I use to dislike macarons because they were too sweet for my liking. But after having a bite of Adriano Zumbo's macarons during winter break, one bite was all it took to change my taste buds. Now whenever I'm free, and when I feel a little rich, I'll venture to different dessert places around Melbourne to try their macarons. I'm currently on a mission to try to find the best Macarons in Melbourne! 

So coming back to the topic, last Saturday, Mr.Navigator and I travelled to South Yarra to tryout this little contemporary cafe called LuxBite. Found out through Urbanspoon that they're famous for their macarons. soooo... here we go 

This cafe's owned by a Malaysian. Malaysia Boleh! haha

These are the varieties of macarons offerred there. 

One flavour that makes it so Malaysian is the 'Kaya Toast' flavour. When I bit into it, it was like I'm literally having kaya toast in a kopitiam back home - kaya with a small block of butter in the middle. It was pretty awesome. I'm impressed!

Other than the Kaya Toast, the Mandarin n Saffron, Peanut Butter n Jelly and Creme Brulee flavours were pretty good too.

They also offered simple breakfast and lunch menus as well as some assorted cakes and desserts like in the picture below.

I tried their Caramel Cravings - Sweet caramel lovingly placed between chocolate and a coconut base, topped with a salted caramel macaron. 

It wasn't fantastic. It was just ok. I didn't try any of their breakfast and lunch menu but what I saw served at other tables sure looks pretty yummy.

Although that had some pretty interesting flavours of macarons, after trying, I wouldn't say they're one of the best. For me, I didn't like the fact that their macaron shells were too moist and too thin. But that's just for me. They still made it on the Top 20 Best Macarons in Melbourne. So I guess you got to try it to judge it.

During my winter break, I spent a week in Sydney with Mr.Navigator visiting one of my close friend, HelloKittySandra and RockstarGabriel, who happen to be in Sydney too. Since the day we arrived, it rained NON-STOP for 3 WHOLE days! Talk about bad timing. But we didn't let the rain stop us from venturing around and having fun. 

Mr.Navigator and I had a list of places we wanted to visit while we were there, some are the obvious - Sydney Opera House, Sydney Fish Market. But the place that I'm most excited about is non other than Adriano Zumbo's patisserie!!

If you have been following Masterchef Australia, you'd know how amazing Adriano's desserts are. From his famous 8 layer vanilla cake - V8 cake to his Macarons Tower. While we were looking for the patisserie, I couldn't help but skipped and jumped in excitement. When we found the place, my heart starts pumping, and I rushed into the stall like a little girl entering Barbie Land. 

Here are some of his magnificent desserts that were available that day.

Don Pandan Man

Duck the Balls of a L'orange (Must Try!)

Enter the Dragon (Must try!) This has a tinge of spiciness.

Helen, Where's the Garden? (If you're a black sesame fan, try this.) I didn't really like this as I'm not a black sesame fan at all..

Passionfruit Tart

and of course you can't leave out these yummy Macarons!!

I, personally am not a fan of macarons. But after tasting his macarons... OMG!!!! Instant fan of macarons. 

These were our splurges that day,

HelloKittySandra & RockstarGabriel's macarons.
I would say all the flavours are worth trying especially salted butter caramel (my favourite!)

Mr. Navigator's Cocoon.

The inside goodness

my super splurge! The lemon tart was just mouth watering! The lemon gelatin element just melts in your mouth!

The inside goodness of Enter the Dragon. The green part is actually some wasabi mixture.

One thing I noticed after trying all these yummy goodness is that all of Adriano Zumbo's cakes consists of all textures. From a sponge layer to a gelatin layer, to a mousse layer, to a biscuit layer. While eating, make full use of your taste buds because each layer represents different tastes on our palette from sweet, salty, sour to bitter.

One of my most interesting food ventures.

About 2 weeks ago, PimpYong brought us to one of the yummiest Korean restaurants in Clayton called Korchi. 

Arrived at the restaurant all hungry for Korean cuisines.

While PimpYong and I were deciding what to order, MamaGooseRegina & Bebird camwhored..

1st dish: Spicy Korean Rice Cake (Ddok Bok Gi) 

2nd Dish: Sweet and Sour Prawns (Kan Sho Sae Woo)

The best dish of the day!

3rd Dish: Spicy Beef Soup.

4th Dish: Black Bean Paste Noodle (Ja Jang Myun)

A MUST try korean dish at any Korean Restaurant.

5th Dish: Spicy Seafood Noodle (Jjam Bong)

This is like korean style curry laksa. mmmmm :)

Table full of food!!!

Yong got all excited, so did I, and we ended up ordering too many dishes. Lol! Too many, that we died trying to finish them all.. FOOD COMA!

In the end, we managed to finish everything! Hell Yeah!!!!

Fun food day!!! Can't wait for the next one..

Another food post.  Earlier, I posted that I ventured into Hardware Lane for some awesome Caramel Creme Brulee. This time, I tried another restaurant along this restaurant-clustered lane known as Max Cafe, Bar & Restaurant. 

very contemporary looking restaurant 

Again, I shared an entree and main with my sister.

We had Turkish bread with Trio of Homemade Dips (Spicy Capsicum (I think), Hummus and a Zucchini dip). A very mouthwatering appetizer to get your tummy warmed up for the main course.

As our main, we had Grilled Swordfish on chips and side salad. Nicely marinated, perfectly grilled. All well packed with flavour!

Till my next adventure.....

While everyone here in land down under craze over Max Brenners and San Churros. There's another famous place for some hot chocolate to warm yourselves this winter (especially when it's predicted to be a uber cold winter this year) that is Koko Black, offering authentic European Chocolate works. After a scrumptious meal at Copperwood, Lygon, my sis and I crossed the streets and stopped for some yummy hot chocolate.

I had Hazelnut Belgium Hot Chocolate. Frankly, I expected it to maybe too sweet for my liking, but it wasn't! It was actually just nice and the hazelnut flavour made it even better!!

My sis had the normal Belgium Hot Chocolate. Another one to love.

Mmmmm... Nothing's better than a cup of good quality hot chocolate to warm me 

So my sister's in town for awhile, which means.... FOOD VENTURE!!! Yay! 

First stop: Lygon Street for some yum yum..

Whenever I were to dine in Lygon, it'll always be either 1 of those asian restaurant at the start of Lygon (from the city) or Universals. But this time, I decided to walk from the other side of Lygon and stumbled upon this cozy looking restaurant - Copperwood Restaurant (click and check out their cool website).  Went to have a look at the menu and thought we'd give it a try. Copperwood offers quite a wide selection of classic italian cuisines. Tapas $9.20 - $12.90, Entrees $6 - $18.50, Salads $7.50 to $19.50, Mains (pizza, risotto, pasta and others $8.50 - $33. 

We tried the Chicken Caesar Salad - $19.50

Chicken grilled to perfection and lettuce so fresh. 

As the main, we shared Copperwood's awesome Garlic Prawns - $33

Consists of sauteed succulent prawns with garlic, white wine & cream sauce accompanied with steamed capsicums, zucchini and egg plants. Ooo mama meya! Its was absolutely delicious!!!

Definitely returning for more...

A week ago, I was wondering through the streets of Melbourne with maekhoo, in search of a place to eat. We stumbled upon this small street in the heart of Melbourne - Hardware Lane. This european architectural heritage is located further up Bourke and Elizebeth Street (Turn right, right after Maccas). There are quite a few european restaurants all clustered together and we chose this little Italian restaurant called Vialetto Ristorante.  We enjoyed our meal (well, at least I did), that I brought my sister there when she came to visit.

The sucken interior of the restaurant, furnished with little lamps hanging from the ceiling, has its own attraction. Somehow it gave me this really cozy feeling which I'm unable to describe. 

Now,the food. Vialetto's menu is filled with exotic flavours which include seafood, meat, goats cheese and even kangaroo! Appetizers ranging from $8.50 - $29.90. Mains from $18.50 - $28.90 and desserts for $12.90 each. They also have quite a range of vintage wines from what I saw.

I tried the Roasted Pork Belly $26.90

Slow roasted, served on mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables with red wine jus.

It was soooo good. Roasted to perfection, so succulent. The skin, I have to say, was the best part for me. So crunchy when you bite in to it, and it sort of melted in my mouth... mmmmm. The red wine jus however, if it was just slightly thinner, it would have been perfect!

Maekhoo tried the Veal Scallopini $28.50

Pan seared veal medallions with mushrooms, onions and garlic in a white wine cream sauce with mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables.

 This wasn't that bad either. I thought the veal was a little dry but thank god for the sauce. haha. Still quite yummy. Worth a try.

Now the highlight of the meal. This was the reason I brought my sister back there. 

Caramel Creme Brulee - $12.90

Home made and served with vanilla ice cream.

I LOVE creme brulee and creme caramels. This was like a combination of both! The caramel flavour to it really blowed my mind. Definitely worth trying! Though I was pretty disappointed when I went back for it the second time (with my sister), it wasn't properly done. :( But, I still say, MUST TRY!!!

Can't remember the last time I did a proper food post.. So here's 1..

Been working on my Strategic Management assignment for the whole week last week. Right after I handed it in, I immediately hopped on the next bus down to the City. Met up with Maekhoo, Paul, Aaron and their friend for lunch at Wanton Noodle House on Swanston Street a few shops down from Maccas.

So here's what we've ordered...

Xiao Long Bao.

If I'm not mistaken it was $4 for 6, but totally NOT worth it!!!

This was the suckiest xiao long bao I've ever tasted! The skin was too thick and starchy, there weren't much soup in it thus, the baos were really dry. 

But the noodles on the other hand were not so bad. I only got to taste what I ordered and not the rest because I was too hungry to bother when I noodle came.

I had Beef Combo Noodle Soup $9.20

This was pretty ok, the noodle was springy, meat was tasty, only thing was the soup being a little too salty. 

Maekhoo & her girl friend shared Beef & Wanton Noodle Soup

According to Maekhoo, it wasn't too bad. 

Paul ordered Sweet & Sour Pork with rice.

It looks pretty yummy huh? But he said it sucked...

Aaron's Fish & Toufu with rice

This one was not bad according to Aaron. "The toufu's yummy"

What can I say, the boy sure loves his toufus...

Now the service, service that day was terrible!

HORRIBLE! TERRIBLE! 

The waiters were impatient when taking order, and those that came to serve our food just dumped the bowls and plates on the table with a loud bang and walked out. Not even a slight smile on their faces.

When clearing plates, some didn't even asked if we're finished with it, some sorta rushed us to finish. And the bill came right after we put our chopsticks down! They didn't even want to give us time to rest our tummies! SUCKS!!

Rating: 3/10

I'm back with Food posts. This time, something cute and colourful from Singapore!!

The next morning after coming back from Australia, my dear cousin, Amanda brought me to this really interesting cafe called Hairloom & Caramel, a salon and cafe in Shaw Plaza, somewhere near Bugis area.

Hairloom being the Salon.

and Caramel the cafe.

Went along with my sister and cousin from my mom's side, plus my mom for morning desserts :)

My dear cousin, Amanda

The uniqueness of the cafe - everything's so colourful and unique. Each different from one another yet they blend so well together.

              

I came back during Christmas time so the salon and cafe were decorated with christmasy tringklets. Which explains the christmas tree in the picture of the salon.

 

This place doesn't just provide hairdressing services and F&B services, it also sells interesting little tringklets like in the pictures below. I love seeing stuff like these.

  

Was so tempted to buy the Director's Card Clock and the Film Clock! Yes, they are digital alarm clocks.

  

I used to own 1 of these mini pianos when I was a kid. I wonder what happened to it.

Alright, now to the main purpose of visiting this cafe...And it's none other than...

CUPCAKES!!!  My favourite - Chocolate cupcake with Caramel Topping. The one on the far left with obvious caramel sauce on top.

People who knows me knows that I can never say no to desserts, especially cakes. And I mean NEVER unless I'm really tooooo full. But even if I were, I would still go for it. LOL. 

Besides cupcakes, they also have other desserts like Bread and Butter pudding which was pretty good too.

Creame Brulee (another favourite dessert of mine) 

  

and Brownie cupcake. 

I didn't really enjoy the brownie cupcake as it was a bit too dry for my liking, but I love love LOVED the creame brulee.

They don't just serve desserts, they serve salads, soups and proper food to fill tummies in the morning, afternoon and night :)

I think this was Terriyaki Chicken Salad. Pretty delicious 

Of course, drinks as well.

Hot chocolate with marshmallows.

              

Hairloom & Caramel also does catering for Birthdays and other functions. You can even book the whole cafe (it's not that big) for birthdays and such. Which I think it's a pretty swell place to celebrate in. I would if I lived in Singapore. A friend of mine did, and her pictures were awesome! So colourful and pretty.. I shall find my own little unique, colourful and interesting cafe in KL and have a small party there one day. Yes, ONE DAY. lol...

Will definitely go at least once more and enjoy the cupcakes before flying back to the land down under...