Days That End in Disappointment- Hobba (Prahran) & Ascot Food Store (Moonee Ponds)

A day off of school calls for an adventure day with my gal pals, Brunto and Ton!! (Ton again ugh I know). Say hi, girls!!

How cute are they...
We started off the day by travelling to Hobba in Prahran.

I LOVE CHALKBOARDS! When you're walking into Hobba, you are basically walking into a high industrial cafe and a modern atmosphere that invites you into the cool atmosphere. The front is very open (no doors) so you walk in and greeted by a waitress. The cafe has individual tables and cosy booths (something different). Natural lighting splashes through the upfront windows open to the street, and the bare brick walls reach for the lofty ceiling. Ooooh yes, I was definitely feelin' it.

They have quite a selection of food to choose from, and they are different to your usual. The three of us decided to order three dishes, and chips to share. We were hungry!
Brunto, Ton and I had all ordered milkshakes, because we agreed we were going to get coffee at our next cafe we were going to. I ordered a Strawberry Milkshake (skinny), Ton ordered an Oreo Milkshake with almond milk and Brunto had ordered a regular Oreo Milkshake. I don't know why but lately I've been so into strawberry milkshakes! They're so bad but so goddamn good.

The food had finally arrived, and I felt like I was ready to die from happiness and float my way to food heaven.
Brunto had ordered the Eggs Benedict which was just your usual.  OKAY SO when it comes to eggs benedict, you would think it would be like poached eggs, and a shitload of Hollandaise sauce right? Hmm well not at Hobba. The eggs were similar to fried, and were placed on top of some spinach, ham and a toasted English muffin. There wasn't much hollandaise sauce, so I was like ??? What was going on with that?! Brunto didn't mind too much though, she enjoyed it and I guess that's all that matters!

Ton was tossing up between the Super Salad but decided to step out of her comfort zone and try the Estoy Crude Con Carne: Good old chilli con carne w/ a side of slow-cooked confit brisket & goat's cheese croquettes. Finished with shaved dark chocolate and garnish salad ($21.50). It was actually quite spicy, where the taste finishes off with a spicy kick. To be honest, if I had ordered the dish, I wouldn't have been able to finish it. But good on you Ton for trying something new!

Finally, I had ordered The Alpha: Southern Style Slow Cooked Pulled Pork served w/ Fried Egg, Fresh Alfalfa, Apple Salad and Pear Cider Reduction Hollandaise ($18.50) which was a very interesting dish. There was a a large amount of pulled pork, which had like a sweet and sour flavour to it. It was nice though, and I actually had no clue what alfalfa was HAHA until it came out and turns out to be some sort of like leafy beany string, which I wasn't a huge fan of. The presentation was pretty though!

And of course, we had chips to share! They were actually the highlight of the meal. We ordered the chips with oregano and feta (8) and they tasted sooo good! They weren't greased in oil and were seasoned perfectly. The feta made everything so much better, and it was a first for Brunto to have chips with feta! Oh, and did I mention they were served on a wooden board? Fetamazing.

After sitting around for a while complaining about how full we were and how sick we felt. NOW I BET YOU'RE WONDERING, where are the hot cakes Mich? Where are the sweet dishes you usually get? Well well well.. We wanted to try the amazing-looking doughnuts from Ascot Food Store. That was going to be our dessert, so already having sweets with more sweets wasn't a great idea. So next stop, Moonee Ponds!

Let me just mention it was a cold day and all I wore was a thin knit and a singlet with jeans. I underestimated Melbourne's deceiving sun and the invisible wind. 

So it's around 2:45pm and we had reached Ascot Food Store after travelling for a bit more than an hour. It was so exciting ahhh!! We were SO keen for doughnuts. 

So we walk in, sit down, yes very nice, ooh very pretty. Great lighting, cute setting, nice interior. So far, so good. 

The conversation with the waitress went as far as;
Me: Hi, I was just wondering whether you guys still had your doughnuts?
Waitress: Noo, we're actually sold out today. 
Me: Ooh okay.. 

Not going to lie, a little (okay maybe a lot) of me broke on the inside. Into a million pieces. Shattered. Crushed. All that travel, all the time wasted for NOTHING. 

We thought we could still get a dessert anyways whilst we were there. They only had a chocolate brownie and a cheesecake, so we thought we could share a brownie.
Waitress: Sorry we're out of the brownie. 
Me: Ooh okay.. 
So we thought we could share the cheesecake instead.
Waitress: So it turns out we're actually out of the cheesecake filling. 
Me: Ooh okay.. 

Ton and I ended up ordering coffees even though we didn't want anything anymore. In the end, Ton didn't even enjoy her coffee and I drank mine in silence with a broken soul having my coffee fill the void of no doughnuts.

Ton was a bit angry.. 

We had left in shame and as we got to our tram stop, we watched our tram head off without us when we were just 5 metres away. Why was this day going downhill?? It had already been a tough week, why was this happening to us?! 

Pretty much the sum of all our feels 

BUT OVERALL, it was the first time the three of us went out together, and I guess it was a memorable day. If you knew us, you would know that Moonee Ponds and Prahran are definitely nowhere near where we're from, so it was quite the trek. I'm still annoyed about the doughnuts, BUT LIFE GOES ON. We were all so tired by the end of the day, we were just ready to crash. We will get our doughnuts soon. It'll happen. 

Adventure awaits, 

Love Mich xx 

P (triangle) T C H + Friends of Mine (Richmond)

If you didn't understand the title, it means PATCH. 
Patch is actually a Paleo cafe (despite myself not knowing what Paleo means, they had a big hype with their name and many Instagram followers), situated within Studio 9 along Bendigo Street in Richmond. A solid 10 minute walk from Burnley Station which was a perfect location convenient for our time restrictions. Today I was accompanied by TONIA AND CELESTE yay!!

We walked through the gates of Patch, being greeted by a tall, skinny waiter with the name Sam. The weather was cold and windy, and to our disappointment there were no available tables inside. So the three of us were left sitting outside, HOWEVER we were given blankets. I guess that made up for it!
I found that the menu did not have so much of a huge variety, but you could tell everything was healthy. A little on the pricey side too!

I had ordered the Shredded Duck Salad ($20), which was not bad at all! It actually reminded me of Vietnamese salads, which is probably why I enjoyed it so much. The presentation was pretty, and it was served with so much colour and flavour. It wasn't like 'whoa that's out of this world' but it was like 'hey this is good, this is healthy, yes.' which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Nothing too special though. This was also paired with a cappuccino with almond milk (Yes Celeste, I drink almond milk).

Celeste ordered the Baked Eggs ($18) which you really can't go wrong with. It came served with only one slice of bread, but don't they usually come served with like two?!
It looked amazing and was perfect for the chilly weather too.

Sorry it's blurry, my hand was numb from the cold

Ton had ordered the Breakfast Salad ($17) with added chicken, that came with Kale, Pomegranate, Avocado, Almond, Cauliflower and a Soft Boiled Egg. It actually looked really nice compared to the photos that we had stalked on Insta. Ton did mention that the cauliflower wasn't that cooked though, so that's one thing about it! She also had the Supagreens juice, which consisted of Cold Pressed Cloudy Apple, Celery, Kale, Cucumber, Green Capsicum, Cos Lettuce and Lemon. Yeah, it was definitely a green juice. I did feel like I liked the green juice from Industry Beans a lot better though!

On an exciting note, Celeste did give the cute waiter her number (MY IDEA). She interviewed Sam for her foodtech assignment and that's when I saw how cute they would be together. Out comes Ton with her notepad and pen!! Ton is like that friend you go out with, and she's always prepared. I wouldn't be surprised if she's got a first aid kit in her bag along with a spare change of socks if you step in a puddle. That is how prepared she always is.
After dashing out after leaving the note for Sam, we decided to stop by 'Friends of Mine' which was on the way to walk towards the station. Friends of Mine was also a cafe on the list! So I got to hit up two places in the one day woohoo! There was a huge line-up outside, so we decided to order takeaway desserts. The three of us got a muffin each, as they were absolutely calling our names from the wooden board they were placed on. The muffins were Choc, Coconut Marscapone and they tasted absolutely amazing.

Overall, I was a tad disappointed in Patch. I don't see what the HUGE hype is?! It wasn't too bad, but it wasn't OMG SO GOOD yfeel?! But at least we know! I thought it was cute how they had the blankets outside though and I like how they use organic produce for their dishes, considering we've been trying to eat healthy (aside from the muffin). TEAM #CLEANEATING
A good day out with Cel and Ton, considering we didn't have a lot of time since they both had work!

Adventure awaits,
Love Mich xx

P.S SAM FROM PATCH, IF YOU'RE READING THIS, PLS TEXT/CALL CELESTE THIS IS A BIG OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU

Three Bags Full (Abbotsford)

Only 10-15 mins away from Melbourne CBD located on the corner of Nicholson St and Mollison St lies Three Bags Full. A spacious, industrial-chic cafe full of good vibes and dangling lights. I was accompanied by Jess, and we were overdue for a catch-up after a few months. It wasn't long before we were seated by the window booth and I was squealing over how nice the window was... and how nice the dangling light was... and how nice the atmosphere was.  "You get excited way too easily man"  

As usual, we started off with coffees which I was fine to drink as opposed to Jess who spooned in about 6 spoonfuls of sugar. (Okay maybe it wasn't six, but you get the point). 

 

Jess had ordered the Pork Brioche: 12-hour Braised Pulled Pork, Apple, Cabbage, Coriander, Pickled Chilli and Yuzu Aioli. It was definitely something to order when you're really hungry, but I do recommend this one! I can't exactly say much about it though, only because I only had a few forkfuls. The presentation of the dish was just an explosion of cabbage topped with a brioche bun. Colour could added, but I'm not complaining. 

I had ordered the Beetroot Cured Salmon: Pea/Feta/Corn Fritter, Avocado, Rocket, Dill Sour Cream and Lemon. I'm a sucker for a good fritter, especially paired with salmon so I was definitely feelin it for this one. I couldn't really taste the beetroot flavour of the salmon, so that was a small disappointment. But I actually really enjoyed the fritter component! It wasn't like toast where you spend half the time digging your knife and fork into bread, but a nice fritter that you balance on your fork with everything else on the plate. A definite recommend! 

Driving here was a bit of a pain considering Jess didn't make the turns at the right streets, resulting in the navigator constantly rerouting the path for us HAHA  but on the bright side, it was a nice new area to be in. Driving around in circles isn't always such a bad thing (at least for me, I'm pretty sure Jess was done with me hehe) 

Adventure awaits, 

Love Mich xx