Snow Pony Cafe, Balwyn

When I think of snow and ponies, the image of a mystical far away land covered with fluffy white snow comes to mind. There's not a soul in sight, apart from a lone pony trotting in the cold forest. On its back sits a fair skinned princess with blonde long hair, stroking the pony's hair and whispering into its ear. The more I think about it, the more my imagination runs wild. I'm not sure how the owners of Snow Pony Cafe in Balwyn came up with this cute name, but I'm certainly quite taken by it. Not only is its name intriguing, it's simple and funky interior (although totally different to my imagination), mouth-watering meals and friendly staff are all elements that appeal to me.

When I called up at 12:30pm yesterday, I was told the cafe was very busy but they will try to fit the 3 of us in for a 1pm lunch. I wasn't expecting much when I entered the cafe but to my surprise, our table was ready and my friend Racheese was already sitting there.

There's three areas that contain tables - the front of the house with a long communal table, the back room with its cute hanging light and slightly darker and more private setting and there's where we sat, the patio for a casual meal out in the sun.

The patio was just perfect. It was 30 degrees and the sun was shining on our table but in the excitement of trying this lovely place, I didn't feel warm at all. I spent the first few minutes just admiring the decorations and the awesome light fittings. This place was so photogenic!

I was dying for a coffee. For the last few nights, I've been staying up writing blog posts (doing it right now in fact) as Christmas gatherings and shopping took up most of the day and the only time I had to myself was when everyone else had gone to sleep. I'm obviously still getting into the whole posting once a day thing so I was in desperate need of a good caffeine hit. My latte arrived very quickly, far quicker than it took me to photograph it.

It was not a bad coffee at all, although it had a slightly bitter or burnt after taste. This 'burnt' taste was more just the taste of the coffee beans than anything else in my opinion, although Yuye didn't agree. Either way, it was my coffee not his, so I get the say.

Yuye didn't order a coffee like he normally does. I think the heat is finally getting to him. What he ordered though was no surprise - organic grapefruit juice ($5) while Racheese ordered a fresh orange juice ($4.5). They came in the cutest 'medicine bottles' as we called them. If medicines really came in these bottles, I'd have drank enough as a kid to never get sick. They looked especially gorgeous in the sun.

The grapefruit juice gave me more of a kick than my latte by far. It was a burst of sourness with a slight bitter aftertaste and the chunky pulp was oh so yummy. I can get addicted to drinking that all summer. The orange juice was not bad either, sweet and also very pulpy, it was a very refreshing and fitting drink for the hot weather.

There were so many things I wanted to order on the menu! I believe the menu changes seasonally, in fact the menu we ordered from is slightly different to the one on their website. I wanted to try a dish with an interesting name as I was very much into the whole pony deal, especially Giddy Up which featured my favourite poached eggs and roasted tomato. However, Racheese eventually pointed me in the right direction - the Hopkins River eye fillet steak sandwich ($21.90). As soon as I saw 'beetroot' I had made my decision.

This dish had beetroot + blood orange relish, caramel onions, bacon, roast tomato, aged Maffra farmhouse cheddar and a poached egg. It's everything I like, on the one plate! The placement of the ingredients was interesting too, it sort of made it look like a looney clown face with a huge smile, don't you agree?

The steak was very tender and juicy, the tomatoes were peeled and oven roasted (although I found them to be a tiny overcooked and mushy) and the relish was quite sweet. I couldn't really taste the blood orange but that didn't bother me because there's beetroot which is cooler than anything else. The only thing I didn't like about the dish was how the relish and tomatoes made the bread quite soggy in the middle. Perhaps it was better if the steak was placed on the bread before the relish.

this was the first time I only got 1 poached egg and it's probably a good thing as I've been eating a lot of eggs lately. I did find only having one egg a bit less than completely satisfying as I love the bread and meat to be smothered in the runny egg yolks. Only having one egg yolk means I only really had yolk on one piece of bread. Either way, I loved the dish and I was fighting over it with Yuye.

Yuye ordered one of his favourites (and probably also mine), the kransky with asparagus, mustard and potato salad ($18.90). The dish looked beautiful. As it didn't come with bread, I didn't think it would be very filling but it was.

The kransky was as expected, meaty and perfectly salty, although I'd have preferred to eat them with a piece of bread or some pancakes. I was however, surprised at how good it went with the mustard. Yuye agreed that we should eat mustard with our store bored kranskies next time. I found the asparagus a bit overcooked and was too soft. I like my asparagus just cooked and still green and slightly crunchy. Personal preference I guess.

The potato salad was very creamy and had a nice amount of seeded mustard mixed through. I love anything with seeded mustard as it gives the dish that perfect tanginess. The colours of the salad was also quite vibrant.

Racheese ordered a Spanish tortilla with chorizo and lots and lots of rocket and shaved parmesan ($17.90). This is a new dish not on the site menu.

Jong Ga Korean BBQ restaurant & Mantra on Queen, Brisbane

When I read Choux-Fleur's review on Toodouri Korean BBQ the other day, I started thinking about when the last time I had Korean BBQ was, and then I remembered! I actually forgot to blog about the one and only Korean BBQ I had this year (in Australia anyway) at a restaurant called Jong Ga in Brisbane back in October. It was the briefest of stays for a friend's wedding and Jong Ga was the only eat out meal I could really blog about.

It was set on a high side of the road overlooking Fortitude Valley, in a traditional Asian style building that was very easy to spot. We could smell sizzling meat from across the road!

As the weather was hot and humid, eating Korean BBQ wasn't top of my list, however, the bride recommended this restaurant to us as it was $28.80 for all you can eat food with drinks at extra cost. We were all meat eaters so this sounded like a good idea and it was very close to our hotel. The interior wasn't too fancy, just a lot of open space with tables and the chillers filled with meat at the back. It was quite busy though considering its remote location so there must be a few regulars who like this place.

There were many traditional Korean dishes included, such as bulgogi (marinated bbq beef), jap chae (sweet potato noodles stir-fried with veggies), seafood pancake and so forth which I grabbed a little bit of each. I liked Jong Ga's version of the seafood pancake and the potato noodles, although there wasn't much seafood in the pancake that I found - it was mostly spring onions and dough. However, it went well with the sauce and served as a good entree for all the meat to come. The potato noodles were quite sweet, just how I like it.

Apart from cooked dishes, they also had salads and many of the usual complimentary dishes you get in Korean restaurants such as kimchi and bean sprouts although I didn't see as many people eating these. Why would meat eaters come and eat salad right?

They also had a variety of sushi which were reasonably fresh and tasty. However, I only tried one or two as the rice from sushi always fill me up very quickly. I wanted to leave stomach for all the lovely looking meat in the chiller!

There were two chillers, both with different varieties of meat, one holding marinated meats and the other holding un-marinated. There were a lot of different meats to choose from including my all time favourite pork belly and many others like beef tongue, other beef cuts and chicken. Yuye loved his beef tongue. He commented that he was going to eat just that and he'll be satisfied. I always found tongue to be a bit tough. There were also prawns and squid for those who want to mix up their diet.

We ate so much I could hardly walk. Again. I do this every time even at restaurants that are not buffets so naturally buffets kill me. The walk back to the hotel was good to digest the food a little although at times I wanted Yuye to either carry me back or roll me on the ground. Walking is such a chore when I'm bloated!

The hotel we stayed was Mantra on Queen at the corner of Ann and Queen Streets. It was a business hotel that was more or less in the middle of nowhere and we only booked it to be closer to where our other friends were staying. On the first day of arrival at 3pm, we were awfully hungry but there were no restaurants in sight! The very few that were nearly were all closed so we ended up just purchasing a roast chicken and a cheesecake from Woolworths. It was a very interesting experience eating Woolworths food in a hotel room although I'd rather have eaten something I could blog about.

At the time, Mantra was doing a promotion whereby if you take a photo next to Pat Rafter's cutout and post it on their Facebook page, you can possibly win $200 Mantra vouchers. I was too embarrassed to do it.

The room was quite decent. For around $120 a night (I booked with my Entertainment Book so got a discount) we got a spacious room with a king bed and the usual amenities. Perhaps the hotel knew of its remote location and lack of restaurants, there was also a microwave, plates and cutlery for us to eat our chicken with! The bed and pillows were soft and clean, although there was one thing that I didn't like about it. It wasn't a real king bed but rather two singles put together. I could feel the line in the middle of the bed which annoyed me a bit what I couldn't ask for much since other hotels I looked at didn't even give me a king bed option.

Belgian Beer Cafe Bluestone, St Kilda

Have you ever felt utter frustration for something that can't be changed? Even worse, having to endure it for many times over. Getting visas for China is one of those frustrating tasks that I loath but must do. The visa application centre used to be part of the Chinese Consulate in Toorak but in recent years changed to a privately owned company in St Kilda. The wait in line became twice as long and the application prices were almost twice as much. Nevertheless, if you want to go to China, you must apply for one. My most recent dilemma was when I dropped off my friend's passport along with mine and as she had never been to China before, they asked for her birth certificate which I didn't know was needed. So, I had to go to the visa application centre 3 times during one week and had to wait 2 hours at both drop-offs and about half an hour for the pickup. It's a sad life it is!

I almost forgot the moral of the story. If you also find yourself stuck in the visa dilemma, fear not because you can take out your anger and frustrations by having a hearty meal and/or a drink or two at the Belgian Beer Cafe Bluestone just across the road from the Visa Application Centre. It was the only thing I looked forward to and we ate there twice in that one week.

It's a nice beer drinking environment with seating both inside and outside. They have a good collection of spirits, wines and flavoured beers for you to choose from if the regular beers don't take your fancy as well as different menus for beer food and proper meals. However I was told only beer food and drinks are allowed to be consumed outside.

First day lunch

We went to the Belgian Beer Cafe the first time I dropped off the passports when it was already 3pm. Lucky it doesn't close in the afternoon like some restaurants do.

We started off the meal with beer of course. Well, to be specific, Yuye had beer. It was a Cheeky Rascal Raspberry & Apple Cider for $9.50 by Rebello Wines, which is a branch of the famous Sunny Ridge strawberry farm in Mornington Peninsula. A few friends and I are actually planning a strawberry and cherry picking day there tomorrow so I will be writing about our adventures some time later. It was a refreshing and sweet drink that tasted like summer, a perfect start to our long awaited meal and soothed our worn souls quite well.

Cheeky Rascal Raspberry & Apple Cider (Mornington Peninsula) - $9.50

I was going to drive home and since I was so tired already, I didn't want to drink anything alcoholic. What do I choose when I don't want alcohol? Lemon lime and bitters of course ($3.50). There was quite a lot of bitters and syrup in the drink but was still thirst quenching enough to keep me happy.

Lemon Lime & Bitters - $3.50

Complimentary bread and butter were served and interestingly enough they're served in paper bags. I love surprises so when I see a bag full of things, I will always smile even if I know what the content is. The bread was fresh and yummy, but I find I always stuff myself with too much bread at the beginning and can't finish my actual meal.

Complimentary bread served in a paper bag

A lot of people go to the Belgian Beer Cafe just to eat their mussel pots and drink the beer. It's weird but it seems that the Belgian Beer Cafe had in fact cured my previous dislike for mussels as Yuye loves them and orders a pot every time he eats there. This time was no different. He ordered his favourite Mariniere pot which is mussels cooked in white wine, celery, onion, leek and thyme for $28. As always, the mussels were perfectly cooked and seasoned. We were licking our fingers and lips and sucking those mussels out of their shells like there was no tomorrow.

Mariniere mussel pot with white wine, celery, onion, leek & thyme - $28

Mussel pots also come with a bowl of chips and homemade mayo. I love fatter chips so these were great with our meal. The mayo was so rich and creamy that I couldn't eat too much of it in one go. It was one of the better mayos I've had in restaurants.

Chips and mayo that came with the Mariniere pot

You get a separate lid like pot to throw all the empty mussel shells in and the waiter will come around every so often to change it when it overflows. The mountains of shells always impress me.

Empty mussel shells ready to be taken away

Look at that white wine sauce at the bottom of the pot! Yuye and I were scooping it up and drinking it like a soup. It was so buttery and rich it actually made me quite full.

I had wanted something different so I chose the pork belly which was twice-cooked with chilli caramel, apple, fennel and salted prawn salad. The skin was perfectly crispy albeit being slightly on the burnt side. The meat I found a tiny bit tough although quite tasty. Obviously it had been cooked long enough for the flavours to enter. It also went quite well with the salad which was sweet and minty. It managed to turn the somewhat heavy meal into a lighter, healthier feeling dish. I know, it's all in my mind…

Twice cooked pork belly - $29

It doesn't look too impressive from the front but boy the dish was huge! It was two whole pieces of pure meat. I thought I was going to fit in dessert afterwards but I was wrong.

Second day lunch

We came here again when I finally picked up the passports a few days later. It was like a celebration for finally getting the visas done. Celebrations can't do without some form of alcohol, especially when the weather was great, so I decided to join Yuye by ordering a beer of my own. I don't really like regular beers so a flavoured one was chosen. It was the Grisette Cerise for $9.50, a cherry flavoured beer that's only 3.5 percent alcohol. It's an imported beer from Belgium that is very sweet, refreshing and not that beer tasting. It was perfect for me since I don't like beer, but avid beer lovers might not give this drink a thumbs up. I thought it looked very pretty too with the bright red colour and huge layer of white foam on top.

Grisette Cerise (cherry flavoured beer from Belgium) - $9.50

Yuye felt like being a bit girly too and chose Monteith's Crushed Pear Cider for $9. This one was not as sweet and stronger in alcohol, which I thought was more refreshing and nicer tasting. Monteith's is an old brand from New Zealand and also includes the crushed apple cider and traditional beers. Their ciders are made from real fruit, not concentrate. This beverage is available from Dan Murphy's if you fancy drinking it at home.

Monteith's Crushed Pear Cider (NZ) - $9

Yuye, not surprisingly again ordered a pot of mussels. This time it was the Espanol with chorizo, green olives, smoked paprika, tomato and red wine also for $28. It was so much more filling than the previous pot because of the chorizo and olives but we both agreed that the Mariniere was better. It was in no way bad, in fact it was quite delicious as I love tomato based dishes. The only flaw about this dish is that it had less sauce than the Mariniere so the mussels themselves were sometimes a bit bland. Eating the mussels with chorizos and olives helped but that made us very full.

Espanol mussel pot with chorizo, olives, smoked paprika, tomato & red wine - $28

I wanted to be smart this time round and 'order less' so I could finally fit in dessert. I really wanted to try the waffles. Was I smart? Not at all. For some stupid reason I thought ordering three beer food dishes would be less than a main. It totally wasn't. Regardless of this, I was still very satisfied with what I ordered since they were all very nice and I managed to taste many different dishes at once! The first dish was steak tartare or what's called Fillet Americain for $14. It came with hand-cut raw steak tartare, croutons and horseradish cream.

Fillet Americain (steak tartare) - $14

The first thing I noticed was the lack of egg yolk on top which was a disappointment. The second thing I noticed was the sheer amount of gherkins and capers mixed into the steak tartare. It was way too much and made it too sour. I think an egg yolk would have softened the sour taste and made it a lot nicer. I did like the pickled onions although I probably preferred to eat them by themselves.

The croutons I believe were made from the same bread as the complimentary ones we got at the beginning of the meal. They were very crunchy and easy to pick up the steak tartare with. The croutons were also very filling, another reason why we shouldn't have ordered this dish even though they were nice.

The second dish I ordered as recommended by the waiter was the crispy chicken ribs marinated in cider, honey and mustard for $9. It came with 4 pieces of fantastic chicken ribs that were heavenly to bite into. Yes it was a bit oily but hey, I wasn't there to eat healthy! The batter was so crispy they crumbled as soon as I sank my teeth into them. The meat inside was a perfect contrast of tenderness and juiciness that I could have eaten them all day. The ribs disappeared instantly. The sauce was nutty, almost like a satay sauce and went well with the chicken, although I preferred a bit of lemon on it to make it less oily (I used the lemon from the croquettes).

Crispy chicken ribs - $9

The last dish of the day was the manchego cheese & smoked cod croquettes for $8.50. This came with 5 small cheesy fried balls that were tasty although a little bland. The lemon helped and so did the nutty sauce from my chicken ribs. Maybe they should include the dipping sauce for this dish too to give it a bit more flavour. It was so creamy though that it was hard to finish, especially with so many other things to eat too.

Manchego cheese & smoked cod croquettes - $8.50

Pie in the Sky, Olinda - pie and scone heaven!

Without doubt, I love a good pie. I used to dream about having pies and crave about having pies. I was so upset when Jesters closed its doors around Melbourne that I still pout my lips every time I pass its old location in Knox City Shopping Centre. As such, I was over the moon when my friends told me that there was a fantastic pie restaurant in Olinda called Pie In The Sky and that we'd be passing it on the way from the Tesselaar Tulip Festival a few weeks ago. According to their website, Pie in the Sky has 'won a total of 15 medals in the annual Great Aussie Meat Pie Competition' since 1993 as well as other media appearances. Big gold and silver signs can clearly be seen outside and inside the store to further showcase their victories.

I was told that the place was popular as we did go on a Sunday right about lunch time after going to the near by Tulip Festival. However, I wasn't quite prepared for what I saw. In my mind I was expecting a few people in line and some free space as it was in Olinda which is a small town some 50 kilometres from Melbourne CBD. As I entered, I was overwhelmed. There were people crowded around the whole entrance that I could hardly open the door. Mind you, it wasn't a tiny pie place like many are but a full restaurant sized building. The dine in tables are upstairs and there was also a line for those. We ended up waiting about 15 minutes for a table and a further 20 minutes before we got our food. It was well worth the wait though.

You're able to order from either standard pies (such as regular meat pies, mushroom pies or bacon & onion pies) or from the gourmet pie selection such as beef burgundy, beef guinness, beef curry, korma chicken or spinach & feta just to name a few or if you're feeling adventurous, you can even order from the specials board which changes occasionally with a special flavour. At the time of visiting, the special pie was Mexicana which I assumed would have tasted like a burrito. Just reading the titles of these pies made my mouth water. But wait, the choices don't end there. After you're done choosing your pie, you get to choose whether you want to sides to go with it. If a pie doesn't sound filling enough, try having it with the delicious peas, salad, chips, mash and/or gravy. One word of advice though, if you wish to have peas, mash and gravy together, it is best to order peas & mashed potatoes with a jug of gravy as a side instead of ordering the pie special which comes with all 3 as it actually cost less that way (I learnt the hard way).

I ordered a korma chicken pie with the pie special ($14.90). I originally wanted to order 2 pies but lucky I didn't because it was immensely filling. This pie has previously won gold medals and I had wanted something different so this pie it was. Lucky too because it was delicious. The sauce was rich and flavourful and faintly spicy. The pastry was crispy and light which complemented the filling very well.

Korma Chicken Pie with Pie Special (peas, mash & gravy) - $14.90

The lid was a little hard to take off as the pastry crumbled under the force of my fork. I succeeded in the end though. Look at that colour! The peas were beautiful and I ate almost all of it, until I got a bit full and Yuye had to take over. The mash was a little too powdery for me but still went well with the rest of the dish. These pies don't really need tomato sauce as there was plenty of flavour to make them tasty.

Yuye ordered a beef burgundy pie also with the pie special ($14.90). This pie also won gold medals however, I liked my pie more. His pie was good but it lacked that punch that mine had. I preferred his with a bit of tomato sauce.

Beef Burgundy Pie with Pie Special (peas, mash & gravy) - $14.90

What came after the pie was an even bigger surprise. Their scones and home made raspberry jam!! I fell instantly in love with those piping hot and soft like cotton candy scones. You can order a devonshire tea set for $8.50 which comes with a tea or coffee of your choice and two scones with the awesome homemade raspberry jam and freshly whipped cream. I am so craving for some as I'm typing this. We ordered 4 sets between the 5 of us which came with 8 scones in a basket.

Scones that came with our Devonshire tea sets - $8.50 each set (2 scones & a tea/coffee)

The raspberry jam and cream can be topped up if you run out as they only give you one serving no matter how many scones you have. The jam was sweet but not overpowering, it was chunky but not too hard to chew and truth is, I just absolutely love the taste of jam and cream together.

Homemade raspberry jam and freshly whipped cream - delicious!