Local Press Cafe, Kingston Foreshore – trying the famous Green Pea Pancake

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Local Press Cafe is famous for it’s Green Pea Pancake so it’s been on my wishlist.

Luckily, the Brunch Menu is available all day so this week I tried it out for lunch…

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Green Pea Pancake with poached eggs, avocado, corn salsa, feta, chilli jam and mint $21

It’s good to try, but I think next time I’d go for the Wild Mushrooms sauteed in garlic, thyme and sage oil with pine nuts, almonds, meredith chevre, greens and poached egg on souorcough bread $19…

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…or customise a meal with things like smoked trout $4.50, kale and almonds $3.50 and tomato and basil $3.50 that all comes with sourdough toast.

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A lovely spot along the lake on a sunny day, it’s open six days for breakfast and lunch, but closed Mondays.

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The current menu also varies from that on line.

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Local Press Cafe Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

 

 

Little Brother, Red Hill Lookout – perfect for a weekend coffee @littlebrotherredhill

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Little Brother has the most gorgeous position, overlooking Canberra’s hills and valleys.

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It really is worth booking a table by the window to make the most of the great views.

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But if you miss out, it’s still cute and cosy anywhere.

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The brunch and lunch menus are great and if you have the Canberra Entertainment Book you can also have a 25% discount.

But if it’s too early for a glass of wine and lunch, or you just looking for a light brekkie or a coffee then it’s hard to beat the morish, thick slices of raisin toast, just $5 for two huge slices.

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Available all day, it’s the perfect comfort food in cold or cloudy weather.

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Little Brother Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Road testing the Thali Lunch at Taste of Bangladesh, Manuka just $13

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So pleased that Taste of Bangladesh are doing Thalis at lunch again!!

Monday to Friday 12-2pm, they are offering what must be the best value lunch in Manuka.

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$13 buys a large serve of rice, large pillowy naan, poppadom and three curries – a vegetable kadhi and two others that change each week.

This week it was a delicous butter chiken and beef vindaloo…so good!!

And if you fancy a glass of wine or best togo with yor Thali, just take it along, there’s no corkage charge!


Taste of Bangladesh Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Red Belly Citrus Blood Oranges – transforms the ordinary into something special!

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Recently I was lucky enough to be sent beautiful blood oranges from Red Belly Citrus.

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Bizzy Lizzy mentioned the gorgeous blood  orange and hazelnut cake recipe in Gourmet Traveller  that gives great instructions for an upside down cake garnished with candied orange slices.

Blood oranges have such a vibrant colour, they make anything special – cakes or salads.

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I decided to try my favourite rich chocolate cake with this innovative highlight.

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I added some cinnamon and liquer to the mix and it was fantastic, served warm with thick whipped cream.

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I planned to use some of my blood oranges for a salad, but the cake was such a hit that they all ended up in cakes!

Wheat & Oats, Phillip – trying the brekkie menu!

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Wheat & Oats is a long time favourite of mine for lunch but I’ve never been before for the all day brekkie.

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Easy parking, great prices and friendly, relaxed service has long been a great draw card. So has the 25% discount with the Canberra Entertainment Book.

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There’s some great options like the Herbivorous $15 with haloumi, rosemary mushrooms, eggs, avocado and sourdough

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Breakfast salad $15 with kale, avocado, eggs, quinoa, beans, beetroot, pepoitas and citrus dressing

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Kale Omelette $15

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 With indoor and outdoor seating it’s good in all weathers, open six days for breakfast and lunch (closed Sundays).
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Wheat & Oats Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Elk & Pea, Braddon – trying the Sunday brunch! @elkandpea

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Elk and Pea has long been on my wishlist to try.

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While Sundays only offer an all day breakfast menu, it includes some good options for lunch like the  Smoked Salmon Salad $19 with a delicious combination or fresh herbs with the crunch of seeds and nuts..

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…or the plentiful Smashed Avocado and Mushrooms $19

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 But the Grande is also a good choice $25…
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 ..available in both vegetarian and non-veg.
Definitely somewhere I’d go back for brunch and enjoy the same dishes again.

The Elk & Pea Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Buvette, Barton – great lunch fine dining at mid range prices!

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Buvette is fairly new to the Realm Precinct in Barton, but already it’s famous for it’s French cuisine and Petit Feast.

However, it is a well kept secret that Buvette is also a top lunch spot in Barton.

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Decadent decor belies the modest prices for lunch options that are very genrously served with sides of salad and french fries, like the QUICHE OF THE DAY – $12

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..or the delicious CHICKEN BAGUETTE – $16 Tarragon Aioli, Comte, Tomato, Baby Cos Heart

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Also tempting are the  CROQUE MONSIEUR – $14 Ham, Gruyère, Mustard, Toasted Sourdough and the SMOKED SALMON BAGUETTE – $16 Capers, Crème Fraîche, Red onion, Baby Cos Heart.

Don’t overlook this well priced, stylishly set lunch spot with a reputation for fine French dining.

Buvette Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Soi Noodle Bar, Canberra City – ticks all the boxes @soinoodlebar

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The Soi Noodle Bar is a perfect spot for a pre or post movie drink and casual meal. Located in the Canberra Centre close to Dendy, parking is easy and it’s open every day until late.

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Not licensed, it very helpfully offers BYO wine at $3 per person.

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You can choose from differently sized Japanese, Thai and Korean dishes to suit your appetite and budget.

It’s great value, offering a 25% discount for Canberra Entertainment Book holders.

Service is swift.

The decor is chic, with some very impressive branding…

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…that even extends into the kitchen!

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Soi Noodle Bar has  a friendly atmosphere and it’s the kind of place you can chat to fellow diners. At the table next to us we met Tam, Minh, Jenny and Tam who were lovely.

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They are studying at ANU and enjoying Canberra, especially its food culture.

When it came to the menu, I loved the interesting mini-dishes especially the soft buns (3 for $15, $5 each for any extra).

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These buns are teriyaki chicken, but the soft shell crab, spanner crab, prawn tempura or lamb all sounded great too.

Other great choices were the spicy edamame beans $5….

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….and the delicious miso eggplant $10.

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One order of each of these would be perfect to share between two with a glass or two of wine ($18 each including corkage or $13.50 with the Entertainment Book discount).
However, there’s also larger main meals on offer like the..

SLOW COOKED BEEF CHEEKS With salad & black rice $24

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Or if you’d like, you can create your own noodle, curry, ramen or rice dish from a range of ingredients for around $14 (vegetable) to $19 for combination meats.

Serve sizes are very generous, ideal for sharing.

GREEN CURRY
Thai green curry with coconut milk zucchini, eggplant, green beans, bamboo shoot & sweet basil (medium spicy)

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RAMEN – Chicken broth ramen noodle soup, topped with the meat of your choice, wakame, nori, chopped shallot, bamboo shoot, boiled egg and fish cake.

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PAD SEE EW – Stir-fried thick rice noodles with Chinese broccoli, egg & sweet soy sauce

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YAKIUDON – Udon noodles with soy, oyster ,fish sauce, cabbage, chopped shallot, onion, carrot, mushroom, egg and topped by bonito flakes & sesame oil.

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The staff were friendly and accommodating.

They even sent us out some complimentary slushies to try –

LYCHEE SAKURA – lychee, lime & mint, 

COCO-MANGO – coconut, mango & mint, 

WATERMELON SUIKA – watermelon, mint & lime 

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Usually $6 each they were a perfect way to end the meal.

Soi Noodle Bar ticks all the boxes for me and will be my ‘go to’ pick when I’m heading to the movies.

Soi Noodle Bar Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Passion and Delight at #mybrekkiebowl Launch

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As part of the Love Cereal4Brekkie team I was delighted this week to be part of the #mybrekkiebowl launch, a gorgeous  event to kick start a flow of conversations about personalising brekkie cereal bowls.

All my foodie and dietitian passions were indulged as I….

…. enjoyed the fantastic Cafe Sydney early morning view over Sydney Harbour….

……marvelled at Cafe Sydney chefs’ delicate canapé creations using breakfast cereals….


Sanitarium Weetbix and vanilla yoghurt delice, strawberry, gold leaf

Freedom Gluten free Ancient Grain Flakes date and fig bliss ball

All bran corn and zucchini fritter, cured trout

Uncle Toby’s Plus range digestive, avocado, quail egg, crisp kale

Kellogg’s Five Grain Muesli coconut and apple Bircher

Sanitarium Granola Oat Clusters breakfast panna cotta, pineapple, passionfruit, mint

Uncle Toby’s Ancient Grains Porridge, sautéed mushrooms, onion, thyme
…was intrigued by Dr Cathy Gare’s insights (food sensory expert from the Australian Institute of Food Science & Technology), summed up in her quote from the chef, Heston Blumenthal, who is convinced that we need to “engage all of [the] senses if we want to create a truly memorable eating experience”

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…..was inspired by Food stylist and founder of blog 84thand3rd.com, Jennifer Jenner who gave us great food styling tips like the strengths of iphones, they work best flat or straight up but start to fail at an angle…

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….appreciated again the research that underpins breakfast cereal as an excellent choice for nutrition and a heathy weight as Leigh Reeve APD, Director of the Australian Breakfast Cereal Manufacturers Forum reminded us of the secondary analysis of the Australian Health Survey

….and the recent Galaxy research that research that showed that one of the biggest motivations for people in choosing a bowl of breakfast cereal is to create something healthy

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…..but that also looked for little known and quirky facts about Aussie breakfast bowls like…

…….just over half a million Australians added vegetables to their brekkie cereal

….almost a million added herbs and spices

…….half a million added spreads like peanut butter

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……but fruit and nuts were the most popular toppings

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……more than 300,000 Aussies ate cereal with a fork and more than 1 million had a special spoon they always use for cereal

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…..nearly half a million Australians used a mason jar and nearly one million a plate, for their bowl

……almost half a million Australians post a photo of their breakfast bowl to social media every day

…….Aussie men are three times as likely as women to post a photo of their cereal on social media

…..and celebrated as the humble breakfast cereal, an everyday core grain food, took to the stage as an actor with so many new personalities and roles

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…and burst with pride as the team’s efforts and hard work all came together…

…to create the arena for social and mainstream media writers to explore new possibilities in their own cereal bowls and inspire their readers to new breakie bowl creations.

As Jennifer Jenner said…

“A simple, beautifully styled bowl of brekkie cereal can look gorgeous and taste great in itself, however with the opportunity for people to get adventurous with their flavour and styling combos, the brekkie bowl can be a real social media star.”

This was my creative brekkie bowl, to tantalise all the senses!

….with passionfruit yogurt, Bran cereal, pumpkin purée, peanut butter, raspberry, blue berry, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, mint, macadamias, zucchini ribbons with marinated figs, cinnamon and honey.

It was actually surprisingly excellent, even rivalling the canapés! I think I’m a convert to veg and spreads on cereal!

What’s your personalised brekkie bowl? Post it with the #mybrekkiebowl hashtag and join the conversation!

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The Kettle Black, South Melbourne – Insta heaven!

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Google ‘best brunch in Melbourne’ and The Kettle Black will be there!


The Melbourne Girl and Not Quite Nigella are both fans!

Read ‘picture perfect’ and I’m in!

And not disappointed…the food is gorgeous! To admire and to savour!

Very, difficult to choose…fortunately, there’s time while you wait for a table to peruse both the menu and Instagram!


Other diners also offer helpful tips…what they’ve loved on previous visits.

The mushrooms came highly recommended, but wanting something both sweet and very beautiful, I trusted Instagram and went for the SOAKED MUESLI WITH AUSTRALIAN GRAINS, HOUSE-MADE YOGHURT, SEASONAL FRUITS & FLOWERS
– great value at $14


It was everything I’d hoped it would be, satisfying, great balance of crunch with nuts and some biscuit crumb, creamy, sweet from the berries, but not too sweet and the fruits and edible flowers at real treat! Loved it.

My friend enjoyed her TATAKI OCEAN TROUT WITH A RAW KALE & PICKLED VEGETABLE SALAD, SEAWEED, ALMONDS & POACHED EGGS
– $21 also beautiful and delicious.


Other people’s dishes looked excellent too like the…

CONFIT FREE RANGE PORK, COMPRESSED PEAR, POACHED EGGS, BUTTER EMULSION
– $19

CAPE GRIM BEEF
WITH HOUSE-MADE MUSTARD, SEASONAL FRUIT RELISH & LEAVES ON THE KETTLE BLACK BUN – $23

And a very substantial HOTCAKE WITH RICOTTA, BLUEBERRIES, PURE MAPLE, DOUBLE CREAM, SEEDS & NUTS – $20

Once seated service is quick, but there’s no need to rush. Plenty of time to appreciate the artistry and take wonderful photos!

The Kettle Black Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato