Adelaide~ [Bracegirdle's House of Fine Chocolate & Mamma Carmela Restaurant and Pizza Bar]

Hellloooooo~

I've just come back from Adelaide a few days ago for University Games. It was an interesting place I reckon.
The good things were:

• Stayed right next to beach
• Good time with friends
• Found this awesome chocolate shop (Bracegirdles) 

Bad things:

• Shops close at 5pm weekends and 9pm weekdays (blasphemy D:)
• Not much to do ..

Rather than talking about that~ I found two places that I liked in Adelaide :D
An amazing chocolate shop and a fairly decent restaurant~

The Chocolate Cafe is called 'Bracegirdle'.
It gives off a warm welcoming atmosphere when you enter :)
Oh and the rich smell of delicious chocolate too~
I ended up coming here twice :9

They have this at the front of their store...
I was somewhat skeptical..
Because you know, when places put these up; it's usually not that great.
However this place lived up to it :)

As you enter you can see their wall full of chocolate delights :O
Absolutely heaven for anyone seriously ._.

Then when you get to the counter... You see these bite sized chocolates D:

Oceania: $2
I ended up trying this one.
It was chocolate and caramel but was very nice :D
The shell broke apart quite easily in my mouth and everything melded together quite nicely~

Hot Chocolate: $6.00
Chilli Hot Chocolate: $6.50
They came in the same cup so I didn't see the point of having two pics of the same cup.
Their hot chocolate is really good! One of the bests I've tried in a long time.
The hot chocolate was full of flavour and simply amazing :D
For the chilli chocolate one.. I'm usually not inclined to try chilli chocolate..
However these guys made it quite good. The chocolate was warm and a bit frothy which was then
hit by the slight taste of chilli, not too strong but strong enough :9

Short Chocolate: $4.50
It's basically a shot of their chocolate with milk.
This is SOOOO good D:
This is the main thing from this store that I will be craving I think
For this price you get a fair amount and it was worth it ..
I mixed the milk and chocolate together to get the picture above so then I could
scoop the chocolate out and eat it :9
It was creamy and satisfied my chocolate cravings ~

Bracegirdle's Cooler Bag: $15 normally. $5 if spent over $50 and free if over $75
I got it for free... So yeah you can tell I bought a lot of chocolate :\

White, Milk, Dark, Darker Chocolate: $9.00 or $12.50
These are the chocolates I bought!
They're blocks of chocolate for my friends in Melbourne.
Trying to stop myself from eating these T.T

Mamma Carmela is a restaurant of mixed reviews ~
Reviews said only good pizza.
End of the night.. I reckon the pizza wasn't that great but other things were~

Seafood Platter: $33.00
Hmm... skeptical...
Chips were below standard and seafood was okay?

Sweet Chilli Chicken Focaccia: $12.50
Chips: $5.00
The chips wasn't the best choice.
The Focaccia however was a good choice.
The Focaccia was massive and worth the money. It filled me up in a good way :9
Chicken was well cooked, the vegetables complimented the chicken and to the top it off; the melted cheese /drool

Gourmet Calzone $18.90
It's basically their Gourmet Pizza in Calzone form.
The Calzone itself didn't have empty air inside, full of ingredients and flavour.

Wrap up! :D

Stop #1: Bracegirdle's House of Fine Chocolate

Best chocolate in Adelaide? I think yes. In Melbourne? It's in the top chocolate places for me! :D
Amazing chocolate products, great service and awesome atmosphere ~

Food: 9/10
Service: 9/10
Price: 8/10
Overall: 8.67/10

It's a must try! Cannot miss this if you're in Adelaide (not like there's anything else there).
They have a few stores but the one I went to was in Glenelg.
They are at: 31 Jetty Road, Glenelg, SA 5045

Stop #2:  Mamma Carmela Restaurant and Pizza Bar

Not a bad restaurant. I guess this place is good depending on time and what you choose? Seafood platter and some Pizzas weren't good choices. Calzone and Focaccia were good choices. It depends on what you order here in my honest opinion. Service was okay, not the best though.

Food: 7.5/10
Service: 6/10
Price: 6/10
Overall: 6.5/10

Not a bad place. I reckon try it out if you're ever in Glenelg, South Australia.
They're at: 4 Jetty Road, Glenelg, SA 5045

 

I'm glad to be back in Melbourne though. I miss this place with it's changing weather and bad public transport a lot haha

Til my next post,

-R

Preparation Food :9 [Shanghai Street Dumpling]

Haiii! :P
Apparently there are people who read this :O
I am shocked honestly...
Anyways tomorrow I'm heading to Adelaide for a bit and like... there's nothing there so I thought might as well catch up with my friend Jasmin for lunch :9

Place of Lunch this time? Shanghai Street Dumplings!
I saw this place ages ago, like start of year or something but every time I go,
it is full on packed D:< A fair few people keep telling me to go
so I prepared myself for the line and went ahead with it.

Damn that line -.-
It is really like this or worse all the time.. D:
The design of the area is quaint though. :)

The inside is kind of small and a bit cramped but oh smells so nice :9
You can't resist that once you get in.

 Okay I lied. I didn't wait in line. I'm not that patient. Me and Jasmin went for takeaway :P

Homemade Boiled Peking Dumplings (Pork); 15 Pieces: $8.80
This was Jasmin's choice. Pretty good. The dough was soft but wasn't to the point
where it just fell apart all over the place. It was just right and then the Peking Pork inside was pretty flavorful.

Chinese Spinach & Pork Wonton Soup; 12 Pieces: $8.00
My choice :) I personally always like the spinach dumplings/wontons.
It gives a slight different taste to the normal ones.
These ones were alright, I could taste the spinach but the pork had too much flavor
which overpowered the spinach in my opinion :(

This is how we ate. Going back to our asian ways ;D
I'm glad they did takeaway, really saved me and Jasmin since we were pretty hungry!

Introducing Jasmin ;)
Look at that concentrated face LOL
Glad she could come with me, was good to see her again ^^

Wrap Up!!

Shanghai Street Dumplings 
Okay, so the food first.. I enjoyed what I got. Not too bad. Both sets of dumplings were very flavorful and decently priced for the amount we got. Service I can't really say much since it was just passing takeaway order. Overall I liked it, it's not the cheapest place in Melbourne but for value-wise; it's good :)

Food: 8/10
Service: 6/10
Price: 8/10
Overall: 7.33/10

I'd recommend you try it and see what you think! :) Pretty good for a dumpling place.
They're at: 342 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000

My next post will be about a restaurant in Adelaide hopefully! Look forward to it :P

Til next time,

-R ;9

A Lazy Saturday [Mocha Jo's & Chimmy's Bakery & Café]

On a lazy Saturday no one has any motivation for doing practically anything.
Well fortunately I did have some motivation, only because it involved food though :P
Me and a couple of friends got together for these two restaurants :9 Please enjoy.

Stop #1: Mocha Jo's
Was suggested by a friend and looked it up on urbanspoon.
Good reviews and pictures so why not? :9

They display their menu outside like this :O
It looks professional and neat.

Their outside dining area is simplistic and looks great!!

Their inside doesn't lose in appearance either.
Various decorations and the atmosphere is most welcoming :)

Butter Chicken Curry $24.90
Tandoori marinated chicken breast pieces simmered in house made butter curry,
jasmine rice and warm roti bread.
This was what I decided to get. A tad expensive yes but filled me up so much :O
The chicken was a bit firm but just right, it went well along with the butter curry.
The roti bread was quite nice, a bit difficult to tear apart but that's the fun of it :)
The rice was nothing special in my opinion but it went well with the curry when I mixed it in ~

MJ Chicken Burger $19.50
Mustard marinated chicken breast, smashed avocado, sun dried tomato, crispy cos lettuce,
Spanish onion, melted tasty cheese, chunky chips and house mayo.
Clarinna decided upon this and she gave me a part of it.
All the elements melded well together making a fairly tasty burger :9

Lemon Pepper Calamari $21.90
Fresh calamari dusted in lemon & pepper seasoning, cherry tomato, roquette & parmesan salad
along with chunky chips and mustard mayo.
Ellyana got this, we were all eying this one though :P
The calamari was crisp and had a good amount of flavour with it!!

Ellyana with her Calamari D:

Clarinna with dangerous knife.. .____.

Me with straight face because that's how I am 8D
Nah, Ellyana just took the picture when I was telling her how to use my camera lol

Stop #2: Chimmy's Bakery & Café
We had time so we headed down to Richmond and urbanspooned this. :9
Low ratings but still had a lot of people going to it so we were intrigued.

Damn, look at them food & drinks /drools

White Heaven $6.40
Soft and creamy just like how it should be ~

Chocolate & Caramel Mousse $6.40
Can't pass off this.. just read that name again ;D

This cake cut quite easily and all of it just melted in my mouth, really like heaven~

If the other one is heaven, then this must be hell tempting us and succeed in that it did D:
The caramel was just right and not too chewy and the chocolate was soft enough to compliment the dessert.

Wrap up! :)

Stop #1: Mocha Jo's
The food was great; really filling and delicious ~! All the staff were really friendly, they made us feel welcomed even though they were really busy too! :O My only regret here is not coming on a weekday and saving myself around $10 on my meal :(

Food: 9/10
Service: 9/10
Price: 7/10
Overall: 8.33/10

I'd recommend you to go here for a weekday lunch, no regrets for that :)
They're at: 87 Kingsway, Glen Waverley, VIC 3150

Stop #2: Chimmy's Bakery &  Café
We came at the closing time which was quite unfortunate. They were packing up but they still allowed us to have our desserts on the table outside which was very nice ^^ Both cakes were delicious and I was quite happy with both of them. Decent pricing for them as well :9

Desserts: 9/10
Service: 9/10
Price: 8/10
Overall: 8.67/10

Another definite recommendation!
They're at: 342-344 Bridge Road, Richmond, VIC 3121

Clarinna has a food blog as well so please check her blog out too! :)
Just click here --> Clarinna's Blog
 
Well that's all from me this time ! :)
Hope you enjoyed my reviews and pictures~

Til next time,
 -R :9

Post University Hungers [WonderBao & That Place]

New Post! :)
Been able to do this a lot more probably because food is quite easy to do and it's delicious :9

Me and my friend Shane went to uni for our morning classes and then well.. neither of us enjoyed staying at uni any longer so off to the city for a meal it is! :D

Stop #1: WonderBao
An interesting restaurant who provide cheap and delicious steamed buns :)
Watch out though, don't use the urbanspoon map function as of right now (140912) because it says they are somewhere between Bourke and little Bourke street...

Their menu is simplistic and gets the point
while also giving all the information you'd need

Their front kitchen seems busy but gives a feel of authenticity

A view from outside shows a fully packed restaurant area, no room for me :(

My choices: Roast Pork Belly Gua Bao (Front; $3.80) & Da Pork Bao (Back; $3.20)
The pork belly was incredibly nice and went well with the pickled carrots, daikon & hoisin sauce.
The cucumber was not a necessity for this in my opinion.
The Da Pork Bao (egg, shitake mushroom & chinese sausage) was fairly average for me.
There wasn't much dough or meat which led to a gap between them when I bit into it but it was decent for the price.

Shane's Choices: Braised Pork Belly (Front; $3.80) & Choi Bao (Back; $2.00)
Shane: The braised pork was nicely balanced; the pork melted in my mouth, the sauce was sweet, the pickles gave acidity and the bun was soft and plump. The vegetarian one was nice but lacked strong flavour, it needed more filling I reckon and the bun was the same.

Homemade Soya Milk $2.80
Me and Shane both got one. Both thought it was standard, nothing special.

Stop #2: That Place
I found this cafe a few weeks ago and wanted to try it.
Mainly because it was called 'That Place' and it was fun messing with Shane about it.

Their interior looks really nice.
Really Spacious and so much options to choose from.
This is not your standard cafe. :P

Their decorations on the wall look nice, kind of weird but it works for me :)

Shane got the Coffee (above) and the Scone (picture below) $5
Shane: I only had the scone and coffee so I can't give it a proper score.
Coffee is all the same to me and the scone was okay.

Scones with Jam & Cream
In my opinion; for $5, that's a good deal. :P

That Lunch Special $10
Cal's Beef Burger; Homemade beef pattie with Leafy Greens, Tomato, Melted Cheese & Relish.
A side of chunky chips as well ;9
Now that's a lunch special haha
Beef broke apart as I ate it, it was cooked medium rare which went along quite nicely with the other ingredients.
The chips were fried quite nicely and with some seasoning which really hit the spot.
The tomato sauce made the presentation quite nice but not necessary for taste :)

This is SHANE :D
He only agreed to the photo that I would edit it with black & white filtering.
He's good food company and he might be starting a food blog soon too! :)

Wrap up! :)

Stop #1: Wonderbao
The environment was welcoming even though it was so fast paced. Actually it was probably the strong smell that was the most welcoming thing xD The service was great for me but not as great for Shane unfortunately haha ^^" The food was not too bad for the value.

Food: 7/10
Service: 8/10
Price: 7/10
Overall: 7.33/10

Shane's Score
Food: 7/10
Service: 6/10
Price: 7/10
Overall: 6.67/10

I'd recommend you try this place :)
They're at: Shop 4, 31 A'Beckett Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000

Stop #2: That Place
A cafe where they have good atmosphere and good food. The service was fairly decent and I think the pricing was very good for what I got :D

Food: 9/10
Service: 7/10
Price: 9/10
Overall: 8.33/10

This is definitely a place I will go back to sometime soon! :)
They're at: 408 Bourke Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000

I was incredibly stuffed from today's events. Hope you like my reviews and pictures :9

Til next time,
-R