LuxBite

LuxBite had always been on my 'to bite' list, just one I had never gotten round to. It was that dessert place that always lingered at the back of my mind. Luckily, in celebration of a close friend's 21st, she had organised an intimate private function at LuxBite. And Boy, was I ecstatic when I received my invite.

I arrived at 7.00pm sharp that night, I did not want to miss a thing.

Having a little wonder around.

Our customized menu:

             

Mini beef pie, mash potato

These cute little beef pies were too cute ! These bite sized pieces were delicious. None of that mince meat business. For a little thing like that, I was impressed how much it was filled with - tender meaty goodness topped with a creamy butter mash.

Sweet bean curd sushi, with sweet corn & asparagus salad

 I do like inaris, however I didn't find this one anything special.

Pandan chicken burger with sambal mayo, 

apple & kiwi relish, Asian slaw, fried egg

This pandan chicken burger really intrigued me. The Asian infusion of sambal and pandan really hit the spot ! The not-so-normal green chicken patty was definitely the hot topic and bedazzled everyone.

Banoffee opéra and Strawberry & cream opéra

Assorted Macarons

So so many macarons ! SO MUCH PERFECTION.

I still have dreams of the Bamboo Oolong Tea and Salted Caramel macarons.

Vanilla Oak Tea

Coffee and tea was all you can drink ! And being the tea lover I am, I definitely took advantage of this. The Vanilla Oak proved to be a favorite throughout the night.

Check out the tea bags ! They remind me of the days back in primary school where we grew bean sprouts  for our science experiments.

To finish off, we sang our Happy Birthdays while rubbing our exploding bellies.

Happy Birthday J !

LuxBite

38 Toorak Road 

South Yarra, VIC

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Two Birds One Stone

I needed food. No, not at any nest-cafe, but at Two Birds One Stone.

 

Pulled pork with cider apple & 

celeriac remoulade on a brioche bun

This, I wolfed down. The flavours simply exploded my tastebuds.

The crispness of the cider apple, fresh watercress and juicy pulled pork (hardly) held together by a toasted brioche bun was such a wonderful balance of flavours!

Service was warm and attentive. On such a gloomy, windy Melbourne afternoon, this little cafe was the silver lining to my day. 

Two Birds One Stone

12 Claremont Street 

South Yarra, VIC

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Coin Laundry

Addicted to brunching, and having heard many good things of this cute cafe, my friend and I decided to see what the buzz was about. As the name suggests, Coin Laundry was given its name as it was in fact in its former life, a coin laundromat. 

It was certainly a bonus that I could save on petrol as this cafe was much closer to home.

I began with my mandatory skinny flat white.

After careful deliberation, I ordered the Smoked Salmon and Summer Salad dish, whilst my friend ordered the Spanish Breakfast.

Smoked Salmon (kosher), summer salad,

 walnut, toasted brioche and poached egg

Just look at that ! Man, I'm drooling as I type. This dish was really what I needed. Filling yet also light and refreshing. However, I was not the biggest fan of the brioche. Though it was soft, rich in butter and tender,  the sides were slightly burnt. The eggs were also a little to vinegary for my liking.

Spanish Breakfast of fresh herbs, truss cherry tomatoes, Spanish onion,

 feta cheese and smoked salmon in fluffy scrambled eggs

Perfect presentation. As for the taste, I stole a few bites and was delighted by fragrant herbs encased in the creamy scrambled eggs.

Service was friendly, food was delivered promptly and the ambience was refreshing. Worrying over applying for Graduate Positions, Coin Laundry was exactly what we needed to calm our nerves. 

Coin Laundry

61 Armadale Street 

Armadale, VIC

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Chez Dré

On a scorching day of 37 degrees, my friend and I ventured out to Chez Dré. 

Moving quickly, we parked, paid for our parking tickets and rushed down the little alley to where we hid from the heat.

As always, I did my research beforehand, and so I knew what to expect. And what I saw were exact replicas of the plethora of Chez Dré photos I've seen taken by fave bloggers.

Having already had a can of Red Bull and a coffee before heading to Chez Dré, I sadly had to refuse my body any more caffeine. 

So, we can jump straight into the food ! 

Grand petit dejeuner - Poached eggs on sourdough, Toulouse sausage,

 bacon, potato rösti, sautéed mushrooms, provençal tomato, 

spiced avocado  & tomato chutney

Wow ! Was this a full breakfast ! And, no matter how many times I have had poached eggs, the golden perfection of oozing yolks never gets old. The provençal tomato was fun to eat as it incorporated very opposite textures. The tomato itself was sweet and juicy, stuffed and then baked with crunchy seasoned bread crumbs. However, the potato rösti was something that puzzled me. Having a Swiss friend, who often made potato rösti a different way, I was expecting the  rösti at Chez Dré to be the same. The way my Swiss friend made the traditional Swiss rösti was with grated potato. At Chez Dré, the rösti seemed to be more of a heavy mashed potato rösti, rather than the soft fluffy rösti I had grown to love. Nonetheless, it was delicious, just not what I had expected. The highlight of this dish had to be the spiced avocado . The zing, zang pow of the spices and acidity really topped off the dish. I can assure you all of the avocado was polished off.

Maybe I hyped up for it too much, but was not blown away for a  'Talk of the Town' brunch spot. Maybe it was my high high expectations. Oh well, was a lovely brunch nevertheless !

Will come back for coffee and dessert next time !

Chez Dré
287 Coventry Street
South Melbourne, VIC

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Snow Pony

Let's see, where's Snow Pony ? .... on Whitehorse Road of course ! Very clever.

This cute little hipster cafe just so happens to reside in the suburb of Balwyn, somewhere I would have never guessed it to be.

We arrived at 2.50pm, and according to the menus, just in the knick of time before the kitchen closed. We were warmly welcomed by a trendy waitress alongside the heavenly aromas of coffee brewing. We requested to sit in the courtyard, in which the waitress happily led us to. As soon as we were seated, she asked for our coffee orders. No more than 5 minutes later, my skinny flat white was sitting perfectly before me.

Coffee in hand, I was ready to get my piggy on.

My eyes went straight to the 'Snow Pony Classics,' and  straightway, I decided I wanted to smash some smashed avocados.

Smashed avocado with thyme buttered mushroom,

 marinated feta + torn basil on wholegrain toast with poached egg

This dish of awesomeness did not fall short of the high expectations I had. The wholegrain toast was oh so lovely, generously coated with pumpkin seeds. The smashed avocado was creamy in texture, but also had that lemon-y zing element to brighten it up. Next layer were the mushrooms- soft, juicy and absolute perfection. Topped with marinated feta, basil and a poached egg (of course), the dish was just an overall winner.

Will definitely be giddy-ing back to Snow Pony to try their other delights.

Snow Pony

95 Whitehorse Road 

Deepdene, VIC

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