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???

A Awful Breakfast Experience to start the Vacation

Seated near Gate 16 while waiting to board A380 to start of my vacation. Decided it was a good time to write about the horrible breakfast we just had at Café Vue.

Mr. had checked their opening hours a few days before to make sure we were able to had our daily dose of caffeine before we were up in the air. As many know, there wasn’t much choice in Melbourne Airport. Café Vue might be the best choice as they served breakfast as well.

“Café Vue” was lighted in pink neon light; all passengers proceeding to the individual gates will not miss it. There were only 2 staffs when we walked in at 0715. A waitress on the floor and a male barista. Not a good sign as the crowd was starting to build.

I was in the mid of walking up to the counter to make my order when I saw the menu and grabbed two. The waitress did manage to get around taking our order with an expressionless face.

Mr. ordered an Atlantic Egg Benedict while I chosen Corn Fritter with 2 coffees and a glass of juice.

Both breakfast were served together followed by our coffee. I wasn’t impressed with the corn fritter on 1^st look. It looked like hash brown with very crispy skin and overdone. We also noticed both plates were stained, oil and water marks all over the plates.

When Mr. cut into his poached eggs, both yolks were way overdone! The buns were cold. His coffee was not even lukewarm and it tasted horrible! He says the coffee was way worst than what it’s served in hospital (worst than hospital food). He only had 1 sip and pushed it aside.

The avocado that came with the corn fritter was too sour. I can taste a bit of herb in the corn fritter (fennel/cumin) but I can’t taste the sweetness of the corn. Fitter was very crispy but also dry and oily. Did the chef deep-fried the corn fritter as a to re-heat? My soy cappuccino was so-so and with a ugly presentation. 

The best out of all was in fact the freshly squeezed orange juice. What a great way to start a long day ahead of us.

I’ll be catching a few flights during this vacation; writing might be the best method to pass time also to pen down this vacation experience.

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.

Chez Dre

It was planned to spend our weekend morning at Port Melbourne to run some errands. 1st thing in the morning, I popped into our local news agent to grab a copy of The Age Good Cafe Guide 2011 at $5 which was on special for the day only.

It was announced days ago that Chez Dre was awarded Best Bakery Cafe by The Age Good Cafe Guide 2011. Chez Dre also scored the highest - three cups according to the guide. As we had some time to spare before our appointment, Mr suggested to get a coffee from Chez Dre.

We were kinda of expecting a crowd as huge as St. Ali as it was already after 10am. But coffee ended up became full breakky as there wasn't a queue. We were seated in less than 5mins. While waiting for the waitress to organise the table, I went round taking some photos especially on their dessert display fridge.




5 different flavours of macarons were available before we left which we didn't get any. Tried Chez Dre's macarons before and wasn't impressed therefore decided to skip it.


4 flavours of Eclair available : Vanilla, Chocolate, Coffee and Salted Caramel.

We had a vanilla eclair and salted caramel take away. Can I suggest to improve the packaging for take away?? The eclairs were placed on a very soft cardboard acting as the base and covered with a clear plastic bag. Surely they can afford to pack them in a more solid box? At least easier for customer to handle them while walking thru the crowded market.

At a price of $7.50 for a eclair, I do find it expensive. Well, if it's good, it's worth it. But to our disappointment, we didn't enjoy neither flavour. Salted Carmel was just buttery, can't taste the saltiness. Vanilla was slightly better but still no wow factor.




Andrea Reiss (Dre) in action that morning.


Mr. normal cappuccino looking very pretty!


My usual soy cappuccino.

The coffee was only above average. It wasn't too milky but it wasn't fragrant nor strong. We definitely enjoyed St. Ali coffee more.


I had the Stuffed Mushroom with Walnut and Spinach, Housemade beans and Herbed Crouton. I liked the crouton which was very crunchy and stuffed mushroom but sadly not the beans. There wasn't much flavour in the beans and I preferred my beans to more soggy, saucy and soft. But that's just me.


Mr. had Smoked Ham & Gruyere Cheese Grilled Sandwich Topped with Bechamel Sauce and a Fried Egg on Top. The combination of grilled cheese with the bread used was a match. Bread was crunchy and fragrant but the slice of ham was just too pathetic. Potato on the side was soft and full of herbs although not much can be seen.

Overall, breakky was good but wasn't fantastic. Price was quite reasonable.
Will we return? Doubt so as we still enjoy St. Ali when compared.

Cafe Vue at Heide

How often does Melbourian wakes up on a weekend with a clear blue sunny sky in the mid of winter? We were lucky enough to have such weather on Saturday and decided to make full use of it by starting the day with breakky at Cafe Vue at Heide.

Heard so much about Cafe Vue but had never stepped into 1. Cafe Vue at Heide was chosen out of the 4 in Melbourne solely because of location. It was nearest to us and situated in a park. We could sit out and enjoy the sun after breakky.



At 1130 Cafe Vue was pretty packed, almost full in the dining area. We were seated at the alfresco area. 1st impression wasn't great to start with. After finally making our order, I went into the dining area to take a look. There was a fridge displaying the desserts - 10 different types of slices and tarts, also macarons.








While photo-taking, overheard a gentleman making a complain to the waitress at the counter. He spend 45mins waiting with nothing being served to his table. I can see he was pissed, who wouldn't?

Started to doubt whether was it a good choice picking this cafe. Any chance leaving the cafe with a empty tummy? Hmmmmm



We started taking note of the waiting time and after 20mins, they finally served us our coffee! They were both average coffee. Not too sure why it took them so bloody long. Hand roast and manual grinding the coffee beans? Coffee wasn't served with sugar as well. Mr. had to self-served himself at the coffee bench for sugar.


On the left, Mr. normal cappuccino and right my soy cappuccino.

Breakky was served after more than 30mins from making the order. The bonus was at least it arrived.


I ordered Scramble egg on Sourdough Toast with Wild Mushrooms. I seldom have scramble egg and wasn't sure what make a good scramble egg. But I kinda like this as it wasn't too creamy. As told there were 5 different types of mushrooms in this dish.


Mr. ordered a French Onion Soup with was BLAND! There wasn't any actual flavour in the soup. Can't even taste the stock if they actually used any.


Mr. also ordered Chicken and Porcini Mushroom Pie. The pie was filled with chicken, chicken and more chicken. Chicken pieces was a bit dried. I suspected chicken breast meat were used. There wasn't a single slice of porcini mushroom found. The potato and pea puree was surprisingly good.


Also had a Pear Tart to share. The tart base was crunchy but the filling was hard. I can taste almond in the filling.

We were fairly disappointed at this point by the service and the food. While Mr. was paying the bill, I was spending more time observing the macarons on display. They looked colourful with feets but different. Basic flavour and the only flavour that stand out was Bubblegum.



We decided to give it a try and got a Coconut with White Chocolate. Peeping in from the tiny holes on the shell, it looks empty in the middle. But I was wrong, it exceeded our expectation. It was both crunchy on the surface of the shell and chewy on the inside.





Still wondering how the coconut manage to stay white after it was baked in the oven. Anyone know the trick?

Will we return? Honestly, doubt so.