Spatula, Spoon and Saturday

This was back during the awful hay fever episode. I remember it distinctly as the night I barely slept and woke up at 6am and couldn’t go back to sleep. Generally, I would pick myself out of bed and go for a morning walk/run but because I barely slept I was just too tired so I figured let’s just hit Degraves St. for breakfast. So I pulled poor Josh out of a bed with a promise of breakfast treat.

(eggs florentine, poached eggs with spinach and hallandaise sauce – $12.00)

It was a lovely warm day and the day was heating up already (loves it) but we went in and sat in the booth at the back anyway. Unfortunately, I was grouchy to the max from lack of sleep and the fact that I had to be at work soonish didn’t help either.

The cafe was warmly decorated with interesting black and white photographs and while it was quite warm at the back, I didn’t mind. I am a tropical girl, after all. The breakfast options weren’t large with a few daily specials. Read the rest of this entry »

(Rilsta’s Wagyu Burger Bento Box – $13.80)

I love the whole hot weather thing. Seriously, if Melbourne would be this hot everyday all year round, I would be a happy girl. But it makes me not want to do things – especially sit down in front of the computer and write a blog entry.

However, the Spatula, Spoon and Saturday (sometimes I get the word order mixed up myself) show must go on. Rilsta and I lunched at a month or so ago. Rilsta had previously had dinner at Takumi and wrote up a really nice review on her blog so I was quite looking forward to it.

(wagyu yakiniku bento box – $13.80)

The restaurant was rather nice, spacious and half empty. We were seat on the same table as another couple but with a seat between us. I wondered why they had to seat us on the same table when there were perfectly good tables available. I just wasn’t into the next couple’s conversation as they ordered the same thing and had boring conversation (at times like this, I wish people talk about something really juicy and exciting – murder and salacious sex details. But no. Apparently too much to ask for as a lunch time entertainment.)

As Takumi is meant to be the wagyu specialist, I decided on the wagyu yakiniku bento box. Our miso soup was brought out first. It was good though it could be a bit hotter. Read the rest of this entry »

Maya had just come back from Raya at home in Singapore and she was desperate for a good cup of Melbourne coffee. So during a lunch time (she had an extra day off the lucky thing).

We decided on Centre Place/Degraves St. area since it’s the closest place where there is the most number of cafés in small areas. We landed at Cafe No. 5 because it looked nice and cosy.

(sorry about the picture, it’s the only one I have of the wall)

The shop itself was rather funky. We plonked ourselves on the communal table. The walls were adorn with paintings and other interesting artwork. Maya promptly ordered a coffee. I believe it was her second one in about 3 hours of landing in Melbourne and since I spent 13 months in Singapore, I can vouch that Starbucks is considered good coffee in Singapore. So enough said about the state of coffee affairs in the little island nation. Read the rest of this entry »

Quick lunch last Wednesday (I think). I desperately needed to get a pair of flats that I wear everyday for travel fixed and I did a bit of searching for a cobbler in the CBD and found a few recommendations on the Vogue forum. So I decided that I would take my shoes to Rekaris Shoes on Lonsdale St. I met Josh at the street corner and we walked to where the shop was meant to be, and there was no shop. The shop was gone. FML. So I took the shoes to the cobbler in Target Centre and he quoted me $75.00 for the fix. Ouch. I bought them when Aldo was on sale in Singapore and they didn’t cost that much! They are my favourites.

(Miso soup – $1.50)

Anyway, enough about shoe rambling. Luckily, there was Izakaya Shogun. I decided that I wanted to try it. So we walked in and saved for a couple of suits, it was empty. So we quickly ordered stuff off the lunch menu. My miso soup arrives within a couple of minutes. It was very good. Nice and hot with subtle red miso taste. Not the silly floury miso soup you get at some Japanese takeaway. Shudder. It had strips of puff tofu in it, which I rather liked. I think I prefer it to silken tofu cubes. It was very good for $1.50.

(I take random pictures when I wait for food)

Unfortunately, there was a bit of a wait (about 10 minutes, too long for lunch) until my other food arrived. I had ordered tonkatsu-don, which was basically tonkatsu or crumbed and fried pork fillet served with tonkatsu sauce and rice.  Josh had ordered yakiudon.

(tonkatsudon – $10.50)

My food arrived first. The pork cutlet was thickly cut. It was perfectly crumbed and fried with just the perfect amount of sauce. The sauce was quite all right. The pork was rather lean and I like my meat fatty but it was still good at the end of the day. The rice was well made and sticky as the way Japanese rice is meant to be. Read the rest of this entry »