Dead Man Espresso

It had being a few hectic weeks since we got back from our long vacation, getting back into the routine. It wasn't hard to be back to work mood as both of us were flooded with job to be done. We didn't even managed to get our 1st weekend off to catch up with Melbourne breakfast and most importantly coffee which we missed so much! Mr. shift was scheduled on the weekend while I was allocated to help out in another project as my colleague was away.

But we did manage to check out Dead Man Espresso the week after :)

Planned was to meet up with R and L for breakky, catch up with all the gossip and envy them with our vacation stories. I had a few cafes in mind but I left R to chose. The breakky menu attracted R. To avoid the crowd and as R was required to work that night, early breakky was decided.


Dead Man Espresso at 9am on Saturday morning. 


Soy cappuccino + cafe menu


Mr. normal cappuccino

The coffee was alright. Felt it was a bit too milky but pretty good considering we haven't had any decent coffee for almost 8 weeks! L had a chai latte to start with but felt it was a bit too weak.


Rosti - herb and potato rosti with poached egg, avocado and smoked salmon (choice of between salmon or bacon)


It wasn't easy to decide what to order. I want almost everything listed in the menu. Finally decided on rosti. Rosti was crunchy and full of herb but sadly too salty for my liking.


BLT - pork belly and spinach puree on brioche with gazpacho

Mr. BLT was very fatty, rich but very nice! Pork belly was soft with lots of fats. There goes dieting.

Looking back at the picture, realised the serving wasn't big. I could easily fit in another toast. But all 4 of us liked what was ordered and served.

p.s photos were taken using my iphone4. I totally forgot about my point to shoot camera.

Pope Joan

The weekend before we started our vacation, Mr. managed to schedule himself off work. Knowing we will be missing our caffeine, we decided to pamper ourselves with some good food before spending the rest of the day packing and cleaning the house.

We heard quite a bit about Pope Joan but had never managed to give it a try. That morning we started slightly later than planned, usually tends to start the day early to avoid weekend morning crowd and get a parking spot without much trouble. Silly us, didn't even know there's a "car-park" opposite the cafe for the patrons. It was only till halfway thru the meal that I saw the banner at the entrance of the car-park.

Cafe was pretty packed at the front when we arrived. Got a table for two outside under the shelter. Although weather was slightly cold, it wasn't a bad spot considering the area was fitted with heaters all around.


As usual, Mr started his meal with normal cappuccino and mine on soy cappuccino. Coffee was a pretty big serve and above average. But won't loved it to be more fragrant.


Roasted Pork Sandwich Cuban Style


Mr. had a sandwich and it was yummy. The herbs used was strong but not overpowering. Descent serve of meat which wasn't dry. He was hoping to squeeze in a scone after that but was too full to fit in any.


Beaten Egg: Baked Egg with Smoked Onion, Beetroot and Chard

I wanted something different/not my usual and picked the beaten egg. I was surprised how sweet this dish was. Guessing it's the sweetness from both the beetroot and onion. It's nice to go with the toast that came with the dish.



There were also some sweets on display available and I was hoping maybe I could ordered 1 and share with Mr. But sadly we were both too full from our individual meal.


Salted Caramel Macaron

But we did manage to take-away a macaron for later. The filling wasn't hard and tough. Shell wasn't too crunchy. But felt the caramel wasn't saltish enough. The filling was creamy and buttery. Comparing the macaron with some of the others available in Melbourne, it's consider small and pricy. But the appearance attracted us and it's 1 of our favourite flavour that's why decided to try it. Looking at the number of macarons displayed on the plate, think there a limited number of macaron per day.


Does Wee-Bix used to come in mental container???

Chicken Rice or Pad Thai?

Who would expect Chicken Rice to be served during breakfast? I wouldn’t!

While holidaying in Maldives staying in Anantara Kihavah Resort, not only can we find chicken rice in the breakky menu. There’s Char Siew (Sweet BBQ pork), Roast Duck, Roast Pork, Pad Thai, Char Kwai Teow and many more to chose from.

We haven’t being travelling a lot but this is the most extensive breakfast menu we ever came across. After 4 breakkys, I can say I didn’t manage to try every single dish and I looked forward to breakky daily.

I will let the photos to do most of the talking in this post, as I always believe photo says a thousand words.


Our 1^st round of breakky on the 2^nd day by the beach.

Other than the basic tea or coffee, there are also 3 different juices to choose: Watermelon, Orange or Pineapple. 

Can’t resist placing this photo. It’s so cute to find a teapot in clothing.  Wondering am I able to find it in Melbourne.


This is the roasting section with Poached Chicken, Roast Duck, Roast Chicken, Roast Pork, Char Siew to choose from. It’s served with chicken fragrant rice. Mr. tried it in the 1^st morning and felt missing component in the rice. Although a lot of herbs were used, the taste was still far away from the authentic Hainanese Chicken Rice. The chilli was spicy but would be better with a bit more lime and garlic.

The Thai section serving freshly fried Pad Thai and Char Kwai Teow.

We tried both and they were both really delicious. We could taste the wok hei on the Pad Thai and vegetables weren’t over cooked.  The stock used in Char Kwai Teow Noodle Soup was full of flavour. Vegetable was quickly stir fried and added into the noodle soup.

In the same area, which I forgot to take a photo, is also the egg section. Sunny side up, scramble egg, omelette ect can all be cooked upon order.  Baked beans, hash brown, bacon, sausage can also be found by the side.

This is the Spread section. All types of spread for toast can be found on this table.

3 different types of bread to chose for toast. This is 1 of the section which I didn’t touch on at all throughout the whole trip, knowing I can make up for it once I’m back in Melbourne.

Pancakes and Waffles were freshly made in front of us too. We found the waffle smell really nice but end product wasn’t crispy enough. On our last day, we requested it to be cooked a bit longer. It was heaven with 100% maple syrup and sprinkle with almond flakes. It was crispy on the outside and still fluffy and soft on the inside.  I love how deep the square dent was, it’s able to hold on a lot of syrup. Chef made 2 waffles, 1 for Mr. and another for me.

This is the Noodle Soup section, which the menu is change daily. Sadly I can only recall Fish Ball Noodle Soup and Wanton Noodle Soup, don’t remember the other 2 mornings menu.

The Congee station; same as the Noodle Soup section its change daily as well. Chicken Congee, Beef Congee, and Lamb Congee etc. Do find it strange to have chilli flakes as 1 of the condiment. Maybe they can add in spring onion?

This is the Cheese section. All kinds and types of chesses are available.

There’s also a HUGE variety of cured meat and fish which some taste too saltish for our liking but some which we just felt in loved with.

There’s even a Salad section with fresh mixed vegetable and freshly cut carrot, cucumber, capsicum and tomatoes etc. Different salad sauces and wide range of olive oil, avocado oil and balsamic vinegar to finish the DIY morning salad.

There’s also a wide range of nuts and dried fruits as condiment for cereal, porridge and mueslis.



Plain Yogurt, Yogurt with fresh Plums and Yogurt with fresh Passionfruit to chose from.

Of course there’s a wide selection of Maldives local breakfast/curries.

All the curries are change daily as well. This is only 1 morning cooked food section.

 Seafood Curry      

 Biryani Rice

 Cauliflower and Potato Masala
 Dhal Curry
                   

Maldivian Fish Curry


Our favourite is Tuna and Coconut Sambal eaten with Roti. It’s actually tuna flakes mixed with a bit of coconut, chilli, shallots/onions and lime. It’s a bit spicy and sourish. It’s great with roti/chapatti. We 1^st had it while we were still diving on the boat. Being our must have breakky since day 1 in Maldives. I’m going to try recreating this dish when I’m back in Melbourne. Not sure how it will taste if I use canned tuna instead. Got to ask my colleague for help in making fresh roti/chapatti.

Finally, the Fruit section.

Fruit platter was constantly topped up and freshly cut.

Bet I ate my 1-year worth of papaya, dragon fruit! I missed this two fruits so much. When I was craving and couldn’t find any papaya on my last day at the resort. The staff took the trouble to look in the kitchen, cut it up before bringing half a papaya to my table. Felt so <3!

Duchess of Spotswood

Duchess of Spotswood was chosen for this weekend breakky venture. We had never being to Spotswood but there wasn't a slight hesitation to wake up early, follow by a 45mins drive across the city to get there.

There were already quite a handful of reviews available on Urbanspoon. My personal favourite food blogger, Sarah was one of them who wrote it beginning of the year. I know I can trust her :-)

As the opening hours was not listed on Urbanspoon, I resorted to twitter to check what's is was for the weekend. Whoever was maintaining the twitter account impressed me. It was answered within 20mins.

In order to avoid the peak human traffic, we reached Duchess of Spotswood at 9am on a sunny Saturday morning. There wasn't a queue yet which was a good sign to us meaning we don't have to wait. But there's wasn't many seats available inside the cafe. In the end, we shared the communal table which a group of grannies and grandpas.



We were offered menu, water and coffee once we settled down. Decision time while waiting for the coffee.





Both our coffee was served lukewarm. I would loved it to be served hotter. It wasn't strong nor very fragrant but it had a a very nice after taste which was lingering in the mouth after every slip.

I chosen Breakfast of Champignons which consisted of Potato and Barley Hash with Field Mushrooms, English Stilton and Poached Eggs



Deconstructed Breakfast of Champignons

The poached egg were perfectly done. Mushroom were juicy. I, myself isn't a fan of English Stilton which was melted on top of 1 of the mushroom. It didn't bother me too much, I just scrapped it off and placed it aside. As for the hash, it was fried till very crispy on the outside. One can taste the barley but not a much as it looks like there's wasn't much barley used in it. Something starchy was used to bind both ingredients together. Felt a bit too much was used and can't taste the texture of the barley and potato. Towards the end was just sticky.


Mr. went for Duchess of Pork which was Crispy Pig's Jowl with Fried Egg, Rich Truffle Sauce and Sourdough Toast. This dish was our favourite. Egg yolks were still runny and Truffle sauce wasn't too overpowering. Pork was amazing, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. With just a fork, you are able to pull it into pieces and it melts in the mouth. It wasn't dry, fatty or oily.

For that piece of pork, we will definitely be back.