Penguins! Plum (6)!

Last weekend the Boys and I went to see the Penguins! at the Melbourne Aquarium. We got up early and had brunch in the city before heading there.

Brunch was extremely forgettable, so I think I'll tell you about a couple of past visits to our favourite cafe instead!

A wee while ago, Bro and I had a Saturday brunch with the other KKC members, while Alastair spent the day working.



Bro and I both had something that was on the specials board - baked eggs with pepperonata, feta and tomato sauce served with grilled pide ($15.50). It was great! The yolks were still gooey, perfect for dipping the pide in, and the pepperonata was sweetish and slightly tangy.



On a different occasion, we went back to Plum for brunch on my birthday. The Boys both had a special - Grecian omelette with roasted tomato, feta and sourdough toast ($14.50). Franco drizzled some chilli oil on top - yummo!



The French toast with bacon and maple syrup was amazing, as per usual. It was such a nice way to start my birthday.



Back to the penguins at the Melbourne Aquarium. The Melbourne Aquarium recently completed renovations and opened the Antarctica exhibit, showcasing Gentoo and King Penguins. The ones in my photos are the larger King penguins.



The new penguin enclosure is great. The best part was the wall where you could see the penguins in the water - they swam and darted around, showing off their agility and gracefulness. Penguins are cool!

Read about previous visits to Cafe Plum here.

Cafe Plum
193 Flemington Rd, North Melbourne 3051
Ph: (03) 9329 8867

A series of brunches: Auction Rooms, Orange and Café Plum

Auction Rooms
103-107 Errol Street, North Melbourne
Phone: 9326 7749

Claire highly recommended Auction Rooms, so a couple of weekends ago we went there for brunch. It's a large, impressive space, all wooden beams, eclecticness and hipsters, and was very busy and bustling when we arrived.



After a look at the brief menu, I decided on the chorizo open sanga – a panfried chorizo with roasted red capsicum, mushroom paste and apple sauce on toasted sourdough with rocket salad ($13). I would've liked to have had a spicier chorizo, but I was happy with my brunch. The apple chunks were interesting - at first I couldn't figure out what they were. I thought they may have been pineapple due to the sweetness and appearance, but they also tasted very gingery.



Bro had the beans with bacon – Italian slow cooked baked beans, sage, basil, and rosemary infused olive oil served with sourdough toast ($11 without bacon, $13.50 with bacon).



And Alastair had the opening bid – poached eggs, roasted cherry tomatoes, bacon and spinach on sourdough toast ($15).



Coffees were very, very good. I don't have sugar in mine, but nevertheless I adored the little soup cans on the table that the sugar sat in. Bro was a bit grossed out at them (the cans did look a little rusty around the top...) but they were very, very cute and totally fit the aesthetic of the place.

Orange
124-126 Chapel St, Windsor
Phone: 9529 1644

A few weekends ago, Alastair and I made an unusual trip south of the river to have brunch with a friend in Windsor. We do tend to stick to our part of town - not because we're north of the river snobs – the truth is that we're just lazy!



My short mac came with a little jug of extra milk. How cute!



Whenever I see items on a brunch menu that's a bit different to eggs on toast, I tend to gravitate towards them. Which is how I ended up with a grilled kipper with horseradish butter, with a poached egg on sour dough toast ($15). It was a touch salty, and I thought it was a bit expensive, but apart from that I was pleased with it. The watercress was lemony and great with the kipper.



Alastair had the omelette with corn, coriander, chilli, and guacamole ($13.50). I'm sure he didn't care, but I was pleased to see that it was a proper omelette (I don't like open faced omelettes and don't consider them worthy of stomach space).

Cafe Plum
193 Flemington Rd, North Melbourne 3051
Ph: (03) 9329 8867

And of course, it wouldn't be a good brunch post without a couple of brunches at our favourite café!



During a visit several weeks ago, there was a new item on the specials board - black sticky rice with caramelised banana, surrounded by a pool of coconut milk. Alastair ordered this for brunch, and a damn good choice it was! Sweet and fragrant with chewy glutinous texture, it's not the kind of thing that I would ever think to have for brunch, but it was delicious.



I had a roti wrap filled with scrambled eggs, potatoes and bacon. Yuuuummm... the roti was crispy and jam packed with filling.



And Bro had a HUGE serve of scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, and a bit of chilli oil/sauce on top.



On a different occasion, we arrived at Cafe Plum a bit later than usual, so we all ordered lunch. Bro had herby chicken meat balls with linguine ($16.50).



And Alastair and I had shepherd's pie with a rocket salad ($15.90). Underneath the creamy mashed potato were chunks of tender meat and vege in a tasty sauce. The rocket was good too - just the right amount of peppery bitterness.

Previous visits to Cafe Plum can be found here.

Fräus Crêpes & Chocolat

On a chilly Sunday, Alastair and I headed out for brunch and came across Fräus. Fräus specialises in chocolate and crepes - both good things!

It was busy when we walked in, and as all the inside tables were taken, we were given the option of sitting in the back courtyard. It was FREEZING outside, but we were persuaded by their offer to turn on the outside heaters.

So we headed out the back, strategically choosing a table as close to the gas patio heaters as possible! True to their word, a staff member followed soon after to switch on the heat. Unfortunately he had a bit of trouble lighting the heaters, so we sat in the cold for ten minutes while he tried to figure it out.

When we first sat down out the back, I was slightly concerned that we would be forgotten about, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that service was very prompt and attentive. All the staff were lovely by the way - very sweet and charming. It was all very endearing.



There's about 20 different varieties of hot chocolate on the menu, and as it was so cold, I ordered a dark hot chocolate ($4.00 for a cup, $4.50 for a mug). Stupidly (greedily?) I asked for a mug. I should've just had a cup. The hot chocolate was soooooo thick, like eating a warm chocolate pudding. It was delicious and decadent, but there was no way I was going to be able to finish it. I think I gave myself a chocolate headache trying!



For his meal, Alastair had the salmon benedict galette ($15). It had two eggs, smoked salmon, and baby spinach in a thin buckwheat crepe with hollandaise sauce on the side.



After examining all the savoury options, I decided on the kransky galette ($12.50) - kransky sausage, mushrooms, tomato, onions and cheese in a thin crepe with tomato sauce on the side.



The night before we had spent the evening with friends drinking wine (brandy may have also made an appearance). I wasn't hung over, but I was craving something unhealthy and fatty and this was perfect. The kransky was so tasty. Yuuuuuum.

I had optimistically mentioned to Alastair that we could have a sweet crepe after our meals. But I found that my galette was very filling, and combined with the hot chocolate, there was no room in my stomach for anything else. Oh well! Guess we'll have to return in the future to try one.

Fräus Crêpes & Chocolat
345 Victoria Street
North Melbourne VIC 3051
AUSTRALIA

Cafe Plum: 5

Do you find that sometimes you get bored with things that you enjoy? Fortunately that hasn't happened so far with our favourite café – Plum. The boys and I went there for brunch (again) the other weekend, and I wasn't intending to blog about it since I've already raved about here, here, here AND here. And really, how many different ways can you find of saying, "this place is great"?

Me, being me, I took photos of the food anyway, even though I wasn't going to blog the meal. Yeah, I know, I think it might be a compulsion.



Alastair ordered the French toast with bacon and (real) maple syrup (about $13 from memory). His meal came out first, and I snuck a bite after taking a quick photo. I'm glad I took a photo because:

Oh. My. God. Best French Toast Ever.

The inside of the bread was perfectly cooked and soft, but the outer edge was crispy. It was fragrant with just the right amount of cinnamon, and the sweetness was perfectly judged. So good!



It was lunch time by the time we arrived (we slept in!) so Bro and I ordered off the lunch specials board. I had the potato and ricotta fritters with smoked salmon, horse radish, creme fraiche and tomato and chive salsa ($16.50). Bro had the rigatoni with meatballs in a rich tomato sauce ($16.50).

Our meals were good, but Bro and I had food envy after we tasted Alastair's French toast. Normally neither of us would order a sweet brunch, but when Alastair couldn't finish his French toast, we polished it off for him!

After we finished, Franco (the owner/chef) came up for a chat and – get this – asked us if we had a blog. And, what's more, asked if it was this one. Totally found out! :)

On the last Sunday of the colder months, Cafe Plum does a roast dinner. We always intended to go, but never got around to it. It just so happened that the following night was the May roast dinner. Franco started telling us what was on the menu - duck. As soon as the Boys heard duck they were sold (they love it).

So the next evening, we went back to Plum for dinner! It was a three course set menu ($38). There was a vegetarian option, which we didn't try.



The first course was a beetroot soup with goats cheese crostini. Look at the beautiful colour in that soup! The soup was thick with a bit of sweetness and perfect for a cold Sunday evening.



The main course was a roast duck confit with marsala glaze and served with a parsnip gratin. Everyone received a large maryland and the small drumstick pictured. I've mentioned before that I'm not a big fan of duck, but I really enjoyed this. The duck wasn't very gamey, with the hint of marsala complementing the slight gaminess, and the flesh was moist and tender.

The parsnip gratin was eggy and cheesy with the flavour of the parsnip fairly subtle. It was a large slab and very filling!



There was also some crunchy, dressed greens - snow peas, green beans and spinach.



Dessert was a choice between cheese or a pannetone pudding with chocolate ice cream and custard. I had the pudding. A posh bread and butter pudding, it was sweet and rich, plus soft and almost gooey in the middle. There were occasional bits of glorious crunchy toffeed crust.



The cheese was a Gorgonzola with spiced walnuts and crackers. The Gorgonzola was very tingly and pungent!

I think the next roast dinner is on Sunday 29 June. Call to check (and book). We had a great time, and will definitely go again.

Cafe Plum
193 Flemington Rd, North Melbourne 3051
Ph: (03) 9329 8867

Café Plum: 4

We eat out a lot during the weekend. Often we'll go out for brunch on Saturdays and Sundays, and normally at least one evening meal is eaten out as well. I try not to let us eat out too much because it gets expensive. In addition, when faced with an unhealthy option versus a healthy option, unhealthy will win out 99% of the time (if I cook, it's easier for me to choose to make something healthy). But on the other hand, it's something that we enjoy, so I'm not too strict about it.

Speaking of things that we enjoy, we recently went to Café Plum. I was happy that we didn't have to settle for Café Bland again!

I had an omelette, filled with goats cheese, spinach and caramelised onion ($13). I haven't quite acquired the taste for goat's cheese yet but I'm close. You know how it has that "goaty" flavour that seems to work it's way into your nasal passages? I keep trying it and I have no doubt that I will love it eventually, just like I've learnt to love blue cheese and very dark, bitter chocolate. I found that the sweetness of the onions helped counteract some of that strong "goatiness" in the cheese, and I really enjoyed this omelette. I was also happy to see that it was a proper omelette – I'm not a fan of the open omelette as they tend to be dry and rubbery.



Alastair had the corn fritters, with smoked salmon, crème fraiche and avocado ($15.90). He said that it was good, but not as good as the ones I make (he has been trained well!). It was rather large and filling though, and he couldn't quite fit it all in.

Previous visits can be read here, here and here.

Cafe Plum
193 Flemington Rd, North Melbourne 3051
Ph: (03) 9329 8867

Cafe Plum: 3

I like the idea of gardening. I love the idea of having a veggie patch and growing my own fruit and veg. Unfortunately, living in the inner city, we don't have enough dirt for a veggie patch. That's probably a good thing as I'm a terrible gardener.

I still persist though. Mostly I grow things in pots – I tend to get all excited when the weather warms up and go to the garden centre and purchase potting mix, plants, and other associated planting items. All goes well for a few weeks, then I start forgetting to water them. And it starts to get really hot. A few hardy plants survive my neglect, but mostly they shrivel and die.

It appears that I haven't learnt my lesson yet as I recently went out and bought some more herbs. But before I did that, I had to get myself into a gardening mood, and what better way than to go for brunch at Café Plum?

I ordered the mushroom bruschetta – roasted mushrooms mixed with fresh herbs and feta with a drizzle of balsamic syrup on sour dough toast ($9.50). I loved contrast of the salty feta against the sweet tanginess of the balsamic.



Alastair had something from the specials board - blueberry pancakes with vanilla mascarpone and maple syrup ($15.50). I had a taste – it was very sweet. I'm so not a sweet breakfast person. Al ate it all up though. It must've been good.

My Bro was there too, but I neglected to take a note or photo of his meal – I believe he had corn fritters which (gasp) he couldn't finish because he was too full. Terrible effort on his part.

The breakfast definitely helped get me into the gardening spirit – 2 weekends later my herbs are still alive! Gosh, it's amazing what regular watering does.

Read about our other visits to Cafe Plum here and here.

Cafe Plum
193 Flemington Rd, North Melbourne 3051
Ph: (03) 9329 8867

Baba House: Hainanese chicken rice and more

My parents used to work a lot - they would regularly work 12+ hour days. The exception to these long days was Sunday, when the shop didn't open until 3-4pm (depending on how my dad felt). On Sundays we usually went out as a family for lunch.

It was during these Sunday lunches that my Bro and I were introduced to Hainanese chicken rice - white chicken served with rice that has been cooked in chicken stock. We always had it from a stall at Wakefield Market foodcourt (in Wellington). The rice from this small stall was heavily impregnated with the flavour of chicken - it was very oily and fatty. Eaten with the silky cold chicken, it was a real treat, but fortunately for our arteries we only ate it occasionally!



This version from Baba House ($8.50) was not as oily or fatty as the dish I remember from Wakefield Market but still tasty. The only downside was the MSG thirst that persisted for several hours!

Baba House is our "outside kitchen" - that is, when I can't be bothered cooking, Alastair heads there to pick up dinner.



I'm always on the look out for a good char/fried kway teow as it's on my (rather long) list of favourite things to eat. Baba House do an acceptable version ($9.20) with well seasoned wok fried flat rice noodles, prawns, fish cake, dried mussels, calamari, egg, crunchy bean sprouts and a hint of chilli. Personally, I like more chilli and would love that hint of chilli to be upped, but that's a personal preference.

I should also say that the last time I had this from Baba House it gave me an MSG thirst like the chicken rice did. It seems that only recently there has been an excess MSG problem. I'll have to remember to ask for no MSG for future visits.

(By the way: If you know of a place that does an outstanding char kway teow, please let me know!)



I have saved my favourite Baba House dish (and unfortunately, the worst photo) for last. Although it looks a bit like poop in a bowl in my photo, I can assure you that the Nasi Lemak ($9.20) is good! There's so much to love about nasi lemak. Coconut rice. Tick. Dried anchovies. Tick. Sweet/sour crunchy pickles. Tick. Spicy, tender beef rendang (there's also chicken or lamb if you prefer). Tick. Crunchy peanuts. Tick. Hard boiled eggs. Tick. Fortunately, there was no MSG thirst when I ate this one. :p

Alastair has the laksa 90% of the time ($9.20). The soup is fragrant, spicy and creamy and it's chocka with noodles, chicken, fishcake, beans, eggplant and fried tofu. He loves his laksa and says that it's better than Laksa King.

Baba House - so much food to love. What a great outside kitchen to have!

Baba House
34 Errol St, North Melbourne
Phone: 9329 1762

Cafe Plum: revisited

Another weekend, another visit to Cafe Plum. This visit, there were a couple of interesting specials on the board. My Bro and I went for the specials, while Alastair had ricotta hotcakes with bacon and maple syrup.

Durkah crusted poached eggs on white bean brais with mint & chili oil

This was my Bro's brunch (I copied the name straight from the board - a rather long title for a meal!). He said it was, "Awesome!" and gave it two thumbs up. Apparently the beans were very soft, and the mint and chili went very well together.



Fancy Bubble and Squeak with poached eggs and tomato chutney

This was my brunch - rather than vegetables cooked with mashed potato it was actually a vegetable fritter. It had diced potato, peas, pumpkin and spring onions. The poached eggs were wonderful - I wish I had taken a photo of the yolk running down the fritters. That, and I wish I hadn't screwed up the focus. Gaah.

Another visit, another mostly good brunch. I say mostly, because one of Alastair's hotcakes were still gooey and uncooked in the middle. Maybe the assistant cooked those!

Cafe Plum
193 Flemington Rd, North Melbourne 3051
Ph: (03) 9329 8867

Cafe Plum

Every few weekends, you'll often hear a conversation in my house that goes something like this:

"Should we go to a café for brunch?"

"Okay! Where should we go?"

"Let's go to our favourite."

"Our favourite....?"

"You know! Our favourite café!!"

"Ummm..."

"OUR FAVOURITE! Plum!"

"Plum! Oh, that's my favourite! Let's go there!"

Plum is our current café of choice, and yet the Boys never know what I'm talking about. Sigh. It can be hard being the smart one in the house (haha).

Located across the road from the Royal Melbourne Children's Hospital, Café Plum is small, but it's cookin'. While I do enjoy a good poached egg on toast, when I go out for brunch I generally feel like something a bit different. There's only so much eggs and toast that you can stomach before you get bored.

That's one of the great things about Plum. The menu has more interesting things than just bacon and eggs and there's always a couple of specials up on the board. A couple of specials that I've seen (and eaten): Ricotta hotcakes with smoked salmon and horse radish crème fraîche, Cuban fried eggs with fried banana and chorizo, and Mozzarella in Carrozza (fried mozzarella sandwich). For sweet brunches, there's items like pancakes with banana and French toast with a touch of orange blossom syrup. (I can't recall the sweet brunches as well because I prefer the savoury ones!)

The regular menu has a couple of interesting items beyond the usual big breakfast, such as marsala potatoes with sausage and spinach, and soy scrambled eggs with chinese sausage.

If the cafe isn't too busy, often the chef/owner will come out and have a chat. From the conversations we've had with him, it's obvious that he is someone who is passionate about food, and loves to see others enjoy his cooking. That's a quality that I adore, and it's just another reason that I love his café.

Cafe Plum
193 Flemington Rd, North Melbourne 3051
Ph: (03) 9329 8867