Eat, Pray, Love: Adelaide North West

Showing posts with label Adelaide North West. Show all posts

Australia is blessed with the sexy coastal line, stunning blue-green seas and relaxing beaches. The view of the sea never fails to mesmerise me, especially after I visited the famous Whitehaven Beach at the Great Barrier Reef region.

Whitehaven beach

South Australia beaches have their own wonders too. They are great places to relax with family and friends, take a dip in the sea during summer and watch sunset, not to mention the exciting add on of having a brunch by the beaches.

Glenelg beach

The two popular brunch places found by this beach are the Zest Cafe Gallery and Grind It.

Zest Cafe Gallery is situated 5 minutes walk from the beach. Greeted by the vine tree at the cafe, it grabbed my heart to be fond of this place.

Cafe exterior - view from my seat

I ordered the Zesty Eggs, poached eggs and salmon on toast with homemade Hollandaise sauce. The smoked salmon was arranged nicely in an elliptical shape. Eggs were poached perfectly with the egg yolks oozing out when I broke open the eggs. The Hollandaise sauce was good with a tinge of zesty flavour.

Zesty Eggs

Oooohhh! I have a thing for runny egg yolk and a preference to spread these gooey goodness onto a toasted sourdough! They work just so perfectly.

Runny yolk

The Cappuccino was a good coffee to start off my day at the beach. The mini pastry accompanied with the coffee was a wonderful creation too.

Cappuccino with pastry

Do order the Hells Eggs if you have a chance to do so. It looks amazing too!

Website: http://zestcafe.eatout-adelaide.com.au/
Address: 2a Sussex Street, Glenelg
Trading hours: 7.30am-6pm (Mon-Sat), 8.30am-5pm (Sun)

Grind It is another popular brunch place at Glenelg. The seatings can be quite limited because this cafe is constantly being swarmed with patrons looking for a heartful meal.

Paintings on the wall

I ordered the French Toast for that morning. Guess what? Two plump and golden looking french toast landed on my plate. Besides that, there were mascarpone and toasted almonds being scattered around the toasts. Shredded pear was also seen to top the toast.

Okay! The hero of the day was the french toasts. They were dipped with eggs and pan fried in butter, resulting in a crispy outer layer and soft bread inside. I would actually prefer the bread to be thinner though so that I could have a mouthful of crispiness. The sweetness of this whole dish came from the marriage of mascarpone, maple syrup and shredded pear. I particularly loved the shredded pear because it introduced texture to the dish. The nuts and mascarpone also accompanied well with the french toast.

French toast

If you are looking to get a sweet brunch, french toast from Grind It can be in your bucket list.

Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Grind-It-Espresso/96359740730
Address: 4 Moseley Street, Glenelg
Trading hours: 7am-5pm (Mon-Sat), 9am-3pm (Sun)

Semaphore beach

Whipped bake bar is situated along Semaphore Road leading to Semaphore beach. It is a great place for coffee meet up. On the display cabinet, there are plenty of cakes and pastries to choose from to go with the coffee. Besides that, wraps and rolls are also available for lunch.

Whipped Bake Bar

I ordered the sweet potato rosti with smoked salmon, baby cos salad and goat curd. I wasn't very impressed by the presentation when it arrived. It was served on a pretty old wooden board, whereby the traces of knives can be seen. I expected the rosti to be crispy on the outside but it wasn't cooked to my preference disappointingly. I felt like as if I was eating a compacted mashed sweet potato. However, the flavour was there and the salad was fresh. With just a dollop of goat curd to heighten the flavour of salad, it might be a bit lacking in some ways.

Sweet potato rosti

Website: http://www.whipped.com.au/
Address: 35, Semaphore Road, Semaphore
Trading hours: 7am-2.30pm (Meal), 7am-5pm (Coffee) Mon-Sun

Love, Victoria

Pies and sausage rolls are typical Australian cuisines whereby you can have them for breakfast, brunch, lunch or high tea. To get one of the best sausage rolls in the town, you gotta have to visit the Red Door Bakery. There are two shops each in the suburbs of Goodwood and Croydon. Nevertheless, I love to go to the latter which is the pioneer.

Situated conveniently near to the train line as well as 5-10 minutes drive from the city, this bakery is the all time favourite for Adelaideans. Coincidentally or not, the entrance door is painted red, signifying the name of the bakery.

There are various options offered by the bakery, including pastries, desserts, sourdoughs, toasts, pies and sausage rolls. The popular items here are the pork and sage sausage roll, creme brulee tart, salted caramel chocolate cake as well as the chilli jam!

During my visit there, I ordered the Hay Valley lamb and Morrocan eggplant sausage roll. I opted for additional chilli jam ($1). The chilli jam came in a spoon and there was nothing that I can fault it. The Moroccan spices was strong and complemented the lamb well. The flakiness of the pastry was demonstrated as I cut through the sausage roll with my knife. It was beautiful and fell apart into pieces.

Hayvalley lamb and Moroccan eggplant sausage roll

My friends ordered the Berkshire free range pork and sage sausage roll. It was the dish of the day. Among other sausage rolls, the chilli jam accompanied the pork sausage roll especially well. The pork sausage was flavoursome and well seasoned. The flavour was further enhanced by the presence of sage.

We ordered the traditional chicken pie with the tomato chutney as accompaniment. Tomato chutney was not as amazing as the chilli jam. The chicken pie, again, had the beautiful pastry covering the chicken. As compared to the lamb and pork in the sausage rolls. the chicken was more moist. I still love the pork and sage sausage roll though.

Traditional chicken pie; Pork and sage sausage roll; Lamb and Moroccan eggplant sausage roll

We ordered the creme brulee and salted caramel chocolate cake for dessert. The creme brulee had a lovely top crisp. Using the back of the spoon to knock at the top, the crispy caramel layer cracked into pieces, indicating a good creme brulee. The custard was light and the tart casing was great too.

Creme brulee tart

The salted caramel chocolate cake had a layer of set chocolate on top and few sprinkles of sea salt. It was a dense and moist chocolate cake with gooey salted caramel in the middle. The caramel had the right consistency and went well with the chocolate cake. I really love the addition of the salt on the cake itself as it provides another dimension of taste as you eat the cake in a whole.

Salted caramel chocolate cake

Red Door Bakery is definitely the best bakery in Adelaide/SA. The hot cross bun made by the bakery during Easter period was crowned as people's favourite for the year 2014. I can't wait for the next Easter to try it out!

Red Door Bakery

Website: http://www.reddoorbakery.com.au/
Address: 22, Elizabeth Street, Croydon.
Trading hours: 8am-4pm (Wed-Sun)

Love, Victoria

Easter weekend has passed even faster than I thought and here comes another weekend. Do remember to turn your clock back one hour this Sun (7/4) as daylight saving is ending. It means extra one hour of sleep or productivity, depending on which one is more attractive! Over the past week, I have been feeding my stomach a whole lot of food and consequently many awaiting restaurant reviews. Still remember that I love brunch the most? Well! Hereby introducing another viable brunch place in Adelaide - Plant 13!

This brunch spot is situated in Bowden where it is only 10 minutes walk from Entertainment Centre. Have you ever wondered why it is called Plant 13? My curiosity had brought light to this query. According to the waiter, Bowden hosted 18 industrial plants at one time but never was there the 13th site. This is because the number 13 is believed superstitiously to be unlucky for Westerners as well as Asians. As a result, instead of having a plant at the 13th site, a pub was opened there, fondly known as Plant 13 by the construction workers.

As the cafe took over the ownership of the site from the pub, Plant 13 was hence named. Isn't this interesting? I love hearing to the stories of different cafe and restaurants as surely there is something unique about every place.

Plant 13 provides pretty spacious area for its diners. However, do book before you go, especially if you are planning to go around 10 to 11am, because it will be a full house. That was my experience when I went on Easter Monday with girls from Connect Group. We were asked to wait at a waiting room as there were no available seats.

Plant 13 decoration

Plant 13 interior

Waiting room

After waiting for around 15 minutes, we were served to a high table outdoor. Plant 13 emphasises on animal rights and this is manifested on its menu which states that it uses free range eggs and ethically-raised animals in its food. Besides that, the cafe serves sweets in which you can choose from the dessert jar at its counter.

Onion ring with mayonnaise

The batter of onion ring is crispy and savoury together with the mayonnaise. However, I have to push the whole ring into my mouth because it is quite hard to bite off the onion strip.

Onion rings with mayonnaise

Buttermilk biscuits filled with smoked bacon, relish and egg

You can choose to complement the biscuits with smoked bacon and relish or with sausage gravy depending on your preference. The biscuit is dry and buttery. I feel queasy after having few bites as I don't really like the texture and taste.

Buttermilk biscuits filled with smoked bacon, relish and egg

Grilled triple cheese sandwich with jalapenos

This is the best meal of the day and I am craving for it ever since then! Even though it looks really simple, but the combination of cheese and toasted bread is just so amazing. Jalapenos which is a type of chilli pepper enhances the flavour of the sandwich. Definitely a must-order-piece!

Grilled triple cheese sandwich with jalapenos

Baked eggs with tomatoes, swiss brown mushrooms, bacon and toasted sourdough

There is a vegan option to this baked eggs in which you can opt out bacon. The baked eggs is pretty good and sourdough is always the best combination to it. A protein booster for the day.

Baked eggs with tomato, swiss brown mushrooms, bacon and toasted sourdough

Plant 13 Sampler: Mini pork roll, Biscuit and Sloppy Joe

I always have the problem of trying to order the most worthwhile and the best food out of the menu list, no matter where I dine. Thus, this is a perfect solution to my worry - having a sampler in which I get to try more than one food, and they are all mini ones!

The mini pork roll consists of pulled BBQ pork and coleslaw in a bun. The pulled pork is well seasoned but not soft enough. I would prefer Sneaky Pickle's pulled pork bun more.

The biscuit is the mini version of buttermilk biscuit as I mentioned above.

The Sloppy Joe consists of minced beef, tomato and cheese sauce with potato crisp. It tastes like tomato pasta sauce being sandwiched by two buns.

Plant 13 Sampler: Mini pork roll, Biscuit and Sloppy Joe

Adyna and Suzanne

With Steffi and Stephanie

On a side note, Plant 13 is starting its dinner service! Do go and show the team some support!

Website: https://www.facebook.com/Plant13Bowden?fref=ts
Address: 18, Park Terrace, Bowden, Adelaide.
Trading hours: 7am-4pm (Mon-Sun), 5pm-late (Fri-Sat), Dinner

Love, Victoria

Rise and shine! What will be the most comforting thing that can ever happen in the morning? BINGO! It's a pleasant breakkie/brunch with your loved ones at a nicely decorated cafe! Sometimes, breakfast and solitude can be a great combination too. A satisfying breakfast can invigorate us and start off a day with positivity. That's why I always love breakfast/brunch spots.

There are so many breakfast cafe sprouting out in Australia. How can we find a special yet cozy spot for our brunch? Don't worry! In this blog post, I am going to bring YOU to Adelaide and Melbourne for these two cafe which have the same concept. They are MART 130 (Melbourne) and LOOSE CABOOSE CAFE (Adelaide). Both of the cafe are situated by the tram/train stop, a completely overlooked idea in starting a new cafe. Come on! Developing and reconstructing a dilapidated tram stop is an effortful job. Who is going to have breakfast with the 'gong' sound of tram and the traffic of passengers going up and down the tram?

Well! That's the idea which rang the bell with far-sighted cafe manager who founded Mart 130 cafe. Mart 130 is situated in tram stop 30 at Middle Park, Melbourne. The interesting thing about the name is that 'MART' is actually the reflection image of 'TRAM'. How smart are they! I always wanted to go to this popular breakfast spot and finally I got a chance last Feb. To get to the cafe, all you need to do is to hop on Tram 96 towards St Kilda and hop down at stop 130.

Sitting inside the tram from afar, I could see a few people enjoying their breakfast at tables by the tram stop. At the entrance itself, there are a lot of stickers to recognise the cafe for being excellent in serving its customers. Last year, it was one of the top restaurants in Urbanspoon and recommended in tripadvisor.

I chose to sit at the table by the tram stop outside the cafe. Without further ado, I ordered corn fritters with grilled bacon, homemade relish, sour cream and coriander as recommended by Pei Qi.

Corn fritters with grilled bacon, homemade relish, sour cream and coriander

There are two options you can customise your corn fritters, one is with grilled bacon, another is with salmon. I chose the less expensive one. Lovely presentation! The crunchiness of corn dissolves in the softness of fritters. The grilled bacon is well cooked. Although it's a little bit hard, but I love the grilled fatty element of bacon and its smell. Apart from that, the homemade relish is tomato/plum based and has a sour taste. The sour cream comes in perfect as it simmers down the oil content of the fritters and bacon. The combination of bacon and fritters together with the relish has rendered a 70% sour and 30% sweet sensation. However, the portion is too big for me and I am not a fan of plum or sourness. Bias aside, it was a good meal.

There are a few other seat options that you can choose. If you come in a big group, you can choose to sit inside the cafe by the fireplace. It is comfortable and you just feel like you are at home!

The by-the-fireplace seat

Nay for you? No worries! There is another bench behind the cafe in which you can enjoy your breakfast in a warm breezy morning.

Bench seat

The waiting staffs at Mart 130 are friendly and they always ensure their customers have a good meal. Conversation with customers is essential to them to ensure their customers have the best dining experience. However, the cafe does not accept EFTPOS, so remember to bring enough cash for your breakkie.

Sipping a cup of coffee, flipping through the newspaper, chatting with each other, getting a taste at breakfast; Mhmmm. Life is good! Even the dog was lazing around under the warm sun and enjoying this piece of peace.

The dog!

Nice simple decor at the table

Located at Stop 130 of Tram 96 line

Website: no website

Address: 107a, Canterbury Road, Middle Park, VIC

Trading hours: 7.30am - 5pm (Mon-Sun)

The end of the blog post? No! You can't miss out on Loose Caboose Cafe in Adelaide! It is a relevantly new cafe founded in 2012 at Bowden train station. The difference between this cafe and Mart 130 is that it is a train station instead of a tram stop. This gem is just across the road from the Entertainment Centre.

I stumbled across this place through my friend's album. Being intrigued by its similarity to Mart 130, I decided to make a visit with my friend, Hannah last November.

Cafe interior

I ordered smoked king salmon with watercress and dill. The portion is pretty small from appearance, but it is actually not too bad as they give quite a lot salmon strips. It has a mild and subtle flavour. Consider this for a healthy and light breakfast.

Smoked king salmon with watercress and dill

Hannah ordered the corn fritters with bacon, sour cream and roquettes. It looks quite similar with the corn fritters in Mart 130, but Loose Caboose Cafe offered a more crunchy and less floury fritters. Corn is comparably less. In addition, it has an additional touch of roquettes. I prefer this fritter more.