Here and There Archives - Page 13 of 21

September 24, 2016

Manchester Press

Once we finished with check-in at City Tempo, we decided to have a walk around the CBD area. Short walk down the Queen St and we found ourselves looking at tram stops, how easy! But since we just missed the tram, we walked along La Trobe St towards Melbourne Central which then from there we boarded the City Circle Tram 35. Love the tram ride with commentaries, seeing the hustle and bustle of crowds, parks and historical buildings.

We then got off at Federation Square and walked up north through the famous Degraves St. Not really having any concrete destination, we just walked with Google Map as our guide. As we walked close to Little Burke St I saw Manchester Press on my Google Map and decided that’s where we are going for our first meal in Melbourne.

Okay finding the place itself turned out a little challenging even with Google Map on hand. I guess it just was not something we expected, the name is not very obvious from a distance 🙂 Wrong turns in couple lanes and we finally got there!

Manchester Press serves breakfast, salad and mainly bagels, also coffee course. We are not a big fan of bagels, I mean it’s nice but it’s not something we can’t live without. But since we are here, let be more adventurous and try something new. Also I’ve seen plenty of good reviews of this place before, meaning it must be doing it right.

manchester-press6 — Do you notice the little birdie on the top window sill?

There were plenty of people when we got there, probably about 3/4 full. We sat in the bench overlooking the street and a friendly waitress came over with menus. We asked what would her recommendations and she pointed that the BBQ pulled pork bagels are very popular as do the grilled chorizo or eggplant for vegetarian option. Following her recommendations, we ordered the top two and flat white. And soon enough our food came:

14 Hour BBQ Pulled Pork Closed Bagel $16

manchester-press3 — Grilled Chorizo Open Bagel $14.50

Both bagels are served with crispy little pretzels and a piece of pickled gherkin. We thinks the bagels are nice without being too chewy, the topping are certainly flavorsome. Hubby said his BBQ pulled pork is very tasty; as for mine I really love that sweet and spicy sauce. It was a decent size meal for me, but I imagine it will not enough for big eaters 😛 Coffee was great and very smooth as you’d expect from any good cafe in Melbourne, right?

Overall, we were happy with their meal but the highlight here is the coffee. In fact we came back on our last day just for the coffee \ (•◡•) /

Manchester Press

8 Rankins Lane, CBD, Melbourne, VIC

03 9600 4054

https://www.facebook.com/manchesterpress

September 12, 2016August 20, 2023

Krisna Kuliner, Tuban

Here we came to (probably) the last post for our most recent Bali trip now, at last! My apology that it took forever to come to this post since I started it about two months ago 😛 The last dinner we had before departing Bali was at Krisna Kuliner in Tuban, just across the 24 hours Krisna Oleh Oleh shop.

Honestly there are too many other places to try, but we somehow landed at this place. Originally we planned to try Warung Subak for seafood, but once we got there and walked around, we ended up with other food instead. Nonetheless, most of them are satisfying to both taste buds and wallets!

Shall we start with a brief tour of Krisna Kuliner? As the name suggests, it is indeed managed by the same group as Krisna Oleh Oleh chains with same purposes. It is like a huge food court where you can find many favourite Balinese food or restaurant brands. I think they have a very smart concept that attracts tourists, where people can enjoy shopping for all those Balinese souvenirs then cross the street for a Balinese meal. Kind of like a one-stop-shop!

Here is the list of restaurants that can be found at Krisna Kuliner:

Bebek Tepi Sawah
Be Sanur
Warung Krishna
Mbok Limbok
Warong Miyabi
Betutu Men Tempeh
Warung Subak

We ended up ordering food from Mbok Limbok, Warung Krishna and Be Sanur. Be Sanur is famous for its fried fish (similar to Warung Mak Beng); whereas Mbok Limbok specialises on fried chicken with crunchy flakes aka kremes. Warung Krishna serves Balinese style food, such as nasi campur bali etc. Here are what we had for dinner:

mbok-limbok2 — Fried chicken with crispy flakes (Ayam goreng penyet kremes) @ Mbok Limbok

mbok-limbok — Fried cabbage @ Mbok Limbok

mbok-limbok3 — Grilled Chicken with sambal matah @ Warung Krishna

The fish tasted ok, a tad too dry but hot sambal saved the day. Both fried and grilled chicken were tasty – unfortunately the crunchy flakes (kremes) wasn’t as crispy as we had hoped for. The fried cabbage was soggy and oily, I’d imagine it will taste really good had it been fried correctly. It seems like they fried the cabbage before the oil got hot enough. But, all in all I wouldn’t say the food was inedible or horribly, it was ok, we got to taste a bit of everything. By the way, you can get your own rice and lalap (Indonesian salad) from the bench – so help yourself to the amount that suit you.

Total bill for the meal including two iced tea was IDR 154,100 (approx AUD 15), ain’t that wallet friendly? 😀

We were impressed with the food options, how convenience it is, and not to mention cheap! As the result, we have decided to come back here again in the next Bali trip, to try Warung Subak 🙂

Krisna Kuliner

Jl. Raya Tuban, Tuban, Kuta

Phone: +62 361 768077

http://www.krisnabali.co.id/krisna-wisata-kuliner/

September 8, 2016April 3, 2022

[Review] Gelato Factory, Seminyak

Since we missed our favorite pistachio gelato from Gusto Gelato the other day, we set out to find other places and hopefully it can satisfy our cravings. On the second last night of our trip, we headed to Seminyak and set the Waze App to go to Lelo Lelo. I read plenty of reviews of this place about how good their gelato and was keen to try. But alas we got lost, couldn’t find it and it started sprinkling so we stopped at Gelato Factory instead.

Located at Jalan Kayu Aya, it is definitely in the prime location of Seminyak. But when were there, there are no other customers, I guess it’s rain and almost dinner time so people must have stayed inside or out to restaurants instead.

They have many flavors of colorful gelato available and all of them looks really yummy. And of course, pistachio is also there!

Can you guess what we ordered? We both each has 1 scoop of pistachio gelato of course. Then rum and raisin for me, meanwhile coffee or tiramisu (can’t remember now) for hubby. They tasted really good actually, very rich and creamy even richer than Gusto’s. But in the meantime also packs with flavor, not just sweet 🙂 And that waffle is so good, thin, crispy and sweet with a hint of saltiness. In fact, the waffle left more impression than the gelato!

The cafe is so bright, felt like they went overboard with lighting. But I do love the wooden shelves on the wall, do you notice the old sewing machine? Isn’t that cute?

gelato-factory6 — The lighting set up somehow reminds me of spider with it’s long legs! ಠ_ಠ

It was still pouring after we finished our gelato and we were kind of stuck there. So hubby ordered a cup of flat white which was not bad at all. Unfortunately, this was not documented so I can’t share the picture. But the coffee totally washed down the sweetness of gelato ? Perfect end of the night and the rain also almost finally stopped, so we could head back to the hotel.

Gelato Factory

Jalan Kayu Aya No. 32, Seminyak

Phone: +62 361 739124

September 4, 2016March 9, 2023

[Review] Lia Cafe, Jimbaran

On our previous Bali trip, we went to Warung Mami and it was mind-blowing and definitely great place for seafood lovers! On this trip to Bali however, we decided to try on another one that is listed as top 5 on TripAdvisor, Lia Cafe. We’d like to see how good it is compared to all that we have tried before that it deserves such high ranking 🙂 Also, hubby craved for crispy deep fried squid, which unfortunately is not available at Warung Mami.

We left from the hotel around 4 pm on motor bike and set to Cafe Lia directly. The trip took about 40 minutes (includes some wrong turns and some light traffic along the way). We got to the restaurant before the dinner rush, so there were still plenty of beach seating available. And we are being not much of a romantic. chose the more practical seats inside the restaurant but looking out to the beach.

We chose type of seafood we’d like and how they are cooked as we walked in to the restaurant. And soon after we sat down, the waiter brought over our drinks, complimentary fish soup, fruit salad and nuts. And not before long, our order came out together, yeehaaa!

lia cafe — The fish soup, surprisingly refreshing and tasty

lia cafe7 — The condiments – garlic oil, sambal matah and sambal terasi

The seafood are fresh and well-cooked, but we think both the marinate and sambals are lack of punch. It just felt a little too bland to our liking, but then again, I guess they adjust the spice to suit many international tourists hence they cannot be too spicy.

Overall it was a nice dinner, great view and we had good shares of seafood feast albeit didn’t taste as great as we had hoped for. The total spend for the dinner around AUD 44, pretty good right? But for the reasons we mentioned above, we may not be coming back, would love to try other places or just go back to Warung Mami 🙂

Lia Cafe

Jalan Pemelisan Agung, Jimbaran, Kuta Selatan, Kabupaten Badung, Bali

Phone: +62 361 709002

August 28, 2016September 4, 2023

Cafe Batu Jimbar, Sanur Bali

As we waited for our room to be ready, we went across the street and had lunch at Cafe Batu Jimbar. It has the Balinese architectural influence, semi open air, high ceiling and mostly wooden theme throughout. There are ample seating inside the restaurant or on the front porch and side alley. We chose to sit inside hoping to escape from the Sanur heat during lunch time and indeed it was cool inside, even without air conditioner.

Seatings at the side alley — Seating at the side alley

There is cabinet displaying cakes and little sweet treats in front near the cashier and bar, which all looks very appealing. We ended up ordering one of their chocolate sliced caked for dessert. But first of all, a friendly waiter came to our table and left us to read the menu. They offer not just Indonesian food, but also Thai, Vietnamese, and Western.

I opted for one the Batu Jimbar favourite, which is Ikan Woku Belanga – fish cooked in spicy sweet and sour broth. Hubby went for Arugula Salad with grilled sirloin beef as he had craving for green leaves 🙂 It was a difficult choice to make for the drinks, all the juices in their menu sounds delicious! We ended up getting the Green With Envy and Inner Cleanser. I personally prefer the Green With Envy, but both tasted good not just on the taste buds but body as well.

Close up of the fish stew — Close up shot of the fish stew

Chocolate Mousse Cake - yes we are in chocolate heaven! — Chocolate Mousse Cake – yes we are in chocolate heaven!

Hubby said the Arugula Salad is very flavorsome and the beef cooked perfectly well. When we went to Bali, we rarely had western food, mainly because the point of Bali trip for us is to devour on Indonesian food that we already miss. But with this Arugula Salad, hubby said he would happily order it again and again. Same goes to the Ikan Woku Belanga, well-balanced dish that packs with flavour.

Oh and a side note, Cafe Batu Jimbar has Sunday Market event where various chefs sell their food on the stalls in front of the restaurant. We had already left Bali on Saturday night, so missed this chance; but we would definitely love to try it out.

Cafe Batu Jimbar

Jl. Danau Tamblingan No. 75A, Sanur, Bali

Phone: +62 361 287 374

Email: info@cafebatujimbar.com