Coin laundry cafe

Coin laundry is located at Armadale, just right off the train stop. very very convenient for us that don't own any vehicles. The cafe is the busiest part surrounding it. We took a short walk around and it's all residential. It is a quiet and lovely area, which encourages us to snap some pictures around.   

This cafe has the cutest name ever! But the interior totally lives up to the name! There are cloths hanging on top of the ceiling, reminding me of how people used to hang damp clothes on wooden rack. And oh look at the wall, there are little pieces of paper cut into miniature clothes, hanging on the rope! How adorable! 

Elaine and my usuals, capuccino and flat white :) I always love how cafes here are so into the deco details, and one thing that is always there regardless of various themes is flowers. There will always be flowers on the table. It is just a matter of which flower type. This cafe had its pick on orchid. I suspect that this unwritten rule of flower deco among all cafes in Australia has planted a special indescribable feeling in my heart. I do realise that I am liking flowers deeply, totally not the way I would to feel in the past.

The all-white walls paired up with some rustic feel has had me falling in love. Not to mention, the extensive use of wooden materials in furnitures. And the huge glass window/ door that allows all the sunlight to shin in, brighten up the whole cafe. It is the sun rays that could always cheer and brighten me up!As you can see from the picture below, they have some specials written on the brownish papers like a scroll that is fixed on top of the door.

I was torn between a few choices but ended up with French toast with bacon. I love French Toast, madly deeply, of course only the good ones. My favourites are from Galleon cafe, followed by Fandango. This plate of goodness could be one of my favourites too! At first glace of the portion, the 2 pieces of French Toast looked abit smaller in size compared to others. But, it is so filling, I could not tell how many eggs they've used in this plate! The presentation is pretty attractive too! the bacons were presented in the way of skewers.

Elaine had this Omelette with smoked salmon. They put in pretty generous portion of salmon in the omelette. To be honest, omelette is a pretty old school dish, but this is nonetheless a yummy dish. Given the big portion of salmon tucked in it, it couldn't go wrong in any way haha...

While we were savouring our dishes, some new customers came in and ordered what seemed to me like baked eggs, something in ramekins which looks delicious. I would love to try that the next time round. Highly recommend this cafe and would love to go back again.

Hammer & Tong

Have been delaying this for so long now, has been weeks ago that I visited Hammer & Tong. Has been good fun weeks going for baking classes and celebrating birthday. Hammer & Tong is actually not on the main street of Brunswick, thus you will find the sign, or rather their logo that direct you to turn right into the lane where it is situated.

Hammer & Tong's interior is of a rectangular space that got divided into what seemed like 3 spaces, with main area is levelled slightly higher, and the third area is an all white room. The kitchen area is pretty small and quite open, as you could peeped through the front rectangular glass as well as from the side through the cashier.

Of course we made our research on the cafe's menu and reviews before heading over. I was specifically attracted by the soft shell crab burger. Between four of us, two of us ordered it and the other two ordered slow cooked bbq pork.

The pork belly dish turns out to be superb in both presentation and flavour. It was braised with full flavour, accompanied with some brussel sprouts, black beans and spring onion. In addition to the broth, there are avocado cream and what I suspected to be creme fraiche. I'm definitely not an avocado person but this is very acceptable to my standard, for it being pretty light in flavour. This dish scored it, even the brussel sprout tasted so good, one thing it missed was for the skin to be crispier.

And for the soft shell crab burger, it looked abit of a pity in comparison to the complex plating of the slow cooked pork. The soft shell crab was deep fried and served up with sriracha mayonnaise. To be honest, I couldn't remember the exact taste of the burger, but one thing for sure is it was too salty, way too salty for all of us. This a simple dish but it is always harder to resist soft shell crab. 

In overall, the food here is great except for the soft shell crab being too salty. I will not be getting the soft shell crab again for my next visit, will definitely go for something else instead. However, the slow cooked pork is definitely worth ordering!

Tom Toon Thai noodle cafe

Unlike other cafes, I didn't discover this one through food blogs, Urbanspoon nor friend's recommendations. It started with boyfie's church service at Planetshakers. We usually go for lunch after the service and that is when we started going to Ying Thai I which is just few tram stops away from the church. Then we noticed this Thai cafe in the same row as Ying Thai I. Back then, we couldn't believe that a thai cafe is situated right beside it. I mean, how is it gonna compete with Ying Thai?? Both Ying Thai I and II are already the best! (well, except a Thai shop that I love but the owner has relocated to Sydney sigh) And then after a few visits to Ying Thai I, both of us decided to give it a try because we were too curious how did it survive, located just beside Ying Thai I.

The space is really quite small but the owner did put in efforts in decorating the interior. There is alot of wooden elements in the cafe. Wood really successfully make you to feel more related to Thailand. I remember there are alot of handicraft souvenirs sold in Thailand are made of wood, especially wooden animal sculptures. I have wooden elephant sculptures and a wooden photo album back home. How cool is that photo album, the covers are made of wood, with elephants being symbols of Thailand crafted on top, and the inner sheets are made of recycled papers. It is so eco-friendly yet beautiful!

Also, there are a huge amount of books on the shelves. They are for sale too. So you could pick up some of them and bring them home if you are interested.

As the name of "Noodle Cafe" suggests, we had their signature noodle soup. They have beef, chicken and pork options for it. Also, you could pick the noodle type that you fancy, be it rice noodle, egg noodle or vermicelli. One thing to take note is that if you are after glass vermicelli, remember to mention it instead of just "vermicelli". Or else they'll give you rice vermicelli instead.

We both ordered Beef Noodle soup with vermicelli. As you could tell, besides the beef slices and beef balls, they actually put in pork lard too. OMG CRUNCHY DEEP FRIED PORK LARD. Really, it always make a huge difference and enhances the flavour of the dish instantly. I regretted that I didn't finish off all the lard before I finish the noodles because by then it turns soggy already. The soup is very rich. The taste is somewhat between Bak Kut Teh and Braised meat. So yummy! Also you could add in some of their chillies to make it a bit spicy just to have some kicks. 

Actually this was my second visit. I had Tom Yum soup during my first visit. It was good too, but not as spicy as Ying Thai's. The advantage is you could adjust the spicy and sour level yourself by adding their chillies. But the noodle soup beats it flat. Hands down man.

Maedaya

Maedaya has been on my wishlist for a very long while, after hearing good review of it from my ex-workmate. But it's not in the city, which means I have to take a tram ride to the restaurant plus I was told that there'll always be waiting time to be seated as it is almost always full house. So it just got postponed to unknown date. Major reason being I hardly travel out of city for meal except for brunch hunting. I have no idea why only brunch! Anyway, I finally made it with boyfie and housemates for farewell. Well not really a farewell because she's just going back hometown for one and a half week lol

Aren't the interior gorgeous?? Details details.... Haven't been seeing the wooden plate for very long time since my last visit to Japan. It just added an authentic feel to the restaurant! I also love how they incorporate so many ropes to the walls and ceiling, even camouflaging it into curtains! It reminded me so much of the traditional beaded doorway curtains in my aunt's house which looks like something below.

Unfortunately, the upper level doesn't look as awesome as the ground level. We were seated at upper level as it was full at ground level. And the upper level has bigger tables suitable for groups. We actually did waited when we arrived, but we didn't wait for too long so it was quite a pleasant wait.

I've read from some reviews that they used to have this 3 pages long menu, but now they've catched up with the technology and is using the ipad as menu and ordering function. It definitely presented clearer menu categories and individual food picture, and good for quick and accurate order, but downfalls are it is hard to have a look at menu together when you're in a group and would like to discuss food sharing option, and you can't cancel any order once u put it through. They serve free green tea, but expect least out of this.It is not good. Just skip this or pay for sake as what they are famous.

This is the bomb! Well marinated and BBQ-ed skewers!!! The further plate is chicken thigh skewers (Yakitori) in original flavour and plum sauce (sweet and sour). The nearer plate consists of a variety of skewers (Sumiyaki set). The fancy rolled up skewer is bean curd. My first time eating bean curd this sumiyaki style! We agreed that the Yakinori is the best, although I pretty much like the bean curd too =D

Can't remember the exact name for this salmon dish but it was deep fried and topped with wasabi mayo. The salmon was ok, but the sauce was good.

And we had Double Salmon Sushi just because we love salmon like that =X This is one huge sushi plate! It's not like those small sushi rolls that you get for the ordinary sushi shop and the salmon is really fresh!

Karaage chicken, one of boyfie's favourite japanese/korean dishes. Unfortuantely it turned out to be really not up to the standard set by the previous few dishes. It was quite a let down. It is crispy just not the taste that we normally had for this dish.

Upon finishing our dishes, we are quite satisfied. It is the kind of meal that you enjoyed it so much and you don't need to overload your tummy to get satisfied. You could just appreciate all the flavours you had and be grateful of it already. But to top it off, I ordered this ice cream combo of black sesame and green tea to share with Elaine. This is to satisfy our dessert tummy. Always have space for dessert hehe.. I guess I just couldn't resist green tea ice cream everytime I see it on menu in a Japanese restaurant.

We spent about $23 each for our meal and I think it is totally worth it for the fresh quality and great flavours! Most of the dishes were very yummy expecially the skewers. Will definitely be back again for more...

Little Mule

The first time I've heard of this cafe was actually 2-3 years back. I remember that I first saw the recommendation from the flight entertainment magazine. But somehow I have never physically noted it down, which explains why I have never got reminded of it when choosing a brunch place. And whenever I have brunch during Sunday, it is always closed so I never walked over to take a look either. Finally, I marked it down under wishlist in Urbanspoon to remind myself to pay a visit.

The cafe is situated pretty deep in the laneway, and there is no sign at the laneway entrance, so if you are just walking pass, you might not even notice about it. You really have to pause a while to have a look into the lane.

One thing that is very common in Melbourne is that there are so many cafes that hang bikes on the wall. I find it amusing when I first came to Melbourne, but having visited quite a few cafes by now I wonder it must be some kind of culture that cafe owners in Melbourne developed through their love for bikes. Little mule has a double identity of a custom bike shop apart from being just a cafe.

As you can see, there is a really huge and long communal table so it is really great for big group. We went on a Saturday but it was not crowded. There were only few tables that were occupied, which made it a nice environment to chill at.

The coffee beans they used is "Supreme". This is the second time I had my flat white with Supreme coffee bean. It has higher acidity and wine-like flavour compared to others like SevenSeeds or DiBella. Although I must say that it tasted much better and smoother than my first experience at a cafe around William Street.

They have some specials of the day on top of the usual menu but they have really simple and few menu options. I have read some reviews regarding the food options there so I was looking forward for pulled pork bun. But it wasn't on the menu nor the specials, so I was a little disappointed. But after enquiring the waiter about it, they actually have it! Not sure if they left it out on the specials or they haven't update it. The pulled pork was pretty yummy and juicy, not as dry as Chuckle Park's. It costs me about $18 including a flat white. 

And this is green eggs. Something to try if you haven't tried eggs with pesto. There is a cafe in central market that sells this variation in Adelaide too. You could actually see them cooking it on the spot at the bar area, made fresh!

Below is avocado, bacon and egg, if you are not after anything fancy but just a simple and nice meal.

The food here makes it a mediocre cafe in term of both options and flavours despite the hipster environment and very friendly waiter. It could have be better than this. Anyway, ending the brunch date with this group photo. This is the second time Ong came over this year. It's always good to have friend to come over and enjoy good meal like this =)

The little bear

Always love brunch date, although in this case, it was our lunch.. But not to worry, Le Miel Et La Lune supply all day breakfast menu. Already a plus point from the start :D The little bear with a coffee cup right up its head is the logo of this cafe. Their website display this cutie but nothing else, not even a menu. Not sure if they're still upgrading their website though. The cafe has a huge glass wall that enables lots of natural sunlight entering to brighten up the whole space. The interior is very simple and classic, painted all white, matched with some black coloured deco and dark brown wooden furniture. 

If I'm not mistaken, they're using coffee beans from Proud Mary. The coffee is pretty caramelly.

Like most of the cafe over here, they have some bakery items, one of them being this carrot cake. According to my fellow brunch-mates, it's yum! Not a big fan of carrot cake myself...

I ordered French Toast, cannot get past it when there's a twist in the ingredients, no? It comes with butter scotched banana, apart from the normal bacon and maple syrup. The brioche toast was really yummy, soft in the middle but not soggy! The syrup tasted like they've mixed in some banana flavour, which is pretty special. Unfortunately it was too sweet to my liking. Nonetheless it was really tasty.

Below is Pork Belly Potato Hash, which is the main reason that attracts boyfie back here lol. The white colour sauce is actually creamy sesame sauce. Unique eh?

And this is Free Range Eggs on Toast, scrambled with smoked salmon at the side. You can choose to have the eggs either poached, scrambled or fried and add on any sides to complete it.

Although almost all of the brunch/lunch items are above $15, but they are very filling and will definitely satisfy your hunger crave. Plus the food are all yummy, I'm gonna be a returning customer.. Even-though there's so many cafes in Melbourne alone, it's not easy to find one that can produce most, if not all of the menu items with great taste.