La Camera's truffle offerings

RNIS was invited to try the truffle pasta and tiramisu for free as well as play the card game and only paid for the salad which was a mere $9.50.

It is truffle season now and La Camera has an amazing offer of truffle pasta. We have been here before and really enjoyed these timeless classics. We have enjoyed pizza and pasta here and the owner was a lovely guy.

The Italians are known for their friendliness and the owner had a very friendly charm which delighted most people. But some people had to go somewhere in a hurry and complained about their slow service as such. The place was busy but relaxed which we liked.

The truffle pasta was good but some of the pasta was clumpy. The pasta is handmade which is great and the serving is small but the truffle butter flavour was darn good. Those porcini mushrooms worked a treat.

The pasta worked well with the salad. The salad was a apple and walnut one and the sweet, tangy flavour worked well with the truffle butter and the bitterness of it. The salad was fresh and not too over dressed.

The tiramisu was the bomb but it had a lot of coffee in there. It was a good thing though that they have the meringue to break up all that coffee

Rating: 16/20-do come for that truffle pasta and do expect the service to be quite slow at times as Italians love to enjoy their food and wine whilst relaxing. I hope La Camera does more exciting things with their truffle this month as it is truffle month

Lord of the fries

This Lord of the Fries is a small place in Brunswick st Fitzroy. I have seen this place in Brunswick st's all in day and then decided I wanted to visit. With Sally that is and my Entertainment book voucher of 2 for 1. You can buy the book from Meld Magazine.

Here they have good sauces and chips. I really loved the Indian Masala- it was sweet and spicy and very addictive. It goes well with the sweet potato fries which is an extra $2. I also liked the Parisian sauce which worked much better with the classic chips. One of the ladies (their customer) was asking about the Indian Masala sauce.

The bathrooms are out the back and they have this little weird thing where the sink is on top of the toilet. The flush in this case is rather confusing for some. We don't know whether we have turned off the tap.

The sweet potato fries were a little bit too sweet at times but they were rightfully crunchy and a delight to eat.

I cannot understand why people order water when you can bring your bottle and be thrifty this way. Water is about $3 or $4 here.

Do come here for your chips if you don't want to go to the city. And do buy the book for $65 and you'll be supporting Meld Magazine and their work with International students

Gramercy Bistro

Gramercy Bistro is a bistro in South Yarra and we used our Entertainment card. With it we got 25% off the total bill which was $32.50. What that meant was that we got the drink for free.

Gramercy Bistro is in a hotel and its right on a tram line. It is about five minutes from Prahran station. It is in front of the market and we can see the signs of a new market coming.

Lemon lime and bitters

Crab spaghettini

There is ample parking at the place. The parking is outside Woolworths.

The service was fast and friendly.

The pasta was $28 and it took about five minutes to come. When it did it was good with the cheese. The pasta was al dente but it was Barilla pasta. For that price I expected homemade pasta and bread. Many places offer free bread. There wasn't much seafood in this and I would have liked more.

The breadcrumbs added another dimension to the pasta. It added that crunchiness.

The lemon lime and bitters ($4.50) was really good and drinks are their specialities.

Rating: 16/20- great but could have done more.

Hophaus revisited

Hophaus is a German bar in which you may remember that we went there for their birthday party last year. Their food and drinks were really good but expensive.

Well it seems that we had our hands on the Entertainment book. With the 25% discount we had $1 drinks and a very filling lunch. They have $20 Arbiter lunch specials but our deal was not valid then. It should have been valid seeing as this is an everyday deal and most people would get a bit confused.

They seemed understaffed. There was only one waitress and my food was waiting on the pass for a while. But the lady that served me was really lovely and she was very friendly.

But anyway we felt like having Bratwurst and beer since German bier brings out the best in German food. Here this was served in a 300 ml glass and it was really strong in taste. It had this strong apple and winey taste and smell. A smell which brought out the best in the bratwurst. Here the bratwurst was yum and the brioche roll was sweet but not too sweet. It was not dry like someone else said on Zomato.

The french fries were just ordinary.

Rating: 14/20- good food let down by the slow service. Do here for your traditional German fare

Do buy your Entertainment book from Meld Magazine this year if you want this deal and more!

Cosi

Cosi is a fine dining place in South Yarra which is intimate. Its an Italian place known for its finesse. Here the service was impeccable and the food was lovely... Almost.

It is about a five minute walk from the train station on Toorak road on the St Kilda side, towards the city.

The place is very clean and I loved the courtyard area. It was lovely in the evening and during the summer it would look much nicer

At South Yarra station I saw the ticket inspectors roughly harassing commuters. In here the service is quite the opposite. It was very friendly and relaxed and they let everyone take their time. They explained to first timers which dishes were good and which were their favourites. The wait staff said bye to me when I left. The male waiter opened the door which I thought that was really kind of him.

Bread

Spaghetti Marinara

I really liked their polenta chips and their marinara. But for $33 it was small. That's not to say that the seafood was fresh. Hwoever there was too much white wine and garlic in there. So much that it overpowered it all. The pasta was of a barilla type and it was al dente. For a pasta dish of that price I expected the pasta to be homemade.

 But still the polenta chips was very filling. That aioli was really creamy.

The bread was really dense and it was freshly baked. The olive oil was really fruity.

Rating- 13/20. Could have been better but at least the entrée was free with my discount from the Entertainment book which was 25% off the total bill.

I believe that Meld will be selling the book this year so do buy yours now from them.

YUZU

RNIS received a 25% discount of their total bill via the entertainment card. Hence they only had to pay $20.80 for the whole meal.

YUZU is a Japanese izakaya style place in the heart of the city where all the offices are. Here they were busy after 1pm and I went in after the meditation class wanting a healthy style lunch and wanting to use my discount.

The service was firm but attentive. It is run by real Japanese

Miso soup

The place is clean and reminds me of Japan. I loved watching the sushi chef do their thing behind the sushi bar.

Here I had the chirashi zushi and inari. The miso soup that came with the chirashi was stock standard and was quick to come. The rice was really warm in chirashi and it was a little bit too vinegary. But I did like the fresh fish as it was done with some firenese. I did like the wasabi as it was real Japanese wasabi.

As for the inari I loved the mushroom in there. Normally I get Agedashi tofu but because I am running that day I did not want anything too heavy.

Rating: 13/20- good but not great. It could be a bit better. But I do like their happy hour deal of beer and appetizer for $10-$15.

Beer Deluxe in Hawthorn

There is a new Beer Deluxe in Hawthorn. I have been wanting to go to this Beer Deluxe for a while. I have passed it a few times but they always seemed expensive. Here they are renowned for their beers and beer food. And the footy. I had a voucher for this place.

This place is a favourite for the locals with their beer sales on Mondays (all beers are $6) and their $12 lunch specials. They also have trivia night on Wednesday.

I had their fish and chips for $22. This was quite pricey seeing as it was a small plate. But at least with the card the cider was free. And the cider went well with the fish and chips. The salad was small and the fish was whiting.

I really enjoyed the subtle beer batter on the fish and the fish was not overcooked. It was fresh though.

At least the chips were good. They really didn't need the tartare sauce with them though as they were good on their own.

Rating: 13/20- love that cider. Do come for the cider and the burgers. The burgers were huge!

Snippet: Caffe Sienna

Caffe Sienna is in Chapel st near South Yarra station. Here I had an Entertainment book discount that I wanted to utilise. I wanted Leandro to come.

It was slow service for a not so busy place.

I had the pumpkin ravioli which was not much ravioli and a whole lot of cheese sauce. If someone was allergic to cheese then don't eat this. Instead try the Chicken Parma which the boy enjoyed. That and the chips. Although it could have done with some tomato sauce for the boy.

But the ravioli was nice though. I loved the pumpkin in there.

RNIS's Good Food and Wine Show video

RNIS has just produced a new video on Youtube and this is their first time ever. Here we talk about the process and what were the pros and cons of this.

Youtube is a free video viewing and uploading software. It already has about 300,000+ users. Users can sign in with their Google Account and then upload whatever they want. The good thing is that they have copyright rules and that everything you publish must be under Google's rule.

It was fun to produce our video and for this we used the Windows Movie Maker. This was our first time so we didn't know what to expect. Time wasn't much of an issue; we had three weeks to do this in. We learned a bit about using some of the effects such as cascade and all

The downside was the crowd on the day itself as some people didn't want to be in the photo. So what we did with Youtube's blurry effect was to blur all the faces. We also couldn't show everything as our video was only three and a half minutes. We had wanted to show the bread and the Laucke Kitchen but due to the timing and blurring, we could not. We also wanted to show the celebrity theatre but it was too blurry.

Therefore we only stuck to the highlights and the important parts of the show.

Do try and make a video as it is always fun.

Mister Bianco

RNIS dined courtesy of Dimmi

Mister Bianco is a little understated place in Kew. It was busy on a Tuesday night during dinner with many diners enjoying a quiet Italian dinner together. It was here that five other bloggers wrote about the service and the food, especially Ashley of Im So Hungree who first discovered it.

It is about 20 mins by tram from the city.

Here the service is really friendly and the place is photogenic. Here I was a given a new phone thanks to Paypal and Study Melbourne and had the chance to use it.

They have a really good wine list here and their desserts are to die for. Also they are known for their pastas. But the pumpkin ravioli ($29) was really small though. There were some good Italian flavours and cheeses but it was small.

Pumpkin Ravioli

The complimentary bread came in a brown paper bag which was cute. Moreover I really enjoyed the sea salt. It was very addictive.

I also enjoyed the $3 cannoli which was made in house. A cannoli is a small Italian sweet and this did not disappoint. The passionfruit soufflé was really good with the blood orange sorbet ($17). That soufflé was to die for and so was the sorbet. The sorbet had the right amount of tanginess.

Rating: 18/20- lovely place to dine at and reasonable sized portions for late diners.

The tale of two of Movenpicks

RNIS got two vouchers for free ice cream from Entertainment book publications so they went to two Movenpicks.

QV store:

Menu

They revisited this store and got a vanilla ice cream. It was white chocolate actually and they enjoyed themselves. It was dreamy and creamy and I dreamt of clouds.

The guy was lovely and after 2pm it was empty. After I came a group of Asian students came along and requested tasters and they got the rainbow ice cream. I think I ought to try it in the second visit.

Then in the next week:
I went to the one at Melbourne Central which was quiet for a Friday night. I had the pannacotta one which had a little strawberry jam to get me excited for the night.

Many thanks to Entertainment books for the vouchers and make sure you enter our giveaway for the books. This giveaway ends on the 30th of May 2015.

Basilico

RNIS was given a voucher by Entertainment books so they used it on this place.

Basilico is in Prahran and nearby Prahran station. It is on Chapel st where we found ourselves on a quiet Wednesday night.

Here we enjoyed the friendly service and we loved watching the table next to us.

We had a salmon pizza (medium $20.9) and bread ($3.7). We thought it was complimentary but it was not. We loved the balsamic vinegar and the bread itself. The bread itself was soft and baked freshly. It was a sourdough bread.

For the pizza we loved the crust and the fresh toppings. And we enjoyed that there was not too much sauce to this dish. We also loved a lot of onions as it aided in the sweetness of it all. With the salmon it would have been waaay too salty.

The base was really good. We loved it and they always have a fresh base and they use a wood oven to cook their pizzas in.

We also had a lemonade ($3.8 it was for one bottle). It was just ok.

Rating: 18/20 good meal and good service. Do buy the entertainment book off us and you'll enjoy a 25% discount off the total bill for Basilico. We are raising money to help support struggling International students and 20% off the book sales goes to our charity.