Cioccolato Espresso, Applecross (Second Visit)

This morning was a beautiful bright and sunny day. Speed-eater-bf and I decided to head to the beach for a walk and a swim (for bf…the water was much too cold for me yet). On the way there we decided to stop off for breakfast at Cioccolato Espresso in Ardross Street, Applecross. I had such a great experience last time with Miss-loves-tea and could not wait to get back for the Bircher Muesli. Ordering is at the counter, and not long after we had ordered our drinks arrived; an english breakfast tea for me with soy milk and a flat white for bf.

English Breakfast Tea

Flat White

We also did not have to wait long for our meals. Service here is efficient and friendly. I had the Bircher Muesli which was served with Seasonal Fruit Compote and yoghurt ($12.80). This meal was presented beautifully and was perfect for a warm morning. I love the fact that you can mix in your own yoghurt and fruit compote, mixing in as little or as much as you like. I tried each component individually and then mixed it all together. The bircher was full of mix-ins which included, poppy seeds (I have never seen poppy seeds in a bircher before and loved the unusual addition), whole hazelnuts (yum!), coconut, dried apricot and flaked almonds. The fruit compote was not overly sweet and the yoghurt tasted like a natural yoghurt which balanced the sweetness of the soaked oats mixture. This bircher tops my favourite list.

Bircher Muesli

Speed-eater ordered the poached eggs on toast, which was served on buttered toasted ciabatta. The eggs were still runny and bf happily munched away.

Poached Eggs on Toast

This cafe is great for a well-cooked, and efficiently served breakfast at reasonable prices (I think our total bill was just under $35).

Bistro Vue, Melbourne

When we were in Melbourne (over two weeks ago now..seems longer than that somehow) it was date night. Speed-eater bf and I have this little tradition happening, whereby every month we alternate turns of organising a date. For the month of September it was speed-eater-bf’s turn. Now to tell you the truth I am not all that good when it comes to bf’s turn to organise date night. I pester him for the majority of the month about when the date is, what we are doing, where we are going… (you get my drift). Speed-eater being of a more relaxed nature then myself tends to organise them at the last minute or on a whim which doesn’t work so much for me as I love planning and I love being able to get excited about knowing when date night/day is going to be. On this occasion I knew date night was going to be on the Thursday night and I was super excited all week about it as I knew it was going to be in Melbourne. When I checked in with speed-eater  on Thursday arvo, he was undecided as to where we were going however was on the case.

So I got myself dressed up, as did bf and at around 6pm off we went on foot in search of the venue. Speed-eater hadn’t told me where we were going and this added to my excitement. I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from asking him where we going so as not to ruin the surprise (see bf would just tell me if I asked! he’s good like that).

We arrived at Bistro Vue. As this was a last minute decision by speed-eater he was unsure whether we would get a table (and had a back up plan in case) however we were told it was no problems and seated. I was absolutely delighted with speed-eater’s choice. Firstly the decor of the restaurant was gorgeous! Bright red cushions on the seats and a really moody feel. Nice for a date night!

How cute are the chairs

We were given complimentary bread, which I loved! It was nice and chewy and reminded me of the bread speed-eater and I ate in Paris.

Complimentary Bread

We decided against ordering an entrée and instead thought we would order the Grass Fed dry aged Rib Eye 600g (for 2; $120). The steak was perfectly cooked (we chose medium), tender and full of flavour.   It was served with three different types of sauces (we only thought we were getting one and were pleasantly surprised when there were three), pepper, béarnaise, and sauce Diane; and pommes pont neuf. I had to asked the waitress what the latter was, and I was informed they were triple cooked chips! Wow. These however did not impress me all that much, they weren’t as crispy as I had hoped.

Grass Fed Dry Aged Rib Eye 600gm with pommes pont neuf and sauces

Perfectly cooked steak

We also ordered some sides to go with our steak; a salade ($6), french beans ($9) and mushroom fricassee, goat’s cheese and tarragon ($10). The salade was not anything to write home about, a few lettuce leaves and some carrot. Speed-eater very much enjoyed the french beans whilst my favourite was the mushrooms. They came in a little pot and when I removed the lid I could not wait to dig in. The combination of the goat’s cheese with the mushrooms and tarragon was spot on.

Salade

French Beans

Mushrooms

By the time we had finished our mains the restaurant was full! It had been almost empty when we arrived. We noticed that service was not as attentive and it was difficult for us to even get the dessert menu. Where we were seated too became somewhat unpleasant when a table were seated in the alfresco area. Being a colder night in Melbourne every time the waitress went outside to attend to the table (and they did ALOT!) a cold wind would blow straight in my direction. Arghh…I hate being seated near doors at restaurants! So despite speed-eater being keen for dessert I ended up hitting my limit with the cold wind  and we ended up leaving.

Despite the ending to the night it was a lovely evening and we could not fault the food. Speed-eater did well with his date night…now to me for next month which I have been excited about since I booked it three months ago…a Saturday night degustation at Restaurant Amuse in Perth. Bring. It. On.

 

Kettle Cafe, Lathlain

Today I found a gem of a cafe. Well I technically didn’t find it, swaps-food-happily-with-hubby chose it as our latest venue for breakfast post-run. After a 18km trot around the three bridges in South Perth we were all looking forward to breakfast. We arrived just prior to 8am and the place was nice and quiet at this hour. The cafe however is quite large which is nice as most cafe’s now days are quite pokey. There is also a lovely selection of cookbooks tucked away in a self, I can imagine enjoying reading one of these over a leisurely breakfast. Anyhow, the menu today was their spring menu and wow doesn’t it have some nice dishes on it. I could have ordered a number of them and been a very happy camper. The item that struck me was the Blueberry, poached pear and yoghurt terrine, candied almond and passion fruit coulis ($12). I was very interested to see what this dish would look like, having never heard of such a dish before. It felt nice too, to be stepping outside of my usual order of scrambled eggs on toast. And when this dish came out I was so glad I did. The terrine itself was creamy and not overly sweet, which worked well with the candied almonds and passion fruit coulis. I loved the  passion fruit coulis, it was sweet and felt fresh with the yoghurt. The serving size also was perfect. Two of the other girls (swaps-food-happily-with-hubby and miss-cultural-diversity)  ordered this dish and were also impressed. Their dishes looked exactly the same as mine (which I think is very important in terms of consistency). This meal was also noted on the menu as being gluten-free for those with such food intolerance.

Blueberry, poached pear and yoghurt terrine, candied almonds and passion fruit coulis

I ordered a pot of English Breakfast tea with soy milk ($4.50), and i just loved the tea cup this came in. Something about drinking out of a china tea cup just makes tea taste better.

English Breakfast Tea

My has-similar-lactose-issues friend also took the plunge from her usual order of poached eggs on toast and branched out ordering the Coconut Bircher Muesli, grilled peaches and vanilla mascarpone ($13.50).  This dish was presented in a retro bowl and the coconut, mixed nuts and dried fruit were in abundance.

Coconut Bircher Muesli, grilled peaches and vanilla mascarpone

My other running buddy, new to the breakfast fold, lets call her,  Mrs-Smiles (as she always has the most gorgeous smile on her face; she was even smiling two weekends ago when I saw her running at the 32km mark of her first marathon) ordered the Pumpkin and chickpea guisado, baked turkish bread, labne and za’atar ($14) and Red Passion Juice.  You had the option with the guisado of  adding poached eggs or chorizo, she chose not to. I liked the look of this dish and must order one of these one of these days when I am out breakfasting.  Mrs-Smiles said the Red Passion Juice seemed to be a combination of watermelon, strawberry and apple which looked nice and refreshing.

Pumpkin and chickpea guisado, baked turkish bread, labne and za’atar

Red Passion Juice

Other drinks that were ordered included a Chai Latte and Flat White.

Chai Latte

 

Flat White

I absolutely loved this cafe and will be back. The food was beautifully presented and of a very decent portion. I particularly liked the variety on the menu and the interesting twists on some of the breakfast classics. I found the prices also very reasonable.

Hardware Societe, Melbourne CBD

Last week speed-eater bf and I took a well-earned holiday to Melbourne to catch up with some Melbourne friends and to head to the AFL Grand Final. I was super excited about all the amazing food places, and had a little list of places I wanted to try. Hardware Societe was one of those. On Thursday we headed there for lunch. As we were still on Perth time (2 hours behind Melbourne) we arrived around 1:30-2ish in the afternoon. I was hoping that the later lunch time and being a weekday would mean that the cafe would not be too busy. However, we still did have to cue for about 15-20 minutes, which didn’t bother us as we were on HOLIDAYS. The only complaint with the cuing was Melbourne’s weather which in typical Melbourne style was sunny one minute, windy the next and the minute after it began raining. Lucky just as I was getting over the wait (I really dislike it when you cannot book at restaurants, for me it doesn’t matter how good the food is I really will not wait for longer than 30 minutes) we were called to be seated. I was a bit disappointed that after the wait we were seated at a communal table.

The menu included breakfast items as well as lunch items. I like it when both are on offer. I could not decide on what to order and speed-eater was laughing at me when I told him I was going to take a walk around the cafe and have a look at what others were eating. I’m glad I did as when I saw what the special looked like, it was decided. The special of the day was Crispy Skin Ocean Trout with Prawns and Mushrooms in a Broth ($21). I have always like the idea of a dish like this however hesitate in ordering it – I think because I worry that the Ocean Trout would be soggy. Well it wasn’t. The dish was beautifully presented, the ocean trout was cooked to perfection and the skin was crispy!! I really liked the mushroom and prawn broth as well, however my only complaint was that the broth was not hot enough. I spied the same dish at another table and their broth was steaming, so maybe just my dish (sad face).

Speed-eater bf ordered the Twice Cooked Pork Belly, which was served with a shallot and almond puree, mixed grain salad and apple and cider jus ($21). Now I don’t eat pork but even I could admire this dish. Speed-eater bf enjoyed the pork belly however was not sold on the mixed grain salad. He tends to dislike the ancient grains (whilst I love them, so its a slight problematic situation at dinner times when I cook).

We both ordered a take-away coffee to go however it was a laughable exercise as we walked up the street. My coffee order is a soy flat white whilst speed-eater is the sweetie-tooth and his coffee of choice is a flat white with one sugar. However, when I tasted mine, I commented to speed-eater that it was sweet, whilst he believed his wasn’t. So we swapped coffees, thinking maybe they had been mislabeled. Speed-eater couldn’t taste the difference (he obviously really doesn’t need sugar) however as soon as I took a sip of his I could taste sugar. I HATE sugar in my coffee. So I think in fact they didn’t mix our coffees up, rather the type of coffee they use is slightly sweeter than we are used to.

I was very satisfied with my lunch at Hardware Societe. The prices were  reasonable, I would even say cheap (in comparison to Perth!) for the quality and portions we were served. Pity we weren’t in Melbourne longer I would have enjoyed visiting here again.