St. Ali

St. Ali. The coffee Mecca of Melbourne.

And I don't drink coffee (or I would literally be destroying my house from bouncing off all the walls...).

But fortunately, there is something for everybody at St. Ali, in it's inconspicuous laneway location in South Yarra. You really wouldn't have a clue if you had passed it unless you were looking for it, with the only sign of it's location being a tiny little square sign with the St. Ali logo stuck up over the door.

I rarely find myself in South Melbourne, but with a Crowdmass voucher expiring, I dragged mum down for brunch with me.

St. Ali is heart-achingly hip. There's something about the slightly worn down looking space with it's eclectic collection of mismatched tables and chairs that just knows it's very smugly, but effortlessly hip. It's definitely very Melbourne.

It's quite more spacious than I expected it to be, yet there are little pockets were tables are hidden and various sitting areas, making wherever you sit, quite private and comfortable.

Hmm menu's...menu's...

Naturally, mum being the coffee drinker between the two of us, mum had to have a latte. We were seated in a spot where we could discreetly eyeball the barista as he worked his magic. It was quite something as you could see the care that went into making the coffee, every cup had freshly poured milk and a new clean jug, and the way he poured the milk into the cups...was surprisingly elegant!

As a result, mum loved her coffee, she even had a second one. Which doesn't usually ever happen!

I on the other hand, went with my usual chai latte. Phwoar. If I thought the one at Lux Foundry was good, my mind was absolutely blown away with this one. I don't know what chai tea they use, but it was delicious and mixed with absolutely perfect milk. Like, I don't kid. I've never had frothed milk this silky and smooth. I sincerely wish I had the vocabulary to express exactly who much I loved this, but I unfortunately fall quite flat. Just go have it guys. Seriously.

Got mum to wear one of my rings to show how much she loved her coffee...mum and I both have a penchant for brightly coloured nails, she usually goes for just one colour where I always do two.

Waiting for food....

Mum ordered 'The Darkside'. The name makes me laugh a bit, whilst it does have Star Wars references, Brad's twitter is also "Darkside_Molko", teehee (now go stalk him (but don't tell him it was me!)).

The dish was a beautiful artistry of wild mushroom sauteed in roast garlic and basil butter with raddiccio, artichokes, rocket, dukkah marscapone and a poached egg served on sourdough. I mean, just look at it! Isn't it just one of the most beautiful breakfast dishes you've ever seen in your life?

Mum enjoyed the dish, but says it didn't really 'wow' her as much as she was hoping. And was maaaybe a little bit on the lean side. But for presentation, it definitely gets 10 out of 10 for me!

Being an egg and a corn fritter fiend, I couldn't go past the "My Mexican Cousin". 'Secret recipe' corn fritters, baby spinach, haloumi and kasundi with poached eggs (or fried eggs if that's how you prefer them). These were certainly not like any other corn fritters I've ever seen, but man, they were tasty. Absolutely insanely crunchy on the outside yet the inside contrasted that and was quite a bit softer and fluffier. Whilst not the typical corn fritter, I still enjoyed them, they were a bit doughier than I'm used to, but I loved the assortment of herbs and generous heaping of corn kernels in them. These went perfectly with the haloumi and poached eggs which happily bled their yolks all over everything for me. Something quite different, but I did very much enjoy them!

After our meal, as we were running low on coffee beans at home, mum decided to give their beans a try. We were given the 'Chompy' blend as mum wanted something rich and hearty. She later reported that their beans were some of the best they had and that the aroma and flavour were so much richer than beans she had just bought from the supermarket.

It really makes a difference folks!

So frankly, I'm a little heart broken that I don't live closer or spend more time in South Melbourne, I am smitten with their chai latte and love their quirky menu, covering everything and somewhat without being too cumbersome with choices. Suppose Brad hasn't been here yet so may just have to drag him back with me...

St. Ali

18 Yarra Pl

Melbourne, 3205

Pizza Religion

Pizza.

Being gluten intolerant, there was a very, very long period of my life where I did not touch the stuff, along with burgers and other forms of fast food, which means I should have a healthy diet, but chocolate ruins (and fixes) everything.

This was amended a year ago when some friends after a night of go-karting (where I had the fourth fastest time out of 10 guys!), unexpectedly wandered into Crust, where I discovered there was such magic as gluten free pizzas. This discovery then led me on to realise there was a Crust near both my and Brad's places and has become a lazy dinner option (on occasion).

I had read about Pizza Religion sometime ago and it joined my massive list of 'gluten free pizza places I will one day eat at'. I'm actually quite surprised how many places do gluten free pizzas though (except for Lygon Street, as Brad and I discovered one night, hmph!).

So on a Saturday night, before heading to a friend's surprise birthday (we ended up missing the surprise bit), Brad and I plonked ourselves in the very cute little decked out courtyard area, under a lovingly warm heater and hungrily ate the menu with our eyes....

Pizza Religion is headed by Kris Bailey & Matt Hunter, who aim to use the freshest and best ingredients, and always have something special off the menu up their sleeves. The menu only shows you their pizzas, but there are always a few little appetizer-esque dishes off the menu, if you were concerned you wouldn't be full enough. Arancini were incredibly tempting, but we opted not to go for it. Maybe next time.

Anyone who knows me, knows I love my mushrooms. On like, everything. Although it is kind of almost impossible to go wrong with them, so Brad and I couldn't help but be drawn towards the mushroom option. With mushrooms, thyme, talleggio, balsamic, spanish onions, I was impressed with how densely packed the pizza was with all the toppings! Easily one of the best pizzas I've had, the flavours were rich and wholesome, the hint of balsamic really just made the pizza for me, and their gluten free bases were sensational. Quite thin, but I like it that way.

Normally when Brad and I do pizza, we get one pizza and share it.

Welllll, we both decided we still wanted more and got a second one. Talk about needing to go to the gym the next day....Pork sausage, chilli, fennel, apple and cabbage salad. Doesn't that sound more like a main dish than pizza toppings? I appreciated how generous they were with the pork sausage, definitely a very meaty pizza, but nicely broken up and complimented by the fennel and apple. The sweetness and crispness from the apples was certainly something a bit different, especially when matched with the fennel. Overall, we really enjoyed this pizza too.

The pizzas may seem a bit expensive, and yes it did take two to really fill us up, but if you want to compare to something like Crust, there is a lot more refinement and thought that goes into the presentation, proportions of ingredients and of course, quality of ingredients. It really stood out to me in those ways. The waitress even came out afterwards and asked if I had any input on the gluten free pizza base, as the bases are all made in store with their own recipe and they are keen for feedback and critique to improve. That takes quite a bit of guts to really earnestly ask for critique and definitely shows a lot of pride and love in the work.

But for a gluten free pizza eater anyway, the pizzas were all $20 and under, which is how much I would normally pay anywhere anyway. And I loved the laid back atmosphere here.

Although, even if you aren't gluten free, if you're looking for a cheap, fun way to impress a date (or just prefer to not feel like your arteries are melting as you clog them up with cheap oily and cheese laden chain pizzas), then this is the place to go.

Pizza Religion

493 Tooronga Rd

Melbourne, 3123

*Disclaimer: I have been drinking wine as I've been writing this. As an Asian, I apologise for lack of fluidity and abruptness if you come across any. Although if you haven't, awesome and please ignore this disclaimer. It's dinner time.

Wood Spoon Kitchen

Have you guys noticed Smith Street has quite the repertoire of Japanese restaurants? There's Wabi Sabi Salon, Cocoro, Peko Peko and Tokushima....just to name a few.

Wood Spoon Kitchen had been on my "want to visit" list for a while, with it's online menu tempting me with onigiri sets and other interesting sounding dishes.

When Brad and I finally got there one night, to my dismay there was not an onigiri in sight on the menu! They must have completely taken it off the menu and have not gotten around to updating their website. Sad Ashley.

We were seated on the high table near the front of the restaurant, which gives you a nice view of everything that's going on and the absolutely gorgeous flower arrangement in the middle of the table. Combined with all the very earthy green walls and brick walls, it felt very 'natural' and organic. Well, as natural as you can get with light bulbs being precariously dangled by bright red wires over tables.

It was very cosy, slightly stuffy, although it didn't help that it was a hot muggy night outside. I also wish to complain about the seats on the high table, as a woman wearing heels, I like it when my very tall chairs have a foot perch at a reasonable height, where I can actually rest the bridge of my foot or ball of my foot on. I do not appreciate it when that little wooden bar is up so high, that it looks like Brad's taken a hermit out to dinner.

But that's just me nitpicking.

As we usually do in Japanese restaurants, we got sake. This time it was the Kizakura Pura, served chilled, I went to a sake seminar-esque thing once where I was told that it's best to have sake cold to fully appreciate the flavours. Of a good sake at least anyway!

On the menu this sake was described as dry and smooth, which it certainly was, quite light and went down with no problems...fortunately I was not driving!

I couldn't resist trying the Japanese style curry, since I had tried it at 3 other places already. I opted to have mine with tofu, to try and feel like I was being healthy. Kind of. The curry was presented in a long shallow plate, which I thought was quite cute, there was a good proportion of curry to rice, although I felt the curry was a little too much gravy and not much else...filler fodder in there. I definitely could have gone for more vegetables in there! To be fair though, the gravy was delicious, especially with all that soft fluffy white rice....

I sort of egged Brad on into getting the dengaku don, since that would have been my other option if I did not get the curry. Whilst I loved the punch of bright colours from the veggies, making it look very fresh and a nice juxtaposition to the dark eggplant, I do recall being a bit surprised at the size of it. It was much smaller than I was expecting!

It didn't taste too bad though and the eggplant was quite nice, although Brad was picking away at my leftover rice afterwards.

Normally it doesn't take a lot for me to like and enjoy a Japanese place, but there was just something about Wood Spoon Kitchen that didn't fully click with me. It has a great look, but the food portions are a little bit on the tight side and I felt like the staff gave a slightly chilly reception.

If there weren't many other Japanese options? Wood Spoon Kitchen would be great. But really, this is Smith Street spoilt brat you're talking to. Probably don't see myself returning in a great flourish to soon...

Wood Spoon Kitchen

88 Smith St

Collingwood, 3066

Red Emperor

Birthdays aren't usually a big thing for me or my family. My birthdays have generally been pretty low key and some years I don't think I even celebrated with friends. Although I'll never turn down an excuse to have cake!

However, despite our lack of enthusiasm around birthdays, we do have one little tradition for my grandma's birthday. Every year, without fail, we've had a family dinner on her birthday at Red Emperor in Southbank.

It's quite nice actually, the restaurant has kept well over the years, I don't feel the food or service has diminished at all and it's definitely a nice family treat. We are so regular every year, the Captain, Raymond, always recognises us and gives warm greetings when we all troop in through the door, ready to be fed deliciously.

The restaurant is definitely Chinese. But not tacky or overtly so, which I can certainly appreciate. The decor is elegant, but unpretentious.

I frankly, don't really like fresh walnuts that much, but caramelised the way the Chinese do them? Could probably eat them by the bucketload. Omnomnom!

I think it was still Chinese New Year season when we had this....but regardless, a Yee Sang salad (which I elaborated on previously here) is a delicious way to start a Chinese meal, as it is indeed, so light and refreshing. To quickly recap, the Yee Sang salad is a very Malaysian-Chinese Chinese New Year tradition, and can be (it varies from person to person, place to place) composed of stringy radish, carrots, cucumbers, apples, wonton skin, peanuts and usually some salmon. The dish is then stirred up by everyone with chopsticks before eating, and the higher in the air you raise the salad, the more prosperity you'll have for the year (or so I hope!).

I thought Red Emperor's version was pretty as a picture, it was almost a shame to mix it all up! There was a little less of the filler stuff, but I think it worked here, it was balanced and not too heavy before the rest of the meal. There were some wonton skins tossed into this one which gave a lovely variation in the texture. Crunchy, mmm!

Dad brought out a bottle of Henschke's Hill of Grace (forgot which year) from his cellar for us to indulge in. Was a real treat.

My brother always gets hot and sour soup whenever we go to a Chinese restaurant. He tends to enjoy odd sour or even bitter flavours (which the soup isn't!). Isn't the bowl pretty though?

A trip to Red Emperor always means either a crab or lobster dish. On this occasion, it was crab.

Ooh. Er. However, the first time my dad requested the crab with sotong/hokkien hoon (mung bean) noodles, which looked a little bit pathetic, short and sad when stirred up. Another little Chinese tradition, at birthdays you tend to order at least one noodle dish, which you stir through and lift up for longevity. However, with these noodles, there sure was no longevity in them!

But Red Emperor being as good as they are, took the crab and the noodles back and replaced them with rice vermicelli noodles at my dad's second request, which fortunately, had a lot more life in them! The noodles soaked up the sauce and were a delicious accompaniment.The crab we got wasn't overly fleshy, but what flesh there was, was exceptionally sweet and delicious. Finger lickin' good I say!

Quail always seems to get me a bit stuck on the photography side of things...it doesn't really ever look that pretty. But it's always delicious, I have yet to come across a quail I don't like. This dish is one of mum's favourites at Red Emperor and we always have it when we come here for dinner. It's their signature twice cooked spicy quail. It may look like it's had too much spray tan and then been dunked and glazed over in a vat of honey, but it's so succulent and sweet. And spicy. Another one of those finger lickin' good dishes, kind of funny for a fine dining Chinese restaurant we do a lot of eating with our fingers...

From the 'Dundee Selection' (I laughed), we got the crocodile filet with the XO chilli sauce (I think), mainly because Brad hadn't had crocodile before and we thought it'd be fun to mix in something a bit different. For those who haven't had it? It's seriously just like chicken, I suppose it's sort of weird to think that crocodile meat is white and surprisingly tender.

Another one of our favourites, beef with black pepper, ginger and sliced garlic. I warned Brad that once it hit the table, he should make sure he gets some of this, as it seriously disappears in about 10 minutes. I don't know exactly what Red Emperor does with this, but it's just amazingly tender (although with just that slight bit of chewiness to it) and is so peppery that you may cough on occasion (that's supposed to be a good thing. In my books anyway). The beef is just oozing with flavour and juicyness. Highly recommended!

This on the other hand, is not so recommended. Essentially just tofu and veggies and char siew, it was really quite bland, even with the char siew! Polite, but unexciting.

We really had no idea this dish was going to be so big when it came out last. Stewed pork trotters. This is also a bit of Chinese New Year speciality with dried oysters (which are good omen tokens), this mossy type stuff (for prosperity) and some cabbage. I don't think I tried any of this as I was much too full. Actually, everyone was, so we ended up doggy bagging it away!

As it was my grandma's birthday, we were treated to these...Chinese Birthday Buns. Easiest way to explain it! They are made of flour and are usually filled with either a red bean filling or a lotus filling. Their shape is also supposed to resemble a peach, which is another sign of longevity in China, hence they are served during birthdays!

The birthday buns came out to us warm and were delightfully light and fluffy, with a gorgeous thick paste inside. I love the contrast of the textures and that these aren't overly sugary!

Red Emperor do some of the most impressive fruit platters ever. No joke.

We must have been coming to Red Emperor for at least 10 years now, sometimes more than once a year, but we are definitely here every year for my Grandma's birthday at least and we are always treated like kings (or queens). I have always enjoyed the food, the incredible view (at night in particular, Flinders Street station lights up a treat) and the spectacular service.

They also do a pretty good yum cha here which I haven't had for a while....may have to check out if they've retained quality there...!

Red Emperor

3 Southgate Ave

Southbank, 3006