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.

Eat. @ Waffee (Emporium)

Lower Ground, 287 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne CBD ph (03) 8609 8185

For a sweet treat, Waffee in the basement of the Emporium is a favourite of ours.  Waffee = waffles + coffee of course.

Their waffles are sweet and crispy, and even Bubs is pretty good at holding onto one and munching on it as we wander around the Emporium without getting too sticky. 

We've always gone for the sweet waffles, either in its original flavour ($2.8), or with chocolate glaze ($3.3), which is obviously a tasty but much messier affair for my kids!  I often get a pack of 6 to take away, and they can be kept for 3 days and heated up in your toaster.

Eat. @ The Tea Salon

Emporium Level 2, 297 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne CBD ph (03) 8609 8188

For a fancier treat we had afternoon high tea at The Tea Salon a while ago.  (actually quite a while ago now!)  I went with my 2 older ones so it was a lovely girls' afternoon out!  It was a real treat for us to sit down and have some high tea together.  Macaron Monster loves sweets and they have both inherited my love of high tea!  We ordered the Children's high tea ($19.9) which really is one of the cheaper ones around.  It's served as chicken and mayo sandwiches, choice of one of their many different types of scones mini rose pannacotta topped with pink fairy floss, some fruit and a choice of drink.

The scones come in lots of flavours, and they chose a plain one with jam and cream and a chocolate one, that came with more chocolate to spread on!

The kids had some lovely and light lemon tea.

I had a pot of lovely english breakfast tea ($5.95) and also a couple of scones.  It was a very cute and special experience for the kids to have a sit down proper high tea and it was really enjoyable.

Whilst we did not find the treats at The Tea Salon to be memorably impressive,  the treats were nice and the kids really enjoyed the experience.  It's a nice spot for a treat during a shopping trip, and there's often a line of tired shoppers out lining up to do so!

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!

Shop and Eat. @ Myer Emporium (Part 3)

287 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne CBD 3000

Part 3 of the places to to go at the Myer Emporium covers more eateries we've visited on our multiple outing to our favourite shopping destination in the city.  So in no particular order here we go........

We've been back to Charlie & Co Burgers multiple times now and are happy to report that their truffle parmesan chips are significantly improved since our last visit.

Ding Tai Fung has opened at the Emporium, but I have not had the patience to line up with the rest of Melbourne yet to try it (despite the fact that there are over 200 seats in the restaurant the lines are still too crazy!)  We haven't been too disappointed as our old favourite New Shanghai still have some pretty awesome Xiao Long Baos that hit the dumpling spot each time we've been craving for our favourite treats from Shanghai.  The wait here is very modest and the queues have calmed to a steady flow.

The kids always like watching the chefs weave their magic with the noodles and dumplings.

Our favourite XLB are consistently good and quite reasonable at $8.6 for a steamer of 8.  Perfect with that hit of vinegar!  Watch out for the soupy explosion when you bite into one.  

The panfried Pot Stickers ($11 for 8 pcs) are also really nice, the pastry perfectly crispy with a soft, tender pork centre.

We also always order the braised beef noodle soup to share.  The noodles are perfectly cooked and the broth is meaty without being overly oily, it's such a great comforting bowl, especially in this awfully cold Melbourne winter this year!

We like their milk tea and ice lemon tea but they are pretty pricey at $5.3 each.

The Oolong tea for $5.5 a pot is a good option for Hubby and I to share, plus it's quite soothing when we have too many pan fried dumplings!

The kids don't like chinese tea and the soy bean milk ($3) is a good option.

For sweets Waffee in the basement is a favourite of ours.  

Waffee = waffles + coffee of course.

Their waffles are sweet and crispy, and even Bubs is pretty good at holding onto one and munching on it as we wander around the Emporium without getting too sticky. 

We've always gone for the sweet waffles, either in its original flavour ($2.8), or with chocolate glaze ($3.3), which is obviously a tasty but much messier affair for my kids!  I often get a pack of 6 to take away, and they can be kept for 3 days and heated up in your toaster.

For a fancier treat we had afternoon high tea at The Tea Salon a while ago.  (actually quite a while ago now!)  I went with my 2 older ones so it was a lovely girls' afternoon out!

The Children's high tea is $19.9 which really is one of the cheaper ones around.  It's served as chicken and mayo sandwiches, choice of one of their many different types of scones mini rose pannacotta topped with pink fairy floss, some fruit and a choice of drink.

The scones come in lots of flavours, and they chose a plain one with jam and cream and a chocolate one, that came with more chocolate to spread on!

The kids had some lovely and light lemon tea.

I had a pot of lovely english breakfast tea ($5.95) and also a couple of scones.  It was a very cute and special experience for the kids to have a sit down proper high tea and it was really enjoyable.

Zumbo has a kiosk type outpost on the first floor for a quick pick up of a selection of his goodies.  My favourite is probably the pretty carrot cake ($9).  The slightly deconstructed carrot cake is a cute twist on the original.

Bubs however loves the Chocolate Mousse "Dots" cake with the oh-so-smooth chocolate glaze.

Upstairs at Yo-Art you can go for a frozen yoghurt in different flavours.  

Kids cones are $2.5 and an extra 50c for topping, or you can fill a bowl and weigh and pay at $2.8 per 100g.

Bubs tried a blood orange with hundreds and thousands which was really refreshing, whereas Mini Me had a more traditional mango one which had a great flavour.

Next door at Rice Workshop they have green tea and black sesame softserves for $2.  For a "special" treat you can get a flavoured waffle cone with the soft serve and it'll still only set you back $2.5 each.  The flavours are actually quite good considering how good the prices are!

I love that the Emporium is still expanding and adding new shops and foodie destinations all the time, looking forward to more to come!