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!

Campos Coffee @Wandoo St, Valley

Back in Campos Coffee @ Wandoo St, Valley! The last time I was here was a few weeks ago, but I had dessert instead of breakfast there. So yea, this visit was an official breakfast visit!

Story Bridge

Initially our plan was to jog along Brisbane River only, but I came up with an idea to have our brunch after the jog! Since the cafe(Valley) is not too far away from the starting point (Kangaroo Point), we decided to jog all the way there. It took us around 45 minutes and it was a really fresh start of the day! 

 Seasonal Fruit Salad topped with Natural Greek Yoghurt and HoneyComb

This was YUMMMMM. The fruits are really fresh and I really love the natural greek yoghurt. 

The portion is big, sharing is recommended hey! Perhaps it can be the best dessert after your main breakfast. :D

Rare Beef Salad

Served with pawpaw, beansprout, coriander, baby rocket and beetroots.

Again, YUMMEZ to the max. The meat was tender and well-cooked. I love how they mix the veges and fruits. The sweetness of pawpaw accompanied the bitterness that baby rocket has.

(fyi, I can't eat baby rocket without salad dressings)

happy me with my breakfast. 

Oh yea, I had the freshly blended orange, pineapple, apple and watermelon juice!

After that, we shopped around at the James Street Market and jogged all the way back to Kangaroo Point! The afternoon was really hot and my face eventually got sunburnt.

 But it was indeed refreshing after a nice jog!
I'm planning do it once in a fortnight - the jog and brunch morning!

Happy us with happy tummy muahaha.

 Anyways, Happy winter solstice aka 冬至 ! I'm not a big fan of tang yuan, but it is a tradition to eat it during the festival. It is a really really blessed winter solstice as my family touched down in Brisbane this arvo!

It's gonna be busy but relaxing with family around! In fact, I need to catch up with my studies too. I keep on reminding myself that my summer semester has not over yet! Hold on! 4 more weeks heyYy!

Ciao~

Anouk Cafe @Paddington

Finally we had a chance to continue our Saturday brunch-hunting journey.  This time - Anouk Cafe! Anouk is located between those steep ridges and hills. Feeling terrible driving in Paddington: look at those steep hills!!! 

Saturday-the only day with alarm off. So, we ended up having lunch instead of brunch cos we reached there around 12pm. It was very busy around that time, everyone's enjoying their Saturdays!

You can choose to sit in the cafe or outside along the street. To be honest, the atmosphere in the cafe is nice (I love their written menu on the board, goshh the handwriting is so neat! How I wish our lecturers can write neater...) However, it was quite hot that morning so it turned up to be very stuffy in the cafe. We didn't want to sit outside because of the sunlight!

Too hot, so no more coffee for brunch (Normally I have skinny capp for brunch)

I had the mango, pineapple, orange and passionfruit fruit shake (I requested them to not to include banana in the skake. aahah) Myra had the soda drink which contains raspberry and mango. Her drink might not seem photogenic but nice to taste. 

Finally! We weren't impressed by the slow service. We waited for like half an hour until our food came. 

I got the omelette and Myra had the open steak sarnie served with haloumi, bacon, egg, onion, beetroot jam(YUMM) and sweet curls.

There was a hint of pink in the very middle of the steak so we supposed that was cooked to medium-well. At first we thought the meat will be very dry but it was juicy! *It was a bit chewier by the way.. The beetroot jam was YUMMM. The star of this dishes isn't the steak but the baked sweet potato curls. They were thin and crispy..

It was my first time having omelette at cafes cos that's something that we can simply make at home.

Well, I don't like it as it's too oily and cheesy.. It's nice to have a few bites only. The sourdough was terrible #omggg

We'll definitely come back for the sweet curls but not for the brunch! I should try their coffee during my next visit. Coffee defines how good the cafe is, right?

Ciao~ Off to work. Accidentally deleted my 1100 words which was my hardwork throughout the day. Lesson learnt. 

Rare Pear @Holland Park

More posts to come! Stay tuned, but this one gonna be Food again. Told ya I'm in a relationship with Mr Foodie bahaha.

This was ages ago (during summer time), we went to Holland Park for our Saturday's brunch. We didn't want to drive further down to Brisbane City so we searched the brunch spots around south suburbs.. At last we decided to give it a go at Rare Pear as it has a pretty high rating on Urbanspoon!

 It was a busy morning, we waited for approx. 10 minutes until we got a table. Their service was awesome.
They serve all day breakfast and of course the lunch!  We ordered our meals from the lunch menu as we were both starving.

 The Banana Milkshake

Errrrmm, apparently they use the banana syrup. and I don't really like it.

(Anyway, I'm not a big fan of banana. I hate it LOL)

 Scallops Risotto.

THIS IS NICE. really. Thumbs up. 

The scallops were fresh! The combination of scallops, risotto and parmesan cheese is superb.

 Calamari with pear salad and goat cheese.

I love the goat cheese, especially having it with the pear and spinach. yumyummm.

Also, the price is very reasonable!!! I'll definitely go back for a breakfast/lunch anytime soon as it is located near my sister's house. Reservation is recommended as it gets real busy during weekend.

p/s Surprisingly there are a lot of nice brunch cafes around south Brisbane. We shall start to explore in our semester two heyy! :)

Ciao~


 

Vintage Kitchen Vintage Closet

Hi guys!!! I'm back in Brisbane and still trying my best to cope with this weather. You know, there is a distinct difference between Solomon's and Brisbane's weather. Have not been sleeping well since the day I get back here! So, it was yesterday, the cloudy and windy Saturday morning, we randomly came out with an idea: brunch! @Vintage Kitchen Vintage Closet

It is located at Cooparoo, and quite easy to find a parking slot: the easiest is to park in the neighbourhood, which is just behind the cafe. So we didn't spend much time finding a parking slot.

 I thought it will be very busy on a Saturday's morning, so I called in and made a reservation. Unexpectedly the cafe is quite big! The waitress asked us to sit anywhere we wanted, but I found my name which is spelled wrongly, nah nvm.

 Simple, everything's clear.

 We ordered a chocolate milkshake and cappuccino for drinks, upgraded the cappuccino to a mug size. and the milkshake to large! I don't really like the milkshake tho, it's too sweet for me. But cappuccino is creamy and the foam is thick!

 Big Breakfast.  The portion is big, especially the bacons. This is definitely a good one for bacons-lover!

The sourdough was a bit hard, which eventually disappointed me, or perhaps I put high expectation on it.  Oh, I've never fallen in love with breads anyway.

 Falafel Vegetarian Salad (Falafel, baby spinach, cucumber, cheese & hummus)

Okay, with smoked salmon as add on, so it can't be vegetarian anymore. bah.

I simply love the yoghurt dressing and also the cheese (sorry can't remember the name of the cheese, but i'm pretty sure it's mentioned on the menu) The texture of falafels is unexpectedly good!

        

too eager to eat them. heh.

 So this sums up our Saturday's morning!

Oh, not to forget about the vintage closet in the cafe. Do a simple shopping at those second hand stuffs!