St Ali Roasters South

The regular thursday brunches are back! It’s Anzac day and I regret not going for dawn service but I was so so tired I couldn’t believe it. We were planning to go to Market lane coffee but they didn’t pick up when I called so we ended up going to St Ali Roasters instead.

It was crowded when we got there and had to wait for 20 minutes. We ended up taking a multitude of pictures while waiting. Opposite St Ali’s was a wonderful little hand made furniture place. A little discovery walk. 

Sharon and I decided to share our meals. I ordered a Miso Hungry: Sake orange miso cured salmon with Crunchy Fried Rice, Seaweed Salad, Fried Poached egg with a drizzle of miso hollandaise sauce. Sharon went for the Koo Coo Ca Chu: Crunchy Potato hash with Poached eggs, Mushroom Duxelle, Rocket & Parmesan salad with Truffle Vinaigrette Dressing. The Salmon was well portioned but with only 1 poached egg, I felt a little cheated as it cost $20.50 :(. Thankfully, Sharon’s had a little bit more substance and although the dish seemed simplistic on the menu, it was pretty darn good but I still didn’t feel it was worth $21. Don’t get me wrong, the food is good but not as good as pillar of salt (see earlier post). Rachel & YiMay both ordered The Big Kahuna Burger: Wagya Beef, Iceberg Lettuce, Tomato, Cheese, Mayonnaise & Mustard with Dill Pickles in between a Burger Bun ($18.50). It wasn’t as wonderful as it looked, it lacked complexity and while the Wagyu Beef was good, the sauce (or lack of sauce) made it alot less yummy. The coffee (I had a cappuccino) was excellent, It wasn’t overly strong yet it had great flavour it certainly packed a punch.

Overall, I wouldn’t come back to St Ali Roasters willingly. Maybe it was due to the fact that I was there at the peak hour, or maybe it was due to the fact that everything was a dollar more expensive than it would normally be (because it was a public holiday) but I just wouldn’t want to. I still love Pillar of Salt more. Sorry St Ali Roasters and all their die hard fans (it’s just a personal preference thing)  

Seven Seeds, 20 April 2013

It’s been awhile since I’ve been for brunch lately and to be honest I really miss having brunch with my homies. But lately I’ve been so preoccupied with mid-sems and so when someone suggested going for brunch after mid-sems I was like yes!

So I went to Seven Seeds with Luke and Claire. Luke and I had poached eggs on sourdough bread with smoked berkshire bacon with a side tomato chutney ($15). Yes, It was heaven but the bacon still wasn’t as good as what we have at home. 

Seven Seeds is meant to have really good coffee and they ground and roast their coffee in house. But I’ve tried their coffee at other places before and so I didn’t feel compelled to. Besides, I had already had 5/6 coffees the last couple of days so no more coffee for awhile thanks. 

Till the next time we get brunch, 

Over & out. 

THE GREEN REFECTORY aka Green’s

1st April (April Fools day)

Its every college kids must try brunch place. Why? 1. because its so close to college, and 2. The value for money is insane. Located on sydney road and situated near Barkly Square (KMart, Safeway, Coles, JBHIFI…), what more can you want? 

Le menu at Greens isn’t too big so you can’t decide what to eat in an instant, honestly I think the Breakfast burrito is the best (value for money and taste wise as well). This isn’t my first time to Green’s and I’ve had the french toast the last time I had brunch there, but it wasn’t nothing compared to the breakfast burrito. The wrapping of the breakfast burrito is a little variable, it was better wrapped the last time round we visited them. 

Whenever I have brunch, I’d be hungry by 3/4 ish. So I decided I would ignore that hunger no more! After walking around kMart and safeway for 3 hours, I ran (literally) back into green’s to grab a muffin (Lovely hearts-$2, you’ll find it at the cashier counter). I have no clue what I was eating, but it was yummy. If I had to guess what was in it, I’d say lemongrass, pear, lemon, cinnamon, maybe apple. I brought it back to college and kept it for afternoon tea, hence the ugly background.

Breakfast burrito: scrambled eggs, mushroom, cheese, tomatoes, avocado and lemon. 

French toast: Cinnamon, French toast, yoghurt, Poached pear (the poach pear was good)

Notice how I haven’t spoken about decor. Thats cause its simple, nothing to scream about.

In all seriousness, visit green’s. They’re food is pretty amazing. 

Green’s doesn’t have a website. They’ve only got a Facebook page.

We had to catch a train down to East Richmond for today’s Brunch place. (31st March: Sharon’s Birthday & this brunch spot was her choice) 

Pillar of salt// nothing fancy schmancy on the outside, but the decor on the inside is funky. It was bustling when we got there but thats probably due to the fact that we were then on Easter sunday.

The Menu wasn’t immensely huge or overcomplicated but everything looked so good. Choosing what to eat makes life a little tough.

My choice (and I knew what I wanted only because I’ve been craving this) was anything with smoked salmon // House made corn fritters,smoked salmon, coriander & avocado salsa & poached egg. It was lovely.

Coffee choice: As usual- flat white. I love them. The coffee was their house blend <pillar blend – 50% brazillian amanzonia, 30% ethiopian yirgacheiffe, 20% costa rican tarrazu dail>

I always feel like having something sweet to end off the meal, especially after a whole lot of savoury food. We didn’t know what it was, it was just sitting in the display counter. It looked good, so we bought it. We agreed it tasted like peanut butter, had a meringue like crust, cream cheese frosting and a single caramel chunk to top it all off. 

Feeling full, we caught a tram down to the famous chapel street (since it wasn’t too far from where we were) and did abit of window shopping. I ended up getting a new checked shirt because topshop was having a sale. 

A delight brunch, great coffee, fantastic food.

Made Cake pops with YiMay for Sharon as a birthday cake instead of the regular stuff. 
No bake oreo cheesecake cake pops covered in white chocolate and sugar deco. The original recipe is here. The first time we melted the chocolate we totally ruined it by cooking it too long. Otherwise the recipe was fairly simple. Not bad for a first attempt at cake pops for both of us. Sharon enjoyed them throughly, but they were so filling. 

The total cost was $25 because we couldn’t get hold of cheap popsicle sticks and we had to get more chocolate to redo the chocolate melts. Otherwise it would have been $20 and under. 

No Bake Oreo Cake Pops:

Prep time: 20 Mins

Baking time: 20-1 hr in freezer

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 25- 30 

Ingredients:

Lollipop sticks

Oreos (1 & 3/4 rolls)

Cream cheese 250g

Sprinkles

White chocolate/candy melts 200g

Parchment paper (for drying cake pops after coating)

LETS GET STARTED:

1. Crush your oreos in a food processor.

2. Mix it in with the cream cheese (use your hands, mix it well)

3. Roll into desired shape, leave them on a piece of parchment paper and    put it in the freezer to ‘set’ (minimum 10 mins)

4. While waiting for them to set, melt the chocolate.

5. Dip one end of the lollipop sticks in chocolate then quickly insert it into the cake pops about halfway through.

6. Coat the cake pops in chocolate (double coat if you please, maybe even triple!)

7. Very quickly cover them in sprinkles!

8. put them back on parchment paper to dry

9. Back into the freezer when ever you need (they tend to start softening if you leave it our for too long, also they aren’t as nice when they’re cold)

Other notes: A couple of people said they were sweet, I personally thought they were salty but a double coat of chocolate really helps. 

The best way to go: No additional sugar to the oreo, cream cheese mixture, double coat of chocolate.

I start this blog today, but we actually ventured out on the 21st of march. Yes, I’m abit slow.

A couple of my close friends have started going out regularly (once a week) for brunch. I have to say it is a little taxing on the pocket, but well worth the experience.

The first trip out was to Dead Man Expresso.

The verdict:

fantastic hotcakes. Really fantastic hotcakes. I can’t say the same for the coffee, I’ve had better. But still good. 

Whats the phrase about good food and good company? Ah well, it was an fantastic first day.