Eat. @ The Resident

246 High St, Ashburton 3147 ph (03) 9885 8777

The Resident is wonderful cafe nestled in the strip of shops on High Street in leafy Ashburton.   It's a lovely place for  breakfast/brunch/lunch and the staff are friendly.  I visited for the first time when The Age Good Cafe Guide names it as one of its "local heroes", and have been back twice since and the quality of the coffee and the service has always been top notch.

My mocha is always beautifully presented and of a perfect temperature.  

I love the Cured Salmon, served with beetroot relish, snow peas, citrus aioli and soft poached egg on Glick's bagel ($18).   On each of the 3 occasions we've brunched there, we have ordered variations of this dish.  Not that the other items on the menu don't look interesting, but I just really like the flavour and textural combinations!  Plus Bubs is going through a massive poached egg phase and this is a perfect dish for us to share.  

It's such a lovely combination of flavours.  The eggs are always perfectly poached, so here's a picture of some #yolkporn!

The interior of the cafe is modern and invites one to stay for another coffee.  There's a courtyard out the back which is popular for Mums and groups.  The staff are friendly and is always accommodating with Bubs.  Everybody needs a lovely cafe like this as the "local hero" in their neighbourhood! 

Toilets - yes
Highchairs - yes

Eat. @ Caffe Romeo

319 Doncaster Rd, Balwyn North ph (03) 9857 6625

So my Littlest starts kinder this year, but instead of having some more "child-free" days I'll be kicking up my work hours.  Last Thursday morning was my last "morning off" to run errands and I had 30 minutes before kinder pick up so I stopped by Caffe Romeo for a quick coffee and snack.  Caffe Romeo is almost a Balwyn institution and it's well loved by the locals.  Most mornings the cafe serves as a meeting place for young and old and it's rare to see it not packed out.

I have been here often and always get the mocha. Smooth smooth smooth with just a hint of chocolate.   

I couldn't go past a lovely custard croissant for morning tea.  

The staff is friendly and although space is limited, tables outside accommodate prams and pets.   A beautiful local secret.

Eat. and Shop. @ Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Ice-Creamery

35 Old Healsville Rd, Yarra Glen 3775 ph (03) 9730 2777

Who doesn't like chocolate right?  My high school friends and I have an ongoing "date" to get together for an outing with all our children (there are now 7 between the 3 couples!) every Australia Day, and this year we headed to the Yarra Valley for a chocolatey experience.

As we walked through the front door we were greeted by not one, not two, but THREE massive bowls of dark, milk and white chocolate for FREE TASTING.  Oh wow, combined that with the kick-ass air conditioning with an outside temperature of 35 degrees, you know where you can find me for the rest of the day!

There is much to see within the chocolaterie.  The kids were fascinated with watching the chocolate production behind the giant glass window on one side of the building.  You'd be surprised at how long our children were entertained by strawberries being covered in chocolate, moving along a lengthy conveyor belt to cool and emerging on the other end as a choc-dipped strawberry!  Whilst that was happening I had a good wander around, looking at all the chocolate products, from chocolate sauce to chocolate tea, chocolate body products and some good old fashioned hand made chocolates which are all available for purchase and to take home.

We decided to have brunch here and were fortunate enough to find a table, as the cafe area rapidly filled up after we were seated.  The kids were entertained by pencils and coloring pages whilst the adults had the difficult task of deciding what to eat from the menu.

I kid you not I could not decide what to eat for ages, especially standing in front of this display of yummy desserts, including a massive macaron made to look like a hamburger!

For savouries we tried the BBQ chicken pizza ($18) which was surprisingly good.  Okay I was not expecting to eat anything but chocolate on this trip!

They also had a limited number of egg and bacon, and spinach and feta tarts ($9) served with relish.  We had one of each and again were surprised by the lovely pastry and the layers of egg and filling in the tarts.

For the kids there's a lunch box option ($11) which contained a ham and cheese roll, a fruit drink, a chocolate cookie and a fruit skewer.

Then of course it's on to the bit I was anticipating the most, which was the dessert!  Surprisingly I opted for a non chocolate based dessert of Lemon Meringue Tart ($9) which was nonetheless served with a little shot of chocolate.  This was a beautiful sweet which we had with a lovely little pot of tea for one ($4.5, pot for 2 is $6).  To be honest I'd probably had waaaaay too much chocolate for "tasting" as I wandered around the shop so this was a really refreshing choice of dessert!

My friend K couldn't go past the Waffles ($12.5) which look (and apparently tasted) absolutely amazing.

Her Hubby couldn't not try the Chocolate Orange Creme Brulee ($9.5) which was lovely, zesty and smooth.

The kids were totally obsessed with having ice-cream (who could blame them on such a hot day!)  2 scoops of bubblegum and cookies & cream ice cream had them totally defeated and was not ludicrous at $6.5.

After this epic brunch the kids had a great run around outside on the lovely grounds of the chocolaterie, whilst we took in the gorgeous view of the Yarra Valley.  After that we took them around to the great adventure playground in the nearby McKenzie Reserve where they got to burn off all the excess energy from all the chocolate tasting, and we drove home with them all falling asleep in the backseat, happy after a wonderful day trip out.

Toilet - yes, with change facilities
Highchair - yes

Shop. @ Fashion Park

Level 1, 168 Bourke St, Melbourne CBD (enter via Russell St - It's on top of Nandos)

My friend K and I were invited to Fashion Park's Girls Super Fun Night Out Launch event last week where we got the opportunity to check out Fashion Park's range of shops and beauty services.  Their Girls 'Super Fun' night out gives you and your friends access to a private theme room filled with Japanese designer clothing and photo props to try on (60 minutes) whilst enjoying a cool cocktail, as well as a 30 minute Shellac manicure (colour and shaping service) and a 30 minute rejuvenating facial which includes cleansing, dead skin cell removal and personalised facial mask. 

We were greeted with a lovely cocktail (well mocktail for me as I was driving).   Meanwhile we got to check out the shops which offered Japanese fashion as well as lingerie, and the soon to be launched handbag shop.

After that we were treated to an authentic Japanese Shellac nail service. Now thanks to work /kids/baking I am constantly washing my hands and my nails are a lost cause.   But this managed to make my nails look neat and healthy and.... pretty!  The hardest part was choosing a colour from the rainbow of nail polishes on offer.  Yes I changed my mind 4 or 5 times before settling on what my kids call "princess pink"!  We didn't get to try the facial as we were late due to some, um, rather interesting parking shenanigans, but the other ladies all noted how refreshing the experience was and I'm definitely keen to come back to try that out!

Fashion Park is a cute little mall near the corner of Russell and Bourke (upstairs from Nandos) that focuses on bringing various Japanese fashion brands and beauty services to Melbournians.  The mall set up is reminiscent of the little malls I've seen in my travels through South East Asia.  Until 24th February 2014, Fashion Park is offering the ultimate pamper package for a "girls' night out" worth $150 at a discount price of $75 per person.  Super fun for a girls' night out!

Disclaimer : My friend and I attended the Fashion Park Girls' "Super Fun" Night Out by invitation from Fashion Park Shopping Centre and Hub Comme.  

Eat. @ Gelato Messina

237 Smith St, Fitzroy ph (03) 9017 5470

Gelato Messina from Sydney has landed in Melbourne.   I've driven past here on numerous occasions since its opening and seen the crazy lines out the front and thought to myself - how good does the gelati have to be to make me wait in line more than 2 minutes?  

Well the gelati here are really worth waiting for!  The "kinder girls" and I came out to Fitzroy/Collingwood for a dinner night out recently and decided we would join the queue with the crowd of gelato afficiondos half our age and try it out for ourselves.  It was Saturday night after dinner and the crowd was buoyant, the line moved surprisingly fast, and the time passed really quite quickly.  This was helped by the fact that wee were given menus to study whilst waiting, and struggled with our decisions as everything sounded yummy!

I had the Apple Pie, and the Coconut and Lychee, which were beautiful and smooth.  I also tasted some of my friends' gelato - the most memorable was probably the mojito - it tasted like a real hit of mojito but was quite tart after a big scoop so it was best to share!

Eat. @ 400 Gradi - Pizza Masterclass

99 Lygon St, Brunswick East 3057 ph (03) 9380 2320

Last month I was invited to a Pizza Masterclass by Chef Johnny Di Francesco from 400 Gradi.  Whilst I am passionate about my baking, my skills at savouries and main meals are only passable efforts for the sake of survival and are really nothing fancy.  

The masterclass has totally changed my way of viewing the humble pizza that every Australian kid has grown up loving.  The real deal is so much more than  the thick chunk of bread laden with meat and cheese and an occasional piece of pineapple that is so often seen around town!

Chef Johnny Di Francesco, whose family is from Naples, is the "Mr Pizza" behind the restaurant, known for its real Napolitan - style pizza. He is passionate about the art of pizza making, and is not afraid to share the secrets in his hands on classes.

Johnny is keen to pass on his knowledge of how real pizzas should taste and be made, so that the next generation of Australian kids (and adults) won't think that "pizza hut" pizzas are the norm.  I couldn't agree more!

During the class we learnt about everything one needs to know about making a great wood-oven pizza, from the type of flour, to the techniques of dough making and the tricks to stretching a light base with airy crust.

Then we were given free reign at the toppings.  The trick is to keep it simple!  Then it's straight into the 400 degree oven, where it only takes a few minutes for the pizza to be perfectly cooked!

Yours truly is a sucker for anchovies as you can see.  Napolitan pizzas is actually a pretty healthy meal really.  No fats in the dough, and just a scattering of mozarella and prosciutto for my topping.  So delicious with a drink at the of the class!

If you'd like to go to one of Johnny's masterclasses, these are held on the third Saturday of every month.  Pretty cool Christmas pressie (and even Valentine's Day!) for this time of year I say!

Disclaimer : I attended the Pizza Masterclass at 400 Gradi at the invitation of 400 Gradi courtesy of AMPR Public Relations.  Opinions are my own.

Eat. @ Spring Street Grocer

157 Spring St, Melbourne CBD 3000 ph (03) 9639 0335

Gelato fever has struck Melbourne!  With the arrival of the Sydney imports N2 Extreme Gelato and Gelato Messina, I was reminded of our visit to Spring St Grocer for a good old fashioned ice cold treat we had, ironically on a freezing cold Melbourne Spring day.  

Mini Me patiently wait for the gelato

The artisanal gelato here is to-die-for, and I love how they offer a great selection of flavours that changes daily.  

When you finish the delicious treat you can pick up organic fruit and vegies and a great variety of gourmet ingredients in the grocery section, reminiscent of the local Grocers of the old.