That's Amore

That's Amore is a pizza and pasta place in the city next to Shape up. They are also an Italian catering company. When I saw the name I thought of the cheese and the place at the Italian festivals.

I have seen the waitress with their special sign but I was often in a hurry to go upstairs for my shake.

Here they have pizza and pasta for $10 and all you can eat pizza for $12. Each small piece is $2.50. I can smell the pizza from upstairs at Shape Up. You order and pay and then they cook the pizza in the wood fire oven for you.

They also do Italian coffees and Italian soft drinks.

The pizzas change daily and the place is open from 7am-7pm weekdays and on weekends it is open from 7am-9pm for dinner.

The pizzas are freshly made on site. Here I had the salmon, salami and some sort of vegetarian pizza with cheese balls. I really liked them all as I enjoyed the onion and the freshness of the ingredients. I liked that they did not put too much cheese on there which is good.

Do come on by and also if you have a moment and some money to spare do donate on our page here. You don't have to be running in the marathon to donate.

The Coffee Club at Airport West

This Coffee Club has been around for quite some time and it has been about two years now since I have last come. They have changed management as there were more Asian workers there than there was about two years ago. Two years ago it was all Australian staff which smile a lot.

Now the staff don't smile as much and seem to not get orders correctly upon the first go. The lady that served me did not hear two separate orders until about the third time I told her. She was Asian, maybe perhaps an International student? When the lady told me that the price of my order was $12, I thought that it could not be correct as I had ordered one latte, one sugar for my friend and they had given me money for theirs and then for me it was a latte no sugar and a vanilla kiss.  The membership deals are all the same and there is a new menu. I am keen to try this somewhere but not at Airport West.

I had a latte with no sugar which was fine but very strong. At the end though it was very bitter. The friend didn't seem to like theirs much as they did not finish it. I enjoyed the artwork on top. The biscuit was fine too.

Now make sure that all your staff smile and that they clean up mess promptly as I did leave mess from the cookie crumbs and waited ten minutes for them to clean this up.

Union food and wine

Union Food and Wine is in Ascot Vale right outside of a tram line. Here they have been featured in the Entertainment book in the fine dining section. You can buy this book off Meld Magazine for $65.

The place is open and inviting and here you can relax by the fire with a good book or paper. The staff are friendly and I loved the waitress with the glasses- she was attentive and friendly to all her staff. She also loved drinking wine.

The fireplace

The front counter

At first I didn't really want to go to it because it seemed so expensive, but it actually turned out to be quite alright as they used local produce. I had been wanting to try this ever since they opened and I kept on passing it on my tramline. Their chocolate is from a company in Collingwood and it was divine.

I had their soft chocolate with salted caramel ice cream and pear gel ($14). This did not disappoint and the salted caramel worked really well with the soft chocolate which was a tad bit sweet on its own. Sweet tooths will like this dish very much. The broken crumble gave it a crunch.

The chocolate wafer also gave it another crunch. It also gave that dish the sweetness kick to it.

After seeing a lady's hot drink and the cute cup it came in I decided to finish off with a hot chocolate. This was really lovely and it warmed my heart. It really didn't need that marshmellow.

Rating: 16/20- me likes the dessert. I can't wait to try their chips and I hope they will some dinner events soon.

Chattime in Melbourne Central- the new store

This new store is open on the ground floor outside the train station. Here they had a 2 for 1 promotion in which I bought two matcha teas for the price of one. One I gave to homeless person and you can support my charity for the homeless people here. You don't have to be a runner to support me.

Every year the number of homeless people increase and this year it is the worst. We have had quite a few cold days where the homeless have been out on the streets shivering and starving. There also have been many stories about them in the paper.

The service here was just alright. A few months ago they had a free tea day and my tea was really sweet. It was an iced fruity tea.

My matcha tea was not too sweet which is good but it didn't have a lot of milk. It was warm enough though. Warm enough to make me want to sleep.

Do try out their matcha tea whilst stocks last and do remember to support me!

The tippler and co (partially an invite)

The Tippler and Co has been open for two and a half years now and they have been going strong. This was a last minute invite so I went alone. They wanted to promote their new wine range from Bendigo so they invited me and lots of others to try their wines and nibbles However I paid for the gnocchi which was $20.

Here there were ten wines on offer and people sampled many of them. Many people wanted more so they went downs stairs to the bar to order some more. And people also got very drunk. But not I. I was very happy to just try the prosecco and two versions of shiraz and food and leave it at that.

Shiraz

I remembered that time at St Hotel where we were not offered food. I thought that it would be the same here but I was wrong.

Although they are a small place, there is lots of seating inside. And inside is warm, cozy and inviting by the bar. The bartender was really friendly, not like St Hotel where they were a little bit overwhelmed at the party.

The prosecco was light and sweet and it worked well with the aged cheese and the oyster. I came late so all the cheese was gone. Almost all the wine had gone as there was just so many people. But I didn't mind as I wanted to try the gnocchi with the shiraz. And it was amazing.

The gnocchi was a little bit overcooked but I enjoyed the balsamic and pumpkin in there. Although it looked small it was moreish.

Moreover I enjoyed the croquette which worked well with the shiraz. The two puffs (one was meat and the other veg) would have worked well with a white wine or a beer.

Rating: 18/20- loved the gnocchi, wine and the free food.

It was a pity that dessert was not offered but I was too full anyway. And anyway I have to try and avoid sugary things if I can.