Melbourne

Pinkie – Ivanhoe

Melbourne

Where: Pinkie, 1 Westley Ave, Ivanhoe VIC 3079

When: January 2020

Meal: Brunch

Cost: Approx $40 each, because we ordered an extra dish!

Pinkie has so many delicious sounding things on the menu that we struggled to decide what to have. I usually avoid smashed avo for brunch as I feel it has become very generic, but the Pinkie version looked amazing on Instagram so it was a must have.

Pinkie’s Avocado Toast ($18.5) was described on the menu to have smashed avo, pomegranate, beetroot hummus, feta, sesame seeds and fresh herbs, however it came with radishes and was missing the pomegranate. I love pomegranate so that was a shame, but I actually didn’t notice this until reviewing the pics later as the flavours worked really well, with great seasoning in the avocado and salty feta. We also added a poached egg ($2.50).

The Halloumi & Sweet Potato Fritters ($19) were served with a tangy, fresh salad and a plentiful serve of salmon, but I tend to prefer my fritters to be shallow fried with crispy edges, otherwise I find them a little soggy.

Despite these meals being generously sized and us being pretty full, we just had to try the Dulce Riccotta Pancakes ($19). They come with a delicious white chocolate crumble that I could not stop eating and would have loved to have taken a jar of it home! It was a great dish to share, but probably too much sweetness for me to eat the whole thing alone. 

We were being very extra for this brunch and also tried their smoothies. The Nutberry ($9) was perhaps a bit adventurous with raspberries, banana, peanut butter, coconut nectar and almond milk, but the raspberry and PB just didn’t work together for me. However, in the Oreo Thickshake ($8.5) with oreo, ice cream, malt, milk, the addition of the optional peanut butter ($1) was delicious and definitely recommended!

Pinkie was really busy on the Sunday morning that we visited, but it had a nice lively vibe and the team were incredibly friendly and attentive with fast service. 

Would I go back? Yes, the food we tried was delicious and there are plenty of things on the menu that I also want to try, like the Chilli Scrambled Eggs and the Pinkie Cheeseburger.

Would I recommend it to you? Yes and you should definitely try the Dulce Ricotta Pancakes.

Show me the food…

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2019

The Top 10 Things I Ate in 2019

Life

As we descend upon Christmas and my diet will soon become 84% ham, turkey, prawns, pav and 67% champagne…I’ve reflected on the amazing things I’ve experienced this year and come up with the Top 10 things I put in my mouth. Really, with eating out a few times a week this could easily have been a Top 20 or 30, but I know we all have short attention spans.

So here it is, with my instagram commentary at the time…

1. Truffle French Toast – Three Williams, Redfern

“Omg, omg, omg! This was possibly the most amazing breakfast I’ve ever had in my life. Three Williams is celebrating truffle season with a special truffle menu and this is their Truffle French Toast. From the menu ‘crunchy brioche, truffle ice cream, gold feuilletine, chocolate brownie, caramel cooking crumb, popping candy, truffle anglaise, raspberries and fresh truffle'”

Three-Williams-Truffle-Brioche

2. Mushroom Risotto – Auvers Cafe, Darling Square

“Carbs are my favourite food group, so of course ordering both a risotto and a pasta* makes complete sense to me. I couldn’t go past the Mushroom Risotto when I saw that it came with tempura enoki and it did not disappoint! With the cherry tomatoes and edamame, it was quite fresh for a risotto and full of mushroom flavour”.

*Original post also included the Seafood Spaghetti, which was also really good!

Auvers-Risotto

3. Stoner’s Delight Part 3 – Ms. G’s, Potts Point

“The award for the best thing I’ve ever eaten in my life goes to*… ‘Stoner’s Delight Part 3’. So good, actually ridiculously good, no incredibly ridiculously good. From the menu ‘doughnut ice cream, peanut dulce de leche, peanut & pretzel brittle, crispy bacon, mars bar brownie, raspberry curd, potato chips & deep fried Nutella”

*Ok, so it’s not number 1, but I ate this in May and the prior dishes came later in the year!

MsGs-Stoners-Delight

4. Blue Majik Smoothie Bowl – Concrete Jungle, Chippendale

“Hands up if you’ve ever ordered a meal and gasped as it arrived as it was just so darn pretty with all the micro herbs and edible flowers and floss etc….and then discovered the dish had almost no flavour. Yup, its the most crushing disappoint isn’t it?! I ordered this smoothie bowl with some trepidation as it looked impossibly gorgeous on the ‘gram. I gasped when it arrived, I tasted and I gasped again! It is so insanely delicious. Summer in a bowl! The coconut yoghurt based smoothie is flavoured with pineapple and banana alongside the blue spirulina and is silky smooth and subtly sweet. Combined with the crunchy puffed granola it is so more-ish and easy to finish, despite the generous serving.”

Concrete-Jungle-Blue-Bowl

5. Eggs Benedict – Auvers Cafe, Rhodes

“Last week I saw a post of Auvers Apple Crumble French Toast* and decided I just had to get myself to the Rhodes cafe to try it…but once there I got distracted by THIS!!! Their Eggs Benedict is a nice departure from a traditional eggs benny with pulled pork, runny onsen eggs, pork floss, spinach, smoky ponzu hollandaise and corn salsa on a toasted croissant. The flavours are incredible!”

*I have returned for the Apple Crumble French Toast and it was also amazing and was very close to being a third Auvers dish featured in my Top 10!

Auvers-Eggs_Benedict

6. Flaming Truffle Pasta Supper – Handpicked Cellar Door, Chippendale

“Perfection”

Ok, so the post that accompanied this actual pic was rather succinct, so the commentary from the prior post that showed the pasta being prepared in front of us was:

“You may have noticed that I’m a tad interested, no excited, no obsessed with truffles! Last night I ticked off one of the last Sydney truffle experiences on my foodie to do list, which was the Flaming Truffle Pasta Supper at Handpicked Wines. I had high expectations of this and it did not disappoint! It was quite the experience, from picking your preferred truffle origin by smell at the table, to seeing the theatre of the flambé and of course tasting those delicious truffles in a cheesy pasta. If you have a spare lunch or dinner slot this weekend or next, I implore you to go before truffle season ends!! You wont regret it.”

Hnadpicked-Cellars-Truffle-Pasta

7. The Fatty 5-0 – Southside Social, Frankston Melbourne

“Can we just for a moment all stop to admire and appreciate the delicious piece of burger art that this is? The Fatty 5-0 is mac & cheese topped with a beef patty (two in this case), topped with cheese, topped with bacon, topped with BBQ sauce, topped with pepper mayo, topped with pickles. All that topping really paid off! Seriously good burger!! It’s going on my best burgers list (you probably only need one patty though, I had to take one off like a lame piker).”

Southside-Social-Mac-n-Cheese-Burger

8. Fried Chicken – Fat Belly Jacks Pop Up, Castle Hill (usually in QLD)

“The Hills are alive with Brisbane’s claimed ‘Best Fried Chicken’. Now I haven’t eaten much fried chicken in Brisbane, so I cannot confirm or deny that title, but I can say that Fat Belly Jack’s fried chicken is freakin’ awesome!! The chicken coating is crunchy and smoky spicy with a very pleasant heat in the Medium. Fat Belly Jacks go large too, with both the tenders and the burger piece being huge! The pop up is only here for 3 weeks, so run!”

Fat-Belly-Jacks-Fried-Chicken

9. Lychee, Raspberry & Rose Cruffin – Lune Croissanterie, Fitzroy Melbourne

“I’d like to share with you a sad tale. After waiting 40 mins to get my croissants today, the place was packed and there were no seats available. So I went outside to take pics and after I got the shot of the almond croissant (prior post) the wind picked up, so I retreated to my rental car. Not ideal, but I’ll make do. Whilst trying to get a pic showing the delicious inside of this Lychee, Raspberry & Rose Cruffin disaster struck!!* Photo shoot over, rental car returned with mysteriously sticky dash and full of crumbs”.

* The cruffin fell over whilst taking pics and smeared the creamy filling on the dash. That pic is also on my instagram if you want to see more! But despite the lack of commentary, I actually really loved this cruffin. The flavours worked so well together without being overpowering (always a fear with Rose involved) and it was so deliciously light and flaky. Definitely worth the 40 minute queue!

Lune-Cruffin

10. Jalapeño Poppers – Tres Salsas, Hervey Bay Queensland

“I love a Jalapeño Popper, especially a huge Jalapeño Popper!”

Ok, so I was on holidays when I posted this which I assume is why my commentary was so brief as I LOVED these! They certainly were huge, but they were so well presented and stuffed with plenty of spicy cream cheese filling and served on top of chipotle mayo. So often poppers are disappointing and flavourless, but these packed a punch.

Jalapeno Poppers

My foodie to do list is still full of new places to try in 2020. Comment below and let me know if there is somewhere that topped your list this year that needs to be on my 2020 list!

Post your own Top 10 on Instagram and use #top10thingsiate2019 and tag @mslunchalot so I can check it out.

Higher Ground Melbourne Dining Room

Higher Ground – Melbourne

Melbourne

Where: Higher Ground Melbourne, 650 Little Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000

When: August 2018

Meal: Brunch

Cost: Approx $30

Higher Ground was recommended to me by a friend who is a new Melbourne local. She described it as a place that would be ‘great for your instagram’. Sold!

When I arrived at Higher Ground about 11am on a Sunday morning there was a queue out the door. I went to put my name down, but when I told them I was a party of just one, they said they would be able to find me a seat immediately.

I was shown to a communal table with three other pairs already eating and ordered a coffee. Whilst waiting for the waitress to return I took in the beautiful surroundings of the building. At first I thought it looked like quite a hipster type place, but it actually feels very historical and just had a nice vibe.

I ordered the ‘avocado seed cracker, macadamia feta, mojo verde, poached eggs, toasted and fresh seaweed’ ($17.50) with a side of Berkshire Bacon ($6.50).

It was delicious. High quality ingredients, cooked perfectly. My only complaint was that it needed a little salt. There was salt on the table, but it was the type in a little dish that you would normally grab a pinch of. Not ideal on a communal table! I asked the waitress for my own little dish for hygiene and thankfully she didn’t seem to think I was a fussy nightmare….well not to my face anyway!

Would I go back? For sure. The food was tasty and the ambience was lovely.

Would I recommend it to you? Definitely. It will be great for your instagram haha! But, I wouldn’t recommend the Ricotta Hotcakes. They look so pretty and I didn’t try them myself, but three people on my communal table left theirs half eaten.

The Om Nom Choc Nut Bomb, Peanut Butter Parfair at Om Nom Kitchen, Melbourne

Om Nom – Melbourne

Melbourne

Where: Om Nom Restaurant, Adelphi Hotel, 187 Flinders Ln, Melbourne VIC 3000

When: August 2018

Meal: Dessert

Cost: $51 (including alcohol)

I had already eaten a big dinner when I arrived at Om Nom for dessert, but there was no way a reasonably full tummy would stop me from trying their desserts. The fact the Adelphi Hotel has a dessert restaurant was one of the key drivers of me booking my accomodation in the quirky hotel.

I ordered a glass of the Besserat de Bellefon Brut Champagne ($23) whilst I tried to decide what to order by evaluating the dishes being served to my fellow diners.

Eventually I settled on the Om Nom Choc Nut Bomb ($28). Described on the menu as “peanut butter parfait, peanut butter powder, chocolate coated rice bubbles, raspberry fluid gel, dehydrated chocolate mousse” I knew I was in for some decadence!

And it did not disappoint. It took me a good while to finish it as it was quite a large dessert which would be easy to share, but it was also very rich and sweet as expected. However I eventually completed it and almost rolled back to my room!

Would I go back? In a heartbeat. The hotel foyer and restaurant has a really cool vibe and the desserts are spectacular.

Would I recommend it to you? Yes, pop in for a dessert or cocktail. The restaurant also serves ‘normal’ meals, but why would you not go there to experience their specialties?