Will you have my hand and my heart, Mister Close?

I've probably walked past this place at least 4 times a week on the way to the gym for a whole year, but I've never noticed it till I was practically rammed into the sign by crazy boxing day shoppers outside Dick Smith. Headed over with Jovial and her mom last week but I didn't have my camera, and with Christina and Bella a few days ago.

Mister Close. 
246 Bourke St, Midtown Plaza Melbourne, VIC 03 9654 7778
Mon - Tues, 7am - 4pm, Wed - Fri, 7am - 6pm, Sat 9am - 4pm
http://misterclose.com.au/

You can't exactly see the café from Swanston street; you'd have to look inside Midtown Plaza and spot who/what I'm assuming is Mister Close (right). It's extremely convenient that there are the main banks' ATMs right outside, because they have a minimum of $10 on Eftpos.

Look at that cold drip! With the beakers and all, it's like some mad Scientist's experiment, which, now that I think of it, is probably how cold drips came about in the first place.

Christina, Bella and I were served by this guy (I forgot to ask for his name, damn), who had the cutest shy demeanor ever. I think Bella must've really fazed him or something. He was really friendly though, and very helpful with the menu.

What I really like about Mister Close is that their menu changes everyday, and it's also updated daily on their website. Most of their menu items are displayed upfront, so you can have a good look at what's available before taking a seat. It's a little sad that their breakfast menu is only till 11am on weekdays though, their American waffles sound absolutely divine! 

Pot of chai latté, $4.

I'm pretty impressed that they use real chai leaves instead of the powdered stuff that. $4 for such a big pot of real chai is a bargain, really. I don't like chai much, but Jovial did say this is among the better chais she's had.

Gluten-free cookie (I've forgotten what it's called), $3.

Jovial is in love with this gluten-free cookie of theirs It's got a notes of maple syrup to it; and the cookie itself just melts in your mouth. I've heard that their muffins are really good as well, both sweet and savoury are available.

Grilled pumpkin sandwich with blue cheese, caramelized onions and rocket with garden salad, $12 
(ordered this was when I was there with Jovial and her mom). 

Yeah, me and pumpkin. The sandwich was slightly bigger than I expected, and with the amount of pumpkin I was given, I was pretty filled up by the time I finished it. I was a little annoyed that I discovered that I could choose my salad but I wasn't asked when I ordered.

Mexican Chicken Burger with guacamole salsa and sour cream, $16

Christina's dish was my first choice originally, but I typically ordered something else when she ordered this. I did get half of the burger though - the portion was relatively big; probably enough to unexpectedly fill up even a guy's stomach. It's not your typical burger; it was served in what I think is a Turkish pide instead of a burger bun. The chicken patty itself was tasty and juicy.

Butter Chicken with steamed rice*, $16.50

*I had the rice switched out for flatbread instead. At first I was slightly disappointed to be given only 3 pieces, but after finishing the dish I realized that if I had any more, I'd explode. The butter chicken was pretty good too; not your authentic Indian butter chicken, of course, but it was tasty nonetheless. I love how the chicken was juicy, not to mention and abundance of both chicken and curry (gravy? sauce?) in that one bowl. 

Meet Bella, who practically lives at the gym cause she's almost always there, and Christina, who works with me at V-Café at the gym and goes to PlanetShakers as well. 

"So long as you have food in your mouth, you have solved all questions for the time being" - Franz Kafka. 

You wise, wise man, you.

Overall, I really liked the look and feel of Mister Close. The fact that it's just a stone's throw away from where I stay and the gym (sometimes they're the same thing, really) and most aspects of the place have impressed me will probably keep me coming back.

Food: 7.5 - 8 

Coffee: N/A (for me)

Ambience: 8

Value: 7 

Staff: 8 (would've been a 9 if the salad incident didn't happen, oh well)

I'm starting a new workout/diet program today - The Bizzy Diet by Cory Gregory. It's a 21 day intensive shredding program and it follows an extremely strict diet routine and workout program. That means, for 3 weeks, I wouldn't be going to any new cafés. :( No fret though; I do have a couple of places I've yet to blog about, so I'll work on those. Wish me luck, God knows my weakness is my cravings, or rather any kinda food put in front of my face.

may.

I'm going nuts for Purple Peanuts.

Jason works all the way on the other side of the city, so I decided to try out lunch at a place I've been meaning to go to for ages, which was just a street away from where he works.

Purple Peanuts Japanese Café
620 Collins St Melbourne VIC 
03 9620 9548 
[ tram 48/109/112, stop 1 (Collins St/Spencer St) ] 

Funnily enough, the name didn't even click when I mentioned it to him. He actually comes here nearly every lunch hour. Tsk, how he failed to mention a good place to eat to me, I have no idea!

First thing I noticed was the deco all around. The place had so many posters of The Beatles (+100 points right there!), and you might notice that the Maneki-Neko (the cats with the waving paw) are have their make-up done like KISS. 

I'm guessing the owner of the place is a fan of UK's psychedelic music groups and rock..

I like that they had that huge as monster sitting on top of their refrigerator, watching over the unknowing customers as they dine.

The actually make their own chocolates here. How cool is that? They've got stuff like green tea brownies (sold out both times when I was there), panna cotta, and other little sweet treats. 

More sweet treats over their sushi display (which I failed to take a good picture of). I had a sample of their yuzu cake, and I really liked it! What I'm really keen on trying is their ume and raspberry marshmallows though. Maybe another day.

Another item that's pretty popular there is the vegie onigiri. If it's anything like the tuna one I had, it's basically vegie, rice, and it's deep fried. O.o

Their menu was, obviously, Japanese, of which some items had small twists to it, like the Prawn Burger. Loved that they used brown paper and marker pens. Gave the place a slightly rustic touch.

Okay so I've described a little too much about the place, but I really like this café!

Daigo's homemade miso soup, $2.90 (Regular)/ $4.50 (Large),

or add a Regular to (some of) the mains for $2.

I don't know who Daigo is, but I want to give him a big, big hug. This is, hands down, the best miso soup I've ever had in my life, and maybe because I've been having instant miso all this while. It wasn't overpoweringly salty, and it didn't make me feel like I was on the verge of dying from dehydration after.

Chicken curry, $9.20.

I tried some of what Jason ordered and I liked it. The curry wasn't very intense, and that means that it didn't taste artificial at all. The chicken is flame grilled, juicy, and just yummy. 

Gammodoki Prawn Burger, $9.50.

It wasn't a typical burger; it wasn't even circular shaped! But this is easily my favourite burger in Melbourne. Sure, the patty is made of tofu and some people may not dig that (Minn, I'm looking at you), but I definitely did. The teriyaki sauce in the burger was what made it amazing. 

I went back the next day for dinner. I really do like this place.. I rarely go back to the same place twice if i can help it.

Tuna onigiri, $4. 

Jason sneakily ordered this cause he knew I really wanted to try it. I liked it: really crispy on the outside and not too gooey or chewy on it inside. It tasted really good too, but because it was basically rice, and deep fried, it's highly unlikely that I'll order it again unless I'm really craving for it. 

Kakuni pork with rice, $9.50.

The pork was slow cooked and braised. How awesome does that sound? The pork was really tender and it tore up really easily in my mouth. And, of course, it didn't have that smelly porky taste at all! The korean chilli that came with it was something really different.

Beef curry soba, $9.00.

I honestly did not see that this was supposed to be a soupy dish on the menu. How blind am I?

Definitely no regrets though. It was really good. The soba was really yummy and the soup was so different: Japanese curry, but not as thick yet it wasn't diluted. And the best part was, it isn't your typical spicy curry (the type that'll make you sweat and have a tummy ache after). I drank the soup till the bowl was dry.

Mango panna cotta, $5.

Their homemade panna cottas weren't really panna cottas in my opinion, more like pudding. It was well made: soft, silky and not too sweet, but among all the things I've tried there, this is probably the only thing I had there that didn't blow my mind. 

I should also add that as far as Asian take-out-like places go, the staff there were really friendly. I think I spoke to the owner, who tried to convince me to convert to Nikon. NEVERRRRRRRR!

This really is a pretty place with good food. I'd definitely come back, especially since Jason is working a stone's throw away from the place. 

Food: 9

Coffee: N/A

Ambience: 7.5

Value: 9

Staff: 7.5

I tried playing around with Wordpress earlier, and I've concluded that I'll probably never switch over. It's just too complicated! Too many settings to meddle with, and I can't even customize my layout without needing to pay for it. *crinkles nose and eyebrows. I'll stick to Blogger, but it's highly likely that I'll change the URL soon. 'may-niac' is just too annoying to explain to people :(

really, call me out if you need someone to accompany you. i'm really bored at home all the time now.

may.

Demie's All-Day 20th Celebration: Brunch at Café Sweethearts

First of all, happy birthday to my closest girlfriend in Melbourne, Demie! I probably spent a good 2 weeks stressing out about planning your birthday, and as bad as this may sound, I'm glad the weight's finally off!

She picked South Melbourne for brunch, so we headed to Café Sweethearts as opposed to the usual hotspots like Chez Dré and St. Ali etc.

Café Sweethearts

263 Coventry St, South Melbourne VIC
03 9690 6752
https://www.facebook.com/cafesweethearts
[ tram 96, stop 127 (South Melbourne Market) ]
Mon - Fri, 7am - 3pm, Sat - Sun, 8am - 3pm

It's just a very short walk from the market, I nearly walked past it if Demie didn't point it out. There were about 2 staff members who greeted and seated us, and the café had only one other customer in store. The place started to fill up as we were halfway through our meal though.

It was a very simply, but very prettily decorated place. Very pretty, very nice lighting, light music. Probably a very good place to have a date, which goes hand-in-hand with the name of the café.

Their counter was small, with a small coffee machine and a few muffin displays. The staff members let us do our own thing most of the time, they didn't really say much aside from taking our order and when I paid the bill.

Banana coconut and honey and apple rhubarb and strawberry for the day. Sounds good eh? Too bad i didn't grab one.

It might be obvious to many people that the focus of the café is eggs, eggs, and eggs. 1.5 pages in the menu, all dedicated to eggs - poached, scrambled, or fried.

Orange Juice and Apple Juice, $4.40 each.

I was having a headache, so I decided against the usual soy latté. It's probably from the stall from the market down the road, but that definitely gave me a good kick and my daily dose of vitC.

Complimentary bread to start off with. The herbed bread was pretty good.

Pasta: Linguini with samali, chorizo, ham, chilli and Napoli sauce, $18.50 (entree size).

Demie's pasta looked very much like a carbonara, but it was really light. From what I saw, there was plenty of meat as well. Only thing was, linguini, which was what it was supposed to be, would've definitely suited the sauce better than penne.

Roti wrap with roasted pumpkin, eggplant and capsicum, spinach and Persian feta, $12.50.

I actually liked this quite a fair bit. Instead of the usual tortilla wraps, they've used roti which gave it another depth of flavour.

You can never go wrong with roasted pumpkin, eggplant and capsicum. The veggies were relatively sweet, so the feta complimented it well.

Overall, the pasta was alright, but I liked the wrap. I might go back, not because the food we had was mind-blowing, but to try out their eggs! Why didn't we order their obvious specialty, I have no idea, but the tables all around did and it looked really good. And maybe I'll try out their coffee the next time round too.

Food: 7

Coffee: N/A

Ambience: 8

Value: 7

Staff: 6.5

Naw, if only you weren't holding that horrible bag!

read the next post for Demie's bday high tea!
may.

Happy Birthday Sieu Minn (Part One), at Friends of Mine.

First of all, happy (now belated) 20th birthday to one of the closest high school friend I have in Melbourne, Minn! I hope you enjoyed your day out yesterday! 

Of course it was a must for me to bring her out for brunch/lunch, and I picked Friends of Mine since it was also on Minn's list of cafés to try out.

Friends of Mine

506 Swan St, Richmond VIC

03 9428 7516
http://www.friendsofmine.com.au/
Mon - Fri, 8am - 4pm, Sat - Sun, 8.30am - 4pm
[ tram 70, stop 15 (Stawell St/Swan St), or train to Burnley ] 

The place wasn't very hard to find from the train station. It was about a 5 minute walk on the same side of the road on Swan St. You won't miss it; it's right next to the netball/basketball court, and it's probably the only café around amongst the warehouses.

There was a huge crowd inside; at least 8 groups of people waiting to be seated inside since it was a relatively chilly morning. We got a table in about 15 minutes, so no harm and no fowl. The hostess was really friendly, and really helpful as well.

Marzocco, again. This time a yellow one.

I do wonder whether it was meant to match the yellow roses placed on all the tables. How fitting, since yellow roses are meant to represent friendship.

When we walked into the dining area, it felt as if we've stepped into one of the classier restaurants along Lygon. You wouldn't think that you're in a café at all, from the decor and from the ambience. 

And despite the fact that it was packed to the brim, we had plenty of space between tables. Not once did we hear conversations from neighbouring tables, nor did we have other patrons banging into our chairs or tables while walking by.

Soy latté, $3.80 (I think).

The coffee was alright. I didn't really pay attention to the coffee that day though, so I'll get Jason to do that when we go back there. 

Berry 'noice' banana smoothie: berry compote, banana and vanilla ice cream, $7.90.

Minn's drink, since she doesn't like coffee (it's okay, don't attack her; she'll learn). It was really good. It wasn't overpoweringly sweet and the taste of the berries didn't seem artificial at all. And, very filling. 

Pick. Me. Up. Please. - brioche roll, bacon, tomato chutney, scrambled egg and cheddar, $5.50.

I'd just roughly quote what Minn predicted I'd type about what she ordered since she was pretty spot on. 

"Minn wasn't feeling too hungry since she ate long noodles (Chinese tradition that I never knew about, shame on me) so she ordered this. It was really, really small. But i guess with the smoothie, it filled her up nicely. Oh well."

But quotes aside, Minn did seem to enjoy her mini burger-like dish. Just based on that, she's more than willing to go all the way back there.

HUNGover: herb and melted cheese on toast, poached eggs, bacon, smashed avocado and eggplant kasundi, $19.90.

This (obviously, to some of you) is what Debra ordered after peeking at many, many tables. I tried out the cheese on the toast and that was just a sinful bite. Debra really liked it too, and she agreed with Minn with no hesitation that they'd come back.

A treat for those who love all that watery, gooey, yellowey, yolky goodness.

Toasted banana bread with maple syrup mascarpone, banana, berry compote and pistachio, $14.90

Just look at it. How could I not order it?! 

The mascarpone, which was very light, didn't bog down the already relatively heavy banana bread and you can never go wrong with berries and banana. The pistachios gave a different depth of flavour to the berries and the mascarpone. 

That's the only reaction I could give to the dish.

(if you haven't watch this video, you have to. here.)

I suppose the only qualm i had with the dish was that I can never be full with a sweet dish, so i was still hungry after. I'd imagine that it'll be ridiculous if they gave a bigger portion than that cause it'll definitely be too, what we Malaysians call, jelak (excessively satiated).

Toast with Vegemite (jam, or organic peanut butter), $6

Yea, I was hungry enough to order something else on top of that. The bread itself was good, you could tell by the softness that it was freshly baked.

The Vegemite itself, however, was just overpowering. I've forgotten how Vegemite was really salty, and i just slapped half the jar on the first piece of toast. Minn tried some and her reaction was just priceless.

Jou, if you're reading this, I know you're laughing. I know what you're thinking you sick sonovashit.

The bill came in these little cuties. Naw, I wish i could've taken one home. Would've made a great name card holder.

Overall, the three of us enjoyed lunch very much. Despite the wait for a table, the staff made us feel like we were more than just customers; the service was as excellent as the food was great (besides the Vegemite, but that's beyond the café control.).

Food: 9.5

Coffee: 6.5

Ambience: 8.5

Value: 8

Staff: 9.5

read the next post for the rest of Minn's birthday!

may.