Chocolate Rush - Melbourne Showgrounds

The dates of our weekend rendezvous just happened to collide with the Chocolate Rush Festival down in Melbourne. Although it was a huge hassle to get to Melbourne Showgrounds, my company and I trekked down anyway.

The festival was filled with chocolate companies offering samples - most being organic. Other than a hall full of these chocolate companies, there were free master classes. I think because we weren't sticking around for these classes - the festival was not as awesome as I had imagined.


So below are some chocolate stuff at the festival.

European - Melbourne

European

Having read about how awesome European is on the Breakfast Blog, I couldn't wait to check the place out. However, being overworked, tired and stressed Sydney-siders, having a weekend off means a sleep-in (for some of my friends) and so, by the time we managed to get to this place, it was already 11am and packed out. After a bit of a wait,we were offered our table and food and coffee was subsequently sampled.

Melbourne coffee somehow tastes better than Sydney ones. It's weird. It might just be because I live in Sydney. Although my mocha was a touch too chocolatey sweet, it was nonetheless smooth and creamy. What was disappointing, however, was the lack of coffee art. It was just all frothy and smooth - but art-less. *sighz* The sizes were also a touch too small. I swear I finished my caffeine-fix in just a few gulps.

Latte

Mocha

Cappaccino

Hot Chocolate

Wanting bacon, a few of my friends ordered the European ($17.50) - some with scrambled, some with poached eggs. In the European was eggs, bacon, a mushroom, tomato and really really crunchy toast. I managed to samply my friend's scrambled eggs and honestly, it was quite divine. Light and fluffy and mmm... yum~

European breakfast - $17.50

I also loved my bruschetta with roasted mushrooms, poached egg and roquette ($15.00). With a variety of mushrooms, lightly yet tastely herbed, a poached egg and light mustardy sauce, it was very appetising. My complaint would be that the egg was slightly overcooked... such that the yolk didn't manage to ooze out and mix with the mushy and soften the bruschetta.

Bruschetta with roasted mushrooms, poached egg and roquette - $15.00

I was tossing up between the bruschetta and the frittata ($16.00) so I was quite pleased when my friend ordered the latter. A frittata of smoked trout and potato was served with avocado and buschetta. Mmm... looked yum. My friend ate and no complaints were voiced.

frittata of smoked trout and potato with avocado salsa - $16.00

Lastly, the Huevos madrilenos ($16.50) which took around 20 minutes to cook came out. This was baked eggs, black pudding (blood sausage), and chorizo. Again, my friend ate in quiet silence and seemed to enjoy it thoroughly.

Huevos madrilenos - $16.50

Overall, the European is a busy, buzzing place. Perhaps it would be wise to book if coming with large company. The service varied between waitresses - some quite nice, others slightly rude. As Melbourne is well endowed with breakfast places, I would like to sample more widely before returning here for brekky.

Ratings:
Food - 8/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 6/10
Overall - 27/40

European
161 Spring Street
Melbourne
Victoria 3000
tel: (03) 9654 0811

Grill'd (3) - Melbourne

Grill'd

Ever since my last trip to Melbourne, I've been craving for thick-cut chips from Grill'd. These chips are soft and fluffy on the inside, and a crunchy goldenness on the outside. But I think what really makes these chips is the herbed mayo. The herb mayo is rich and flavoursome and completments chips (and everything else) perfectly! So when our first meal in Melbourne was decidedly Grill'd, there were no complaints from me.

Regular Chips with herbed mayo - $4.30

The chips did not disaapoint. Nor did the burgers. Disguised as "healthy", these burgers were huge and fresh and dripping with sauce (or maybe my friends and I were just hopeless at eating them).

The burgers we ordered included the Zen Hen ($9.90). This comprised of grilled chicken breast, tangy satay sauce, coriander, shredded carrot, salad and herbed mayo. The bun was crispy yet soft and my friend seemed baffled as to how to bite into it. Nonetheless, he seemed to thoroughly enjoy his meal.

The Zen Hen - $9.90

Simon Says ($10.90) was another burger we plucked off the menu. Again with grilled chicken breast, this burger also had avocado, crispy trim bacon, salad, relish and packed with herbed mayo. Mmm... I think it's the herbed mayo that makes the burger.

Simon Says - $10.90

After my meal on the plane, I wasn't too hungry and so, I ordered a simpler burger - the Simply Grill'd ($7.90) with cheese ($1). This was simply, comprised of a grilled 100% lean beef patty, salad, relish and herbed mayo. It was deliciousness! But again, given the height of the burger, relatively hard to bite into.

Simply Grill'd - $7.90 + tasty cheese - $1.00

The Lamb burger and the Mighty Melbourne also seemed to appease my friend who chomped it up, leaving juices running down her hands. The Baa Baa Burger was made of a lamb pattie, avocado, cheese, salad, relish and herbed mayo whereas the Mighty Melbourne is an awesome mix of tasty yet "healthy"100% lean beef, tasty cheese, crispy trim bacon, free range egg, beetroot, salad, relish and herbed mayo.

Baa Baa Burger - $11.50

Mighty Melbourne - $11.90

In all, I love how all these burgers are meant to be "healthy", with lean beef/lamb/chicken patties, lots of veges and trimmed bacon. Healthy yet tastey I guess~ And I simply adore the herbed mayo chips. Simply Awesome~!!! Now, all it has to be is 24hrs like Maccas. I can't wait to check out the Grill'd in Crows Nest!!! :P

Ratings:
Food - 9/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 30/40

Grill'd
Level 2 QV Square
210 Lonsdale Street
Melbourne
Victoria 3000
tel: (03) 9663 0399

Eats on the plane (2) - Qantas domestic

A weekend eating tour to Melbourne with friends starts with the plane trip down. Although there were fierce winds and turbulence on the way down, the lovely cabin crew kept their cool and served, even when the plane was rocking up and down.

On the way down, I chose the coleslaw ham salad. I am a fan of KFC - and I eat KFC coleslaw. But this coleslaw beats that hands down! I was surprisingly amazed. The coleslaw was yummy, fresh and crunchy with just the right amount of sauce. There was also abundant ham - to be eaten by the mouthful.

The dessert - a chocolate coconut cake with raspberry icing - was also better than I expected. I didn't like the icing, but the chocolate drops and the dessicated coconut was yum albiet a little bit hard.

bread

coleslaw with ham salad

chocolate coconut raspberry cake

On the way down, I chose yet another salad. This time it was a tuna salad. Again, not bad. It did have an amazing amount of beans in it... I touch too much for my liking. My partner had the penne with bolognaise. The dessert was a lemon coconut cake. Not quite as nice as the chocolate, but not too bad either. However, I guess it was less enjoyable given the amount of cakes and sweets we'd sampled in Melbourne :P

Tuna Salad

Bean variety

Penne with bolognaise sauce

Lemon coconut cake

Ratings:
Food - 8/10
Service - 8/10
Ambiance - 8/10 (because it was business class)
Value for money - 8/10 (only if you get Qantas discounts)
Overall - 32/40

Sushi Express - Bondi Junction

Sushi Express

On a cold winter's night after uni, my partner and I thought we'd grab a bite to avoid the traffic home. Having hotly debated whether we should stop for a quick dinner or for max brenner, we found ourselves close to Bondi Junction. I've seen pics of yummy looking wierd shaped sushi from a sushi shop called "Sushi Express" so naturally, we set on our journey to hunt for this place. We passed many a sushi-train shops... and ended up on the somewhat deserted side of the street wondering ... hmm... is this the place? are there even food shops here?

Surely enough, we found this tiny sushi train tucked under a dicey stairwell.

Being unreasonably early for dinner, we found ourselves the sole customers for most of our meal. However, as time ticked on, more people came and went.

My partner and I took no time to pluck plates off the conveyer. And this is what we ended up with...

Terriyaki Chicken roll - $2.20

Katsu chicken and avacado - $2.80

Salmon and Avocado with onion - $4.00

The salmon was fresh. The avocado was soft. There was decent amounts of mayo... it was GOOD.

Scallop sushi - $3.30

As you can see, the scallops are quite tiny... However, quality beats quantity. These tiny little buggers were truly moist and fresh and juicy and tastey... Mmmmm yum~

Ahh... my funny shaped sushi... Salmon and Avocado - $3.30

Grilled Scallop sushi - $3.30

Again, a bit small, but definately tastey.

Grilled Scallop in its shell with cheese - $3.30 each

it came with rice underneath ~ it was like a whole meal!!!
We also wanted the grilled oysters... but unfortunately, they had none.

Open-faced sushi: chilli chicken and crab with melted cheese - $3.30

it tasted like a cheeseburger~! only with rice and seaweed...

Crab meat sushi wrapped in egg - $2.80

Salmon, Crab stick and avacado sushi - $2.20

In all, I thought that the prices of the plates were extremely reasonable - ranging from $2.20 to $4.40. However, some of the sushis were tiny bit smaller than usual... others were same size. Taste-wise, it was no worse than other shops. The ingredients were fresh, even if the shop's apparently Korean owned and situated under a stairwell.

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 8/10
Overall - 29/40

Sushi Express
Unit 1
53-55 Spring Street
Bondi Junction
NSW 2022
tel: (02) 9369 2007

The Gallery at the Arthouse - Sydney

My friend chose the Arthouse as the venue for her birthday drinks. As the whole night was quite dark and chaotic, only one drink was properly photographed and not all the food was snapped (failure >.<).

My friend's first drink of the night was the 2-faced fairy (part of the $12 cocktail selection). I can't tell you what's in this, but it tastes quite similar to a mojito. After this drink, drinks were popping up and being drank before I could be bothered to make them pause for a photo LOL

Two-faced fairy - $12

Now onto the pub food. The fries with ketchup comes for a mere $5. Umm... yeh - just fries, just normal fatty starchy crunchy deep-fried substance.

fries - $5

There was the spicy chirozo and tomato with rocket ($16). This was quite yummy. Cheesy with a nice crunchy base. Can't say much for the rocket though...

Spicy chorizo & tomato with rocket - $16

One of our company ordered pork and prawn dumplings served with spicy soy sauce. Her reason behind it was cos she wanted to keep fit and healthy. Mmm... I don't think this tasted too appetising...

Pork and prawn dumplings with spicy soy (steamed or fried) - $12

There was also nachos with salsa and guacamole ($14). Mmm... shouldn't expect too much from it.

Vegetarian nachos with salsa and guacamole - $14

We also ordered very quite decent potato wedges with sweet chilli and sour cream ($8). Wedges were good (and not pictured cos I was too busy eating them) as well as chilli salt & pepper squid ($12). This was quite a small portion of squid that looked as though it was just whacked on a plate LOL.

Well... it's a bar and not an eatery. I was surprised that they could search the dim-lighted area to deliver our food for us :P

Ratings:
Food - 6/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Value for money - 6/10
Overall - 27/40

The ArtHouse Hotel
275 Pitt St
Sydney
NSW 2000
tel: (02) 9284 1200