Tropicana Juice Bar by Claudia

Tropicana Juice bar is in the city across the road from the Elizabeth and Bourke st superstop (a tram stop which is bigger).

Sally and I met again this time at that place, just for a coffee.

Cleansing juice

 

Sally's chicken wrap

Waffle with ice cream

Short Black

 This place has been opened for years. It has been around ever since my first year at RMIT. But recently they got rid of their best barista, so they might be looking for a new one. A guy at a nearby table was annoyed that his coffee order was wrong and that they forgot his sugar and spoon. Luckily the Asian guy was rather apologetic about this and offered a new one. My coffee (short black- $3.30) was just right. But the guy still had to get his spoon and sugar. I offered him my unused sugar, since I don't like things going to waste.

Sally's cleansing juice was quite good. It had carrot, apple and beetroot in there and it was not too sweet. Juices start from $5 and it comes in a huge glass. But Sally got this as part of the $12 wrap and juice deal. The juice came with two straws and Sally let me try a bit.

Sally loved her chicken wrap and for that price the meal was huge and filling.

Being the sweet tooth that I am I got the waffles. I find that it is quite hard finding a place that does good waffles as most of them are dried and burnt. Most of the places are really expensive with Max Brenner's being about $15 ( that is one small dried up waffle, ice cream, strawberries and banana).
At Tropicana my one was $7 and it came with one very gigantic scoop of ice cream (mind you this is homemade and not Peter's ice cream), maple syrup and a big waffle. The waffle was quite hard to cut. It was nice and better than the ones at Max Brenner.

Verdict:  Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay much better than Max Brenner's and I think people would agree. I'd rather come than going to Max Brenner anyday just for the juice and the waffle deal ( I think it was $10 from memory). I love their juices and their waffles are hard to fault (with the exception of they are hard to cut). I hope that they find a new barista soon though.

Crown Live Tennis Site

 Last week I was invited by Crown to visit their live site to watch the tennis and so I did. Although viewing the tennis was free, the drinks and food were not free. I had to pay $13 for chips and burger from Mr Burger and $3.50 for a lemonade.

The site was just outside Bistro Guilliame and it was free everyone to watch the tennis, but you had to pay for the food and drinks.

I really enjoyed watching the tennis outdoors. Many kids enjoyed playing the free ball game and there were heaps of people there all enjoying drinks at the Heineken pop up bar. There were Pimms for $35 for a small jug as well as champagnes and wines.

There was a small Prince stall there which only sold a limited range of gear.

lemonade

My Mr Veggie burger

Sugarnova lollies- $6 each or 4 for $20.

$30 tennis rackets at Prince store

Bar menu

Sometimes they have appearances from tennis players. You can get your autographs if you come on time.

Opening hours

Crown had a 15 inch screen (the size of a small cinema screen) where people enjoyed the live coverage of the tennis.

Many thanks to Crown for inviting me and I hope that there will be an event like this next time around.

Tiffanys in two visits

Tiffany's cafe is a new cafe run by the people from the Invictus gym. It is on Maribynong road next to the river, hence many walkers come by for their fix on smoothies and coffee.

They don't have much parking, but trams and walkers go by so they have plenty of customers, hence they are busy. There are no bathrooms here. Instead you walk across the road to the Boathouse. They share with the Boathouse.

It is a dog friendly place.

The guy that runs the place is really sweet. The girls that work there are just as lovely.

Cookie (top) and raisin toast

Long black

Love the muffins.

Freshly squeezed juice- the best in the area

Vegetable roll

The first time I had to pay for everything as they hadn't fully been set up yet. But everything was good. It was $8 all up for long black, raisin toast and a chocolate cookie. The cookie was homemade.

The long black was stellar. It tasted nutty and chocolatey.

The second time I only had to pay half price and this time they had more stuff. They had their yummy yummy raspberry muffins ($3.50) as well as sandwiches. Now I want wine. Maybe even a few champers dessert and baking evenings.

I loved my vegetable with goats cheese sandwich($7). It was fulfilling and it kept me full for a few hours.

My freshly squeezed juice was very nice on this hot 31C day ($6).

Verdict: This place is just what Maribynong road and the west needs. Lets give the Boathouse a run for its money.

With more hot weather on the way, I would love to pop in for more juice sessions. Especially after my walk.

Banh Mi Boys

Courtesy of RMIT Student Services.

Banh Mi Boys is a food truck selling authentic Vietnamese cuisine. In Melbourne you'll find many food trucks all over the place.

Banh Mi Boys started last year in the city and they featured in the Good Food Month's night noodle markets. They also frequent the Yarraville area. Ever since they started they have been popular with the locals.

They do both vegetarian and meat banh mi and the veggie one that I had today was stellar.  They also do other stuff such as salads and the like. But because they catered for RMIT they didn't have the salads (RMIT had requested just rolls).

The banh mi filled me up on this hot day. For most, meat appealed to them. By 12pm there was a massive line.

The bread roll was soft and warm. It had just come out of the oven. The eggplant was flavoursome. It was so addictive that I went back for seconds. But it was very messy to eat.

Students if you are in the Yarraville area this is a healthy option for you.

Many thanks to RMIT Student Services for inviting me. They are on Facebook and Twitter and you can simply like them for their updates. They also do catering too and the staff don't bite.

Skinny Dippa by Claudia

Skinny Dippa is a new place on Chapel st, just a stone's throw away from High st and Prahran station (zone 1).

They have been around for three months and already they are attracting people, mainly through their Gorupons. I bought their Groupon ($5 for $10 to spend) a while back and had to use it.

Toppings

The flavours that they have

My yoghurt

A close up shot of my fruit salad and yoghurt

Their Facebook promotion,. I love their blackboard

The guy was very friendly. So was the lady. But they were having trouble working out the electronic groupon vouchers (Smart phone vouchers) on their iPad.

They take cash, EFTPOS and credit. It is a self serve place where you pay by weight. You simply choose a tub (or a take home box), choose your froyo, then choose your toppings and sauces and then pay. It is normally $2.80 per 100g which is expensive, but I had a Groupon. And so did many others and they were happy.

They are tiny but inviting store.  The store is very clean which is great to see. Here they have six flavours some of which are chocolatey. I had their signature watermelon with mint flavour and their natural yoghurt. These flavours have stevia in it. Stevia is a natural sweetner. I loved their frotein flavours.

They also have all natural. fresh fruits all diced up. I loved their popping pearls. They were a sensation in the mouth.

Verdict: I hope that Skinny Dippa is here to stay. Good luck with all the competition that is going on (mainly from Yo-get-it from next door).
I will be visiting over the summer (for my healthy fix of froyo) and I hope that every other blogger does so too.