Cafe Love - 6 Grams

Driving home from dinner with friends near Highpoint on Sunday night, I noticed a warm glow from a shop. With a quick swirl of the head, I spotted tables and shiny red chairs under a big sign that read '6 Grams'. My heart was already beginning to sing when a quick Google search revealed it was indeed a new cafe about to open on Tuesday.

So it was that I drove excitedly back to check it out yesterday afternoon. Now being that it was their first day of trade, I am not going to critique every detail of the experience, especially given that I was rushing to get elsewhere and forgot to take a photo of my order (poached eggs on sourdough toast. I know, gotta get one of the more adventurous options next time but I can't get enough runny poached eggs since not being able to eat them during pregnancy). 

Five Senses Coffee

In any case, it is the freshly fitted out interior and decor that I find satisfying. Its got that industrial vibe that's so popular now, though I'm still thrilled at spotting all the little touches. I love the huge central table with yellow lettering down the legs that nods to a colourful, albeit very different, past. Old traffic signs, vintage telephones and garden walls keep me enthralled while I wait. Not overdone, just enough to keep it interesting. The aforementioned red chairs play a big role in the overall good cheer of the place, as do the yellow tiles splashed on the huge counter at the front. 

Back dining room with peek holes into the kitchen

But what's a cafe without people - namely the service they provide and, of course, the food they put in front of us? To begin, the people here are warm and friendly, happy to chat and looking for feedback to help them improve whatever they can. Manager Vittorio tells me they'll be introducing specials connected to Africa to retain a little of their heritage. I'm sure he sounds Italian and I must look a little confused because he tells me not many people believe a white man with an Italian accent can be African!

Turns out Vittorio is from Eritrea in the Horn of Africa, a country bordering Sudan, Ethiopia and the Red Sea. Eritrea was an Italian colony for about 50 years up to 1941 so that explains the accent! Vittorio spent six years running The Abyssinian, a restaurant in Racecourse Road serving traditional Ethiopian and Eritrean food. 6 Grams is definitely more a modern cafe with a little nod to Africa. With very few options for a caffeine-fix in Maidstone, Vittorio is keen to fill the gap for those who don't fancy sitting in a shopping centre cafe at nearby Highpoint. I, for one, am keen to return to linger a little longer and try something with an African twist. 

6 Grams menu

Coming home

An amazing dish from 'The Pint of Milk': sauteed exotic mushrooms, walnut sourdough, taleggio and truffled chestnuts $14

As we head over the Queensboro Bridge bound for JFK in a yellow cab, I soak up every last glimpse of the Manhattan skyline. For the first time in weeks, I am truly still. No plans, no must-sees, nothing new to take in. Flashes of the past weeks fill my thoughts in a pleasant blur, yet I’m not sure I’m ready to leave the frenetic energy of this awe-inspiring city behind.

“I’m really sad to be leaving,” I say aloud as my eyes glaze momentarily.

“Me too,” says the Mister beside me. “But it was a really great holiday.” He squeezes my hand.

A day later, another cab drops us at home in Footscray. It’s Sunday morning and the street is deadly quiet. Nothing moves, just our breath as it hits the cold air. Our car is still here! Inside, everything is as we left it. Not perfect, but clean, and it feels like home. The deep chill in the air has permeated inside, yet somehow I feel cocooned and warm. I love seeing all my things again and, for the first time, feel as though we have plenty of space. I remind myself, not for the first time in the last few weeks, that we are lucky. So easy to forget.

While nothing changed on the home front while we were gone, the rest of the west seems to have progressed at a rapid pace. In the weeks since returning, I’ve been like a kid in a "candy" shop checking out all the fabulous new places - Common Galaxia in Seddon is hitting all the right notes for me and just down Victoria Street, A. Bongiovanni & Son is winning my heart by making it easy to source speciality groceries (too many wonderful baking supplies for my own good). The Mexican taqueria chain, Guzman Y Gomez has made a quick bite before a movie much more attractive at Highpoint. The Reading Room at Victoria University in Footscray is now providing a coffee fix and eats to the wider community, not just students, so of course I had to sample their tasty wares. I made the effort to (finally) try The Pint of Milk in Newport and was not disappointed. I can't stop thinking about the nutty, earthy dish I ate there (pictured above). I’ve revived my sense of community by getting re-acquainted with my not-so-old favourites: Besito in West Footscray, Elceed in North Melbourne, and neighborhood favourites West 48 and Ebi Fine Foods.  Is the west really going off or am I just trying to tell myself that I don’t need New York, there is plenty happening here?!

I've discovered that it's possible to wish you were still on holiday and be happy to be home at the same time!

Celebrating 30 with a few of my favourite things

I turned 30 in February and decided to celebrate with a few of my favourite things. Mostly I wanted an excuse to have a dessert table! As a sucker for all things French, it was easy to draw inspiration from Marie Antoinette and her supposed cry to "let them eat cake". Planning the little touches of an event is half the fun and I've been keen to share them, it's just taken me awhile. So here we go...

An invitation totally sets the scene for any bash, so I knew there was only one designer for the job. My super talented cousin Amy of Saint Gertrude Design and Letterpress totally got the look I was going for. She nailed the design first time with a decadent, vintage typography cake. Apart from having to edit my own schoolgirl French (or at least try to), it was ready to print. Amy used a gorgeous aqua on white cotton card and printed my initials and address on the back of a pale pink envelope. Heart Saint Gertrude.

The invitation reads:

30

Bon Anniversaire Ellise

Please join me to enjoy

a few of my favourite things

Gateaux, fromage, vin, et toi!

18 Fevrier 2012

5.30-10.30pm

Elceed Cafe

610 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne

Respondez s’il vous plait: 10 Fevrier 2012

0428 000 000 (Ellise) or 0407 000 000 (Justin) 

The 'piece de resistance' - my Elceed dessert table with birthday cake centrepiece made by my mum and mum-in-law. 

For the venue I chose Elceed, a favourite cafe in North Melbourne. I wanted to start the party in the late afternoon to suit the 'high tea' style menu, and Elceed provided the perfect backdrop with the natural afternoon sun that filters into their back room and courtyard. The whitewashed walls were the perfect neutral backdrop needed for the dessert table to shine and the location is central (convenient for guests) but leaning west (so I can claim it as my stomping ground). Most importantly though, the Elceed team were willing to hold a private evening function (not what they normally do) and create a customised menu with both desserts and finger food in a slightly French vein. Here is what we decided on and then devoured:

Rosewater meringues with Persian fairy floss

Profiteroles with mocha cream
Lavender cupcakes
Pistachio cupcakes
Raspberry custard tarts (and variations with blueberries and kiwi fruit)

Chocolate coated strawberries

Vanilla bean cupcakes with white chocolate icing decorated with a mix of amazing, large roses and white chocolate shoes and handbags (a very kind and delicious gift from my talented workmate Mish).

French cheese platters

Mini chicken and mushroom pies
Mini Leek and Meredith's goats cheese tarts
Garlic prawn baguettes

Poached chicken, chive and mayonnaise sandwiches

Cucumber sandwiches

Salmon and cream cheese crepes

Ham and cheese croissants

My friend Sally used the fonts from the invitation to make labels for all the food printed on a mix of pink and aqua paper. Not sure why but I love cute labels on plates of food! 

Sadly, I did not get photos of the savouries (the night flew by) but all the guests shared happy food memories well after the event. Hannah, Bill and the Elceed team did an amazing job and worked so hard to serve everyone. Anyone with a dietary requirement was made to feel like a king or queen with special food delivered to them. With both sweet and savoury options, there weren't any of the food shortages that you sometimes find at a finger food function. In fact, we sent lots of guests home with little bags of cake that we couldn't possibly fit in.

Speaking of cake, I had seen this beautiful two-tier pale pink cake with a white silhouette motif online and couldn't take my mind off it even when I was quoted several hundred dollars for it. I kept staring at it longingly on the Pinterest board I created for the party (click here to view the board with all my inspiration pics) until it finally dawned on me that I knew two excellent bakers who might just agree to the challenge - my mum and mum-in-law! Even though they live almost two hours away from us, a couple of years ago they happened to move only ten minutes apart. Perfect for a joint cake challenge. My mother in law iced and decorate many a fruit cake for weddings back in Birchip but never enjoyed making the actual cake. My mum, on the other hand, is less decorator more baker, so it was the perfect combo. Most importantly, they agreed to the challenge. My mum whipped up a large and a small round white chocolate mud cake, iced them with white chocolate ganache (the icing alone contained 1kg of chocolate!) and delivered them to my MIL who covered them perfectly in fondant icing and  piped the little dots all around the bottom of each layer and around the white circle that the silhouette attached to. My mum took a piece of the pink fondant icing and cut out it into the shape of my silhouette using a photo as a guide. It looked wonderful and created the perfect centrepiece for my dessert take. Both the icing and the cake tasted amazing for days (I LOVE that sickly fondant icing!).

So much food, you must be thinking, didn't the guests need something to wash everything down? Indeed they did. As a welcome drink, I made a version of one of my favourite cocktails, the French martini served in Elceed's glass jars. From memory, I think I used 30ml Chambord raspberry liquor per drink with 15ml vodka and 120ml pineapple juice (much more juice than normal but safer to serve, more palatable and less expensive). Each drink was topped with frozen raspberries and served with with Emerald + Ella striped pink paper straws. I love these straws and was thrilled to have an excuse to buy these online and use.

After the welcome drink,  the drink options were:

 Grandin Methode Traditionnelle Brut (coz it's French and a nice, affordable sparkling)

Toi Toi Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc (coz they make the best Sauv in NZ, it was recommended by the wine guy in Dan Murphy's and 'toi toi' sounds French!)

Kronenbourg 1664 lager (coz it's French and the Mister approved)

Pipsqueak Cider (coz I like it)

San Pellegrino sparkling natural mineral water (again, coz I like it)

The French beer Kronenbourg is not hugely popular here in Australia so lucky the Mister is up for adventures of the beer finding variety. Most bottle shops, including big ones like Dan Murphy's and First Choice, only had one or two boxes/slabs in stock, so even with a smallish guest list of about 50 people it took us a couple of trips over a few weekends just to buy the beer! Speaking of the guest list, we have huge extended families and with limited space and budget, I had to make the tough decision to only invite immediate family and some friends.

But back to the drinks, the service was so good that in the next few days I was hearing from everyone how it great it was that the staff remembered what they were drinking and made sure they always had what they wanted.

You may just be able to make out in the photo below that I tried to dress the part in a pink dress. I found pink satin shoes to match with a black peep toe. Over the toe is a little raised netting feature so I made a fascinator for my hair with a piece of black netting from Lincraft. I had a fantastic night as you would expect when surrounded by all my favourite things. As is usually the case with a celebration, the day after the party was equally fun, devouring leftover food, opening presents (so many divine cookbooks) and generally enjoying the company of family and friends from out of town. My heart was really singing in true Charles Whyte style. For me, turning 30 was about embracing what I love and doing things in life that make me happy. I think the party achieved that - it's just trying to do what I love every day that is a little harder at times. 

Finally, I mustered up all my (very limited) design skills to create this 'Merci beaucoup' thank you note. I've tried to give them out as I've seen people but somehow this year is just slipping through my fingers so there are a few outstanding. If any of my lovely guests are reading this and thinking 'where's mine?' I am very sorry. I love you! Thanks for sharing my special celebration. You make the days between the celebrations better too! If you helped me in any way, hopefully I've mentioned you above and/or you know how much that means to me. Thank you to Nina, my darling, crazy, little sister who travelled from Brisbane for the occasion (not sure if she will read this but I forgot to thank her on the night and she is my only favourite sister so I must show her the love). Lastly, thank you for reading if you made it this far! Celebrate birthdays! And eat cake for breakfast! Xxx

Cafe Love: Pizza Farro, Thornbury

Pizza is the unifying cuisine in our household. Our oft-differing tastes come together over baked dough topped with assorted foodstuffs and melting cheese. My man likes his any ways but preferably with lots of meat and sweet sauces (think barbeque chicken) on thick, bready bases. Pizza at any price will satisfy this guy and eating-in is optional. As for me, I prefer the non-greasy variety on thin bases with good-quality ingredients and not so much processed meat. And it is no secret that I enjoy the dining out experience. With the advent of so many wonderful pizzerias in Melbourne, we can both be satisfied. 

Our latest pizzeria experience at Pizza Farro came by recommendation from fellow blogger Ellie of the Little Lady blog. She read my post on +39 in the city and knew I would love the dessert pizzas here. 

I also loved the interior. Foodie themed wallpaper and lots of wonderful collections displayed thoughout the long space. Green watering cans dangling from the front counter make for a fun welcome and the rows and rows of old, wooden rolling pins hung from the ceiling beams are both rustic and festive. When I look up at them dangling above, I can't help think that the team here must have a real passion and devotion for the process of creating good food.  

A wall of wooden chopping boards is another cute and quirky display that has me excited (see bottom left of photo below) and I can't help but smile at the circle of old rotary beaters hanging from the kitchen ceiling, almost like a chandelier!

 

So, what of the food? Social convention forbade us from going straight for the desserts so we shared two large savoury pizzas between our party of three. Our vegetarian friend loved that the menu had a list of pizzas that were "Senza Carne (without meat)" rather than vegetarian. We happily ordered two of those (I think this says something about the psychology of words!). My favourite was the funghi pizza with mozzarella, taleggio, selection of seasonal mushrooms, sea salt, fresh parsley and truffle oil ($19.30). The taleggio cheese gave it a nice bite and overall this pizza had lots of flavour without heaviness.

Next we had the zucca pizza with napoli, mozzarella, roast pumpkin, walnuts, fresh rocket and sour cream ($18.90). Aside from the tang provided by the rocket, this was a very mildly flavoured pizza that could perhaps have done with some more bite (maybe goat's cheese in place of sour cream?). Tasty all the same and enjoyed with a shared garden salad ($10.90).

Then we got down to business and the real reason for our visit. Dessert! The Mister and the Vego pulled out all stops and went straight for the 'Corona Crumble' - a vanilla custard, poached apple and raspberry sweet pizza topped with crumble, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream dressed with a rhubarb, orange and  raspberry sauce ($15.30). Wowsers!

Please take note of those hands gripping the utensils in the photo above, poised and ready to devour!

This little beast was almost a pie and took a bit of eating. I do recall that not a crumb was left on either plate! I was allowed a small mouthful and, had I been blindfolded, I would have described it as a pudding, perhaps a crumble with custard.

Pour moi, the Nutella and ricotta calzone ($11.50). So much melted chocolate goodness. This was divine. The ricotta gave it a nice point-of-difference from other dessert calzones I have consumed but I won't lie and say I didn't miss the smooth, rich surprise of a 100% chocolate inner (like the to-die-for triple choc calzone from i Carusi in Brunswick East). If only I could have ordered two. I'm greedy like that.

Perhaps next time, I will cut straight to the chase and order the Nutella calzone. Yes, I'm talking next time as this place passes my ultimate test. I hope to go back. I also hope there might be more open dessert pizzas next time (L'Uccellino in Yarraville and i Carusi do these so well). I haven't mentioned the service which means it was just right - wait staff by our side when we needed them and quietly going about their business when we didn't. Thank you Ellie, what a great suggestion for a satisfying pizza meal that pleased everyone.

Cafe Love: Cafe Bali, Seminyak

 

Its been a few months now since our visit to Bali, but gastronomic memories come flooding back regularly when I see our holiday snaps. You see, I had expected to eat pretty well at very decent prices but I was blown away at the cosmopolitan cafe and restaurant culture. I guess I had naively thought it would be a lot of Nasi Goreng (Indonesian fried rice) served in casual, outdoor eateries or warungs so I was surprised and delighted that there were so many foodie experiences to be had in Seminyak where we were staying. There were places with exceptional food, top service and delightful settings - my holy trinity of the eating out experience - although not always all three at once.

 

 

The place that tops my list of interiors is Cafe Bali located on Jalan Oberoi (also known as Jalan Laksmana) in Seminyak. After recommendations from my sister-in-law and a friend, I should visited earlier, but I left it until quite late in our trip so only had the chance to go once. 

 

The colonial style interior with plantation shutters and high whitewashed ceilings had me excited from the entrance and it didn't disappoint inside. We ate on the front verandah where the tables were covered in bright pink, yellow and teal floral tablecloths and decorated with bowls of floating flower petals. Large white light coverings made for a relaxed yet festive vibe.

Inside the cafe proper, the large floor area is made even more spacious with soaring ceilings lined with exposed beams.

Several styles of chairs add to the shabby chic vibe. With unique displays in every area, I could easily pass a few hours here.

I love the eclectic display of antique mirrors providing sparkling reflections along one wall. 

A wander to the bathroom was surprisingly full of delights at every turn!

Stepping out the back of Cafe Bali, a little oasis awaits in the form of a pool nestled against the back wall painted with Moroccan-influenced floral motifs. Calming teal (of the water) is again paired with pinks and yellows, carrying on the colours used inside.

Turning to the stair alcove, a hand-painted balustrade cheers the climb to the facilities.

The charming black and white bathroom at the top of the stairs is one of my favourites of our ten day holiday. Is that strange? To have a favourite bathroom?!

Checkered tiles, a chandelier, wallpaper, pops of pink petals and a healthy dose of charcoal - what's not to love?

Back to reality at my table, time to get my head out of the gutter and eat some food. The menu here is diverse with soup, sushi, pasta, steak and asian dishes.

To start we shared the siomai or shrimp and chicken dumplings for 28000 rupiah (approx $AUD3). These were not as light and flavoursome as I had hoped and the meat appeared highly processed but they were ok.

The smoked salmon blinis with capers (55000 Rp.) made for a nice, simple lunch in the afternoon heat. Nothing particularly special about these but enjoyable all the same.

The Mister had Indian chicken curry served with saffron rice, lentil dahl and naan (59000 Rp).

As my comments indicate, the interior overshadows the food at Cafe Bali. The menu appears to be trying to include a bit of everything with no obvious specialties. The prices are really reasonable and the atmosphere is lovely, so even without standout food, I would come back here in a heartbeat just to inhale the design and fitout. I'd highly recommend a visit for anyone visiting Seminyak. It's a little French, a little Moroccan and a whole lotta modern, relaxed Balinese chic!

Cafe Bali

Jalan Oberoi (also known as Jalan Laksmana)
Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia

Cafe Bali page on Trip Advisor