Sovereign Hill Balarat / New York Bakery

I have always wanted to visit this cowboy town. Didn't manage to enter Sovereign hill the last time because they sun is going to set soon and it wouldn't worth every penny for the almost AUD50 entrance fee.

I was disappointed that I had to rush while exploring sovereign hill while on day tour but nevertheless I had a lot of fun in this cowboy town.

New York Bakery

(in Sovereign Hill, Ballarat)

Although it is the only place that serves food in Soverign Hill but they serve really good food especially the two dishes below. Very very yummy.

Moist, fluffy pancakes goes well with sweet butterscotch syrup.

Not overly sweet that spoils your appetite but makes you wana have more to satisfy your pancake cravings!

Don't expect the food there to be cheap though...

banana pancakes with ice cream and butterscotch syrup <3

beef pie

time to bowl mates

for a fee you get to decorate your own candles with the dyes.

say cheese while making umbrella lollies!

Take part in the gold mine tour 18 meters underground to check out how it is like for miners to mine underground as well as watch a short clip on the story of two chinese immigrants on the fate in mine. Spooky and fun experience down and underground :)

Real gold in the mine. Dig it out and you will be rich!

Waffles On

Waffles On

Shop 9, Degraves St

Melbourne ,Victoria 3000 

 

When you have a sugar rush, what do you eat?

Waffles?

Ice cream?

Hot chocolate sauce?

Head down to Degrave street for Melbourne city's rated top 5 waffles - Waffles On.

Warm Belgian waffles with a variety of toppings. Everything just blends so well.

Crunchy on the outside, fluffy on the inside. Match everything with sweet and mildly sour strawberries to bring up the taste of the dessert.

Headed down to Waffles On for my sugar fix with my cousin after a long walk in the city doing some shopping and sightseeing. We were lucky to be able to grab a seat right beside the stall - well there were 2 seats only unfortunately. Have a nice cup of coffee, that's my ideal weekday afternoon. 

Mamak

Mamak

366 Lonsdale St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia

After collecting our race packs for sunday's colour run, we decided to go somewhere closer to Melbourne Central for lunch. Mamak sells Malaysian cuisine, something closer to home and it is crazy pack during lunch time. Some spice to wake our taste buds.

Mamak has other dishes that are pretty good such as satays and roti canai (refer pictures from malaysia festival). Mamak has an outlet in Sydney as well I guess. Happen to come across their stall at Sydney's Chinatown night market.

The pineapple peanut sauce that comes with the satays is a pleasant surprise. It brings out the flavour of the BBQ skewed meat but it is pretty pricey for a local delicacy in Singapore.

 nasi udang - would prefer if they do not prepare the prawns with soda for the fake crunchy taste. It is so hard to find really fresh seafood in the city unless you drive out to the fish market which can be pretty troublesome.

curry ayam - pretty spicy judging from the fact that the dish is aimed to cater to the australian taste.

maggie goreng - my favourite, strongly recommended by my friend Vanessa. 

Piece of advice : Go for the set lunches, very much cheaper and it serves the same portion as the mains. 

Have fun peeps :D

Sunny Ridge - Mornington

Sunny Ridge

244 Shands Rd, Main Ridge, Melbourne ,VIC 3928, Australia. Every time I visit Mornington I will pay Sunny Ridge a visit. Do note that there is a specific season for strawberry plucking so check it out to prevent disappointment. I wouldn't recommend strawberry plucking after a heavy rain unless you prepare waterproof rain boots. Although you can buy plastic wraps to protect your shoes for 20 cents, they'll get stuck in the soft mud based on my past experience and my entire shoes got badly soaked. You wouldn't want to experience that trust me. On the second time I went with my waterproof leather boots so it saved me all those trouble from scrubbing my favourite pair of grey Lacoste canvas shoes which turned beige the last time I visited :(

Award winning ice cream from the top (clockwise) passion fruit, mixed berries and lastly strawberry - AUD 4.50 per cup.

I would recommend ordering Strawberry temptation which you get to try their award winning strawberry ice cream and sorbet plus fresh strawberries with whipped cream and raspberry syrup for AUD 14. Everything in a dessert teehee. Remember to share it though !

Vanilla bean panna cotta! AUD10

absolutely loved it!

Smooth pudding texture, very milky just the way I like it to be. Really good with the sweet/sour strawberries!

Strawberry temptation is good too when I went with my partner during his visit, sorry for the lack of photos but you may want to check out their cafe's menu.

Strawberry U-pick

AUD 12 / adult 

AUD8 / child

available only between november to april. 

Jams! I love jams with my toast. I bought 4 bottles and my family loves it. Tiny ones for AUD2.50 and large one for AUD6. Well blended, heard it is pretty smooth and yummy!

 On top of the plastic shoe wraps we wrapped plastic bags for double protection. The plastic bag tore anyways :'(

Home-cooked dishes

When you are hungry and eating out is too expensive you have to learn how to cook. I am really amazed at the variety of dishes that I can cook judging that I don't cook or can't cook at all before I come to Melbourne. It is really a great feat for me just to whip up a dish between tutorial and lectures to fill my hungry tummy. Each time I whipped up a dish I'd whatsapp a picture of it to my partner so that he can be proud of my new-found culinary skills, far from perfect but in the making hahahas. I'd send the pictures to my parents as well hoping for some praise that their little girl has grown up.

I thought it'd be good to compile everything together on my blog so that I can show gramps when I get back home and perhaps cook for them these dishes :D

The list will just grow longer as I explore new recipes I hope....

 fish soup

egg mayo sandwiches 

Terriyaki beef with edamame 

 unagi bento with terriyaki fried eggs

mashed potatoes with  anchovies

pancakes 

 kimchi fried rice

Hainanese  chicken rice set

 cream of mushroom spaghetti with crispy bacon and edamame

terriyaki pork and asparagus with fried onion omelette 

 kimichi pancake

 pork and potato stew

 ABC soup

 Bacon and eggs

 bak kut teh

 assam fish

 balacan lady's fingers

japanese curry filling onigiri

 California maki 

 ebiko gunkan

 sweet potato dessert

terriyaki pork