Archive for category Coffee
three bags full
Food: fine and decent price (Edit – third time – love the fig and raspberry bread)
Coffee: nice but luke warm (second time now). (Edit – third time – good!)
Service: great
On a separate note. I walked into the Aesop shop at QV and asked for the hand soap, the one with the Atlas Cedarwood. She told be it was $37. I said i’ll think about that really hard. Hmmm which cafe uses it? 7 seeds, Cumulus, I think Bistro Vue and maybe Cafe Vue. Three bags full had it too.
What’s the next Melbourne cafe trend? It was the Synesso and the industrial look. The single origin beans became the standard and at once there was even single origin hot chocolate. Then different brewing methods came about with the clover, then the siphon followed quickly by the filter drip. Inevitably some cafes have to give a 2 min (pre-recorded) speech about different methods of brewing and how to drink each coffee before letting me order. Beakers became the new vase. A communal table with a large flower center piece was stuck in somewhere too. Fresh blended juices became the new juice. Recently single estate sugar is appearing (which I must admit taste really good so I spoon a heap into my finished coffee cup to eat on its own). To top things off, today someone ordered “chai latte” and was asked by the waiter “if it was with normal milk?”!
I am not keen on the idea that soap was $37 a bottle. Just give me more French butter on my toast.
A photo tour:
A long communal table
Sweets and stuff
I want the cup and saucer lights!
People, chairs, tables and lights
Steak sandwich
A delicious biscuit
Made in Warrnambool
I am on my feet from for 10 hours straight, holding fat people’s thighs and knees in mid-air steadiness. There is barely any time to eat or drink. The generic-bulk-commercial branded tea bags and biscuits are the most welcoming comfort I can practically imagine. Today we fixed a total failure of the femur with more metal than the Terminator. I breathed in so much bone dust/flour from the saw that I might have pancakes forming in my lungs.
It’s good to be back in Melbourne. The food, coffee, bars and late opening shops and restaurants. I had my first good fix at the Dessert House with the deep fried spicy pork ribs on rice. The same dirty dish I would crave after too long a day in the gen med ward. It was here that I decided the sushi platter and the okonomiyaki should be avoided in the future
For some reason, my latter art is not as good this week. I blame the roast. Here is one from last week.
There is a bit of catching up and food to be had this weekend. And cooking too. I missed the kitchen in Melbourne.
The Bottle of Milk – Lorne
The front of house
It’s a joy to drive along the winding road from Deans Marsh to Lorne - a good detour from my drive back to Melbourne. My friend told me to try the coffee (and burgers) at The Bottle of Milk in Lorne. Mellie went there last year and enjoyed the burgers and chips. The coffee is roasted by 7 Seeds (my favorite roaster/cafe in Melbourne). That’s all the incentive I need. The flat white I had was one of the best coffees I’ve had outside of Melbourne. Still a little too hot and the milk not as silky as it could be on the Synesso. But better than the coffee I had at Simon’s in Warrnambool. 7 Seeds doesn’t have many accounts and good for them for keeping it ‘specialty’. It’s difficult to judge a cafe’s standards with just one visit so I will reserve comments to just the cup I had on that day. What I will say is well done for getting decent coffee on a touristy town.
Burger talk. I had the Fire Engine beef, cheese, coriander, chili sauce. The bun was delicious, dense and toasted well. The beef was juicy and cooked to medium well.
7 Seeds beans but is it up to 7 Seeds standards?
Windows make interesting pictures
The Fire Engine burger
Morning coffee and run
- Hooked for fish and chips (great design, good fish, a little pricey)
- Teppansan for okonomyaki (consistent)
- Nihonshu shochu and sake bar (great selection of shochu and Japanese whiskey, unfortunately most of the sake is by the bottle only. Nice yakitori)
- 7 Seeds for coffee (not their best day for coffee, usually very consistent)
- Deadman Espresso (coffee was good)
- Cumulus Inc. (always fun and delicious, my favorite place to eat in Melbourne)
- 1806 (creative cocktails on a quiet late of night)
- Mailing Room (made my own coffee)
- Laurent patisseries (had one good and one bad macaroon)
- Attica (arh, wonderful. Wish the night could have just ended there. There was this smoked olive oil emulsion I could have drowned happily in)
Rapadura sugar, Costa Rica
Rapadura is essentially evaporated sugar cane juice, produced mainly in South America. No high eating ensure the fruity flavours are still intact. Muscavado, demarara sugars are all made by heating sugar cane juice until it cystalization occours. White sugar is made by repeated heating and centrifuge spinning. Brown sugar is just white sugar with added molasses.
Sweet tooth?
Market Lane Coffee, Prahran Market!
I crossed the latte line again. After a long trip from Hamilton to Port Fairy and back to Melbourne, I was very happy to arrive before they closed. I ran like a kid seeing and really believing Santa is real. Fleur Studd’s (her dad is an authorative on cheese, appearing on the Epicure regularly, books and TV) opening is amongst the many specialty cafe’s that has appeared in Melbourne this year. I think she might have worked in Mammouth Coffee in London’s Bourough Market (? corrections).
The focus of the cafe is to highlight a few single origins at a time and market green beans at the same time. Many customers ordered the pour-over coffees (filter paper in a cup with a hole at the bottom). On the day we went they had ran out of some beans for the espresso blend. The flat white was ok only. At least, it was overshadowed by the La Candelilla (what a lovely name!), a Geisha variety from Costa Rica.
The interior was stunning. Open design, raw, slightly distressed wooden tabled and metallic chairs. The flowers on the table were gorgeous, but the use of the small Italian juice bottles is getting a little common in Melbourne.
I think Prahn is way overdue for decent coffee given their superior fresh market. I said to my friends, the whole concept, the emotions, the feel behind such cafe’s makes me love Melbourne alot!
Re-drawing the latte line with the Indonesian Sidikalong
I have moved my set up to Hamilton along with some beans. Since I wont be back in Melbourne for anthother 2 weeks, I put some beans, sealed in a airtight box in the freezer. I wonder how this will turn out?
But…something special here. The Indonesian Sidikalong. It’s sweet, bursting with stewed berries, and medium body. It’s the least bitter coffee I have ever tried. Even the grinds hit me “wow” before brewing it. Oddly though, the grind neede to be much finer compared to other beans I have used before.
Thanks to The Maling Room. Super single origin.
Crossing the latte line to a twin that no doctor should separate
I was made note by one of the doctors that I have crossed the latte line while driving to Hamilton (not Island) – the place I will work for the next 9 weeks. On my few days break, I have returned to Melbourne to pick up my coffee machine. The first stop was Seven Seeds before I even got home. It wasn’t the caffeine I swear. It’s the smell and vibe and tingling when I see smooth and silky milk mixed with crema.
Today I went to Proud Mary, owned (as far as I know) by Nolan who used to be the ex-owner of Liar Liar. The most impressive thing is the metallic grey-blue, custom built, 6 group Synesso based on the Hydra model. This is a conjoined twin that no doctor should try and separate. Together with the deep baby blue cups, it’s a sight worth a detour. The blue beast even has foot pedal switch for steam. Around the bar, th whole set up included a syphon area and a Clover machine. It wasn’t so busy this afternoon and the coffee was great. I wonder when the place becomes packed will Nolan and his team be able serve all the different methods of brewing consistently. Lucky for them that there are not so many seats. Grab them while you can.
Open 7-4 weekdays and 8-4 weekends. 172 Oxford st, Collingwood
Single Origin
I clearly have not been following coffee trends in Sydney.
We met out friend at Single Origin on Friday morning, pleasent 24 degrees and sunny. Sitting outside and 2 flat whites, each 4/5th filled with a single rosetta arrives. Watching that Japanese barista pull every rosetta with the same intensity as me first attemping to stich up a wound is a reminder that some people are just perfectionists every time. I smile because it was the perfect start to my holiday in Sydney. A few years ago when I visited Sydney, I remeber getting a coffee there on the day I flew out.
Ambience is beautiful. Dark wood benches and tables, some raw; warm down lights; fun flora decorations. If anything a bit ‘Melbourne’? Service good. Though popularity means it’s difficult to get a seat and take aways during rush hours (seems to be always on rush hour) can be long. Coffee was good. An average of 8/10. Their muesli had a good heap of at least 4-5 different fruits on top.
But the problem was where do I go in the CBD during weekends? Single Origin is not open. Mecca is on Saturday accodring to a google search but I didn’t check since the day rained mad. Where can I get decent coffee in the CBD in Sydney?
I waited until Monday to get another cup (plus breakkie). Lucky we stayed with our friend who lives 30 second walk to this oasis of coffee. No, really, I am not addicted to coffee. I just want good coffee and chill and gather thoughts on.
Seven Seeds
I’ve had good coffee. I’ve had great coffee. I have been a weekend barista for a few years at the Maling Room. It’s true that it’s difficult to enjoy a coffee the way it should be enjoyed at a place I used to work.
Today’s strong flat white at Seven Seeds was too delicious.
I just finished 8 nights in the Emergency Department and it was sunny. I had a nice breakfast with the reg in the morning sun at the European. The weekend is on.
The coffee was in perfect balance. Smooth and creamy texture. The surface was polished like glass. I have seen good milk. I can steam great mik. But this flat white was like cream. The art was bold and well defined. A single rosetta with slight colouration inside each pair of symmetric leaf. Like chefs fussing over micro herbs with tweezers, beautifully crafted and seemingly effortless. Flavour was sweet, chocolate, nutty and so rounded through the milk. I tasted another ‘god shot’ moment. The walnut tart was there again. So good, so good. The photo is an old one with some almond crossant I had.
Mark Dundon, owner of Seven Seeds, Brother Baba Budan and ex owner of St Ali is, in my view, the pioneer and the source of much fuss about coffee in Melbourne. When people talk about real passion for coffee, he is that passion. Not for the publicity, not for the recognition. And I thank him for that. If you have ever had a chat with him you will get a feeling that he is someone who only, and only doing this for love. Rarely do you meet someone so humble and self-less
I am car-less for a week or so because someone reversed without looking first.
This weekend is half marathon and then I have to decide where to work next year. Melbourne or Brisbane. I am torn.