Eat. @ Nora

156 Elgin St, Carlton 3053 ph (03) 9041 8644

I visited Nora on a "Me-Date" recently and had a lovely coffee, breakfast and of course, some of their famous charcoal tarts to go.  The team behind Nora had been supplying their distinctive tarts to a few select Melbourne cafes to rave reviews and I was really excited to try their Thai inspired interpretation of breakfast and lunch dishes.

I got there at 10am on a Thursday morning but the cafe was already full so I got to admire the display of their "tarts of the day" artistically set up with their ingredients.  

Once I was seated I ordered a coffee.  They don't serve mochas so I had one of my rare cappuccinos ($3.8).

I perused the menu, and each dish is named for one ingredient, which is then followed by a few other ingredients in the dish, in a similar vein to the menus at Estelle Bar and Kitchen.  I chose BACON, onion consomme, rice, pickles, corn ($18) and to be honest I had no idea what would be conjured with these ingredients.   Fortunately what arrived was a beautifully plated dish with surprising interpretation of the ingredients.  The bacon was more of a slowly cooked pork belly, the corn was in the form of young shoots, the onion were tender caramelised rings, and the rice was a finely ground sprinkle that gave the dish a grainy textural contrast. 

It came with a side serve of what looked like a popover, which provided some bready carbs to the dish. I appreciated the depth of thought and the chef's clever handling of the individual elements involved in the dish, and the experience was immensely enjoyable.

Of course I had to have some of the tarts ($5 each), and instead of having to choose one, I got one of each and took them home to share with the gang.  (Best Mum of after school treats I am!)  After I took a million photos first of course!

From the display, the first tart was made with dark chocolate, sesame, and I think this was topped with a sugary honeycomb.

The second tart had white chocolate, pistachio and cherries.

And last but not least a lemon ginger and lemongrass brulee tart.

We all enjoyed the tarts.  The charcoal, made from coconut husks, gave the tarts their distinctive and striking black colour, but was surprisingly mild in flavour and worked well with the lightness of the pastry.  The filling were interesting and the flavours were complementary.  If Nora had been around when I was still at Uni I can guarantee I would've spent a lot of time there getting fat eating tarts to my heart's content.  I envision many future visits, if only to grab some of those yummy tarts on the go if I can't get a table!

Eat. @ Tyranny of Distance & Agathe Patisserie

Tyranny of Distance - 147 Union Street, Windsor 3181

Agathe Patisserie - Fri & Sat - Rear of 97 Chapel St, Windsor 3181 (enter via Artist Lane) ph 0403 222 573, Sat - Prahran Market

I have been wanting to eat at Tyranny of Distance because I love, love, love it's name.  Unfortunately as the name suggests it is quite out of my way, but I recently made a trip down to Prahran and finally got to try it out on a brunch date with Bubs. 

I started with my usual cup of mocha, so good after the drive!

Bubs and I shared the "Salmon Eggs, nothing like Caviar" ($17.5), which was their house smoked salmon, beetroot relish, avocado, spinach, poached eggs and potato rosti.  I loved all the components of this dish, together and separately.  And it made for such a gorgeous looking dish!

After the delicious brunch I visited Agathe Patisserie, where the lovely Agathe sells her wonderful baked goods in the little back Alley (best to enter from Artist Lane, just around the corner from Tyranny of Distance).  As you may know I have a soft spot for pastries and baked goodies in general really, but I'm also bit of a fussy pastry-snob in that they must be really good.  Who wants to waste good calories on bad pastries!   Agathe's goodies ticked all the right boxes and I was super impressed with the lovely spread of croissants, cruffins and caneles I brought home that day.

The Juliette ($5) is a lovely almond croissant with raspberry and rose, beautiful with a cup of tea.

The croissant ($5) is made up of of layers and layers of light and flakey buttery goodness, easily one of the best croissants I've had in Melbourne.

And the caneles ($3) were perfect little cakes with a caramelised sweet crust and a soft, almost custardy centre.  Currently you can buy her delectable goodies from this location and also at the Prahran Market on Saturdays.  Agathe's most recent stall at the Cake, Bake and Sweets Show will no doubt make her goodies much more in demand!

I am most certainly inspired to make little trips to Prahran a lot more often.

Eat. @ Scarvelli and Goodies. @ Lune Croissanterie

143 Whitehorse Rd, Balwyn 3101 ph (03) 9816 8887

I finally got an opportunity to catch up with Jo and the Angmoh from The Hangry Bitch a while back when they graciously came over to my side of town and had brunch with me.  I'd been to Scarvelli a few times with Hubby for coffee and dukkah eggs at breakfast.  The cafe wasn't super busy and I enjoyed a lovely chat over brunch, it's always so much fun meeting other bloggers!

I had a tea on the day, but the mochas ($3.8) here are quite nice, and I've always been impressed with the coffee art!

Jo had a prana chai latte ($3.8) and the Angmoh had a Lindt hot chocolate ($5), which were unfortunately both too milky.

Jo had the Smashed avocado ($15) with a poached egg ($3) which was served with persian feta, roasted vine tomatoes and toast.  She quite enjoyed it but would've liked it with a squeeze of citrusy lemon or lime.  

The Angmoh likes Dukkah Eggs ($17.5) and of course he ordered this.  These are crumbed poached eggs, served with cauliflower puree, pinenuts, pomegranate and sauteed spinach.  I have ordered this dish the last few times I'd been there and had enjoyed the crunchiness of the pinenuts, the tart sweetness of the pomegranate combined with the creamy, comforting cauliflower puree.  The Angmoh liked the dukkah eggs but suggested that bread would be a great addition to the dish to mop up the generous serve of puree. 

I decided to go for something from the lunch menu and had the Cured ocean trout ($16.5) which came with pickled radish, cucumber, fresh dill and horseradish creme fraiche.  This dish was ultra healthy as there was a lot of greens, and protein from the delicious house cured trout.  The creme fraiche was too heavy in a giant dollop though, and I would've preferred if it had a drizzle of citrus to give the dish a bit of a lift and moisture, and some carbs in the form of potato latkes or some bread would make this a fantastic lunch.

Overall Scarvelli is a great addition to Balwyn's cafe culture and I particularly like their wider range of dishes and more roomy setup as compared to nearby eateries.  

I was a lucky, lucky girl that day, as Jo had gotten up early and visited Lune Croissanterie in Elwood, and generously gifted me with some of the goodies she got there.   I love, love, LOVE good quality pastries and have been dying to try the "best croissants in Melbourne", but have never been able to juggle my love of sleep and children well enough to wake up that early (some queue from 5am!!)  and make the trek across town to queue for these goodies.    

The Cruffin was filled with..... wait for it.... peanut butter custard!  And it was absolutely as awesome as you would think this combo would be.  

The Kouign Amann was layers upon layers of buttery goodness with the the perfect amount of sweet.  

Let's just say that there was a no-sharing rule at my house when these arrived home!

I had a great time catching up with Jo and the Angmoh and I really do enjoy meeting other  bloggers and chatting about a shared passion for good food!  I cannot thank you guys enough for your amazing pastry gifts and look forward to brunching again with you in the near future!