Tag: Reviews

{NZ} My Kitchen Part 1 : Vegetarian

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I don’t know about you, but Taiwanese food has always been a favourite in my family. There was a period of time we went to Taiwan at least once a year. And when we are there, we would always eat till our hearts content! Especially the street food that you can get at the night markets. Simply delicious!

After days of western food, I think we were craving for something asian so my cousins brought us to My Kitchen! The good thing about Taiwan restaurants/cafes is that they cater to vegetarians as well. Which was awesome! We ate so much, we were stuffed by the time we were done with our starters. haha But the food was too good to not finish (of course the mr had to finish half of my food for me haha).

i was never a big fan of century eggs. I use to only like them in my porridge when I have dim sum. But I tried a dish a while back with toufu and a century egg sauce and totally loved it! When my cousins ordered this, I couldn’t be more pleased! It was delicious! I wanted more!

Thai style deep fried toufu! This was super yummy too! Just didn’t know whether it fits the Taiwan street food theme. I guess smelly toufu would fit more, but thank goodness they didn’t order it! haha Nonetheless, the toufu was super crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Went perfectly with the sweet and spicy sauce!

This was a childhood favourite of mine. Fried mantous with condense milk! No one at the table tried it before. I was so super excited when they placed this on the table. I was practically grinning! haha They seriously compliment each other. If you haven’t tried this, PLEASE DO! Hot and crispy man tou with sweet condense milk.

mmm. just thinking and looking at it makes me salivate!

It’s vegetarian braised mince pork rice (素卤肉饭) ! It was so so good! And only $4.90NZD! Delicious (:

This is my braised mock beef noodles (红烧牛肉面) and the soup was really herbal and perfect for a cold day. The noodles were endless and of course the mr had to finish it for me. haha

 Mummy’s mince mock pork noodles! This was a little ordinary compared to the rest. Loved the addition of fresh cucumber and carrots though!

The Mr ordered the pork chop set which came with braised mince pork rice and three side dishes. Doesn’t that pork chop look amazingly similar to the real ones we usually have? So so amazing!

The portion sizes were all really huge here so if you want to try more dishes, I suggest sharing the mains instead! Unless you’re a big eater or have someone who would finish up everything, like me! haha Stay tuned for the non-vegetarian meal we had at this place next! (:

A Day of Two Brunches

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Brunch has been a weekend affair ever since I can remember. The Mr and I would try to explore different cafes on Sundays after church, especially if they are highly recommended. On some Sundays though, we rather head back to a place we know we would definitely love and enjoy. In fact, we went to 2 of our favourite places within 2 hours. Thank goodness for close proximity!

Proud Mary

172 Oxford Street, Collingwood Vic 3066

First stop : Proud Mary ! This definitely isn’t our first time at Proud Mary. The Mr and I came here on a weekly basis before we got married. But due to work commitments, we are only able to come once or twice a month. Not a bad thing though. Cause it makes us miss it alot more, and crave for their delicious brunch! As usual the queue was all the way to the road outside the cafe, so we had to put our names down on a waiting list. We were told it would be a 30 mins wait. So we decided to make a small detour and headed to our second stop : Monsieur Truffe (MT for short) that was just a few streets down to get ourselves our chocolate croissant fix!

Monsieur Truffe

90 Smith Street, Collingwood Vic 3066

When you enter MT, you are hit with the loveliest smell of butter pastry and cocoa. They make their own chocolates and you can purchase their bars as well! What got my attention was the huge chocolate rooster standing proudly on top of a cabinet of baked goods. We ordered a chocolate croissant each and had to head back to Proud Mary to wait for our seats!

This is what a croissant should be. Layers and layers of pastry. Crispy on the outside, soft and buttery on the inside. With the addition of chocolate, PERFECT. The Mr just can’t get enough! (:

So about the time we got back from MT, our names were called and we got to our seats! Lucky ducks we were!

If you’ve never been to Proud Mary and you are a coffee lover. I URGE you to make a trip down as soon as possible. I usually am not a coffee drinker (chai is definitely my choice of beverage), but when I am there, I have to order their latte or cappuccino. Definitely one of the best coffees we’ve had! The baristas are super quick with the orders and professional, might I add. Proud Mary has so many different ways of brewing their coffee, I get so amazed!

Of course, it’s not just the coffees that are good here. The food is to-die-for! I didn’t really need to look at the menu. I knew what I wanted even before we got here. haha The Hash!

The potato hash was just heavenly. Every single bite was just more delightful than the one before. The saltiness of the bacon, the crispy bacon and the soft and runny poached egg. The hash was nice and crispy on the outside, but the unique thing about their hash is that you can see every strand of it. It’s not mush like others. Perfectly seasoned. YUM!

The Mr ordered the smoked herring. It was a new dish on the menu so he wanted to give it a try. And also because he didn’t want to end up ordering the same thing as me (oops). He also ordered a side of bacon (super generous portion) just cause he wanted some!

It came with a chutney, fried egg, salad and toast! Was pretty yummy, but we did prefer the smoke salmon they use to have! That was really good. hehe

After the 2 meals, you can imagine how full we were. But we were definitely very happy we had brunch there. (: So have you tried Proud Mary before dear readers? What was your favourite dish?

Till next time, have a lovely Easter everyone! xx

Brunch Sunday : Replete Providore

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Replete Providore

302 Barkers Road, Hawthorn Vic 3122

(03) 98184448

We arrived at 930am and the place was filled! We had to wait for about 10 mins for window seats, definitely had to wait a tad bit longer for a table. It’s a really cosy place and the staff were friendly. I didn’t know there was a communion table behind with sofa seats and really a really pretty light!

I first read about Replete Providore from Iron Chef Shellie and what caught my eye in her review post was their chai soy latte. If you know me, I LOVE chai! It’s absolutely vital for me to have a cup of chai soy latte in the morning, to start my day off well! So when I saw how they served their chai in a teapot, I had to go give it a try!

It was A-W-E-S-O-M-E! Love that they put more cinnamon powder on top to add a spice-kick to the hot and comforting drink. I don’t know if it’s just me. There’s just something therapeutic dipping the honey dipper into a big glass container of honey and slowly allowing it to drip into my cup of chai.

fuzzy wuzzy honey bee (:

The Mr, on the other hand, is a coffee lover. When asked how his coffee was, he said GOOD! haha So I reckon it’s something not to be missed too if you’re there for brunch and you need your morning cuppa!

 Sundays are brunch days for the mr and I. We always head to somewhere nice after mass in the morning. It’s just something we decided to do a while back. It’s definitely a day I look forward to and treasure very much. Especially since we are working everyday and get so drained by the end of the week and all we want to do is relax, enjoy each other’s company and have super yummy food! (:

On with the food. The best part! haha I’m having this current obsession with corn so the minute I saw corn fritters on the menu, my mind was made up! Layered with bacon and topped with sour cream and avocado salsa, I was sure it would be a winner (:

And yes, the portion size here is HUGE! Two really big fritters with heaps of bacon and a more than decent amount of sour cream and salsa. Everything came together and complimented each other. The flavours were just dancing in my mouth! I was a super happy girl.

With portions this big, I usually can only have half of it, and the mr would need to finish it up for me. But that day, I couldn’t stop eating it. Of course, I still couldn’t finish it, but I did better than just 1/2! An achievement in my eyes. hehe

Now, this is the breakfast for champions. Eating champions. haha How big is the Replete Breakfast? Toast, bacon, poached eggs, spanish sausage, tomato, field mushrooms and the most amazing hash brown! The hash was super crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. It is one thing the mr always looks out for when he’s out for brunch. A good hash. And he definitely found it here!

Of course, you can imagine how full we were by the end of the meal, but we were two very happy campers! With very round tummies! hehe Definitely a place I recommend. If you want to avoid the crowds, come during the weekdays. But brunch just isn’t brunch without the crowds and people flipping the papers and tables of friends laughing and having a good time with good food, is it?

Have a fantastic brunch day people! (: