Rice paper- gone downhill?

I went to Rice paper restaurant today. A few weeks ago I saw the $5.50 special sign and I thought yay! But now what happened? You used to be so popular, but not anymore. :( Why can't we pay by EFPTOS? Every other restaurant is doing it, not you guys. I had only $8 and that was not enough to cover the meal. I didn't know until the end. You should have told us at the start, so that we can obtain money from the nearby atm. And where's your $5.50 lunch specials? Your ambiance is great, but your food is very lacklustre. So not worth the $8.90. And I did take a look at other peoples meals and they too looked lacklustre. The rice paper rolls are served in takeaway boxes for eat in. Why oh why? Is it to save costs?

 And why is your noodles so overcooked that they broke? I don't like broken rice vermicelli. Oh and the vegetables were so limp and browning. The only thing redeeming for this dish is the spring rolls. Nicely done indeed. But is it really worth the wait?
I was soooo disappointed. Have to agree with all the other reviewers on Urbanspoon. I wouldn't come back again not if anyone paid me.

Kappaya

It was a lovely day to be outside.
It was busy though
It warmed the soul and it was a lovely place to study.
Organic and mainly vegetarian.
I had the breakfast bento ($9), genmacha ($4) and pudding ($8). It was freshly done, but I think the rice balls were a little bit bland.
A couple of times though I have seen dogs around the place.
Loved the pudding- it was flavoursome and sweet.

Good thing that the Age recommended them. It was yum

Having fun @Max Brenners

There's an easter promotion going on. I found out only just today as I was ordering my picoolo. Here it is all about decorating the egg cookie for $6. You get sprinkles, heaps of chocolate and marshmallows. After you finished decorating the egg you have to upload the photo on to Facebook to be in the chance to win prizes.
Mine was a bit messy, but worth it.
It was heaps of fun decorating the egg. $6 bought me heaps of fun. If you have a chance go for it. The promotion goes until the 15th of April.

Petaling st

Petaling st is a Malaysian hawker style restaurant. Here they are famous for their Malaysian style food. I had their fried kuey teow which is a popular style of noodles in this joint and Malaysia. I wanted to have their roti, but they didn't have. They just opened at 11am when I arrived, so no chef and no roti. :(
But at least the waitress told me and was honest.
Service was quick and I was out in half an hour.
But the fried kuey teow ($9.50 per plate) had a nice wok hei to it and was fresh.
Big Fil and I should come here again for lunch one day.
Sorry there are no pictures. I have lost the USB. But will one day put some up there.

Coffee at Crumbs Organic Bakehouse

yes I know it sound like I went there again. But I didn't go to the same place twice. Instead I went to their sister store in North Melbourne which has been open for a week.
Same foods as the original, but the store is smaller in size and there are no toilets. The toilets are in the town hall. Everything here is vegan and healthy/
I had the same as the last visit, but instead of cake I had a doughnut. It came out to $10.50.

Umberto Espresso Bar

I went to Umberto on the way to RMIT bundoora. This little gem in Thornbury is run by the Italians who knows and love coffee.They're featured in quite a few cheap eats guides ( including The Age 2011) which is how I discovered them.  This is the first time I discovered Grappa an Italian drink. They specialise in coffees and espressos and they have not much food on the menu.
The setting is quite nice and homely. There is a courtyard, but seeing as it was cold I didn't feel like going there.

Here they use Genovese coffee. I had a long black which was flowery and a little bit bitter.But it was strong and invigorating.
They do breakfasts  and I had a simple breakfast of avocado and tomato on toast with a little bit of lemon on the side. It was lovely.
I have to agree with The Age about the mind blowing desserts. They also do really lovely mind blowing desserts. Here I had a lovely gourmet panna cotta for $10. Here they were like the ones from My Kitchen Rules where it was mind blowing as they would say. yum its like heaven.
The almond bread was nice too.
Come here for the coffees not the food. I recommend that all Bundoora students visit here on one of their two hour breaks.