the kitchen, one can simply baked a perfect salmon after trials and errors.  I personally think that this atlantic salmon was over baked - I like a thick band of light pink in the middle, ahaha, I love sashimi, I could have them RAW. roarrr.

It is a great lunch deal! You get to choose two salads for a small salad plate at a price of $16 while three salads for large salad plate at $20.

Truly satisfying. Definitely worth a revisit!

Food Hunting Trip 250613

Yes, 25062013.

JUNE 2-0-1-3.

It is not a typo

Well well, this food hunting trip happened last year in June. Forgive me for finally having it up here after 7 months.  Frankly this draft was completed the week after the trip, I was just too lazy to finalise everything. While I was editing my blog template (as you can see, a whole new blogskin!), I spotted many drafts being saved and they have become the eye sore on the dashboard - it demonstrates my procrastination. To clear the drafts list, aha, there you go!

It was the trip that Esther suggested. We have always been wanting to try different kinds of cafes in Brisbane. Finally in June, after semester one exams, we made it! Along with us, there were Ivy, Vincent and Yap Huan.

It was definitely a difficult job to plan the route, as well as reading the google map. Specially thanks to Vincent who helped a lot in reading the maps too! Also, the rule of this trip was to eat only one dish per cafe, so that we had more spaces saved for more food. 

Before the food hunting trip, we headed to Wellington Point for sunrise. We left home around 5am so that we could enjoy the sun rising moment at 5.48am! 

1. Southside Tea Room @ Morningside

Smoked salmon on toast, with bacon added on.

This was the original portion! Since we had 5 people sharing this, we divided it.

and plated it. :p

Smoked Salmon on toast, per serving. 

LOL LOL. our plating skills improved by the end of the trip.

2. Bungalow 4171 @ Hawthorn

We had opted for the sweet potato hash cakes after asking for recommendations from the owner.
It comes with two perfectly poached eggs, sauteed spinach and toasted wholemeal bread.  Also, some butter to go with the toast? 

I'm not a big fan of sweet potato, hence the hash cakes were just okay for me. However, all of them said it was pretty good!

3. Pompidou Cafe @ Balmoral

Savoury mince. Splendid!

We faced difficulties plating this dish, apparently a poached egg can't be divided into five portions.
In fact, the egg was a little on a solid non-goeey side. The mince are cooked with sweet potatoes and potatoes, as for the topping, there are baby rocket and sour cream. It turned out really well. In fact, it is an eye catching dish, having the mince in a 'basket'! That tastes more like a crispy but thinner pizza dough. 

4. Bunker Coffee @ Milton

We did not include this on our list! Someone just randomly suggested that we should have a cup of coffee after all the savoury food. Having urbanspoon apps on your smartphone is convenient, but we tried to google 'The best coffee in town' and it brought us here!

I love how they camouflage the store with real leaves and twigs! It seems to be the smallest cafe in Brisbane, but hey, don't judge a book by its cover. Trust me, the coffee is really good. I've been there for several times after my first visit, and I will definitely visit them again. soon, yes soon.

[I'm actually drafting another post for Bunker Coffee, too much love to express. Yes, too good]

So, stay tuned lah!

5. Grill'd Burgers @ Paddington

Hot chips from Grill'd. Okay, the trip weren't meant to be like this. I guess the guys were just too hungry as we only had three main meals throughout the morning, and the meals were shared with 5 people!

6. Grub Street @ Gaythorne

Smoked salmon bun, accompanied by baby rocket and cucumbers.

Nothing special, but the staffs were friendly. They were really patient to explain to us their recommended dishes.

7. Willow and Spoon @ Alderly

It took us more than 15 minutes to find this cafe. Apparently GPS isn't that pro enough, but Thank God we found it!
Here, we found our emergency dessert stomach and powered through!

Dark Chocolate Brownies.

THIS IS AWESOME. I'm serious guys. This is really really nice. 

It is rich, dark and fudgy. Full of chocolate flavour, with a hint of bitterness, so it is not overwhelmed by glucose. It has pomegranate as the topping. Who knows pomegranate and chocolate pair so well? The flavours simply marry together and forms a perfect union creating this sinful brownies. 

And it was freshly baked! We waited for 30 minutes, and it was worth waiting :)

As for the icecream, it was quickly devoured by us, leaving no traces to prove its existence. 

8. Gelare @ Southbank

This was our last stop! Because it was a Tuesday when there is this 50% off promotion, we all agreed to have waffles before our dinner time. It was my first time trying Gelare, nice, but the best waffle in Brisbane is dedicated to Passione @ Teneriffe (which is temporarily closed now :( )

I have to say it was a unforgettable day. Besides the food that we tasted, there was this surprise birthday celebration for my 18th at Southbank along the street! They successfully made me burst into tears and laughters, but too slow to cam-record it. bah :p

It was indeed one of the sweetest memories I have in 2013!

Before I end, the cafes that I will definitely visit again are Pompidou Cafe, Willow and Spoon and of course, Bunker (haha, you know how much I love coffee)!

p/s pardon me for my English, not well enough to perfectly describe the tastiness lolloll. I blame my lack of scrumptious food tasting. :D SO! I have to eat more of them in order to get to know more about them.

What's the plan for Cafes in 2014? One more tomorrow, perhaps?