Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne

 

Right next to where Boyfriend and I were staying this weekend was the Queen Victoria Market. 

Saturday morning we headed down there for a bit of a stroll and wander around. 

There is loads of fresh produce, from veggies to meats to cheeses and fresh pastas. Wines, hot food stalls, coffee, tea. Apart from food, there's plenty of stalls selling random bits and pieces. If there is anything you need, I'm sure you'd find it here.

Getting a little hungry for breakfast and trying to eye out something good to eat, we spotted the American Doughnut Van which had a pretty decent line up. Lines usually mean something good, so we joined the back of the queue.

You could see through the window of the van they were pumping out fresh doughnuts. You had one person working the dough, one more person cutting out the doughnuts, a third person doing the frying and another person pumping in the jam. Who doesn't love a fresh cinnamon doughnut let a lone a fresh jam doughnut... Drool.


You could buy them in a bag of 6 for $6 or they were $1 each...... Yes, everyone who ordered had a bit of a giggle at this. Seeing bags of 6 already made up, I bought the 6. No, I didn't fall for it, even though that's not what Boyfriend thinks.

The doughuts were quite big, not your standard round doughnut. If I had seen they were that big, I probably wouldn't have got a bag of 6. Actually, yes, I probably would have.

Warm, soft and fresh, they looked and smelt delish! First bite, nice and crisp on the outside but like looks, they aren't your usual doughnut. A bit more of a chewy consistency inside, it's hard to describe. Maybe doughy is the right word to use, but not doughy in a bad way?

The only thing I would say is they need a bit more jam. For the size of the doughnut, there's only a little in the middle. Jam doughnuts need to be dripping jam down fingers!!

After polishing off two doughnuts each, we started the hunt for a good coffee that we hear Melbourne is known for. This is when we spotted Market Lane Coffee.

It's all about the coffee here. We ordered our usual flat white and latte, but there are few different blends of filter coffee to choose from as well if filter coffee is your thing. 

If you're looking for something to eat, this isn't the place to go. Besides some muffins and smaller pastries they don't do food here, that I saw anyway. They also sell here, heaps of tools and kits to make for making coffee too. 

The coffee itself I really enjoyed. It wasn't too bitter and had a nice smooth flavour. Boyfriend wasn't as much of a fan as I was. I suppose it just comes down to personal taste.

Walking into the dairy hall we saw lots of people eating these kebab looking things, so we started the search to find out what they were. 


Seeing the massive crowd at Boreks, we worked it out. Thought we better try one, so we ordered a cheese and spinach one to share. They did come in different flavours, but cheese and spinach is always reliable.

The borek was nice and fresh, packed with filling which was nice and hot. All it needed was a lemon wedge to squeeze on top, it seemed to be lacking a bit of seasoning. 

Next to Borek's was the Bratwurst Shop. During all our travels in the last couple years, bratwurst is something that has become one of our favourites - who doesn't love a big sausage?..

They have different types of bratwurst cooking on the grill, you can get your standard or your cheese and other ones. You also have your different toppings to choose from like onions and sauerkraut (yuck, I can't stand sauerkraut) plus your usual sauces like ketchups and mustards. 

We ordered one original bratwurst with onions, ketchup and mustard (Boring, I know... but we find it hard to stray from something that is so simple and still delicious). The onions that they topped it with were big and cooked till they were nice and soft. The bratwurst was cooked perfectly and had a great flavour. 

Wish we got one of these each instead of the borek... Oh well, at least we got to try a few different things!

Movida Aqui, Melbourne

Originally, we had planned to go to Movida. But being a little unorganised, when we called to book there was only one place left at Movida Aqui for the time we wanted . 

So, off to Movida Aqui we go.

When we arrived, it wasn't full but it didn't take too long for it get pretty busy. The place itself has a great vibe to it. The decor I wouldn't say is anything to rave about but it does give it a nice, comfortable and trendy feel. 

I like places where you can see the chef's at work. We weren't sitting around the bar/kitchen area but I wouldn't have minded if we were.

We were provided with a drinks menu first... This is a very long menu. Not being in the mood really for a wine or a beer, I settle for a cider. Boyfriend gets himself a beer. 

The cider comes out and it's one I haven't seen or tried before. I didn't mind it, but probably wouldn't order it again. If you have ever been to Bali and ordered yourself a Bali Cider, they're very similar. I think so anyway. 

After our drinks are brought our table, we're given a food menu and a specials menu. The menu itself isn't too long, though that doesn't make it any easier deciding what to order. The Tapas menu is only one serve, and we wanted to try as many different things as possible. In the end, we ended from the Tapas menu:

1 x Tortilla (wild mushroom, organic egg and caramelised onion)

1 x Bomba (Catalan potato bomb filled with chorizo)

1 x Venado (Cured venison loin on brik pastry with celeriac and morcilla)

From the Raciones menu (Serving size to share):

1 x Cordorniz Con Lentejas (Jumbo quail stuffed with rabbit, pinenuts and jamon with braised green lentils)

From the Specials menu (Serving size to share):

1 X Salmon (Salad of hot smoked salmon, farro, creme fraiche and hazelnuts)

1 x Fabada (Pork belly, morcilla and chorizo with braised white beans)

Food is delivered and is brought to your table as it is ready in no particular order. 

First served is the Tortilla. The serving size was OK. It was packed full of mushroom and onion throughout the entire slice and the caramelized onion added a beautiful flavour throughout.

Second to arrive is the Venado. I don't know what we were expecting exactly, but this wasn't it! And, it was so teenie tiny. We still cut it in half so we could both try and it was... interesting? Maybe not something I would order for myself again, just my taste...

Third at the table is the salmon. OK serving size, enough to share between two. Salmon was cooked nicely, flaked apart really easy. I loved the lentils as well, they added a really nice flavour. 

The Bomba came in fourth. This little ball of potato goodness, yum!! Who doesn't love potato and who doesn't love chorizo. Add a delicious blob of sauce and you have a winner! We're wishing we ordered two of these instead of one Bomba and one Venado. Oh well! 

The quail and pork belly soon followed. Was pretty impressed at first sight with both of these, they looked delicious. 

Again, serving sizes were good to share between two people. 

The quail was cooked beautifully and came off the bones so easily. The filling was delicious and again, sitting on those yummo lentils.. mmmm! 

Pork belly was delicious!! Nice and soft, the crackling nice and crisp. I'm not a fan of black pudding so I put that on Boyfriends plate for him to eat. The beans were nice and in a beautiful sauce. 

We're glad these two dishes were saved till last.

Next time we're in Melbourne, hopefully we're a little more organised and can get a table at Movida. I even wouldn't mind checking out Paco's Tacos next door - who doesn't love a good taco?! 

Birdman Eating, Melbourne

Friday morning, we made our way to Gertrude Street where we found Birdman Eating and decided to stop in for breakfast.

Being a Friday and assuming majority of people are at work, it was pretty quiet in there when we got there. We picked a table, ordered our standard order of a latte and flat white and picked up the menus.

On the blackboard on the wall, they had two types of baked eggs. These weren't on the normal menu. One was chili con carne and the other a vego option with pumpkin and creamed spinach. I think this might change daily. 

It was a late breaky so I decided to go the chili con carne and Boyfriend opted for a lighter option, the coconut quinoa porridge with banana and palm sugar. 

Coffees were soon at our table (lattes don't come with fancy milk art...), food took a little longer to arrive but we were in no rush so we were happy to sit back and enjoy our coffees. Coffees were OK, pretty much your standard. 

When the food arrived I was pretty impressed with the look of my eggs. Boyfriend seemed please with his porridge.

Tucking in, all the flavours were there. Lots of tomato, a bit of spice, runny eggs (mandatory requirement), bread to wipe it all up. If I had to criticize something, I would say the mince may have been a bit overcooked. But other than that, I really enjoyed it.

Boyfriend was happy with his choice of porridge. His only comments were could have done with some more banana for the amount of porridge there was. 

Hu Tong Dumpling Bar, Melbourne

Weekend away in Melbourne, first stop Hu Tong Dumpling Bar.

We flew out Thursday after work, so by the time we arrived and dropped our stuff off to our hotel it was getting a little late, so a visit to a dumpling house was the perfect option for a quick late night dinner.

Down Market Lane in China Town is where you'll find Hu Tong Dumpling Bar.

Walking in, we were welcomed with smiles to a little table for two and provided with menus. Looking at the menu it took me 2 seconds to decide what I was going to order, Shao Long Bao. 

I first had these in London, at a place called Dumplings Legend in China Town.

For those who don't know what Shao Long Bao is, they're little dumplings that are filled with your usual pork or chicken and also with soup. To eat them, you pick one up and put it on your spoon (without tearing it), put a little hole in the top of the dumpling with one of your chopsticks, suck the soup out and then eat the dumpling. YUM!

In addition to these, we ordered a serve of pork wontons in chili and some duck dumplings.

Food came out quite quickly. Duck dumplings were first to arrive. These were nice, not the best but still enjoyable. The filling was a little dry. There were 4 dumplings in a serve.

Chili pork wontons were next. These were yummo! The chilli sauce or oil they were in was the perfect amount of chili. Had a bit of sweetness to balance it out so the chili wasn't too overpowering. 8 wontons in a serve.

Saving the best to last, the Shao Long Bao came to our table. Boyfriend hadn't tried these before and I had been talking them up for the last week so expectations were high.
Picking them up out of their steam basket, you could feel the dumpling was solid enough not to break, we were off to a good start. Piercing a nice little hole at the top of the dumpling, you could see they were filled with steaming soup, more good signs. Eating the dumplings certainly lived up to their expectations. The soup was tasty, and left the dumpling nice and soft and moist. The filling inside was the right amount and just as tasty. Shao Long Bao come as 8 per serve.

Glad we hit this place up on our first night, a good start to the weekend.

Would definitely recommend this place, the service was great as well as the food. 

Would also definitely recommend this place for those who have never tried Shao long Bao... I LOVE SHAO LONG BAO!

Cake Decorating - Take One

I'm looking for a new hobby so I thought I'd try my hand at cake decorating. 

I managed to score a couple of 'Cake Decorating for Beginners' books at Dymocks last week in their clearance sale. Planning ahead, I knew I had the house to myself on Sunday so I could make all the mess I wanted as well. 

Saturday, I headed to Spotlight and stocked up on supplies. I bought myself a tub of white vanilla fondant, a few different colour pastes, some other random tools like a new knife, some new scissors, a pizza wheel, a cake cutter, a pastry mat and it goes on. Spotlight also stock a lot of Wilton products too, if any of you out there were wondering.  
Looking at all the stencils and cutters, things started to get a little pricey so I actually headed to Kmart and bought a couple packets of playdough toys. I don't see why they wouldn't work just as well?

Saturday afternooon I baked myself some cupcakes (just 75c Homebrand Chocolate Sponge Mix) and also made a chocolate ganache to set overnight. 

Once the cupcakes and cakes were completely cooled down, I put them into some containers to keep them covered for the night. 

Sunday morning, I'm up and ready to give this a go. I open up my containers with my cupcakes and they have gone so moist and sticky overnight. From the books I have, I'm pretty sure these are meant to be completely dry and cool. Nevermind, I set to work anyway. 

First thing I do, is trim all the cupcakes down to an even shape. I wasn't very good at trimming the top to make it smooth. Because the cupcakes were sticky, they weren't that easy to cut. 

Even though the cupcakes didn't go completely as I'd hoped, the ganache has set to a really nice and thick consistency, still easy to spread and it tastes delicious. 

I start to ice all my cakes with the ganache and the cake is not dry the ganache doesn't spread without pulling up lots of crumb. It's really hard to get a smooth layer across the top of the cupcake. 
I tried a few times, but I just made things worse, so moving on. 

My sisters 18th birthday is coming up and for it, her birthday cake is a teal blue with black zebra stripes. I thought I'd use this as a starting point. This pattern isn't in any of the books I had bought but I watched a couple of YouTube videos the night before and it seemed pretty straight forward. 

I gradually added a tiny bit of the teal colouring to the white fondant, kneading until it was evenly coloured throughout. I kept adding a little bit at a time until I got the colour I wanted. It actually took more than I thought to get this shade. I checked it was even throughout by cutting the fondant in half and making sure there were no swirls of colour in the middle. 

I then rolled it out to an even thickness. One thing I did forget to buy myself was a non-stick rolling pin. This is a must. I only had a wooden one and this didn't work. Luckily, a little mini plastic one came with my playdough toys. The only problem with this was that it was so small and it left line through the fondant from where the edges of the pin rolled across it. But, not the end of the world, these cupcakes are only for practice.

I bought some ready to roll black fondant, I thought black colouring might get a bit messy. I rolled it out to an even thickness and with my pizza roller, cut out some Y shapes and strips. Then I just places them over the top of the rolled out blue fondant. 

Once that was all done, I placed a sheet of non-stick baking paper over the top and rolled the fondant again which made it into one level surface. Again though, I could use my big wooden rolling pin over the paper, it didn't take out all the creases from my little rolling pin. 

Using my round cutter, I cut out a circle of the fondant to put over my cupcake. The first couple, I cut the same size as the top of my cupcake which didn't end up covering all the edges. 

The next couple I used a bigger cutter so that there was plenty of over hang around the edges of my cupcakes. This allowed plenty of space for them to be smoothed over and I was able to trim to size. 

I think I may have over kneaded the fondant though because it was quite soft and not the easiest to trim. I was using my smaller paring knife, which might not be the best tool for this?

 For my first attempt I was pretty happy with the end result. I didnt make quite enough fondant though for all my cupcakes, so started fresh again and tried something different. 

The kitchen was getting a little messy, so I cleaned up before I started again. My cupcakes were already iced with the ganache so I just started on my fondant. I've seen bows on a lot of different cakes, so thought i would give it a try. 

I kneaded some red colour into my white fondant to get a nice shade of pink. I only used a tiny bit at a time because I was after quite a light shade. 

I was more careful this time with the mini roller, and was able to get a smoother finish of the fondant. 

Using the larger round cutter again, I cut out enough squares for the rest of my cupcakes and covered them. 

After all my cupcakes were covered, I wiped my mat down and made up some light purple fondant for my bows. After rolling this out, I cut out long strips to put over my cupcakes in a cross to make the base of the bow (like a wrapped present). 

Then I cut about a 3 to 4 cm piece and folded it in half to make one side of the bow. Then I pinched then end to make the little pleats (still working on this technique)...

I repeated the same again, and added two smaller strips to the bow as below.. I know, it's still very messy. But I'm OK with this for my first go.  

Ifa nyone has any tips or can see I'm doing something really wrong, let me know!! :)