Well, as of now, my uni semester is officially over! Plus I’ve just finished a really huge assignment, which was eating up my free time for weeks. So, to celebrate, I went on a trip to Chapel Street to get me some fancy boots. Also, coffee!
So, this latte is from Cafe Greco, which is a rather large and spacious cafe near the Como Centre (and also, unfortunately, the One Direction merchandise pop-up store. SO MANY TWEENS.), with cosy red leather booths lining the walls and a whole cabinet full of sweets displayed in all their sugary colourful glory.
The latte itself is a standard affair, with not much standing out. The heat on it was scalding at first, so I had to let it stand for a few minutes until I could drink it properly. The bitterness was restrained, the foam was adequately thick and it only required one sugar to sweeten it nicely.
The thing I would complain about is the cost of the whole thing. I ordered a piece of Baklava, which turned out to be as big as a iPhone and as thick as a particularly dense novel, aka HUGE. Still, the price of that plus the coffee was about 13 bucks, which is rather expensive for what it is. I couldn’t even finish the Baklava (although it was lovely and sticky with cinnamon and nuts), so that’s a waste.
On the whole, I probably wouldn’t recommend this place. It’s average at best and there are plenty of other cafes along Chapel St that would be much better and less expensive. So yeah.
How much is a cup of coffee?
Yay new post! Uni’s been a bit hardcore lately with assignments and shizz, so that’s why I’ve been a bit lax on the posts.
Anyway, here’s an article about the price of coffee in today’s cafes. Makes you think about what’s going into your latte every day. I mean, if your cafe is just using you bog standard beans, you’d expect the standard $3.50 price tag, but if they’re getting specialty single origin beans from a small-scale farmer in Guatemala or such, then there’s no reason not to pay 4 bucks for a coffee. A higher quality product begets a higher price.
Really, it all comes down to taste. Everyone has different things they look for in coffee. So, scope out what you like and find a cafe that serves it. If it ends up costing $4, so be it. Price is subjective - taste is everything.
Tuesday Bagel - BLT with Tomato Relish
What would a place like Brown Bagels be without, well, bagels? When it comes to bagels, I’m definitely a poppy seed fan. The seeds give it that little extra crunch!
There are many different fillings to try, from simple (jam or cream cheese) to the extravagant (smoked salmon or pastrami). This was my choice, the perennial BLT! Salty bacon, crispy lettuce, juicy tomato and sweet relish. Delicious! It would have been even better if the bagel was toasted too, but still pretty nice!
Today’s coffee comes from Brown Bagels, which was a bit of a random discovery on my part. I was doing some research into Melbourne’s laneways for an upcoming blog, wandering around aimlessly in the back alleys when I stumbled upon this little establishment. It’s a very cute store, with chalkboards, wood tables and fancy plates. Also, bagels, but more on that later.
This little latte (in a very fashionable, almost spherical glass) set me back $3.40 - a pretty good price for the city. They use Jaspers Coffee beans here, so it’s fair-trade and organic and all that good stuff. The temperature on it was great to hold and great to drink, with a nice, thick, lickable foam. The sugar was already added when I ordered, but there are sugar bowls on the table if you wanted to add your own. One sugar is enough, making it sweet but not overly sickly, and the bitterness was understated and smooth.
All in all, a pretty damn good latte! Good things do come from a bit of city exploration.
Location: Shop 10, Equitable Place, Melbourne (laneway off Little Collins St)
For today’s coffee quota, here’s a silly ad for Japanese canned coffee starring Tommy Lee Jones.
Ele loves Jpop
Right now I’m going through a bit of a J-pop phase, so what I thought I’d do as something different is show you guys some of my favourite artists for you to check out.
m-flo! These guys were the first group that I really got into - the duo of DJ Taku and Verbal making awesome J-hip-hop. They’ve also done collaborations with heaps of other Japanese artists, so look them up. Verbal is also in the Teriyaki Boyz and has even done some solo stuff.
Monkey Majik! This band is pretty classy. Made up of 2 Canadian guys and two Japanese guys, so you’ve got a fusion of east and west going on. This song is particularly good, combining western rock with Shamisen. Don’t worry, this song is mostly in English so it’s easy to understand.
Perfume! I only just discovered them a couple of days ago, but I’m pretty hooked. Japanese electropop! They’re produced by the same guy who produced that PONPONPON song with the absolutely insane video. So, I’m expecting good things from these girls in the future!
So yeah, a departure from the norm, but a fun one!
Guilty pleasures, everybody has a few…
Here’s a travel piece on a few guilty pleasures to indulge with overseas. Things like gelati in Italy, In-n-Out burgers in America and the full English breakfast in the UK. One thing I’m happy the guy mentioned is Febo croquettes! I scoffed heaps of those when I was in Amsterdam. Especially the asian chicken noodle ones. So good!
Some foods I remember fondly from when I was in Europe last year: Chicken baguettes in France, petrol station pizza, Fonzies and the Nutella Snack and Go in Italy, Gyros in Greece, pretzels and beer in Germany. Basically, if it looked good, I ate it! That’s the key to a good trip!
Here’s a funny pic for your Tuesday morning. I’m totally at the Javanaut stage. And I’m pretty sure you need a stone of some sort for the final evolution.
The food at this place is extremely good - very authentic Japanesey things like onigiri and bento boxes, but also interesting fusion dishes like gnocchi with Japanese curry. This here is a teriyaki chicken burger, so it’s teriyaki chicken with lettuce, tomato and Kewpie mayonnaise. Sooooo good. And it comes with chips and salad! And it’s less than 10 bucks! Definitely worth recommending.
Monday Coffee - Triceangle Japanese Cafe
Today’s coffee comes from Triceangle, a little Japanese cafe within Swinburne’s Hawthorn campus. Not exactly the place you would go specifically for coffee, but I was there for lunch so I thought I’d give their coffee a go.
So, this little latte cost me $2.80, which is a pretty decent price - one of the cheapest prices around campus. The foam was sufficiently bubbly and nice on this one, with a nice marbled look. The heat on this one was almost too hot to hold, but leaving it for a minute of two made it perfect. There was a significant strength to it, with apparent but not unpleasant bitterness. Finally, the sugar was DIY, as usual, and one spoon was enough to make things nice.
So, in conclusion, this coffee was pretty ok! Not the best I’ve ever had, but nice enough to have with a meal.
