Rustica Canteen

Rustica Canteen – Street view

Rustica Canteen opened in the city 2 minutes away from my work huzzah! They opened in Guildford lane just this week and it is definitely something to be excited about. Similar to their Fitzroy store (Rustica Sourdough), the restaurant is part bakery part dining space. Behind the counter are shelves of fresh loaves of bread and across the front bench there is a display of delectable French pastries. It’s a beautiful open space with modern décor and delicious dining for breakfast and lunch.

Rustica Canteen – Venue

It’s a really nice inside.

Rustica Canteen – We got what you knead

This sign was so cute. We got what you knead haha.

Rustica Canteen – Coffee

Mmm coffee.

Rustica Canteen – Breakfast salad w a fried egg

I had a breakfast salad because I knew I was going to spend a morning eating indulgent pastries so I though it would be good to get some greens in. This salad was delicious. It was full of flavour and had great texture. Full of super foods too. It had a combination of freekah, wild rice, kale, rocket, chai soaked raisins, toasted almonds, minted yoghurt and a fried egg on top (runny yolk of course). Amazing.

Rustica Canteen – Croissant w chilli scramble & jamon

The croissant with chilli scramble was tasty. The croissant was buttery and toasted and there was a generous mountain of scrambled egg with mild chilli, Serrano jamon and manchengo cheese. It had lots of Spanish flavours, it was yum.

Rustica Canteen – Brekky burgers 

Yum breakfast burgers.

Rustica Canteen – Assortment of pastries

It’s hard not to leave the place without a box full of pastries and a couple of loaves of fresh bread because they are on display and they look fabulous. I was like I want that and that and maybe that and also that and I wanna try that too.

Rustica Canteen – Pear danish

The pear danish was incredible. It was simple but the flavours really stood out. The poached pear had a subtle fragrant rosewater flavour the cream cheese frosting was light and delicate and then the danish pastry was crisp around the edges and super buttery. The flavours together were remarkable.

Rustica Canteen – Cronut

The milo cronut was pretty special. It was shaped and fried like a donut but had the crisp buttery layers of a croissant. Then if that wasn’t enough, it was filled with chocolate milo custard and topped with cream, chocolate and a milo crisp.

Rustica Canteen – Lemon meringue tart

The lemon meringue tart in this photo got a bit mangled in transit. The meringue was so delicate and soft and the on the inside it had a sweet creamy lemon curd in the centre and a crumbly shortcrust pastry base.

Rustica Canteen – Creme brulee donut

The creme brûlée brioche donut was delicious. It had a hard toffee top with a crème brulee filling. There was a thick layer of toffee on top but it was easy to bite into it kind of had a lolly candy kind of flavour. Then there was a creme brûlée filling inside the soft fluffy donut. Yum!

Rustica Canteen – Twice cooked Ispahan croissant and choc peanut butter croissant

The chocolate and peanut butter croissant was pretty amazing. It was a twice baked croissant filled with a peanut frangipane, it had chunks of dark Belgian chocolate and was topped with chocolate ganache and chopped roasted peanuts. It was delicious and not too sweet. The bitterness of the dark chocolate balanced out the sweetness. It was really good.

Rustica Canteen – Salted caramel choux bomb, Ispahan croissant & choc honeycomb brioche donut

The twice baked Ispahan croissant was delicious. It was filled with rose, lychee, almond and raspberry. It had the tartness of the raspberries, the sweetness of the lychee, the traditional almond filling and a floral hum of rose in the background. It had a perfect balance of flavours, it was lovely. and very pretty too.

The salted caramel choux bomb was awesome. The choux pastry was delightfully crisp and crumbly and filled with a smooth and creamy salted caramel chantilly cream. Yum!

This restaurant is a great place for brunch and they use high quality ingredients. They have a range of delicious sandwiches for lunch and they bake their own bread so it doesn’t get fresher than that. It will satisfy the sweet toots, the bread lovers and the brunchers. Come one come all. It’s open. Yay!

I heart Rustica Canteen!

Olives x

Rustica Canteen
Address:33 Guildford Ln, Melbourne VIC 3000
Website: http://www.rusticacanteen.com/
Phone: 03 9642 2203
Trading Hours: Mon-Fri: 7am-4pm Sat-Sun: 8am-4pm

Advertisement

Grand Trailer Park Taverna

Grand Trailer Park Taverna – Melbourne

Grand Trailer Park Taverna is a spin off from the ‘Dandenong Pavillion’ restaurant with a focus on their renowned beef burger. It recently opened in the city and the burgers are mouth-wateringly (is that a word?) delicious.

Grand Trailer Park Taverna – Caravan

The venue is a large open space with lots of park benches and open caravan booths (all indoor). Cute setup. There are crumpled paper menus scattered across the bar (trailer park style). You order at the bar, take a number and find somewhere to sit.

Grand Trailer Park Taverna – Outdoor area

We sat outside in the sunshine with the beautiful city view.

Grand Trailer Park Taverna – KSA burger minus the salad

We got the KSA burger (the dpavillon celebrity burger), which has a premium Aussie beef patty, cheddar cheese, tomato, butter lettuce, special burger sauce & American mustard on a toasted brioche bun. The actual burger (like the meat patty) is a real star. It’s grilled and juicy, just overall really tasty.

Grand Trailer Park Taverna – Francis Underwood burger

We also got the Francis Underwood burger, which is basically the same as the classic KSA burger but with a bonus mac and cheese croquette sandwiched in. Yum! The toasty brioche bun was buttery and had sesame seeds sprinkled on top, delish. The meat was juicy, the cheese was melty and the lettuce and tomato were fresh. The mac and cheese just made it that extra bit more indulgent and the sauces brought it all together. It was fantastic.

They also have a mushroom burger if you don’t feel like meat. And if you don’t feel like bread, you can order a no carb protein style burger, where they give you a lettuce bun in place of the bread (saw pics on instagram) and also you could probs request to have mac and cheese croquettes in place of the bun (also seen on instagram). Hmm not for me though, I like buttery buns and I cannot lie, these other burgers can’t deny. Hehe. Next time I’ll be getting the Atomic burger. It sounds amazing. It’s a beef pattie, cheddar cheese, chilli cheese kransky, crispy bacon, BBQ sauce and truffle cayenne mayo on brioche. Yum! All the burgers sound amazing!

Grand Trailer Park Taverna – Hand cut chips

The hand-cut chips are delicious. They’re more soft than crunchy, sort of like roasted potatoes hand cut into chips and then sprinkled with sea salt flakes. Yum!

Grand Trailer Park Taverna – Kinder Surprise Milkshake

They have four awesome spiked milkshakes. We got the Kinder Surprise shake, and oh my it was so good. It was spiked with Frangelico and Baileys and it was super delicious. Definitely up there in my list of top milkshakes. It had an actual kinder surprise on top (yay) and the milkshake was amazing. They also do a Maker’s Mark bourbon, salted caramel, maple bacon shake, a marshmallow, blue-haven, vanilla vodka shake and a peanut butter and jelly shake with Captain Morgan’s Rum. Yum, yum and yum!

On the menu there is a range of desserts that I wanted to try (bananrama, wizz fizz ice-cream etc) but that double carb burger really stole all of my stomach space. I saw the chocolate waffle stack get placed on the table next to us. It looked so good. It was like a dessert burger. It was Nutella parfait, fresh cream and strawberries sandwiched between two house-made waffles drizzled with Nutella sauce. You can also get the waffle stack with peanut butter parfait and caramel sauce. Yum! Maybe next time.

The décor is cute, the staff is really nice and the burgers are great. A perfect place to hang out with your mates for a burger and some bevvies.

I heart Grand Trailer Park Taverna!

Olives x

Grand Trailer Park Taverna
Address: 87 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Facebook: http://www.grandtrailerpark.com.au
Phone: 03 9972 3699
Trading Hours: Tue–Sat: 11.30am til late (closed Mondays & Sundays)

 

 

Melbourne Chinese New Year 2014

Melbourne Chinese New Year 2014 – Chinatown.

So today we ventured out into Melbourne’s 40 degree heat to celebrate Chinese New Year in the city. First stop Chinatown. They had the big dragon and the lion dances. I like when the lion jumps up and eats the lettuce, aww it’s so cute. Lettuce is hung above the doors of the restaurants with a red packet of money. The lion eats the lettuce and red packet. And just for the record, if there was a red packet of money in my lettuce I would definitely eat more of it. The lion jumps up and eats the lettuce and scatters leaves around to symbolize a fresh start for the new year and to spread good luck.

Melbourne CNY 2014 – Lion dance.

The great thing about celebrating the Lunar New Year is that it is tradition to celebrate with delicious food. There were lots of street food stalls setup around the area. There was a variety of skewers available, chicken satay, bbq pork, marinated squid, corn on the cob. Skewers are good because they are a one handed meal. You can eat them on the go. They allow you to continue browsing stalls without difficulty.

Melbourne CNY 2014 – Variety of skewers.

No celebration is complete without beer battered potato twists dusted with a generous amount of chicken salt. Yum.

Melbourne CNY 2014 – Mr Potato – Beer battered potato twists.

They had square chunks of rice noodle fried with an egg, topped with spring onions with a sweet soy sauce which was delicious. It looked like tofu but it was actually rice noodle. Which was strange for me because I’m used to noodles looking long and stringy but I liked the change. I dig it. It’s hip for noodles to be square.

Melbourne CNY 2014 – Chinese street food – Square rice noodle.

Then for something sweet they had these little mini pancakes (bigger than dutch pancakes but smaller than pikelets) filled with red bean, chocolate or cream. It tastes like something from breadtop. I paired that with sugercane juice which had a squeeze of cumquat juice. It was refreshing but it was particularly sweet, which I should have known, it being sugarcane and all.

Melbourne CNY 2014 – Sugarcane juice & Redbean pancake sandwich.

Second stop. Crown Casino. At Crown they had CNY stalls setup outside along the yarra river with a big stage with CNY events held throughout the day.

Melbourne CNY 2014 – Crown Casino – Year of the Horse.

We went inside Crown for refuge from the heat. In the food court they had a Hutong Dumpling Bar store. What? My favourite dumplings were available right there in the foodcourt? I was convinced it was a mirage. After all we had been in the heat for an extensive period of time so this idea was totally feasible. To my delight it was no figment of my imagination, there was definitely a Hutong Dumpling Bar standing in front of me in the food court at Crown. The Xiao Long Bao (Soup dumplings) from Hutong are my favourite dumplings ever. I was confused at first and thought the idea of having the dumplings served in a food court seemed to devalue their worth. But after much research (eating them and then eating them again) I realized the dumplings were just as good as at the restaurants only they were more accessible. So Yummy!

Melbourne CNY 2014 – Hutong Dumpling Bar – Xiao Long Bao.

Today was filled with great food, friends and fun. Wishing you all Good Luck for the year ahead.

I heart Chinese New Year!

Olives x