Auction Rooms, North Melbourne

Feeling adventurous, me and a couple of guy friends, Jack and Jerry, headed out to North Melbourne for some brunch one sunny afternoon. Auction Rooms is a cafe which was highly recommended by one of our girlfriends. We got there just before midday and even though it was a weekday, the place was busy, but we managed to get a table. As it was a hot day, we ordered some cold refreshing drinks - ginger beer for Jack, blood orange juice for me and an iced coffee for Jerry.

The menu has breakfast and lunch options. After a few minutes of exploring the menu options, we made our decisions and ordered.

I ordered lamb and rosemary pie with mushy peas, salsa verde, rocket and nigella jus. It was well-presented and the aroma was enticing.

The pie crust was light and crispy and the filling was hot meaty goodness! This awesome pie worked well with the mushy peas and the salad greens. I LOVED IT! It was definitely the best Aussie pie I have had so far!

Jacky ordered the opening bid - free range poached eggs, Andrew's choice smoked bacon, braised field mushroom, grilled tomato and sauteed spinach on dench sourdough (put simply, it was bacon, eggs, mushroom, tomato and spinach on toast) It looked appealing but I don't think it would have been substantial enough for my big belly!

As for Jerry, he ordered the knuckle sandwich - braised pork knuckle with piccalilli, rocket and aged cheddar in a warm ciabatta roll with pickled chilli. He said it was fantastic and extremely satisfying. He offered me a bite but because of the cheese (I am a cheese-phobic), I politely declined.

Final Verdict

Auction Rooms is a great place for brunch, but can be a bit noisy with the music (or maybe I'm just getting old!) We had no complaints about the food and the prices were reasonable - think we spent about $20 AUD each. And I will definitely return one day with Hubby in tow - he loves lamb and he loves pie so he would have loved what I ordered!

Liar, Liar Cafe, Hawthorn

Have you ever been on a double date? It is super duper fun! Hubby and I went on a double date with this lovely couple, Jin and Jessica for breakfast. I chose the time to meet and Jessica chose the venue. She had been to Liar, Liar a few times and had enjoyed her previous visits.

It was a Saturday morning and the place was heaving - that's a good sign for good food!! Luckily, we didn't have to wait too long for a table. A waitress came round to take our drinks order and craving caffeine, I ordered a mocha. The mocha was lovely - a good balance of chocolate and coffee.

My eyes automatically zoned in on this menu item - the Big Fat Liar breakfast which was eggs done the way you like with mushrooms, bacon, tomatoes, spinach and tomato relish. It was definitely right up my street. But alas, I didn't order that. Why? Because we had another double date for lunch in two hours time so I didn't want to over-indulge.

Instead I ordered the BLAT - bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato with aioli on toasted bread.

It was just right. Not too filling for me. It would have been really dry but the avocado helped moisten the dry unbuttered toast. (I would also have preferred a fried runny egg to go with it...hehe)

Hubby and Jin both ordered the French Toast - I had a small bite of Hubby's but I am not a huge fan of French toast so I was not that impressed - but both of them hoovered the French toast up.

As for Jessica, she went for the Pants On Fire - spicy Spanish style baked eggs with pepperonata and chorizo sausage. I had a taste and was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't spicy in my opinion - I can eat really spicy foods. But the tomatoey goo tasted tangy and had a slight kick in it.

We had a great time in Liar, Liar - but the only annoying thing is the location of the toilets. To go to the loo, you must ask the waitress for the key, leave the premises, and walk to another building behind it. Okay, okay, it took about 3 minutes to get there, but still!!

Anyway, I think Liar, Liar is a good place to go to chill out and enjoy breakfast.

I Ate A Frog

That's a bowl of frog's legs congee! All the way from Singapore. Yes, we just got back from holidaying in Malaysia and Singapore. You know what that means right? Food aplenty! I'm hungry!!! Lots of food blogs coming soon...I pinky promise!

Teru Teru Japanese Cafe, Box Hill

The husband and I celebrate our first anniversary of meeting each other by going to a Japanese cafe for lunch.  We live near Box Hill where there are plenty of places to eat Asian food - Chinese food, Malaysian cuisine, Singaporean delights, Korean and Vietnamese - but as for Japanese, not many restaurants are around in Box Hill.  We randomly stumbled upon Teru Teru Japanese Cafe and thought we would try it out.  It was busy for a Sunday lunchtime - we took this as a good sign - and we were happy to wait 10 minutes till there was a table free for us.

We were quite hungry and seeing as it was an anniversary celebration, we went a bit crazy and ordered a few dishes.  (I say crazy because we are currently struggling financially, so we tend to order cheap dishes and only one dish per person, but not on this day!)

We ordered salmon sashimi - who doesn't love salmon sashimi?!

I like mine dunked in a thick mix of wasabi and soy sauce.  Yummilicious.  The fish was fresh and very succulent.

The hubby ordered a fried chicken special (chicken karaage??).  He loves meat and deep fried foods.  It tasted good with a squeeze of lemon juice.

For our mains, I ordered Tempura Udon.  I love soup noodles.  This one was a tad unadventurous so I added lots of spice to it.

The mixed tempura which consisted of two prawns and mixed vegetables were placed in separate plate which was good, because some restaurants put it on top of the soup noodles which means soggy tempura.  However, I didn't really enjoy the tempura because the tempura batter was rather thick.  It wasn't light and crispy.

Hubby seemed quite pleased with his main of cold noodles.  I forgot to take a photo of his noodles as I was too busy taking photos of my food, but I took a photo of the remains.  You can see the big block of ice which was tucked under the noodles to keep them cold.

We were so full at the end of this big meal.  I think we will go back to Teru Teru to try other items on the menu.  It's a shame that there's no ramen though because I have a ramen craving at the moment.

Yum Cha At Crown Palace

Apologies for the lack of blogs here, but just because I haven't blogged here, it does not mean that :-

a)  I haven't been blogging at all because I blog at www.lingtung.com and also at www.thebestbeautyblog.com
b)  I haven't taking photos of my food because I recently acquired an iPhone 4 which is my new favourite gadget - photo quality is not excellent, but it's handy.
c)  I haven't been eating as much - hello, I love eating and believe you me, I have been eating lots of yummy food.

Okay, enough chit-chat and let's get on to one of my new favourite yum cha restaurants in Melbourne - Crown Palace in Vermont South - 495 Burwood Highway.

I shall let the photos do the talking, but I am salivating just thinking about the food there.

choi sum with oyster sauce

har gaow (= steamed prawn dumplings)

siew mai (= steamed pork dumplings)

char siu cheung fun (= roast pork flatsheet roll)

fried sesame wafer prawns

dan tat (=egg custard tarts)

century egg and pork congee (=rice porridge)

lao sa bao (= steamed runny custard filled bun)

hot steaming gooey sweet filling - mmm

I love.  I love.  I love.  Nom nom nom.