Beansprout's Cafe

Friday, September 21, 2012

Rouge Cafe

After having a big breakfast at Proud Mary, I had another eating meeting lol with P'Krit. I first knew him at a language school in Melbourne since 2007 and last time we met was in 2010. He has been working in Melbourne since then and kindly enough to spend his time with me during this trip.

P'Krit took me to this lovely cozy French-inspired cafe, Rouge, near Toorak station.

Pretty window display

When I came inside, I couldn't stop taking pictures... really cute, this place. When I said I took a lot of pictures, I mean a lot !

ok, after I came back to the table, P'Krit asked me if there are any corners of the place that I don't like... haha

We both had a soy mocha... I love Bonsoy <3>

I think it was the braised duck with mash... even butter was good.

Inside the toilet..hehe

Really like the place. The staff is very friendly too, next time I will have their croissant :)

Before we came here, I have heard so many good things about Macarons at La Belle Miette. We went there to buy some.

Couldn't really remember the flavours but all tastes very nice. Perfect shell and nice filling.

Rouge Cafe

14 Beatty Ave
Armadale VIC 3143, Australia

(03) 9822 3310

La Belle Miette
30 Hardware Lane Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia

(03) 9024 4528

Proud Mary

I maybe the only coffee lover who had never been to Proud Mary? This time I made sure I gotta go there so I asked 2 brothers to take me...

We arrived there around 10.30 am since Deryk said it will be very crowed afterward.

These 2 cups were ours :)

Our table were at the corner, quite dark and not nice for taking pictures ><

My skinny cappuccino... Sadly to say but I don't really like my coffee here... I found it very sour and got some taste I don't like.. but later I talked about this to Bryan, he told me that first you taste it, you will feel like that but the more you drink, the more flavours you will get and it will be very interesting... ummm, I need to practice more of coffee tasting.

Deryk loves his latte.

Potato Hash: a thick hash brown, grilled bacon, spinach, a poached egg, bagna cauda (a light italian sauce, made up of anchovies, cream and garlic)

Oh dear, looks at that goodness hash & bacon ! Love the way they cut their hash, like a noodle..haha. Our table had a conclusion that this way will make you less filling.

Henrik have the roasted wild mushroom, brioche, chipotle butter, whipped goat cheese and poached egg

I really like this, always love wild mushroom.

My dish : Crispy pork belly sandwich with smoked paprika relish and aioli

Deryk told me that I had to try their pork belly sandwich, it is the winner (also the pork belly sandwich at Earl Canteen)

Ok, it was pretty yummy. The pork is twice cooked I guess. All the fat is rendered from the cooking process which make you feel less guilty :P However, it was too much for me for breakfast, so I gave another half to Henrik..lol

Henrik had their magic mocha.. I tried, very chocolatey but again.. got the sour taste.

Even I don't like my coffee this time, I wouldn't mind come here again to learn more about how good coffee supposed to taste like... Everyone say the coffee is great, so it gotta be great :)

Proud Mary172 Oxford Street, Collingwood VIC 3066, Australia

Phone: (03)9417 5930

Hours:

Mon-Fri	7am–4pm
Sat-Sun	8am–4pm

Thursday, September 20, 2012

LuxBite

Ahem... I haven't update this blog for ages... But hey, I am still alive :) Actually I just came back from visiting Melbourne & Sydney since my last stay there in 2010. Miss over there so much... During this trip, I have only 5 days and a half in Melbourne (3 days in Savour chocolate school with Jerome Masterchef) which means I have only 2 days and a half to complete all my long list of the places I want to go? Ok, that's impossible... Hiah.. I kept thinking what should I do.

Here is how an Instagram helps me... Lucky enough, I follow one Melbourne blogger, Daisy from Never Too Sweet (I follow lots of Melbournien & Sydneysider by the way). I don't know what make me brave enough to comment in her instagram's picture asking her to be my Melbourne eating company (That might sounds insane for others but I think its quite normal for food bloggers? or just me think that :P) . And yeah ! She replied me then we tried to manage our plan via an email.

I arrived Melbourne around noon on 20th Sep and after putting all stuffs at my friend's house in Kensington, I quickly took a train (oh this was my first time using Myki card) to the city to get a mobile sim card and straight to South Yarra to meet Daisy.

LuxBite is in one of the places I wanted to go... It was opened just before I left Australia and many people blogged about it... Here we come !

Bernard Chu and Yen Yee are the visionaries behind LuxBite, originally from Malaysia then moved to Australia, worked with many great chefs both in Sydney & Melbourne... After reading their profile, wow, I am so impressed by their young age for being this successful.

So many, which one should we get?

Daisy introduced me Kirk, her friend who is also a pastry chef at Spice Temple. We 3 people ordered 4 cakes with 3 pieces of macarons lol

Salted caramel, Green tea Pistachio and Ribena Lemonade

Caramel cravings : Caramel lovingly placed between winning chocolate and coconut base

The caramel center is fudge-like, for that much amount, we found it too sweet, if one consumes this by himself, I think he can get diabetic.

Endless love : Giant macarons, lychee ganache, rose cream, lychee and raspberry

It was my favourite out of 4, as you know, it can't go wrong with perfect macarons shell, rose and lychee.

Supersized love : Ferrero Rocher with housemade nutella, praline cream and Piedmontese hazelnut

This one is also nice, like you eat a big piece of Ferrero Rocher !

Apple of my eye : Chamomile cream cheese mousse, kiwi jelly, spiced apple compote, green apple glaze, caramelized apple skin as the stalk

I quite like this one (but not for daisy). I think it was quite refreshing compared to others. I tasted chamomile, I tasted spices and especially, I like its look.

Really like this Ribena Lemonade. I had no idea what Ribena is.. Everyone said it is a drink.

Bernard kindly gave us try his new creation of macaron... Moon cake flavour ! I know, it sounds awesome, rite? There is a Lotus paste in the filling...I like !

I was too full then skipped my dinner, and ended up very hungry around 10 pm... hahaha