Good Food month presents Jacobs Creek

Jacobs Creek winery is in the Barossa Valley in South Australia. Here they are all about friendship and good company. They sponsor major events like the Australian Open. They have been around for 140 years.

Here I tried a few different wines such as the 2009 Dry Aged Shiraz. This was out of their double barrel range meaning that it had that woody taste to it.  It is a dry wine which smells like cherries and chocolate. Hence this works well with winter dishes. I tried it with a summer salad and a winter chicken drumstick. I have to say this works better with the winter (citrusy) chicken drumstick.

It actually works well with the cheddar cheese. They really thought about the wine and food pairings noting each on their site. It also works well with the berries as they have a distinct berry taste and smell.

Do continue to support Jacobs Creek and you can buy the range at your local bottle shop.

Pickett's Deli

Pickett's Deli is new to the market and the latest foodie scene. They featured in this years Taste festival and is opened by Scott Pickett of Estelle. Here you can pick up many grocery items and presents for loved ones. As well as eating in and having their specialty meat and egg and bacon rolls. The one that I had was Mr P's roll ($12- it was an egg and bacon roll featuring Mr P's sauce).

Cake samples

Pastries on offer

Stove

Here the bacon was nice and juicy and the egg was just lovely. Not too oily and not too runny. Just nice. The bread too was a lovely soft roll. They do have an open kitchen and rotisserie so you can see how they do their eggs and rolls. The salads change daily depending on what they have.

I would have bought a juice or two but seeing as I am on Dr Susan's diet plan, I thought better not. They would probably be sweet and not good for you. I needed my good fats in my belly seeing as I run a lot.

I loved Mr P's BBQ sauce so much that I wanted to buy it, but they don't have any in stock until next year. Darn :(. They barely have enough for the tables and the hampers as they are so popular. Mr P also has other items such as mixed olives and tapanade.

Do come by on your next market visit as it sure is a foodie hit

Hooks at the Yarra

Hooks at the Yarra was a place that I have been meaning to go to since it was in the book and Burp Appetit wrote good things about it. But I never really got the time to go there until now. It is Christmas time and in Christmas time places along South Wharf/Docklands are usually busy. But Docklands seemed to be dead quiet. I'm guessing that no one can afford the cost of dining there.

There was a large group there.

Here I had their fish and chips for $21.50. This was a rather small plate and I was going to eat the chips but I saw that they were the frozen sort. I did however like the fish as it was fresh. I also liked the salad this time.

In short don't bother too much about this place as there are many other good places around..

Rice bar and Cafe

Rice bar & cafe is now Dumpling and Shanghai cuisine. This place is on St Kilda road and has been there for many years but no blog posts. I wonder why!

One day whilst running past it I was intrigued. But then I was in a hurry and it wasn't until two days before Christmas.

Here they have all meals under $15. Here I had their tomato and egg with rice. It was supposed to be fried but it was scrambled. It was nice but the very sweet tomato sauce drowned out the flavour. The rice was freshly cooked and was jasmine rice. I was going to have prawn dumplings but they didn't have any.

The wait for takeaway food was really long.

I really did like their $4.50 Spring Onion pancake. Here it was piping hot and very golden.

Do come by to this lovely place when they reopen in the New year. I really hope that Sweet and Sour Fork tries this place out.

The Waiting Room

The Waiting Room is in Crown and its one of the best places to have tea. I really love the hotel tea rooms as they are so nice and spacious.

Here I had their green tea which is quite nice as well as their complimentary peanuts. The tea comes in a cup but if you want more water you can just ask the staff for a refill. One time they brought out the wrong tea for me. I wanted a green tea but instead got a peppermint. When I gently reminded the waitress she was very apologetic.

Here the waitstaff are lovely and attentive to be with. They clear your plates when you are done. The nuts were really quite nice and very addictive. The plate also comes with wasabi peas and prawn crackers. All were outstanding.

But their cakes are worth the  high $9 price tag and worth the rave from other foodies. Here I had their raspberry cake and it was seriously that good. It was not too sweet and very moist.

City Orchids a second time

RNIS was invited to City Orchids and did not have to pay.

You may remember the first time at City Orchids on Snack day. Well this day was a little bit better. Natalie my host tells me she is not doing the snack day but is still doing the dumpling day.

Pork and mushroom dumplings

Wontons

Here I was with aadancefit and he enjoyed himself immensely. We shared wontons, crispy tofu, singaporean noodles. beef ribs and the pork and mushroom dumpling. All were really good especially the mushroom dumpling. The least favourite of all was the crispy tofu. Here it was drenched in sauce again. Too much sauce and it loses its crispiness.

Otherwise the wontons were just perfect and so were the ribs. The ribs were juicy and succulent and the wontons were very crispy. The singaporean noodles were a perfect way to finish that meal. I was too full for dessert so I just went home.

Many thanks for the invite City Orchid. I don't know how to change the link in Zomato though, so sorry for the bad review the first time. There is always a second chance if you don't like a place for the first time.

Free Wi-Fi lands in the city courtesy of City of Melbourne

We talk about this new initiative by the Victorian Government aimed at connecting people.

There is now free wi-fi in the city thanks to the City of Melbourne and it is only 250 MB per day. This is great news for those looking to save money or needing it for other things such as rent. This is only a pilot project run by TPG and the Victorian Government which has spent $11 million dollars on it as part of an election promise.

Many students cannot afford a lot when it comes to living in Melbourne so this will be good news for them. It is in Bourke st mall and some places in Melbourne with more to come in the coming weeks.

The free wi-fi does not always work on my phone but when it does its good. Here you just go to your WI-FI connections and select Vicfreewifi. And then you need to accept the terms and conditions. The wi-fi is available in all places in the city as well as the underground stations.

Metro closes several key roads in the city

Metro closes several roads in the city for this upcoming project and we explain why and what the project is about.

Image courtesy of Metro Tunnel

Metro closes several key roads for motorists in the city but it will be worth it we promise. This will mean faster trains and more trains for the growing population. It was an election promise. The project costs $10.9 million to build over five years. Work has already begun around the RMIT city campus.

There will be five new underground stations in 2026 when the project is complete. These will be Arden, Domain,, Parkville, CBD North and south.

What will this mean for International students?
There will be a few new stations such as Parkville and Domain which might make getting to class a bit easier. It is about 9km of tunnel which means that some sections of the CBD will be closed. A part of St Kilda road is already closed but cyclists and joggers can still go through.

Many businesses on St Kilda Road are petitioning not to have the tunnel built on this road. But the Andrews government promises that it will be better as there will be more people wanting to get to South Yarra. They say that it will be better for the moving population.

Our reactions to Donald Trump

Our reactions to Donald Trump are mixed. Here is where we stand on him.

Donald Trump was recently elected as the US president and many people were unhappy about it. It was a close call as Hillary Clinton was just as popular.

Image courtesy of img.inhead.cz

Here we don't like Donald Trump. Nor do we hate him. He is just in between. But what he promises is more manufacturing jobs to be in the US due to their economic downfall. This can be bad for the Australian economy and might mean that jobs are lost. But it could be good for the US.

Getting rid of immigrants particularly illegal ones is great for countries like Australia. But we have mixed feelings about the US as it thrived on immigrants. There are too many illegal immigrants in Australia and too many fraudsters here and in the US.

As for sex we don't know much about it. But what we do know is that he can be too bossy and not many Australians like him for his bossiness.

Lets just wait and see what Donald Trump gets up to in 2017

Woodside Green

Woodside Green is a small cozy cafe in Carlton. I had walked by but never really discovered it until now. Here they are run by the Irish and have so many photos and things up there.

Here they were really busy at 11am when I arrived with my friend. My friend paid for me and we shared a banana cake and he took back his coffees. He had an 11:30am appointment to be at. We also got coffees for other people. And other friends came by to get their coffees.

They do stellar coffees but for some reason my mocha tasted more like a latte. I did however like the artwork presented. There was just a little bit of chocolate on top.

But the banana cake was really sweet and moist. Here they make it freshly on site. I loved the minimalist icing on top. I'm not a fan of lots of icing.

Do come by this place for your coffees.

Nene Chicken

This Nene is in Melbourne Central and we had wanted to try it for a while. It is quite small so many people got takeaway but it was really packed. Here we all had to wait ten minutes for sub par food. I once got a free combo voucher but in the end it expired. I didn't really want a drink.

As per usual I got the soft shell crab wrap. There wasn't much to it. But the chips were the only good thing about the meal. Here the chicken salt was sooo good.

In short: its just ok and the girl wanted to go home.

Pintoh

Pintoh is a Thai eatery which has been opened for about six months on Bourke st. At first it looked too expensive and then came the lunch menu which I have never had a chance to try. And now the  Scoopon for $25 for $50 to spend I bought.

Here it was a busy mid week dinner and although I came at 7:30pm I did not get food until about 8pm. The kumquat drink was the first to arrive and that was super refreshing. Here the waitress shook it really well and the other drinks also looked good. They use authentic Thai ingredients for their drinks and food.

Here I started off with an oyster ($5). For $5 it was not fresh but the ingredients were good.

And then came the Pad Thai and the roti. Here they were made freshly and I loved the thin noodles that were used. The tamarind sauce worked well in this dish and was subtle. The roti was thin and buttery.

Do come by to Pintoh. Some of the other tables had the Feed Me option which was $55 per person like Chin Chin

The Groove Train Geelong

I have not been to a Groove Train in a while and every time I walk by the Groove train in Geelong its always empty. Sometimes its busy.

But today the service was really slow and both my waitresses were just ok. There was a family and a few other groups and they had been waiting a while for food.



A few things have changed since the last time I was at Groove train. Not in this location of course. The eggplant chips were on a plate and of course was heavily battered. Last time they came it was in a basket with the sauce on the side and not on the bottom. I did like the aioli though.

Last time the Green tea came was without milk. This time it came with milk. I don't usually take milk with my tea and felt it was a waste. Moreover the staff did not ask about the milk which they should always do.

Oh well I hope the Groove train ups its act and I do want to visit the one in Melbourne CBD as it looked really good and very busy at lunchtime.

Rococo

Rococo is a Italian place in St Kilda in the newly renovated Acland st. Here they have lots of outdoor seating and patrons enjoyed not having to put up with the noise and pollution from cars.

They were a very busy place at 12pm with all the runners from the Carmens run coming in for their post race refreshments. The place is clean and I was served by a lovely waitress who let me relax in the place.

Here I had their lovely mushroom pizza along with a lemonade. I would have gone for sparkling but no such thing in Dr Susan's Discover Good nutrition books. All their pizzas are handmade. I loved their olive oil base. So good. I could eat all.

Do come by to this wonderful place and let them tempt you with the calamari and the make your own drink.

High tea at Alluvial Hotel

Alluvial Restaurant is in Intercontinental Hotel and so far only two people have written about it. Here they are a high class place and we were invited to dine there for their newest high tea which was the 1890's High tea. This high tea is Edwardian and was with champagne and a new orange cocktail which had a lot of alcohol.

The champagne was a Brut and whilst everyone else was getting theirs I went outside knowing that I would be too full later and I was. At the first cocktail I was a little bit tipsy so I went outside for air and to buy my goods.

Place settings

desserts

desserts up close

Champagne and tea

Silver moon tea

Moroccan mint tea

My sweets

TWG teas

The mocktail was a good break from the alcohol.

All the desserts were yummy and so were the savouries. They worked well with my silver green tea and aadancefit's Moroccan mint. I really loved the scones even though I made a mess of them but oh well.

I loved the mini bagel and the egg tart. The sweetness of it was just divine.

There was a few healthy desserts but the chia pudding I thought it was mainly for breakfast. When I first saw the spread I thought that everything was for morning tea. I love a health kick after all that other food and cakes. What a break!

Do book this High tea when it launches from the 21st of Jan and thanks to the staff at Intercontinental for the invite. It was lovely to meet you.