Dessert at Harajuku crepes on Thursday night

After my volunteer dinner on Thursday night (10/11/11), I was not completely full. So I went and picked a crepe on the way home from Harajuku crepes.

They are in Melbourne Central and have been operating for a few years now. The last few times I went they were good. But not anymore. I think that the management have changed as the rules around photography have changed. They said no photography (but however as usual, I managed to break the rule and sneak a few in).
The service has changed quite a bit. They used to be all smiles, but now they are not. The lady did not once smile to me when she was taking or making my order. They did in fact get someone else's order wrong.
I ordered a almond and banana crepe ($7- they used to be $4.50 a few years back, but what happened there!!!). This was very expensive for what I got, which was a crepe (which by the way is too thick to be one), with little filling. I know that the bananas were expensive back then, but now they are cheaper. Even I noticed that a few other people's crepes got less filling then a few years back.
And they don't offer student discounts anymore. What happened there????
To the management please bring back the student discounts as well as cheaper pancakes, or otherwise students like myself won't be able to visit you anymore. And please put more filling in this.

Coffee at Dukes

I know that I'm bit behind in posting but here it is anyway.
The weekend before last I went to Dukes coffee in Prahran. Here they are rate number 82 on the Urbanspoon leaderboard as well as mentioned in the Age good cafe guide.
They are a rustic looking coffeehouse situated near Swinburne University. It was easy to miss the place as you walk past. Here you can catch the number 6 from the city and get off at Chapel st (zone 1). On the weekends it is quite busy.
However I did manage to get a spot quickly. Its not hard to see why they are so busy on the weekend. The place was full of walkers and students. They have free WI-FI.
The service was quick and very friendly. I ordered a very earthy and strong ristretto ($3) as well as smoked salmon and red onion sandwich with capers ($10.50). When my sandwich came, the server was quick to tap me on the shoulder (I was writing in my book then).
The sandwich smelt good when it came. And it was good too. I loved the sandwich. It had no sauce, which I liked. The salmon was really fresh. It was toasted.
I could taste the ricotta which gave it the feeling of being in the country and enjoying country food. You couldn't taste the capers though. The bread was a little sweet, but I liked it (it was brioche bread by the way).
I would love to recommend this place to students as this is the best place in Prahran so far for their coffee.

Eat at Burch and Purchese sweet studio

This sweet studio is famous all over Melbourne and much talked about by the foodies. It is a sweet studio mainly specialising in desserts. They are really  a sweet shop so no seating anywhere.

The ladies serving my friend A and I let us sample a few things. They were friendly.

The coconut dessert ($9). Not very sweet but I can taste avocado in this. I can also taste the tanginess in this.

Meringue clouds ($5). Very crumbly but liked this the best of all. But they are a feast for the eyes.

The cakes here are very expensive as!!! $100-$200 per cake. You have to order it specially.

The sweets here were expensive but good. It's probably best for only a special occasion. Would come back only on special occassions as this place is expensive as. But the sweets are kooky as!!!

Eat at Choukette

the two dogs outside the cafe- aren't they cute?

Choukette is Brunswick's best kept foodie secret. It is on busy Sydney Road near Savers and RMIT Brunswick campus.
Here they are French with their coffee beans supplied by Genovese. They are well known to the locals and friendly with the kids. When I was there it was quiet. By the way I got there at 11am. They guy was nice and knowledgeable. I asked him how much are the macaroons and he said that they were $2.20 each or if you buy 6 or more its $2 each.
They have different prices for take away and eat in meals. Eat in is a little bit more expensive, but not by much.
They do have a good selection of sweet and savoury things for you to consume. They have salads as well which changes daily. Here I had a spinach and feta quiche ($5.50), a side salad ($2.50), a vanilla macaroon ($2.20), a little puff ball ($0.50) and a ristretto ($3.00). The ristretto was strong and lovely.
I loved the quiche today. It was not soggy like some of the others I've had. In fact this was flavoursome and this didn't have too much cheese in it which I liked.
The coucous salad which I had was nice, but I think it had too much raisins in it and I'm not really a fan of salad that has too much raisins to it.

The macaroon is the best that I've ever had.  They are not ranked in the top twenty macaroon places for nothing. It was flavoursome and had the right amount of cream which I liked.

I would love to visit here with Big Fil from Eat and be merry. I think he'd like this place. Students if you are studying in Brunswick campus this is the best place that I've found so far to have a good coffee which won't break the bank.
The puff ball was really nice. It is a speciality ball which this place makes and everyone can buy it to try the pastry for $0.50

Eat at Yumba

I was in the mood for ice cream and Brunswick is not too far from my house. In fact I was at RMIT Brunswick, just checking everything out.
Yumba is an ice cream shop in Sydney Road and here they appeal to the locals because there is no other place at this end of the road. Most of the students from RMIT Brunswick come here to visit.
Here they have Hagen Daaz ice cream and Everest ice cream. I chose my usual flavours of lemon and vanilla, but I also had a new flavour- watermelon.
The watermelon was just nice on a day like today. The lemon one was tangy, but refreshing.
For $5 a tub it was not bad value; in fact they are cheaper than all the other places that I have tried so far.