Queen’s Birthday Weekend – Legacy, Camberwell

I hope all my Dear Reader’s in Melbourne have enjoyed the Queen’s Birthday long weekend 🙂 Mr Bao and I had a lovely weekend catching up with friends and spending time with our little puppy. As a weekend ritual we always go out for brunch and this time we ended up going to Legacy in Camberwell nice and close to home. They are owned and run by the same owners as Collective Espresso and Mob Espresso.

It was a very cold morning probably 13 or so degrees outside, but for Cupcake we still decided to sit outside and wear 4 layers of clothing plus a jacket and scarf. Now this is what I call love haha! The staff were wonderfully friendly and attentive.

My Two Boys

Chilli Mocha $4.6

Because it was so cold, I ordered something a little different, this is the chilli mocha. I’ve never heard of this combination before, it’s usually chocolate and chilli which I love and now with the addition of coffee. It was surprisingly nice and very comforting with the hint of heat from the chilli. Great combination and I hope more places will start offering this 🙂

Latte $3.9

Mr Bao ordered a latte which is a single origin (Sorry I forgot the country it’s from!) but it did had floral notes and quite light tasting. The latte art is also beautiful here!

Full House $23

We definitely eat more when it’s cold! Mr Bao needed a big and hearty brunch, he ordered the Full House with Kaiser bacon, field mushrooms, spinach, cherry vine tomatoes, potato rosti, sourdough toast and poached eggs.

You know I can’t resist a good yolk porn shot 😛 So here it is! We enjoyed all the ingredients and everything was cooked so well, our favourite was definitely the potato rosti that was made from grated potato. It was fried so the outside was so crispy but inside still stayed soft. You can’t see the Kasier bacon in this photo but it had great flavour without being too salty.

Legacy Buttermilk fried chicken $19

Another thing I can’t resist is fried chicken especially if it’s buttermilk because it means the chicken stays tender and moist. The fried chicken was placed in a brioche bun with charred corn slaw, mustard and sriracha mayo. Honestly, can’t fault this burger! The fried chicken was absolutely divine!

I forgot to share with you the amazing dessert/pastry cabinet I was staring at from the moment we got to the cafe. I’ve heard from Ash (Im So Hungree) that they make their own donuts and that I must try some! I am kicking myself for not asking the waiter to put some aside for me, as I missed out on the Salted caramel and the white chocolate and Reeses Peanut Butter cup one! Guess that just gives me another excuse to come back ~

Nutella Donut $5

Instead I got the filled donut with Nutella filled up to the top and covered in icing sugar, unlike some of the other donut outlets in Melbourne now. These are still fried donuts but definitely not oily with a slightly dense texture.

 

Can anyone resist a Nutella donut?! Seriously 🙂 I know I can’t hehe

Raspberry Poppyseed Donut $5

Surprisingly Mr Bao agreed to get another donut and he chose the Raspberry poppyseed which had a lovely deep rose colour. Raspberry flavours were strong with hints of poppy seed, a nice combination of flavours and I usually see poppyseed with orange ~

Another great cafe by the guys from MOB and Collective Espresso. The interior is a little more modern than the other two cafes, but food is definitely on par. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and I’m starting to get worried that it will soon be too popular for us to get a table on the weekends! 🙂 Note to self MUST TRY White chocolate Reeses Donut!

Legacy Camberwell
347 Camberwell Road
Camberwell
Melbourne
PH: 9041 1796
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Legacycamberwell

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Hong Kong Egg Waffles – Baba Sus

My Dearest Reader’s as you know my family lives in Hong Kong and I go back regularly, and every time I go back I will get Hong Kong style egg waffles. It’s actually getting harder to find them in Hong Kong as they’re not being sold on the street anymore. So I was quite excited when Michelle (The Bakeanista)  told me a new Asian inspired cafe Baba Sus was serving these egg waffles.

Baba Sus is one of those hidden cafes that you would not have found if unless you were specifically looking for them. However, it is actually very close to Burwood Train station and is adjacent to an apartment complex. The cafe has great ambience with cute retro chairs and wooden tables.

Matcha Latte $4

I actually visited Baba Sus with a friend who was visiting from Hong Kong, I’m glad she doesn’t mind coming with me because I know she’s has plenty of Egg Waffles back home. Another reason why I wanted to visit was because of their matcha (Japanese Green Tea) latte. It has great colour and also latte art which I have heard is hard to make on a matcha latte. Even though it wasn’t very strong it was made well especially with a teaspoon of sugar to bring out the flavour 🙂

Teddy Bear cappuccino $3.6

My friend ordered a cappuccino and we were so surprised to see a teddy bear face! It’s so cute that we didn’t even want to drink and ruin the latte art! Very impressive ~ I will even come back just for this cute face hehe

Japanese Chicken Caesar $17

We ordered two dishes to share, the first was this Japanese Chicken Caesar with sweet soy chicken (teriyaki) cos lettuce, pancetta crisp, salted ricotta, soft boil egg and gribiche sauce. I am a sucker for yolk pork shots haha so this definitely got me squealing. Although this is a really simple dish, it was the perfect light refreshing lunch dish.

Pork Luck $17

We then ordered a richer dish the “Pork Luck” twice cooked pork belly, apple balsamic, vermicelli and watermelon salon topped with candied walnuts. Another great dish, the pork was very crispy on the outside, it still remained tender inside and not too stringy. I was a little skeptical about the watermelon salad at first, but it complimented the pork very well with the sweetness.

Hong Kong Egg Waffles $14

Now let’s have a look at the Hong Kong egg waffles with Vanilla custard, green tea ice-cream, berry compote and pistachio praline. Another very pretty dish with all the different colours, I also found the egg waffle to be bigger than the ones we have in Hong Kong. The texture of the waffle was softer and more dense, I really enjoyed the addition of the vanilla custard inside. But I found the green tea ice-cream to be a little bland, and perhaps would have been a better match with vanilla or salted caramel ice cream.

Magic $3.6

To end this great brunch I got a Magic (double ristretto) once again latte art was perfect and the house blend had wonderful floral notes. I had such a great time catching up with Kennise and thoroughly enjoyed all the dishes at Baba Sus. Now I just need to find time to drag Mr Bao back again with me!

Allow me to share another photo of the Egg Waffle because it’s so beautiful!

Baba Sus
15-17 Bardolph St
Glen Iris
Victoria 3146
PH: 9939 6141
W: http://babasus.com.au

Warm breakfast matcha waffle – Di Bella Coffee

Matcha Waffle

Happy Sunday my Dearest Readers 🙂 For those of us in Melbourne, I’m sure you can feel how cold it has been! But it’s not even June yet, I thought it was Autumn and we were going to ensure some nice chilly but still sunny days. And when it’s so cold, I have great difficulty waking up in the morning and that’s when coffee becomes my BFF (Best Friend Forever!).

Di Bella Coffee

Recently Di Bella Coffee sent me some coffee and asked if I would like to share a warm breakfast recipe that I enjoy on a cold winter morning. So I took this idea and started brain storming a lot of ideas, lets start with – bacon and eggs, porridge, pancakes or then a light bulb lit up WAFFLES! Especially since I’ve only used my waffle machine once oops 😛

I only then realised there are actually so many variations of waffles you can make. But for those who know me you know I will never pass the chance of making something green meaning Matcha (Japanese Green Tea). These matcha waffles were quite easy to make and the colour combinations were so pretty, green from the matcha, red from the raspberry and yellow from the honey.

 

 

The waffles are best served warm so I think it’s perfect for a cold morning when cereal and milk just wont do ~ And quickly about Di Bella Coffee they are used by many cafes Nationally around Australia such as all ‘In A Rush’ cafes or you can purchase online. I like how you are able to choose how fine the coffee beans are grounded for instance, I chose the ‘plunger’ type meaning I don’t need to ground it myself at home.

I am a matchaholic so I like a strong matcha flavour so I might add even more matcha next time I make these waffles, but I was really pleased with the texture soft, sponge and not dry 🙂 Hope you will like them too!

Recipe – Matcha Waffles adapted from Just Simple Eat
Yield – 5-7 waffles depending on Waffle Machine

Ingredients 
2 cups (300g) Plain flour
2 tablespoon (40g) matcha (Japanese Green Tea powder)
2 tablespoon (40g) caster sugar
1 tablespoon baking power
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup (430ml) milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 table (60ml) Vegetable oil
Handful raspberries and honey to serve

Notes
– I used about 3 tablespoons of matcha because I like it strong, but it’s completely up to you 🙂
– I prefer to use full cream milk because I think it gives the waffles a more buttery flavour
– Feel free to use an electric waffle machine or one over the stove
– Refrigerating the mixture will make the mixture thicker and keep its shape when you cook it.

Method
1) Sift plain flour, matcha, baking power, sugar and salt into a large mixing bowl, ensure everything is combined well.
2) In another bowl whisk the wet ingredients – milk, eggs, vanilla extract and vegetable oil.
3) Poor wet mixture into mixing bowl with the dry ingredients and whisk vicariously until it’s smooth with no lumps.
4) Cover and refrigerate for 10mins or even longer night. Whisk mixture again before cooking waffle.
5) Heat electric waffle machine and follow instructions from waffle manufacturer.
6) Serve warm with fresh raspberries and honey.

Enjoy for breakfast!

This is a sponsored post by Di Bella Coffee, however, recipe and opinions are all honest. 

Doggy Date – Mr Hendricks

I never need an excuse to go out for brunch because I simply adore going out on the weekends and enjoying a hearty breakfast and good cup of coffee. But now that I’ve got Cupcake it’s another reason to catch up with other canine loving friends 😀 One of these friends is Joanna (The Hangry Bitch)   we haven’t been very well in catching up this year, the last time I saw her was in March or even February! We both have busy schedules, we finally set a date and decided to catch up for brunch at Mr Hendricks with her dachshund Danny, boyfriend The Angmoh and Mr Bao.

I have been so excited about visiting Mr Hendricks, as there are not that many cafes in my area so when Winnie (Eat Play Shop) recommended it and visited twice in a short period of time, it was immediately on the top of my list! I started off with a Soy chai latte and they use Prana chai meaning its the real deal made out of tea leaves and not powder 😉

Soy Chai $4

They use Padre coffee here and Mr Bao ordered his usual Magic (double Ristretto), he commented that the coffee might have been a tad warm and not as fruity as he preferred but still a very good cup of coffee.

Magic $3

Moving onto the food, Jo’s boyfriend The Angmoh ordered the House toasted granola with strawberry and rhubarb compote and vanilla yoghurt. Unfortunately, he said that there was too much compote and yoghurt which drenched the toasted granola making it a little soggy.

House Toasted Granola with Vanilla Yoghurt $12.5

Jo ordered the tempera Soft Shell Crab burger with fennel, radish, cabbage, avocado and kewpie mayonnaise. It smelt so wonderfully good and I’m pretty sure the bun is a brioche bun which makes it all the better 😀 However, it does look a little lonely without any sides, so it might have been good to have a little salad or chips on the side.

Soft Shell Crab $16.50

I was tossing and turning between the Crispy eggs or the Croque Madame, I decided to go with the eggs because I love anything with sweet potato. You can’t really see the ham hock in this photo as it’s covered up by the fennel and radish salad, but it was tasty and tender.

Crispy Eggs with ham hock and sweet potato puree $18

I’ve always wondered how they cooked these eggs, to make it crispy on the outside but still runny inside. I mean look at how perfect these eggs were! I can’t even make boiled eggs without my egg cooker hehe

Perfect eggs!

Mr Bao was hungry (please note he’s always hungry haha) he got the Breakfast Cassolet with confit duck, toulouse sausage, persillade, ham hock and fried eggs. It’s not common to find a duck dish on a brunch menu so I found that quite interesting and this was definitely more a lunch dish as its big in size and rather rich.

Breakfast Cassolet with confit duck $21

I’m glad Jo has a sweet tooth too, because who else would share the Brioche french toast with me. This was a thick piece of brioche with vanilla poached pears, caramel sauce and double cream. It was a little too sweet and rich for Jo, while I thought it was just right. Having said that…I would have wanted a little more caramel sauce yes more 😛 and replaced double cream with ice-cream hmmm I can just imagine and how everything will go with each other!

Brioche French Toast with vanilla poached pears, caramel sauce $14.50

Had such a wonderful catch up with Jo, The Angmoh and how could we forget Danny! He was so well behaved and more settled compared to Cupcake who was jumping all over him and everyone who walked past haha

Danny!!!

I really enjoyed Mr Hendricks and so happy that they have opened up in close to my area 🙂 We don’t have any options so it’s lovely to find another local gem! Will definitely be coming back again very soon and might become a regular as they are very dog friendly and staff are attentive. Next time I WANT the waffles!!!

Hydrangea Cottage and Stefano Cafe Bakery – Mildura Part 1

As promised my Dearest Readers 🙂 I’m sharing with you part one of our Mildura weekend away, work has been absolutely insane, leaving me no time to do what I love most and that’s blogging but I’ve managed to squeeze some time out because we had such an amazing time.

Mr Bao and I have traveled quite a bit together, however, this was Cupcake’s first trip and he was going to go on the plane with us! I was actually quite nervous because I’ve never had a done before let alone organise his plane ride, fortunately it turned out to be rather simple and Virgin Airlines was really helpful. I won’t go into too much detail but if you would like to know more, please feel free to drop me an email 🙂

After a short one hour flight we have arrived in Mildura! Oh yes before I forget, for overseas Readers Mildura is a rural city on the boarder of New South Wales and Victoria, it is known for their local produce especially oranges, wine and of course FOOD! That’s one of the main reasons why we decided to visit ~  I was so happy to see the blue skies as we walked onto to the tarmac.

We picked up our rental car, punched the address of the house were staying into the GPS and off we went. We were welcomed by more perfect weather, this photo has not been filtered or edited in any way, I love the reflection of the blue skies in the Murray River ~

Source: Hydrangea Cottage

This is our home for the next 4 days, a self-contained two bedroom cottage only a short 5 minute drive from the city centre of Mildura. Once again, I wasn’t sure if it was going to be difficult to find pet-friendly accommodation, so I was glad when Hydrangea Cottages allowed dogs to stay and also inside the house. The pets are not allowed on sofa or beds as it is hard to remove pet hair, but there is a large pet sofa right outside the toilet. The cottage had everything we asked for, clean bedsheets, tidy kitchen, TV in lounge room. But what really impressed us was the bowls and toys for dogs. Our only complaint was the house only had heating in the lounge room, and our room was a little cold at night. Electric blankets were provided yet I think it would’v been better if there was a portable heater available.

After settling in, we were all feeling a little hungry so off we went to our first food stop! I did some research and knew Stefano De Pieri was the name in Mildura ~ we managed to go to all his food outlets but missed out trying the food at the Mildura Brewery at least we got some nice beers.

With Cupcake with us, we decided to take a seat outside, but you can see that the restaurant is rather spacious inside. The weather was still lovely with blue skies, but it was a little chilly and probably colder than I expected. Because I was told by friends who have lived in Mildura before that it was supposed to be warmer than Melbourne.

Latte $ 3.8

When travelling I can never go without my 3 essentials and that’s my sunnies, coffee and camera (which I was obviously using to take this photo :P). I forgot to ask what coffee they use here but I’m going to make a wild guess and think it’s Genovese because I’m sure I’ve had this coffee before, it was probably a tad too warm for our liking but great full bodied flavour.

Beef cheek lasagne with salad $16.90

I chose the beef cheek lasagne as I felt like something comforting, it came in a small Tapas bowl and served with a little garden salad on the side. Between the lasagne sheets was a thick Bachemel sauce sandwiched with slow cooked beef cheek and topped with tomato sauce and parmesan cheese.

The beef cheek was cooked until it’s so tender, flavours were wonderful and definitely filled me up. While Mr Bao said that the serving size was a little small and slightly cold, however, this may because we were sitting outside and I took my time taking photos ~ Either way great idea to use beef cheek as the meat inside a lasagne.

Pulled pork burger with coleslaw and sweet potato chips $23

Mr Bao chose the pulled pork burger with coleslaw inside and sweet potato chips on the side. The brioche bun was lightly toasted, with the soft pulled pork. I found it wasn’t as tender as the beef cheeks, and lacked a little seasoning. The sweet potatoes were a favourite of ours, it was the thick cut type with the soft centre. We did find it to be a little overpriced for a small burger at $23.

I think Cupcake wanted a bite of the burger too hahaha but too bad puppies can’t eat human food. I nearly gave in to those eyes!

Coffee cake with cream cheese frosting $7

Couldn’t leave without something sweet especially since it was close to 3pm, and I haven’t had my sweet fix. We chose two, first being this coffee cake with cream cheese frosting because I knew Mr Bao would appreciate it. It was three layers of coffee sponge caked with cream frosting in between and cacao powder sprinkled on top. A very moist and lightly dense cake the way I think coffee cakes should be ~

Vanilla Slice $7

The waitress also recommended the Vanilla slice which is one of their best sellers and I grabbed the last slice before it was sold out 🙂 I’m so glad I did, because this became the high light of the mean, the crisp puff pastry on top and bottom with a luscious rich vanilla custard between. I definitely wouldn’t mind having this again or getting the recipe!

Overall, we enjoyed at visit to Stefano Cafe Bakery, surprisingly though the sweets outshined the savoury, can’t wait to share with you our visit to Stefano’s restaurant which will soon be renamed as Jim McDougall soon ~

With our sunnies, matching leader jackets (even Cupcake!) we were ready to go and explore Mildura! Until the next post have a wonderful day and even better weekend 😀