Eat. @ Chow City

287 Exhibition Street, Melbourne CBD ph (03) 9663 7898

Woohoo it's Fri-Yay night out with the girls again.  This time we went to Chow City for drinks and dinner.  As usual we chose a place with a good variety of shared plates and pescatarian options for my friend Sarah.  

As I was the designated driver I sipped on my Tropic Thunder mocktail ($9) whilst the girls got started on some wine. The menu was modern Australian Asian fusion with a lot of bar items but a decent number of dinner options.  We were too lazy to pick and choose so we opted for the $65 chow down chef's menu option.

First up some oysters with ponzu, salmon roe and spring onion. A good start with the drinks.

Next up some tuna baos, with confit tuna, tobiko, seaweed salad and nori.  I wouldn't have ordered this usually but the confit tuna was actually really delicious.  I usually get to order for the family, or even with friends since everyone knows I love my food.  It just goes to show sometimes it's good to let someone else have control and choose your dishes for you!

Then came the chef's special of the night, which was watermelon with kimchi, cream cheese, figs, pomegranate and cashew crumble.  I absolutely would not have ordered this if it wasn't for the chef's menu but dang it was delicious and refreshing.  I don't think I will order off the menu again.  Just bring me what ever is good!

Then we got a really decent serve each of the Calamari, marinated in buttermilk, chilli, garlic, with vietnamese mint and crispy garlic.  These were  amazing and we finished it all even thought we were starting to fill up.

The papaya salad came next and was topped with crispy soft shell crab, served with mint, basil, green bean, chilli, lime and peanuts.  I only had a little of this as I had pretty much under estimated the amount of food that would arrive given that this is a bar setting.  So yum.  2 large serves between the 4 of us.

Yes there is more!  The New Zealand King Salmon was slow cooked with peas, green bean, asparagus, and served in a warm citrus broth. (We also got given 2 serves of this between the 4 of us).  I found a new spot in my stomach for this delicious salmon, I just wished I had more room!  Even the veggies were super delicious with the broth.  

All this was served with a side of roquette with coconut snow, a large bowl of rice to share.......

And the best darn serve of shoe string fries I've had. The menu said it was seasoned with garlic salt and served with mayo, but there was a touch of sweetness which really made these fries amazing.















We all agreed that we're now too stuffed to walk back into the city for dessert, only to be told that there is dessert coming!  Each of us had a serve of the cream cheese cake, a soft fluffy mousse topped with caramel, raspberry and popcorn.

All in all it was such a fun night out, the staff were attentive and even tolerated the impromptu karaoke some of us got up to (I'm not pointing any fingers ladies, you know who you are!)  $65 was a pretty good deal and I would highly recommend Chow City for a casual and fun night out!  

Eat. @ Sweetie & Moustache Dessert Lounge & Bar

Level 3 - 4, 205 Russell Street, Melbourne CBD. ph (03) 8657 8681

The kids and I stumbled across this interesting little upstairs lounge (on top of Sugar Bun) on a search for afternoon tea spots on one of our trips to the city.  I think this sort of cafes are quite common in Asia but my kids haven't been to something like this before and found it quite fascinating.

The decor was quite cute and the red phone booth was a sweet little feature.  The counter was set up like a little French cafe.

Their lychee lemonade mocktails came with moustachioed straws much to the kids' delight.

I had a matcha latte which was pleasant but lacked a good matcha punch.  The cup was cute with the moustache motif but was chipped.

Personally I was lured upstairs with the promise of crepe cakes.  We ordered the Mille fruits, with layers of fresh fruit and cream layered between sheets of soft crepe.  It was delicious but pretty pricey at $10 a slice.

We also shared an impressive looking Honeycomb honey toast ($19).  To be honest it was quite delicious, with crispy yet soft cubes of bread, delicious ice-cream and sweet honey and custard, served in a shelled out half-loaf.  Again I thought it was a bit on the expensive side for what it is, but I did enjoy sharing the experience of trying something new with the kids for afternoon tea.

Give Away @ Cake Bake & Sweets Show Melbourne 2015

Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre

Updated :Competition now closed, scroll below for winners!

For anyone who has come across Eat.Play.Shop. in instagram, facebook or on this blog, it will come as no surprise to you that I love to bake when I have time.  I'm a sucker for a good pastry, a nice slice of cake, a sweet dab of salted caramel, a perfect macaron, a freshly baked tart..... all with a nice cup of tea.  So I super excited this time of year because the Cake Bake & Sweets Show is on again.  I took the kids last year and they had a blast and I'm looking forward going again this year.

There will be demonstrations by world class bakers, dessert artists and TV personalities (Reynold Poermomo! Duff Goldman of Ace of Cakes! Pierrick Boyer of Le Petit Gateaux!) as well as the opportunity to enjoy the tasty treats on offer, learn about the latest tools of the trade and be amazed by the entries of the Australian Cake Demonstrating Championships.  I haven't told the kids yet but there will be a 10m chocolate river and garden installation by  the Queen of Chocolate Kirsten Tibballs.  I don't know who will be more excited when we get there!

Give-away : I have 2 double passes to give away and it's all happening this weekend, so hurry up and enter.  Competition closes Thursday 22nd October at 12pm and the winners will be randomly drawn by the Eat.Play.Shop. kids (without looking!).  Winners will be announced on the blog, as well as on facebook, twitter and instagram, and I will let you know how to obtain your passes on the day.  If I can't find you by 11pm on Thursday the prize will be re-drawn.

For more info check the website : http://www.cakebakeandsweets.com/melbourne/

WHAT: 

Cake, Bake & Sweets Show, Melbourne
WHEN: Friday 23rd October 10am - 5pm
Saturday 24th October 10am - 5pm
Sunday 25th October 10am - 5pm
WHERE:Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre
WHO:Duff Goldman (USA, Ace of Cakes), Miguel Maestre, Kirsten Tibballs, Reynold Poermomo (MasterChef 2015), Georgia Barnes (MasterChef 2015), Tim Clark, Pierrick Boyer, Katherine Sabbath and more...
WHY:Celebrity demonstrations
10m river of chocolate, complete with a 2.4m waterfall in the Willy Wonka Garden
Shopping and sweet treats

Competition Information :

One entry for each of the following, why not do all!

1) Commenting on this blog post

2) Sharing this blog post

3) Liking the Eat.Play.Shop. Facebook Page (comment here or on FB that you're a liker if you are already so!)

4) Sharing the Facebook Post on this Event on your Facebook

5) Commenting on the Facebook Post on this Event

6) Reposting the Instagram Post on your Instagram with #EPScakebakesweets

7) Commenting on my upcoming instagram posts on the Cake Bake & Sweet Show

8) Retweeting any of my twitter messages about the Cake Bake & Sweet Show

So many ways to enter, and only 48 hours to do so, be quick!

Competition now closed!

Such a big response!  Winners picked at random from a bag by the Eat.Play.Shop. kids :
- @eatingoffmyplate (via instagram)
- Catherine Porquier 
- Grace Koay

I will message you with instructions on collecting your prize very soon, please email back to confirm!

Disclaimer : double passes courtesy of The Cake Bake & Sweet Show and Thrive PR.

Eat. @ Oppa Kitchen

271 Swanston Street, Melbourne CBD 3000 ph 0421 351 489

The kids spotted this new cute Korean place when we were in the city and made a snap decision for lunch there on one of our visits to the city.  I love that they are now at an age where they are keen to try out new places and new foods!  

Well since our first visit we've been there about 10 times because it's such a quick and cheery place to grab a quick meal before we head off on adventures in the CBD!  

To be honest, the food here is not your super traditional Korean fare, but the dishes are pretty cheap, fun and quick to the table, so it ticks all the boxes for my kids.  Now get ready for all our delicious pictures - we've tried just about everything on this menu!

I always get the Fried Rice Cake ($5) here, they are slightly crispy and covered with a good dose of sauce.  The serving is not huge but it's a great starter.

The Korean Fried Chicken comes in original fried, soy garlic and sweet chilli flavours ($6 Small, $11 large).  Not the best I have tasted but still quite pleasantly, and comes mixed with pieces of wedges and fried rice cake.  The kids actually quite like that!

You can also get the same deal but with chicken wings ($6 for 4 pieces, $11 for 8) and they are also quite tasty.

Their Bibimbap comes with a choice of beef, spicy pork, spicy chicken, tofu and mushroom or avocado. ($10 regular)

For the crispy rice version you can order the stone bowl Bibimbap ($12).  Call me a big kid but I am a massive fan of crispy rice!

For a bigger meal we often share a Dosirak ($10 -$12), which is a meal bucket, the equivalent of a bento box in Korea I guess!  Again you can choose a different "protein" topping like beef bulgogi, beef steak, spicy pork, pork belly and pork ribs.  The rice is topped also with a salad, fried potato hash, pickle and usually a piece of orange.  They're pretty good value for money and we quite like these, although I don't really like the pork belly one as I find that the pork is 95% fat so there's not that much meat to eat!

They also serve a Korean Curry (with Korean chicken schnitzel $11), which is quite mild and tastes much like a Japanese Curry.  Macaron Monster loves curry and we tried this once and we all quite liked it and it's not too spicy.

I went with my sister once and we tried out their Meat Platter ($26) which has a nice mix for the meat lovers with beef steak, pork belly, pork spare ribs, chicken breast and lamb ribs.  It's not bad value for money when you share! 

As a change I like their mandarin juice ($3) which you don't often see on menus.

As you can tell we quite like this place and hope that they keep up the prompt service and cheeriness!

Eat. @ Hash Specialty Coffee and Roasters

113 Hardware Street, Melbourne CBD ph (03) 8529 0284

Brunch roulette this week landed us at Hash Specialty Coffee Roasters, as I had to pop into the CBD to pick up something.  It's a newly opened cafe right across from The Hardware Societe.

The staff were friendly and accommodating with Bubs and we were quickly seated.  Their standard water is actually carbonated, and whilst Bubs was fascinated with its presentation in a beaker, he's not a fan of fizzy drinks and the staff were very thoughtful and offered him some good old H2O right off the bat. (Sorry, cricket reference, Hubby has been watching the Ashes!)

We ordered the HASH hot chocolate ($6) which is their signature "hot chocolate wonder", made with Mork Dark Chocolate and served with fairy floss.  It's presented in a beaker with a mountain of fairy floss in the cup.

Pouring the hot chocolate onto the fairy floss rapidly shrinks it into the cup.  Bubs was absolutely fascinated with the whole thing!  By the time the beaker was empty I had a cup of thick hot chocolate which was absolutely delicious.  I had worried it was going to be way too sweet even for me who is an absolute sweet tooth, but it was actually really lovely, sweet obviously, but also smooth and silky in texture and a deep chocolate taste that comes from top quality cocoa.

Bubs and I shared the Leek and Cheddar Croquettes ($19.5), which was served with cauliflower puree, ham hock, cavallo nero, and a tuneric poached egg.  The croquettes were fabulous, super crunchy coating embracing a soft mashy centre with delicate leek flavour and stringy cheese.  Bubs is a hash/croquette/rosti connossieur and he gave it a big thumbs up!  The rest of the dish was also really well put together, the cauliflower puree was really tasty and the cavallo nero had a slight tang and the ham hock were appropriately smokey.  The poached egg was also nice but I'm not if the tumeric made a lot of difference taste-wise but the yellow did give the food pictures a nice pop in colour!

We came early on a weekday so there were no queues.  I can't wait to bring the whole family back to try the other dishes on the menu, and the older two will no doubt be just as impressed with the fun hot chocolate.