Eat. @ Pidapipo

299 Lygon Street, Carlton 3053 ph (03) 9347 4596

So after our brunch at The Vertue of the Coffee Drink, we wandered around Lygon Street a bit and reminisced about life as a uni student to our kids.  We stumbled across Pidapipo and  so the kids scored a late afternoon gelato break.

There were lots of flavours, with one scoop for $4 or 2 scoops for $6.  It was a lovely Spring day and there was a line out the front shortly after we got there!

There were milk and non-dairy based gelato flavours, as well as extra toppings of hot nutella or honeyfingers honeycomb for $1 extra.

Macaron Monster had a scoop of coconut topped with fresh honeycomb.

Mini Me and Bubs shared a waffle cone of raspberry swirl, also topped with honeycomb.

And Hubby and I went for the non-dairy based rockmelon.  I was impressed with how smooth and creamy this was, and the rock melon flavour was really lovely.

Yes we will walking back in for more of this deliciousness!

Eat. @ The Vertue of the Coffee Drink

8 Raffa Place, Carlton 3053 ph (03) 8060 6987

You've got to love Melbourne.  We have no end to the list of great coffee and brunch places to try out.  

A couple of weekends ago the Eat.Play.Shop. family took advantage of the lovely Melbourne Autumn weather and ventured down to Carlton for some brunch before we headed off for a play in the Gardens.  Brunch destination - The Vertue of the Coffee Drink.

Finding the cafe itself was a fun game, since it's well hidden in Raffa Place behind the shops on Lygon Street.

Inside we found a lovely space filled with all kind of coffee paraphernalia.

We of course started with our usual mochas ($4) which was pleasant but slightly watery on the day.

The kids ordered the young whole coconut ($6) which was very refreshing and surprisingly full of juice, and also tried an Ice Chocolate ($6).  I had some of it and am happy to report that this had a good dose of chocolate, which I find lacking at a lot of places.

I had the Smoked ocean trout, ($21) which came with curried arancini, soft duck egg and a mango and chilli jam.  Loved every element of this dish, the duck egg is a nice change from the chook, the arancini were packed with flavour, the ocean trout beautifully smoked and the jam gave the dish a sweet and tangy punch.

The best thing about late brunches is that you get to order from both the breakfast and lunch menus!  Hubby wanted to try the Smoked Fish Chowder ($18), with Old Bay spiced squid, Port Arlington mussels, quail egg and barbequed corn.  I'm not usually a fan of fishy chowders but this one was wonderful, the ingredients fresh and "not-mushy", in a flavoursome thick chowder.  And a really pretty dish to boot.

Mini Me (sharing with her Daddy) ordered the Meatball Sub ($18), with pork meatballs, brioche roll, napoli, provolone, jalopenos, pancetta, sage, an apple slaw and beer battered onion rings.  Quite a substantial serve of food, they loved it.  Those onion rings were awesome!

Bubs had a dish from the "Little People" Menu, with the Kids Scrambled Eggs and Brioche soldiers ($6).  I love that cool coffee cafes now cater so well for the kidlets.  The scramble was beautiful and fluffy, and the brioche soldiers were fun and went down well!

Macaron Monster is a super sweet-tooth and tried a little of our dishes, but was really just hanging out for dessert.  We ordered a couple of the doughnuts from the baked goods display, although it was so difficult to choose between all the goodies there!

I'm pretty sure these were from Cobb Lane.  The salted caramel doughnut was ace, with that super oozy, sweet decadent caramel.

Whilst the raspberry and lychee custard one was a much more refined affair.  

The service was friendly and efficient and staff were accommodating for the kids.  We loved our visit to The Vertue of the Coffee Drink and will no doubt be back on a regular basis.

Eat. @ Providence

497 Rathdowne Street, Carlton 3053 ph (03) 9240 7055

Providence is the new cafe on the block in Carlton, from the dynamic team behind The Grainstore in the CBD and Hero Subs.  Their newest project sits on Rathdowne Street, on the Ground Floor of the brand new Australian Unity Building.  Recently I was invited to attend their launch event and try out some of the items on their menu.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the building is now home to Rathdowne Place Aged Care which has marvellous facilities for retirement living. I work in health care and it's so refreshing to see an aged care facility that caters so well for active senior citizens, with a theatre room and swimming pool amongst the many facilities to keep their residents happy and active.

We were greeted with a selection of drinks, including a delicious berry smooth and deliciously fresh blood orange juice.  

And of course a coffee!

Mini versions of their menu were served up for us to try, during which time both the lovely owners and some of the providores for their locally sourced goodies including Gundowring Ice-Cream and Gamze Bacon and Smallgoods.

One of my favourites for the morning was the Smoked trout, served on bubble and squeak potatoes topped with a poached egg.

The Breakfast Salad was an excellent choice for a healthy breakfast and my favourite part was the slightly caramelised grilled avocados.  

The Egg and Bacon pies were cute and was quite filling even in its miniature version size.

The pumpkin and lentil fritters pack quite a punch with its aromatic herbs.

And of course there is the sweet breakfast berry clafoutis.  A slightly naughty sweet dish with a berry filled pancake topped with some Gundowring rhubarb ice-cream. A crowd favourite!

There were also lots of other goodies available from the counter, good for a quick "grab and go".

We were treated with a goodies bag, and a coupon to check out the local farmer's market at Carlton Primary School.  

Inner suburb markets are such treasure troves of goodies and artisan items, I love having a wander through and checking out what is on offer.  The vendors are often passionate about their wares and are so knowledgeable in their craft, it's such a pleasure to experience!  I eventually used my voucher on some baked goodies from Cannibal Creek, which of course went down well with the family!

Providence is a lovely cafe in this area of Carlton which still has relatively few cafes of its kind.  The Australian Unity Building has opened up my eyes to what retirement living can be like - the food blogger in me will no doubt insist I retire somewhere with easy access to good food!

Disclaimer : I attended the Providence launch event by invitation and courtesy of the team behind Providence Cafe.  Opinions are my own.

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!