A True Thai Experience at Jinda Thai

Thai cuisine is probably one of my top 5 favourite cuisines. I suppose coming from Southeast Asia, it is not a wonder that I love Thai food just because the dishes are flavoursome and they are cooked with so many different spices and majority of the dishes is relatively spicy, so is Indonesian food. Hence, the more reason for me to love it. I am so fond of spicy food because I grew up with it and I must say over the years, my tolerance towards spicy food has decreased simply because I've stayed in Western country for 6 years now and understandably, I don't eat as much spicy food as I used to and the level of spiciness found here is just not the same as back at home. Let's face it, it's just not spicy enough! In addition, there are not that many Indonesian restaurants in Melbourne, so I have to find alternate cuisines to compensate my cravings for my hometown food. I can try to cook of course, but honestly, I love eating out too much. I do moderate my eating out behaviour by trying to eat healthily during the week and I would go crazy during the weekend by going on an eating spree. One important thing to make sure I am keeping a good health, is of course to make sure I do plentiful of exercise during the week. I'm training for my 5 kms run this October and I join group classes during the week/weekend too. So work hard, play hard, eat hard and exercise hard! 

In order to compensate my cravings, I try a lot of altenative Asian cuisines leaning towards more of Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese and Thai. Of late, I have so much craving for Thai food and I've had Thai food for the past 3 weeks! I even got my friends and La Boyfriend into Thai food as well and now they are all infected with Thai food addiction. After my amazing Thai food experience in Sydney, it is only natural to want to find that same adrenaline rush feeling again when I had Thai food in Sydney. I almost gave up looking for close to authentic Thai food in Melbourne until I came across Jinda Thai. No, let me rectify that, I didn't come across it, my colleague showed me some mouth watering Instagram food photos which her friend posted from Jinda Thai. The location of this restaurant is almost impossible for me not to go because it is not that far at all. In fact, the best way to reach this place from the city is via the train from the city which will take less than 5 mins to get there and 1 minute walk from the station, literally. As the location is right at the famous traffic congestion area, you will need an incredible patience to find a parking near the area. So if you don't live in the city, it is quite a mission to get there but for a good food? Why not? At least you know you'll come out of the restaurant with a happy tummy. My only advice if you decide to visit this restaurant is, to make sure you book a table or be ready to wait at least 30 minutes if you walk in as this place is packed almost all the time!

The first time I went there with a friend, we waited for more or less half an hour during lunch time on a Saturday and we didn't make a booking. Lesson learned, so I called to make a booking for dinner on Saturday and they told me they were fully booked. So not giving up, we decide to walk in and alas! We had to wait for half an hour again but we could place our order before we were seated so when the seats were ready, the food would be ready to be served as well (given that the customer doesn't walk out and patiently wait which we did).

I love the set up of the restaurant but I took some really crap photos of the interior, the photos don't do any justice because the real view is 10 times better and because there were so many people, I didn't want to be too obvious trying to take photos and be completely Asian about it. I'll still show you just so you get a tiny bit of idea. It is a combination of Thai vintage and modern set up, it's almost hipster-ish.

Second photo is a complete fail and shame on me but you get a bit of idea how it looks like inside. I promise the food photos are so much better. So many people go there with their family and some people do birthdays there as well and you can see camera flashing as people try to take photos so really, I shouldn't be ashamed of doing a completely Asian thing taking photos of food.

As we already placed our order while waiting to be seated, as soon as we were seated, the food pretty much came within 10 minutes and they came too quickly that there was not enough space to put the dishes in addition to our teeny weeny table. So we tried to eat our entreés as quickly as possible.

First, we had some pork spring rolls $6.90.

Whoever says all spring rolls taste more or less the same, I am totally on a scale of 1-10 (10 being totally disagree), I would rate 11. I don't think all spring rolls taste more or less the same. Anyone who says that pretty much hasn't tasted an extremely bad spring rolls yet such as those served cold during a conference. Spring rolls are such a common finger food served in a conference where the wait staff walk around with trays of finger foods and you always find some spring rolls and no matter how bad they can be, people still grab them and usually they are the first choice of finger food and popular too.

These ones though, are heaps better compared to those well commercialised ones because they are handmade and the ingredients are fresh. Most importantly, they were served still hot not cold like those commercialised ones. The sauce came with it was just sooooo yum! Needless to say, these spring rolls are pretty good. Before the spring rolls even reached down my intestines, the second entreé arrived.

In the menu, this dish is under appetizer page and it is called Gai Tod Nam Pla (in Thai) or Thai style deep-fried chicken wings $9.

I'll say the chicken wings were okay. The spicy mixed sauce tasted better than the chicken wings but they did complement each other. Unless it is compulsory for you to order chicken wings in every restaurant, I don't see it necessary and unless you are a massive fan of chicken wings regardless of the taste of course you are more than welcome to order this particular dish.

Again, before I even downed my last piece of chicken wings and spring rolls, our third appetizer arrived, which was soft shell crab served with pepper and garlic sauce $15.90. Um, in the menu, the dish doesn't come under appetizer. It has its own page dedicated to soft shell crab.

It's probably an exaggeration but this dish takes the cake. You can check with other food bloggers who have been to this place and do more research about this dish on google but the chance of Jinda Thai coming up in google search for having one of the best soft shell crab in Melbourne is pretty high. This soft shell crab is super duper yum. I'm not sure whether it's their method of cooking or the pepper & garlic sauce or combination of both but whatever they put and how they did it, it was magical.
A lot of soft shell crab can be too soft and soggy but this one was really fresh and only soft and tender in the centre (core body) and crispy on the legs. Hence the sauce was concentrated in the middle part only where the core body was.

My colleague visited this restaurant a couple of days after I visited to celebrate her birthday and she ordered the same dish but she chose curry sauce and she said it was really good so it is safe to say whichever sauce you choose shall you decide to give this restaurant a try, you won't regret it! Take the risk!!

Next, we had this yummy Green Curry Chicken $14.90.

My only regret with ordering this dish was that we didn't order any rice! We already ordered noodle to share so we thought we didn't need rice and foolish me who realised much later, how the heck were we gonna eat a curry dish without rice??? Curry with fried noodle?? What an insult to a culinary experience?? I was so disappointed with myself and I kept saying it would be such a waste until my light bulb moment set in. I decided to take away the leftover curry to mix it with rice for my dinner the next day. Although the take away box costed an extra $1, I didn't mind. I could feel La Boyfriend was hesitant and wanted to finish the whole thing by himself without rice but I just don't think that was advisable. The curry was just right, not too rich and a bit spicy but the breast meat was not tender and juicy enough. As we all know, breast meat can be very hard to cook sometimes because they tend not to absorb any sauce very well leaving the surface marinated but the inside of the breast meat still tastes bland. Hence, most people prefer chicken thighs but breast meat cannot go wasted so we still gotta eat it.

On a random note, the sauce that you can see in the photo down below was meant for those spring rolls earlier on.

This is the noodle I was referring to. It is called Pad Ka Na (In Thai). We chose pork as our choice of meat $14.90.

The dish I would say, was very similar to Char Kwey Teow (Chinese/Cantonese stir fried flat noodle) that you normally can find in any Malaysian/Chinese/Vietnamese retaurants. I initially wanted Pad Thai but La Boyfriend didn't want it and I wanted a different dish which was also stir fried noodle but it is apparently spicier than what we ordered. La Boyfriend cannot take too spicy food so that was out of the equation. My verdict is I think this dish is average. It wasn't bad but there was nothing extraordinary about it either. I felt like I could just get normal Char Kwey Teow from somewhere else with cheaper price and it would taste better too. In conclusion, I wasn't too impressed on this one.

To lift my mood, we ordered a very popular dessert this restaurant has to offer. Apparently, they're well known for serving this dessert and many people and bloggers are raving about this dessert. The first time I heard about this restaurant was from my colleague who showed me instagram photos of some cakes and they are no ordinary cakes. The cake is made of layers upon layers of crepes! How cool and crazy that idea sounds?? Well, I suppose people who are unique and try to do something different are always the ones end up succeeding with their life (just thought of throwing in some moral story). So from the look of it, it looks like ordinary cake but if you cut on it, you can see layers and layers of tiny and thin crepes. They come in many flavours and generally served with coconut ice cream and man, the ice cream even has frozen pieces of coconut in it. You have to pay attention in order to taste the bits and pieces of tiny coconut in the ice cream. The flavours of the cake, as far as I know are Thai milk tea, pandan, taro and I think there is one more which I now have a mental blank and cannot remember. I tried the taro one before and it was so good so then I went back to try a pandan one.

Can you see the layers of crepes?? :)

When I had the taro flavour crepes, they were not as generous as this time. Look at how much pandan gravy did they pour onto the top of the cake? I was ecstatic!!! I can't make my choice between which one is better, taro or pandan. Well, why not try both?? Even better, keep going back until you try all the flavours!!!! Their reputation is well deserved afterall. They're well known for their crepes cake and it did live up to the expectation! I walked up with happy tummy :) I can't remember how much the crepes cake was but they're not expensive anyway and if they're this good, what matters?

Note on finding the cake in the menu, the menu doesn't specify crepes cake, it only says "Cake & ice cream" under dessert and you have to ask the staff for choice of flavours.

I can't seem to find the website for this restaurant, so the details of the restaurant will be down below in my urbanspoon widget.

As per usual, feedbacks will be welcome!

Freakinfantastic Fine Dining Experience at Bistro Vue

Welcome to my another wild dining adventure!! Did I mention in my previous post on how I got so sick from eating out too much? Well, this is one of my continuous eating out adventures for one week. I'm pretty sure I mentioned that I was on an eating spree because my friend from my hometown came for a visit. I also mentioned that she had this 2 pages long list of restaurants she would like to visit before heading back home. One of them is this extremely popular, top notch restaurant called Vue de Monde on level 55, Rialto Tower. I had been to the bar located on the same floor called Lui Bar and in the evening, the view from the top floor was spectacular overlooking Yarra River and the entire Crown complex. Needless to say, it was priceless.

Also notice how when you walk along the river in Southbank area, there is a fire bursting out of the exhaust poles every hour (the poles are installed along the Crown complex, not the entire stretch of the river). I remember how I always make a joke with my friends about the fire poles. We said how countless birds and other flying beings (what else apart from birds?? or insects) must have died from being accidentally burnt whilst flying over the top of the poles. Note that this is just a joke, I imagine those poor vertebrates have some sort of sixth sense where they can immediately sense danger and avoid them. That's why birds emmigrate and that's why birds fly low when it's about to rain. Let's not get further into science. In fact, I dislike science.

So my point was, when the fire explodes in the sky, from afar it looks almost like it dances because there is a rhythm to it. From the top floor of Lui Bar, the fire show looks fantabuluous. At the time of my visit, I didn't know Vue de Monde exists. The restaurant is located on the other side of the bar on the same floor. Apparently this is the reaction when you tell people about this five star restaurant... "What????" "Really?" "Wow" or "............. (Just staring at you without blinking, pause whatever they are doing and say nothing" OR! They might not know what you're talking about at all.

Well, for most time, I received the abovementioned reactions. Curious about it, I started googling the reviews online and man, people bring their wives, girlfriends, boyfriends etc to this place for special occasions, such as wedding anniversaries, birthdays, proposals and whatever else I can't think of. As comparison to us, we're just a bunch of girls looking to sample one of the best restaurants Melbourne has to offer. According to the reviews, the bill could easily add up to $500!!! What can I buy with $500?? So many things (clothes, jewellery, give out to charity, pay for more food, pay bills and the list goes on). May not actually be enough to pay for everything I mentioned.

Well, when I had a look at the menu online (after visiting the website of Vue de Monde), the set/degustation menu could cost about $250 per person. Yes, you saw that right, I'll write it again, $250 PER PERSON i.e. PP. No kidding. I'm not sure whether it was a blessing in disguise or not, but on the day we decided to book for a table, I found out that they are not available for dinner on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and we wanted to go on a Friday because my friend already had plans from Monday to Thursday, besides who would enjoy fine dining on weekdays?? Maybe some people would but I would like to enjoy spending a great deal of money on food on weekends because I don't have to think about working the next day except if I'm a millionaire overnight.

So we came up with plan B, there is this restaurant which is part of Vue de Monde called Bistro Vue and if you click on the link above or if you just search for Bistro Vue online, it will show that the main website access is via Vue de Monde website. Once the website loads, just navigate your way and click on Bistro Vue. The restaurant is located at the completely different site from Vue De Monde. Bistro Vue is located on 430 Little Collins St, Melbourne. The restaurant interior was very French style with lots of paintings and open wine cellar. I must say the design of the restaurant wasn't too fancy and it was quite cosy. Patrons are generally couples and a group of friends. I didn't take any photos of the interior design because I was acting like a lady instead of patronising paparazzi with flash camera. The light was etremely dim as well so the photos won't do any justice. Even the photos of my food look "meh" compare to what they look like in real life but those will have to do because I was only equipped with my retiring iPhone5.

We were greeted and served professionally by the wait staff whom one of them I recalled was French and he was very good looking. Too bad I have a boyfriend now and I even tried to speak introductory French and he was polite to reply me in French too. He must have thought how stupid I was, Oh well..
Failed attempt.

DISCLAIMER: I cannot remember the name of the food we ate there at all, not even one just because they are all in French and they are not in the menu because it was a set menu decided by the chef on a daily basis. I would look stupid if I asked the wait staff to repeat the name and me pulling out my iphone notepad and write it down one by one. I took all of the food photos we ate but I do not recall the name. Judge me all you want.

Below is how the menu looks like (note that I didn't take a full photo of the menu due to the dim light and that means I have to point the camera further up which will make the photo rather pointless because you won't be able to read it. Not that it makes any difference to what I'm about to show you below).

So after what feels like ages, we finally decided on set meal for $110 per person (L'Humeur Du Chef) which includes 6-course meal. I was thinking of steak before but $110 pp for 6-course meal is more valuable for the money you spend plus you get to sample a variety of food instead of being restricted to one type and one serve of steak already costs about $60. I suppose if you want to go out for a fine dining experience, might as well go all out.
We also ordered something extra to share with everyone. So the first entreé to open our feast was ox tail. When you look at the photo, you won't have the slightest idea that it is ox tail. It looks like a block of..... meat???

The ox tail meat is served with a slice of bread, pickled onion & vegetable along with a sauce to go with the meat. Unlike what it looks like, it tastes sensational. Now, I've eaten ox tail meat before because it is a staple food in Indonesia but man, this one tastes superb! So different from the conventional ox tail meat yet the taste is so familiar that you know you're eating ox tail meat (well, you kinda have to ever eat one to know how it tastes like). The meat was just so tender and I guess the shape comes from lightly smashing the meat to form the block.


Next we had oyster coming up, again served in style on what looks like an expensive "chopping board". I'm kidding, it's not a chopping board. You gotta appreciate their art of presentation. It is just so classy!

The oysters are served in either lemon sauce or vinegar sauce which they also mixed with something else. The result?? One of the yummiest & freshest oysters I've ever tasted! My friends and I were talking about eating fresh oysters and how my friend got tummy bug from eating fresh oysters in Thailand but no, definitely not in Australia and not in a top notch restaurant like this one. The two sauces just go so well with the oysters and they bring the fresh ocean flavour out from the oysters even more. I wanted like 10 more seriously. Well, this is another thing eating in a fine dining restaurant, you do have to compromise the quantity because they do provide you with the best quality ingredients they can find and hey, it all comes to a price. If you want more, be prepared for your wallet to bleed more :)

Next, we have salmon coming up and I swear, the food I show here all have their French name and it is definitely more than just one word.

The salmon was extremely awesome!!! More than any kind of sashimi I've ever had till this day. It was freshest out of the freshest if you can get my description. The flower petals are edible by the way. I didn't eat it but my friends did. Again, I wish there was more!! I didn't get enough of it. The food was so good that for like 30 seconds, nobody spoke a word. Everyone just enjoyed the moment they share with good food. It was like a classic song playing in my head when I had those oysters and this salmon.

Next on the line, we had mushroom risotto!!!! I absolutely looooooooove mushroom risotto.
Not quite French because Risotto is meant to be Italian then again, it doesn't have to be all French dishes right??

There is only one word I can describe this Risotto, nourriture délicieuse~~~~ it was so yum!!! Although the portion is pretty small, however as we all know, Risotto can be pretty rich because of the ingredients involved (i.e. butter & cheese) and the type of rice used just accentuates the richness of this food even more. So I was pretty full after consuming the risotto. The mushroom taste is very dominant which obviously enriches the flavour of the risotto and the cheese & butter are not too overpowering hence the end result is a very well balanced risotto.


After handling a rich meal, we had a chance to wash it down a with a lime sorbet mixed with a bit of muesli nuts combination and a thin slice of dark chocolate.

The sorbet, needless to say is very refreshing and the sorbet also acts as a cleanser for our pallette to get ready for the next meal because after experiencing different taste and texture, it is absolutely necessary for our pallette to be cleansed so that we can fully enjoy a new taste without being overpowered by the previous dishes that leave the aftertaste hanging in the back of our throat. To be honest, for me, a sorbet is just a sorbet, there is nothing too extraordinary about a sorbet and I don't like sorbet in general because they are generally very sour (especially the fruit flavour ones) but I don't actually mind this one. Although it hasn't really raised my standard on sorbets just yet.

Next one is my most raved dish of the night and until today, I'm still raving on how good this next dish is.

Yes, the beef steak is the best dish out of the bunch! I've had steak all over the place (not everywhere yet). I love steak and before I visited this place, I did have number #1 steak in Melbourne in my list but now, the position in my list has just been snatched by this little rocket pocket! The beef steak was out of this world to put it simply. I don't actually know what sauce they used because chef is being very secretive about it. No I'm just joking, I forgot to ask and this was not in the menu or maybe it was. The mash potato was creamy and buttery that I wanted to scream on top of my lungs how good this steak is!! The cut of meat is superb, thick and extremely tender inside out! It is the best cut and the best quality by far! I'm definitely going back again just to try the steak. I was never used to be a fan of steak before but over time, I discovered it is not the steak's fault, it is the cut of meat, the level of rareness and the sauce altogether that add the points. Over time, after trying all different restaurants specialise in steaks, I discover my liking and passion towards steak and I can't even cook but when I taste a good steak, I know the difference. Unlike popular belief, you don't have to be able to cook to know how good a dish is. Enough of the raving! I can go on and on and write a whole different post just on how good this steak is. 

The closure to our feast is what I would describe in my own words as caramelised pear. Not the direct translation from the actual name of the dessert in French. 

The pear is sweet and crispy on the outside and it almost melts from the inside. It is served with vanilla ice cream. Hot and cold combination. What a fantastic dessert! I'm also not a fan of pear but this dessert just entices me and not everyone can make a good dessert such as this. The pear is very fragranced and because the fruit itself is not very sweet, the way they coat it with what seems like caramel/sugar brings out the sweetness of the pear and it goes so well with the vanilla ice cream. I just love how crispy the skin is. The contrast of the texture is what makes this dessert works. crispy and soft, hot and cold. This dessert has elements of yin and yang in it. 

After we were satisfied with our meal, we were offered complimentary dessert where the waiter would bring out a 3-decker trolley containing macaroons, mini cookies and cakes. The whole presentation is so .... FRENCH! If anything, my experience at this restaurant made me feel like I was in one of the restaurants in France! Ah, I want to visit France now! 

There were more than what is shown in the photo but we couldn't fit anymore than what we had already fitted. The good looking waiter offered more but we had to politely decline the offer. Although we did fork out a bit of money at the end but we walked out with happy tummies :) Besides, like what my mom always says, you can always earn money but there are things in life that you just have to enjoy and let go. I hope everyone enjoys this post and find it informative. As always, I accept comments and suggestions down below. If there is a restaurant you'd like me to visit, please leave a comment!

CHEFS GALLERY, SYDNEY

I've been so sick in the past 3 weeks and to top it all off, there was more than just 1 type of sickness.

First week I came back from Sydney (AGAIN!!! This is my fifth visit in the past 4 years), I fell sick the next day because of exhaustion. Well, when we went to Sydney, we didn't hire a car so we pretty much relied on our feet power and walked pretty much everywhere. I am used to walking in Melbourne and in Malaysia (when I used to live there). When I was younger, my parents couldn't afford holidays that are too costly and too far so we travelled around Southeast Asia most of the time and my parents, my sister and I would walk everywhere from dawn to sunset and beyond. So in a way, I was trained from a very young age to walk everywhere and wouldn't feel tired. Fast forward, 13 years have gone by and admittedly, my body is not as strong as it used to be (Yes, I am an old lady now that I possibly need a walking stick soon). I still can walk for miles but of course my body takes the toll the next day or the day after or when my body recognises it's time to rest, then it registers that it is overworked. As a result, I fell sick. 

Silly me, knowing I wasn't feeling well, I went to the gym anyway and the next day, my body was aching and the flu kicked in. After I recovered from the flu, I had a friend came over from my hometown for a week holiday and I fell sick again from eating too much! There is actually such thing as falling sick from overeating. Imagine this, I went out for dinner every single night with my friends for the entire week. Trust me, you WILL get sick from eating out too much. 

Back to the reason why I was so exhausted from my Sydney trip and I'm not sure why I'm telling you this. Although I walk so much in Melbourne, Sydney's CBD is a lot bigger than Melbourne CBD (Central Business Districts). It's almost 3-4 times bigger than Melbourne's city and to help you picture it, Melbourne CBD can be described to look like a square shape whereas Sydney CBD is a rectangular one, so the streets stretch longer and more dense. After 2 days of pure walking and carrying tripod around, my shoulders felt like they were going to fall off from the joints. I was flat out. We probably should've rented a car but parking would be a hassle and expensive although public transportations weren't cheap either in Sydney. We tried to justify by thinking that we would be able to appreciate the scenery more and we would know our way around more than just relying on GPS. There were many instances when we walked into the wrong street and we discovered something else better. 

Since I've been to Sydney so many times, my fifth visit concentrated more on hunting for amazing food. After several years of on and off blogging, I realised that whenever I visit a good restaurant, I really want to share it (although I tend to ramble too much). So I've decided to share my food adventure whenever I encounter food that is share-worthy. There is just so much good food to share around and I'm not even getting paid for it! I'm just so passionate about good food. 

Now, I know what defines as good food is very subjective and it depends on individual preferences so what I deem as good, you may not agree. So, feel free to disagree and if you do agree, good!! 

I went to a number of restaurants whilst I was there but I will only pick one to write a review on. It is this popular Chinese restaurant called Chefs Gallery. The food there is simply amazing. What really impressed me was the fact that they make simple and familiar food taste extraordinary. There is that extra "X" factor and I must say, this restaurant is by far, in my top 3 Chinese food category. A lot of Chinese restaurants in Australia serve very average tasting food that is overpriced and super oily. I rarely come across a Chinese restaurant that makes me feel like "Wahhhhh". With no doubt though, a Chinese restaurant with average tasting food combined with good location always do pretty well (on average) but Chefs Gallery proves that great taste with great location create a phenomenon. 

First of all, the queue was unbelievable. Correction, when I was in Sydney, there was a vivid light show festival going on for that particular long weekend (it was during Queen's Birthday). So, the usually jam packed city was even more jam packed and everywhere you go, there was an extremely long queue outside pretty much all the popular restaurants even when you already made a booking! We didn't make any reservation before we walked in Chefs Gallery, it was a serendipity because we planned to have dinner elsewhere but the queue was way too long and we couldn't be bothered. The queue was extremely long in front of Chefs Gallery as well but La Boyfriend wanted to try so we waited for about 15-20 minutes for a seat which wasn't such a bad waiting time at all. Partly because inside the restaurant, it is very spacious so it can fit many patrons at once. 

In the beginning, I was a bit cautious because when the wait staff brought out the dishes to the patrons, they all looked really ordinary. For a second, I must admit I doubted my decision for walking into this restaurant because the last thing I wanted was spending my last night in Sydney eating ordinary meal that I can easily get in Melbourne. To my surprise, I was not disappointed at all. The noodles are well known here because they are handmade, each to their own and they are extremely delicate not like many self proclaimed "hand made noodles" which taste horrible and texture wise, are just too rough and thick. I did keep my expectation low when I heard about their hand made noodles. 

We ordered shredded peking duck with cucumber, hoisin sauce rolled inside a Chinese roti $16.90. 

It wasn't the best I've ever tasted in Australia. If you want to go all the way out, Peking duck with Chinese thin pancake is better than this because for me, it feels like it is half half effort. As in, the roti is a bit too thick and it covers the beautiful taste of the shredded duck and the fresh cucumber. If the roti was thinner, maybe it would taste a lot better. It wasn't too bad and it is amongst the popular entreé in this restaurant when I was browsing urbanspoon. The shredded peking duck was not fragrant enough for me to take notice that I was eating peking duck. 

The next dish had me swallowed back my own words.. 

La Boyfriend ordered spinach handmade thick noodles wok fried with prawns, mussels in shell, baby calamari tubes, Chinese Shitake mushrooms, dusted with seaweed & sesame powder. 

The handmade spinach noodles tasted amazing! You could taste dedication and passion poured to this dish and it makes you feel personalised. Makes you feel homey. La Boyfriend loves it and until this day, he is still raving non stop about it to everyone. I love how they topped it off with sesame seed and seaweed "powder". The seafood was fresh and they gave some pretty generous amount of calamari and mussels. The noodles were not flakey when I chewed on it and it didn't taste flourish (I'm trying to describe it at my best, so I do apologise if you're frowning when you're reading it and trying to imagine how they taste like). It was simply flavoursome!!! and of course there is no artificial colouring agent used, just from natural ingredients, mainly green vegetables (i.e. spinach, duh!!!)

As for me, I chose prawn and pork wontons handmade noodles served with mince chicken and chopped lettuce in a Shanghainese style spicy sauce $14.90.

Again, hat's off to the chef for their amazing handmade noodles. These noodles are a bit different from the spinach noodles because the spinach noodles are flat and wide similar to kwey teow noodles whereas the noodles I had were round and skinny. Stupid me forgot to actually take a photo of the noodles to show you guys what I mean. It's similar to spaghetti noodles just to give you a better idea. It's not egg noodles though bear in mind.

This dish is pretty spicy so for anyone who shuns away from spiciness then this is not your cup of tea. It's a bit like eating sizhuan dish (in terms of the spiciness). This dish doesn't have the infamous "sizhuan pepper" though, it is spicy in a different level. I'm a huge fan of spicy dishes because I'm from Indonesia so I love anything that's spicy. The wontons and mince meat just went so well that theu created a symphony in this particular dish. I literally could hear music when I took my first bite. The wontons meat was generous and the skin was not too thick so you could really taste the flavoursome prawn and pork meat and the size of it was pretty humongous too (value for you money)!

I did skull down a couple of glasses of water whilst consuming this dish but I was addicted to the spicy taste despite the burning sensation on my tongue. Overall these 2 dishes deserve my 7.9 ratings out of 10. That's a very weird rating eh? but I'm not ready to give out an 8 out of 10 ratings just yet.

To cool down the spicy aftertaste, we ordered something more soothing and sweet, who wants dessert???

We had black sesame ice cream with red bean paste and pearl dumplings.  We actually were dying to order this really popular piggy bun filled with black sesame paste but they sold out!!!! It was one of the most popular desserts in Chefs Gallery. Oh well, what can we do, it's not like the head chef could especially make us one as if we were some important people. Nevermind, I would settle for this ice cream instead and it was also amazing!

First of all, I love black sesame dessert, so I may be biased with my opinion but the entire combination of black sesame ice cream, red bean paste and pearl dumplings (mochi) are just too good!!! It wasn't too sweet at all and it wasn't too filling either so in case if your main fill you up quickly, you can definitely fit in this dessert because it was pretty light and you can share it :) All these 3 combinations are my favourite, so I'm definitely bias!!

Overall, I had an extremely wonderful experience dining in this restaurant and I would love to return to try many more dishes. Maybe next time :) Below are the details of where you can find this restaurant and don't be like us, make a reservation beforehand! Good Luck!

Aangan, A Taste of India

It's been awhile and I know I mentioned something about writing a post about my trip to Hanging Rock on Anzac Day like almost 2 months ago! I've just been so busy with catching up with friends, watching too many TV shows, like GAME OF THRONES?? OMG, who doesn't watch Game of Thrones?? I believe many people still haven't gotten themselves onto GoT yet but trust me, if you haven't yet, stop reading this and go watch GoT now!! Maybe after you finish reading my post first :) BEWARE!! You may get addicted to watching it that you forget anything else. For me, I'm up to date with the show so I only spare 1 hour every Monday night to watch one episode but I have so many other TV shows to catch up on :( Anyways, life is too short (cliché) so sitting all night long watching TV is a waste of time. For me, seeing my friends and catching up with people I haven't seen for so long and maintaining/building more network of social circle is more important. Not that I'm anywhere as good as those posh socialites. I just love socialising, period. Judge me all you want.

Back to the main content of this post...
Last week, my boyfriend and I were having a first world problem trying to decide between having pizza for dinner or Indian food. After a seemingly long period of time, we locked in on Indian food. Through a friend's recommendation, we checked out this hot spot in West Footscray area where it's known as little Mumbai. There are quite some selections of Indian restaurants and most of them, if not all of them cater to vegans so it's definitely a plus point for all vegans!! It is located on the main street of Barkly street. Click here to find out more details in regards to menu and location.

I must say, they are extremely clever in utilising the space of the restaurant. It's not too cramped and it is quite spacious inside. When you first arrived at the front of the restaurant, you won't be able to find the entrance because the entrances are locked. There is a wait staff who's standing outside all the time to greet customers and guide them to this extremely narrow hallway where you will enter the restaurant from the side door. When you see it, you know what I'm talking about. So look out for a staff when you arrive, don't try to open any door you see because you'll most probably look like an idiot.

The wait staff there are all very well groomed and greet you in a professional manner, which nowadays are very hard to find when you eat in a semi-casual restaurant. People say when you pay peanut, you get monkey which I do have to agree at some stage.. Well, most of the time. Especially when you eat in Chinese restaurant. Service is not their priority because they get customers regardless of their service as long as the food is good and cheap. HOWEVER, wouldn't it be nice to have both??? Win win solution!! I don't think cheap food with great taste comes with amazing service.. That's very rare if it does. I personally probably have encountered less than 5 times in my lifetime of eating out almost everyday and no, I don't always eat somewhere fancy all the time.

I love Indian food (one of my all time favourite food) and there are some really good one in the city but I'm getting sick of them because I live in the city, so I wanted to explore more in the outer suburbs and I tried once in Blackburn but it was extremely disappointing and also very pricey. When you see too many Australians in any Asian restaurant, you probably can guess that the food is not authentic enough. You want something that's close to what you can experience back at home or what you can assume to be like on the other side of the world. Once, I walked into a semi fine dining Chinese restaurant in China Town and when I saw the entire place was filled with Australians and even the manager was Australian, I walked out immediately. That's one of the signs that you shouldn't be paying double the price for less adequate food. I hope nobody takes it the wrong way as I have seen and tasted some amazing fusion food but it has to be fusion food not claiming to be authentic Asian food.

I miss the time when I was in Malaysia where Indian food was widely available and easily accessible plus affordable. My friends would call me up in the middle of the night (at 12 am or sometimes even past 12 am) and we would hang out at "mamak" eateries. Mamak is the word to describe casual eateries with outdoor seatings and you can literally turn up with pyjamas on. It is a casual hangout place with good and cheap food. I miss those here as nothing is open after certain hour and the cafés are different from there. What's lacking is that casual atmosphere. Not that I have anything to complain about over here but don't we all agree there is a lack of diversity in terms of café style. After a while, everything looks pretty much the same, as in they serve pretty much the same thing.

Ok, I have strayed too far away from the main star in this post. Aangan has one of the best Indian food I have ever tried in Melbourne. Hence, I spared some time to do a blog post on this restaurant. The staff was very friendly and he even helped these two helpless souls to order some food based on his recommendations (and of course depending on what you like personally). I rarely eat lamb except when I eat Indian food or Greek because the meat is a lot more flavoursome and it doesn't stink. I don't generally like the smell, only if it is cooked right.

As we sat down on our seats, we were greeted by 1 serve of Papadum (fried flour made of chick peas, lentils, rice/potato and other vegetable ingredients). The serving was for 2 people and it came with 2 types of sauce too (red and green chutneys). The red one tastes a bit sweet and sour combo which I don't quite fancy but I like the green one, just a slight hint of mint). The papadum was so yum and crispy I can literally eat 20 of those. One of my favourite snacks when it comes to Indian food. You usually can get it from Indian take away shops for free (if you buy rice with dish combo that is).

We ordered samosa to start with because that's one of the most popular entreé in most Indian restaurants. The best I had so far (strangely), is at Vegie Bar, which is a FUSION vegan restaurant in Fitzroy. The samosa was very nicely done and went extremely well with their sour cream and mint chutney sauce (widely known as the green sauce)  and since my samosa experience there, I can hardly ever find a samosa that can beat the top #1 rank in my food dictionary where Vegie Bar's samosa holds at present.

This samosa is pretty good, better than average as it was very crispy on the outside and it was very flavoursome. The potato inside was not overcooked and too mushy. The texture of diced potato was just right and that's the way I like it. It was for me, a 7 out of 10 for the samosa.

I had some time to kill while waiting for our food so I had a look around. Looked at what other people ordered and the interior of the restaurant. The restaurant has a very nice set up and honestly, most Indian restaurants I've been, have some really nice decoration that says a lot about their rich culture and diversity. It would be very interesting to learn a little bit about their history given they speak so many different dialects and yea, although they may look and sound the same, they come from different parts of India, different dialects, different background, different ancestors but they all want to share a piece of their hometown here in Australia, So stop saying they're all the same, just like all Asians look the same to Westerners but no we're not all the same. Likewise, you won't like it if I think all Westerners look the same because there is a difference and trust me, I wouldn't know this if I was still living under my parents' wings in my comfortable house back at home. Throughout my life here in Australia, I have seen and learned a lot from all sorts of people because you can meet all kinds of people here. It is a melting pot and this mediator enables people to meet people from other parts of the world.

I strayed away again.. Quickly snapped some photos from the inside of the restaurant because almost 85% of the patrons were Indians, I didn't want to be seen like an idiot. Typical Asian (taking a photo of everything I mean).

We also ordered a rose lassi (a type of beverage). Lassi is a blend of yogurt, spices, water and choice of fruit. I really love mango lassi, one of my favourite drinks of all time but that night, we decided to try something different. A rose lassi and trust me, it literally tasted like rose... Well, no I don't know how a rose petal tastes like but it smells like one hence your sense of smell tricks your brain into believing a rose petal would taste like what you smell.

Then comes the main.. We ordered Chicken Madras Curry in mild sauce because La Boyfriend cannot take anything more than mild spiciness. So rather than watching him suffer, we both agreed that we would order mild instead and thank goodness that we ordered mild and not medium because as a chili lover myself, I think it was pretty spicy. I cannot imagine how spicy it would be if we ordered a spicy one!!! Oh man, I've got another story to tell, I went to eat Fukuryu Ramen in China Town with my girlfriend and they have something called "Dragon" ramen and boy, that ramen was a challenge to all chilli lovers out there. If anyone can handle the spiciness without feeling a burn sensation in their stomach, I will kneel and bow to you LOL I'm gonna save it for next time if I ever have the courage to try. I did get free a green tea ice cream in the end because we posted a selfie and hashtagged instagram.

Ordered a couple of garlic naan bread and some saffron rice to go with it. I must say the curry was super yum and the chicken tasted amazing with the curry. The only thing I wished was for the serve to be bigger :D

The garlic naan bread was pretty oily but boy it was filled with yummy goodness!! It was definitely very garlic - ky and the bread was soft to the touch. Me want some right now!!!!!! It was quite oily though so maybe use some clean tissue paper to absorb the excess oil (like who would do that??)  I do have friends who press out oil out of McDonald's french fries with tissue paper and I was taken completely by surprise that there are people in the world who would do this while eating french fries????

The saffron rice was very fragranced and it went so well with the curry because the rice was so light unlike normal jasmine rice which would fill your stomach quicker than saffron rice.

My overall experience in Aangan was very impressive considering I didn't have much expectation before I stepped in. Well, it's true what people say I guess.. Always keep your expectation low but if you want to succeed, maintain a high if not, higher expectation. That way you will keep striving for success but when you fail, take it with pride and thrive again.

For all I had there, the total cost for the food was only $33.50 so it wasn't that expensive compared to the Indian restaurant I visited in Blackburn. Costed way more than that and tasted average.

If there is any suggestion on restaurants I must try, please leave a comment down below.

Until the next food venture...
P.S: I'm going to Sydney for more food venture this weekend, yesssssss!!! Although I've been to Sydney so many times, I never blog on the food there so I'll take my chance this time. Wish me luck!!

Easter at Regional Victoria, Daylesford Part I

Did everyone have amazing long weekends for 2 weeks in a row? I did!

Had amazing time exploring regional Victoria. There are still so many amazing landscapes in Victoria I am yet to explore. I've lived here for close to 6 years now and I haven't visited the entire Victoria yet. Well, not that every citizen here is crazy like me going from places to places whenever I have a chance (only when there is a public holiday).

I am not the kind of person who can stay in one place for long. I love adventures and I love going out exploring what nature has to offer. I don't mean doing adrenaline rush activities. Just simple things like visiting the countryside and breathe in that fresh air is more than enough for me but of course after deciding going all the way there, might as well explore what the town has to offer. Every year during Easter, I always do something. Last year, I had to work because I just started my new job so I couldn't go anywhere. The year before, I was in Launceston, Tasmania. The year before that (2 years ago), I was in Adelaide, South Australia and the year before that, I am pretty sure I was in Sydney.

This year, I almost decided to go to interstate as well but there is another holiday coming up in June, so I will go interstate later on. In the meantime, we were brainstorming for places to visit to spend Easter because I don't have my family here and my partner's family is not Christian. So they don't celebrate Easter. After coming up with some ideas, we decided to go to Daylesford for a night there. Another option was to go to Phillip Island but from some friends' opinion, there is really nothing much to do in Phillip Island, especially during public holidays. After asking some Australian friends for more ideas, Daylesford seems to be a more suitable destination. Not only Daylesford is a popular tourist destination, it doesn't close on Easter holidays so it leaves you plenty of things to do. A lot of people visit Hepburn Springs for their spa treatment/baths but during Easter holidays and weekends, they increase the price and it is extremely expensive. It will cost you a good $150++ for spa treatment/baths. I prefer going to the Mornington Peninsula for their hot springs because it is a lot more affordable ($55++ pp).

Too bad we didn't visit Hepburn Springs because it would be such a relaxing place to be during public holidays. Driving out to Daylesford from western suburb is approximately over an hour, close to an hour and a half. We stayed at a shared house with our own room and en suite bathroom and this shared house costed us approximately $185 per night. 'Other places costed more than $200 per night (again, due to Easter holidays). This house felt really cosy and warm. From the outside, it feels like there's not much space inside the house but from just a guess, I'm pretty sure there are at least 6 rooms in the house. It has such a long hallway and there is a family who lives just at the back of the house who owns the accommodation and runs the business. The lady was very welcoming and warm when we arrived. She explained to us the house rules and showed us around the house and every guest was given a set of key to enter the house and room.

From the outside, the house looks really small, doesn't it?? Don't be fooled!!

Carrington House is the name of the accommodation. From the outside, it looks just like a normal house. They have a lot of accommodations similar to this in Daylesford.

The hallway inside the house. Our room was the first one on the left hand side.

Inside the room. There is a small LCD TV just across the bed and you can bring your own DVDs, USBs or you can borrow some DVDs from the living room in the house. There are also some books you can borrow to read during your stay in the accommodation. It may sound boring but I found it pretty enjoyable to read in your room in Daylesford just because during night time, there isn't much to do there and it is way too cold to walk around at night during Autumn time in Daylesford. When we went there, it was 5 degrees Celsius at night!! Who wants to walk around in the middle of the night in that temperature???? I would rather sit in somewhere warm and quiet and read or talk or watch movies or whatever else.

Standard clean bathroom. The only thing I love about this bathroom is, it has a steam function inside the cubicle!!! What a gem!!!

See the seat inside the cubicle?? You can seat and sweat in there and take a shower afterwards just like in a sauna except you can take a shower afterwards on the spot!! It was so cool! The bathroom also has a heater light bulb so it was really warm during autumn/winter. You can take a shower as long as possible without feeling cold!

There are tea, coffee and biscuits available in the tea room. Guests can serve themselves with unlimited refreshments and listen to music if they want to and read some books like we did. Fresh refrigerated milk is also available in the cabinet. Used cups and tea bags are immediately cleaned by the owner regularly.

Comfortable leather couch for guests to sit down and rewind, especially for us being away from the city. There's newspaper to read too. We had a brief conversation with the friendly owner just in regards to where's the best food in town, places to visit etc. Our accommodation is extremely close to the main town (just about 3 minutes walk to the main street where shops and restaurants are).

When we arrived there, it was a little bit past the afternoon and we were starving. After locking our room and the main door of the house, we darted to the main street to hunt for food. We didn't want to stuff ourselves with too much food just because 3 hours later, it would be dinner time and the locals suggested us to arrive at the restaurant a bit early to avoid waiting time. Daylesford has a few renowned restaurants but we didn't go because 1. They're quite expensive. 2. Easter holidays attract 15% surcharge for everything listed in the menu. The lakehouse restaurant, Kazuki & Mercato are fine dining restaurants and very popular in Daylesford. Apparently according to the locals, some people drive all the way from Melbourne to dine in there. From what I've heard from my colleagues, the Lakehouse restaurant is pretty expensive and my partner told me the accommodation costs $800 per night on Good Friday. It would be a waste of money because I could've used $800 to book a ticket to Bali for a holiday.

We decided to take a walk in the main town for a little bit whilst looking for a place to grab a bite at the same time. There are so many vintage shops around and there is this bookstore that sells literally thousands of books! Some are old collections and second hands so great place to look for antique books. It's called Paradise bookshop.

There is also a vintage market on Easter Saturday but we didn't go because we didn't have time for it so for any antique lover, it is a must visit place!

We came across an Italian restaurant called Koukla which was recommended by one of the owners of Carrington House. Decided to check it out and ordered some pizzas and chill out with a cup of coffee.

#SELFIE!!!

Lovin' my soy cafe latte. There was once when I attended a friend's birthday dinner at an Italian restaurant in the city at +39 Pizzeria, there is this really funny waiter who entertained us for the entire night. He corrected the way we always casually say "Latte" instead of "Caffe Latte" and he did it with a typical Italian tone and he educated us saying that Latte means only milk whereas Caffé Latté means coffee with milk. We probably sounded so dumb for him but hey, if you never embarrass yourself, you never learn new things. So, it's Caffé~~ Laaaaaaaattéé~~ from now on.

I honestly cannot remember which pizza we ordered and when I checked out the menu online, I can't find the menu in the list. You know when you can't remember something but when you look at it it looks familiar? Well, when I look at the menu, nothing looks familiar!!! Sorry :(
Well, I must say I was least impressed with the pizza as it was lacking of ingredients and the whole ingredients weren't in sync. It was just a bit disappointing or maybe we just sucked at choosing the right one at the time.

There's some goat cheese, mushroom and sausages on it. I still can't remember which one that we ordered. See how there's not much ingredient in it? Maybe we have to try something else to have a better judgment.

After that, we decided to check out this bakery which we walked past on the way to Koukla and the bakery was so packed. So we were curious to find out what was so special about this bakery. Due to the day being a Good Friday, many locals went there to buy cross buns for Easter and the bakery also sells pastries such as pies and sausage rolls so I guess not many bakeries are available in town which is why it is packed all the time.

I decided to try their cherry slice and it turned out to be awesome! It was not as rich as vanilla slice and for me, it was just a bit lighter. We shared one among the two of us so that it didn't fill us up easily. We kept checking on our dinner time to make sure we didn't eat too much before that.

After dessert, we went back to our accommodation to rest for awhile. I guess you need it after a seemingly long journey to get there. We made ourselves more cups of tea and watched a bit of TV before heading out again just after 06.30 pm. We decided to go to Daylesford Hotel to have our dinner. They serve more of bar type of food and they do have a bar area and a restaurant area and because we didn't make any reservation (Not that I recall them taking reservation at all), they seated us near the bar area. Although I would of much preferred the restaurant area because they have nice couches to sit on.

They have special menu on display inside and outside of the hotel and yes, they inform you in advance that they're charging 15% extra for the night due to Good Friday as they have to pay their staff double, which is understandable because there are way too many dodgy businesses who don't pay their staff according to the "book" and not many people complain that they don't get paid double. I'm not exactly sure how it works. Maybe bigger and more well established businesses are required to pay their staff double rate during public holidays because they are more likely to get audited and sued? I'm not sure but one thing for sure, if you pay your staff cash in hand, then it's a no brainer that you don't pay your staff double which is even dodgier.

Specials menu for the night... I had salmon - leek pie served with mashed potato, green peas and bisque sauce while my partner had Tarragon Braised chicken leg, black caviar lentils & bacon - mushroom.

Mine was ok, I would say, for me, salmon pie is a bit non-conventional and I'm not used to the texture. When I think of pie, I think of beef pie, steak & mushroom pie etc but salmon pie? Anyways, it was worth the try. I kind of wished the salmon meat was a bit more moist because I found it a bit dry. However, it did go well with the mashed potato because it balances out the lack of moist. The mashed potato was really good!! Well, at least now I know how salmon pie tastes like. Mine to say the least, was good on average. My partner's one was on another level, not in entirely good way. His one was too ordinary. The braised chicken just tasted like any herbal infused chicken leg for me. Maybe except from the black caviar, everything else was fairly ordinary. The price sets you back for $34, you would at least expect a little bit more, unfortunately it was a little disappointing. 

We had a look around and it looks like their fish & chips and porterhouse steak were quite popular. We should've ordered those instead and we would probably left feeling happier. Oh well, there is always next time I guess. We decided not to order more dishes or dessert (because we just had one before dinner). It was time for us to walk back to our accommodation and call it a night. The walk was bitterly cold and dark for us but we had to just man it up and darted home quickly. 

I took a steam bath and it felt AH-MAZING! Especially after the bitter walk in 5 degrees celsius! The owner also provided a king-sized electric blanket!! I use one at home too because I get cold feet easily so I was uberly excited when I saw that they have an electric blanket!! It does hurt your electricity bill a little bit but for someone like me, I really need it because I can't sleep when I get cold feet :(

I slept so soundly on it and although I did wake up in the middle of the night to turn it off because it got too warm. 

Here is the thing, so many people get freaked out with the idea of sleeping on electric blanket. People say all sorts of things like, "I don't want to get electrocuted in my sleep". This one is the most common one that I've heard. Not that it cannot happen (I've never heard of such a case before), but I'm sure if it's not safe to be used, such product will not have succeeded for such a long time. Besides, another way to safely use it is to switch it on a couple of hours before you sleep (put it on level 2 = medium hot) and turn it off just before you go to bed. It will warm up the bed for you before you crawl in and it will guarantee a good night sleep without feeling cold. 

Enough on the electric blanket because I can write a whole blog post on electric blanket. 

The check out time on the next day is at 10.30 am and we received some advice from one of the owners to get breakfast from this place called Breakfast and Beer.  Apparently it is very renowned for their breakfast for tourists and locals. It is also located in the main street of the town. The setting of the restaurant is a bit retro and vintage-ish. Very similar to some cafés in Melbourne metropolitan but there is an extra edge to it. 

Oh yes, they have upstairs too.

I ordered Roasted Cumberland Sausage, black pudding & pickled fried egg on sourdough.

It was super yum! Looking at the photo makes me hungry again!! I'm hungry most of the time anyways. The egg was so fresh and perfectly done! Everything was just made from fresh ingredients. I love food in the country. The ingredients are just so fresh because they imported from local farms. The Cumberland sausage was really good too and I love pickled mustard though they kind of stuck in your teeth which make me feel a bit gross and uncomfortable but I am willing to make exception! I'm not much of a fan for black pudding but I do eat it. I know some people find it gross but it is a great source of iron!!

My partner had the crispy pulled pork on ciabatta, sprouts, coleslaw, pickles and sauce dragoncello.
He liked mine better and I agreed too. There's nothing worth criticising about this dish because it is yum in its own way and maybe if you enjoy less meat (minus the sausage) and more greens, you'll like it because it's like a salad dish but my partner is a full on carnivore so he prefers more meat in his dish. Me? I'm not fussed.

After breakfast, we took a walk in town for one last time and we came across this small art gallery. I love visiting art galleries and I am no expert but I just enjoy looking at it and tell myself what kind or artist would I be if I were to be one. It amazes me how a piece of art could set you back a couple of grands and to open your own gallery would also set you back quite some fortune so those artists out there and those who are still trying to prove themselves, let's give them a round of applause.

The art gallery stretches out to display clay art as well.

After walking a bit more and visiting more souvenir shops, we decided to head to Lavandula Swiss Italian Farm not too far from the main town of Daylesford. It is actually not lavender season but we thought after coming all the way out here, why not check out their tourist attractions.

There is an entry fee of $4 per person, not sure about children and overall, there is nothing much to see in there. There's a cafe for refreshment and dessert and there is also a mini farm with chickens and goats living together in harmony. The scenery was very relaxing just like any other countryside.

This is the outdoor seating just outside the café inside the farm. Very family and pet friendly indeed. So many families with their pet just enjoying a breath of fresh air away from polluted air in the city (not that the air in Australia is anywhere close to polluted at all).

I swear this little fellow didn't move away from her territory from the moment we walked in until we left. Her name is Flora, how cuteeeeeeeeee!!!! I wish I could have a dog but due to such a hectic lifestyle, it would be too selfish for me to own a pet and leave it alone for most of the day and week. It's already tough enough to take care of myself and with all my social activities and writing a blog post whenever I have time, there is no time left for raising a pet. You may say how about kids? That's different. When I am ready for it, I will automatically sacrifice certain things in exchange for raising children.

Where the lavender is harvested except you can't see much at the moment.

I sometimes admire my own photos (being sarcastic at the moment). I really admire the beauty of nature and glad that I capture those moments. I guess I have to thank my ex-boyfriend for briefly teaching me how to take a good photo. I'm not great and my camera is pretty ordinary. I'm trying to save up for a better upgrade in the future and I am no expert either. Compared with a lot of amazing professional photographers out there, I'm nothing but you have to agree these photos are beautiful!! :D
and please do leave a comment to advise of things I should improve in my photography skills! Please be nice about it too :) Oh wait, that's a bit contradictory. Ok, just tell me in whichever way just don't be cruel.

Meowwwwww purr purr~~~ I'm not much of a cat person but I enjoying looking at cats and their eyes just portray so much mystery about them. You can never know what a cat is thinking and you can never tell what a cat wants. With dogs, I reckon they are more predictable and they can easily be figured out, especially when you offer them food. Are you a cat or a dog person? Me? I'm a bit of both. I am friendly but cautious at the same time and I enjoy people's company but I can watch movie by myself and yes, I've done it in the past.

The red leaves really assure me that autumn is here. Man it already feels like winter everyday. Forget about autumn. There is no autumn in Melbourne considering how quickly the weather changes from summer to winter. It gets dark just before 6 pm and it gets bright just after 7 am. Way too cold to work out early in the morning and late at night but lots of crazy people at my gym during winter. I would think that people get lazy when winter approaches.

Our next destination was the Chocolate Mill suggested by my colleagues as it is also one of the most popular tourist attractions and they are well known for their hot chocolate drinks.

The Chocolate Mill was not too far from Lavandula farm. If I remembered correctly, just a short 15 mins or less drive to the mill. I've visited quite a few chocolate factories in the countryside and I hardly can tell the difference anymore. Chocolate quality in Australia is overall better than some other countries so that in itself has validated its quality overseas.

As expected, the Chocolate Mill is packed with heaps of tourists. They pretty much sell the standard stuff in all shapes and sizes but that's not why I'm here. I wanted to try the hot chocolate drink. I ordered a regular dark chocolate ($6.50 ish) and it turns out to be quite nice. Not too rich and not too sweet. I don't quite enjoy the hot chocolate from San Churro because for me, it is way too rich and sweet. After a few sips, it starts to get too filling for me. The hot chocolate made from this mill also gave me a sense of individuality, not mass produced by machine. It feels like it is individually processed and crafted and when you sit there and drink it, you feel close to the source of it rather than "Oh yea, I just got this from the shop near my house". Don't get me wrong, it is also a commercialised chocolate but not as much as big brand out there like Lindt, Max Brenner, San Churro etc. We actually had to drive all the way out straight to the mill to get a taste of it. Everything just tastes better in the countryside I suppose.

I know, they gave us a very interesting mug with interesting shape that you don't know which side you should sip it from.

Before it got too dark, we decided to drive back to the main town for lunch before driving back to Melbourne. We decided to have our lunch at Frangos & Frangos Jimmy's Bar near that Koukla restaurant (literally next door and also owned by Frangos & Frangos).

Well, not really lunch to be honest because we only ordered 2 entrées and I swear those ones are not available online because I just checked their menu online (because I can't remember on top of my head what those dishes are called). AGAIN!

This one was standard cured meat (different meat) and the bread was nothing too special either. After sampling that hot chocolate, I can barely fit anything else into my stomach.

This one is a lot better. The special sauce was so delicious and again, I can't remember what sauce was it. It tastes a bit like Indian curry ish but not quite there. Completely fusion style. The mussels just went so well with the sauce and you can't help but to dip those bread into the sauce.

This restaurant has an outdoor seating as well and during autumn time, the red leaves decorating the restaurant looks so romantic and beautiful! Perfect place for private functions.

See what I mean? :)

We arrived back in Melbourne just before 5 pm. Before it gets too dark and I hate sitting in a car in the middle of nowhere at night time because it just feels a bit creepy and unsafe.

I've got another blog post coming up for my countryside trip part II so stay tuned and if you have any suggestion, comment or whatever else, please do not hesitate to leave a comment below because I would like to know what do you think I should do to improve the content of my blog :)

Merci for reading everyone and ciao! Yes, they are two different languages I know :)