I never did find my picture of the Seddon Deadly Sins banana pancakes .... so I just had to go back and have them again just for the good of this blog!!! Dedicated aren't I!
Rachael
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Finally - Pancake Time
I never did find my picture of the Seddon Deadly Sins banana pancakes .... so I just had to go back and have them again just for the good of this blog!!! Dedicated aren't I!
Rachael
The Corner Shop & Le Chien
Like two peas in a pod. Still my fav's. Both these cafes know how to run a business! And although they would not like to be grouped together I have put them in the same review because although they are quite
different as cafes they both still have a lot in common. That's no coincidence! Ian and Claire who run The corner shop once used to be part owners of Le Chien! Eighteen months ago Ian and Claire struck out on their own once again and have made a huge success of it, whilst Andy remains at Le Chien continuing on the sucess story there.
My fav brekkie at the corner shop is the baked eggs. Just superb with Chorizo and fetta. Maybe a little bit more turkish bread needed to go with it but otherwise a faultless dish!
At Le Chien, my fav brekkie (as well as a lot SKY peoples) is the promite special (poached eggs, on promite ciabatta toast, avocado, tomato and parsley). Just Brilliant! Consistently excellent.
At both cafe's tea is served in lovely big pots. But here is where Le Chien still comes out on top! The tea here tastes, like English Breakfast, at the Corner Shop, it tastes flowery. (Jeepers Mon - I still can't tell the difference. They are some serious taste buds you've got there! Besides, some of us like our EBT flowery) It always has and so I have stopped ordering it. The Last two times when I was there I ordered a Chai latte. The first time was delicious the second time not so. It is the barista of course, on both days it was a different barista. So now when I go there I will check out who the Barista is and that will determine what I will order. Much Easier though at Le Chien, consistency is a key ingredient here.
The most common denominator in these two cafes is the atmosphere. In both cafes when you walk in there is an instant vibe. Content and relaxed people, enjoying their mornings. There have been many a friendship forged in these cafes, and isn't that what our local cafe is about, community spirit and meeting other locals. When we leave these cafes, we leave feeling fulfilled.
LOVE these two cafes - the best in SKY by a long shot!!
different as cafes they both still have a lot in common. That's no coincidence! Ian and Claire who run The corner shop once used to be part owners of Le Chien! Eighteen months ago Ian and Claire struck out on their own once again and have made a huge success of it, whilst Andy remains at Le Chien continuing on the sucess story there.
My fav brekkie at the corner shop is the baked eggs. Just superb with Chorizo and fetta. Maybe a little bit more turkish bread needed to go with it but otherwise a faultless dish!
At Le Chien, my fav brekkie (as well as a lot SKY peoples) is the promite special (poached eggs, on promite ciabatta toast, avocado, tomato and parsley). Just Brilliant! Consistently excellent.
At both cafe's tea is served in lovely big pots. But here is where Le Chien still comes out on top! The tea here tastes, like English Breakfast, at the Corner Shop, it tastes flowery. (Jeepers Mon - I still can't tell the difference. They are some serious taste buds you've got there! Besides, some of us like our EBT flowery) It always has and so I have stopped ordering it. The Last two times when I was there I ordered a Chai latte. The first time was delicious the second time not so. It is the barista of course, on both days it was a different barista. So now when I go there I will check out who the Barista is and that will determine what I will order. Much Easier though at Le Chien, consistency is a key ingredient here.
The most common denominator in these two cafes is the atmosphere. In both cafes when you walk in there is an instant vibe. Content and relaxed people, enjoying their mornings. There have been many a friendship forged in these cafes, and isn't that what our local cafe is about, community spirit and meeting other locals. When we leave these cafes, we leave feeling fulfilled.
LOVE these two cafes - the best in SKY by a long shot!!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Coffee Edge
1 Anderson Street. Yarraville 3013.
Tel: 9687 0977
Not new, so how did we miss this cafe last year. Well quite easily it appears! Coffee Edge is tucked away at the top end of Anderson St. I knew there was a cafe there I just didn't think they served breakfast.
As I never walked past this cafe I never gave it a second thought. I would drive past it and it looked like a cafe in which an older generation of European men hung out at. I didn't think it was my scene. One particular morning when I drove past I saw a new sign out the front, advertising breakfast, so I thought ah, change of
owner/management, now is the time to have breakfast here.
So off Rachael and myself go, walking to the top end of Anderson St and Coffee Edge. The first thing that I notice is a cute little courtyard. I thought not a bad place to hang out with my book and a cup of tea!
But once we walk inside it is pretty clear, pretty quickly that this place is lacking! This is how a cafe looked 20 maybe 30 years ago. The decor is simply boring! The atmosphere is simply boring! and The menu is simply boring! Have they not been to any of the other cafes in SKY, have they not checked out their competition. For Heavens sake they did not even have any music going!
I ordered the old standard breakfast(poached eggs, spinach mushrooms and tomato). It was served on
white toast but had been on the menu as sour dough. I always find this disappointing and think that if there is a menu item missing it is courteous to let the customer know. But something tells me they may not know the difference. However this breakfast was only $10, quite a steal compared to the rest of SKY! Apart from the toast thing , it was quite well cooked, just like nona would make! How was your omelette Rach?
Ummm - barely remember I'm afraid. Fairly average I think.
The coffee is Griffiths and as we sat there, there was quite a few take away orders. $3.20 was the price, let me know what you think! The tea is T2! (I think T2 is invading the world, everywhere you go it's there on the shelf, watching you, saying order me!) They were offering 7 blends of T2 and I tried the peppermint. Yes it tasted like peppermint, nothing amazing.
Coffee Edge is still not my scene! It needs a lot of work. But for those who don't take their cafes so seriously, it might be just the place for you. It has all the basics, just no personality!
I'd love to play devil's advocate here but I was so disconcerted by the appalling decor I couldn't concentrate. Maybe the courtyard experience would be better. Please don't make me go there again.
Rachael
Tel: 9687 0977
Not new, so how did we miss this cafe last year. Well quite easily it appears! Coffee Edge is tucked away at the top end of Anderson St. I knew there was a cafe there I just didn't think they served breakfast.
As I never walked past this cafe I never gave it a second thought. I would drive past it and it looked like a cafe in which an older generation of European men hung out at. I didn't think it was my scene. One particular morning when I drove past I saw a new sign out the front, advertising breakfast, so I thought ah, change of
owner/management, now is the time to have breakfast here.
So off Rachael and myself go, walking to the top end of Anderson St and Coffee Edge. The first thing that I notice is a cute little courtyard. I thought not a bad place to hang out with my book and a cup of tea!
But once we walk inside it is pretty clear, pretty quickly that this place is lacking! This is how a cafe looked 20 maybe 30 years ago. The decor is simply boring! The atmosphere is simply boring! and The menu is simply boring! Have they not been to any of the other cafes in SKY, have they not checked out their competition. For Heavens sake they did not even have any music going!
I ordered the old standard breakfast(poached eggs, spinach mushrooms and tomato). It was served on
white toast but had been on the menu as sour dough. I always find this disappointing and think that if there is a menu item missing it is courteous to let the customer know. But something tells me they may not know the difference. However this breakfast was only $10, quite a steal compared to the rest of SKY! Apart from the toast thing , it was quite well cooked, just like nona would make! How was your omelette Rach?
Ummm - barely remember I'm afraid. Fairly average I think.
The coffee is Griffiths and as we sat there, there was quite a few take away orders. $3.20 was the price, let me know what you think! The tea is T2! (I think T2 is invading the world, everywhere you go it's there on the shelf, watching you, saying order me!) They were offering 7 blends of T2 and I tried the peppermint. Yes it tasted like peppermint, nothing amazing.
Coffee Edge is still not my scene! It needs a lot of work. But for those who don't take their cafes so seriously, it might be just the place for you. It has all the basics, just no personality!
I'd love to play devil's advocate here but I was so disconcerted by the appalling decor I couldn't concentrate. Maybe the courtyard experience would be better. Please don't make me go there again.
Rachael
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Seddon Deadly Sins
Going back to Seddon Deadly sins is always a pleasure.
Although it is not perfect it has many fabulous qualities.
Probably one of the most important is their service administered by their consistent, experienced staff! A treasure and a rare find in any cafe! They know about follow up service which is more than most cafes!
I'm very excited about Baked Eggs at the moment and tend to order them any chance I get. So I gave SDS's a go. And the verdict? Quite nice, however the menu said Parmesan cheese but I didn't taste any Parmesan, which is disappointing. Served with Turkish Bread which of course I love, but no butter. Mmmmm, you are probably thinking she doesn't need that butter after those pictures we saw of her at Xmas, however what is dipping bread without butter I ask you? I also had to ask for another serving of bread because it wasn't quite enough, a bit light on really.
Rach am I remembering correctly that you had pancakes? ( I get so wrapped up in what I am eating that sometimes I forgot to check yours out). How were they?
Oh Lordy! They were fabulous - Banana and ice cream with lashings of caramel sauce that lasted right through to the last bite! If I could justify it I would have it every morning of the week.
OK, so I didn't quite have this many but I've lost the photo I took and this just looked so damn good!
I love the Golden Book menus. They are fantastic, but my favourite menu item is the PuppyCino - Soy milk with Liver Sprinkles. I had to pass, but I am highly recommending this drink to all my friends with dogs. I loved the names of the tea but when I asked they didn't have what I wanted or there was confusion over the printed names on the menu, so needles to say I am still a bit confused and don't know what I ended up drinking but it was nice. $12.50 for the baked eggs and 3.30 for the tea so 15.80 for my breakfast which is very well priced.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Snippet!!!!
On Friday March 19th after much anticipation I met some friends at the Dancing Dog cafe for the beginning of the Footscray Progressive Dinner. The Cost $65 a head - wine not included! Our Mayor was present and gave us a little speech, I have to say that he looked very young to be the mayor and a great impression was not made.
We were divided into 3 groups. At the dancing dog we were entitled to one free alcoholic drink and there were nibbles, nothing innovative, just your standard dips, turkish bread, cheese, etc.
My group then moved on to Masters Restaurant in Hopkins street. I was glad we came here because it got a good write up last year so it had been on my list for a visit. Here it was bedlam! Very difficult to get a drink, in fact they didn't even offer us any wine. As we did not know this would be the case, it was again disappointing. There was plenty of food here, in fact far too much considering we still had two more stops. There were spring rolls, sesame prawn toasts, chicken and sweet corn soup (a little too cool for my liking), san choi bao, I mean really that was a meal in itself. I sat there looking across the road at Huy Huy wishing I was there with my family.
At some point we were told it was time to move on and up we got and walked around to Lalibela, the African restaurant. This would be my 3rd time visiting this restaurant. The first time I liked it and second time I hated it. I was disappointed that we got this African restaurant as the other groups got different African restaurants, which I would have preferred to try.
Anyway - I thought it was disgusting! A few curries, the lamb (mutton) tough with no flavor what so ever and the chicken, (sorry I meant one chicken wing between four peopleP), also disappointing. Only one beer available although 7 advertised on the menu. The beer available, African! It was embarrassing really, is that why they fed us so much at Masters, they must have known we'd need it. How this restaurant is in the cheap eats guide, I don't know. I'm starting to wonder whether they have actually been there in the last two years or whether they just do reprints from the previous years.
The final destination was back to the Dancing Dog Cafe for Dessert and coffee. HHMMMM! What's for Dessert? Nothing much, really! Slices- you know the ones. You can buy these slices anywhere, even coles(ooops maybe that's who the supplier was). Peppermint Slice, Lemon Slice and so on. How unimpressed was I considering I'm normally a desserts girl. Not only though were these slices generic they were cut
so big it put you off attempting any. No fear I thought, I'll just have a hot chocolate. Previously I have told you how high I rate the Dancing Dog Cafe's hot chocolate. Unfortunately once again, and the last time for
the evening, I was unimpressed. I won't go on any further but needless to say I thought the whole night was a complete rip off. I could have been eating a lovely fulfilling meal at Huy Huy with my family and for the cost of less than one ticket to the Footscray Progressive Dinner.
There is a lesson in that!
FYI
Seddon is also hosting a Progressive Dinner, with Le Chien, Touks and Sabrosso's participating. It is on the 28th April and costs $70 - wine included! Need I say more!
We were divided into 3 groups. At the dancing dog we were entitled to one free alcoholic drink and there were nibbles, nothing innovative, just your standard dips, turkish bread, cheese, etc.
My group then moved on to Masters Restaurant in Hopkins street. I was glad we came here because it got a good write up last year so it had been on my list for a visit. Here it was bedlam! Very difficult to get a drink, in fact they didn't even offer us any wine. As we did not know this would be the case, it was again disappointing. There was plenty of food here, in fact far too much considering we still had two more stops. There were spring rolls, sesame prawn toasts, chicken and sweet corn soup (a little too cool for my liking), san choi bao, I mean really that was a meal in itself. I sat there looking across the road at Huy Huy wishing I was there with my family.
At some point we were told it was time to move on and up we got and walked around to Lalibela, the African restaurant. This would be my 3rd time visiting this restaurant. The first time I liked it and second time I hated it. I was disappointed that we got this African restaurant as the other groups got different African restaurants, which I would have preferred to try.
Anyway - I thought it was disgusting! A few curries, the lamb (mutton) tough with no flavor what so ever and the chicken, (sorry I meant one chicken wing between four peopleP), also disappointing. Only one beer available although 7 advertised on the menu. The beer available, African! It was embarrassing really, is that why they fed us so much at Masters, they must have known we'd need it. How this restaurant is in the cheap eats guide, I don't know. I'm starting to wonder whether they have actually been there in the last two years or whether they just do reprints from the previous years.
The final destination was back to the Dancing Dog Cafe for Dessert and coffee. HHMMMM! What's for Dessert? Nothing much, really! Slices- you know the ones. You can buy these slices anywhere, even coles(ooops maybe that's who the supplier was). Peppermint Slice, Lemon Slice and so on. How unimpressed was I considering I'm normally a desserts girl. Not only though were these slices generic they were cut
so big it put you off attempting any. No fear I thought, I'll just have a hot chocolate. Previously I have told you how high I rate the Dancing Dog Cafe's hot chocolate. Unfortunately once again, and the last time for
the evening, I was unimpressed. I won't go on any further but needless to say I thought the whole night was a complete rip off. I could have been eating a lovely fulfilling meal at Huy Huy with my family and for the cost of less than one ticket to the Footscray Progressive Dinner.
There is a lesson in that!
FYI
Seddon is also hosting a Progressive Dinner, with Le Chien, Touks and Sabrosso's participating. It is on the 28th April and costs $70 - wine included! Need I say more!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Cafe Urbano
43 Anderson St, Yarraville 3013.
Ph: (03) 9687 1198
So it has changed hands! OMG, that wonderful cabinet of food, Gone, Gone Gone. It bothers me when something good, ceases to exist. But that's life, constantly changing. However the changes aren't that big (yet), at Cafe Urbano.
The menu remains the same and obviously the name hasn't changed. The new owners have introduced some Thai dishes on the specials blackboard and I look forward to trying something for lunch one of these days. I just wonder how long before their natural instincts will take over and the whole menu will be Thai. Not a bad thing in my books, however is there room for another Thai restaurant in SKY.
Rachael and I had the discussion over breakfast about the chef's authenticity in any restaurant. If the chef is from Thailand should he/she just be cooking Thai food and so on with Italian and Greek and Lebanese. There are a few Australian Chef's cooking food from different cultures and a perfect example of this is David Thompson who is famous for cooking for the Thai Government in Thailand and promoting their food and culture. So can just anyone do this? In my opinion NO! A perfect example of this is Pub food. More often than not a pub menu can represent 3 to 4 different nationalities. Does this mean that the chef is an expert in each of these cuisines? I don't think so! I know I've digressed a little but my point is that your origins and your experiences make up what you are good at so if you have grown up in Thailand and then come to Australia to cook, I would say that your Thai food would be authentic and successful but if you tried cooking unfamiliar cuisines, would you have the knowledge and experience to make it just as successful? Mmmmmm.
Nevertheless the food was quite good. I ordered the untoasted muesli with yoghurt and compote of fruit (on my heath kick again) . It was okay however there could have been twice as much compote and considering all the beautiful fruits that are in season at the moment the compote could have had more than prunes and figs in it. Rachaels' omelette looked nice, perhaps a little oily from where I was sitting and she seemed to enjoy it. The coffee is $3.00 for a small and $4.00 for a large and tea is $3.50 ( I did not see which brand they used). I had peppermint tea which was nice. As said earlier I really look forward to trying some of their Thai food(perhaps some Thai influences on the breakfast menu would be interesting) but I wonder how the rest will go.
Ph: (03) 9687 1198
So it has changed hands! OMG, that wonderful cabinet of food, Gone, Gone Gone. It bothers me when something good, ceases to exist. But that's life, constantly changing. However the changes aren't that big (yet), at Cafe Urbano.
The menu remains the same and obviously the name hasn't changed. The new owners have introduced some Thai dishes on the specials blackboard and I look forward to trying something for lunch one of these days. I just wonder how long before their natural instincts will take over and the whole menu will be Thai. Not a bad thing in my books, however is there room for another Thai restaurant in SKY.
Rachael and I had the discussion over breakfast about the chef's authenticity in any restaurant. If the chef is from Thailand should he/she just be cooking Thai food and so on with Italian and Greek and Lebanese. There are a few Australian Chef's cooking food from different cultures and a perfect example of this is David Thompson who is famous for cooking for the Thai Government in Thailand and promoting their food and culture. So can just anyone do this? In my opinion NO! A perfect example of this is Pub food. More often than not a pub menu can represent 3 to 4 different nationalities. Does this mean that the chef is an expert in each of these cuisines? I don't think so! I know I've digressed a little but my point is that your origins and your experiences make up what you are good at so if you have grown up in Thailand and then come to Australia to cook, I would say that your Thai food would be authentic and successful but if you tried cooking unfamiliar cuisines, would you have the knowledge and experience to make it just as successful? Mmmmmm.
Nevertheless the food was quite good. I ordered the untoasted muesli with yoghurt and compote of fruit (on my heath kick again) . It was okay however there could have been twice as much compote and considering all the beautiful fruits that are in season at the moment the compote could have had more than prunes and figs in it. Rachaels' omelette looked nice, perhaps a little oily from where I was sitting and she seemed to enjoy it. The coffee is $3.00 for a small and $4.00 for a large and tea is $3.50 ( I did not see which brand they used). I had peppermint tea which was nice. As said earlier I really look forward to trying some of their Thai food(perhaps some Thai influences on the breakfast menu would be interesting) but I wonder how the rest will go.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Cafe Lomah
169 Union Rd
Ascot Vale VIC 3032,
Australia
(03) 9372 7566
Open Mon-Tue,Sun 8am-5pm; Wed-Sat 8am-10pm
Open Mon-Tue,Sun 8am-5pm; Wed-Sat 8am-10pm
Cafe Lomah, an acronym for 'A Land of Milk and Honey', can be found in Ascot Vale.
Yes venturing outside of the comfort zone again.
Did you know that there is a whole shopping precint in Union Road, Ascot Vale, with many cafes and shops. Well I didn't and I have to tell you I thought it was pretty groovy with room for huge growth and potential. (Sounds like a bit of an advertisement doesn't it). There was more than one cafe I would like to go back and visit for breakfast, lunch or dinner, but this particular morning we settled on Cafe Lomah which is in a well maintained, lovely old double storey building.
Rachael ordered the pancakes which had the berry compote, maple syrup and ice-cream. Once they arrived that was it - I didn't hear another peak from her for all of 10minutes. She was gone, gone ,gone!
I stuck to tradition, having poached eggs, tomies, mushies and spinach. I must say everything on my plate was well cooked and seasoned. If I haven't been to a cafe before I like to use this dish as a bench mark and it often tells me the style of the chef and the experience. The coffee used here is Vittoria and is $3.20 and the tea is Tea Tonic Organic Teas.
Now Rach can you refresh my memory here, how was this served was it in a teapot, in one of those canteen tea pots, I just can't remember. The tea was fine at also $3.20. They do Breakfast, lunch and dinner here and on certain nights they do curry nights or pasta nights at $10, which is a bargain.
They serve the standard generic cakes and slices. I don't mean to offend here but I am a great lover of cakes and all things sweet, but nothing turns me off quicker than these generic cakes that you can get in a lot of cafes these days. They must all come from the same factory. I much prefer a less perfect homemade cake! At cafe Lomah they cater for the children which I really like. They have a kids menu and also activities for the kids such as coloring and jigsaws, which is a cool idea.
Overall I think this is a good business, very professional (check out the website - www.cafelomah.com.au) - with huge potential , but I do think it lacks a bit of atmosphere. I found the service to be good but less than colourful. I guess I mean, a few smiles and bit of chit chat can always perk up the customer. What do you think Rach?
I'm still trying to get over my pancakes Monica. I haven't had this type of breakfast for ages due to peer group pressure to be healthy and low cal. This is my idea of breakfast out and I think it needs to be done more often. Pancakes for me from now on I think. These were delicious and had heaps of syrup which was very pleasing as there is nothing I hate more than having to ration my syrup to make it through the whole dish. I think the tea was nicely presented as I don't recall any generic teapots. Sorry, best we go back and find out - and I'd best try those pancakes again in case I've forgotten anything.
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