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.

Manchester Press has a new menu!

I've been here 3 times in the past 2 weeks, and dozens of times in the past year and a half. Strangely enough, I've never properly blogged about the place.

Manchester Press
8 Rankins Lane, Melbourne VIC
03 9600 4054
Mon - Fri, 7am - 5pm, Sat - Sun, 9am - 5pm
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Manchester-Press/171807409566156

I was really excited to see a the new menu! The old, plastic boards with the embossed stickers, yeap, long gone. Let me start by pointing out what's new, or what's been changed as far as I remember.

For one thing, this is their weekend menu; I did go 2 other times on weekdays when they had their (new) weekday menu, but I've lost the photos on that memory card :(

What's Really New

1. Breakfast: Cereal of the week
2. Bagels: Grilled Blue Cheese with grapes, roquette and walnuts
3. Bagels: 12 hour Roasted Pulled Pork with lettuce, BBQ sauce and homemade apple slaw
4. Salads: Beetroot and Chickpea with mixed leaves, cherry tomatoes, red onion and fetta

What's Changed
1. Breakfast: Raisin bagel now comes with Pineapple and apricot jam instead of blueberry passionfruit jam.
2. Bagels: Thick sliced Pastrami now comes with tomato, sauerkraut, swiss cheese and thousand island instead of dill cream cheese and roquette.
3. B.L.A.T is now topped with cranberry and plum relish instead of homemade basil mayo.

What's Gone
I can't be too sure what's not there anymore, but I do know for a fact that their Baked Eggs aren't on the weekend menu, but is still available on their weekday menu. Also, either their Hungarian Salami or Chorizo bagel has been omitted - I'll go back and check again (or does any reader out there know? Leave a comment!).

I went with Demie and Maxine on a Sunday mid-morning, and I was surprised that at 10.30am, there wasn't a line or a waiting list. The crowd was slowly building up outside as we were leaving though.

Flat white, $3.50

Manchester Press' latte art is pretty different, I must say. Demie got her coffee and immediately wailed 'WHY IS HE GRUMPYYYYY??????'

Maybe because you were late and made us all wait, little one. Just maybe.

Soy latté, $4. 

Such a beautiful rosetta made on a soy latté, really. 

Cappuccino, $3.50. 

I have a feeling the baristas observe the customers who order the coffee and try to make the latté art faces look like them, because Max's latte art lady looked pretty familiar.....

Now I really love these two to bits; for one, they ordered different items, and for another, they both ordered the new/altered items on the menu! 

Thick sliced Pastrami with tomato, sauerkraut, swiss cheese and thousand island, $13

Demie's dish looked pretty magnificent: the approximately 1cm thick pastrami just kept me gawking and wishing that I ordered that instead! I tried a small portion, and the pastrami was really good. The taste of the swiss cheese and thousand island didn't come through very well though. I was just really impressed by the portion and quality of the pastrami.

Grilled Blue Cheese with grapes, roquette and walnuts, $13

I liked it when I tried a bit a few days prior with my new housemate, Nicole. Grapes and blue cheese is a definite combination you should try. I didn't really like the amount of roquette on top though that's a personal preference, and the bagel itself was a little more chewy than crunchy that day. That aside, the bagel was surprisingly extremely filling, even for me.

12 hour Roasted Pulled Pork with lettuce, BBQ sauce and homemade apple slaw, $14.

I've had this twice now, and Max ordered this that day. This dish gives you plenty of bang for the buck; what you see in the photo is probably 3/5s of the portion of pulled pork given to you. You barely have to think about chewing the pork as it was, shall I say, pulled very well. It actually shadowed the apple slaw too. This bagel probably ousted the fruit and nut bagel as my favourite thing to order at Manchester Press! I kid you not. 

I'm usually told that Manchester Press is overrated and I used to agree, but really, I think it's because people are bored of the old menu. Give their new stuff a try, really!

Food: 8 (this includes the other things I've tried there)

Coffee: 7.5

Ambience: 6.5

Value: 8

Staff: 6 - 7 (they're pretty hot and cold, really. Some are pretty great but some treated me like I was annoying)

do you guys think i should give my blog layout a makeover?
may.

Fandango with fellow brunchies Jovial and Jia Yin!

It was either slaving another week or so trying to work out Adventures of Tour Guide May Part 2 (Part 1 here) or an hour writing about this gorgeous café I tried yesterday. I opted for the latter; I like blogging about a café while it's still fresh in my memory.

Fandango
97 Errol Street, North Melbourne VIC
03 9329 0693
Mon - Sat, 7am - 3pm, Sun, 9am - 2pm
http://www.fandangocafe.com.au/

The lazy in me would usually take a tram (tram 57, stop 11) but I've recently discovered that walking to (or from) brunch makes you feel a lot better about yourself, especially when you know you are about to (or have had) a deliciously sinful one like the one I did at Fandango.

That, and because Jovial would never not walk unless it takes more than 30 minutes.

The two of them have been here before and they insisted on sitting in the courtyard at the back; it had a real old school, rustic feel to it on top of it was a beautiful day out. The pictures did the weather no justice at all.

We ordered three dishes and shared it all among the three of us. I absolutely LOVE it when people do things that way. It's nice to have your own full portion of a dish sometimes, but I'd rather try a little bit of a few things than a lot of one thing!

Curried Eggs - Indian spiced chicpeas topped with two fried eggs, spicy aubergine pickle, minted yoghurt cheese and warm roti, $17.

I haven't had anything curry in a long time, but this one tasted really good, almost authentic even. I've developed a preference for crunchy roti and that's exactly what I got. As it is with most curries, it was a massive burst of flavour. And yes, I did eat the yolk! In my opinion, a little on the pricey side for a vegetarian dish (though most Indian restaurants would charge about that much for a serving that size).

Pancakes - 3 thick serve pancakes with fruit compote, strawberries, honeyed cream cheese and maple syrup, $15.

Both of them raved about the pancakes, and so did Jeremy, who couldn't make it that morning, before I got to try it; and I was very, very curious. However, we were left a little disappointed because the pancakes were a lot heavier than the last few times they've been there. The taste was good; the honeyed cream cheese was something different too.

Pesto Scrambled Eggs - soft scrambled eggs flavoured with basil, pine nuts, garlic and parmesean (basically, pesto), with a grilled tomato on toasted sourdough - $16, add mushroom +$3

To me, this one was the dish that really got to me. The pesto that flavoured the scrambled eggs was made well - not too salty and parmesean-y, not too much basil, and not too much olive oil. The sourdough was AMAZING - unbelievable crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside - it had the likeness of sourdough that was freshly baked. The mushrooms were well fried as well - buttery and garlicky. 

According to their menu, they've 'got a great love for pickling and bottling fruits, veggies, sauces and preserves'. The items come and go and some are available for you to have with your meal for about $3 a portion, or in jars to buy and take home.

Hey, at least you know their pickled items are homemade.

Cutie patootie tea cosy! I think you'll get it if you order tea but we didn't that morning. At first i didn't see the letter 'F', and I was thinking to myself, 'ANOANCO?? What is that??''. I'm really quite blind.

So happy that I've found fellow brunch addicts/enthusiasts/mayniacs (haha see what I did there), and that we click like bread, peanut butter and jam!

I really liked the comfort I get at Fandango's. Upon reading other blogposts, I'm not the only one who feels that way. The staff and the place makes you feel right at home, and the food there really hits the spot.

Food: 7.5 (better luck next time with those pancakes!) 

Coffee: N/A

Ambience: 8

Value: 7

Staff: 8

How do you guys like the new blogroll on my sidebar? They're the blogs I read from time to time; most of them are foodies, some are healthy recipe/fitness blogs, and others are my friends' blogs! Check em out and if there are any ads, do them a favour and click away!

when violet eyes get brighter
and heavy wings grow lighter
i'll taste the sky and feel alive again,
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.