Dumplings at Dumplings plus with Japan Club

Dumplings plus is a place in the city that claims to make their own dumplings and noodles. Yummy I thought; this is good!!! I also checked out Urbanspoon and saw the positive reviews on this place.
This place sells a lot of dumplings, noodles and rice.
But their service is sloppy. My advice is don't book as they don't remember bookings really well. And if you do book a table to twenty they will likely split it into three tables right upstairs. There is no signage for the bathroom so I got lost trying to find it.
It was really noisy here, so it is hard to hear yourself.
I paid about $13.50 for my dinner that night. Between the six of us on one table we shared: the famous spring onion pancake, soup dumplings (which no one liked), beans, mapo tofu (hot and spicy one with lots of meat to it), sweet and sour pork and kung po chicken (which was way too spicy and not enough chook for anyone's liking). The spring onion pancake was a bit dull for my liking. It could have had a bit more onion to it or a sauce of some kind.

The soup dumplings were very soupy. The skin was way too thick and the dumplings were shaped weirdly.
Sweet and sour pork: The servings of pork was very small but they way too much vegetables. And the pinapple was too sweet for my liking. Did they really use canned pineapple? Or fresh pineapple?
I can't complain about the beans as they were just alright. And the mapo tofu was good though. It had enough of the wok hei and flavour needed. But rice could have come free of charge.
I don't know why Big Fil had a great experience here. I won't be returning, not unless someone paid me to as there are much better eateries on Swanston st and in the nearby Chinatown. There isn't room for this type of restaurant and I hope that they close down soon.

Tofu pudding at Dessert Story

Hmm I've heard many good things about this place and have always wanted to go. But I've never found the time and location is in a incovenient place in Chinatown.
But here is always busy and I can see what all the fuss is about. They cater for students as well as workers from the nearby RMIT.  So after my dissapointing meal at Dumplings plus I decided to check this place out.
Here they do Hong Kong and Taiwanese desserts; hence no crepes. Instead they had yummy sago and other stuff such as black bean and tofu puddings.
The place is small hence there is limited seating and no bathroom. You had to share with randoms.
The desserts are priced between $5-$9 for a big plate.
I've never tried tofu pudding before, but the pudding with mango is yummy for $6.50. And filling. The tofu was perfect. But not too sweet, which I don't mind.
But hey I heard that there is another one coming soon. Yay!

Azurea cafe

I was out in Bundoora again, this time working on a project.
Forgot my lunch again so I went to this place called Azurea at 2pm as I felt like a really late lunch.
Azurea is a bar/bistro and restaurant catered for students. Here they have $10 lunch specials which doesn't include drinks. They do have wine, beers, soft drinks, teas, coffees etc on offer. They have a $6.50 coffee and cake special which I would have loved to try but didn't. I wasn't in the mood for it.
Instead I went for fish and chips. At $10 the plate was massive. The fish was grilled. Good for a healthy option, but I wasn't expecting it. Nevertheless I finished the fish and enjoyed myself. It was grilled perfectly. Yum!!!
Loved the fact that the chips were not too salty. Didn't like the fact that they came out of a frozen packet- yuck!
The green tea ($3 for not much) wasn't much to write home about.
Except for one waitress that seemed downright and obnoxious, all of them including the manager seemed very friendly. In fact the manager encouraged me to take pictures, which was nice of him. Not many people do this.
There should be the "RUSU's" lovely "Drinks with friends" held here in the summer months.

Mr Tulk

Mr Tulk is a Meditteranean cafe that does good coffee. It is outside the State library. Here it has good ratings from the Age as well as on Urbanspoon.
Here the place was populated by students and workers from the nearby RMIT as well as tourists visiting the library. I remembered coming here when I first started my course, but I haven't written up about the place as such. I remembered being really fond of the place as such. Still am as of today.
The last time I visited was about two years ago with my library group, but today I visited with a good friend of mine.
Here they had pizzas for $6-$6.50 each. They only had two flavours; salami and vegetarian.  My friend had the vegetarian and I had the salami. I got to try the vegetarian and loved it. I also liked my meat one. For $6.50 it was a bargain. Oh and did I mention that they have fish and chips on Fridays? Well they do! I can't remember the price, but the menu says that the fish is fresh.
I also had the mocha and my friend had the cappucino. Our drinks were $3.50 each. My mocha was really good. Magic actually! There's also organic juices and water on sale.
I recommend this place to all visitors to Melbourne as well as RMIT and Melbourne Uni students, as this place is just divine!

Coffee at Provata Urban Larder and Cafe

Provata Urban Larder is a place in the Showgrounds Village in Flemington. Here they are right next door to the Showgrounds. They have lots a of parking outside as well as trams servicing this Village. This village has been featured a few times in Moonee Valley weekly and other papers. It also has a high rating of 90% like it on Urbanspoon.com
It is a quintessential place for all the foodies. Here it reminds us of the Essential Ingredient in Prahran and David Jones foodhall in the way that it sells a wide variety of goods.
There is plenty of pram room inside as well as outside, so Eat. Play. Shop can visit. They have one communal table inside and some smaller ones outside. The communal table is very welcoming and open.
Here they have all of their meals under $15 and some daily specials on breads and other goods. The menu does remind me of Cerezo Deli in Bundoora in that it has not much food but seriously good coffee.
Here I was hooked on my ristretto ($3.50). They did make a really good one. Mine was really strong and tasted winey which I loved.
The fruit toast ($6.50) was good but the pieces were really small. I loved the jam though.
The cake ($3.50) was really moist and looked cute in the display! 

Sorry there are no pictures but the rude guy didn't let me take any. In fact he didn't email the pictures and the food took a while to come I don't think I'll be back unless their attitude has changed as there are so many places in Melbourne that does this sort of thing and way better. In fact I work in one of these types of establishments and everyone there is lovely.