Tag Archives: coffee house

a mythomaniac’s paradise

It came time to pick up a growler. Not the kind of growler you read about on Urban Dictionary, but the kind of growler you can find at specialist beer shop Slowbeer.

I hadn’t been out of the house in two weeks except to go to the doctor so the chance to have breakfast out was indeed most welcome. I suggested Liar, Liar given it was in the area and has a reputation as a coffee house. Excuse the blurriness of the photo below, it was taken ‘discreetly’ whilst we were waiting to be seated.

coffee machine

I was pretty freaking famished and ordered the ‘big fat liar’ breakfast – eggs done the way you like with mushrooms, bacon, tomatoes, sausages, spinach and tomato relish. Probably the first time I’d had a full meal instead of the various tasteless things you have to have when you’re bedridden-sick. So bloody good. The mushrooms had a little oil and rosemary drizzled on them. I should have asked what sort of sausages they use as they’re very special.

big fat liar

Instead of having tea with breakfast, I opted to try a Tanzanian coffee through the Clover. I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but it was far too subtle…either it’s not to my taste or it wasn’t as good as it could be. It reminded me a bit of bad coffee-drinking days. Perhaps I need to give it another shot? I needed something a little more robust.

Tanzanian from Clover

Tris got the ‘pigs might fly’ breakfast – twice cooked pork hock, melted aged cheddar, rocket and seeded mustard on sourdough. You can pay a little extra for a fried egg too. I nearly chose this too! Doesn’t it look scrumptious?

pigs might fly

He also ordered coffee – a humble latte. Yes, I did just put the photo in ’cause it was awful purty…

pretty latte

I’ll be campaigning heavily for this place to become the ‘pre-growler fill’ haunt. There’s plenty of delicious sounding breakfast options (as well as lunch) and look forward to exploring the coffee choices available.

Ooh yes, and the growler. As well as picking up a stash of stout and porter (bottled), the beer on tap for growlers was the Brewdog Zeitgeist. Very, very sessionable and went down all too easily. The growler was drained in two days and that was with exercising restraint! A quick consult to ratebeer.com informed me that this is a schwartzbier – a nice dark beer with very little hop flavour and roast malt characteristics. See the growler and beer below.

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No wonder I loved the Zeitgeist so much – it’s the same style as the Rogue Dirtoir which was heavenly. It could be just the name but yes, there is a hint of dirt aroma there! Think freshly turned warm dirt in your garden. If stout and even porter is just a bit too ‘heavy’ for you, I’d recommend dark lager as your ‘gateway’ beer.

Liar, Liar on Urbanspoon

breakfast degustation, why aren’t more places doing it!

While we hadn’t officially met, Tresna and I had been conversing on Twitter and I’d found out through her updates that a place was offering a breakfast degustation. Doesn’t that sound like the best thing ever?! Breakfast that just stretches for courses and courses…mmm yes.

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So myself, Tresna and Ceri from Healthy Party Girl blog found ourselves at Monk Bodhi Dharma in Balaclava, just across the road from my beloved Local Taphouse. For $30 we would be served four courses with our choice of tea or coffee. It turned out that Tresna and Ceri had met at the Eat Drink Blog inaugural conference and were chatting like old friends when I arrived late. I am so out of sync when it comes to travelling in peak hour traffic by car, whoops.

The first course had just arrived when I did – an Algerian citrus cleanser paired with a Tunisian apple and celery salad. Close up, a shot glass of berry yoghurt with a miniature mint leaf. Various citrus fruits (mandarin, grapefruit, lemon) were used and then topped with a pomegranate seed. A very invigorating and healthy start to the North African themed breakfast.

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With our appetites very much whetted, we were greeted with a more substantial course next – a Moroccan mushroom harvest on flatbread with sumac goats’ cheese. As a largely happy omnivore, I don’t want to say that this dish was just like eating meat, but when I do say that, I mean that there are indeed vegetarian-only flavours that are highly pleasing to the omnivore palate. Mushrooms, for example are definitely up there, as are chickpeas which this dish also had. Lovely!

Moroccan mushroom harvest on flatbread with sumac goats' cheese

Time for some coffee! We all chose the syphon of the day, an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. A very subtle-flavoured coffee with touches of floral and maybe even some citrus notes? I’m just going on what I could taste as my coffee knowledge is sorely lacking. I drink more tea than I do coffee and found this well suited to me. I don’t really like my coffee to kick me in the nuts first thing in the morning!

syphon coffee of the day - Ethiopian Yirgacheffe

Before the next savoury course, we were given a tomato soup cleanser with miniature basil and advised to drink up our coffee before trying it. Gosh, this was so good – how can something so healthy taste so glorious! There were suggestions that it could be ‘spiced up’ with some vodka…ooh yes. An excellent pick-me-up.

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The spoils still haven’t stopped! Our last savoury course was a butterbean and baby asparagus tart with heirloom tomato salad and pomegranate lime dressing. The tart was creamy in texture and a great match to the acidity and sweetness of the mango chutney. The tomatoes were heavenly – sometimes vegetables with simple dressings are the best. At least, those are the sorts of salads I tend to prefer.

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Just one last course! A North African orange blossom rice pudding with an apple crumble in a beautiful tumbler. At first the rice pudding seemed a little stodgy, but duh me, that is what the shot glass of cream is for! Add that, stir and enjoy the dreamy texture. Don’t be afraid to mix, folks!

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The lovely barista chose a pourover for me as I couldn’t decide what coffee to have next – he gave me a full-bodied Kenyan (I confess the name wasn’t obvious to me…sorry about that!). This was very much the opposite to the Yirgacheffe we all started with – robust, rich and thicker.

Kenyan coffee pourover

Tresna sadly had to leave and missed out on Ceri and I nomming some truffles which brought our decadent breakfast degustation to a close. From right to left, you have your standard chocolate, in the middle is pistachio and the colourful one is candied fennel. How wonderfully unusual does that sound? It reminded me very much of anise or liquorice (which I happen to love, though I know a lot of people don’t).

truffles

Some fantastic food on offer here for the breakfast degustation and keen for a repeat visit. If you are interested in trying the degustation, do note that you should allow an hour and a half (though they can start at 7.30am) and it’s only offered on Thursdays and Fridays. If you’re vegan, not to worry – dairy substitutes are available (Ceri in fact requested vegan substitutes). Be warned, you might not have space for lunch later in the day!

You can also read Ceri’s account of the breakfast at her blog. I’m sure all three of us can attest that it was worth getting up early for – this coming from the worst morning person ever.

Monk Bodhi Dharma on Urbanspoon

lightning-fast ramen hunt

A while back a bunch of Melbourne food bloggers got together and hunted around for Melbourne’s best ramen. If Twitter’s not playing up, you can probably find live updates of these adventures by doing a search for the hashtag #ramenhunters.

Momo Sushi

I finally had long enough for lunch up the road from my work and decided to check out a place called Momo Sushi on Swanston Street. I’ve walked past it countless times and never been able to have sushi. When I finally made it, the sushi offerings were scant as it was past the lunch rush. I took a punt on the place’s chashu ramen instead.

charsiu ramen

To be honest, it was pretty disappointing as far as great examples of ramen go. The noodles were unremarkable, the meat (shredded, rather than finely sliced) was so chewy that it made eating a chore. However, it came out very quickly. I slugged it down quickly like my old Japanese coworkers used to slurp their noodles. I still can’t quite do it as well as them.

The highlight was the coffee. This tiny, modern place has a goddamn Synesso and someone who actually knows how to use it! After my lunch, I had a soy latte to take away. Not quite as rad as my Seven Seeds Magic fix (sadly, Seven Seeds is just a little too far to walk to get work coffee).

Given the name of the eatery, I vowed to return to get some serious sushi action. I’m not a big fan of the whole cooked fillings in nori rolls schtick, so I went two rolls of raw salmon (oi! Don’t knock the classics, you hear?) and one nori-wrapped onigiri. Beautifully fresh and way better than the prepared pizza lunch work had organised for everyone, I thought slightly snobbishly, hehe. I don’t recommend having onigiri if you’re sloshed, however. Refer to the photos below for eludication…

don't get this when you're drunk

opening is a three-step process!

Don’t worry, it’s a rewarding experience and worth the effort.

salmon onigiri

I couldn’t really contain myself and ordered a large soy latte and said to the barista that their coffee was fucking awesome. He beamed and told me he’s a big coffee geek and the blend I was drinking was a four-bean blend with Guatamalan coffee and hints of barley. His planned one for the day after was a three-bean blend. If you’re in the area, stop by, grab some coffee and fresh sushi and have a chat to the barista, he’s lovely. It erks me that they’re cash-only but I can harden up and get organised beforehand.

Momo Sushi on Urbanspoon