[Melbourne 2022] Moons Licensed Espresso Bar @ Lorne (On Our Way to Twelve Apostles - The Great Ocean Road Trip)

It was the day of the Great Ocean Road drive adventure and it'll take us an approximate of about 4 hours if we drove all the way from Mornington Peninsula. Took the Sorrento-Portsea ferry to Queenscliff with our car so that we get a head-start to the Great Ocean Road drive. This cuts down our driving time to just under 2 hours. The ferry costs about AUD117 per car with 1 driver and 3 passengers. There was an online discount of AUD5.

The morning ferry ride was nice, with awesome views. We made a late lunch stop at Lorne before going all the way to Twelve Apostles.

Moons Espresso Bar

Reached Lorne at about 1pm and, I was quite hungry since our breakfast was kinda early at 9am on the ferry.  Chose the outdoor seats to enjoy the cold weather. Opted for a mocha and we decided to order brunch things from this cafe.

Mocha by Coffee Supreme @AUD5 (regular)

The mocha here was good. With latte art and thick foam. In fact, they had the thickest foam I've ever had from a mocha.

thicc

For food, we ordered the Bacon, Avo and Eggs, and some flatbreads. The visuals for these were impeccable!

Bacon, Avo and Eggs @AUD26

flowy eggs ftw

While I was awed by the visuals of the Bacon, Avo and Eggs, I realised that the pide had better flavours!

Reuben @AUD17

When I first saw the Reuben, my thoughts were "This doesn't look like a Reuben!". Like, the Reuben's that I had before, their pastrami doesn't look like the ones served at Moons. The version here looked more like a ham sandwich. But once I had this in my mouth, oh wow... it was like an explosion of flavours. The combination of sauerkraut, dijonaise sauce, pickles, cheese and pastrami, everything in there was just great. Tasty food, I like.

B&E @AUD16.50

The next flatbread we had was another Bacon and Egg (B&E). Hahaa! A sunny side up here instead of poached. Salty bacon, cheese and egg. What's there not to like?

yummy bacon and eggs pide

The staff at Moons were friendly and nice. Thank you for the awesome food, good coffee and clean washroom.

We walked a bit around the area after satisfying our tummies and there's a Selfie Lane, that's aptly named as it looked like the backdrop for a... selfie, what else! Hahaa!

Selfie Lane

nature came to visit

Moons Licensed Espresso Bar

Address: 108 Mountjoy Parade, Lorne VIC 3232, Australia

Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Moons-Licensed-Espresso-Bar/151388288234772

Business Hours:

Daily: 7AM–2:30PM

[Melbourne 2022] Top Paddock Cafe @ Richmond Victoria

A Melbourne icon, so how can we miss the chance to visit since we were within the vicinity. Although our bellies were still rather full from all the scones, vanilla slice and coffee earlier on...

The place was bustling with customers, not surprisingly since it was on the weekends when we visited. Lucky us, we managed to get a table.

menu

latte

affogato

Breakfast Salad

The breakfast salad sure looked pretty. Plus, it has kale. I love kale. The pumpkin puree was sweet and enjoyable. By the way, what is tamari seeds? Are they like sunflower seeds? It added crunchy texture to the dish. This salad came in miso dressing and with a poached egg. Overall, lovely flavours and I can't say no to more vegetables!

Ivan said we must try the hotcake. So we did. But I didn't know it would be this huge! Wow.

Blueberry & Ricotta Hotcake

The seasonal berries then, was strawberries. Presentation was on-point. And more toasted seeds! But I do think the addition of the flower petals was kinda cool.

The hotcake itself was denser than I thought it would be. But then, I haven't had any ricotta hotcakes for like.... forever. 

of blueberries, hotcakes and cream

The food was good and the staff are friendly. I was so stuffed after this.

Top Paddock Cafe

Address: 658 Church St, Richmond VIC 3121, Australia

Website: https://thetoppaddock.com/

Contact: +61 3 9429 4332

Business Hours:

Mon-Fri: 7am–4pm

Sat-Sun: 8am-4pm

[Melbourne 2022] Peninsula Pantry @ Rye

This place is like literally walking distance from our accommodation. But it rained that morning, and we wouldn't want to risk a slip and fall, so we drove to this small cosy cafe for brekkie. Of course, we were going to Arthur's Seat after that for some quick sightseeing.

Our accommodation host actually recommended Peninsula Pantry and pointed out to the bakes that we needed to try; Vanilla Slice and Cinnamon Scroll.

Peninsula Pantry

Was greeted upon entry and the young staff (whom we later found out, his name is Jean/John) and he was nice and friendly. Got us started real quickly and we chose our breakfast items in no time.

menu

let's have a look

let's get a meat pie too

cakes, pies and rolls

I like to start my day with scrambled eggs. So we got one of those, and the rest added bacon and upon my insistence, there's spinach too. Good, balanced diet!

free range eggs on toast (with bacon and spinach) @AUD19

Loved those eggs and even more the spinach. The vegetables was just so fresh and plump. Yummy. And, the bacon was not done till super crisp and retained a meaty bite to it. I liked it. Perfect savoury accompaniment to the eggs.

We tried the Beef and Burgundy meat pie and it turned out to be great! Served warm, and was surprised at how tangy the sauce was. Granted the meat inside the pie wasn't alot, but I think the star was the sauce itself. Lovely.

Beef and Burgundy meat pie @AUD7.50

lovely sauce

My first introduction to sausage roll (which happened to be one of Tracy's favourite item in this trip), is at Peninsula Pantry.

Sausage Roll @AUD5.90

sausage roll (inner view)

I think I couldn't wrap my mind around this authentic sausage roll concept. My impression of sausage rolls are...it need to have a hotdog inside. So a sausage roll with 'minced meat' inside.. hmm...not something that I'd get again. Give me meat pie anytime!

For the fresh bakes, the cinnamon scroll and the vanilla slice did not disappoint!

Vanilla Slice

Ahh, I actually thought vanilla slice is like a cake, and which it was not. It is a thick custard square with pastry ontop and lots of sugar dusting. As this version here was the first vanilla slice I've tasted (out of the total 3 tasted during the trip), it set the standard for the next ones. Loved the soft custard texture and the fresh crisp of the pastry. Looks heavy but do-able when shared.

Cinnamon Scroll

Oh, cinnamon scroll is like our cinnamon bun. Thought it would be super sweet but it was actually pretty good. Sweet but as a dessert should be.

Service was good and friendly, and thank you Chef for popping out to see us too. We enjoyed our meal here!

Peninsula Pantry

Address: 43A Wondaree St, Rye VIC 3941, Australia

Website: https://www.peninsulapantry.com.au/

Contact: +61 3 5985 2628

Business Hours:

Closed on Tues.

Wed-Sun:  8AM–3PM

Breakfast @ Bearded Bella 8 Craig Road

Last visited in 2019. Read more about that visit here. We were doing a staycay at Amara and decided to drop by here one early morning for breakfast.

long time no see

Having started so early in the day, we needed coffee and Tracy of course, her tea.

White Cold Brew @$9

Homemade Chai Latte @$7

White Coffee 5oz Single Shot @$5

Ordered two mains from their brunch menu and a bundt cake for dessert. The Kookoo (am always amused by this name), goes meatless. But, definitely suited for brunch. What's not to like? There's rosti (potato), copious amount of greens (for good health), mushrooms and a lovely poached egg. Generous portion!

Kookoo v2 (V) @$22

customary egg flow shot

The Scallops & Cold Pasta, had an enormous amount of sprouts ontop. That gave it a somewhat 'raw' taste which I didn't like. Otherwise, the pasta itself was flavourful.

Scallops & Cold Pasta @$22

spot the scallops

It's been a long while since I last had a quiche. I think it was Tracy's pick? The bacon and asparagus quiche.

Bacon & Asparagus Quiche @$7

Hmm, the quiche was definitely milky! Its insides were soft and wobbly. 

profile view

And then, the chocolate bundt cake. But just to be sure, we asked if it contained coffee. And indeed, it does. So, no dessert for Tracy.

Chocolate Bundt Cake @$8

I think the gang misses Australia...

Bearded Bella

Address: 8 Craig Rd, Singapore 089668

Website: https://www.beardedbella.com/

Contact: 9880 0775

Business Hours:

Mon to Thur: 7:30am–5pm

Fri: 730am to 10.30pm

Sat-Sun: 7.30am-6pm

Brunches Cafe @ 96 Rangoon Road

How long has it been since my last visit to a cafe? Far too long, I'd say! Brunches is a quaint cafe and quite the popular one too. We were lucky to be able to snag a table without reservation albeit with the agreement to vacate the table by the next hour. Ok, we could do that.

chalkboard

counter

our seats

Was thinking of having coffee and a bit of everything else that the rest were having.

menu

By a bit, is actually an understatement. Haha! We ended up with two savouries and two sweets! Started off with deep fried mushrooms. Staff asked what sauce we wanted with the mushrooms. That's a good question. I have never thought of which sauce goes well with mushroom....ketchup? Chili or mayo? We had it all. Hahahaa!

mushrooms fritters @$8.90

Butterfly Pea Tea and Cold Brew Tea @$7 and $6.50 respectively

Coffee on the Rock Bailey's flavour @$8.50 

follow the instructions

wait for it

Ivan's drink had a little instruction card, so cute. But it took like forever to melt. I had piccolo.

piccolo @$4.50

Service staff were friendly and the place gave off a homely vibe. Food and drinks were brought out fairly quickly. The mushrooms were pretty good and we enjoyed it.

We had the Big Breakfast to share. Scrambled eggs, sausages, salad, bacon, mushrooms and the works. Can't go wrong with this.

Pimp My Brekkie Big Breakfast @$20.90

For dessert, we had high hopes for Brioche French Toast and while it looked really good, the bread was the weakest link. Not sure why this brioche was so dense and compact. The fruits were nice.

Brioche French Toast @$14.50

Thankfully, we were satisfied with the tiramisu. And, it has those 'soil' that were really popular back then. Hahahaa. I'd recommend the tiramisu. Thumbs up!

tiramisu @$9.50

As it was not time to check-in to the hotel yet, we took a stroll around the area. Look out for the next food hunt around the area in the next post. See you soon!

Brunches Cafe

Address: 96 Rangoon Rd, Singapore 218381

Website: http://brunches.sg/

Contact:  8685 8488

Business Hours: 

Mon - Fri: 11am to 10pm

Sat - Sun: 10am to 10pm