Eating Around Melbourne - The Sweet Edition

I know guys. It's already been almost three months since my Melbourne trip and I still haven't finished reviewing everything. Some of the best memories of the recent Melbourne foodventures were the unique sweet offerings that you won't find in Sydney...yet.


DOUGHBOY DOUGHNUTS

While it's currently no longer located upstairs within the Queen Victoria Markets, you can find them stocked at various cafes around Melbourne including The Kettle Black, Top Paddock, Fifty Acres, Axil Coffee Roasters (to name a few) depending on the day. According to their website, they will be opening a new location on Bourke Street in the near future. After spending at least five minutes staring at the doughnuts, my pick of the whole lot was the Bullseye. While there was that sweet, tangy and fruity flavour from the berry compote, you just can't resist the vanilla bean icing and the soft shortbread crumble.

Bullseye Doughnut ($5.50)

Doughboy Doughnuts
535 Bourke Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 (opening soon)
http://www.doughboysdoughnuts.com.au/



SHORTSTOP COFFEE AND DONUTS

Till now, I am still craving for the doughnuts at Shortstop. You can find different types of doughnuts here ranging from raised (pillowy, buttery and slightly chewy), filled, cake and cruller. While there's the usual faves like vanilla bean and cinnamon and sugar (with cardamon); you can also find the more unusual flavours such as New Orleans Iced Coffee, Earl Grey and Rose, Boston Cream and Macademia and Orange Blossom. This time, I went out hard and ordered the whole lot...then carried that box with me around Melbourne for the next hour an a half till I stopped back at the hotel before moving onto Fitzroy. Their churro-textured "Cruller" are a must have for its flakey yet soft taste as you bite into them. Will definitely come back here next time! Craving right now!

L-R: Vanilla Bean, Earl Grey and Rose, Hazelnut Chocolate and Banana  

"Cruller" Donuts: New Orleans Iced Coffee, Australian Honey and Sea Salt 

Shortstop Coffee and Donuts
12 Sutherland Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
http://www.short-stop.com.au/
Mon-Fri: 7:30am - 4:30pm
Sat-Sun: 9:30am - 4:30pm
 


LUXBITE

We all remember the 7-layered lolly bag cake on Masterchef? Well I felt like a kid in a candy store when I stepped inside this wonderful place located on Toorak Road, pretty much the busiest street of South Yarra (it took FOREVER to get off the tram with all that traffic). Not only are these cakes, macarons and tarts so pretty, many of them are gluten free! Yesss. You can also find the cake tarts at its sister branch 'T by Luxbite' on Flinders Lane in Melbourne CBD on If only this is in Sydney. But then, considering the amount of Melbourne eateries branching out to Sydney lately, one can only hope. I'll let the pictures do all the talking. 

Endless Love - Lychee ganache, rose cream, lychee, fresh raspberries

Lolly Bag Cake

Chocolate Easter Freckles Macaron (available for Easter only...sorry)

Luxbite
38 Toorak Road, South Yarra VIC 3141
(03) 9867 5888
http://luxbite.com.au/
Mon-Sun: 10:30am - 7:00pm
 



BURCH AND PURCHESE SWEET STUDIO

Chocolate, Hazelnut and Salted Caramel Tart

Apart from the high end shopping, South Yarra sure love their sweets. This store has more focus on chocolate with their cake creations and the signature tube desserts. Still felt like a kid in a candy store. Was getting into a sweet coma by this point of the day and sadly many of the treats here were best to have in store than takeaway so didn't savour as much as I would have liked. Though the chocolate, hazelnut and salted caramel tart was scrumptious in its sweet and salty way. Again, I'll let the photos do the talking.

Burch and Purchese Sweet Studio
647 Chapel Street, South Yarra VIC 3141
(03) 9827 7060
http://www.burchandpurchese.com/
Mon-Sun: 10:00am - 6:30pm
 

This concludes my many recaps of my April 2015 Melbourne trip. I hope you enjoyed looking at the food porn as I did. Hopefully there will be more Melbourne trips coming up soon later this year so I can get into Huxtaburger, The Kettle Black, Top Paddock, Proud Mary, Patricia Coffee Brewers, Duke Coffee Roasters, Chin Chin etc. Otherwise, there's always next year... 

My idea of shopping!

Single O CBD Launch Event, Sydney CBD

If you are a CBD worker and a fan of the coffee from Single Origin Roasters but you don't have the time to check out its original Surry Hills cafe and the Botany branch, you will be very pleased to hear that it has now opened its doors on York Street in Sydney CBD. Unlike the other branches, Single O CBD is take away only, although you can chill out in the standing area on the side of the cafe.

Kombucha on tap - finger lime and ginger infused ($4.50)

Regular tea samples were offered at the counter throughout the evening. Apparently, Single O CBD is the first cafe in Sydney to offer the Japanese inspired Kombucha tea and the Cascara coffee cherry tea. While the Kombucha had a sparkling and slightly sweet flavour, the Cascara was bold, deep and intense. For the Single Origin coffee lovers, the cafe is currently serving their Reservoir blend (great with milk-based coffees), plus selected blends from Columbia, Tanzania and Ethiopia as well as the "filter of the week" for something a bit more random.

Sparkling Cascara on tap - coffee cherry tea ($4.50)

All the guests were treated to samples of delicacies that will be on offer at the cafe. My personal faves include their ham, cheese and pickled veg toastie, the mini bacon and egg rolls, braised beef sliders and the espresso buttered banana bread.

"Mr Croque" - leg ham, cheddar bechamel, pickled veg toastie ($11.00)

Avocado, fetta, cherry tomatoes, rye toast ($12.00)

A variation of the "Breakkie box" - poached eggs, flatbread, coriander salad, hummus ($12.00)

Braised beef cheek, pickles, slaw, brioche bun ($15.00)

Bacon roll, red eye mayo, fried egg, tomato apple ketchup ($12.00)

Banana bread, espresso butter ($6.00)

Thanks to the neighbouring bar "The Barbershop", we were also treated to their salted caramel espresso martini. There's a strong sense of coffee in this cocktail with a hint of sweet stickiness from the salted caramel. Sadly this isn't on the menu but I'm pretty sure The Barbershop will be happy to make it for you if you ask.

Salted Caramel Espresso Martini (not available at Single O CBD)

It's quite easy to miss Single O CBD due to its tiny space, but that's what makes hole in the wall cafes special. While the menu is limited, the cafe does all day breakfast, which is a major bonus if you don't have time to stop for a quick breakkie in the morning. My only qualm at this stage is that they do not have skim milk in case that's how you prefer your milk (which rules out nearly everyone at my office). Hopefully it will show up once the cafe settles in its new location. Despite that, it's a great way to discover or rediscover the excellent 3-cup awarded coffee that Single Origin Roasters has to offer in this side of the city.

Disclaimer 1: The Random Foodie attended the Single O CBD Launch Night as a guest. 
Disclaimer 2: The sample serving size of the food in this post does not reflect the actual size of the food served at the cafe. Prices reflect on the full size of the above menu items offered at the cafe.

Single O CBD
89 York Street, Sydney NSW 2000
(02) 9279 2677
Mon-Fri: 6:30am - 4:00pm
 

Eating Around Melbourne - The Coffee Edition and Queen Victoria Market

For those who followed me on Instagram or know me personally, yes this Melbourne trip happened back in April. Yes, it's harder for me to remember how everything tasted back then. But I still want to share these moments to the rest of you...even though my recollection may not be as strong. And yes my backlog is bad right now thanks to full time work, gym, various social outings, tiredness after work, and a horrible addiction to endless episodes of 'If You Are the One'...

Sadly for myself, I had to arrive late on Friday due to work so I didn't end up going to as many as I hoped especially when other plans were in the works and some had to return to Sydney very early on Sunday. While everyone was planning to go on a trip outside of Melbourne, I decided to stay and continue my foodie journey on my own.And you know what? It is actually not as bad as you may think! So this post will be basically a collection of mini reviews (or should I say adventures?) that I've had in roaming around solo in Melbourne CBD, South Yarra and Fitzroy. Heck it's better than a $65 banquet at a single fine dining restaurant and you're still hungry (sorry guys :p). This post will be about my many coffee adventures in two days as well as a trip to the markets to clear my head in the morning.

QUEEN VICTORIA MARKET

One of the sights that I regret missing out on last year's Melbourne trip was a visit to the famous Queen Victoria Market. Thankfully this was the first thing on my agenda for this trip. While there were aisles of second hand clothing, flowers, and of course groceries; the section that caught my eye the most was the deli and cheese. Since it is one of Melbourne's main attractions, it was no surprise how chaotic it really was when I was trying to walk around (sorry about the pics). 

So much meat and cheese on display. There's also a few stalls dedicated to fresh and dried Italian pastas, sweets and a few popular takeaway delicacies such as "borek" and "bum burner" (I believe this was extremely spicy sausage...looks like it. The only thing that saddened me a bit was that there wasn't many stalls doing cheese tastings...though I guess you could ask the people selling it. Otherwise, you could easily spend many hours walking around the whole market. You can even grab a doughnut at the American Doughnuts van parked at the markets.

BROTHER BABA BUDAN

Not long after this, I was already in need of a caffeine hit. Brother Baba Budan is one of those really tiny cafes where you can get a quick coffee or a sweet snack whether it's for a quick take away or a sit down to chill...if you can get a table. Despite the little space, there were hoards of people crowded inside but that was part of the vibe of BBB. It's signature clutter of chairs stuck to the ceiling was an eye catching moment.

Skim Latte ($4.00)

It was actually thanks to this coffee spot that I discovered how much I really lie lattes. While they use their own house made coffee beans, they also source coffee from their equally renowned sister cafe, Seven Seeds. The latte itself had a smooth and light texture with a fruity aroma. It also still had enough intensity for that caffeine hit without that strong, bitter flavour. It's a busy yet lovely hangout which has that unique, funky atmosphere that makes it look so...Melbourne! (*facepalm*).

Brother Baba Budan
359 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
(03) 9606 0449
Mon-Fri: 7:00am - 6:00pm
Sat: 7:00am - 5:00pm
Sun: 8:00am - 5:00pm
  


MANCHESTER PRESS

Literally just around the corner from Brother Baba Budan in a hidden laneway was Manchester Press. I was slowly getting hungry but since it was just me roaming around the city (while everyone was off to the hot springs at the Peninsuila), I sadly knew I had to be a tad selective. Operator25 was on my mind and around the area so...I got ANOTHER COFFEE. Plus the queues were quite busy. If you love your bagels, this place is certainly worth the wait with its varied selection of toppings to choose from. Interestingly, by the time I've finish ordering my coffee, the queues have moved quickly but alas, too late. As for the mocha, it was not too sweet with a good amount of bitterness. I believe they use the coffee beans from Coffee Cartel Roasters so there was a more roasted flavour. Oh yeah, that was my third coffee of the day. Booyah.

Skim Mocha ($3.80)

Manchester Press
8 Rankins Lane, Melbourne VIC 3000
(03) 9600 4054 http://www.facebook.com/manchesterpress/
Mon-Fri: 7:00am - 5:00pm
Sat-Sun: 9:00am - 5:00pm
 


OPERATOR25

Skim Mocha 

At the time of my visit, Operator25 has been one of the hottest cafes with countless fellow Sydney bloggers and instagrammers also making visits there this year so I knew I had to make a visit while I'm in this part of Melbourne. Interestingly, instagram was flooded with pictures of the food here from fellow Melbourne foodies. Turns out that they only just released their Autumn/Winter seasonal menu on that same weekend. Got yet another mocha, which was also decent quality. Coincidentally, they also use Cartel just like Manchester Press but the mocha had a smoother texture at Operator25. Didn't want to drink the coffee at first because of the look of that coffee art.

Balinese Pulled Pork Burger with sweet potato wedges ($20.00)

One of the dishes I tried was the Balinese Pulled Pork Burger. Looking back, I'm not sure why I chose that dish especially when checking the menu again and spotting a few other dishes that I would have ordered instead. Probably due to my usual indecisiveness and asking the staff for recommendations. The pulled pork had an overly strong flavour possibly from the various seasoning in the meat combined chilli mayo, cabbage and carrot slaw in the filling. The saving grace was the gooeyness from the fried egg as well as the crispy and not-too-salty sweet potato wedges. I'm guessing this wasn't the right dish for me but I'm still keen to make a return to try one of their other dishes depending on the schedule.

Operator25
25 Wills Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
http://www.operator25.com.au/
(03) 9670 3278
Mon-Fri: 7:00am - 4:00pm
Sat-Sun: 9:00am - 4:00pm
 


BOWERY TO WILLIAMSBURG

On our last day in Melbourne, AC and T wanted to go to Passionflower while I was keen to try one more eatery. Unfortunately my original plan for a takeaway at Huxtaburger on Collins Street was way too far from where my friends were. So I settled on a quick and final coffee fix at the very hidden and hard to find Bowery to Williamsburg on Oliver Lane. The interior has a more American - New York metro style from the decor as well as some of the items on the menu such as the Reuben Sandwich, Philly cheese sandwich, bagels and melts. They also have a salad bar if you're are up for clean eating. 

Skim Mocha ($4.50)

The coffee at Bowery to Williamsburg was made with Padre coffee beans from Brunswick and served with a complimentary Hershey's Kisses chocolate! The flavour had a stronger, bitter flavour with its texture leaning on the more robust, grainy and rustic side compared to the other mochas. Whih is good sine it gave me enough energy to last for the rest of the day without any extra caffeine hits.

 Bowery to Williamsburg
16 Oliver Lane, Melbourne VIC 3000
(03) 9077 0162
Mon-Sat: 7:30am - 3:00pm
Sun: 8:30am - 3:00pm
 

Stay tuned for more Melbourne recaps coming up soon on The Random Foodie including more savoury and even more sweet eats!