Bidding for Brunch @ Auction Rooms, North Melbourne

I'm a sucker for high ceilings. I fall in love with places that actually has beams and exposed ceiling structures, like showing off their skeletons. Besides that, the space helps circulate the smell of coffee and food. Aside from the interior, there are many reasons why I liked Auction Rooms. They have an open kitchen and the food cranking out from there is just damn good. The long queue and 15-20min wait explain everything. Coffee, to be honest, is not consistent. There will be good and bad days. Total hits out of 5 is perhaps 2 (times I had good coffee there).
Now, back to the food. My first time, I had the counter bid which was mushroom ragout with poached eggs on top of polenta. It was lovely. Delicate flavours, interesting texture and well-thought out combination ticked all the boxes for me. My next visits I had the Pork Knuckle sandwich (definitely one of the many good sandwiches I've had in Melbourne) and the Salmon Pastrami (which in my opinion is the ultimate brunch for ladies, light and healthy).

Overall, Auction Rooms reminds me of a cafe I would drive out to on a sunny weekend, catching up with friends over coffee (hopefully good on that day to make it perfect and worth fussing about) and having a good laugh about Wii.

Modern Vietnamese @ Coda Bar + Restaurant

I'm so glad my friends agreed to come to have dinner at Coda after watching Comedy of Errors at the Athenaeum Theatre. Coda has been on my list of places to eat for ages and finally, fate has brought us together.

I've read some reviews that food here is mediocre, service is slow (and sometimes left some confused people who actually have booked tables) and noisy. When I walked in, I was surprised to experience a relaxed and spacious atmosphere, though Coda is located at the basement. I absolutely loved the fishnet lightings, which made it Asian, rustic and dramatic. There's something almost trashy but still classy about the whole setup.

If you're a fan of prawns, you have to try the Sugar Cane prawn with sweet chilli sauce. It's balls of minced, flavoursome prawn meat with a sugar cane stuck into it like a lollipop. The crunchy texture outside reminded me of fried vermicelli and of course, you cannot have this without the sweet chilli sauce. The prawn balls by themselves were tasty.

I had the Hervey Bay scallop, pearl tapioca and Yarra valley salmon caviar. I loved this one. It actually has melted cheese on the bottom which is kind of like gratinated scallop with salmon roe. Combination-wise, it's very subtle which is perfect because you want to taste the sweetness of the scallop.

Buffalo mozzarella, zucchini fritters, mint and pea salad. This dish has everything that I love on a plate. Fresh mozzarella pieces, zucchini fritters and the freshness of mint and peas. Having recently discovered the convenience of frozen peas, it is fast becoming my favorite vegetable. But of course, the peas used here are so busting with sweetness, they remind me of sweet corn. The dish is simply drizzled with olive oil. You can't go wrong with this one.

Salted cod fritters is WY's dish of choice and surprisingly, the salted cod tasted like crabmeat! It's a must-try as well if you like the texture of crabmeat. Flavour-wise, I'm not too crazy about it, I think it lacks something that I can't put my finger into.

Main dish is Sizzling plate of beef, roasted chilli, kingbrown mushrooms, wing beans and thai basil with rice on the side. It reminded me of a hot Asian kitchen that is so steamy with aromatic soy-based flavors and it made me drool with delight. On the other hand, it also reminded me of food courts in Manila that serve beef steaks on sizzling hot plates overloaded with gravy sauce and garlic-flavoured rice. In short, it reminded me of home.

I had the best soufflé hands-down at Vue de Monde. So I know I got to try Coda's soufflé of the day: Apricot with orange ice cream and gingerbread. The verdict? I have to say it's at par with Vue de Monde's. The apricot taste is just bursting inside my mouth and so clean tasting, I was in soufflé heaven. WY also raved about her dessert which consisted of black sesame ice cream with banana fritters. She loved the ice cream so much that she literally wiped her plate clean! Way to go! =)

SAZL Scenes: Pink Rose and String of Pearls

Just hanging around tonight, feasting on a blueberry danish I bought from Dench Bakers yesterday morning. I just love their Olive and Rosemary bread toasted up. For me, that's a meal in itself.

Today has been laid back. PG and I went to brunch/lunch at Tom Phat and it quickly became our favorite place to eat. Pork Belly with Red Curry reminds me of how my Uncle W would cook his fried pork belly. The skin was not crispy at all but flavorsome and chewy, it stuck to my tooth. Yum! If only it's closer to my place. I'm looking forward to try their Roti Martabak and Twice Cooked Duck with Chilli-Caramel sauce among others. After walking around Sydney Road, we went back to the city and figured that we're both craving for macarons at the Tea Room, which we just had yesterday. I had two for take-away: Ginger and Green Tea Lime Vodka.

After a short trip to DFO, we called it a day. Out of boredom, I took pictures of a string of pearls a bought some time back. I'll never leave home without this string of pearls. Strangely, I feel naked without them. Seems like my outfit is not as complete. Paired with a pink rose, I think they look romantic and feminine. Sigh...a few hours left before it's Monday again, back to work...