Choux Cafe - Cottesloe

Apple Custard Tart 

In three minutes....

You would think a French Patisserie would also give you a complimentary voucher to see a Diabetes Educator when they pass you a tart you've purchased for morning tea. 

I've always associated French desserts to be overly-sugary, buttery 

and/or blood-glucose-level-raising. 

This gorgeous Apple Custard tart was surprisingly not overly-sweet.

Perfectly sliced apples layered over a base of smooth custard.

Crunchy shortcrust pastry base.

Gorgeous orange macaron added to perfect this tart.

Delicious, more-ish and dangerously addictive.

Piccolo's Corner - West Leederville

The fact that I house-sat about 100m away from this cute café and never new of its existence saddens me. My bank account however, would be very happy as if I had known of Piccolo’s Corner before, I would have spent every weekend here.

Piccolo’s Corner is located on the corner of St Leonards Ave and Woolwich Street in West Leederville.

This tiny café is actually a little bigger than first expected as you can opt to sit outside in the cute garden courtyard surrounded by plants, flowers and watering cans hanging from trees.

What I love about this place is that everything is mismatched and quirky. There are chairs, lounges, some tables are made of old doors and the sugar pots on the table are all random. They serve free range eggs, the food is fresh and delicious and they even have fresh home-made lemonade on offer!

Through my research I found that the most popular dish offered for brunch is their “Smashed pumpkin, feta, spinach, pesto and poached egg on toasted ciabatta” ($17.50) Those who have reviewed Piccolo’s Corner have ravved about this dish no end!

The menu is really interesting and features gorgeous dishes that you can tell have had some thought put into them.

Being obsessed with mushrooms, I couldn’t go past the “Garlic and tarragon filed mushrooms with salsa verde and fetta on toasted ciabatta.” ($14.50) (I asked for no fetta as I have had a bit of dairy intolerance as of late).

I also ordered a Cappuccino. Upon the first sip out of the vintage china cup with a souvenir teaspoon I realized the coffee was of high quality. A quick check inside and I see “5 Senses” sitting on the shelf. Absolutely divine!!

Jack opted for the Piccolo’s Breakfast which had poached eggs, avocado, bacon and spicy capsicum relish on toasted ciabatta ($17.50) with a Latte.

I found it cute that they served the pot of tea in a china ‘house’ and nearly convinced me to order a tea until I realised I had not had my caffeine for the day and needed this greatly.

My mushroom brekky was absolutely delicious! They did not shy away from flavour with lots of garlic and tarragon! I would have loved the choice of a grain-bread but that’s just me being fussy. On a normal day I would have probably walked away hungry as the size of the meals are very humble (on this particular day I was still recovering from the flu). I do take into mind my abnormal-appetite but I still think they could be a little more generous with the servings.

Jack also made this comment on the size of his meal. Being the biggest meal on offer for breakfast – he was hoping for a big feed but was slightly let down.

Inside Picciolo’s is a gorgeous array of colours - there are artworks painted on the walls, flowers in pots and even a candy bar where you can pick-n-mix!

They have freshly baked muffins on the counter screaming to be eaten and even some freshly made rolls and quiches for lunch.

Piccolo's Corner in a nutshell:

·         Coffee: 5 Senses

·         All eggs are free range

·         Home made Lemonade

·         Candy bar inside!

·         You order at the counter and it’s cash only.

·         We were there at 8.00am (opening) on Sunday but a line of people very quickly grew out the front so get in quick to avoid the wait!  

 Piccolo's Menu:

Pumpkin Spice Latte

From my experience of Halloween in Canada I can confidently say that everything is PUMPKIN.

Think of every type of food you have ever eaten.

Now transform that food into a pumpkin version of itself - add pumpkin, flavour it with pumpkin, shape the product in a pumpkin shape - hell – dip it into pumpkin puree! - and this is what America and Canada do obsessively during Halloween.  

I love pumpkin, don’t get me wrong. Do I believe it should be added to every biscuit, cereal, breakfast, lunch, dinner that exists? Possibly not…

Good on them I say – why not embrace pumpkin this Halloween?!

 In honour of my Canadian buddies and combined with my love for coffee and cinnamon – I came across a Pumpkin Spice Latte recipe that I thought I should give a go!

Here it is:

(Vegan)  Pumpkin Spice Latte

Makes about 4 cups

Ingredients:

• 2 cups non-dairy milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 3-4 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (plus more for garnish)
• 2/3 cup strongly brewed coffee

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisk together milk, pumpkin and maple syrup until well combined. Heat until warmed through and frothy. Remove from heat.
2. Stir in vanilla, pumpkin pie spice and coffee. Whisk rapidly until latte is frothy.
3. Pour into mugs and sprinkle top with more pumpkin pie spice if desired.

It was actually delicious and easy to make! I would actually recommend you give it a go!

MMM oh Pumpkin .

Aisuru Sushi

There isn’t a day when I don’t feel like sushi Japanese full stop.

I would happily eat raw fish and beautiful little roles of rice and creamy avocado any day.

Aisuru gets me excited because I can see the sushi being made there on the spot.

The rice is still warm when it arrives at your table, which just screams FRESH!

Aisuru Sushi executes the art of sushi like no other. The sushi looks like an artwork on your plate when it arrives, and surprisingly enough, the plate is empty by the time you count to 20.

From top left:

Jennifer Roll

Teriyaki Tofu

Chicken Plum Roll

Black Velvet roll

Miso Soup

Dreaming of Brunch in Melbourne

I’ve spent a morning scrolling through photos of my friends travels on Facebook and through photo-envy I have resorted to looking at my own travel photos.

I have been hungrily reminiscing my holiday to Melbourne earlier this year and thought I’d spend a moment sharing these gorgeous little brunch spots I came across in Melbourne.

The Bond Store - Southbank

·         Cappuccino

·         Fried eggs on rye toast with white truffle oil, spicy chorizo sausage and Mexican chilli.

·         Poached eggs on toast with smoked bacon, wilted spinach, smashed avo & roasted tomato

·         Poached eggs on toast with wilted spinach, smashed avo & roasted tomato (side of smoked salmon instead of bacon)

·         Hot banana bread with honey butter

·         Latte

The best dish here was the Banana bread by far. It was soft, light and crumbly in texture but with a crunchy crust. Sweet (real) banana flavours and with a thick slice of honey-butter – it just melted in your mouth! More like a banana cake than banana bread. So divine!

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Affogato Espresso Bar

Down one of the most popular little brunch lanes in Melbourne hides a pretty little espresso bar called – Affogato Espresso Bar. Hardware Lane was another skinny street boasting of macaron cafes, coffee shops, and so many breakfast cafes! Cobblestone paths, coffee bean aroma floating through the air – I could not be happier.

A gorgeous welcoming couple (that clearly own and run the café) were ever so friendly and accommodating and invited us into their cafe.

The Coffee was out of this world! I asked what coffee beans they used and they said “Supreme.”

We had two large (mug) latte’s, then two more normal-sized lattes (because the first were so damn unbelievable!), the big Vegetarian Breakfast with extra sides and an Eggs Benny – ALL FOR UNDER $40!!

The brunch was probably my perfect brekky on a plate: Poached eggs, salmon, mushrooms, fried tomatoes and spinach leaves on seeded toast!

Jack had an Egg’s Benny which he also ravved about!

I would return here purely for the divine coffee, the impeccable service and the best breakfast I had in Melbourne!

Affogato Espresso Bar
29 Hardware Lane
Melbourne
+61 9642 5593
www.affogato.com.au

Kailis Bros Leederville

Brunch at Kailis Bros - I just had to order smoked salmon!
This is a seafood restaurant after all!

Egg’s Benny with a side of mushrooms and cherry tomatoes.

Mexican baked eggs with guacamole & sour cream.

Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice

Freshly squeezed OJ.

Made with home grown oranges from Harvey.

You can just see the vitamins jumping out from the glass!

Fresh, delicious and the best way to wake up!

Gypsy Tapas - Freo

Tapas is normally something that either leaves me with an empty stomach or an empty wallet.

I never venture out for tapas for this reason as I leave wanting to grab a takeaway meal on my way home and so poor I could have had a couple of main meals at any other restaurant.

Gypsy Tapas in Freo have a variety of tapas dishes all for $8.

Seafood, meat, vegetables or some olives in a bowl - it's all the same price.

For $30/head you can have a banquet where the Chef choses tapas dishes for your table. 

For $40/head you can have unlimited tapas dishes for two hours.

I'm coming back for the unlimited menu :)

P.S. Gypsy Tapas have jugs of homemade Sangria!

Marinated Artichokes and Peppers (by far the best!)

Stuffed Capsicum with rice

Lemon mustard beans

BBQ'd prawns

Toasted turkish bread

Olives

Home-made hummus dip (AMAZING)

Meat balls

Chicken wings

Marinated fetta

Choritzo

and some others I can't recall

Apologies for the poor quality photos... dim lighting + the excitement to eat all the dishes left no time or patience for photography.

Gorgeous little restaurant, cute waiters, live music, sangria jugs and good company.

I'll be back.

Crust Gourmet Pizza - Mt Lawley

If you read my post from when I tried Crust Gourmet pizza for the first time, you would have seen how impressed I was by the freshness and taste of Crust pizza! I normally associate “takeaway pizza” with grease and the food you eat when you’re hungover.

Crust is not this.

I was lucky enough to be invited by Crust Gourmet Pizza Mt Lawley to be on a tasting panel to help select a special menu for the Beaufort Street Festival this year.

I determined I was the perfect candidate as:

• I love pizza.
• I love Crust’s gourmet pizza.
• I can eat a lot of pizza...
• I live in the Mt Lawley area.
• I can’t wait to attend the Beaufort Street Festival this year!
• and I can eat a lot of pizza...(wait...did I say that already?)

I was able to try multiple Crust pizzas and the verdict you ask?

D.E.L.I.S.H.!

Fresh crispy bases topped with taste sensations you can only imagine in a gourmet restaurant!

My favourite pizza by far was by Vegetarian Supreme. Pretty much every gourmet vegetable on a tomato based pizza with a drizzle of pesto aioli. Mmm I’m drooling just typing this... 

This was a popular choice among vego’s and meat-eaters alike! 

I would love to try the Wild Mushroom pizza as I have a slight obsession with mushrooms - this pizza features oyster, portobello & shiitake mushrooms plus one of my favourite green vege’s - asparagus! (But we’ll have to save this tasting for another time!) 

I tried all the chicken pizzas including the: 

Peri-Peri ~ Marinated Chicken Breast Fillets, Shallots, Roasted Capsicum, Caramelised Onions & Bocconcini on a Tomato base, topped with Peri-Peri sauce

Pesto Chicken Club ~ Marinated Chicken Breast Fillets, Thinly Sliced Prosciutto, Spanish Onions, Tomatoes, Garlic & Avocado on a Tomato base, topped with Pesto Aioli & Wild Rocket.

Tandori ~ Chicken Breast Fillets marinated in Tandoori Spices, Shallots & crushed Cashews on a Tomato base, topped with Mint Yoghurt. (N, H)

Satay ~ Marinated Chicken Breast Fillets, Spanish Onions on a Satay base, topped with Honey, Sesame seeds.

My favourite was actually the Satay pizza as I’m a huge fan of satay! But I think the Peri-Peri was ultimately delicious! As a chilli-addict I think adding extra chilli to this baby would hit my spice-levels perfectly!

Florentine Ricotta

Meat Deluxe

Mediterranean Lamb ~ Slow Cooked Marinated Lamb, Tomatoes, Green Capsicum, Spanish Onions, Feta & Oregano on a Garlic infused base, garnished with Mint Yoghurt & Lemon.

Crust Supreme ~ Smoked Ham, Pepperoni, Italian Sausage, Mushrooms, Fresh Capsicum, Spanish Onions, Pineapple & Kalamata Olives on a Tomato base

Margarita

Hawaiian 

From hear-say I have been told that gluten-free bases can quite often be taste-less and dry. Crumbly in texture and just do not offer you the delicious experience of what we all know a pizza base to be. Having a gluten-free lady amongst us, I sneakily stole a piece of her special gluten-free pizza and was able to compare the Crust bases. Wow! I was so impressed! Crunchy, tasty and so good I would not know it was gluten-free! To be honest, I quite preferred the texture and would almost go back and get a gluten-free base for the awesome taste and just to walk away without that bloated feeling I can sometimes get from too much bread. 

Well done Crust! You have given Coeliacs an opportunity to taste some of the best pizza I’ve discovered. Why should anyone miss out on these delicious pizzas?!     

If you think we were full after trying all these pizzas you are certainly right. But this didn’t stop me from trying the two Dessert Calzones on offer:

Rocky Road Calzone ~ Gooey-chocolately-mudcake goodness wrapped inside a hot crusty sweet dough with bursts of melted marshmallows and sweet cherries. Far out, if this isn’t heaven I don't know what is!

Hokey Pokey Calzone ~ Calzone filled with Caramel Cake, Honeycomb, Dark Chocolate & Whole Hazelnuts. Oh. Em. Gee.

Most witnessed my talent when I ate not one but both of these moreish-dessert-calzones, but were even more impressed when I managed to get melted chocolate down my fingers, face, top, pants and I think a little even dribbled on my purse. I’m not even kidding. 

Some were lucky enough to have photographed this occasion, but for their personal safety have chosen to not release the photos (smart decision).  

All-in-all, we walked away very full but so content with all the amazing pizzas we were able to try! 

The Crust pizza menu is huge and features everything including starters, kids pizzas, seafood pizzas, your traditional pizzas, meat veg, chicken, healthier choice, calzones and those more gourmet; Upper Crust pizzas! Dessert calzones and gelato is also an essential choice! The menu outlines calorie intake and whether they include nuts, soy, seafood, eggs and which are available on gluten-free bases. Way to go Crust!

Check out Crust’s menu online here.

The Beaufort Street Festival is held on November 17 in Mt Lawley. Check out their website for more details here.