The Burger Lounge

My lovely father, who recently moved up to Brisvegas for work, is down for the weekend. So naturally, I conned him into taking my brother and I to dinner for "bonding time". My best friend raves about Burger Lounge in Eltham so we decided to check it out. Some have even said they deliver the best burgers in Melb (big call!).

The menu had so many burger options that it took a while to choose what to order. The vegetarian burgers sounded amazing- things like homemade roasted pumpkin and kumera pattie with feta, walnuts & basil pesto coated in japanese panko breadcrumbs ($11.50) or roasted pumpkin, chargrilled red capsicum, crispy eggplant & crumbed zucchini ($11).

When we decided which burgers we wanted, we ordered some onion rings as a side. I couldn't tell you the last time I had onion rings (it must have been hungry jacks) and these were unlike any I had tried before. Mmmmm deep fried crunchy goodness...

Onion rings with garlic aioli ($4.50)

Here's a fun fact. I love chicken schnitzel. So I ordered the crumbed chicken. The burgers were HUGE, and it had swiss cheese, honey mustard mayo, caramelised onion, lettuce, tomato & herb aioli ($11.50)

Dad ordered the "grande" burger- prime organic beef, grilled caramelised pineapple, swiss cheese, fresh avocado, lettuce, tomato, red onion, relish & herb aioli ($13.50)

Gigantic grande burger

My brother ordered the "lounge signature burger", pretty much because the meat pattie was stuffed with cheese. 

Prime beef pattie stuffed with havarti cheese, basted with a balsamic glaze, pickled cucumber, red onion, lettuce, tomato, relish & herb aioli ($13)

They also had macarons and ice-cream. The ice-cream looked so yum- with flavours like bounty and toblerone.

And as if I hadn't had enough to eat already, I really wanted to try some of the "Petula". They were albanian donuts, which were served with honey & pistachio topping. I was already so full so didn't enjoy them as much as I would have if I hadn't downed a massive burger 5 minutes before :S

Albanian donuts with honey & pistachio topping (5 for $5)

Overall a great priced burger joint to visit. Burgers are huge, as is the menu. I would eat these burgers over any other burger bar. Grill'd eat your heart out...

The Burger Lounge

902 Main Street, Eltham

The Burger Lounge on Urbanspoon

Two Birds One Stone

This morning, a friend and I visited the newest cafe venture from the owners behind three bags full, apte and liar liar. Nestled among office buildings and a quiet commercial street, lies Two Birds One Stone.

We sat on a big communal table, and as we gazed around us, we came to the conclusion that this cafe attracted not only trendy south yarrian folk, but very attractive people. It seemed like this place somehow magically managed to attract beautiful clientele into their doors. What the. Unlucky for meeeeee I was wearing clothes that looked like I had just rolled out of bed and I had failed to put any makeup on (not ideal).

A glimpse of some beautiful people

My friend enjoyed her cappuccino 

Both the breakfast and lunch menu options were available all day, which is greash because you get more too choose from. There are so many yum scrum up your bum dishes that the waitress asked us three times if we were ready before we decided to make up our indecisive and hungry minds. I was tossing up between having eggs or ordering the salt bush lamb sandwich.

Funnily enough I didn't order either. I have never, and I mean never ever, ordered a sweet dish for breakfast. Shock horror. So I thought to myself, yep, Steph, this is the day. So my choices lay between the toasted banana bread with yoghurt creme, pistachios & soured dates ($15.50), the vanilla porridge with blood orange & flaked almonds ($11.50), or the house made bircher muesli with poached honey pears, pistachios & cranberries ($11.50). After witnessing the "why would you order that you could make that at home" look my friend gave me when I said I was ordering the porridge, I decided against the porridge and settled on the bircher muesli.

House made bircher muesli with poached honey pears, pistachios & cranberries ($11.50)

I couldn't have been any happier with my decision. YUM! It was like a lumpy-fruity-nutty-sweet yogurt mixture with a big soft honeyed pear placed on top. I have a big sweet tooth so demolished the whole thing- others who aren't as fond of sweets probably wouldn't enjoy how sweet this actually was (then again they probably wouldn't have ordered a sweet dish in the first place...).

My friend was told by another friend that there were several stand out dishes on the menu (the salt cod and potato fritters with spinach, poached egg & caper berry dressing ($17.50) being one of them). However she decided to get the eggs benedict, house smoked ham hock & béarnaise sauce ($16.50).

Eggs benedict, house smoked ham hock & béarnaise ($16.50) 

Drool...It looked so good. I had an insy bit of food envy but was lucky enough to steal a mouthful. The ham was salty, tender and melt in your mouth- none of that normal sliced ham that you usually see served with eggs. The béarnaise sauce was a win because it was creamier than hollandaise and not as tangy. If I was to come back here- this would be the dish I would order, hands down. 

After we licked our plates clean we thought we might go ahead and order a little cake or treat. I had heard that the chocolate cheesecake brownie ($4.5) was heavenly, but alas, it was sold out. Doah. They had some other yummy sweets available too.

Some of the salads and sandwiches on the menu were on display

Very Japanese-y styled decorations and flowers

So yeah. That was my trip to Two Birds One Stone. And I give it two thumbs up. Whether your intention to visit is based on staring at the beautiful people or to enjoy the 10/10 dishes, you just have to go. No doubt about it!

Two Birds One Stone

12 Claremont Street, South Yarra

Miss Chu

Vietnamese would have to be my numero uno cuisine choice. I don't believe I would turn down a single dish on a vietnamese menu. I have a couple of favourite Vietnamese restaurants (Indochine, Binh Minh), another being the uber trendy Miss Chu's. I have visited Miss Chu's several times because a) it's so close to work and b) the food is unreal and c) it's just an all round cool restaurant.

If I am lucky enough to finish work early and am in need of a feed, I happily skip my way down Exhibition Street just before the dinner rush sets in and order myself a treat (yes on several occasions here I have eaten alone....what of it?).

Tuckshop style bar

It just so happened that this time I had a fellow work colleague to accompany me. It was a Monday night so we were seated straight away and the place wasn't too busy.

The decorations come alive at night

Shuttlecocks as fairy lights! Sa creative

Being regulars and all (te he he) we had tried most of the items on the menu (which you order by ticking off the items on the menu pad and giving it to the waitress). Tonight we opted for a vietnamese vermicelli salad each.

My non-meat eating worker buddy ordered a vermicelli salad with vegan sauteed shitake, enoki and shimeji mushrooms ($13).

The picture doesn't look to enticing but damn it smelt gooooood

She also ordered some asian vegetable and garlic chive steamed dumplings.

My favourite ever vietnamese dish would be a toss up between vermicelli salad (bún) and vietnamese crepe (bahn xeo). And having tried most of the vermicelli salads on the menu- except the salad with pork hanoi spring rolls- meant it just HAD to be ordered.

Warm vermicelli noodle salad with pork hanoi spring rolls ($13).

Normally a good bún can cost anwhere between $7-$10 at a vietnamese restaurant, so although Miss Chu's jacks up it's prices, they can do so without fail- because it's in a great location, has a great atmosphere, and it's trenday.

Funky decor

Although I have tried 3/4 of the menu, you can be sure that I will be back for you again soon Miss Chu!

Miss Chu

2/297 Exhibition Street, Melbourne CBD

Replete Providore

Before work this morning, I thought it would be a nice idea to head out for breakfast and make the most of a beautiful sunny saturday. I managed to drag my sleepy ass out of bed by 8:30, and nagged my breakfast companion to hurry up and to do the same so we could get food in our bellies before I had to go to work (yep, I'm that annoying). The spot for breakfast was a toss up between Snow Pony or Replete Providore, and as I hadn't been before, we I ended up choosing Replete Providore.

There was a nice selection of breakfast dishes to choose from, with some nice lunch options too.

I decided on the replete "florentine" ($15)- simply because I had actually never tried eggs with hollandaise before. I also liked the sound of the pea and fetta fritters that also comes with the dish.

Eggs florentine with pea and fetta fritters, spinach, poached eggs + hollandaise on english muffins.

I devoured the meal, it was so so so yummy. I also ordered a side of istra bacon, just because I'm a piglet. I think the english muffins underneath were a little unnecessary and could have just been replaced by the fritters. But still a delicious breakfast.

My tired eyed breakfast companion ordered the smashed avocado. I'd love to find out which cafe actually gave birth to the legendary smashed avocado dish, because I recon they'd be pretty shitty that almost every cafe in Melbourne has followed their lead. The huge mountain of avocado came with danish fetta, poached eggs, basil, mint, chilli + dark rye bread ($15).

Smashed avocado with danish fetta, poached egg, basil, mint, chilli + dark rye bread.

               

They also had a huge selection of sweet pastries and tarts to choose from at the counter.

Mini carrot cakes!

A very lovely breakfast cafe with plenty of dishes to choose from. I was a happy (but full) camper :)

Replete Providore

302, Barkers Road, Hawthorn