Le Petit Lapin

Le Petit Lapin is a French place in Elsternwick known for crepes and French music. They have been opened since February and are only open one night per month to do a special dinner. They are open to high teas provided that they are booked ahead and for Melbourne Cup they are doing a champagne breakfast

Ahh they are thinking of having a wine and cheese session soon.

Everything here is homemade including their ice creams and sauces. RNIS bought the Groupon for $10 seeing as they love good French food, but they did not realise how far of a walk away from the train station it is. It is about a fifteen minute walk from there and there is only one bus to St Kilda every hour.

The place is very cosy inside.

The staff treated me well and they know their locals. In fact they loved speaking in French to a father and his two children.

The Groupon only allows a sweet crepe and hot drink for afternoon tea during Saturday and Sunday only.

This pina colada crepe I had was quite good. I loved the sorbet. The coconut sorbet worked well. They have tea amo tea which is great. Here they made it lovingly well. The crepe was light and not too thin.

Rating: 18/20- enjoyed the crepe, tea and music.

Son of a Pizzaiolo

RNIS was invited to dine there

Son of a Pizzaolo is Thornbury's newest Italian place on High st on the Preston end. Here they serve quite a few vegetarian dishes like kale chips with aioli and Baccala Mantecato ( Buffalo cheese mousse on top of polenta squares- $14) and the vegetarian pizza.

Sauces on display

Coffee list

This place is known for their pizzas and they did not disappoint. The pizza came within 10-15 mins after ordering it. I had the salmone and it came without tomato sauce but lots of cheese. This is great as mot many people like tomato sauce on their pizza base. The onions added a really good crunch to this.

The octopus carpacchio was really good. The rocket was fresh and the blood orange was lively.Ming from Sweet and Sour Fork will enjoy this as she loves her seafood. The octopus was really fresh and melt in the mouth.

The kale chips are much healthier than normal chips as kale is an antioxidant and a vegetable. I also enjoyed the pumpkin and seafood ravioli ($24). For $24 I thought it was going to be a main but it suits as an entrée and it would suit Ming just fine.

Pasta dish

Polenta

The polenta dish was just great but I was too full to finish this I'm sorry but Here's the veg would really enjoy it.

And here's to everyone's favourite: the dessert. The tiramisu in the cabinet looked gorgeous. But I wasn't in the mood for coffee. Instead I wanted the sweetness of the semifreddo which is ice cream like cake.I really enjoyed this dessert it was nutty and beautiful and light on the palette.

Rating: 18/20- went home very full. Many thanks for having me Pizzaiolo and new restaurants feel free to follow me on Zomato.

Blue Waters

This is a fish and chippery in Albert Park next to the successful DOC Pizzeria. They have been open for about a year and they are an old school style fish and chip shop. I remembered going to one in high school and it was really good. More over the portions were huge.

Menu

Dipping sauce which was $1 extra

Here everything was under $10 and it was a huge portion of food. You will not leave hungry but very full.

It is outside a tram stop and a stone's throw away from the beach.

It is run by an Asian couple who were just alright.

Being an old school style place, there isn't a lot of seating. Moreover people buy their fish and chips and take it to the beach nearby. This is a cash only place.

I bought the fish and chip pack for $8.30. In it was one piece of fish and a huge lot of chips. This one piece of fish was overcooked. There should have been some fish bites in there as well. But the chips were good. They were nicely salted.

Oh well can't complain. At least there is a decent fish and chippery in South Melbourne.

Saigon Square

Saigon Square is a healthy Vietnamese cheap eat in the city. They don't have much seating and most people get takeaway from a bunch of their pre packaged meals. Here I had their rice paper rolls and they were freshly made. I came in just before 11am. But then the second time I came in just after 12pm and I didn't enjoy paying the $6 for two small measly rolls.

I had two of their vegetarian rolls and loved it the first time around. The second time it seem to go downhill. But I didn't enjoy their peanut sauce so much- it was too watery.

The guy there was really polite to the customers. He smiled. The lady the second time was just ok. She wasn't great. They were busy during the lunch period but not overly.

Like Eat and Be Merry I didn't have such a great experience there. Besides paying $6 for two measly rolls, I didn't enjoy the fact that they were bland. The ones at Baget are much better. The vegetarian ones here had no tofu in them. You would be really hungry afterwards. Luckily though I had my protein shake.

Rating: 10/20- we wouldn't return unless we were desperate. To quote Bureaucrat "Never again". By the way they have another store in Highpoint.

Advertorial: Sipahh straws

RNIS received this product at a launch of Tinitrader

 Sipahh straws is a fun and innovative way to drink milk. This is a great way to convince those that don't like milk to like it. Here you open the packet put the straw into a cup of cold milk and drink away. There is no need to stir it in. And it's suggested that you drink it within five minutes and that was true.

We tried the strawberry one and that was really great. There was bursts of flavour and there was a bit of sweetness. The flavour was in those little tiny beads in the straw.

Do buy these straws for a good healthy afternoon treat. You can get them from your local supermarket