Eat. @ Jardin Tan and Play @ Botanical Gardens

Royal Botanical Gardens, Birdwood Avenue, South Yarra 3004 ph (03) 9691 3888

A day out to the Botanical Gardens brought an impromptu visit to Jardin Tan, the Shannon Bennett backed Vietnamese fusion restaurant that opened in the Gardens last year.  As such we didn't have a booking, and so could only order from the bar menu, but we didn't have any expectations so it wasn't a big deal.

We started off with some drinks, including an expensive but delicious coconut ($7).  Lemonades from a large dispenser was refreshing at $4 a glass.

And followed with a Vietnamese coffee.  Happy that it was a traditional Vietnamese drip coffee, although I did see other ice coffees served a cute beaker. 

We started with Cha GioThit Heo ($14) which was a Vietnamese pork spring roll.  This was quite delicious and had a bit of a spicy kick to them.  (Even without the chilli garnishing the rolls).  Unfortunately we only found that out after giving one to Bubs only to have him start crying and polish off an entire glass of lemonade to put out the fire.  Bad parents!

Next up another spicy dish in Ga Chien ($18) which was fried chicken with a firecracker sauce.  This was really more-ish and I definitely would have liked more for the price but I also recognise that this is no ordinary eatery at your local park.

We also shared a Banh Mi Tom Hum ($22) which was their lobster roll. This was very delicious.

We then ordered a dessert platter ($9) which came with 3 desserts randomly picked out by our server from their selection.  Macaron Monster however was very keen on their creme brulee so we ordered one of those as well ($4).  There was a mousse with passionfruit curd, a raspberry cream filled choux pastry and a coconut and palm sugar panna cotta if I recall correctly.  

After that we had a fabulous walk through the botanical gardens.  New things we have noticed include a gondola ride in the waterways ($65 for a family) and the children's play area.  We brought along our Timmy Junior which is a toy I remember from my childhood and the kids had a ball flying it and learning about kinetic energy from their science geek parents.

We returned to the outside cafe area of Jardin Tan for afternoon tea, and had a couple of donuts (blackberry jam and passionfruit curd).......

as well as some choc tops to cool off after an afternoon of fun.

All in all an afternoon at the botanical gardens is a free, fun place to go with kids.  The addition of Jardin Tan means that you have the option of dining in style, with delicious food in a lovely setting.  The food and prices are far, far away from what I remember of my own visits to the gardens when I was little!

Eat. @ MoVida Bakery

3 Tivoli Rd, South Yarra 3141 ph (03) 9041 4345

Fresh off my visit to MoVida, I headed down to South Yarra on a spectacular Melbourne autumn day with Bubs, and tried out the goodies at MoVida's Bakery outpost.  

It's a small place on a side street off the busier section of Toorak Road, but it's by no means quiet; and boy, do the baked goods pack a bang.

I started off with an excellent mocha with beautiful latte art. 

Then it's onto the gorgeous donuts I have read so much about.  Don't judge me, but I bypassed the savoury (there were sausage rolls and ham, cheese and tomato filled croissants), and my breakfast was made up entirely of sweet stuff.  Starting with a luscious donut with lemon curd filling. ($3.5), two of my favourite things rolled into one.  What's not to like I say!

Then it's onto the MoVida Portuguese tart ($4).  The tarts are bigger than the ones I'm used to and has quite a substantial yet smooth and creamy custard filling.  I was full by the end of it, definitely worth the $4 considering the much smaller ones you get for the same size elsewhere.

I wasn't about to leave empty handed!  A tray of donuts to go for the family, including a strawberry and rhubarb one.  All the donuts are delicious, but my favourite is still the lemon curd one, as I love the citrus tang offsetting the sweet sugar coated dough.

Having said that the salted caramel made quite an impression on the kids.  Look at the glorious oozy caramel!

And I couldn't go past the good old fashioned caramel slice ($4).  This one came with a surprise component - the salted popping candy sprinkled on top.  What a combo!  Absolutely loved it!

The shop itself isn't big, but plenty of families with prams came in and out the busy door grabbing baked goods and coffee to eat and drink out the front.  I can definitely see us doing a quick drop-by to buy takeaway donut treats in the future!

Highchair - No

Eat. @ Tasti D-lite

Shop 5, 450 Chapel St, South Yarra 3141 ph (03) 9827 4124

A super quick post about Tasti D-lite, which we stumbled upon recently when I went to check out Topshop on Chapel St.  Chapel St was chock full of teenagers thanks to the One Direction shop, and the kidlets had enough of weaving through the sea of people so we stopped by this little shop for a bribe treat to the get them through the afternoon!

Founded in 1987 in New York, Tasti D-lite offers over 100 different flavours of frozen dessert which are mostly between 70 - 120 calorie per serve, and therefore as their logo says, you can "dessert your guilt".  So far there are 2 shops - Chapel St and Southland.  Initially I thought it would be similar to colombo, but this is not frozen yogurt, but a lower calorie soft serve alternative to ice-cream.  There are over 100 flavours which they can make, with "flavours of the day" being a a little cheaper and changing, daily of course - find today's flavours here.

All the flavours and their calorie count!
(click on image for a larger view)

We shared a chocolate one with sprinkles (of course!).  The flavour is really not bad considering it's reasonable low calories.  The kids loved it of course, and I'm hoping next time we can be more adventurous and try out other flavours! (Something with peanut butter perhaps?)

Eat. @ Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio

647 Chapel Street, South Yarra 3141 ph : (03) 9827 7060

Okay, strictly speaking the title of this post is misleading as you don't actually eat AT Burch and Purchese, since there is no area for sitting down and indulging in the sweet treats on offer here.  However, it is indeed a sweet studio, and all the desserts here are works of art.  Bubs in Pram was blissfully asleep when I visited, but I'm pretty sure if the Little One and the Macaron Monster had been there I'd have had a hard time stopping them from eating the beautifully presented sweets on display as art pieces around the studio.

The staff were informative, friendly and helpful, and let me take plenty of photos.  As in an art gallery, the pieces should be viewed instead of just talked about, so get ready for a whole lot of pictures of their enticing, delicious and very clever creations.

Individual cake portions at $9.  A bit more expensive but we
felt our selections were worth it!  A lovely destination for a treat!

Divine meringue clouds, soft and chewy inside, slight bite on the outside,
and zingy fruit flavours throughout. $4 - not unreasonable, considering
my local bakery charges $2.50 for a hard lump of meringue.

Bespoke Cake Creation, Ladybird entiredly made out of chocolate. 
I so want to be a kid nowadays!

Lots of goodies to take home, from jars of spreads, to packets of crumble and
bars of chocolate.

Bespoke cake creation with chocolate flowers (which can be bought individually
for $3) and a oh-so-cute caterpillar.

Yet another gorgeous bespoke cake.

Cute chocolate dice, who's for a game?

Bags of luscious honeycomb.

Awesome edible wall art.  Enough to make you lick the walls!

To quote their website,  "Ian Burch & Darren Purchese fuse science with sweetness to create a truly unique retail dessert experience".  Here are the masters at work - still friendly enough to give me a smile and a wave!

Of course I didn't leave empty handed.  My favourite has to be the Coconut, Passionfruit, Ginger, Mint (coconut mousse | passionfruit curd | coconut caviar | passionfruit jelly | salted oat & ginger crumble | white chocolate mint wafer | ginger macaroon | brilliant white chocolate spray)  The flavours of the different layers are interesting, clever, and compliment each other perfectly.  I'm a sucker for a good crumble and this is one of the best! 

The Strawberry, Rose, Yogurt, Pink Peppercorn (strawberry mousse / strawberry rose jelly / yoghurt cream / butters shortbread with pink peppercorns / strawberry rose jam / yoghurt crunchies) is an interesting combination that works surprisingly well.  The geek in me just love the cute little test-tube filled with youghurt crunchies that you sprinkle on top of the cake just prior to consumption.  The peppercorn in the butter shortbread is a fun sensory surprise.  A cool and adventurous dessert!

The Chocolate, Mandarin, Salted Caramel (Kendari 60% chocolate mousse | Murray River salted caramel | burnt mandarin cream | St Clements marmalade | aerated chocolate shortbread | chocolate mirror glaze) is a rich and luscious dessert.  Very chocolatey with the perfect hint of mandarin and caramel.  Fantastic with a cup of tea.

A jar of Chocolate, Caramel & Hazelnut spread - a rather grown up, indulgent version of Nutella!  Yum!

I used half a jar of the Salted Caramel Spread as filling for my latest batch of macarons. (Lazy but clever, don't you think?)  A lovely thick caramel that can be used in lots of different sweet treats.

And last but not least a packet of Triple Choco Bikkies with freeze dried fruit.  Disappeared in a jiffy.  Very fudgey with a pleasant zing of fruit.

Burche & Purchese offer private consultations on a Thursday evening for bespoke cake creations if you'd like to discuss and plan a special treat for an upcoming celebration.

Eat.Play.Shop. Recommends - the Awesome Coconut, Passionfruit, Ginger, Mint - Hubby, I want this for my next birthday cake ..... please ;)

Give it a Miss - if you want to dine in - take your goodies home and spoil yourself with a good pot of tea.