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Archive for the ‘Coffee shop review’ Category

Typika Artisan Roasters, Claremont

Typika Artisan Roasters Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Typika is nestled in the Claremont shopping complex just off Stirling Highway. There is plenty of parking but it can get busy and Typika is definitely a hit with the locals.
The cafe is airy, buzzing, with coffee roasting machinery on view. Unsurprisingly, the coffee is excellent. They roast the beans in house which makes for optimum freshness as old beans can give coffee an overly bitter taste. They also refuse to take bookings, so sometimes there is a bit of a wait, but when we visited for Saturday brunch we were seated straight away.
The wait staff are helpful and friendly, and happy to point out the specials of the day. I chose an iced mint tea with apple sorbet float which was quirky, refreshing and delicious.

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The menu has something for everybody with a selection of breakfast and brunch
favourites that are all very tempting.
I fancied something sweeter so chose the poached pear, strawberry, nut and buttermilk pancakes. They were nicely balanced, not overly sweet and felt quite nourishing to eat.

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My companion chose the Eggs Benedict with bacon – a brunch staple – and he reported that everything was nicely flavoured and that the ingredients were good quality.

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Other items on the menu included: Angry Bird, which sounded quite tasty – fried chicken with guacamole, corn and a waffle; Char siu pork belly buns; Pulled pork quesadillas; Caramelised pork ribs; Vietnamese pork and prawn meatballs.
My only criticism of Typika is that for the prices, the portions are a bit on the small side. Almost $20 for an eggs benny consisting of one slice of bread, two small eggs and two slices of bacon is a bit expensive. I observed another diner who had ordered two breakfasts – maybe he already knew about the portion sizes. All in all, it was very tasty, and I will be tempted to go back, but I will also bear in mind that it’s not the place to go if you are ravenously hungry. The ingredients are top quality, and the staff are great.

Last Visit – December 2016

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Coffee shop review, Restaurant review

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Reuben Hills, Surry Hills, Sydney NSW

Reuben Hills Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

I love Sunday brekkie/brunch, and keen to find a good place in Sydney for a Sunday brunch I came across reviews for Reuben Hills. About a 15 minute walk from our hotel to Surry Hills, we found this quirky little place with quite a queue outside. We only had to wait 15-20 minutes for our table.
The waiter was really helpful. I wanted a non dairy based milkshake and he veered me towards the lychee, lime and coconut flavour because it was based on coconut sorbet. I loved the shake. The coffee was also very good quality.
For my brunch I chose soft baked eggs with jamon, spinach, ranchero and rye bread. This was a lovely if little spicy brunch, and it was nice to have the bread to mop up the little bowl of ranchero and egg.

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My companion chose achiote pork n beans with soft fried egg, tortilla chips and chimmichurri. This was mildly spicy, full flavoured, and the textures worked well.

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Yes – Reuben Hills was a great choice for brunch. If I lived in Sydney I could
work my way through their menu.
A quirky cafe with fun wait staff, not your average menu, and great coffee. Yes it works.

Visit Date – April 2014

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Maison St Honore, Caversham

Maison Saint-Honoré Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

This delightful cafe with gardens is located on the site in Benara Road where Dear Friends used to be. Starting off with humble beginnings as one of Perth’s finest macaron chefs when the macaron craze began, I remember seeing Maison St Honore as a pop up at food fairs and farmers markets. Now they have their very own macaron factory and patisseris, and it doesn’t dissapoint.
It’s hard to choose from the stunning array of cakes and pastries.

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Eventually, I settled on a mango mousse and my partner chose a gold chocolate bar. We ordered some teas and settled down at a tale inside. There are outside tables too, but it’s heading for winter and we chose warmth over scenery.

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My mousse was nothing short of delicious. It has an almond biscuit base, strawberry jam, mango mousse, vanilla mousse and a sumptuous mango glaze with a sprinkling of dried raspberries.

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The gold bar had an almond biscuit base, crunchy praline, chocolate mousse, and a dark chocolate and hazelnut coating, with an oozy caramel layer surprise in the middle. Both cakes were skilfully constructed and delicious, and the tea was good quality.

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This is a lovely area of Perth – most perfect for tea and cake in the valley.

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Visit Date – June 2019

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Whistlers, Middle Swan

Whistler's Chocolate Company Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Whistlers is one of two chocolate factories in the Swan Valley. They offer a nice tasting selection of coconut rough, chocolate jelly snake and chocolate pretzel, and the dark chocolate orange slices are a particular favourite of mine.
On this particular visit we decide to try the cafe and I imagined that there would be a variety of chocolate cake on offer.
The cake selection was not particularly inspiring. I chose a dark hot chocolate to drink and a lemon muffin. My partner chose tea and a brownie.

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The dark hot chocolate was good, served with two marshmallows, but as I got to the bottom of it, the glass was glued up with thick chocolate that hadn’t been mixed in properly. It was a shame because the whole drink could have been so much richer.

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The lemon muffin was nice, but fairly ordinary. Same with the tea and brownie – the brownie was a little dry and not nice and gooey in the middle.

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It wasn’t bad, it was just ‘ordinary’. We had a discussion about how they could make it so much better – they could become known for the best chocolate sponge cake in the Swan Valley, or the best churros or chocolate nutella doughnuts. Maybe the management will twig this and do something differently in future. I did notice a whole table of people having fish and chips – maybe this is a secret weapon that they have, but it didn’t look special, so maybe not.
It’s well worth a visit for the amazing range of chocolates on offer, and the cafe is okay for a quick cuppa.

Visit Date – May 2018

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Black Kettle, Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia

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Georgetown has some nice coffee shops, and it would take quite some time to visit them all.
When I researched the best coffee in Georgetown, two cafes came up time and again – China House and Black Kettle. Black Kettle is a bistro, patisserie and cafe, and the array of cakes is pretty impressive. As you walk in, the breads and pastries are on display in glass cabinets, available for takeaway or dine-in and it’s really difficult to choose a favourite. We decided to have brunch first, then walk around Georgetown for a while and come back for coffee and cake
later.
I chose a cherry blossom tea for my beverage. Black Kettle serve teas from Harney and Sons, and cherry blossom is a flavour that I hadn’t tried before. It was beautiful, crisp and clean with a slight floral and fruit flavour, and so nice that since I returned home, I have been looking for a local supplier.

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My partner chose a flat white, and decided that it was a fabulous coffee, well made, fresh beans, perfectly brewed.

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For breakfast he chose an omelette – duo of cheddar and mozzarella, and this was a triumph, delicious from the first mouthful to the last and accompanied by the house made pain de champagne bread.

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I chose scrambled eggs, house made bread, and tomato. This was lovingly made and each ingredient although simple, had a depth of flavour that made it a wonderfully satisfying and memorable meal. Sometimes simple ingredients, prepared well, make the best meals, and this was a fine example.

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When we returned a few hours later, we had the difficult job of choosing a pastry from the vast selection available.

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After much deliberation, I chose a peach danish, with beautiful melt in the mouth flaky pastry and succulent peaches, with a smooth sweet glaze.

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My partner chose the salted chocolate caramel tart. A beautifully made chocolate case with a layer of caramel and chocolate ganache. Very well constructed.

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What a delight Black Kettle is. It’s modern, airy, everything looks delicious, and the quality
shines through. The staff are friendly, and I will definitely return next time I am in Penang.

Visit Date – February 2018

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Fortysevenkirwanstreet, Floreat

Fortysevenkirwanstreet Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

FortySevenKirwanStreet is unsurprisingly on Kirwan Street in Floreat, a nice leafy location in suburbia. I first came here quite a few years ago and was underwhelmed, but decided to give it another try based on recent really good reviews.

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The coffees were very good, nice, mellow and freshly roasted beans.

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For my brunch I chose the pulled duck benedict on a brioche bun. This was really good. I wasn’t really expecting a charcoal brioche, but it was quite nice, the eggs were cooked really nicely, and the accompanying cherry tomatoes had an amazing depth of flavour.

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My partner chose the beans with chorizo with poached eggs and garlic bread. They had a good depth of smokiness to them, and all of the elements worked well together.

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All in all this was a lovely brunch, and we very much enjoyed our return visit.
Fortysevenkirwanstreet is one of the stars of Floreat.

Last Visit – January 2019

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Bites By D, Mount Hawthorn

Bites By D Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

This is an updated blog post about Bites by D, because I am already a fan, but for the first time I went to this beautiful cake shop for High Tea.
Bites is not a licensed venue, so you can bring your own bubbles, but if you
forget there’s a liquor store nearby that gives discount for Bites by D customers. Everything on the table was set out perfectly, and the fine china looked really great.

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The tea menu contains a good selection of loose leaf teas from T2, and when you order, the pot is quite generous. The High Tea includes unlimited tea and coffee, which you can order at any time.
The savouries platter included a lovely risoni pasta salad in a pot, and exquisite beetroot cream tart with pastry to die for, a beef slider, and a pumpkin scone with cream cheese and chive spread.

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It took quite a while to chomp our way through the savouries, and they were so so nice, the scones perfectly baked, and everything was made with care and finesse. After the savouries, we were presented with a raspberry sorbet, topped with freeze dried raspberries. This was lovely and bursting with raspberry goodness.

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Nothing could prepare us for the beauty of the sweet platter – oh my goodness, every piece looked so appetising.

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The top layer contained a rich buttery friand, topped with strawberry and buttercream, and a profiterole with a crunchy surface known as a choux au craquelin. Both of these were light and delicious.

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The bottom layer contained the signature summer delight which is gluten free, layers of vanilla and lemon Bavarian cream, almond and pistachio biscuit, raspberry and strawberry jelly. The star item for me was the golden chocolate cube with chocolate crumb, chocolate mousse, salted caramel cremeux, all dipped in chocolate and topped with meringue, raspberry and a golden praline.
They also provided a cupcake for my partner who was celebrating a birthday.

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We definitely felt very special having High Tea at Bites By D. This is definitely one of the best venues for afternoon tea in Perth.
This is my first blog post which I posted in 2017:
Ever since leaving Brisbane, I have been looking for a patisserie to match the finesse of Le Bon Choix. There are plenty of cake shops in Perth, but so far nothing has displayed the attention to detail and aesthetic pleasure that LBC did. Then I discovered Bites by D, a shop in Mount Hawthorn on Scarborough Beach Road and oh my goodness this place delivers.

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We selected a toffee crunch eclair and a Ferrero Rocher cupcake. The eclair had a wonderful gooey but not too sweet salted caramel filling, great pastry with a lovely crunchy nut topping.

The cup cake was like a cross between a cup cake and a brownie, wonderfully moist with a quality chocolate cream inside. Very nice.

There is seating in the shop so you can sit and have a drink with your cake, and they also offer high tea, which sounds amazing. I can’t wait to go back for more. Well we did go back for more and I took some better photos. I had coffee which was lovely – Five Senses.

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Tea served in a stylish pot:

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Chocolate Eclair – lush soft chocolate cream, not too sweet, in a delicate choux pastry eclair bun:

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Salted Caramel Cheesecake – luscious salty caramel filling:

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Winter Delight – layers of rhubarb and cream with a chocolate brownie base.

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Plenty more choices on display:

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Last Visit Date – November 2018

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Coffee shop review, Restaurant review

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All Things Delicious, Rochor, Singapore

All Things Delicious Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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We ordered coffees which were very nice, but the main reason that I felt compelled to blog this cafe, was the absolutely perfect raspberry chocolate tart.
The pastry was short and tasty, the chocolate filling dark and luscious, and the raspberries soft and slightly sweet. It was an absolute triumph of a cake, definitely worth a visit just for this.

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Visit Date – April 2019

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F5 Coffee Co, Belmont

F5 Coffee Co Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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F5 Coffee Co is an unassuming cafe in amongst some local shops on Belvidere Street in the airport suburb of Belmont. It’s clean and tidy with an appealing cake and sandwich cabinet and a menu with an Asian twist. They serve 5 Senses coffee which is a bonus, and today’s blend was a special roast (made especially for the cafe) of Ethiopian and Brazilian beans. It was smooth and delicious – no sugar needed to sweeten this coffee – and we loved our soy latte and soy flat white.

It was hard to choose something from the menu because everything sounded great, from toasted bagels and big brekky, to Lamington style French toast , zucchini, corn and sweet potato fritters, tom yum salad, and truffled mushroom ragu.
Eventually I settled for a nasi goreng and oh my goodness it didn’t disappoint. Served with a wedge of lemon and sriracha sauce, it was beautifully spicy, but not overly so, and contained the most delicious selection of capsicum, beans, chilli, chicken and prawns, all topped off with a wonderfully dippy fried egg. I ate the lot and enjoyed every mouthful.

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My partner chose the pulled pork benny, served on sourdough toast with a sriracha hollandaise, bbq sauce, and perfectly cooked poached eggs. The pulled pork was soft and melting, the combination of flavours on each forkful really complimentary, sweet, hot and savoury. Absolutely delicious.

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We really enjoyed our visit to F5 and will definitely return next time we are down in Belmont. The service was friendly and it’s a place where the locals all know each other and get a warm welcome from the staff. Ooh that Lamington French toast – I can’t wait to try it !

Pictures from another visit:

Soy Cappuccino:

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Zucchini, Pea and Broccoli fritters with spinach pesto, avo and feta smash, beetroot hummus and fried egg:

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Vegan black bean, beetroot, and walnut burger with chips, pickles, tomato relish and aioli:

f5 3

Last Visit Date – June 2020

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Coffee shop review, Restaurant review, Vegan/Vegetarian

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Cravings, East Perth

Cravings Cafe Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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In a heritage building located on leafy Royal Street in East Perth, sits Cravings Cafe. It has plenty of seating inside and out, and I popped in for a quick lunch one day. The food in the cabinets looked awesome, everything fresh and appealing, with some beautiful home made pies and pasta dishes under the heat lamps.
I chose a pulled pork and slaw roll which the owner toasted for me – he was really friendly and helpful. I noted that they serve Karvan coffee and clearly have their coffee afficionado regulars.

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My pulled pork and slaw roll was everything I expected – tasty plentiful pork (although it was squashed down by the toaster), and delicious slaw, tasty bread – a very very nice lunch. I eyed up the home made treats like muffins bikkies and slices, but decided to come back on another occasion to try them out. Cravings is a lovely gem in an attractive area with plenty of office trade. Highly recommended.

Visit Date – September 2018

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