Hammer and Tong, Fitzory, Melbourne

What an experience!  Delicious food, great coffee, friendly staff, and buzzing atmosphere, I think I have just found a new favourite place for Sunday brunch!  I have been searching high and low from East to West for that perfect brioche for a long time and here at Hammer and Tong I think I have finally found it.  The brioche was buttery, light and fluffy, not too dense or crumbly, oh it was heavenly.  Overall the duck with asparagus, truffle butter and Parmesan briont was fantastic and the flavours were very well balanced.  The richness of the duck egg yolk with the creamy truffle butter served on top of the thick sliced brioche was perfection on a plate.  My belly was definitely satisfied with all the richness goodies but if you have a bigger appetite, this dish may not be filling enough for you.  My friend had the French toast, peanut butter, raspberry yoghurt ice cream, banana caramel, although I didn't sample it personally but she say it was very good.  The menu selection might be small but every dish sounds very appetising, I will definitely have to return to try out their egg's Benedict's and soft shell crab burger!

OVERALL

FOOD: YUM! That's all I need to say.

PRICE: Reasonable cafe food price.

SERVICE: The service was top notch here, tentative and very friendly.
ATMOSPHERE: A lively little place with great vibes. 

Summary:  One of the most memorable cafe I have been to for a while, will definitely come back to try out other things, very soon!

Chez Dre, South Melbourne

Chocolate tart: chocolate ganache, peanut-cocoa nib tuile, 
chocolate mousse. Make sure you do not leave here without 
one of these babies!

I first came to this hidden gem while browsing for a new cafe for delicious cake and coffee.  After reading some online reviews I was hooked.  It is conveniently located near the South Melbourne Market and easily accessible by trams.  I love the decor, sort of revamp of an old industrial building with an open kitchen located in the heart of the restaurant.  There is a small outdoor area which is heated in the cold Melbourne winter - bonus!

One you passed through by the busy diners and hectic kitchen you will arrive at the cake display - oh wow what a selection!  There is a vast range of delightful cakes, petite macaroons and to die-for croissants available.  The first time I came here we shared cakes and quiche and later returned for brunch the second time.  To be honest that the cakes and the quiche were FANTASTIC, BUT...I was disappointed with the brunch food and their specialty hot chocolate (Ganache Chocolate is still the best in my personal opinion).  I suppose I was expecting more from their food with such good cakes available, this is why it is always dangerous to have high expectations...  If you're a fussy brunch eater like me this probably isn't the place for you.  However, I will definitely return for more cake and coffee once in a blue moon. The cakes are delicious but expensive, $8.50 per cake according to their menu online which I believe is an older version and think it was $9.00 when I went last week.  I will just have to add this place to the collection of my "treat list" for special occasions, since it is always so hard to resist delicious Gateaux!

Hazelnut-Praline Crunch: hazelnut dacquoise, gianduja mousse, hazelnut and chocolate crumble.  10/10 for desert.  Crunchy base, smooth creamy 
mouse and was definitely nutty from the hazelnut.
 YUMMY!

Quiche of the day: ham and cheese with salad. 

The pastry was so amazing my mouth waters just 

thinking about it.

Braised Mushroom Ragu: Swiss field and button mushrooms, soft polenta, poached egg & truffle oil.
This dish was delicious but lacked seasoning. I wish there was slightly more acidity to balance out the dish.  Towards the end of the meal it I found it was too rich to finish.

Brioche French Toast: caramelized pecan, vanilla mascarpone & berry compote.  The brioche was excellent and pecan nut were very delicious.  Individually they are fantastic but when you combined them it was sugar overload.  Maybe slightly more salt in the brioche, more acidic berry or more sauce could have helped.

OVERALL

FOOD: Coffee and cakes are delicious, not so convinced by their breakfast menu items.

PRICE: Cakes are expensive and brunch food price is on the high end or pricey.

SERVICE: Services have always been good with tentative and friendly staff members.
ATMOSPHERE: This is definitely a hip brunch place and it is also family friendly and a great place to catch up with friends on a lazy Sunday morning.

Summary:  Coffee and cake is all I need to say!

Cumulus - Flinders Lane, Melbourne CBD

Cumulus is pretty high up there with the clouds and is by far the best find since I moved over to Melbourne, and brunch has gone from great to beyond amazing with Cumulus on a lazy Sat/Sun morning.  Just thinking about this place while writing makes me salivate and cannot wait for another visit!

This place has been jammed packed every time I visited but never had to wait long for a table. I love their decor and open plan-kitchen, there is just something sexy about open-plan kitchen that I cannot put into words. If you come here in small numbers, definitely sit on the bar stool facing the kitchen - so intriguing watching the chefs working away and if you are there when they changeover from breakfast to lunch service, you would be amazed how they transform the kitchen!  

Now about their food, the picture says a thousand words! But I will still talk a little about it. I have to-date sampled many of their delightful creations and I am absolutely head-over-heels in love with their "Grilled Lyonnaise sausage, parsley & shallot salad 65/65 egg". This scrumptious egg and haricot beans dish will hit the spot every time. If you enjoy grapefruit, they do freshly squeezed grapefruit juice here and is a fantastic combo with the grilled Lyonnaise sausage.

The thing that I look forward to the most is their delectable Madeleine with lemon curd. It is made-to-order so always freshly baked from the oven and filled with cooled rich lemony curd, the Madeleine is soft and fluffy and absolutely perfect with a cup of coffee and a fantastic way to finish the brunch.  Make sure you don't leave without sampling one of these babies!

OVERALL

FOOD: Fantastic!

PRICE: The cafe is on the pricey side, but their food is really worth it.

SERVICE: Friendly.

ATMOSPHERE: The open kitchen is fantastic.

Summary:  Great food and service, this place is lazy weekend brunch at its best.

House made crumpets, whipped ricotta & rooftop honey

Selection of fresh fruits and minty yoghurt.

Shakshouka-baked eggs with roasted peppers and shanklish

Toasted honey granola & poached rhubarb with vanilla yoghurt

Hardware Society Cafe - Hardware Street, Melbourne CBD

There is nothing better than a good brunch in my book.  The Hardware Society Cafe came highly recommended by several of my Melbourne friends.  This place is fully packed during the weekend so be prepared to wait for about 30 min for a table!  On a weekday morning this place was absolutely buzzing so naturally I was very excited when I arrived. The decor of this place is really amazing, it is warm and rustic and just full of character.  You will feel relaxed and comfortable while you read a newspaper and drinking your coffee.  The staffs here were really friendly and it was great to see them kindly addressing the family sitting next to us that they were in fact putting salt instead of sugar into their, and a new pot of tea (minus the salt) was immediately brought over!

We ordered the baked eggs with chorizo and scrambled eggs with chorizo.  The food arrived quickly and I really like how they served the food - baked eggs came in a small cast iron casserole and the scrambled eggs was served in a mini iron skillet, both placed on top of a block of wood lined with baking paper.  Rustic and yet classic, just love it!  The scrambled eggs were just under-cooked, the way I like it with delicious and not too spicy chorizos, though could do without the cold sandwich that came with it, for me I would much prefer the sandwich to had been toasted or at least warmed-up.  The baked eggs was awesome and hits just the right spot in my belly - if you like egg and chorizo, this is definitely the dish for you.

A cup of coffee from a cafe means a lot, and here is just me being fussy.  I did like their coffee, it was good but wasn't great - this is just something personal as I find the coffee from Cafe Andiamo on Degraves Street suiting more my taste.  Their hot chocolate - WOW! It was served in a cup filled with melted milk chocolate accompanied with a pot of warmed chocolate milk - absolutely loved it!  To eat or to drink the chocolate, that is the dilemma I will leave for you to solve.  Both the coffee and hot chocolate came with a mini deep fried doughnut coated with cinnamon sugar - YUM!

Next time if you have a lazy morning to spare, definitely head to Hardware Society Cafe, give them your name and go for a 30 min stroll (while you wait for a table) then come back and enjoy a fabulous brunch ^_^

Hot Chocolate

Scrambled Eggs with Chorizo

OVERALL

FOOD: Delicious cafe food and love their hot chocolate.

PRICE: Moderate pricing for cafe food.

SERVICE: Friendly.

ATMOSPHERE: Warm and relaxing, and can be quite busy.

Summary:  A great place for a lazy morning brunch and you will walk away with not only a satisfied belly but also an unique experience.

Takapuna Beach Cafe

Needing to go somewhere hip and with good coffee while the summer lasts in Auckland, New Zealand?  Why not venture to the Takapuna Beach Cafe located at the end of the Promenade Parade, literally right next to the Takapuna beach - perfect location on a sunny day.  They have a great selection of breakfast/brunch food (including many gluten free options), fantastic coffee and what is more important is their big selection of Gelato including the classics as well as the exotic flavours like coconut, which is amazing by the way!

Coffee lovers, you cannot leave this place without a proper ice coffee - two generous scoops of vanilla ice cream, a shot of espresso and a small pint of milk to go with it (otherwise you just have an affogato which is also fine by me).  It comes in 3 separate vessels so you can choose to eat your ice cream first or have it as an affogato and then wash it down with milk or you can combine them all! - the choice if yours, you have the power :)

For many years now, one dish has drawn me to Takapuna Cafe - their pan fried sole with garlic butter served with grilled sourdough.  Unfortunately 2 years ago it seems to have disappeared from the menu which is a HUGH disappointment to me as it was delicious, reasonably priced and you get a whole sole to your self!  Since the disappointment I had to find replacement, so here it is below, Crispy Agria rosti with baby spinach, feta, free range poached eggs and hollandaise sauce, served with crispy organic bacon and greens - delicious! The bacon is cripy, the rosti is crunchy and you have the egg yolk slowly oozing out that get mixed up with the hollandaise sauce, this is my kind of heaven :) 

This place could be overwhelming for those not used to the crowds. They do try to squeeze as many people in as possible, so you will be very cosy to your friends and families as well as your new found neighbours.  They had approximately 15 waiters on deck on a busy sunny Sunday afternoon, and it took all 15 waiters approximately 20 mins of walking pass a group of us to realise that we existed and needing service.  But after the first encounter, their service was great, tentative and the food came out fast.  So if you find it hard to get their first attention, don't feel it's personal.  What I love is on a sunny day, the waiter goes around and offer people hats to wear - though from a hygiene point of view I wouldn't accept the hat, but it is good to know that the option is there.  Lastly, if you do want a more personalised service, avoid rush hours and you would be fine, or just come for the coffee and gelato and enjoy what Takapuna Beach has to offer.

So why not try something different and try the Takapuna Beach Cafe, and what is great is you get to walk along the white sandy beach and enjoy the gorgeous view of Rangitoto Island and maybe some sailing to aid your digestion :)

OVERALL

FOOD: Great cafe food.

PRICE: Moderate to high  for cafe food price.

SERVICE: On a busy days (sunny Sat and Sun afternoon) you can be ignored but other days they are very good with their service.

ATMOSPHERE: Noisy but lively inside and great outdoor area.

Summary: Sunny day spent in Takapuna Beach Cafe is just great over a cup of delicious coffee and finishing it with even more delicious gelato.

Affogato

Now that summer has finally arrived in NZ (sorry for those in the Northern Hemisphere), it is time for my all time favourite Italian desert: Affogato.  It is so simple that it'll be a crime not to go and make it right now! Affogato in Italian means "drowned", basically you just drown the ice cream or gelato with a shot of hot espresso. Some people like to make this with a shot of liqueur like Amaretto or my personal favourite Baileys, and obviously this is the"big kids version". Yes I know what you're thinking, what can go wrong with the combination of ice cream, coffee and liqueur :D

To be honest, I love eating Affogato even on a cold wintery night...while sitting very close to the heater or a fire place of course! I know not everyone has a fire place at home or have the luxury to crank up the heater in the middle of winter to enjoy a tasty late-night treat, but oh boy, this is so worth it!

Fear you may not sleep afterwards, then why not use decaffeinated coffee? It is fun to try out different flavours of ice cream, you may be very surprised by how some weird combinations works like a charm, for example: mint chocolate chips ice cream with espresso - weird huh! But I assure you, if you love mint like I do, this combination is the great union of strong flavours! With this recipe, you never have to slave hours in the kitchen to make a WOW ending for your dinner parties!

Affogato

2 generous scoops of ice cream 1 shot of espresso 1 shot of liqueur (optional)

Place the ice cream in a cup. Add espresso (and liqueur if you choose to). Done! Now eat it before the ice cream melts!

Enjoy :)