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

Laurent Boulangerie Patisserie - Little Collins St

Having cravings all day for that delicious pastry?  Give into temptation and come to Laurent Boulangerie Patisserie.  This place has a wide range selection of delightful pastries to satisfy any taste-buds (sweet and savoury) - though it does come with a price...  This is a place I come for a treat (once in a blue moon) and I just love their Tarts - golden-brown buttery shortbread pastry filled with citrusy passionfruit/lemon curd - oh perfection with a cup of coffee!  I only dined-in once and will probably do it again as I really enjoyed the ambience which reminds me of cafes back in Europe.  One negative note apart from the price tag is I did find their coffee rather average and my friend found their hot chocolate not the best either.  

What I usually do is I grab a take-away of whichever I desired the most on the day, go and get my coffee elsewhere and then find myself a spot on the bench along the Yarra river nearby and soak up some sun.  This is when I take a moment to treat myself and do absolutely nothing other than savouring every last bite of my tart and sip of my coffee, and I hope you can do the same as well :)

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.

Laksa King - Flemington, Melbourne

The laksa is absolutely DIVINE at the Laksa King. The restaurant is situated literally right next to the Newmarket Train Station which is a short 15 min train ride from Flinders Train Station  - the location can't get any better than that. My friend and I came by about 8 o'clock on a weeknight and this place was jammed packed with a huge waiting line inside and outside the restaurant. Luckily with just two people we got a table straightaway, so if you're in a larger groups you may need to wait around a bit, but it is definitely worth it!

There are times that I just want something to eat quickly without having to wait around for the "formality" and the "top-notch" service, I suppose it is partly how I was brought up in Taiwan - been surrounded by quick, cheap and tasty street foods. Laksa King does takes me back to Asian with their fast service and delicious food - within 10 mins of ordering our laksa they arrived! The restaurant is air-conditioned (which is needed by some with spicy food ^.^), clean & tidy, and is super busy. You do find it a bit hectic and the seats are placed close to each other, so if you're looking for a romantic dinner this is not the place for it, but if you want to have something quick on your way home you can hop off and have a delicious meal and hop back on the train.

The surprise I found in my roasted duck laksa was the deep-fried egg plant, it was not love at first sight.  However once I tasted it, I was brought to heaven and back. The flavour of the deep-fried egg plant matched exquisitely with the laksa curry, coconut milk and chilly oil.  The generous serving of roast duck with egg noodle and vermicelli smothered over with the laksa curry left me absolutely satisfied and very full (only because I drank all the laksa soup - I just had to...it was too tasty...don't judge me...)

I know I will have to venture back here soon to try other things, as they have my little brother's favourite Hainanes boneless chicken rice (海南雞飯), or I could just take him there with me and I can have more laksa.  It is hard for me to try other things on the menu I just can't go pass the laksa, oh my archillies heel. From a credible foodie source, I have been told their Five-spice fresh calamari is AMAZING as well.  So next time you're around Flemington or on your way home passing through, why not hop-off and be amazed by Laksa King's scrumptious Laksa.

Lunch: Mon-Sun 11:30am-3:30pm
Dinner: Sun-Thu 5:00pm-10:00pm; Fri-Sat 5:00pm-10:30pm

Address: 6-12 Pin Oak Crescent, Flemington VIC 3031
Phone 03 9372 6383
Email: eat@laksaking.com.au

OVERALL

FOOD: Delicious Malaysian food.

PRICE: Very good price - cheap!

SERVICE: Tentative.

ATMOSPHERE: Busy and hectic with air-conditioning.

Summary:  Quick and tasty authentic Malaysian food.

Chinese Dumplings - Pork Cabbage

Dumpling is traditionally eaten during Chinese New Years Eve celebration in the Northern parts of China, why you may ask? The shape of the dumpling resembles the shape of a Golden Sycee which was the highest currency back in days. The idea of eating Sycee-shape-liked dumpling during Chinese New Year Eve goes way back in tradition, the more you eat the more "Golden Sycee" you have in your belly and therefore the more gold/fortune you will have for the New Year.

It is very hard to provide this recipe as it has been handed down by word-of-mouth from generation to generation. The version I will provide here is more of a Northern Chinese styled dumplings.  You will find the dough, fillings, size and style of cooking differ from region to region. So I have tried to come up with more precise measurements as a recipe here.

I love dumplings as you can use a variety of combination as fillings. Traditionally dumplings or buns are "commoner" or "servants" food, as the fillings are made up of whatever they could find.  It is still a cheaper optioned Chinese food; with 12 of these babies I always have a satisfied belly.  Pork cabbage is the easiest choice - readily available ingredients, but if you can find yellow chives, OMG Pork with yellow chives as fillings are the bomb! Beef is usually with spring onions or garlic chives. As for vegetarian it becomes a little bit more complicated - in order to get that rich intense flavour and texture, it usually include Asian style scramble eggs (we called it egg flower - it is an ball shaped, approx. 5 mm in diameter), vermicelli, and loads of finely diced vegetables such as chives, cabbage and many other varieties. Seafood version is simple, add diced up prawns and mix it with the vegetarian fillings and voila!

The secret to the dumpling is adding water/stock to the filling - it is harder to do this step if you're making a vegetarian version, since the cellulose wall of the vegetable doesn't absorb water well. Hence when you make a vegetarian filling you add vermicelli, tofu and/or scrambled eggs.  Have fun making dumplings, it is a great group activities with friends and family, enjoy!

Pork and Cabbage Dumpling

Dough 4 cups flour 2 cups of water (2:1 ratio of Flour to water) Or you can just buy pre-made dough from your local Asian supermarket. Filling 500g pork ¼ cabbaged, finely diced 250 mL water (or chicken stock) Sauce (for 2 person) 2 tbsp of Soy sauce  1 tbsp of Vinegar Dash of sesame oil 1 finely diced garlic (optional coriander and/or chilly to give it more intense flavour)

1.      Sift the flour into a large bowl and make a well in the centre of the flour, add all the water (2 cups) into the well.  Mix it with a chopstick/fork, once combined turn the dough onto a clean surface. 2.      Knead the dough (about 15 min) until smooth and shiny.  Return the dough to the bowl and cover with a dampen tea-towel and rest for 30 min in room temperature.  While the dough is resting, make the filling. 3.      Place the pork into a medium sized bowl and loosen the meat with a chopstick/fork by stirring it.  In small quantities, add a little bit of the water at a time and stir well.  Continue this step until all the water has been added.  Add the diced cabbage and mix well.  Cover and place in the fridge if not using it straightaway.  If you find the water has escaped from the meat after a little well, give it another mix and it should be fine. (This is the optional ginger step, I usually don’t add any, but if you do find the meat has quite a strong porky taste, add about 1 teaspoon of finely diced ginger and mix well) 4.      Flour a clean surface and turn the dough out and roll it out and then divide into quarters.  Return ¾ of the dough back to the bowl and cover with the tea towel.  Make sure the board and rolling pin is well floured.  Roll the dough out into a long rod approx. 2 cm diameter, cut the dough into smaller sections of 2 cm width. 5.      With your hands shape each small section of dough into a ball and then flatten into a disk with the palm of your hand.  Roll the dough flat with a rolling pin into a circular disk about 1-2 mm thickness (this is the step you would find easiest with an Asian style rolling pin but should be fine using the western styled pasty rolling pin). 6.      Add a generous teaspoon of filling and place in the centre of the circular disk dough, wet one semi-circle edge with water, fold the dough in half and make sure the edge is tightly sealed.  Repeat until all the dough or fillings are used up. 7.     You can either boil or pan-fried the dumplings or even steam them, the choice is yours.  If boiling, you know the dumpling is cooked once it floats on the surface.  Pan-fried – in a large cold pan, add about 1 tbsp of oil, arrange the dumplings so they not touching each other.  On a medium to high heat, wait until the pan has heated up, add about ½ cup of water and cover.  Once most of the water has evaporated, lift the lid away and cook until the bottom of the dumping is golden brown. 8.       Sauce – combine all the ingredients.  Enjoy!

Tip: for the dough, I usually add all but a little bit of the flour, as it is easier to add more flour to the dough then water when you adjust the dough during the kneading step. The dough should be a little bit moist and should not stick to your hand once you have kneaded it well.  When you first roll the dough out with the rolling pin, you should find the dough retract a little bit because of the gluten and this is a sign of good dough.  If yours do not do this, fear not, you still end up with delicious dumplings.

The sauce recipe provided here is only a guideline. Personally I like it with a lot of garlic and more vinegar, while other people would like some coriander or chilli in their sauce.  So mix it up and adjust it as you like.

Got a pasta machine at home?  You can put the dough through the pasta machine and then cut it out with a ~8 cm cookie cutter.  I usually put the dough through until quite thin, Setting 7 if people have that option on your pasta machine as well.

What to do with extra filling?  Make it into meat/vege patties. A little bit of oil in a frying pan and place it on medium heat. Roll the filling out into desire ball size and place it into the pan, flatten the ball out with a fork.  Pan-fry both sides until golden brown.

What to do with extra dough?  Roll it out into a big circular disk like 20cm in diameter, pan fry it in a non-stick pan in medium heat until golden brown.  You can then use it as a wrap as it is, or you can further steam the dough so it becomes a softer wrap like the pancake they use in Peking Duck.

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.

Cute Find - Nor'Wester Cafe Amberley, New Zealand

Nor'Wester Cafe is a little gem in Amberley that is not to be missed if you are in Christchurch and do not mind a relaxing, flat 30min drive north.  On a sunny day this cafe offers large outdoor sitting area, and what is more exciting here is their food!  Year after year, I have returned here several times since 2008.  I found this gorgeous cafe by accident while wine tasting in Wairapa, and it is very exciting to see that this cafe sells many of the local wine (sometimes at a cheaper price than at the cellar).  I have been here for lunch and dinner previously and have never been disappointed.  Their menu is short and concise, and offers many gluten free options.  Wonderful friendly staff here and it is very child friendly.  Without babbling on too much further, here I like to share with you the three dishes we had for alight lunch for two, enjoy!

Natural Clevedon Coast Oysters - with balsamic vinaigrette

Caesar Salad - cos lettuce, bacon, egg, anchovy, croutons & Parmesan

Salt & Pepper Soft Shell Crab (Malaysian) - cucumber & pickled ginger salad, sweet chilli, aioli

The oysters was super fresh and very tasty and I wished I had got some more, yum!  Unfortunately the Caesar salad took me by surprise by their interpretation of "crouton", for me it wasn't crouton but large slices of toasted bread - hope they will change that as texture wise it wasn't quite there.  The soft shell crab was done beautifully, kudos to the chef!  Soft crunchy crab with the zingy cucumber & pickled ginger salad, this was a winner for me!  Wish I was back there right now, but if you're down at the South Island of New Zealand and new Christchurch, go there this weekend!

OVERALL

FOOD: Great cafe food.

PRICE: Reasonable.

SERVICE: Friendly.

ATMOSPHERE: Great outdoor dining area and it is also cosy indoor.

Summary: Summer here in Amberely for me means food at Nor'Wester Cafe, I enjoy nothing more than enjoying good food on a sunny afternoon :)