Two couples, One breakfast at Two Birds One Stone.

If there's anything I'm wary about with cafés, it's an overhyped one. There was such a massive response to this café that it made me curious, yet uncertain about going there. 

Two Birds One Stone

12 Claremont St, South Yarra VIC

03 9827 1228
http://twobirdsonestonecafe.com.au/
Mon - Fri, 7am - 4pm, Sat - Sun, 8am - 4pm
[ train to South Yarra Station ]

It was a chilly morning in comparison to what we've been experienced over the week. When we got there at early 9am, it was already relatively full with the exception of the tables outside and we were put on a waiting list. At 9am!! Wow.

Demie and Billy were a little late, and Jason and I were seated about 15 minutes before they came. We got a couple of dirty looks from other customers who had their whole group ready to eat, and even from one of the waitresses handling the waiting list.

In a way, it was our fault and dirty looks from the waiting customers were completely understandable, but really, the dirty looks from the waitress was completely unnecessary and it really put me off despite feeling bad about hogging a table.

Strong latté, $3.80, and soy latté, $4.30. 

We thought the coffee there was good, but on the whole, pretty average in comparison to their competitors. I'm guessing Two Birds focuses a lot more on their food as compared to their coffee. Didn't really leave that big an impression on us.

Blonde omelette with hot smoked salmon, fennel, chili and coriander, $16.50.

Demie's smoked salmon omelette. Again, she said it was pretty average. Some parts of the salmon were overcooked and others undercooked. I find it a little strange to put fennel with salmon, but maybe that's just me. 

Scrambled eggs on toast, $9.50, with mushroom, spinach (+$3 each) and sausage (+$4).

Billy ordered a kinda custom made breakfast. I didn't really ask how it was cause he was relatively new to my dictatorship at the table and I didn't wanna scare him. But I do remember him saying that it's good, though in a non-committal way. 

Two Birds: eggs, bacon, tomato, pork chilli and fennel sausage, mushrooms, spinach and tomato relish, $18.50. 

Jason ordered their spin on a big breakfast. I tried a bit of the scrambled eggs and those were pretty good. Had a good look at the sausages and the bacon and I thought they were pretty oily but no one else had a problem with that. The tomatos were grilled well though.

25th Nov Specials: Beef Wellington - Scotch fillet, puff pastry, salsa verde, horseradish, and a fried egg, $16.50.

I was so excited when I saw this on the specials menu. I've been meaning to try beef wellington for ages; I've watched too much MasterChef US and Australia. 

Now, a beef wellington, as far as i know, is supposed to look like this:

And the one here, obviously, didn't look anything like it. It was more of a deconstructed beef wellington. If only they'd mentioned it in the menu, then I wouldn't be as shocked when it was put on the table.

(Yes, I actually ate the yolk. U proud?)

The puff pastry was really nice and crispy. The salsa verde was really good: it was sour but not too much, had a hint of salty and was just yummy. I really liked the mushroom as well. However, the main part of the dish, the Scotch, was rather average and the egg was slightly undercooked (saw a little bit of translucent egg white).

Naw cutie patooties. Thanks for joining us for breakfast, guys!

You could probably guess by now that I'm not very impressed with the place. It was all pretty average overall, to be very honest. What makes it worse is that it's miles away from it's origin, Three Bags Full in all aspects. Maybe it's because I expected so much more because of that, and because it was overhyped.

Food: 6.5

Coffee: 6

Ambience: 8

Value: 7

Staff: 6

Can't wait to have some guests in Melbourne again!
may.

Mart 130, as seen on JinnyboyTV's unfold 2.

In conjunction with the end of my exams and the release of JinnyboyTV's unfold 2 yesterday, I decided to head over to the café that was filmed in the video with Demie.

Mart 130

107a, Canterbury Road, Middle Park VIC

03 9690 8831

[ tram 96, stop 130 (Middle Park) ]

Mon - Sun, 7.30am - 3pm

It is extremely easy to get here. Just hope on the 96 tram towards St Kilda beach, and get off at stop 130. Which is probably how they got the name 'Mart 130': 'traM #130'.

Looks familiar doesn't it?

I have no idea when did they film this exactly, but from what I've heard about this place, it's rare to have the place not full, let alone nearly empty.

unfold 2, which obviously, is the sequel to unfold.



Well, the people who attended the showcase about three weeks ago got to watch most of the video (but not the ending), so we already knew where they went in Melbourne in the video. Feels nice to see places in the video and actually know which building is which, etc. Great job with the video!

Despite how packed it was, Demie and I only had to wait for about 5 minutes to get a seat, as we were seated facing the park behind the tram stop. We reckon there's a dog park somewhere nearby, cause we saw a lot of dogs walking around. And all cute as, I must say.

It's a baby and a doggie. Naw. Sokute.

Soy latté, $4.30.

I didn't think much of the soy latté there. It looked almost clumsily put together but it was pretty okay in general, though. Nothing bad, but nothing mind-blowing either.

Organic orange juice, $3.50.

Open pide of scotch fillet steak, tomato, caramelized onion, bacon, Swiss cheese, rocket, Mart beetroot relish and Russian vinaigrette, $16.90.

The portions were what you'd expect them to be, not too massive and not poverty portions either. I'd say the portions are just nice. Demie's pide was good: we both liked it but we both thought it was a tad overpriced. The vinaigrette was a good touch as well.

Open zaatar spiced Turkish flatbread topped with tabbouleh, rocket, tzatziki, hummus, and slow roasted pulled lamb shoulder, $16.50**

**I actually ordered and paid for the flatbread with warm falafel patties, $13.50, instead of the lamb, but they gave me this by mistake and I didn't realize it until later. :/

I actually really liked mine. It was something really different, and again, tasted good. A little too much rocket for my liking, but the hummus was really good and smooth. Didn't exactly come with 'pulled' lamb (maybe that's why I didn't realize it was the wrong dish), but it tasted good all the same.

Thanks for joining me Demie! Looks like we'll be going out more now that my exams are over. 

Feels great to be free but, what the heck am i gonna do for 6 weeks?!

may.

Demie's All-Day 20th Celebration: Tapas at Long Room

I didn't have much time to rest after high tea since dinner was at 6.30pm. Again, Demie didn't know where we were going until Berlin and Tom brought her there.

Long Room

Georges Building, 162-168 Collins Street, Melbourne VIC

03 9663 7226

http://www.thelongroom.com.au/lr/

I was very, very disappointed that the website didn't say anything about the mains menu not being available on Wednesday nights because of their Midweek Tapas Feast, which meant that everyone dining there on Wednesday had to pay $28/person for an all-you-can-eat tapas fare. I did make it very clear to one of the waitresses there about how I felt, but then again, there's only so much she could do about it. I did advise them to do something about their website though, because I went there expecting there to be at least a choice of what we could eat.

However, the waitress who served us, Megan, was great. She was friendly and helpful, and she was very nice too. Her great service made up for the pretty bad food timing.

They had plenty of tapas. Each person could only order 2 at a time, which I felt was a smart thing on the restaurant's part, but a little unfair to the customers. It took at least 20 minutes between each serve to arrive, which means the food would've settled. We only managed to take 3 rounds and we were stuffed to the brim.

Just a few pictures of the tapas we ordered. (Not very good pictures.. I've yet to learn how to use my camera properly. Someone teach me, por favor?)

I had the Spicy Garlic Prawns, Chorizo Romesco, Champignon Mushrooms, Albondigas, Chilli Chicken, Mushroom Empanada, and the Lamb Kofta, and they were all pretty food.

It was a good thing the food there was good. The others seemed pretty happy with their food, though they kept missing a few orders.

Food: 7.5

Coffee: N/A

Ambience: 8

Value: 6

Staff: 8

And the guests:

Adam and Iryan, thanks for being on time :)

Berlin and Tom, thanks for everything!



Ky-Lynn and Zack, you guys always have the best pictures!

Max and Arif, sorry I caught you mid-blink! 

Jason and I. Doesn't he look so schmart awujiwujiwuu

Of course, not forgetting Demie..

You guys seriously do not look alike at all!

<3

And that's the group of us.. The other two pictures were really weird!

We headed back to Iryan's place for 'coffee' without Berlin and Tom. 'Coffee' turned out to be us surprising her with the cake that Berlin brought to Iryan's earlier in the day.

oooo sparkly

I think i'll start putting all my pictures in collages now.. It takes up less of my upload limit.

Gave her the presents after that.

Reading her Disney princess card, it sings 'Every girl can be a princess'. 

Cheesy, but it was very fitting since Demie's such a princess and since she wanted a Disney's princess themed birthday in the first place. (Not sure how that would play out since the majority of her invited guests were guys..) It was too bad the others weren't able to sign the card :(

Thomas Sabo's pearl, clover and heart with a diamond charm with a holder from everyone, to represent Love, Luck and Clarity. 

Tiffany's Letter 'D' pendant from Iryan, Adam and I, just cause we knew the blue box would do the trick.

I hope you enjoyed your day out, Demie! You're 20 and while you've already been independent and mature in many ways, maybe it's about time you start taking better care of yourself emotionally, and physically too (you know what I mean). It's been a pleasure to be your friend. You may annoy the hell outta me a lot (trust me), but you'd be glad to know that I do care (I hope your day was enough to prove it lol), even though I'm not always physically there.

Exams are in less than a week, so updates will definitely slow down for the next two weeks or so. I've also spent a little too much for the past week, so I've gotta eat dust for a while to make up for it.

wish me luck for my exams! and good luck to everyone else!

may.