Mörk Chocolate Brew House

It’s wonderful to see little businesses blossom in Melbourne. From humble beginnings, to essentially, taking over the foodie world. 

Mörk Chocolate has been doing just that, gradually building up a name for themselves, wholesaling to cafes and popping up in many a boutique gift shop in Melbourne. Cafes no longer just served you hot chocolate…they served you Mörk hot chocolate. 

I’ll be honest, when I have had Mörk at other cafes, I’ve not always been completely wowed by it. It’s got a lovely cocoa flavour, it’s not too sweet, but I think it’s often the lack of texture that gets me. I can’t help it, I’m a rich creamy kinda girl. 

So though, now that Mörk Chocolate have their own ‘brew’ house, surely they would be the absolute best people to prepare their own hot chocolate!

Brad and I could not have picked a better day to make our way over too, completely pissing down with rain, cold and windy…it was definitely hot chocolate weather. So we hustled over from our brunch spot, careful not to slip on the angled step in front of the door (a touch dangerous in the wet weather) and stepped into the warm and minimalist haven of Mörk.

The space is clean, and just so beautiful. It’s the details here that really catch your eye. Gold taps, beautifully crafted wooden handles, matte white jugs and mugs lined up like soldiers on the slate counter. It’s a dream. Maybe not very kid friendly though (surprised there aren’t chocolate handprints everywhere!)

The menu is short and sweet. Try the house hot chocolate at different variations of darkness, or something a bit different, like a chocolate soda or more importantly…one of the signature chocolate’s. 

And just because it had been making the rounds on Instagram, I had to give the Campfire Chocolate a go. Hot chocolate, with smoke and marshmallow. 

The smoke is captured in your glass, which just fills the air with the warm, crackly, richly smokey aromas of a campfire, as suggested. I had a family with little girls next to me who wrinkled their noses and exclaimed loudly that they didn’t really like the smell. Maybe not one for the kids, but definitely one for the adults who just want to be curled up in front of the fire place. 

As for the chocolate itself? Far better here than some of the cafes I’ve had Mörk at. Lovely cocoa, and a nice texture to the chocolate as well, not super thick, like the mainstream Koko Black’s and Max Brenner’s, but restrained and elegant. 

And then the torched marshmallow. Yum.

I also asked the staff to recommend me a tart, and I can safely say, the lemon meringue tart is a zesty little treat indeed. The lemon curd almost not quite set, and so molten and soft in the mouth, with a lovely short pastry…and plenty, plenty of zest. Don’t miss out on these little goodies when you make your way up to this very, almost, Willy Wonka place of whimsy. 

Mörk Chocolate Brew House

150 Errol Street

North Melbourne

 

Little Africa

So I've recently been hanging out with people who make me realise how much I actually like food. The sort who listen to me talk about some new restaurant I went to, or a particular food I had that I liked recently, then turn to the person next to them and comment: "You can tell she's a food blogger can't you?"

Like, most people don't actually talk about food this fervently?! Oh my gosh!

Despite enjoying food as much as I do, there are still many cuisines that I'd like to get to know a lot more, or just experience at all!

So I was quite excited recently when Brad, Theo and I decided (or well, I decided) that we would pop into Little Africa for dinner before heading to the Public Bar for another comedy night. This was to be our first experience with African food. 

I hadn't realised how close to the city Little Africa was, nestled in a small shop on Victoria Road opposite the Queen Victoria Market. I had always thought it was much further out, so it never really popped up as a priority on the never-ending 'list' to visit!

Little Africa specialises in Ethiopian cuisine, with a menu filled with a healthy mix of vegetarian and meat-based stews and curries. It was a little overwhelming, as everything sounded quite sumptuous, with plenty of garlic, cardamom, turmeric, and plenty of other spieces present in the descriptions, promising all sorts of deliciousness. 

To keep things simple though, we opted for a 'Vegetarian Combination', essentially a great big share plate. For one person it's $20, two it's $35 and every additional person after that is an extra $18. There's also a combination plate available, which we can only assume is a mix of both meat and vegetarian dishes, but that will have to be consumed another day!

And so behold, the 'Vegetarian Combination' for three people. There's a serious feast there! 

The selection of dishes are served directly on top of a few pieces of Injera bread, a yeast-risen flatbread, with a soft, spongy texture. Although it is a sea of brown, with a sprinkle of greens in the middle, the plate smells absolutely amazing and we quickly tear into the bread and eagerly dunk it into everything. 

That's right folks, who needs forks and knives? Finger-licking good is where it's at! Especially when the soft, porous bread just soaks everything up and infuses itself with flavour. Yum!

Throughout our meal, the boys and I kept commenting on how easy it would be to go vegetarian if you had food like this. Each dish was a bang of flavour in the mouth, but warm and comforting as well. Despite all the dishes being quite stewy and sauce or gravy heavy, we didn't leave feeling bloated or weighed down.

We particularly liked the 'Fool', fava beans cooked until tender, mashed, then mixed with ghee butter and seasoning, topped with green chilli, onions and tomato, and the 'Tumtummo', split lentils stewed in thick but mild sauce with seasoning. 

Some of the dishes had an element of heat to them, in terms of spiciness, but nothing near what you might come across in South East Asia, but if you can't take any chilli at all...you have been warned!

On top of the delicious flavours though, the experience of, not just sharing food, but eating from the same plate was just gorgeous. Especially when you're in good company. There was a jovial and playful spirit, and plenty of laughter as we watched each other intrepidly make our initial scoops of food with our hands. And then there was the stealing of bread from Theo's side of the plate (because it looked better, or something), which made him look like the rather healthy eater by the end of it!

The drink menu is short, but not to be missed as well, with a variety of Ethiopian beers on it, Brad's Castel was quite light and refreshing, and the Chai with Kammam just warms your heart in an instance. Just quietly, I now find myself drinking much more black chai tea because of it I think! 

At the end of the meal, with full bellies and our wallets each only $23 lighter, we really couldn't have been more satisfied. I think it's been a while since I enjoyed a meal like this, and I would definitely return in a heartbeat. And as a little tip, Wednesday nights are a pretty good time to visit at the moment, since everyone else is getting crowded and overheated in the Suzuki Night Markets!

What cuisines have you wanted to try? And any other recommendations for awesome African restaurants?!

Little Africa

358 Victoria Street

North Melbourne

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Miss Katie's Crab Shack

Edit: Public Bar Comedy continues in 2014! Don't miss out, Wednesday nights at 8:30pm, great value for $5 :)

Sometimes when Brad tells me about what he got up to when he was 18, I think that I probably wouldn't have dated him, and am glad that we crossed paths at a time in our lives when we were after the same things (even if we didn't really know it at the time)!

He would tell me of his nights out at Public Bar with his friends, on Monday nights, when they used to do $1 or $2 pots of the house brew (which apparently tasted like cat piss, but it had alcohol so they didn't really care), where he would get ridiculously wasted. For those of you who've met him, I know. Weird. 

Since those days, Public Bar's had a couple of closing and openings, and I believe at one stage was up for sale, but don't quote me on that. 

Nowadays, the front of Public Bar has been converted to Miss Katie's Crab Shack, with Chef Katie turning out some family style southern comfort. 

The first time I visited was when I was long overdue for a meal with Bruce, and he suggested the spot, which was a nice change from being in the Fitzroy area (where we always unintentionally met previously!)

With a blackboard menu, bright nautical colours and newspaper on the tables, the dark pub is instantly hit with a bit of personality and a friendly, relaxed character. We learn that all the sauces on the table are made by Chef Katie herself, from the hot sauce to the Jerry's spiced rum barbecue sauce (awww yeah), and are all also for sale if you find yourself needing a bit of Chef Katie's touch at home.

It took a second for Bruce and I to figure out the arrangement, menus are brought to you, but you have to order and pay at the counter where you also select your table number flag (ours definitely needed yellow on it), and alcoholic beverages need to be bought from Public Bar at the other counter. Straight forward enough still!

The menus itself proved a struggle for Bruce and I, as they are relatively short, meaning it's relatively tempting to order everything. Being located across the road from Queen Victoria Market, the produce is purchased daily, so you know it's lovely and fresh, and the specials are always mixed up to reflect on this (I've returned a few times already!)

Although we thought we were reasonable with our offering…like in America, at Miss Katie's Crab Shack, it's very easy to over order!

I mean, just look at the size of the fries! I keep telling everyone that they're served in a small boat, and I don't think that's an inaccurate description! Seasoned with Old Bay seasoning, whatever it is it's delicious, and served with a blue cheese sauce, these are some of the best fries ever. Perfectly crisp and oh so moreish.

The fried tomatoes were an interesting side, but because we spent so long talking, they were a bit soft by the time we got to them. I liked the sauce they were served with though, a chilli sauce with a real big of kick.

Whatever Chef Katie's done with these school prawns, I'm in love with. I feel like Melbourne went through a phase where school prawns with aioli were all the deal, but it seems to have phased out. Chef Katie brings them back for me, but crispier than anything I remember having previously, and in a very generous serve with more of that chilli sauce that kicks you in the face. We were picking on these like chips all night!

I've forgotten what was in these, but the croquettes of the day were quite unlike the typical Spanish style croquette we typically see. I've had two different croquettes of the day, on different visits, and each time the croquette is a bit bigger and wetter, with a slightly more coarse batter. Nothing wrong with that, just different, especially when it's a mac n' cheese filling…mmm….

The main affair is of course Katie's Low Country Boil, with a local organic blue swimmer crab, corn cobs, kransky and old bay and garlic butter. 

Um. Yum? Although there's not a whole lot of crab, what we do get is succulent and sweet. The best part of this though? That sauce that sits at the bottom when you're done with the crab, the firm kransky with a bit of spice to it and the sweet corn cobs. They should just call it crack sauce as you're likely to want to just lick it up right out of the bowl. We instead chose to mop it up with our fries, whilst we saw other tables order additional servings of the house baked cornbread for mopping purposes. 

We also ordered a Cobb salad, fresh and crunchy iceberg wedges with blue cheese pickled egg, croutons, bacon, cucumber, corn and ranch dressing, to save us (a little) from the sea of brown and fried. Although I thought it sounded a bit boring, it was actually just lovely, with the really cool and crunchy iceberg, it was very, very refreshing.

Bruce and I ended up taking a lot of our dinner home, as there was just so much leftover, but we were pretty pleased with the amount of food we had, that was also quite delicious. Although there was a lot of fried stuff, none of it was particularly oily (although the body definitely needed a breather for a day or two afterwards!)

Brad and I ended up back there the week after (and a few more thereafter too), as we discovered they were doing $5 comedy nights, with some rather reputable acts. 

The soft shell crab slider special we had one night, was just lovely, with a fluffy and buttery brioche bun, with the crunchy crab wedged between and the Katie's fried chicken is also a very solid feed for $16. We loved how moist the chicken was, although I'm still dreaming about Rockwell and Son's fried chicken from Pinot Palooza for the ultimate batter. 

Unfortunately this week is the last of the Public Bar Wednesday night comedy, in the previous weeks we've had Dave Thornton, Greg Fleet and Lawrence Mooney, but Miss Katie's Crab Shack will still be around through summer, providing tasty and easy going meals, for just about any night of the week. Seriously guys, those fries….

Miss Katie's Crab Shack

238 Victoria Street

North Melbourne

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Twenty Six and Espresso

Brunch seems to be appearing less on my blog lately. I'm not quite sure why that is. I guess for a while, Brad and I didn't have a lot of weekend mornings together, for one reason or another and I also think I'm getting a bit lazy to try out new places. 

You know what I mean? It can be risky to try out a new brunch place, when there are so many around of varying quality, and of course your old favourites you can't help but fall back on, which I think Brad and I had been doing in more recent times. Maybe I've just been getting a little bit overwhelmed by blogging (again) so not having to bring my camera out with me during a meal made for a nice change.

But some weekend mornings I would wake up with a name on the brain that would not budge. One particular morning, it was Twenty & Six Espresso. Maybe because we had been drinking at a friend's place up in North Melbourne the night before? Hmmm.

The very cosy little space was bustling when we arrived and I initially thought that there would be a wait for a seat, but fortunately some spaces had cleared by the window as we arrived. Double win for me, seat straight away and gorgeous lighting for photos!

The interior of the cafe is adorable, quirky with adorable little doodles here and there, and a pastel palette, giving the place a rather playful and light atmosphere. 

Now, I understand cafes get busy on the weekend, and thus mistakes happen, but we did hit a couple of bumps with service, in the manner of getting our drinks.

Our drink order didn't arrive until after our food, and was initially mixed up. I probably wouldn't mind so much usually, but it gets a little sore when the couple next to you, who arrived after you, gets their drinks before you.

Despite our hiccups with service though, I was quite impressed with the food offerings.

Twenty and Six has a short and creative menu, not a baked egg or dash of hollandaise in sight. Instead creations such as organic Balinese black sticky rice and pork belly bao tempted the taste buds. 

Brad ended up going with The Hunter, portobello mushrooms, roasted with balsamic, red wine and rosemary, with spanish chorizo on sourdough with creme fraiche and truffle oil. He added a poached egg to the dish as well. 

It arrived looking like something that might fit in MONA, kind of artsy right? Rosemary tree and all? It also smelt amazing, with truffle and rosemary aromas lazily lingering in the air as I was busy snapping away. The nibble I had of these were a lovely mix of sweet and tangy with the lovely rich balsamic. It was a very generous serve and definitely lasted Brad the day with the addition of the poached egg.

I opted for The Russian, with vodka and lemon house cured salmon tartare, free range poached egg, dill and lemon creme fraiche with a seed and sprout sourdough. This was quite different to the usual breakfast, but felt very clean and fresh. Breaking the egg over the tartare was just beautiful, as the yolk just melted away into it. The tartare had a nice hit of citrus, and was just so cool and refreshing. 

I do also have to make a special note of the bread, which really was just to die for. Nutty with an incredibly crunchy crust. Toasted to absolute perfection. I was initially just going to have one bite, but ended up having half the slice. Oops. 

When our coffees did arrive, I asked Brad how his latte was and he simply responded with 'Good'. Clearly he's a man of many words, but he uses every word to it's full effect, which means he really liked the coffee. 

My chai, which is a house made with their own blend of spices, was just lovely (when I finally got it). It was dark and velvety, and not too sweet, with nice hints of spice. I should have probably asked to have a bit of honey in it, but it was still perfectly pleasant without. 

All in all, it would have been an amazing meal if we hadn't encountered the bumps in service that we had, but everybody has an off day now and again. I would still absolutely love to return, as I loved the creative menu, which on a whole was executed well. I just might not visit on the weekend or, at the very least, peak hour. 

Twenty and Six Espresso 

594 Queensberry Street

North Melbourne

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Fandango

It's quite easy to walk by Fandango and not notice it with the mammoth that is Auction Rooms next door.

However, if you do happen to notice the curly, 70's discotheque styled text on the door, make sure to step in and be quietly charmed.

Allan, Bryan and I met for brunch in this quirky little cafe on a Wednesday (slightly to I-Hua's dismay). It's certainly it's own character, with a mish mash of retro plates and bear figurine's hiding under bookshelves.

I fell in love with my chai latte set, that tea cosy! How cute is it?! The chai was pleasant but could have used a little more of a flavour punch.

I thought the coffees the guys got looked a little bit over frothed and although they didn't mind the coffee, I get the impression it was not their favourite either.

Bryan wanted to order the same thing that I did, but since I got dibs on it first (teehee), he ordered the avocado and tomato breakfast instead. And added some bacon and poached eggs to that. It also came with pesto, which was absolutely delicious. It was quite vivacious and had a bold basil flavour, with hints of garlic and some blended nuts or something in it. Just gorgeous.

Allan ordered the pesto scrambled eggs, with oven roasted tomato on sourdough. Again. That pesto. Mmm. Dat pesto.

I got the beetroot eggs. My gosh. That beetroot. I don't really mean to overuse 'that'. But man. That toxically pink beetroot and fetta relish. Isn't it fabulous? I loved my dish, it felt healthy (kinda) and was delicious and so fresh. And of course, the poached eggs were perfectly done with bleedy yolks.

Of course, in the now dubbed 'Allan style', we got something sweet to share. A stack of three pancakes with fruit compote, strawberries, honeyed cream cheese and maple syrup. Um yum.

How cute is the little jug for the maple syrup? I could imagine a mini Marie Antoinette bathing in it.

The pancakes were heaven. Pure heaven. Beautifully fluffy and wholesome in flavour and delectably sweet with the honeyed cream. Bryan and Allan found that the honeyed cream was enough, but I figured since the maple syrup was there, I may as well put myself into a sugar coma. A decadent note to finish on.

The boys and I all agreed, the food at Fandango is lovely. The portions are not giant, which suits me, and the food is just so fresh and cooked very well. It's also just got a lovely, homey vibe. In the small cafe, one would be quite comfortable dining alone I think.

We weren't entirely keen on the drinks though, as we skipped next door to Auction Rooms after so the boys could have their candyman beans, and I could fill myself up with another soy chai….

Fandango

97 Errol St
Melbourne VIC 3051

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