Random photos.

To make up for my lack of posts recently, here's a small one filled with a few random food photos taken over the last month or so. There's not many, but it's something.

Homemade latkes, made by my mother for the first night of Hannukah. I used to hate latkes because when I was little we used to eat them with sugar. The thought still repulses me. I bought some Murray River Sea Salt just to put on the latkes. Now I think they're great. We also ate them with some smoked salmon and horseradish sour cream. Amazing.

Random breakfast: Toast with baked beans and fried eggs.

One of the very few food court dining options that I find somewhat acceptable: Spudbar. This time I had a baked sweet potato with cheese, coleslaw, peas, corn, avocado and sour cream. Baked sweet potatoes are my new best friend.

This was our Christmas Eve dinner. Like all good jews do, I asked my mum to buy a turkey roll to roast at home. We had it with baked potatoes and sweet potatoes, cranberry jam and some salad with Paul Newman's South West dressing. I discovered the South West dressing at a McDonald's while in the States, and was thrilled to find it in the supermarket back home. So good.

One of my trusty favourites: Wonton Soup from China Bar. I hadn't actually had it in a really long time as I tend to go for the Mushroom and Vegetable Noodle Soup now. I had this on a colder summer day. It wasn't amazing. I think they got lazy cause it was towards the end of the day.

This was a seriously random find. We ended up in Bacchus Marsh on the way back from a road trip to Daylesford and visited an amazing produce stand on the side of the road. I saw the Ben & Jerry's fridge on the way back to the car and had to pick some up to eat on the way home. This was the only flavour in the shorty cups.

Long time, no post.

So, it's been a while since I last posted. I have been doing lots of eating, but not lots of photography.
I recently had a dinner with a couple of girls from school and one of the boyfriends. Since I was finishing work around dinner time I suggested we just stayed at Westfield and went to one of the restaurants. There's not a whole lot of choice but it was convenient. We ended up at Groove Train. I'm not the biggest fan of Groove Train but it has a lot of choice so it's good for people who are fussy eaters (which I am clearly not).

Overall, Groove Train isn't too bad. It's a nice setting. The sun was way too bright for 7pm, though and they had no real blinds to draw across the room. It was a killer sitting there for so long with the sun in our eyes. But, the meals weren't too bad. Decent serves for a decent price.

Now on to the photos. I hardly remember what we ate.

 Shared entree: Eggplant chips. These were tasty. Really crunchy on the outside, with a pillowy inside.

My main: Penne with tuna, tomatoes and olives. It wasn't too bad actually, once they got my order right.

Cookie's main: Some kind of pizza.

Leanne's main: Some kind of salad. Maybe one of the lamb ones.

Evelyn's main: Some kind of curry or something. I just remember the mashed sweet potatoes. Who doesn't love some sweet potato mash?

Wagamama

A couple of weeks ago I ventured out to Chadstone Shopping Centre so I could take a look at the renovations. I arrived around lunch time and decided to head to Wagamama for lunch as I hadn't been there since the QV restaurant had closed. I was seated at a massive but lonely table down the back, as I was dining alone. Not long after, a lady came back to take my order. They always serve amazing fresh juices, so I ordered the special juice for the day - apple, rockmelon and passionfruit. I also ordered the vegetarian (yasai) cha han. Also known as, vegetarian fried rice.

Thankfully I brought a book to read because my food seemed to take a life time. My drink was brought out five minutes after I had ordered it. My food, although ordered at the same time as my drink, took 45 minutes. Yes, that's right. 45 minutes. If not more. I had one or two people ask if I had even ordered any food or was just there for a drink.

This, of course, really annoyed me and I wanted to tell them just to forget it, but then I would waste even more time trying to find some other food. They did redeem themselves later on, though. As I went up to pay the bill, the lady asked me if my food was late and then proceeded to put a comment into the register. She then only charged me for my drink. That definitely made me feel better. $4.50 for a fresh juice and massive bowl of rice? Hell yeah.

The rice was okay, but I could make it myself at home. I should have gone with my usual Wagamama Ramen. Maybe next time.

Wagamama
Chadstone Shopping Centre
Lower Ground Level
1341 Dandenong Road, Melbourne

Apple, rockmelon and passionfruit juice. An amazing combination.

Yasai Cha Han.

Vegetarian fried rice, including fried tofu, pumpkin, mushrooms and snowpeas. Good combination, but something I could quite easily make myself at home.

The included side dishes with my rice: Miso soup and pickled vegetables.

Kitchen Workshop

The day I visited MoVida was a massive foodie day for my friend Lisa and I. Luckily we didn't have breakfast that morning. After a big lunch at MoVida and a coffee and cupcake (mine, thankfully was eaten the next day), we ventured on to Kitchen Workshop at Crown Casino for some dinner. We couldn't decide on a place to eat, so we figured a buffet was a good idea so we could eat anything we wanted.

We weren't completely sold on the idea of a buffet until the friendly staff said we could go in and peruse the food before deciding what to do. The first thing you see when you walk in is the desserts fridge. It housed tonnes of little shot glasses full of tiny desserts. This was the main selling point. That and the chocolate fountain. We then proceeded to look around and there was a vast selection of hot and cold food, including a massive hot plate/barbeque where a chef prepares fresh stir-fry vegetables that you select yourself.

We tried quite a few of the dishes and they weren't terrible. Surprisingly, the cold food and salads were the low point. We tried many of the desserts and most of them were just so-so. The "coconut mousse" was just whipped cream with toasted coconut sprinkled on top. Very disappointing. Take note, we didn't eat all that's shown on the plate. We basically grabbed one of everything so we could try it all. We're greedy, but not pigs.

For ~21 dollars for dinner, it wasn't a bad meal. We got to try so many things that it was worth the money. We don't eat enough to really take advantage of the buffet situation though. But the prices weren't bad, the staff were very friendly and it was a relatively nice setting for a casino. We would probably go back.

Kitchen Workshop
Crown Casino
Ground Floor, Clarendon Street Entrance

Clockwise from left: Maple-roasted pumpkin, Barramundi, roast potatoes, saffron rice, mexican bean mix, cheese tortellini, steamed broccoli with slivered almonds.

The bean mixture was amazing. All the other components of this plate were also quite nice. The pasta was surprisingly good for something from a bain-marie.

Bean and corn salad, cucumber slices.

The bean and corn salad was pretty terrible. I'm not sure why. Maybe it had been sitting around too long.

Vegetable stir-fry with oyster sauce.

This was the stir-fry that Lisa chose. It was very nice. Unfortunately we tried this after the desserts so we were too full to appreciate it.

Clockwise from left: Trifle, "coconut mousse" (aka. whipped cream), chocolate mousse and lime jelly with fruit pieces.

All bar the coconut mousse were alright. They weren't anything special. The fruit was nice and fresh, though.

From left: Lamington, chocolate brownie, chocolate-covered marshmallow (from the chocolate fountain), strawberry jelly and strawberry mousse.

The lamington was my favourite part. The strawberry mousse was also a surprise hit with me.

The Cupcake Bakery

Anyone who knows me, knows I love cupcakes. The thing is though, I mostly just like to look at them, not eat them. I think they're very cute. I even have a cupcake tattooed on my arm. It, too, is quite cute. Vanilla with strawberry frosting, and a cherry on top!

After learning that Sydney's Cupcake Bakery opened down here in Melbourne, I knew I had to have a look. I was mostly searching for a red velvet cupcake, because they intrigue me. They're so... red! The Cupcake Bakery makes ~18 flavours, even some gluten free cupcakes. They also make "Maxi-Cupcakes" that can feed up to 12 people.

The cupcakes are $3.50 - $4.50 each, depending on which flavour you choose. They have a great deal where you can have a coffee (or tea) and a cupcake for $5. A great deal for cheapskates like me. I chose a chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting. It wasn't too bad. The frosting wasn't super sweet, which is what usually turns me off cupcakes. Next time I hope to try a Hummingbird cupcake.

The Cupcake Bakery

Shop GD006, Menzies Lane

Melbourne Central, LaTrobe St

Melbourne

Choc-Vanilla cupcake and English Breakfast tea

Super-fuzzy photo from my iPhone.

MoVida Bar De Tapas

It took me long enough, but I finally had a chance to visit MoVida on August 19. It was a random choice of places to eat while running some errands in the city. It was a great choice.

Hosier Lane is home to some of the best graffiti around Melbourne so we were happy to score a seat next to the window, facing the alley. We were seated in between the window and the bar, where we had a great view of the whole restaurant.

My friend Lisa and I shared two Tapas (entree size) and two Racion (full size dishes). Then we were greedy and had a dessert each. It was all washed down with some alcoholic pear cider - my favourite. While it's not cheap, the quality of the food is first class and there's a great atmosphere. The staff were very friendly and helpful too.


Although, I hate to say it, but we did have one problem. My friend's dessert had a hair cooked through it. Thankfully they didn't make us pay for the dish and they offered to replace it with a fresh one (which was politely declined). Other than that, everything was super.

Two days after our visit, Katie Holmes and her daughter Suri dined at MoVida, so you know it has to be good. It was well worth the wait and I can't wait to go back.

MoVida Melbourne
1 Hosier Lane
Melbourne

Very blurry photo. This was our view of the bar and restaurant.

The complimentary bread was quite nice. It came with olive oil and some sea salt.

San Jacobo de cordonice. Hunter Valley quail, partially boned, crumbed, and filled with jamon and mahon cheese.

The quail was very tasty. It was quite salty, but not overpowering. The mahon cheese was really oozy when we cut it open.

This isn't on the online menu. It was basically just a lamb chop with some salsa verde. It was a bit on the boring side, but it was cooked quite nicely. We forgot there was a chorizo/mashed potato croquette thing on the menu, so this was our next choice.

Carillera de buey. Slowly braised beef cheek in Pedro Ximenez on cauliflower puree.

This was tasty. I love cauliflower mash and this had so much flavour from the added gravy. The beef cheeks were a bit too gelatinous for me, but the meaty parts were really wonderful and tender.

Cecina. Air cured wagyu beef thinly sliced with a truffle foam and poached egg.

This was the stand out dish for me. The texture of the dry wagyu can be likened to bresaola. The whole dish was so salty and truffle-y, but again, not overpowering. The poached egg just brought the dish altogether and it was amazing. I could eat this every day.

Ganache caliente con turron. Hot chocolate ganache pudding with vanilla bean ice-cream and nougat.

This was Lisa's dessert. There's no nougat as she has a nut allergy. Until she found the hair, she seemed be enjoying it!

Flan con pestinos. Creme caramel served with spiced sherry pastries.

I don't think this description is correct, but it's the dish that's on the menu now. The pastries were cinnamon-y and flakey. They flan was so smooth and filling. The caramel on the top was uber-bitter but that's the way it should be. I think I only managed to eat a third. It was delicious. I <3 flan.

Le Pere Jules Poire Bouche (Pear Cider)

I adore pear cider. I love the massive cans of non-alcoholic pear cider you can buy at Ikea. This alcoholic cider was wonderful. It wasn't terribly strong and it was a nice compliment to the meal and the sunny weather outside.

Our view from the table. Hosier Lane's famous graffiti.

Welcome to, The Buttonwood Tree...

Welcome to my new food blog. My first one was a little neglected so I thought I'd give this one a real shot. I have called it the Buttonwood Tree, because it's a species of the Fig Tree. And, I like figs. And for some reason Blogspot wouldn't let me name the blog the Sycamore Tree. But, I'll probably end up changing the name once I have something good that sticks.

I have ridiculous amounts of food photos to share with everyone, but for now I'm just going to post some random photos taken on my iPhone. Prepare for photo overload once I work out how to use this properly.

Tomodachi, Melbourne Central. Been to this restaurant so many times now. I still love sitting there watching the sushi. It's mesmerising.

Caffe dell'Emporio, Crown Casino. Simple tasty penne with tomato, eggplant, spinach and some chevre on top. It was so massive I only ate maybe half. Not bad for ~$14.

George's, Camberwell. Pumpkin soup. Tasted like Campbell's canned soup or something similar. Deplorable. But it was the cheapest thing on the menu and I was feeling cheap. I can't believe they're even more expensive than they used to be. They still have great massive breakfasts though.

China Bar, Westfield Doncaster. Singapore Noodles. How Australian of me. Working almost next door to a China Bar is bad for my wallet and my waistline.

China Bar, Westfield Doncaster. Mushroom and Vegetable Noodle Soup. My favourite. I've had this so many times that I'm actually kind of sick of it now. Boo.

Sushi Izakaya, Westfield Doncaster. Katsu Don Bento Box. I love this sushi place. The fact that they have hot food aswell as sushi makes them a winner. These bento boxes are only ~$9.50. Great value for money. The nutty sesame dressing on the salad is my favourite part of the whole meal.

Sushi Izakaya, Westfield Doncaster. Sukiyaki. This was so great. Lots of leeks, tofu and mushies in the broth. It was a lot of fun to cook the meat ourselves. And again, great value for money. I think it was ~$12.

Homemade pizza! I used souvlaki breads that you buy at the supermarket. With fresh tomato, fresh basil and cherry bocconcini. Amazing.

Green Tea Cupcakes. This was a gluten-free packet mix, for my Mother's Birthday. I added macha (green tea powder) to the mix, and then mixed some through the frosting mixture too. They were a hit.

Mesh Cafe, Casselden Place, Melbourne. Frozen Raspberry Granita! It was a very hot day so this was a nice treat.

Stay tuned for more posts, including Movida and my trip to the U.S.A!