Michel's Patisserie in Moonee ponds

I received a free coffee voucher for this place and needed to spend it. But the cake I bought it myself.

I was going to go to the one in the city but they closed down a little while back and replaced it with Soul Origin. Hence I picked a hospital day to visit as that was on the way to the hospitals. And I had to change trams.

I'm glad the city one closed down as that one was really bad

This place is tucked away in Moonee ponds central where Coles is.  They have a dining in area as well as takeaway. I didn't want to get takeaway as last time I did, I burnt my hand and it was very embarrassing for all. And painful.

Service wise it was great.

But at least the coffee is good here. I'm not too sure about the cake as it was dry. It was a black Forrest gateau for $5.50. Black forest cakes are supposed to be moist and have lots of liquer and this didn't. I'm glad there wasn't a lot of cream in this.

If you do happen to have the coffee voucher and if you happen to buy the book from us you can visit this Michel's patisserie for good coffees and great service.

Tank Fish and Chippery in Emporium

Tank Fish and Chippery are a place in Carlton which has opened a second store in Emporium. Here they are only opened for lunch except for Thursday and Friday where they open for dinner.

I have been there twice. Both times were to order fried food for lunch or dinner. Here they have the $12 fish and chip special for lunch. Only hankering for this, I ordered that. Other people ordered sweet drinks etc.

You order and you pay at the counter and then you wait about five mins for your order to be made. They are in a food court hence there is not a lot of seating. The fish and chips are freshly cooked. And they had that nice powdering of salt. What's also lovely is that parsley which gives the dish a lovely crunch.

Oh and for those that want healthy there is the option of grilled fish and salad.

Do come by for your Omega 3 and healthy fats. 

Monkey King

Monkey King is a student type bar which has been around for a while. Here they have cheap drinks during happy hour so of course, I paid a visit during my happy hour day. They are in Melbourne Central. It was recommended to me by Luca of the Drinking Class in Melbourne for their $10 jugs but I never got around to it until now.

The bar was busy and they share a bathroom with the other businesses in the center.

I had their Monkey King brew in a cup and it was not too strong. It was good for a warm summers day.

It went well with the potato wedges which were $8.50 each and I could not finish them all. They were crunchy and I enjoyed the sweet chilli sauce with it.

Others had champagne and wine and no food. Next time when I am there I must try the baos and the onion rings as they do look good on the menu.

The Terminus Hotel

The Terminus Hotel is in Abbotsford just after the dangerous part of Victoria St. I would have run there but I was a little bit worried about the druggies that are there.

Luckily for me, there was the 109 tram that has a lot of people traveling on there and it only takes about 15 mins from the city.

I had heard about the Terminus Hotel from where's the beef as they had a good time there. I also heard about them from the Urban list.So when Dimmi offered a 50% off the total food bill I was hooked on going and trying their vegetarian burger.

And tried it I did. It was the best one hands down, compared to what I ate last week at Nik @Nicholson. This time the service was fast even though the pub was busy. And they were happy to serve me rather than forgetting me. My waitress was very attentive.

All pints of beer are $7 and mine was huge. I had the bartender surprise me and he got me a Carlton Draught as that is what they do best in. The brewery is around the corner and they have a few kegs here.

Do come here for a mid-week meal of burgers and beer.

Red Love

Red Love is a bar that has been around for quite some time. I remembered going there with RUSU and enjoying their drinks. Back then I didn't drink alcohol.

Here they serve plenty of good drinks and they have lots of good vibes. Here they had two for one drinks and no food. Their kitchen wasn't open and they just came back from holidays.

I just had a Corona and a lemonade. The lemonade was ok. Here they were training the new bartender which now is the best time. It's the quiet period before the students come back.

I picked this place because of their cheap student specials of $5 meals. And they do have them as well as their two for one.

The bathrooms are behind the stage and the DJ was awesome.

Do come by to this cheap place when you can.

Think Asia in St Collins Lane

Think Asia is a franchise which is all over Melbourne. I have been to a few and I really like this one on St Collins Lane. This is because the food is so much better here than it is there. Here they do food well and they serve the office workers their lunch. Office workers can eat in or take away.

They sell lots of different Asian foods.

Both times I ate in. The first time was the rice paper rolls which were ok. The rice paper rolls were for the Peter Mc charity bike ride. And then the second time was for Chinese New Year in which I want to promote these dishes. Here prawn symbolizes good luck and dumplings bring prosperity. Noodles bring longevity into the new year and chicken brings unity.

The dumplings were quite alright. They were not like the ones I had at Will's where it was really overcooked. Here the prawn dumplings were cooked perfectly. I enjoyed both the plain prawn ones and the ones with chives.

The Ais Kachang I got it for free thanks to a competition on Instagram. Here it is a Malaysian dessert which has just been recently added to their menu. But this one had waaay too much syrup and not enough of the other stuff.

Do come by this place for your Chinese New Year fix.

The Curtin Hotel

We went there as part of our Friday Happy hour in which we order an alcoholic drink and food.

The Curtin is a great student bar just outside of RMIT Carlton Campus. During January they are really quiet and other times they are always busy. Back in my student days I never went because I never drank and their food was quite expensive. Now it is quite the opposite where they are under $15.

Normally the cocktails are about $12 but because of happy hour, they are $10. The place is open for lunch and dinner.

My bartender seemed to know a lot about wines and bourbon. Here I had a really good Margherita which was made with a great tasting tequila. In fact, it was strong. It had quite a bit of lime flavor in there.

You can ask for a bourbon and coke here but no one really knew that. The bartender knows how to make a really good one.

To compliment it I had the Mexican corn which was nice but I would have loved cheese and more paprika on top.

Do come by to the John Curtin Hotel for their happy hour and if you are in that area as it is a great student pub with lots of local acts.

Seoul Seoul

Seoul Seoul is a place in Victoria st Richmond. I had a hankering for going there from not having been there for a while. Marathon training has eaten most of my time last year.

Victoria st has changed a lot. Here Vintage cellars used to be there and then there are more Westernized places opening up.

But it has always been the home of the Vietnamese and it will stay that way.

Here I had the bibimbab and it was all good but a little bit too bland for me. It was vegetarian. Even the lady at the other table said that hers was bland too.

I might give the Dosirock a try though another day.

Gyoza Gyoza in Melbourne Central

Gyoza Gyoza has opened up in Melbourne Central and when they had the $10 discount voucher I wanted to try the place.

I have had good food in the other Gyoza Gyoza stores so I had wanted to see. The other Gyoza Gyoza did not charge me $3.50 for pink ginger and they gave me a small pink ginger and not a big bowl.

The udon for $6.80 was small and alright. I prefer Emporium's one though.

They had a special of 5 Gyoza for $4.80 which is not too bad. Like the other place, they give out all the ginger sauce etc. But they forgot to let me choose which sauce.

The seaweed salad was nothing special. It was store bought. I needed my greens and irons to balance out the meal.

But the miso for $2.50 was very salty though. The one I get at Emporium is much better and less salty.  Its like they put too much miso stock in there.

The Agedashi tofu did wow me though. Here they were in cubes and they didn't use a lot of sauce though. It was freshly fried the way it should.

The oysters in yuzu sauce were fresh but they had too much sauce on them. The sauce drowned out the flavour. But I loved the tang from the yuzu.

Rating: 12/20-  overall disappointing. I hope that they can improve within time. 

Clocks

Clocks is an old Pokies venue at Flinders St station. But did you know that they are also a bar? Well, it's true. They look like pokies from the outside but they are not.

Here they have old school drinks at old-school prices. We went there on Friday when it is wine and whine. Wine and whine is about promoting venues which have happy hour and drinks at reasonable prices. Food too.

I tried a Crown lager and he had a pot of Carlton. Both the drinks were $5.50. It is $5 for members. He also had a glass of coke.

We were served by a lovely English lady who enjoyed looking after the customers. He had been here many times.

We shared a bowl of chips and wedges. Here they are $6 and $7.50 respectively. They were good and they came out quickly after we ordered. We were hungry so we dived into them and they were divine. It's a pity that they don't do meals or spring rolls here.

Do come by for the cheap drinks and it is $5 for a one-year membership to this place which includes free food.

Lord of the Fries

There is a new Lord of the Fries open in Hawthorn right where Swinburne Uni and the Glenferrie station is.

We bought the $8 Scoopon for a meal which includes drink (water or soft drink), hotdog or burger and your choice of chips. It comes with the sauce but I am trying not to eat too many sugary things hence no sauce.

At the beginning, Lord of the Fries was just that: fries. Now they have their vegan burgers and hotdogs which people love. What would be nice is some lovely organic wines and beers on the menu. But I suppose a liquor license would be hard to get and expensive.

The vegan hot dog was the first time I've ever tried one so I cannot comment much to say that it tastes a lot better than the meat ones any day. They use vegan sausages which is just awesome. I have tried vegan sausages at the Cruelty-free shop when they do their BBQ.

But the sweet potato chips are to die for. They are crispy on the outside and not too oily which is great.

Do come by the Lord of fries in Hawthorn and Windsor as they are not too busy and they are welcoming. You're welcome.

Lien Lien Cafe

I'm finally back after the Melbourne Marathon run. This run has kept me so busy that I hadn't had time to write much!

Or explore much!

Here Lien Lien cafe is near the Queen Victoria markets and they have great value food and drink. All of which are priced under $15 and is the perfect student eatery.

The place is clean and bright. Several times that I have walked past they were closed and I wanted to try them for some time.

The bowl of spring rolls and vermicelli was $10 and it was massive. I couldn't finish it all. But I welcomed all the vegetables underneath the noodles. The spring rolls have meat in them. It is a good thing that the waitress asked if I was allergic to nuts and I wasn't. So many Vietnamese places forget to ask about the nut allergy.

But she forgot to ask whether or not I wanted my spring rolls to be vegetarian. Luckily I'm a meat eater.

As for the long black it was a big cup for $3.50 and it was just right. The coffee was a little bit burnt.

Next time though I would love to try their $6 rolls. I wonder why this place is always quiet!

Mappen Ramen

Mappen Ramen is in Bourke st. It is one of the popular Sydney Eats hence the Melbourne restaurant is always busy.

I was on my way to the Post office when I was hungry and wanted some lunch. I wanted something with no sauces and no sweets.

Here you order and then you get your topping and then pay. There are no reserving seats for anyone and I got mad when somebody did reserve it for three of their friends. He could have just waited for them outside or got takeaway as they do that.

I got the plain udon with miso soup and a seafood skewer, agedashi tofu, and curry potato croquette. Here they were fresh but the skewer was a little bit cold from sitting in the bain marie for some time. There was an okonomiyaki skewer but they had all runout.

The Agedashi tofu was alright but it came with no sauce and I wanted it that way as I am doing the Sugar-Free September for Healthy International students. One of the rules is that you can't have sauce unless it is homemade. It was fresh though.

The udon was silky smooth which is great. The miso was a bit too much though. But I loved the self-serve red ginger and tempura crumbs.

Do come by when you have time or for dinner.

Mr Burger

Mr Burger is now at Melbourne Central where all the cool kids go.

Here they had a poster in the lift saying free chips. You have to take a photo of it of course. I was at the gym on level 4 and saw it on my way down. So took the photo and I only had to pay for the burger which was $11.

I had the Mr Veg of course but went for the chips several times. Normally a pack of small chips costs me $3.50 and it comes with tomato sauce. But I never use sauce. I like food naturally as they are. I don't need to drown food in sauce like some people do. To me that is gross.

My veggie burger was darn good as always. As soon as you order it they make it and then they will call your name out. Already I could see that they had 4-6 burgers already lined up and there was a production line going.

Do come to this Mr Burger whenever you are in the city and need a break from study. They are just across the road from RMIT hence it is easy for students to get to.

D House cafe

D House Cafe has been around for a while but I never got a chance to try it until now. As a student these prices are reasonable.

They are the sister restaurant of the Pancake Dessert House eatery so I expected to see crepes on the menu for dessert. Instead I saw shaved ice which is a HK dessert.

At 3pm when I came they were steady. Here they specialise in the Hong Kong street noodle in which you choose three items out of 27 and your choice of noodle. Then they fullfil your order with soup. The soup of course has MSG.

Because it was no meat May everything I picked was seafood or vegetarian with rice noodles. The rice noodles was broken and slippery.

But the drinks and the chilli looked so good.

Do come by when you need a break from study and exams.