La Vista Restaurant and Bar, Geelong

On Father's Day a couple of weekends ago, it was ironic that I had lunch with my mum and my daughter.  Sylvia did a great job of finding a venue online.  It was a restaurant called La Vista in one of the newer buildings overlooking the waterfront.  (I say newer from the viewpoint of someone who remembers Geelong waterfront before it smelled any whiff of a developer.)  La Vista is on the first floor with a great view of the beach.  Unfortunately we had a sunny seat at the window and asked to move to a less sunny seat further from the window.

We ordered drinks first.  Sylvia and I honed in on the mocktails.  She had seen Appletinis on the tv so was excited to be able to try a non-alcoholic Appletini.  It comprised apple juice, lemon juice, granny smith apple syrup.  Sylvia said it was scrumptious athe perfect balance of sweet and sour. I went for the Cuddle on the Beach: peach, cranberry, orange, lime .  I think that was meant to be a PG rated version of Sex on the Beach.  I chose it because I love peaches and because the silly name amused me.

First dish to arrive was the Crispy cauliflower bites.  These battered and fried florets of cauliflower were bit sized and perfectly cooked.  This is the sort of side dish to convince someone of how good cauliflower can taste.  We were all impressed, including Sylvia who has only recently come around to cauliflower.

I had ordered the Grilled Corn and Halloumi Salad which according to the menu was a bowl of "pickled red cabbage, grilled corn, cucumber mint, golden halloumi, chickpea & tomato chilli dressing".  I liked it but it was not as promised by the menu.  More surprisingly was that the main vegetables seemed to be baby spinach and raw red onion, neither of which were mentioned on the menu.  I like baby spinach but it overwhelmed the corn, cucumber, chickpeas and pickled cabbage promised by the menu.  I don't really like raw onion so I had a considerable pile of it at the side of my plate when I finished.  Despite my complaints, I really liked the salty halloumi was lovely with the fresh vegetables. They were lovely with the cauliflower and potatoes side dishes.

Sylvia likes leaves far more than me and ordered the Green Garden Salad.  It was lots of leaves with tomatoes, cucumber and onion.  Sylvia loved it (except the onion) with roast potatoes.

Lately we had a generous bowl of Oven Roasted Rosemary Chat Potatoes.  These were excellent.  They were crispy and crunchy with salt and herbs.  We kept going back for more and praising them to the high heavens!
 

It was a really lovely lunch: a nice view of Eastern Beach, satisfying food, great service and good to gather three generations together.  After lunch we went to my parents' house where my dad had returned from watching Collingwood at footy training with my brother.  Some of my siblings and niblings came over for a Father's Day afternoon tea of scones, profiteroles and ginger cake.  A fine day of catching up with family and enjoying some Geelong sunshine.

La Vista Restaurant and Bar
120 Brougham Street, Geelong  VIC  3220
https://www.lavistageelong.com.au/

Kewpie Bar, Fitzroy

Years after she first visited, Sylvia has discovered Kewpie Bar.  When she first was there, it was called Bimbos and she was too young to be walking or talking.  The building still has a giant kewpie doll high on the facade of the building.  And thee days Sylvia enjoys their pizzas.  I on the other hand really enjoy going to Fitzroy.  I lived there many year ago so now I get all nostalgic when I return.

We first visited when Sylvia was interested in the $5 pizzas.  That is pretty cheap in this day and age where the cost of living just rises and rises at a ridiculous rate.  This Margherita pizza is simply topped with sugo, basil and mozzarella.  Sylvia has had many Magherita pizzas in her time and loved this one.

I had the Poncho pizza, topped with sugo, Mexican beans, corn chips, mozzarella, sour cream and paprika.  I loved the presentation with the corn chips arranged like circling sharks.  And it tasted great.  The beans were scattered sparingly but it meant that the base was crisp and there were plenty of flavour.

We went back a week ago and tried a couple of different pizzas.  This time I went for one of the couple of vegetarian pizzas that cost $8 rather than $5.  The Superveg wqas topped with pesto, spinach, mushroom, cherry tomato, jalapenos, feta, mozzarella, and dukkah.  It was nice but seemed light on the feta and more generous with the jalapenos.  I preferred the Poncho. 

Sylvia tried the Patate pizza which had caramelised onion, roasted potato, mozzarella, parmesan and rosemary.  The onion was like blobs of an onion jam.  Sylvia did not like it.  It was nice pizza but not as nice as some other potato pizzas we have had.  We discussed the bases being less like the pizza dough we are used to from takeaway pizza.  I think it was more than just flour, yeast, salt and sugar.  More processed in some way but nice.

We also ordered the garlic bread.  It was a classic old fashioned garlic bread that I used to have as a kid: soft baguettes lots of melty garlicky butter between them  The sort you have to break pieces off and they ooze butter.  So good!
.  

Like its previous incarnation Bimbos, Kewpie still has a lot of kewpie doll artwork.  This tattooed kewpie above seems very zeitgeisty

After our two visits sitting by the window, we discovered a more night time area with a plane, fake plants, bird cages, mirror balls and kewpie dolls.  We had two kewpie dolls on canes hanging by our window in the bedroom I shared with my sister as a kid.  But not like this.  These are so quirky and fun.

I was curious about the connection between Bimbos and Kewpie so I googled it and found a Broadsheet article from 2021 about the venue changing owners after being shut for 2 years during the pandemic after a fire.  I never liked the name Bimbos.  I preferred it when it was the Punters Club during my student days when I lived in Fitzroy.  Good times.  Much as changed since then.
 

We had never heard of crullers in mystudent days.  Now they are sold by Moon Cruller in Rose Street, a project of Lune Bakery.  We were visiting Moon Cruller before eating at Kewpie.  Sylvia had money set aside to buy some for Fathers Day.

Another change is this restaurant called the Rice Queen over the pedestrian lights on Brunswick Street.  It looks quite interesting but is very different from the second hand furniture store where I bought a desk as a student.  I still work on that desk today.

Another change is the Fitzroy Nursery.  It has been there for so long with its quirky steel art gate but now it has remodelled, the gate has gone and it has extended to a second store across the street.

There are many stores that I miss on Brunswick Street such as Grub Street Bookstore, Scally and Trombone, and Polyester music store.  But I can still walk down the street and peek into interesting looking shops.

There has been a lot of fun street art around Brunswick Street over the years, though I do not remember any as a student.  This smoking tree is on the wall on the corner of Westgarth Street where Retro Cafe used to be.  The owners had sold The Fitz and moved to a new cafe down the street.  But Retro Cafe is no longer there.  The building is now home to Gogyo which specialises in ramen.

I also enjoy walking around the historic terrace houses on the nearby streets.  Traditionally workers cottages, they were reduced to slums before Fitzroy was gentrified and became very des res.  (I am sure I told the story before of moving to Fitzroy and my dad bringing my grandmother to visit to reassure her it was no longer the haunt of gangsters.)  They have fancy parapets, and cast iron verandahs that are a few footsteps from the wrought iron fences.  These days there are many signs supporting the Voice to Parliament referendum that is coming up in weeks.

As someone with a long memory of Fiztroy, it seems odd that reviews call Bimbos a Brunswick Street institution that has been carried over into Kewpie bar.  To me it will always be the Punters Club which recently became Bimbos.  But I like the way it is developing as Kewpie and we plan to be back for more cheap pizzas.

Kewpie Bar
376 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy Victoria Australia
Web: https://kewpiefitzroy.com.au/

In My Kitchen - September 2023

The Spring has sprung etc etc.  August was an odd end of winter.  Warmer than usual with us eating better with fruit vegetable than we usually do at the end of winter.  Now we wait for summer fruit.  Over the last month, we have been to cafes, got caught up in World Cup / Matildas fever. seen Elemental at the cinema, and this weekend we drove to Geelong for Father's Day.  In the local news, QANTAS airlines have been acting badly, supermarkets are raking in huge profits while customers suffer rising cost of living levels, and the announcement of the Voice Referendum date as 14 October means lots of campaigning for an Indigenous Voice to parliament.

Meanwhile recently there have been some significant endings.  Most annoying is that The Age newspaper has stopped their weather report which I relied on, especially when out on my bike.  I am looking at other options but I really liked their reports.  I was sad to see that Zomato has closed in Melbourne.  I linked a lot of review to this cafe review site but also used it a lot when looking at where to eat out.  And last Thursday, Virginia Trioli has announced she is leaving the ABC Melbourne morning radio show

Sylvia and I have been planning our meals each week which helps us eat a bit better.  Above is my dinner from a rice bowl night.  That means I cook up rice and we load it with lots of vegies.  On this night I opened a tin of Greek Gigantes Beans in tomato sauce, served it with tofu bacon, edamame, baby spinach, avocado and cucumber.  It was excellent.

From Clay Organics in Rathdowne Street, we bought this little pot of microgreens and a couple of bottles of Fuji Apple Monceau Pet Nat Kombucha, which is made in nearby Brunswick.  Sylvia enjoyed the microgreens on rice bowls and omelettes and we both loved the kombucha which had a mercifully short ingredient list.
 

We still have pizza every Friday.  Sometimes we get takeaway and sometimes we make it at home.  This is a home made fast track pizza with garlic, olive oil, mac and cheese, parsley and parmesan.  Great comfort carb on carb food.

I don't really understand why Sylvia loves Cheetos so much but I agree with her that these paws shaped Cheetos are really cute.

We stopped in at an Asian grocery at Northland and bought Peach Tea oreos (nice but not a favourite), purple ube condensed milk (still in the tin), cucumber flavoured potato crisps (odd but good) and bamboo charcoal peanuts.  Usually the product does not live up to the photo on the packet but these peanuts are black as night which is even more impressive than the purple on the packaging.  I really enjoy them but they are pretty intense and best eaten in small quantities.

One of our cafe stops was San Churro in Lygon Street, Carlton, where I was very impressed by my mac and cheese croquettes and Sylvia loved her brulee latte.  Of course we also enjoyed their churros and chocolate.  She bought herself a charmingly rustic mug to take home.

We had a few nights watching the Matildas and then the Grand Final of the Women's World Cup.  Bring brought up on Aussie Rules football, I still find soccor a bit of a mystery.  There is so little scoring and so much kick to kick but there were some exciting moments, in particular the incredibly tense nail-biting, heart-stopping Matildas penalty shootout against France.  These crisps were bought for watching the matches.  They were specially chosen not for their flavours but because they were the Matildas' colour of green and gold!

One of my favourite meals to eat out is noodles, salad, fried tofu and spring rolls.  So recently we had had an easy version of this where we dunk some vermicelli in boiling water, chop some vegies (cabbage, snow peas, grated carrot, baby spinach and spring onion), add some flavours (soy sauce, mirin, rice vinegar) and top with baked supermarket spring rolls and either leftover tofu or chopped cashew nuts.  I was pleased Sylvia liked the noodles and salad with spring rolls.

Sylvia told me that she wanted to try a risotto so I made a mushroom one based on this recipe.  I used to make risottos quite regularly but haven't made one for years.  I was glad that my risotto mojo returned to me and Sylvia enjoyed the comfort of creamy cheesy rice with fried mushrooms.  She has been keen to try new things lately at cafes: a big breakfast, poached eggs, a Lord of the Fries burger with pickles (I am still upset they have removed the mini burger from the menu and only order a large burger now) and fried cauliflower.  Unlike me, she likes eggs many ways and lots of mushrooms.  After years of going out with my fussy daughter, I am now in danger of becoming the fussy one because I don't fare as well as her in brunchy cafes where most savoury dishes have either eggs or meat.

I am sending this post to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings for the In My Kitchen event. If you would like to join in, send your post to Sherry by 13th of the month.  Or just head over to her blog to visit more kitchens and her gorgeous hand drawn header.

Budapest Cafe, Carlton, Melbourne

Budapest Cafe is one of those small cafes that looks unassuming from the street but has made an impact online.  Situated in the student quarters of Swanston Street, it offers some innovative and attractive meals.  The design is inspired by the Wes Anderson film The Grand Budapest Hotel.  Definitely a place for instagrammers and those in search of something different.

We started with drinks from the specials menu.  Sylvia ordered an Agatha: Rose lemonade with mixed berry.  I ordered a Fruit of Eden: Red berry dust, gourmet lychee blush, lime juice and ruby red sparkling.  They came with a large ice cube at the top of the drink in addition to lots of ice blocks.  Sylvia' tasted quite strongly of rose and mine had a slightly sharp edge.  We both enjoyed them but ended up swapping drinks.

Sylvia ordered the Egg Benedict Garden with no bacon.  It was a generous 2 poached eggs and 2 hash browns on a croissant and topped with spicy Hollandaise sauce and microgreens.  On the side was a pile of greens with balsamic vinegar crisp leaves.  Sylvia loved it and found it very filling.  It was her first experience of poached egg.  She enjoyed them with her dish.

I honed in on the unusual Pumpkin Toast.  This was two piece of pumpkin toast slathered with lots of Greek yoghurt/hummus (I tasted mostly yoghurt) and topped with roasted pumpkin, nuts (pistachios?), a good drizzle of caramel sauce, and a micro salad.  Pumpkin and caramel sauce in a savoury dish sounds odd but it worked really well.  There was also a nice hint of smoky flavour, which may have been the red dust on the meal.  I would have preferred a little less yoghurt and more roasted pumpkin but it was a very satisfying dish.  I was glad I chose this over the avocado smash!

We shared a Strawberry Croffle for dessert from the specials menu.  The croffle - a croissant crossed with a waffle - came with generous serves of good strawberry jam and cream.  There was possibly more cream than croffle - a bit much for me but Sylvia loved it.  The cream was topped with strawberry dust, fresh strawberries and a strawberry syrup.  The jam and cream on the croffle were delicious but I wished there were more of the chopped strawberries on top.

The award-winning design by Baisol Designs feels a like a 1960s futuristic space with arches and stairs to nowhere.  My photos don't do the warm terracotta hues justice.  The waiters wear what I can only describe as beige lab coats but looked more warehouse than laboratory.  On the back they read "Lobby Boy" - a reference to the Grand Budapest Hotel. There were lots of other customers - quite a few students - and the serve was friendly and attentive. It wasn't a cheap meal at $85.80 but we were very happy with our lunch.

Budapest Cafe
498 Swanston Street, Carlton, Melbourne
Open daily from 9am - 3.30pm
www.thebudapestcafe.com.au

Tofu nuggets - revisited

There are some recipes that we make over and over.  One is tofu nuggets, the vegan cousin of the much maligned chicken nuggets.  They are delicious hot off the frypan, cold the next day or chopped up into so many dishes.  I first wrote about them in 2011 - yes 12 years ago - when I first made them.  Now I have made them enough to write them up again with much more experience.

These are not the easiest meal but the recipe makes quite a lot so usually we have leftovers.  Sometimes I wish Sylvia would eat tofu nuggets from the supermarket.  But she prefers homemade.  More often I wish more cafes would serve tofu nuggets.  Very few do.  Perhaps very few kids love tofu nuggets as much as my daughter.  I guess not so many have had them since they were toddlers.

Sylvia sometimes requests tofu nuggets for dinner.  I made her these tofu nuggets recently and was in the flow.  It seemed easier than usual.  It might have been that I had a little more energy or that the equipment was right.  These days I have a tofu press and a cast iron frypan.  That makes a difference!  My daughter is also old enough to help with making tofu nuggets.

The tofu is not marinated so it can be a bit bland but the crumb coating is full of flavour and when eaten with tomato sauce or aioli these are really good.  I adapted a recipe from Vegan Dad that used poultry spice.  This is not a spice mix I have ever had.  But I often have a spice mix that I need to get through.  I like that the nuggets are often slightly different in flavour depending on what is around.  Though for me the best bit is that the crispy coating reminds me of the fish fingers I loved as a kid without the fishy taste.

When I first started to make these tofu nuggets many years ago I would bake them.  They were pretty good but I find my oven frustratingly slow.  Once I started to fry them in my cast iron frypan, I could get them much crispier and much quicker.  

Once cooked they are a great versatile protein, a substitute for meat in all sorts of dishes.  They work well as either as the protein component of a meat and two veg style meal or in a pasta dish or with a stirfry sauce or with some salads in summer.  I have used them in a few dishes on my blog and include links to these and other serving suggestions at the end of the recipe.

One thing I have always disliked about crumbing foods is the leftovers in the dipping bowls.  Lately I have been mixing the leftovers with whatever is about: On the occasion of the above photo I mixed it with cauliflower rice and ground almonds.  Then I fried these fritters and added them to spaghetti with tomato sauce.  Delicious!

More basic proteins on Green Gourmet Giraffe blog:

• Nut roast (v)
• Tofu bacon (gf, v)
  
• Cashew cream (gf, v)
• Tofu besan omelette (gf, v)
• Tofu nut balls (v) 
  
  

Tofu nuggets
adapted from Vegan Dad via Green Gourmet Giraffe
serves 4-6

• 500g (about 1 lb) firm tofu*
• oil or oil spray, for cooking
  

Milk mixture

• 3/4 cup soy milk*
• 1 tbsp seeded mustard
• 1 tbsp chopped chives or 1 tsp onion flakes
  
• 1/4 tsp chilli paste, or more
  
• 1/4 tsp salt

Flour mixture

• 1/2 cup wholemeal flour*
• 1 tsp seasoning mix of choice*
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder

Crumb mixture

• 1 cup crushed cornflakes (or 3 cups of uncrushed cornflakes, crushed in a blender)*
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs* 
  

Press tofu for at least 30 minutes.  This is best done with a tofu press but if you don't have one you can put the tofu on a chopping board and top with your heavy stuff such as chopping boards, cookbooks, big tins of legumes etc.  

Slice into squares (3x3x3) or rectangles (3x4x2) .  For rectangles, I cut into three layers, then cut stack in half on top, half these again to make 4 piles of rectangles and then halve each rectangle into two shorter rectangles to get about 24 nuggets.  If I want square I cut three layers and then cut into three piles of rectangles and then cut into three piles the other way so they are square.  See diagram below.

Place milk into a deep bowl, and the flour mixture and crumb mixture into shallow bowls.  Dip the tofu pieces in milk, flour, milk, crumbs and place on a plate.  Use two forks to dip in milk and move from bowl to bowl so you minimise handling.  Have spoons to make sure they are well covered with flour and then crumbs.  When  dipping in milk for the second time, make sure the flour coating is all moist but don't have in the milk too long or the flour will dissolve into the milk which will become thicker than is good for dipping.

Now that you have your tufo crumbed, you can set it aside for later (which I don't usually do but could help if you need to prepare earlier) or cook by either baking or frying: 

To bake:

Place crumbed tofu pieces on a lined oven tray.  Spray with oil.  Bake at 220 C (or less if your oven is not as slow as mine)  for about 15 minutes.  Turn them over and spray the other side with oil.  Return to the oven for about 10 minutes or until crisp.

To fry:

I highly recommend a cast iron pan if you have one.  Heat to medium high and add some oil to generously cover the pan.  Use tongs to lower crumbed tofu into oil and it should be almost golden brown on the underside once you have them all on the pan.  Turn over and fry until the underside is golden brown.  Use tongs to turn to the side and give a little press on hot pan - rotate and repeat until all side fried.  Remove from heat to a paper towel lined plate.  Can be kept warm in low oven if required.

NOTES:

• You can use other milks but we usually use soy milk, which makes them vegan.  
• If the milk mixture becomes really thick, add a little extra milk to thin it out.
  
• The seasoning mix depends on your preferences.  I like a tex mex sort of seasoning mix or a dukkah.  If you don't have a seasoning mix, I have used a mix of smoked paprika, cumin, stock powder, allspice and black salt.
  
• Sometimes I just blend up breadcrumbs out of old bread in the freezer.  Lately I have been using panko breadcrumbs which are excellent.
• These can be made gluten free with GF flour, GF breadcrumbs and GF cornflakes. 
• The mixture can be used on cauliflower instead of tofu: lightly steam the florets of the head of cauliflower for about 10 min until tender.  Dip in the crumb coating.  I baked it for 20 minutes at 240 C.  Delicious!  I would love to try it with eggplant slices too.  Lots of vegetables would work here.
  
• Mix leftover dipping mixtures together with ground almonds, peanut butter or mashed tofu and make into fritters or "cheat balls".
  

SERVING SUGGESTIONS:

• As finger food for kids
  
• In a Katsu Curry
• Chopped on Pizza
• Chopped up in a Sushi Salad (or a sushi handroll)
• In a Taco or Tortilla topped with lettuce, tomato, finely chopped cabbage, guacamole, salsa and yoghurt
• With a salad such as this Carrot and Seed Salad
• Instead of meatballs topped in tomato sauce on spaghetti with cheese on top
• As a protein chopped up in a Vegetarian Bolognaise
• In a stirfry with sauce such as this Sweet and Sour Tofu
• In a sandwich with coleslaw or your favourite salad fillings. 
  

 
On the Stereo:
The White Bread Album: The Burnt Sausages

Eastside adventures: Sebby Scrolls, Shanklin and Friends of Mine and street art

One of the joys of working four days a week is that a three day weekend gives more time to spend with my daughter.  We had an interesting day a few weeks back going around the East of Melbourne.  Firstly we went to buy what Sylvia swore were the best cinnamon scrolls in Melbourne, to the cafe with Turkish delight latte and past another place where we had been recently.  In between there was street art and some childhood memories.

Our first port of call was Sebby Scrolls at 11am.  After hearing from Sylvia that they were the best in Melbourne, I was surprised at how humble they appeared.  They sell two products -  cinnamon scrolls and cheeseymite scrolls - from a hole in the wall in a suburban street.  But we could see them making dozens and dozens of scrolls.  There was a steady stream of customers and when we drove back past less than an hour later, they were sold out.  Opening hours are 8.30am-2pm or until sold out!

We bought 2 of the cheeseymite scrolls and 4 of the cinnamon scrolls to take to the park over the road.  I loved my cheeseymite.  It was soft and warm with lots of vegemite throughout the swirly scrolls and lots of crispy melted cheese on top.  It was so filling I did not have much room for a cinnamon scroll.  Just a little taste.  They were nice but not my sort of scroll.  I grew up with coffee scrolls with golden brown edges and a little dollop of pink plastic icing.  Now I am not endorsing pink plastic icing but I just need a little and I found the oodles of cream cheese frosting too sweet and too messy.  I also found the scrolls cooked but much softer than I like.  Sylvia loved them.  Of course they lasted her a few days!

It was lovely sitting in the park having warm scrolls.  The backstory of Sebby's Scrolls is a couple who perfected baking cinnamon scrolls during the covid lockdowns and opened their own commercial kitchen, which now makes scrolls for over 45 businesses in Melbourne.  So if you can't find their hole in the wall in South Caulfield, you might find them at a place nearer you such as Terror Twilight, Seven Seeds and Applehead Deli.

Then we had a drive about because this was the part of Melbourne where I lived for the first few years of my life but rarely visit now.  The area must have changed a lot since I spent time here as a child but I can't remember how it was.  Above is some street art on a corner of North Road that I liked.

We came across more lovely street art from a deli called The Fresh Feast in East Hawthorn.  It looked really nice and we would have come back to buy arancini if not so full after visiting our next place.

A few doors down from The Fresh Feast is Shanklin Cafe.  It is in a little terrace house with exposed brick walls, warm lights and artworks.  When we arrived there was a short queue and it didn't take long to seat us in the little room between the verandah and the larger room with the counter

The reason we were there was that Sylvia wanted to try the Turkish Delatte ($6).  There are so many attractive lattes about but they are just flavoured milk which is not my thing.  Sylvia loves milk much more than me.  Which is so lovely that I can admire her choices.  This warm (Turkish Delight) rose flavoured latte (no coffee) came with whipped cream, dried rose petals and rose dust.  Sylvia enjoyed it with some hot chips ($8) but did not finish her latte.

Meanwhile I tossed up between the corn fritters and the pancakes.  Knowing I am not often in Hawthorn, I chose the more decadent option of the Nutella Stuffed Pancakes ($27).  The menu says they are served with seasonal fruits, mixed berry and vanilla compôte, nutella labne, pistachio, caramelised walnut served with vanilla bean ice cream & maple syrup.  

Mine came with a whopping 3 scoops of vanilla ice cream that I politely pushed to the side.  Not my thing!  I would have preferred more maple syrup.  I enjoyed the generous dollop of nutella, with more between the pancakes and all the berries and compote around the side.  But it was rather rich and I took some of it home in a box to enjoy later.  It was accompanied by a pleasing berry kombucha.

Then we drove homewards.  As we went down Swan Street, we passed busy netball courts and a cafe with yellow awnings and welcoming lights.  I mentioned to Sylvia that it looked like a nice place to visit.  She checked the name and found it was Friends of Mine, a cafe that had looked quite different when we had visited a few months before on a dreary rainy day.  Above is an amusing piece of Eastside toff street art we had seen when walking from our car park.

So I digress to tell you about our visit to Friends of Mine.  We had decided to visit after an Ikea excursion.  It was warm and light after coming in from the rain.  More spacious warehouse than cosy cottage but lots of yellow and exposed brickwork and large modern artwork.  It was very busy, a little noisy and rather welcoming.

Sylvia chose fried eggs on toast with some hot chips.  I wanted to try the Cheesy Herb Toast comprised of five grain toast with golden grilled béchamel sauce, parmesan, tasty cheese and mozzarella.  On the side I had some roasted tomatoes and thyme buttered mushrooms.   I liked the idea of cheese on toast which was far more common in my childhood than a cheese toastie.  I was so cold I had a hot chocolate for extra warmth.  We were very pleased with our brunch.

As we continued our drive home, I stopped to photograph some street art.  This Charlie Brown and Snoopy street art was on Coppin Street almost opposite Dame Nellie Melba Memorial Park.

Then there were the fighters painted on Church Street near the corner of Bridge Road.

We headed back North, just stopping at Clay Organics in Rathdowne Street, North Carlton for a spot of health food shopping before arriving home.

Sebby's Scrolls
367 North Road, Caulfield South
Takeaway only
Hours: Wed to Sat 8.30am - 2pm, Sun 8.30am - 1pm
(or until sold out)

Shanklin Cafe
500 Tooronga Road, Hawthorn East
shanklincafe.com.au
Hours: Mon to Sat 6.30am - 3pm, Sun 7am - 3pm

Friends of Mine
500 Swan Street, Richmond
friendsofmine.com.au
Hours:  Mon to Fri 7am - 3pm, Sat to Sun 7.30am - 3pm