And oops just like that, 2 weeks a week flashes past! March has been kicking my ass and tbh the last thing I want to do after working all day is to jump right back onto my computer. But anywhos! Let’s talk about how I came to know about Cuppa Flower that opened a second cafe in Waterloo! My sole purpose of visiting was for this Totoro chiffon cake 😀 I mean cmon! Look at it! So instagram friendly and so kawaii! The totoro is a black sesame, ultra fluffeh chiffon with whipped cream in the centre. But don’t worry I ate other foods!

Cuppa Flower has an all day breakfast menu so of course I opt for the pretty as a picture Buttermilk Pancakes ($15.50). There’s 3 pancakes with fresh strawberries, kiwi, orange slices, grapes and served with a swirl of vanilla cream and a jug of maple syrup. Apparently there was crunchy honeycomb but I didn’t find any on my plate unless I ate it too fast?

Noods gets the Bacon and Egg Roll ($8.50) which comes with a generous amount of crispy bacon, gooey fried eggs and tomato sauce on Turkish bread.

We return the following weekend for the lunch menu which begins at 11am. I’d initially baulked at the price of the Wagyu Beef Burger ($20.50) which I thought was damn pricey for Waterloo but it does come with a generous serve of golden, battered chips and the burger was pretty damn tasty.

I quite enjoyed the beetroot relish which brought me back to tuckshop days of the classic Aussie burger with tinned beetroot! The pattie was nice and juicy and the cheese sufficiently melty though I did have to remove the lettuce because you all know my issues with lettuce on a burger haha 😛

Noods opts for the Linguine Al Funghi ($13.50) with bacon (+$2) which was a beautifully creamy pasta with a healthy amount of parmesan cheese and button mushrooms. It did get a bit too salty towards the end but that was one mighty fine pasta!

Aaaand for dessert the Taro crepe cake! Layers of crepe alternate with a light, creamy taro buttercream to create a dessert that’s the perfect amount of richness and not too sweet.

Cuppa Flower
Shop 1, 15 Allen Street
(cnr George and Allen St)
Waterloo

Trading Hours:
7 days: 7am – 5pm

I’m always on the lookout for new steak joints, (I am carnivore, hear me roar) and when the magic words of bone marrow appeared on the menu at the newly opened Eastside Grill, I ended up visiting twice on consecutive weekends with Isaac and Raff. Located on Level 1 of The Old Rum Store (opposite Bistro Gavroche), Eastside Grill is a meatlovers paradise featuring the Japanese Binchotan charcoal grill.

We smell the buttery scent of the Roasted Bone Marrow ($23) before it even hits the table. Helloooo delicious! It’s perfectly roasted so the marrow is jelly-like and still scoopable from the bones. It doesn’t come with any bread but we had leftover bread from the complimentary bread basket which we used to mop up every last bit. It’s rich and buttery and I loved the medley of mushrooms on top.

The Prime Beef Tartare ($19) with a cured quail egg and rye croutons arrives on the most beautiful plate. Isn’t that the most gorgeous plate you’ve ever seen? But anyways the tartare was ace, balanced and well seasoned but could probs have done with a few more croutons.

The 200g Ranger’s Valley Black Angus Beef NY Striploin – Grain-Fed for a Minimum of 270 Days ($42) is one sexy piece of meat. It’s a perfect medium rare, juicy and beautifully grilled thanks to the Binchotan.

The Grilled Peach & Hand-Pulled Stracciatella ($19) isn’t quite what we were expecting, I guess I thought it’d be more a salad with fat peach wedges and a giant splodge of stracciatella cheese but hey it was still plenty tasty with the pecans and rocket pesto and does provide some relief from the richness of the steak.

The Truffled Mac n’ Cheese ($12) is off the chain insane- super cheesy and intense with truffle oil and gotta love that blanket of toasted breadcrumbs!

We were incredibly full but the Green Tea Tiramisu ($16) called to us! It’s a surprisingly light dessert with layers of matcha soaked sponge alternating with freshly whipped cream.

Eastside Grill
Level 1, The Old Rum Store
2-10 Kensington Street
Chippendale

Trading Hours:
Lunch Thursday – Saturday 12:00pm to 2:30pm
Dinner Monday – Wednesday 5:30pm to 10:00pm
Dinner Thursday – Saturday 5:30pm to 10:30pm
Closed Sunday

Ever get a craving for something and you just cannot stop thinking about it and you become so obsessed with consuming it that you start creating spreadsheets to schedule people’s availabilities for dinner? That is exactly how I’ve been feeling the past couple of weeks in my desire to eat flatbreads and dips and grilled meats and drink beer which is how some workmates and I find ourselves trudging though the rain to get to Emma’s Snack Bar in Enmore.

DIP ALL THE THINGS! Between our group of 5, we ordered the wondrously smooth Hummus ($10), the smokey Baba ghanoush ($12) and the Garlic dip ($10) which packed one helluva garlic punch to the face! I was originally going to order 4 serves of flatbread ($3) but was suggested that 2 baskets was more than enough and they were right lol they’re super generous servings of the flatbread!

And I forgot to take separate photos of the Fried Cauliflower ($15) which was fricken amazing! Seriously guys I could’ve eaten 2 plates of the stuff! There was a light tahini dressing which was just incredible! Another highlight was the Fried Potato ($12) with garlic and coriander which were bite sized cubes of deliciousness- crisp and golden on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside.

We absolutely had to get the Haloumi ($16), thickly sliced and grilled to squeaky perfection with mint and sumac.

The Falafel ($12/6 pieces) are freshly fried, crunchalicious balls of ground chickpeas and spices. Eat them on its own or wrap in some flatbread with some dip!

The Arak Flamed Garlic Prawns ($19) are plump, juicy, specimens. Deshelled and with a squeeze of lemon, the prawns disappear in seconds.

Moving onto the more substantial share plate is the Moorish Chicken ($20), chicken in spices, wrapped in flatbread and then grilled for that crazy addictive smoky flavour. The chicken is incredibly juicy but we’re starting to struggle with the amount of food we’ve ordered haha

Last but not least is the Kafta ($18), 3 skewers of minced lamb and spices and then grilled. Again, eat on it’s own or wrap in some flatbread and away you go! We were too full for the desserts like the Pistachio Halva ($8) or the Kanefe ($12) but am definitely keep to return!

Emma’s Snack Bar
59 Liberty St
Enmore

Trading Hours:
Tues – Sat: 5.30pm – 10pm

I’ve been following JimmysBurgers for a while now. I mean anyone who eats as many burgers as he does is just fricken awesome! He brought Guilty burgers to Sydney in May 2016 and Easeys in Collingwood has long been on my must visit Melbs list.

So it was off to Collingwood we go, spotting the Beyonce mural first and then to the impressive sight of train carriages perched on the rooftop!

We make our way inside where theres a handful of booth seating and tables against the wall and then up the flight of stairs to get to the main dining area inside the trains.

There’s also seating in between the trains.

We start with the Sriracha Hot Wings ($12) which has a fair amount of spice and a good dunk into the creamy blue cheese sauce brought the fires of mordor to a more manageable level.

The Easey Cheesy ($11) is a good size, not too big that we’re rolling around on the floor dying and not too small that we need to order more food. The patty is sufficiently juicy and the cheese is melty perfection buuuut if I was to be completely honest I have to say I love the burgs at Guilty more. But I would defs still smash one of these babies the next time I’m back in Melbs!

The Chicken Sandwich #1 ($12) is the first of four sandwiches being released this month. It’s got weetbix encrusted fried chicken, crispy streaky bacon, cheese, lettuce, pickles and Richmond sauce. Everything just freaking worked! The chicken had the perfect crunchalicious batter and the Richmond sauce is tangy and delicious.

The Mac n Cheese Tots ($11) are insane. The mac n cheese is perfect, it’s creamy and super cheesy with a salty pretzel crumble. The tater tots buried underneath are golden, still impressively crisp and fluffy on the inside even by the time we’d made it halfway! This proved to be our downfall though and I was much too full to try the desserts!

Easeys
3/48 Easey St,
Collingwood
VIC

Trading Hours:
Sun – Thurs: 11am – 10pm
Fri & Sat: 11am – 11pm