Charlie & Co. dined as guests. 
Monday 18th September



Zesty Pizza on Main Street, Glenferrie near Auburn Station, is a small pizzeria with a big heart and wide range (we mean HUGE!). There's 34 pizzas on the menu and 12 of them are vegetarian, there's also calzones, burgers, pastas and other mains.

Something that sets them apart from the others is that they accomodate ALL dietary requirements whether it is intolerance to lactose, onion, garlic, nuts or something else. That's remarkable as no one either does that, not to that extent. 
– Anything can be made GLUTEN FREE.
– Anything can be made VEGAN.
– Anything can be made NUTS FREE

No one we know does this, the vegans are generally not invited or expected to go BYO. My lactose and gluten intolerant neighbours/friends don't go for group pizza night, but now they can! Even FODMAP girl can find something that she likes. 




Outside it's drizzling through it's lovely and warm in here, seated by the window watching the peak hour traffic go by. The traffic could been seen but not heard at all! Warm lighting filled the small but intimate space, pizza's mainly a takeaway thing, but you could book a table too here. 

We ordered two pizzas to share, it was quite a decision with so many choices! I do love that there are so many vegetarian pizzas, as oppose to one 'The Vegetarian'. So many choices for Meatless Monday (lol, I had souv for lunch).















Toppings were generous and well portioned, and as a result made the medium sized pizza deceptively filling (for the appetite of a boy), especially considering the light base. The medium serves two people in my opinion, for three people order two to share with a salad. While they aren't the biggest pizzas ever (the medium) they're very filling. 

The combo of the perfect crust and all the fun but not crazy toppings, makes this place our favourite pizza place on main street! And there's a pizza place on every block, we've been to two others down the road. The most affordable with dine in options.





Fernando polished off ten slices and doesn't have a dessert stomach. Weak XD. So I went on without him.





I love all things mango and coconut, and so this was no expection. With whipped coconut cream it was light and airy, like eating clouds of mango x coconut - two beautiful tropical fruits. In one line I'd describe it as mango lassi but like in a cloud form. Loved it!

Everything was delicious and very reasonable priced too, expect to spend a bit less than $20 for a medium pizza jam packed full of toppings. A little bit more for gluten-free, but it's totally worth it. 

Located on the main street around the corner from Auburn Station it was very easy to get to. If you're dropping by for takeaway there's parking on main street after 6.30pm. Note - Dine in requires bookings, as they're often booked out during peaks.  

Thursday 2nd March

We've been here for a couple months though have never dined on the main street till now. Being a small town everything is expensive, and $15 for lunch is the norm, you won't find any $10 eats here.

Recently Mother Dough started a lunch deal $15 lunch box, and so it was the perfect time to try it. I'd have major dental surgery in March, so last chance for a long time. 

Some of the other lunch specials in town:

• Double 00 $5 slices // 2 slices w drink $10
• Oshi $10 unknown offer and a $13 bento (closed since)
• Charcoal chicken - Wed. Free chips with burger/wrap. Though a neighbor worked here and said don't do it, it's oily.

A brand I've never seen before, apple and peach tastes more than apricot with an apple base, tastes like summer! I absolutely love it!! You can buy this for $1 from the NQR in Ashburton (but know that most of their good are iffy).


We had a huge toasted panni with cured beef, rocket roma tomato, parmigiano, EVO and fior fi latte mozzarella. A bit dry but nothing a drink couldn't fix. It was crunchier than I prefer but you could ask for it to be less toasted. The size was huge!!





$15 Lunch at Mother Dough. There's pizza, pannis, pasta and salads on offer for $15 during lunch. A selected range of pannis and salads you could get as a lunch box deal with a drink and fruit too!

Last time we had the too crunchy panni this time we had the mussel & cherry tomato linguine. Seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic. The mussels were fresh and juicy, average sizes, while the pasta was a bit chewier than I prefer, but fine apart from being too salty for me. 


Next time I'd ask for less salt when ordering pasta. Other than that it was quite good, though it's not a must eat dish, like Saturday's lunch. 

Service was quick and friendly as always. 

Thursday 17th August


We're pretty sure our story ends with us being killed in an alleyway, on the way to food XD This isn't the first time we've taken questionable directions somewhere. Following the totally hyped up King Castella Cake lead us to Bourke x Spencer, and down this path next to the Alto.




Keep going all the way, cross the road, you'll see Holy Moley on your right, keep heading straight and under some residential towers you'll find King Castella in Rose Lane.

At certain times listed on the window you can get it fresh from the oven. If you buy it straight from the oven to make the most of it you need to serve it warm, eat it there and then. My friends either are at work or in rehab... If getting takeaway then drop by anytime. There was no line at 3pm.


If you get cream you have to eat it there and then, as the sponge is warm (I think, but then won't the cream melt ??) but the cream is cold. Either way it gets messy.


Castella Cake. It's a huge sponge cake. $10 without cream (recommend of you're going to carry it around all day) or $12 with. Let's see how the taste test goes. Note - My diary is A5.


It was huge! Ok A5, serves 8/8 slices. We split it with jas. Making it $5pp for A6 (a huge A4 quarter). A bit dry, though you're meant to steam microwave it back to life. I'd prefer our pandan chiffon though. It's softer. Not sure what the hype is all about.

The target audience is international Asians from the hard to get to out of the way location. It's pretty westside, and only open during daylight. Skip it and go for the pandan chiffon or perhaps something from Maxim's.

Monday 14th August


Two consecutive warm sunny days, could it be spring already? Or is this just a preview? Some years the first week of September it's still winter. I much prefer spring for I love all those light flowing fabrics and lace. Home was always spring by the Bay. Cardigan weather most of the time. It's time to bring out the blazers!

Spring is launched by MSFW though it's now MFW. The first week of September we always look forward to. I fondly remember our very first year, oh wait maybe it was the second. 2014. Priceline showbags, the glasshouse at qv and hub.

QV used to do an end of winter popup at the square with different themes and hold events there. One year it was a Swedish forest (minimalist) another was a beach, the third a garden! We went to a beautiful bridal tea and wedding dress runway.

In 2015 we were invited to the AH runway! Front row seats, lunch time with bubbles we haven't had the same privilege since sadly. They've been going downhill and have moved to Perth.

Father's Office. The outdoor area used to be smoking has been divided into a smoking/drinks only area and the other area for non-smoking. What happpend to no smoking anywhere on the premisis?


Dinner snacks at Father's Office. Tacos beef And veg. Veg was bean based and hot! The pulled beef was good. The arancini bad. Battered almost rather than crumbled coating. A bland ball of yellow rice. The gooey cheese added a slight saltiness. The other cheese had the texture of paper, dry and just no.





Ok so Orlando falls into a deep sleep, how didn't they just bury him with a bell?
- There is a widespread notion that 'saved by the bell' originated as an expression that relates to people being buried alive. The idea was that, if someone were comatose and mistakenly pronounced dead and interred, they could, if they later revived, ring a bell that was attached to the coffin and be saved.


So many eras and costumes! I don't understand the changes though... from 1600 to Modern Day, he becomes a she. The Turkish part was funny, sweating and dying under the wigs and winter costumes XD

Thursday




Strolling we dropped by Zen without looking up reviews or much planing. Bring a student town there's many cheap eats. On this block alone there's Damso Korean and Zen that offers $10 lunch specials.





Friday

• New therapist. What happened to the last one? He got a new job.
• Chilling at the library. It's very different from the office. More background noise on the second floor vs 14th.
• When you can't tell if the presenter is awesome/eccentric as or just nuts XD But he was entertaining.
• Met people! Cool people that we didn't fight.

Dinner at Dondon no.10 now serving in black bowls rather than porcelain. Pretty good needs a sesame Kewpie dressing though for the salad. As always there's plenty of rice.

Saturday




Lohengrin. Set in 10th century Germany with a palette of muted colours for the ladies, divided up into waiting ladies/level 1 nuns, nuns and the common folk. Not high on costume porn or set design. There was a stage, steps and a projected background. I love my elaborate sets! 





Realism and fantasy collide on a background of impending battle in which Elsa of Brabant is wrongly accused of her brother’s murder. Sailing in on a swan (deftly staged with magical projections in a rain of mist), an enigmatic knight arrives to defend her honour, precipitating a marriage with the caveat that Elsa is never to question his identity.

Naturally she asks, being the weak easily influenced damsel, by Lady Macbeth. He leaves, she dies. Though it was Lady Macbeth that stole the show!



Unlike in Mb it is he who gets killed off, while she lives and was manipulating him from the very start. Unlike in Mb where it was at first teamwork.

Thursday 15th June





Meetings then onto errands and lunch at Juno and May. There's a bar! This place goes from brunch to dinner! Located on main street it's easy to get to and I see it being a popular weekend spot.













Delicious and filling, it's the chorizo that takes it that next level up. The potato isn't actually sweet and works well with the cheesy texture  and saltiness/spices of the chorizo. Only one special element, I feel like it needs more than that, perhaps a tomato relish?







Dumplings. They were good. Nothing particularly amazing though. 
An odd place to go for dumplings I know but it was just a snack.


Attempts to be brunchy and trendy, but falls short of amazing. Needs that special something to take it to the next level. With so many brunch spots in town you need to be amazing to stand out.

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