Mexican Adventures @ Pablo Honey (Invited)

 68 Acland St, St Kilda VIC 3182

9534 3246

11:00am - 1:00am Everyday

On the courtesy of the Em, I was invited to dine at Pablo Honey, a Tapas & Tequila bar situated in St Kilda. Renown for their innovative and cocktails and tapas sharing plates, I've been looking forward to coming down for quite some time. To be honest I haven't tried much authentic Mexican cuisine at all so this was a first, and an exciting experience. 

Pablo's Blossom
a zingy blend of gin, lychee and cranberry all combined in a snow cone like drink
My choice of cocktail was the Pablo's Blossom, I was looking for something that was refreshing and sweet. Whilst the drink did deliver in the refreshing department, the flavour was lacking, resulting in a watered down taste which I will assume is from the large quantity of crushed ice.

(5/10)

Pearfect

blend of Absolut pear, elderflower and apple

My friend 'D' ordered the Pearfect, unfortunately it was the same result as the Pablo's Blossom. The flavour was lacking and felt watered down, perhaps that's how the drink is supposed to be?. Unfortunately it did not suit our tastes.

(5/10)

Chorizo & Cheese Fundido

Hickory corn chips

Starting off with a number of recommendations from our waiter, the Chorizo & Cheese Fundido was spectacular. I did not expect the presentation of this at all. The chorizo & cheese fundido worked really well with the hickory corn chips, combining the 2 flavours made a marvelous aftertaste

(9/10)

Grilled Spiced Mackerel

Jicama, coriander & smoked chilli

Spicy, that's the first thing I think of when I ate this dish. It was spicy, and I loved it!, the grilled spiced mackerel was cooked perfectly, resulting in a tender texture. the spiced mackerel and smoked chilli combination gave that dish the spice element I enjoyed.

(8/10)

Prawn & Crab Moqueca

coconut, tomato & coriander

So i'm a huge fan of spicy food, and after eating the spiced mackerel, my chilli endurance was pretty strong. But the prawn & crab moqueca almost doubled in spice level compared to the mackerel. It was way too spicy, resulting in my failed attempt of eating the dish. 

The seafood was delicious, though the crab meat was lacking so all I was eating most of the time were the prawn and vegetables. Perhaps if they added something else to compliment the dish then it would be better

(6/10)

Grass Fed Beef Tartare

salted egg yolk, smoked chilli, finger lime, coriander & cumin seed lavosh

Soft & tender, the grass fed beef tartare was amazing. The meat had a soft texture which required minimal chewing. Paired with the smoked chilli or finger lime, there was a number of flavours which exploded in my mouth. Accompanied by the bread/pastry that accompanied it, the soft and tender meat, joined with the crispy cracker was a marvelous duo.

(8.5/10)

Chipotle BBQ Lamb Shoulder

salsa roja, black bean hommus & tortilla

I was absolutely stuffed at this point, and the final savoury dish was from the ''Large plates' menu which meant it was going to be a struggle to finish. 

First off, the lamb shoulder was inconsistent. 3/4 of the lamb was beautifully tender and soft, and the rest was completely burnt, resulting in an inedible portion, but that was probably due to the method of cooking.

The black bean hommus, in all honesty. I couldn't taste anything at all when I combined it with the tortilla and lamb shoulder. It tasted flavorless so I barely touched it in the end.

the tortilla were nicely toasted and warm and worked really well when everything was combined.

(7/10)

Dulce De Leche Mousse

Berries & bitter chocolate popping candy

Saw photos of the Dulce De Luche Mousse online and it looked funky!, mousse was smooth, creamy and delicious. Combined with the kick affect of the popping candy it really created that 'party in your mouth' feel which I enjoyed. Unfortunately the skull candy casing? was not my cup of tea.

(7/10)

Food - 6.9 / 10

Ambiance - 8.5 / 10

Service - 8 / 10

Total FoOodie Points - 23.4/ 30

Cafe Adventures @ Bowery To Williamsburg

16 Oliver Ln, Melbourne VIC 3000

9077 0162

7:30am - 3pm Weekdays

8:30am - 3pm Weekends

Mmm, delicious New-York style sandwiches is what Bowery To Williamsburg is known for. With their diner style seating, open kitchen right in front of your eyes so you can watch your delicious sandwiches come to life, it's an eye-catching feast. 

Arriving during lunch hours, they were only serving their signature sandwiches and sides. To be honest I had no idea they did other cafe/breakfast dishes so I am definitely coming back to give them a try.

I've heard many stories about their mac'n'cheese so I was looking forward to that the most. Unfortunately, even after arriving around 1pm, the mac'n'cheese were already sold out! but not all was lost when the chef told us that there was still 1 remaining, a blessing it truly was :)

Philly Cheese Steak ($17) (+Side)

Smoked beef brisket, onions, peppers, mushrooms, provolone cheese

My friend 'T' got the philly cheese steak, the portion was definitely larger than anticipated, the smoked beef brisket topped with melted provolone cheese was a beautiful combination. Packed with flavour of the mixture of ingredients, it was surprisingly basic? Not sure how to describe it but I was expecting a mixture of flavours due to the combination of ingredients. Nonetheless a filling dish.

(6/10)

The Reuben ($17)  (+Side)

pastrami beef brisket, sauerkraut, russian dressing, swiss cheese

I decided even before arriving that I'd get the Reuben, always had a soft spot for them. Bowery To Williamsbrug does them quite well, with layers of pastrami beef brisket, sauerkraut and the marvelous melted swiss cheese, It was absolutely delicious! I'm not fond of pickles but in this case, the pickle accompanying the sandwich was amazing, Definitely will ordering an extra one on my next visit.

(8/10)

The portion for both sandwiches were way more than expected, to be honest I was already feeling quite full after the first half.

Mac'n'Cheese (Inc in Set Menu)

To be frank, this was my first time eating oven baked Mac'n'Cheese, and it was the most delicious thing I had during my time at Bowery To Williamsburg. Absolutely delicious, packed with flavour, simply just amazing. It was definitely my kind of food.

(10/10)

Potato Salad (Salad of the day)

Another delicious side, the potato was just right and the sauce was stunning!. Not entirely sure what was in it, but I could taste pickles which worked really well with the rest of the flavours.

(7.5/10)

Food - 7.8 / 10

Ambiance - 6 / 10

Service - 7 / 10

Total FoOodie Points - 20.8 / 30

Burger Adventures @ The Burger Block (Invited)

85 Willsmere Rd, Kew VIC 3101

9854 5771

7am - 3pm Mon - Fri

9am - 4pm Sat         

       Sunday Closed        

On the courtesy of Brenda, I was invited to The Burger Block to try out some of their signature burgers. Located on Willsmere Rd, Kew. the cafe is easily accessible by bus or tram, and even easier by car (which unfortunately I did not have).

I rarely travel to the Eastern suburbs as I'm from the West so this was quite the adventure for me.

Upon entering, we were greeted by friendly workers and a cozy atmosphere. With a display of burgers on their counter, there was so many delicious options to choose from

Red Lantern (JPN/THAI) ($12.9)

american cheese, bacon, spanish onions, lettuce, tomato & wasabi mayo

After spending a good 10 minutes deciding on what burger I wanted, I opted for the Red Lanttern. I find it pretty cool how the cafe labels their burgers with countries.

The burger was delicious!, packed with flavour, the bun was soft, juicy patty, everything worked really well together. Unfortunately I was expecting more spice as the burger had a 2 chilli rating on the menu. I wasn't able to get that punch I was hoping for, perhaps if they added jalepenos? or something with more kick then I would give it a higher rating.

 But overall a satisfying burger

(7.5/10)

The Black Jack (HK/JPN) ($13.5) (no tomato)

american cheese, bacon, grilled mushrooms, spanish onions, lettuce, black pepper sauce & jap mayo

My friend 'D' ordered 'The Black Jack'. the burger was just as great as the 'Red Lantern', but I preferred mine more whilst 'D' preferred hers. 

The black pepper sauce was strong, On my first bite I was greeted with a strong and delicious sauce which complimented the burger really well. 

Combined with the grilled mushrooms, spanish onions, bacon, cheese and the meat patty. Oh, it was a delicious burger. I would've loved to try this with tomato, but wasn't able to due to 'D' being allergic.

Perhaps next time :)?

(8/10)

Loaded Chips ($7.5) (Small)

Beer battered chips, aioli furikake (roasted seaweed seasoning)

I loved the 'Aioli Furikake', which was the roasted seaweed seasoning with I believe is with japanese mayo. It gave the crispy chips a lovely flavour. Though as you have more, the flavour can be quite overpowering, which happened to be towards the end.

(7.5/10)

Iced Chocolate w/ Ice Cream ($6)

Nothing to spectacular, the drink was nice, smooth and cold. The ice-cream added that extra element which made it more enjoyable, though I think the quality of the ice-cream can be better.

/7/10)

Iced Matcha w/ Ice Cream

Originally, I thought the 'Iced sencha & matcha green tea' was the iced matcha w/ green tea. Luckily, the girl working had a feeling that I wanted the Iced matcha, so she was able to get it for me. From my understanding, it isn't on the menu but you can order it.

The iced matcha was delightful, though it lacked in matcha flavour, it was creamy and delicious.

(6/10)

Food - 7.3 / 10

Ambiance - 7 / 10

Service - 9 / 10

Total FoOodie Points - 23.3 / 30

Chinese Adventures @ Secret Kitchen

222 Exhibition St, Melbourne

9988 7778

11:30am - 3:00pm Everyday (Yumcha)

5:30pm - 11:00pm Everyday (Dinner)

Oh glorious yumcha, definitely one of the top cuisines which I absolute love. With all sorts of dim-sum, staple chinese dishes and desserts, what is there not to love?

To be honest, yumcha restaurant in the CBD cannot compared to the outer suburbs such as sunshine and springvale, therefore I didn't have high expectations when I came here.

I don't remember the price of the dishes but it's your standard yumcha style pricing where dishes are catergorized. Unfortunately the secret kitchen website also doesn't have a menu of the yumcha selection so i'll have to do it from bottom to top.

Chilli Pork Dumpling

Below average to be honest, didn't taste that good but the chilli packed a punch. 

(4/10)

3 Colour Prawn Dumpling

This is your standard take on the staple prawn dumpling (Har Gao) with the extra touch of the unique colurs. It was actually pretty good, though the downfall is that the dim sum was literally impossible to pick up without it falling apart or tear off.

(7/10)

Prawn & Scallop Dumpling

Definitely tasted prawn and the obvious scallop on top of the dumpling, I would say this was the best out of the 4. Delicious, hot and the scallop was tender and delicious.

(8/10)

XL Prawn Dumpling

Literally a prawn dumpling (Har Gao) but the size is a lot bigger. Nothing that great to be honest, average at best and just like the 3 coloured dumpling, it was impossible to pick up as a whole since it teared apart.

(5/10)

Chives & Prawn Dumpling

Majority of the dim sum literally tore off whenever I tried to pick it up, definitely a downside for this yumcha. The chives & prawn was nothing amazing but packed a nice flavour with the chives involved

(6/10)

Egg Tart

These aren't as good compared to many over yumcha establishments that I've been too. I felt that the pastry was a bit too try and overall it wasn't as flavoursome.

(5/10)

Mango Pudding

My childhood favourite, i've always loved mango pudding since my first time dining at a yumcha restaurant. You simply can't go wrong with it.

The mango pudding was pretty good, though it was overly sweet. Creamy with the extra milk complimenting the pudding, it was a satisfying dish.

(8/10)

I also had a few other dishes but unfortunately the food was devoured before I able to take a photo of it ;) but I do highly recommend the shark fin dumpling and chicken feet. 

Food - 6 / 10

Ambiance - 7 / 10

Service - 5 / 10

Total FoOodie Points - 17 / 30

Cafe Adventures @ Scarvelli Cafe (Invited)

143 Whitehorse Rd, Deepdene VIC

9816 8887

           7:00am - 4:30pm Mon - Fri

 8:00am - 3:30pm Sat

  8:00am - 3:00pm Sun

On the courtesy of Carlos, I was invited to dine at Scarvelli Cafe to try out their refined paddock-to-plate dishes. Located on Whitehorse Rd, Deepdene, getting to Scarvelli is easily accessible via the 109 tram.

Upon being greeted, we were seated at a specially prepared table for us which was pleasing.

The cafe has an industrial chic interior which makes you feel at home, with the front counter featuring some of their bakes and coffees, you'll be salivating at first glance.

Wood Fired Salmon ($21.5) (GF)

Torn wood fired salmon, caramelised onion, minted pea & caper frittata rocket, avocado & tomato corn salsa

The wood fired salmon had a mixture of strong flavours in the dish, the combination of the avocado and tomato corn salsa gave a unique flavour which my friend enjoyed but wasn't my cup of tea. The wood fired salmon was delightful and paired well with the rest of the dish

(7/10)

Scarvelli Burger ($21)

Wagyu patty, american mustard, jack cheese, burger sauce, red onion, sliced tomato & lettuce on a broiche bun with chips & aioli

The Scarvelli Burger was magnificent, the wagyu patty was juicy and tender, and every single ingredient worked really well together. I would definitely get the burger if I were to come back. 

What I did feel would've been a good improvement for the burger is by adding bacon, or the giving the option of adding bacon as I felt the burger could've been even more enjoyable than it already was if it had bacon.

The chips were crispy and seasoned well, you can't really go wrong with chips, because if you do, you're clearly doing something wrong.

 The aioli sauce was also delightful and added that extra flavour.

(8.5/10)

Cookies & Cream Milkshake

Simply divine, the cookies & cream milkshake which my friend ordered was delicious, sweet and was exactly what I was expecting. Though to be honest, I may have gotten cookies and cream or oreo milkshake mixed up. But if you ever do dine at Scarvelli, you'll know what it is and trust me, get it.

(9/10)

House Juice / Super Juice (Specials board)

apple, pear, celery, lemon & ginger

I on the other hand opted for something a bit more healthy. Suggested by Carlos, the juice was delicious, the combination of ingredients complimented well with each other, though to be honest for my own taste, I should've taken out the celery in the order as I simply dislike it. 

Nonetheless it was a delicious beverage and satisfied my healthy cravings.

(7/10) 

A special shout out to their new release; Scarvelli, Our Paddock To Plate. A book released, to my understand, by the owners of Scarvelli cafe. Carlos introduced me to it and after reading bits and pieces, I can say it's a great read.

Featuring stories, recipes, tips on all sorts of things. Scarvelli, Paddock To Plate is a fascinating read which is to be released in middle of April.

Food - 7.8 / 10

Ambiance - 8 / 10

Service - 9 / 10

Total FoOodie Points - 23.8 / 30

 

Cafe Adventures @ One Plus Piece

266 Whitehorse Rd, Balwyn VIC

9830 4459

8:00am - 5:00pm Everyday

A One-Piece cafe?! Did I hear that right?, when I first found out about this I immediately made plans to dine here as I am a pretty big fan of One Piece (even though i'm like 150 episodes behind) but nonetheless I was pretty excited.

A wall dedicated to One Piece manga?! it's so beautiful!

Those figurines too! so amazing!. Another cool thing is that the owner of the store actually has one piece tattoos.

\

The cups! I need one of these 

The drinks were on the specials board so I don't remember what they were besides the Iced Matcha Latte.

Iced Matcha Latte

To be honest it was pretty disappointing. The Matcha flavour was non-existent which resulted in the drink being bland and tasteless.

(3/10)

Sanji's Egg Benedict ($13.80)

12-hour braised pulled beef, poached eggs, house made hollandaise sauce

The Eggs Benedict was pretty average, the shredded apple added a nice flavour to the dish but didn't make up for the braised beef. The beef was quite dry and tasteless which, as the star of the dish, made the dish not as satisfying.

(5/10)

The Piece Force Burger

This burger is actually a secret burger on the menu. I found out after going through photos on Zomato and I immediately decided to tackle this beast. 

An awkward thing is that I thought the fried thing in the burger was fried chicken, but it turned out to be fried mushroom.

As expected, the burger was simply a mess to eat due to the size, the mushroom in my opinion didn't work that well with the beef as mushroom flavour overpowered everything else.

(6/10)

I also ordered chips to go with the burger but it never came out. After informing the waitress, she misunderstood me and thought I asked for just a drink and burger.

Whilst the food is not as great as the other cafes, If you're a big One Piece fan, then you have to try this place at least once :)

Food - 5.4 / 10

Ambiance - 8.5 / 10

Service - 5 / 10

Total FoOodie Points - 18.9 / 30

 

Dessert Adventures @ Scroll Ice Cream

190 High St, Windsor VIC

0422 450 166

1:00pm - 11:00pm Sun - Thurs

1:00pm - 12:00am - Fri - Sat

Oh glorious ice-cream, where would I be without you. If you haven't heard of Scroll ice-cream and their awesome scrolled type ice-cream or all those cute instagram photos with the minions then you're clearly missing out. 

Recently just coming into popularity, these cute cupped icecream has everyone coming down to Windsor for some delicious instagram-able material

So many flavours!, a shame I was only able to try two of them

I don't know if this wallpaper is from a tv show but it's adorable.

The process of making the ice-cream which I assume, is that the mixture is put onto a cold-plate, which then eventually hardens.

After hardening, the ice-cream is then scooped into a scroll 

Banana or "Banananana" ($8 w/ student card)

To be frank, the ice-cream is average at best, the banana flavour was lacking in the ice-cream and didn't pair well with the other toppings. Whilst overall it was still an enjoyable dish, the hype of scroll ice-cream is because of the cute display with the adorable minion biscuits :)

Though I will definitely come back to give this place another try

(6/10)

Oreo Serious ($9)

Same as mentioned above, the Oreo Serious was average at best, though the flavours worked well with this one, the ice-cream itself wasn't as good.

(6.5/10)

Food - 6.2 / 10

Ambiance - 7 / 10

Service - 7 / 10

Total FoOodie Points - 20.2 / 30