OH HAI! So like, last post on Melbourne! After the crazy shenanigans from the Blogopolis after-party, it was totally struggle town to roll out of bed the next morning for breakfast.


We hit up Cumulus Inc (45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne), which thankfully enough, was just around the corner from the hotel and managed to snare the last remaining table. Coffee was ordered stat.


Both Helen and Minh had chosen the Grilled Lyonnaise Sausage with Smoked Ham Hock and Beans and a 65/65 egg ($17.60). The egg oh how it glistens! It’s begging to be stabbed no? A perfect yolky river to smother the beans in deliciousness though the beans got a bit heavy and they ended up swiping some of my foods to balance out the richness.


I couldn’t go past the Shakshouka – baked eggs with roasted peppers & marinated Persian feta ($17.60) which is unusual for me as I have issues eating intense flavours first thing in the morning but dayum it hit the spot! Totally re-energised me and I had fun dragging bits of the toasted bread through the gooey eggs and piling on a whole heap of capsicum dotted with feta.


Minh’s flight was scheduled first so Helen and I went back to the hotel with the intention of having a quick snooze while I tried my hardest to finish the giant-ass chocolate eclair that I’d been saving. I failed but it was oh so tasty.


Did I mention Trampoline (381 Brunswick St, Fitzroy)? It’s my fav gelato place in Melbourne and I love how they squish as much as possible into each cup! They didn’t have my beloved gingerbread flavour but I scored the very awesome Peanut Nutter, Pokey Pokey and Bloody Orange Sorbet.


Next on our list was Sonido (69 Gertrude St, Fitzroy), a South American Cafe that had this concoction on the menu- a chocolate corono con queso ($6.50) aka a traditional hot chocolate WITH CHEESE! Yeah that was one crazy drink man! You were supposed to crush the cheese into smithereens and then pour the hot chocolate over it and stir. My brain just could not wrap around the idea that I was drinking cheese with chocolate. The sweet chocolate and salty cheese made me a little overwhelmed as the flavours collided and I had to switch to water or everything I ate would’ve been totally whack yo.


ROPA VIEJA “Old Clothes” Beef ($11.50) had a crazy enough name to intrigue us into ordering it and I was super glad we did cos it was freaking awesome with the shredded beef piled high on the corn bread. That beef was delicious I tells ya! Incredible flavour with just the right amount of spices to make it memorable after 3 solid days of eating.


The Arepas de Queso ($8.50) are a bit on the plainer side when eaten after the super flavourful beef but woot check out the oozy cheese innards! And loved that there’s a triangle of butter sitting on the edge of plate just waiting to be smeared all over that bad boy.


I find kids furniture more amusing to sit at than the adult sized table…


And then, all too soon we were leaving Melbourne and back on the plane Sydney- bound. I don’t know about you but I really get a kick out of plane food…

Heh BALL! Noods and I want to thank everybody for all your kind words about Friday’s post on Noods’ diagnosis, treatment and recovery from testicular cancer. It wasn’t an easy post to write mainly because I’d blocked out that day of the surgery and well, even though I tell the world about what random foods I eat, it’s been a while since I’ve written a ‘serious’ post. I usually keep things light and fluffy in ChocolateSuze land but a big part of my life is Noods who encourages me with my blog and of course takes care of all the techy stuff esp when I try and play with any of the coding!

We’ve read each and every comment on the post as well as the messages on twitter and facebook and it touches us greatly to feel such love from both people we know and from people we have never met! The internet is an amazing place and I love you my fabulous readers, love that you guys care and love that we are all connected no matter where we are in the world.

Super thank you to those who donated to the Random Blowup boys who did the City 2 Surf in support of Noods and the Cancer Council NSW. The boys made it to the finish line in one piece but managed to not able to find each afterwards so I couldn’t get a photo of them lol but trust me they finished the race 😛

Normal food loving posts will return on Wednesday. Thank you for reading.
♥ ChocolateSuze & Noods

It’s certainly been quite a year. I may have used the word ‘interesting’ in a post once or twice but well, interesting just does not cover the half of it. In mid May Noods noticed a lump. It wasn’t painful he said but it was uncomfortable enough that even with his intense dislike of doctors he went to a medical center to have it checked out. The doc told him to get some scans. He went, got scans done, got the results and when I rang him to find out, all he would say is “it’s ok, no worries you can read them when you get home from work.”

So I get home and he’s in the shower. I see the results on the table and sneak a peek. What I saw made my heart drop. The word ‘malignant’ jumped off the page and into my mind and etched a hole so deep that I completely freaked. The thought of losing my best friend? It wasn’t pretty. Me in hysterics is pretty accurate. But he was strong. He was calm even though he must’ve had a million thoughts racing around. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer at 27. Edit: Noods just read this paragraph and argued that malignant meant not harmful. As in, he thought benign was the bad one. I thought he was joking. He wasn’t. NO WONDER YOU WERE SO FREAKING CALM NOODS OMG!!! Though I guess in hindsight maybe it was better that you didn’t know… /edit

Surgery was scheduled within the week with more scans and chats with the doctor who told him that testicular cancer was the best cancer to get. He wasn’t joking but stating that testicular cancer has one of the highest cure rates of all cancers. I guess it was comforting in a way.

Leading up to the day of surgery Noods spent his time organising his work load and one day I overheard him telling his mates to not say anything or write anything on facebook in case I saw it because it would upset me. Upset me?! Isn’t that such an incredibly selfless thing to do?! So of course I’m bawling away because that is who he is. He cares for others and knows me better than I know myself. I ♥ you.

Surgery was at the Castle Hill Day Surgery and I remember staring at the ground unable to meet anyone’s eyes because I knew I would crumble into tears and I was trying my goddamn hardest to be positive and strong for Noods. When the nurse came to the waiting room to escort him through, I knew my look of panic was showing and she kindly asked if I wanted to come through to ‘help’ him change into the hospital gown. He didn’t need the help but it was reassuring to listen to the doctors go over the procedure with him and to answer any last minute questions. And then it was time and he was led away. Both sets of our family were here so we did the next logical thing, we went drinking. Ok technically we went to a restaurant for lunch but beer was downed by all of us quick smart.

Time drags in a waiting room- the nagging, gnawing feeling in your gut is not helped by the inane chatter of daytime tv shows. Noods is finally wheeled out on his bed to his recovery room, still groggy but able to smile. And just like that, the relief washes through the room. He’s ok, the surgery went well and further scans and blood tests are scheduled for the week after while he snoozes for a couple more hours and we make the trip home armed with painkillers, gauze and swabs. Our families made sure our fridge was well stocked with foods that weren’t fried heh.

Within 2 days of being at home and lying in bed all day he starts skyping with work. The incision was taking its sweet time in healing but all too soon he was up and about and hobbling around the house. To make sure the cancer didn’t return, a low dose of chemotherapy was required. 2 hours at Westmead Private Hospital was spent watching Ready, Steady, Cook while they pumped Noods full of drugs. The drugs conked him out and he slept for pretty much 2 days straight. And then with buckets and containers close at hand we waited for the nausea stage. And waited. And waited. Incredulous we questioned whether he had indeed been giving the right drugs lol blood tests confirmed a drop in his white cells and with a final scan he was given the all clear! Everything’s pretty much back to normal and yes we can still have kids 😛


Not one for sharing his life to the whole wide world I’d not mentioned what’s been happening on the blog or on twitter save for the emo tweets heh but I was given the ok to write and post this. Aaaand bringing us to the end of this post, the awesome boys from Random Blowup are running in the City 2 Surf and if you’ve got a spare coupla bux head over and donate to the Cancer Council NSW where the boys are matching donations up to their target goal. Their bro love for Noods made me go nawww ♥♥♥ This is not meant to be a pity party post but I figure sharing is caring. And guys it’s important to get stuff checked!

It began with drinks. Some chili vodka to be exact. A happy group of hungry food bloggers are at Sake Restaurant & Bar (12 Argyle St, The Rocks Sydney) to try out the new Umami Cocktail and Canapes menu ($25 each) created by Head Sushi Chef Shimpei Hatanake and Bar Manager Wayne Shennen.


First up from the new menu was the extremely delicious Nightingale Song cocktail (umeshu, pear vodka, white wine, bianco vermouth and fresh lemon juice), which was matched with scallop sashimi dressed in grape-seed oil, white soy and fresh lime; and perched precariously on a shot glass holding an olive oil and yuzu dressing was a morsel of snapper sashimi topped with the crazy addictive shio kombu and flying fish roe.


The second cocktail, the Honey Dragon (honey, single-malt Scottish whiskey, cinnamon, lemon zest and chilli) was just spicy enough for me to go hmm hello burning! But zesty enough to bring out the flavours in the slices of seared salmon belly topped with chives and the yuzu soy dressing.


Then for some dishes from Executive Chef Shaun Presland who is the first Australian Caucasian chef with the title of Sushi Chef. The char-grilled Octopus Sunomono with kiwi vinegar, bonito jelly, dashi-infused wakame and cucumber is incredibly tender, the nubbins of octopus tentacle breaking away easily and managed to overcome my dislike of kiwi fruit to be an instant convert.


Teriyaki Beef Burger Balls. BAAAAALLLS! Covered in a rich, sticky terriyaki glaze, the juicy beef meatballs was perfect with the Hitachino Nest Beer.


Steamed prawn dumplings (Chinese-inspired shumai with spicy ponzu) ($17) was just freaking awesome. I managed to down 2 of the prawn wrapped in shredded dumpling wrappers with quick succession and was desperately looking around to see if anyone had left their dumplings unguarded.


Crispy Chicken ($16) oh baby hello fabulous fried chicken! Crispy skin deliciousness protecting juicy chicken innards and oh how about those sauces? Jalapeño was a tad spicy on my suze-is-chili-fail-meter but the aioli and the tomato salsa were tasty accompaniments.


Sushi party! I’m a big fan of DIY foods. Not sure if this is available on the normal menu but it sure made for a hoot as we attempted to roll our perfect handrolls. I say ‘attempted’ because majority of us tried to stuff too much filling which resulted in explodey sushi haha


Gotta work for yo dinner lols


After stuffing ourselves silly are we able to fit in dessert? We’re food bloggers of course we can! Panacotta and raspberry coulis are topped with toasted coconut flakes and is perfect with sake that soon makes the rounds mmm


Gianna and I. You can’t take us anywhere 😛

ChocolateSuze was invited to dine at Sake Restaurant.