Showing posts with label Victoria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Victoria. Show all posts

6/10/2020

Nutrition Station, Niddrie, Melbourne (permanently closed)

Fresh good quality food. The staff is helpful and customize meals without fuss. Friendly atmosphere. I had a veggie burger with sweet potato chips and it was quite lovely. However, the placed lacked ambience or character. Despite the place being semi-empty, the service was unacceptably slow and the staff had limited English. The meal was also a bit tasteless and poorly seasoned. Overall, not worth my money. 
 


 

2/11/2020

12/09/2019

Biagio's, Niddrie, Melbourne

The place has an amazing vibe, atmosphere and old-European bar-cafe style that attracts patrons like bees to honey. The service is really friendly and accommodating, however, service is extremely slow even when the place is not even half-full and the food was average. I had a burger menu and the burger was burnt, the fries were dreadful and the burger was not really well assembled. I haven't returned since, and the good looks will never satisfy my belly.

8/08/2019

Publique Bakery, Preston Market, Preston Vic

I have been there three times and ordered different pastries. All are fantastic. My fav are the chocolate twisters, totally fab, but everything I've bought from there have been great. Danish are wonderful! The place is a small dispatch, but the guys behind the counter are really nice . Pastries have a great price for their quality. Good coffee The place is inside the Preston Market and, although there is a pubic seating area in front of it, it would be great having something more secluded and a bit more charming. For the rest, this is my go-to pastry place in Preston. 
 

12/15/2018

Short Black (Camberwell Vic)

3.5/5 
This a all-round Italian cafe, with ample premises and comfortable seating area, patrons of all ages and a large Italian and Australian classics menu, with generous servings. I had their hand-made chicken gnocchi with wine sauce and they were lovely, perhaps lacked a bit of finesse and were on the pricey side. Their earl-grey tea was great. I enjoyed my visit.

Port Of Call (Sandringham Vic)

This is really a great cafe, at a walking distance from the railway station. The place itself is very trendy, spacious, comfortable and has many different seating areas.

They have a large menu appealing menu, something that really excites me.

I ordered the chermullah chicken warm salad, and wow! Fabulous, really. Great mix of flavours, textures and overall a yummy dish. I thought the baked chicken was a tiny-bit drier than it should, but not really dry. Nicely plated, and the portion was generous, too.

I ordered one of their cold teas, the sparkly Toddy, and at 7 bucks the glass I thought it was a waste of my money, as it tasked basically of carbonated water, not much flavour. I thought it would be better with just ice cubes or the hot version, because this sparkly one is totally forgettable.

I loved their ambience, colour scheme, and upbeat music. I'll be back.
 

 

12/03/2018

Legacy (Camberwell, Vic)

I went out of my way to visit this place due to the high ratings. Based on what I got, the food is mediocre, portions small and my eggs were badly poached, almost hard inside, not runny at all. The kimchi hash was really good, nothing I have tried before and I really enjoyed it. The chorizo was just a thin slice of it, one. Overall, forgettable.

Good coffee.

The staff were genuinely friendly, accommodating and very attentive. In fact the staff were the best thing of my visit

The place is really vibrant and comfortable, with a great seating common area

Juno & May (Camberwell, Vic)

I had a pleasant visit for brunch recently. 

Juno & May's menu is large, varied and interesting. I had the sweet potato hash dish, and it was wonderfully presented, colourful and really generous in size. Overall was very nice, but lacking finesse. The hash was too dense to be a sweet potato hash, more like a gnocchi mix used as hash and with little sweet potato (or so it felt to me) and it was burned outside. There was a lot of thought about the mix of flavours put on the plate, but a bit of more thought on the textures of the different elements would have made the experience more enjoyable.

Nice coffee.

The place is really lovely, spacious and full of greenery. The ambience is quiet , relaxed and chatty, and, at least when I visited. Mum, grandma and family friendly. Perfect for a quiet pleasant catch-up during the week.

BurGround (Moonee Ponds, Vic)

I visited this place when they first opened and their burgers are really good, large and yummy! Their aioli, made in the house, is excellent. Their chips aren't crunchy enough for me, and forgettable. The staff were the kindest most loving people, really eager to please and very welcoming. The premises are ugly, sorry!, a bit too large, like a recycled shop that hasn't been properly furnished, so it lacked ambience.

11/17/2018

MOB (Camberwell, Vic)

Located in front of the Camberwell Sunday Market, this is a very vibrant large modern cafe serving healthy yummy food.

My smashed pumpkin (avocado is dead Melbourne!) with beetroot pure, goats cheese, crispy kale and poached egg on toast was fabulous. The serving portion was generous as well.

My coffee was also fab re taste and preparation; good body, strong flavour minus the bitterness. Hurrah!

Two main faults, there was a tiny egg in my breakky. If it had been a jumbo egg, I would understand, but this wasn't a jumbo egg, so why not adding two small eggs? I thought there wasn't enough animal protein in my dish. Of course, this is just my preference, and it might not be yours. The second downside was the size of the coffee cups, one of those I call doll-house-cups.

Service was fast and uber-friendly.
 
Standard prices.

Laurent Bakery (Camberwell, Vic)

I had one of the best cakes of the last two months in this branch of Laurent's. Le Jardin D'ete or summer garden wasn't only beautiful to look at, uber-fresh but also delicious, with many layers of yummy stuff and with the right amount of sugar. The place is really great, with many different areas: quickie family eat area, armchairs cosy classy corners, communal tables. I love the place. Service was fast and friendly but also distracted. I ordered an earl grey tea and got a green tea. No-no-and-no. Please listen to clients. I'll be back.

Hash Specialty Coffee (Camberwell, Vic)

The CBD Hash is one of my fav cafes in Melbourne, so I had great expectations about this cafe. Unfortunately, it falls short in all fronts if compared to the other Hash. As a stand alone cafe, this is a lovely place. The staff are really welcoming and genuinely friendly, the premises are very cool, and the menu is nice enough. My pumpkin croquettes on salsa were really lovely, as it was the coffee I had.

McDonald's (Flemington, Vic)

You know, when you to to Maccas you aren't expecting a gourmet burger or meal, right? Yet, not every Maccas is the same. I decided to review this place because my experience was really good here. The place was very clean, the staff were fast and friendly, and my burger was perfectly assembled, pretty as if for the races, and calling for a photo. The chips, however, were a bit too 'mashy' for my liking. If I had to repeat and go to another Maccas, this is the nicest one I've been in a long time!

Rococo (Hawthorn, Vic)

This is a family-friendly, all-rounder Italian restaurant that does well everything. They have a large menu with things you don't usually find in average Italian restaurants. Their food is tasty and their portions big -- size does matter to me. Even if you order just one dish, you won't leave hungry. My duck risotto was stupendous regarding flavour and the rice was perfectly cooked, not too chewy not too soft. Very friendly, attentive staff. Service can be on the slow side on weekends. A bit pricey.

Muharam Cafe (Hawthorn, Vic)

I had a great experience at this Middle-Eastern influenced cafe. I ordered one of their breakfast boards, which has a few samplings of everything. Everything was good, especially the fritter with avo, poached egg and accompanying capsicum salsa. The granola was yummy, too. The mini-croissant was average. Good coffee. The place is modern, clean lines and decor, and very vibrant. Some of the staff were really friendly, but others were totally the opposite. I visited late in the day, so it might be tiredness.

10/02/2018

Prospect Espresso (Camberwell, Vic)

I had a weekday visit to this place and was really pleased with everything. Very good coffee. Menu options were a bit disappointing, but the dish I had was very good regarding flavour; perhaps it lacked a bit of finesse, but was yummy nevertheless. The staff were really sweet and lovely. Service is friendly and relaxed. Small premises, intimate and cosy cafe. Great ambience music. Relaxed vibe overall.

Gloria Jean's Coffees (Highpoint Shopping Centre, Maribyrnong Vic)

I love Gloria Jeans flavoured coffees. The shop at Highpoint is really tiny, and not inviting to stay there for long, so perfect for takeaway. Not as nice or complete as other shops of the franchise. The staff are very hard-working and friendly, and service is always prompt, but paying 6+ bucks for a small flavoured coffee is a bit too much and really I doubt that I will go back.

Dumplings Plus (Highpoint Shopping Centre, Maribyrnong Vic)

I prefer this shop on the ground to the one on the 2nd floor in Highpoint. I like their steamed dumpling baskets; they are generous in size, fresh, and the filling is good. My fav dumplings are the chicken & ginger, and the prawn & chives. My main complain is that they tend to be over-steamed, so the dough gets a bit dry and sticky after being on the hot cabinet for a while. Also, I found big chunks of shell from the prawns inside the dumplings. Good cheap jasmine tea pots. Very friendly accommodating staff. If you cannot finish your dish, ask for a takeaway container! It has a very friendly staff, quick service and an ample seating area, however, the tables lacked small dishes to put the sauces.

Rustica (Hawthorn, Vic)

I've been here a couple of times, and I like the place. The menu, to be fair, wasn't that innovative, but if you do well what you offer, then you win me over easily. I had the Babaganush eggs and wow, I could not fault the dish. All the flavours worked beautifully together, a great mix of textures, the eggs were perfectly poached, and the whole ensemble was flawless. I felt tempted to lick the dish! I love Rustica doughnuts, they are sweet but not overly so, and full of flavour. Coffee is good. Fast service. My main complaints are the seating area itself, and the fact that the staff aren't especially friendly

9/22/2018

Shade Cafe (Hawthorn, Vic)

Coffee was really good. Food was nice, but not beyond nice, really; good serving portions, and good priced as well. However, it took about 15 minutes or so for my food to come out and, honestly, it was not worth the wait. The staff were really lovely but there was an evident lack of coordination and attention to detail. There were a good deal of patrons when I visited, but the place was not full by any means. This is a good addition to the Glenferrie coffee strip, but there are so many awesome cafes around that they need to step up their game if they want to survive.