St Ali

It makes my stomach turn whenever I decided to write a blogpost about Melbourne. I miss that place too much. Their good brunches and coffee , together their relax lifestyle. However, I don't think I'll enjoy 40degrees during summer so I can only love Melb for three seasons. 

There's too many posts I have yet to share here , and I don't want to compile them. Because I think they are that good that each place deserves a post on their own. So, I guess you will get Melbourne food reviews or so from time to time. 

I never knew that the north side of Melbourne will give a different vibe. When I stand on the street, I'll see tall modernise buildings on my right and the old vintage theme shops on the left. The contrast is really huge but they are still pretty. 

The north side of Melbourne actually brings an old school vibe. I love how the shops remind me of old vintage English shops. 

Waiting for the tram.

This is the highlight of the day because this is a MUST visit place compare to the other brunch places or cafes I want to go. I can't believe that I am getting excited to visit a coffee shop. I read the reviews about them saying that they are underrated , and how good their coffee are. After making so much noise, I'm finally here. It's a little far from the city tho.

 

Beautiful graffiti. 

So I am here, St Ali. 

Many brunch places and good cafes are always located hidden down the street or at the back to the street. It may take us sometime to travel from the place before to St Ali, however I think the journey was worth it. ( I think I need to emphasize on my laziness) I actually walk there without even complaining because I'm really looking forward to visit St Ali. Infact, it's the only place I will choose to go if I can only go one. 

Well, the badge hanging in the middle of the shop stating St Ali Family ; I guess they want the guest to make it feel like everything is home , to feel comfy and cosy. 

You did the right job, St Ali. 

Not a new concept , but still loving how they make the menu looking like a newspaper. 

The quality of paper was superb lol.

Hi, that's me acting cute with the menu. 

Look at how old school the things are. Instead of giving us glass bottles filled with water, we have a jug :p

The waitress was kind enough to assist of what beans I should choose for my choice of coffee. So I chose black beans for my Flat White while the other cup was cappucino. 

Alright, 

the best coffee I had in Melbourne is here. 

St Ali's coffee is the best for me , compared to all the other place I've tried. 

Was so happy that I insist to take picture with the badge , lol. 

Oh well, insta purpose.

Yes, I was really happy that evening.

St Ali serve brunch too but we just had our brunch at Auction Rooms so, we are too filled for any food. I should have order something to try. I'm fill with regrets nao TT

It's really comfortable to sip on a cup of good coffee, having the sun and the cold weather all together. It may fine doing this alone but better if you have a great companion. 

Definitely a lovely afternoon. 

Bring me back to St Ali, please . 

Hakata Ippudo Ramen.

That's me with just sunscreen on and my hair in a mess. I remember that I had to wake up by 10am. I am not a morning person, thus this is how things turn out. I'm a little lazy and I'm too comfortable with Zhi Wei so I basically don't care. 

We head over to Bangar Shopping Centre for lunch because I woke up an hour late, lol. And I insisted to go there for Ippudo Ramen because she owes me one. I am making her buying me this meal - insisted for this meal for god knows how long. 

I've been to the branch in Pavilion and personally, I think the ramen is slurping good. Not to mention about how tender the pork is and how thick and flavourful the soup is , they also allow us to choose the texture of our noodles which is all good. It's nice how we can alter our dish based on our preference. 

I never knew that they offer lunch promo set which is really affordable. One bowl of ramen cost RM26 to RM45 based on what kind you choose. Yes, just a bowl of ramen without anything.

But, 

The lunch promo set offers a bowl of ramen, with side dish of your choice either mini braised beef rice or vegetable salad with japanese dressing and a cup of green tea. 

The lunch set is priced at RM29.90 , and wadafak they sell a bowl of ramen at RM26 ( cheapest price, lol). 

You kidding me? 

Please visit this place from 1130am-3pm  for this lunch set promo because it's really worth it. 

However, the cons is you only have four choice of ramen - and trust me that, these four choice is their best sellers so there's no need to worry about the quality of food. 

Super mini Braised Beef with Onion Rice. This is definitely something japanese , and it was tasty. Even the portion is little, I couldn't finish it. I was already full from the bowl of goodness. 

My choice of Ramen : - Akamaru Shinaji 

The soup is rich with the scent of garlic oil and blended miso paste , and it tasted so good. They claimed that this bowl is a more modernise and refined ramen. I never thought that there's a revolution in ramen, lol. 

Soup is the soul of the bowl of ramen, I swear. 

I hate how some japanese restaurant just serve ramen with soy sauce or soy sauce based soup which kills the originality of ramen. Besides that, I hate it when my noodles gets all salty due to the bad soup they provide. And some of them even cook the noodles so soft that it loses all its textures making it taste like soggy instant noodles. gr. 

Alright, I take my ramen over seriously. lol. 

Her choice of ramen : Shiromaru Motoaji 

This is the classic Hakata Style ramen , and of course the best selling among the all. Everyone wants to try this traditional bowl and I swear it's good. I had this the last time so I chose the other one. The choice of pork here is pork loin while my bowl was pork belly. I'll recommend this if it is the first time you visit Ippudo. 

This will never go wrong ,and also be the reason you return. 

To show you how mini the rice is. 

Don't worry about the portion of your ramen because it's pretty hearty. I couldn't finish a bowl by myself but I finished up the soup. The soup is really good! 

The reason of me blogging about Ippudo Ramen again is to introduce you guys the lunch promo set which I think is really worth it. Sometimes we just get restrained with what we have in our pockets , but no worries. You will still have good ramen with this set with side dish even!

They have different menu for lunch and dinner so take note.  

The ramen is too good that you can't see her eyes, lol. 

That's me with zero make up. 

Have a good bowl of ramen, everyone ! 

Hopetoun Tea Rooms.

Besides good coffee in Melbourne, I requested to visit a place that serves good afternoon tea with pretty ambiance. The hotel reviews of afternoon was only fine, and I didn't want champagne high tea. As asian as it sounds, I don't feel like having alcohol in the noon despite it gives a good comfort in the cold weather. 

Before I head for my teatime , we went over to Melbourne Central ;

This is really beautiful. 

This place is just like KL Central back home. It's a good place for shopping because you can actually find all sorts of brands here. 

This is actually what they wanted me to see. Every hour the clock will have some sort of performance , and everyone will snap pictures of it. As a tourist, I'm not going to miss this out. Perhaps it's something to mechanical for anyone to look at, but I appreciate the effort the way they remind us another hour has passed. 

I wonder if we have something like this back here. 

The boys brought me to

Hopetoun Tea Rooms at Little Collins Street. 

You can see the displays of cakes , and it's the main attraction of everything. My orbs enlarged when I see the choices of cakes they offer. 

They told me that they used to queue for an hour to get a sit in Hopetoun and we were really lucky because we only take 10 minutes. We even have a pretty spacious space compared to them whom squeeze together at one corner. 

The interior is definitely an old world charm , bringing me back to the days where how Victorian houses should be like. I love the settings . From the wallpaper to ceiling lights ( which looks like a mini chandelier) to the table settings , everything was really pretty. 

Two different kinds of tea and three cakes for us , since we are both filled from brunch. 

It was a pity that we couldn't get the three tier high tea set which needs booking beforehand. I didn't know that it needs booking so I didn't remind the boys that I wanted that. So, we settled for just cakes. Their scones isn't available since we went there a little late. 

Note that it closes at 5pm ( Melbourne time) . Sometimes, it really frustrates me that everything closes so early , especially the good stuffs. 

White Chocolate Cheesecake. 

I never thought White Chocolate and Cheesecake would actually collaborate well. Chocolate and Cheese always sound ridiculously disgusting to me , but this one was all good. 

When I say something that includes chocolate is good, it must be good because I don't fancy chocolates. 

Chocolate Marquise.

Too much chocolate and I can't handle it.

Lemon Tart.

It's sour , but it blends well with the crust. I don't know how to explain about how good the crust is. It's really rich in egg flavour. They definitely use authentic lemon juice instead of flavouring ones. 

One thing about things in Melbourne, they make things from scratch instead of using flavouring. Thus, the prices does accommodate what they serves. So, I'm always willing to pay despite the price is a little higher ( especially when you convert, you cry blood.)

Our choices of tea were : - Mademoiselle Grey and What a Pear .

One with floral scent and the other with fruit scent to balance up. Personally, I love how Earl Grey tea mix with rose petals thus Mademoiselle Grey is my cup of tea lol. I think teas will never go wrong with rose or lavender scent. 

Sweeth tooth , hm. 

It was a great afternoon. 

From my blog post in Melbourne, you could see how lazy I am. I really only fancy things that includes eating and waste time , lol. 

oh well, 

Mandatory picture to prove that I'm here so tourist shot!

xx

3am talk.

I think it's true that 3am talks are more meaningful. 

Not just 3am. It's undeniable that good conversation happens when you are half asleep because we don't filter what we want to say and often, this make us pour our true feelings out towards each other. Perhaps it may be ridiculous losing sleep to just talk to someone and you might look dead the next morning. If the conversation actually get you to know someone better, why not sacrifice a night of sleep and to know about someone's thought. I believe that the person you would lose sleep for , isn't just a normal friend to you. Often, they are the ones that you care and you may not have realized it yet. 

I've gotten comments like - I am too carefree. I have no emotions. I don't care too much about anything. I am casual.

That is not the truth because everyone have feelings and emotions , no matter how cold they look. I am just a normal girl so I am also affected by things. I have feelings. I just don't like to bring it up to the surface to just talk about it. I don't like to make it the topic between me and the other party because I think it's something personal , may be irrelevant to them and I do not want to bother them with it. I do have emotional blog posts from time to time , to speak my thoughts indirectly. It may be to the public when I want to keep things personal, but I've got the borderline drawn and I believe people who don't know me personal actually know what or who I am talking about. 

The last time I have conversations on the phone when I was half asleep happened very very long ago, and I kinda miss that. To close my eyes and speak on the phone without looking at the other party's facial expression. It was just our voice, connection between us both. The conversation would start shyly and then to the peak of happiness about things we want to share , slowly to emotional talks and then - feelings and thoughts about life. 

God, I miss it. 

I want to have a 3am talk again. 

And I hope that you could find someone to have your 3am talk too. 

goodnight. 

Wood and Steel.

This is a definitely overdue post because it's way back before my Melbourne trip. 

There are too many new cafes around and I don't ought to miss out anyone of them. I admit that I blog about some cafes half-heartedly just to introduce them to you readers. But I did emphasize on those that are special. On the fairer note, I thought that it's special thus I will definitely describe how good is it. 

Wood and Steel ,

is definitely not a foreign name if you are a cafe hopper. 

Besides serving a good brew and simple food, they also have art galleries on the second floor where you can pay a visit. Perhaps it's going to be a good choice for you to visit Wood and Steel if you appreciate art. I chose my place downstairs because I didn't know there's an art gallery upstairs . lol, and I am too lazy to climb up the stairs. ( you kenot judge me one.) 

The concept of Art Gallery  +  Coffee  + Brunch Meals is very fresh to me. 

You can see pictures of drawings hang on the walls as decoration. I think their furniture are recycle ones which actually shows that they are supporting to save the environment. Overall, it all looks old school. It was really vintage , in a way. 

lol.

That's a little possessive. 

This is what I do all the time, especially in cafes. 

Hot Chocolate. 

Cappucino. 

I always order the same, and it's my favorite coffee.

Salmon Egg Scramble. 

Was a little disappointed about the eggs because they used water instead of milk. The portion of eggs was hearty however a no to the salmon. Garlic on the toast was actually the best among all. 

The other plate was Chicken and Cheese Bruschetta which I think was slightly better. 

They still have room of improvement for the food , but the coffee was great. Not to mention about the environment. They play mostly R&B or Jazz. I really don't get how cafes plays noisy songs. I appreciate EDM but definitely a no no when I want a calm environment with my cup of essential. 

It was just a normal night where I sit down in cafes with a friend. I need more night life like this. Perhaps coffee is a bad idea. Okay, I am not sure if wine or coffee is better. I just want to laze around. Even though I am lazy, I am very dedicated when it comes to my blog. lol. 

but I've got a war in my mind. 

I remember that they were playing Lana Del Rey. 

I recently fell in love with her songs and relate-able lyrics. Do you like her too?