Photo of the week: dessert @ The Girl with the Gris Gris, Melbourne

Chocolate and walnut bread and butter pudding with brandy cream sauce at The Girl with the Gris Gris.

Dinner at  Gris Gris wasn't the raging Cajun sensation I was hoping for, at least until dessert arrived. 

Rich (but not too sweet), dense (but not too dry), bursting with flavour and doused in the most amazing boozy sauce, the bread and butter pudding makes a trip to Market lane well worth the trek.

Sadly they don't do coffee to go with it, however a nice glass of good Bourbon would really suit the dish and TGWTGG has cool Bourbons aplenty.

Birthday Cake @ Le Petit Gateau

I have gone in to Le Petit Gateau several times for their absolutely delicious milk chocolate, orange and cardamom hot chocolates. Each time I have stood waiting for my drink I have looked into their display cabinet and seen the amazing cakes on offer with a great amount of desire and envy.

Fortunately, to celebrate a recent birthday in our office, the firm bought two of their amazing cakes for us to enjoy. On offer was the Hazelnut Praline Mud Cake (rich flourless choc-hazelnut mud cake slathered in dark chocolate ganache icing) and the Salted Caramel White Chocolate Cake (A light and delicate white chocolate sponge covered in an amazingly rich salted caramel icing).

Both of the cakes were amazing. I was a particular fan of the Hazelnut Praline Mud Cake as it combined a moist, rich, sweet mud cake core with the bitter-orange citrus note of a very fine dark chocolate in the ganache. (I will admit to having had two slices of it because it was just so amazing, but please don't tell R!)

The Salted Caramel White Chocolate cake was also delicious, however, it was perhaps just a little too sweet for me to want to rush back to it. However I do tend to prefer more astringent tastes in my desserts, so I suspect most people would find it absolutely delicious.

I would highly recommend Le Petit Gateau either for your next birthday cake, or as a beautiful Parisian style cafe to sit in and enjoy a nice hot chocolate alongside an incredible slice of cake.

100 things to like about Canberra reviews: Brodburger and Koko Black

Brodburger
Brodburger is well very known around Canberra, inevitably you will try this place within a month of living here. In fact it made the '100 things to like about Canberra' list. If you want a chuckle, check out list. It's pretty hilarious especially when one of the 100 things is 'closeness to Sydney'—you know a city is great when one of its 100 greatest things is its proximity to another city. Anyway I've been to burger few times now and have also tried Broddogs.

I've always found Brod's burgers really good and evidently, the rest of Canberra does too judging but the list and the fact that the line is always huge. Pro tip: phone order you meal in advance to skip the queues. Anyway the most recent time I went I was actually a little disappointed. It had been a good while since I'd had one, maybe 6 months or so and it definitely wasn't as good as I remember it.

I usually get the bacon and egg Brodburger. While the pattie used to be charry but still juicy, this time the patty was sort of wet and undercooked. Unless the beef used for a minced patty is truly amazing, I actually don't like my burgers done medium or medium rare. It was also pretty damn flavourless. This might have been partly because we picked up our burgers a little late and most of the aoli had slipped out of the burger and accumulated at the bottom of the bag, but I remember the patty itself being better flavoured than this. The rest of the burger was ok—the bread is always soft and perfect for a burger and the salad wilted but that was our fault for picking it up late; I would have preferred the bacon more crispy but it was really the patty that was the main bummer.



Koko Black
KB is another one on the Canberra 100 list; while again this is a little sad, this place is actually pretty good. The decor is suprisingly luxe for a place like this—lots of wood and upholstered leather—it reminded me of a library in an old house. The service was very pleasant and welcoming and the prices are definitely not exorbitant. The menu is pretty extensive and of course it's dominated by chocolate. I laughed a bit at the one savoury item on the menu—a sandwich—and joked to my friend that they would probably freak out if anyone ever ordered it. While I was tempted—it was a pastrami sandwich and I LOVE pastrami—I ended up going with the iced salted caramel ($8) instead. This was huge and very tasty—rich but smooth and very nicely flavoured. The size, though, meant I only managed to finish about half of it.

-R

Hugo's @ Kingsway, Glen Waverley

Let’s hear it for the little guy! Hugo’s Sweet and Dessert Bar on King’s Way in Glen Waverley was a breath of fresh air after the disappointingly lowest-common-denominator turn the food there has taken in the last few months.

I went for coffee and cake with a friend and we both had a great time. The service was super friendly right from the moment we got through the door. The coffee arrived quickly and was truly excellent. My long black was well expressed and richly flavored, making it possibly the only long black that I have properly enjoyed on King’s Way in about 3 years. My companion said her Latte was also similarly nice.

I ordered the flour-less Chocolate and Walnut cake and was really impressed. It was super rich – full of Belgian couverture chocolate apparently – and had a delicate brandy flavor running through it thanks to a splash of good Cognac. The walnuts cut through the richness very nicely and I was happy from start to finish. The serving size was perfect for a between-meals treat and for the price I don’t think there is better value dessert on the King’s Way strip.

The walnut cookie my friend sampled also tasted amazing. The small bite I had contained a burst of super fresh, super short pastry and a rich walnut filling that made me wish I had room for one myself.

I would highly recommend you making a trip to Hugo’s. It’s as good (if not better) than somewhere like Burch & Purchess – without the pretensions to being a haute patisserie or the pain in the hip pocket. I have a feeling it will be quite hard to get into once the word of mouth starts to spread.

ShortStop Coffee & Donuts, Melbourne

Donuts have become big business in the last 18 months or so, with a range of gourmet donut shops, bakeries and suppliers popping up to meet demand. My pick for the best of these is ShortStop on Sutherland St in the Melbourne CBD.

I recently ordered a box of their donuts to share with my work colleagues and was very pleased eating my way through a selection of their varieties and flavours.

The ‘user experience’ at ShortStop is great, the shop itself is sleek and modern and the staff are friendly and helpful. However it is online that they shine, most people apparently order off their website to collect in store and this really shows in the sleek web design. The interface makes choosing your donuts simple, but the beautiful photos make you just want to buy them all. I had a brief issue in making a payment through the site, but less than 10 mins after logging the issue, someone from ShortStop called me to help me finalise my order. Fantastic service!

My impressions of the three donuts I had are as follows:

Creme Brulee Filled Donut w/ Bourbon Cream – My personal favourite of the three, the Crème Brulee donut featured a lovely, yeasty, high domed donut, filled with a rich brandy-spiked cream and topped with a crisp bruleed sugar shell. The contrast between the bittersweet brulee shell, the soft yeasty flavour of the chewy doughnut and the sweet (yet boozy) cream was perfect. Apparently these wont always be on the menu at ShortStop, but I encourage you to try them when they are!

PB&J Filled Donut – I got a second filled donut (as these are my favourite kind) and wasn’t disappointed either. The PB&J donut features the same base as the Crème Brulee but is filled with a rich blueberry jam and topped with a sweetened peanut butter glaze. The combination of the slightly salty glaze and the delicious jam was just right – not to mention the visiual contrast between the dark purple of the jam, the white of the dough and the soft brown of the peanut butter glaze. Not quite the sensation that the Crème Brulee was, but this is a mainstay of the menu and is also highly recommended.

Red Velvet Cake Donut – As if to prove that even Melbourne’s donut masters have their flaws, this one was a real disappointment. I wanted one traditional ‘ring’ donut, but made the mistake of ordering it in the ‘cake’ consistency rather than a traditional ‘raised’ donut. It was cake-like, but in that sort of dry, 'European', crud-they-serve-on-Ackland Street way that R and I both hate. The donut itself was also barely flavoured, with none of the nice rich flavour that most red velvet style baked goods have. The icing was also a disappointment, was it out of a packet? Probably not, that would have made it better. This one has disappeared of the menu, and good riddance, it should be avoided!

All in all, I would recommend ShortStop to all donut fans, but would strongly suggest you avoid the ‘cake’ varieties. By all accounts the raised and cruller ones are very nice (and my colleagues certainly seemed to enjoy them). Their coffee is also nice, a nice filter, but certainly not as notable as their donuts.

Double Thai boat noodle dinner and N2 in the CBD

Me Dee
I've become a relatively recent convert to boat noodles, after discovering it at Jinda Thai. I've yet to have one as good as Jinda's but have been on an ongoing quest to find one. The latest one I was itching to try was at Me Dee in the food court of the Paramount Centre. This outlet is an extension of the Me Dee restaurant in Springvale, which I'm yet to try.

I had a small beef boat noodle and as usual asked for no beef balls. We also got a Thai iced tea each, M the milk and I the lemon version ($3.50 each). These were alright but definitely not the best I've had. The boat noodles themselves were also not super impressive. While it was pretty tasty, I found the broth lacked the punch and extra dimension of flavour I've come to expect from boat noodles. It is however pretty good for food court food.

Rim Thang
Afterwards I still had a bit of a hankering for boat noodles so we headed out to Rim Thang on Elizabeth St, the sister restaurant to Thai Culinary. We've passed Rim Thang a number of times but before tonight had never actually pulled the trigger and gone in.

As previously discussed the boat noodles at TC aren't as good as they used to be. However, the version here are Rim Thang are like the TC boat noodles of old: a generous serving, nice quality meat and plenty of basil. You also get to choose your noodles here. I chose the egg noodles after being advised the fresh rice noodles were sold out. The broth was lovely and fragrant and with a few chilli flakes, it definitely makes for a delicious bowl of noodles. Also at $8.50, it's definitely excellent value. We'll definitely switch from TC to Rim Thang from now on; the decor, the service and the food seem to all be better.

N2 (CBD)
As if double boat noodles weren't enough gluttony for one evening, afterwards we headed out to the newly opened N2 in the city for some nitrogen ice cream. We've been to their original outlet in Fitzroy a few times and have found it inconsistent. Some of the flavours are delicious: creamy and not too sweet whereas others are more like standard Australian gelato (ridiculously sweet). Their latest menu seems to take their name from tennis players' names and we chose the Red Venus (velvet) Cheesecake to share. It was a great choice because this flavour fell squarely in the 'delicious' category. We both enjoyed every mouthful as the ice cream was tangy, well-balanced, creamy and not too sweet.

Le Grill @ Nevermind Bar and Cones Gelato

Le Grill is definitely our pick for some of the best burgers and American style food in Melbourne. Somewhat hidden away in a pub on Burwood Rd in Hawthorn, it's worth the extra effort to find and get to. While the downstairs part has very little seating, upstairs there's a nice alfresco area, albeit exposing you to some drunk 18 year olds.

We came here on a weekday evening with a couple of friends and each got a burger and a few sides to share. I got the Le Grill cheeseburger with bacon and M got the double version of mine. The burgers were very tasty—juicy and flavoursome. They were a good size but not super big, so left a bit of space for the delicious sides. I also loved that the burgers came with some sides complimentary, in this case some slaw and what seemed like house-made pickles.

We all got the following sides to share: the poutine, the waffle-cut fries, and the buffalo wings; all were delicious. The poutine we were really looking forward to because we love the stuff; how can you go wrong with chips, cheese curds and gravy? Here they made their own curds and I wish you got more on the poutine, but that's my only real complaint about the dish. It was delicious and moreish and the table polished it off in little time. The waffle fries were also surprisingly good. I wasn't sure what to expect what these were super crispy and very nicely seasoned. The wings were also surprisingly good, not wet and tasteless like at some other places but sticky and moreish. The sauce (I wanna say blue cheese?) that accompanied them was also surprisingly tasty.

We'll definitely be back and next time we'd like to try their pulled pork and their other stuff from the grill.

Cones
After dinner we went to nearby Glenferrie Rd and Cones to grab a nice cream partially due to the warm evening and partially due to the fact that the coffee shop we wanted to go to had no more alfresco seating and the interior was ridiculously warm and muggy. Due to having been burnt by milky gelatos before I chose the strawberry sorbet. This had a pretty nice flavour but inevitably I found it too sweet and cloying. The texture was also too soft and melted for my liking. M thought the same about his lemon flavoured gelato but had less trouble with the sweetness. Our companions seem to enjoy their cones, however.

Photo of the week: three flavours of gelato @ Il Dolce Freddo, Melbourne

On this occasion I got the vanilla, salted caramel and pandan coconut flavours. The pandan coconut was by far my favourite. The other two, particularly the caramel was sickly sweet and just not particularly nicely flavoured; I didn't finish those. The pandan coconut in contrast was really nicely flavoured; I'm a sucker for anything pandan coconut and this hit the spot. Still, the age-old problem I have with gelato persisted with this one: it was still far too sweet and not creamy enough for my liking.

Quick reviews: Flemington Kebab House, Coconut House, Rice Workshop, Somethin' Fishy & Cafe de Beaumarchais

Flemington Kebab House, Flemington
I had been meaning to try out this place since forever but never quite pulled the trigger until New Year's Day. We ended up coming here since a lot of other restaurants were closed on the day and M had lately been saying that he felt like something vaguely Middle Eastern.

We ended up just each getting a kebab (he the lamb/doner and I the chicken) with some chips. These chips were delicious, fresh and crunchy and doused with a tonne of chicken salt they tasted amazing...mmm...MSG. The kebabs were also delish and HUMONGOUS. I tried some of M's lamb and this lamb hater actually liked it! The lamb was flavoursome but not too musky. I was still happy with my chicken choice however and the generous garlic and chilli sauce made everything flavoursome to the max. The bread was also noteworthy, a great spongy but chewy turkish loaf cut in half and filled rendering more like a traditional sandwich than the rolled up shape we normally associate with kebabs.

Coconut House, CBD
I've been going to Coconut House for a while, partly due to the fact I used live very close by. I wouldn't exactly call it a favourite but it's definitely a top choice when I feel like something and cheap.

Their laksas are very good, and I personally really enjoy their meat and rice meals (e.g. BBQ pork/chicken with rice) although lots of people find their rice too garlicky. That said, I am a garlic fiend so I probably can't be trusted to be impartial when it comes to this. On this occasion, I had the pok mee, something I'd had before and enjoyed. It definitely hit the spot, especially with the mountains of chilli I put on it. They were also obliging in giving me extra chilli in the form of their garlic chilli sauce which normally accompanies their Hainan chicken meals. The BBQ was nice and lean, just how I like it. The minced pork was a bit problematic for me; although it was flavoursome, it was too fatty and grisly for my tastes.

Rice Workshop, CBD
Even after the monstrous kebab I had earlier the day I still felt I wanted something for dinner so we went for a quick one at Rice Workshop and shared a beef curry don. Rice Workshop is in a similar vein to Hainaichi in QV—very cheap quick Japanese meals served in paper bowls—but in my opinion does it better. This beef curry don was very tasty and I love that they have a little condiment station, including free Japanese pickles. I'll definitely be back to try more of their dons and their udon bowls.

 


Somethin' Fishy, CBD
We weren't entirely sure we were making a good decision to choose this newly opened joint when we felt like some Fish and Chips one evening due to the emptiness and the mixed urbanspoon reviews. However, as soon as we opened out cute brown cardboard packs I knew we'd made a good choice. We'd each gone for a something fishy pack ($10 with a free water/drink) and it was a perfectly generous portion for a hungry person. The fish was fresh and nicely crisp but the real stars of the show were the diamond cut chips, very similar to those served at Schnitz. Best of all there was a very well stocked condiment station at the restaurant, including Sriracha!!

 

Cafe de Beaumarchais, Sassafras
This was the only one of these five eateries that I didn't like. We chose it because it was the most promising looking place for lunch in Sassafras up on Mt Dandenong, where we headed one afternoon to visit a friend. First impressions were pretty positive, a cute little vaguely French-themed cafe in a nice location.

I ordered the breakfast tart while M went for a sandwich and our friend a quiche. M's sandwich was mediocre, I was very unimpressed with the quality of the baguette used—the sort of dry 'French Stick' you used to get at supermarkets back in the day. My breakfast tart was very average, a small slice of tart (which in itself was pretty bland and uninteresting) accompanied by a mountain of exciting and underdressed salad and some nice relish (out of a jar, as our waitress confessed). To take away, M also got a choc hazelnut cheesecake. As soon as he tried it he regretted his decision. It was sickly sweet and just not at all a quality cheesecake, especially for the price of $9. That was definitely a big complaint we shared about this place, that it was overpriced for what it was—very pedestrian food. Our biggest complaint, however, was reserved for the service. The place seemed to be staffed primarily by teenage girls, which of course, is not at all a problem in and of itself. It is however a problem when they seem completely disinterested in providing decent service and spend their time on the phone on a personal call while they are supposed to bagging up the $9 slice of very mediocre cheesecake you just ordered and paid for. Instead of getting off the phone, she struggled (unsuccessfully) to bag the cake with one hand, at which point we just indicated to her not to bother and that we'd just take it home sans bag.

Photo of the week: cookieee om nom nom

Border butterscotch crunch from Scotland: quite possibly the nicest packet biscuit known to man.