Chez Dre, South Melbourne - desserts to die for

After our meal at Seven Seeds, I wasn't yet satisfied as I didn't have any dessert. Seven Seeds didn't offer any particularly drool worthy cakes or desserts so Racheese and I ditched the boys and ventured out to South Melbourne where Chez Dre resides. It was a little hidden gem amongst the small alleyways.

I liked the decorations at Chez Dre. Even though it's similar to many cafes in terms of industrial high ceilings and walls, it somehow also had a chic and comfortable feel to it, especially the couches inside. From the entrance you can see the couches through the metal bars.

There's a long counter inside. One end is the coffee machines…

And the other is the desserts. Racheese and I took ages deciding what to order as there were too many choices available. All the mini desserts looked terrific. In the end we ordered 3 desserts between the two of us…talk about gluttony!

I love going out with Racheese as like me, she also loves to take photos of food and she's one who'd never complain if I take a few too many. :D

In the middle of the room is an open space where you can see into the kitchen. From there I saw talented chefs in the process of making delicious looking pastries.

We decided to sit outside as the inside was dark and hard to take photos, plus it was a beautifully sunny afternoon. The yard was surrounded by a cute herb garden which reminded me of the herbs I just bought for Yuye. Fresh herbs are the best!

Seven Seeds, Carlton

I've been feeling a bit drowsy and not as energetic lately. I thought it may have been a combination of my friend's wedding preparations and a bit of insomnia but I realised last Friday that it was also due to a lack of coffee and a good brunch! The last time I had brunch out was at Snow Pony which was nearly a month ago. How can one live without coffee and eggs for a month?

I dragged a few people along to Seven Seeds last Friday lunchtime. Its location surprised me as it was right next to the University of Melbourne where I studied. I remember hanging out in Law Building library and even ICT (which is where Yuye studied) but back in the day, Seven Seeds didn't exist which was a shame. I would have been there everyday for coffee if it was!

Similar to many other coffee places I've been to, Seven Seeds has a industrial/grungy feel to it. The place is made up of half painted red bricks, tall ceilings, artsy decorations and lots of people.

It even had bike racks and a dedicated bicycle area for cyclists. I wouldn't be surprised if this place was made famous by all the coffee loving law and commerce students.

As usual, I ordered a coffee to start. I got my usual latte ($3.50) which was actually very nice. A bit stronger than St Ali, it was fragrant, hot and hit all the right spots. I was so craving for a coffee like that for ages! You can tell when I take a bit long taking photos when the bubbles on the coffee starts getting big. :P Yuye decided to not order coffee this time round (he stole some of mine instead).

I didn't take as long photographing Geoff's flat white, although I didn't taste it. Isn't it the most gorgeous thing? I wish I could make coffees that looked like this.

A bit different to other cafes, Seven seeds keeps their menus on the table in a rustic box along with cutlery. Don't forget to grab your own forks and knives when your meal is served as you won't be getting one from the waitstaff.

I was a bit disappointed with the small selection of dishes available, especially the lack of poached eggs!! I was really looking forward to eating some runny egg yolks but I guess that's my fault for not doing my homework beforehand and research the menus. The only remotely similar thing I could find was the soft boiled eggs with toast soldiers which wasn't a big dish.

As such, I ordered the next best thing I could see - a special of the day written on a strip of paper at the front of the menu - tuna, kipfler poatoes, gribiche, green bean and radicchio salad for $15.

I was worried about the tuna. It could go one of 2 ways - fresh seared tuna or canned tuna but sadly it came as out as the latter. For $15, getting canned tuna wasn't exactly the most value-for-money ingredient. However, I was reasonably happy with the taste. The gribiche sauce was creamy and tasty and was the closest thing to egg on my dish (I actually found a few egg white bits in it). The potatoes were well cooked although nothing special but the overall dish came together nicely.

Snag Stand, Melbourne - gourmet hotdogs

I always have a bad habit of judging a book by its cover, whether it's people, food or something else. That's why I easily trust people, taking first impressions and appearances as everything and sometimes get hurt by it. I treat food the same way, it must look good before I'm even willing to take a bite.

I was at Melbourne Central a few days ago just before a wedding dance rehearsal and as we were all in a hurry, we decided to grab a quick meal at Snag Stand which is right on the corner of Swanston and Latrobe St. I'm guessing it mainly caters for busy commuters rushing to and from the station. Before that day, I would never have considered eating there purely because I believed it was a fast food joint that simply sold hotdogs. Why would it be any different to say Wendys or Mr Donut hotdogs? That was obviously before I read their menu and judged purely on the 'stand-and-eat' nature of the store.

Upon closer inspection of the menu, words jumped out at me. Words like 'wagyu', 'truffle aioli', 'Spanish goats cheese' and 'house-made sauerkraut' had my head spinning. Is this really a hotdog shop? Surely they are mistaken.

Snag Stand has 15 gourmet hotdog choices available but if you're especially adventurous, you can try making your own with the following options. the 15 choices was already too much for my brain to handle so no choosing my own ingredients this time.

Can you guess which flavour I got? It was the Wagyu Beef that was 'served up on a rustic roll with butter & garlic mash, herbed gravy & topped with sauteed onions', all for $9.90. I hear you gasping. $9.90 is not cheap for a hotdog by any means but when I thought about it, I'd pay over $10 for a Grill'd burger so why not a gourmet hotdog?

The hotdog was quite large. Cut into two portions for easier consumption, the box didn't help with the messiness of eating it at all as the generous serving of gravy and creamy mash were oozing all over the place. I can't imagine how I'd be able to eat this on the go. The hotdog was also topped with plenty of spring onions and fried shallots which gave the already wonderfully aromatic hotdog an extra booster. It didn't even matter whether it was a wagyu sausage or not, I'd be happy if it didn't even have a sausage. (With that said, the sausage was quite nice).

Even better, the bun was so soft and fluffy that it was perfect to soak up all the gravy and mash. I enjoyed every single bite of that hotdog until I could no longer move and my stomach was screaming in joyous pain - 'no more! I'm totally full!'.

Ghin Khao Thai Restaurant, Melbourne

It's a strange occurrence and quite frightening to think that I've had 2 near death situations in my lifetime although both of which were unknown to me until after. The first time was when I was around 10 in a city in Northern China. A close family friend was kidnapped and held for ransom, I was staying at his house at the time. He was a clever man and somehow left enough clues for the police to find him unharmed. The two kidnappers admitted that the original plan was to kidnap the children, me being one and his son being the other. It was very cold up north and all the rivers were frozen so they had planned to get the ransom money then cut a hole in the ice and throw us in. However, as the kidnapped family friend came home earlier than expected, their plan changed and so I luckily escaped harm.

The second time was in Bangkok during a family holiday. At the time Thailand was having a period of political instability and the day after we left Bangkok for Pattaya, a busy shopping centre we were at the previous night was bombed. Again I escaped harm.

Being in such a dangerous situation in Thailand didn't stop me from loving Thai food. In fact, it was the opposite. Every time someone suggests having dinner at a Thai restaurant, I secretly say 'YES' in my mind. My latest Thai meal was at Ghin Khao Thai Restaurant on Swanston St in the city. The most interesting thing I found about this restaurant was the drinking glasses. They had pointy ends at the bottom which make them sit at an angle. However, even though they look dangerous, it's actually quite hard to make them topple over.

We went as a group of 9 people and ordered dishes to share. The first dish I tasted was the red curry with duck ($17.90). It was quite a saucy and tasty dish which I enjoyed and had vibrant colours to match. As there were so many people and this dish was on the other end of the table, I only managed to eat one spoonful of it which was a shame.

The chicken larb (Thai chicken salad - $11.90) was placed right in front of me so I probably ate the most of this dish. It was a very refreshing and minty dish, enhanced by the faint flavours of the chicken mince and fragrant coriander. There wasn't much mince so was quite a healthy and not very substantial dish.

Piccolino Pizza Restaurant, Mount Waverley

Ever since I was small, I loved watching documentaries. I'd get mesmerised by the deep soothing voices coming out of the TV and the mysterious happenings that I could not understand. I especially liked unsolved cases such as Marilyn Monroe's death and what the true meaning of Mona Lisa's smile was. I would often look in the mirror and try to mimic that same smile with mum's scarf over my head but I'd always get scolded afterwards to do homework.

Unlike my love for documentaries, my love for pizza isn't as high up there. I tend to order pastas or steaks at Italian restaurants as I find pizzas a bit too doughy. The only pizzas I like are the ones that have very thin crust and topped with gourmet ingredients. Yuye's dad on the other hand, absolutely LOVES pizzas. It's his favourite food. He also likes American style thick crust pizzas. So when he's back in Melbourne, there's no doubt pizzas will be on the menu.

On the last day before Yuye's dad left for China, we enjoyed…yes you guessed it…a meal out at an Italian restaurant. I chose this place called Piccolino Pizza Restaurant in Mount Waverley due to the name of their steak - Mona Lisa eye fillet which, although I didn't understand the connection, intrigued me. The restaurant wasn't big but it was almost completely full on a Sunday night, although there were only two waitresses serving. They were grossly understaffed. As we were seated at the back, no one even noticed that we were not given menus or even water for over 10 minutes, maybe longer. I wasn't too happy. When the menus came, I was fairly hungry already.

Yuye's dad unsurprisingly ordered pizza, it was a large Con Tutto, equivalent to 'the lot' for $16.50 with extra cheese on top. I think the extra cheese cost 80 cents more. It wasn't a bad pizza although it wasn't thin crust. There was a thick layer of cheese on top along with olives, prawns, capsicums, mushrooms, ham, onions and more. It was a better pizza of the type although I'd have preferred one of the gourmet ones with salmon or proscuitto.

Yuye's mum as always ordered a marinara risotto for $17. It wasn't a cheap dish but there was a fair bit of risotto to share. This dish was probably my favourite of the night as it had the perfect blend of lemon, parsley and seafood. It was full of prawn and squid pieces with parsley mixed throughout and we finished off the dish in an instant.

Mitre Tavern, Melbourne CBD

I've never really liked farewell parties. They always made me sad as usually a friend is leaving for good. I don't like saying goodbyes like most people wouldn't. The other day I went to Ichi's farewell dinner at Mitre Tavern, he's an ex-colleague who gave me a lot of guidance in terms of where to go for good ramen in Japan and good restaurants in Melbourne.

Mitre Tavern is a pub with a steakhouse upstairs. We planned to have steak that night but made a mistake as we didn't know that in order to have steak, we had to be seated upstairs. The waitress whispered "there's not many people upstairs so please decide whether you want to move up soon as they are about to leave." That was quite interesting.

In the end, we decided to stay where we were and ordered the 'special rump steak' instead that was available downstairs. Yuye ordered the steak with mushroom sauce for $20. I didn't try the steak until it got cold as I was busy with my dish but from what I could tell, it wasn't such a bad steak. I had my biases though because I just had wagyu a few nights ago and NOTHING can beat wagyu. I didn't like the mushroom sauce as it was too sweet and the fries were a bit thick and dry.

Rump Steak - $20

Airstream Cafe, Glen Waverley - a disappointment

Airstream Cafe, you disappoint me. I've been a long time customer because of the close proximity to home and I never thought it was such a bad place to enjoy a good catchup or a quick meal. That is, until Christmas day.

It was a boiling hot day and I was running late to meet my mum and brother for lunch. As I sat down, I ordered myself a Miami Spice mocktail which was meant to include mixed berries, plain yoghurt, apricot nectar and ice cream for $7.50. What I got was a pineapple juice.

The Waiting Room, Crown Complex - a beautiful afternoon tea

Situated in the lobby of the Crown Towers Hotel, The Waiting Room is a small, modern and glamorous restaurant that is also the newest addition to the Rockpool group. would never have known such a place existed let alone enjoyed nice afternoon tea there had it not been for the last minute hens' night planning for one of my friends. Most well known places were booked out (we literally called the day before for a Sunday lunch booking) but as The Waiting Room just newly opened in October 2011, hardly anyone knew high tea options were available!

The place was decked out in bling, the most memorable being the restroom where there were so many mirrors on the walls I thought I was going to get lost.

The afternoon tea options were $42pp for tea and nibbles or the same food for $55 with sparkling wine. It came with 4 ribbon sandwiches, 2 scones with jam and cream, 5 mini cakes and 2 savouries. The internal decor as well as the cake tier and glasses were all modern and chic, so if you're more after traditional high tea with cute girly tea cups then this may not be the place for you.

I just ordered a regular Earl Grey tea which was as expected. I should have ordered something different like Silver Needle or Organic Dragon Well Green, although the Earl Grey wasn't bad by any means.