Wednesday 25th January



Healthy Vibe (Dumplings) sounds very familiar, as it's a regular feature on groupon & co. $20 for all you can eat healthy dumplings, or at least healthier than the normal ones. 

Located next to a bank around the corner off the main street it was a challenge to find! Go towards the lane on which Zumbo lives, there you'll find it.



Bright interiors and high ceilings gives Healthy Vibes a very modern clean look, perfect fit with the food they serve, all those bliss balls, vegan/new age slices and all.










"Organic Beef. ... Born and raised on certified organic pasture. Never receive antibiotics. Never receive growth-promoting hormones. Are fed only certified organic grains (corn is a grain) and grasses". I was wonder how you get organic beef as I thought it was a term for things that came from the ground only. 

How was it? Light and perfect! Not oily or salty with a light taste, though it was almost double the cost of normal ones.


I love that they list all their ingredients, it's great for those who are allergic to garlic/onion.

This is much deeper than you think! A distinct taste of fresh ginger, it tasted just like it was homemade! It tasted creamy and yet had no coconut milk or cream at all! Served with toasted slices of baguette, not too crunchy. I loved it, and definitely recommend it.

While I wasn't there long, as most places we stop by these days, service was great! Warm and very friendly, she double wrapped the soup as I was eating while traveling.


Will we be back? Yes! Though we're waiting for that groupon deal. 

You can find Healthy Vibe on all the delivery services!
Deliveroo |Foodora| Menulog | DeliveryHero





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Tuesday 24th January




Located on Little Collins, it's a leafy area. Green for the city, and quite nice away from the hustle and bustle of the main streets. More of a lunch spot they also do dinner, sandwiches, burgers, pastas and more.


With bright interiors it was very bright... being a breezy day we made the mistake of sitting outside aka in the smoker's zone. I look forwards to a day where there is no smoking outdoors, instead there's a cancer room like at the airport.




Pesto with soft cheese, lamb and jus. Needs another element, onion jam perhaps? Quite good though got boring towards the end, repetitive flavours, the doughy gnocchi. More sauce or smaller pieces would help. Above average though nothing amazing. It needs that special something.

We also ordered a salad for lunch tomorrow, served cold and vegetarian it'll be ok in my bag during the show before getting home at 11pm. The manager recommend a squeeze of lemon.

How was it? Needs a protein, chicken or a boiled egg. The squeeze of lemon tip was great! As the original dressing wasn't as moist as before, perhaps that needs to sit on the side. It was quite good though nothing I'd get again.



Service varies, guy at the bar was great and so was the manager. Girl serving out front not so much, she just tolerates me. I'm amazed how many people just tolerate me when our interactions are minimal. Guy at the local kikkik doesn't like me either. The Review girls are always lovely though!







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Monday 23rd January


Another lovely evening dinning by the waterfront. You can't dine at South Wharf and not sit outside! - Unless it's winter...
Like Bangpop we've been here just once, as part of a progressive exploration food tour. Why don't we dine here more often? It's far, and you're paying for the location, which is lovely on a midsummer night. Thanks to Dimmi's 50% offer we've been exploring much more than usual this month. 

Dinner with the professor (not mine, he's in my class though) and jas. I've never actually dined with the professor before, but it turns out he's a vegetarian by preference, and we're at the Meat Market...



Boundaries, there's a rope setting the boundaries of the restaurant, drinks on one side and cigarettes on the other XD. The professor found balance, with one foot on each side, a drink in hand on the restaurant side, and ciggy on the wharf. This is exactly why we aren't invited places!





The professor ordered the bruschetta which wasn't what I expected at all! We expected salsa on a slice or two of toast with mainly tomatoes and a green garnish. Instead it was a huge slice and a mountain of peas among other things. This is not finger food, or your traditional bruschetta. He says it was quite nice and had a red wine vinegar dressing, which countered the pea flavours.  



Jas had the pork belly, served on a palette of shades of sauerkraut it was the opposite of my crab salad at Bangpop. What did he think of it? It was good, meat was delicious, crackling crispy, the onion and fennel maybe a touch oily.



I intended to order a salad to go with my steak though ended up with a vegetable, pumpkin, a favourite. Tastes exactly as expected, it's good but for two slices it's expensive! Also dulled in comparison to my peppercorn jus, not a good pairing there.


Served with half a fancy sliced baked potato (where's the other half?) and water cress, and a smear of peppercorn jus (there's more in the vase). On presentation I felt that it was missing something. 

Medium? No... medium rare it was a bit chewy in the middle, unless all the bites are thinly sliced. It was good though nothing remarkable. It is what you'd expect to be.


Served with tomato sauce, though I was happy to consume them bathed in peppercorn jus. We were all happy with the fries! There was quite a lot, great for sharing, for at least two people. We requested tomato sauce on the side.


The dessert menu wasn't online, and the professor oped for another drink over dessert. O.o



Puff pastry and the smallest scoop of vanilla bean ice cream I've ever seen. Thinly sliced granny smith with buttery pastry, served with a light buttery sauce and those crispy balls I love 'Callebaut Dark Crispearls' from Savour in Brunswick!

It was quite a light dessert and kinda small dessert, one I'd love to make at home! Reminded me of a dessert from Dish'd Frozen Food (but their food was real and quite good). Oh and that isn't a wafer, it's a stick of high quality chocolate. I'd love it, would order it again and high recommend it!




Jas preferred the cheese platter with a strange toasted bread I'm unfamiliar with, I prefer the water/wafer crackers and crispbreads with more fruit paste and muscatel clusters. The cheeses were: cheddar, brie and blue. The classics. 

Service was good, though nothing remarkable (jas didn't tip) the bartender was very friendly though. Our bill came to $95.75 for three people, with two wines and a beer. $32-ish per person, which was great. That total is with the 50% off food by the way. You're looking at $60 per person normally.

Would we normally eat here? No. It was good though not amazing, Bangpop is around the same price, location and was amazing. 


Saturday 15th July

Lunch at the Meat Market, outside undercover with the glass walls. It's lovely out here with no smokers. An afternoon by the window bathing in the sunlight by the wharf reading that book that had been on my list for three years. I finally did it!



The salad there's way too much of! Also it was a bit basic so it's like an actual side rather than most salads I order which could be a main. This was meant to be a side for 2+ people... wish the waiter told me that. 










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Monday 23rd January



Another lovely evening dinning by the waterfront. You can't dine at South Wharf and not sit outside! It might have rained but it was still very nice, a cool day among summer days.




Tuesday




Glory box - A mix of normal people and creatives in corsets, those red heels, latex and vibrant blazers sporting coloured hair. Everyone's got cellulite, they were normal size (as oppose to stick insect thin) and rocking it. There was ass shaking, wearing a dress of string that covers nothing, wearing nothing but a curtain of pearls and many acrobatic acts. I might have seen it all before but I'm still impressed!

Highlights of act two was girl with the wine. She put the cork in... places. Definitely wearing nude underwear under lace right? Nope, if she was she wouldn't have been able to pop it out like that. XD Mother wasn't invited but would have had a stroke! Dad would have been very amused. :P Over the years all my friends have been exposed, and some are more scared than others.

We loved the red balloon finishing act! Red bikini with those scary pin plates (think wooden metal file used to clean dance shoes). A bunch of balloons, then two huge bundles!



Overall a great show! Lots of parents in the crowd, some hid behind their hands. XD 




We got up at 4pm, I was up earlier but my ankles ached and I felt like a slug so we took a nap. Still made it shopping, to dinner and the show! We were even early for the show! Expectations are low these days. 

Wednesday



Dinner & Dance! Three trams later we were late, due to unexpected Friday traffic on a Wednesday. One delicious and healthy-ish dinner on the way to class. We also stopped by the library and movies.

Thursday
Working the parade, these were some of our favourite shots/groups. The blue group I think in Korean. The second group are pros at performing. Little guy in yellow, aren't you glad it's not windy? :P Ancient Egyptians! Queens in heels walking a mile, now that's impressive!

We were on our way to lunch and in the food court there were quite a few good deals including at Healthy Fusion Sushi, strange name but they had cheap sets and bentos! Adding this one to the list.




Aqua S - Mandarin and Tiramisu. Never before has ice cream gone straight to the bin. But never before had it had a strange grainy texture. The first disappointing flavour or rather texture.



Kinky Boots. So sparkly! We love Lola's backup girls and the sexy cop outfit! We only saw the second half of the show as we had a nap and missed the first half! It was a long day and a place to crash in the city would have been ideal. I'd love to go see it again.

Everybody Say Yeah - Not melb but great quality.


Sunday

I fell into a ditch again last week so we're in pain and resting sadly, so no dancing. Instead we went to dinner at Zikrayat Lebanese. Everything was delicious/interesting and the service was great!




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Saturday 21st January


Can you believe I've never had fried chicken other than from KFC before? The Korean fried chicken trend is strong but like burgers we've never perused it. I do love Belleville's rotisserie chicken though, but we've never been to Belle's Hot Chicken till now, conveniently near tonight's event.





At 8pm the peak of dinner on a Saturday night Belles was alive and booked out as a bar. We sat at the bar around the corner, behind a soda machine. There're booths but at peak hour a table for one will be at the counter. Metal, reflective with water stains.

No where is quiet. R&B plays from above and the bar was buzzing with sounds from tables of more than one.


How it work is you pick a...
1. Meat/protein? - Tender, drumstick, wings, fish, mushrooms
2. Heat - Ranging from Southern to Really F**kin Hot
3. Pick a Side - salad, slaw, or fries
4. Optional Sauce $2 (6 to choose from)

Price depends on your protein, with mushrooms at $14 being the cheapest. Though I'm not sure why you ordered mushrooms and a salad at a chicken place...


We ordered the chicken tenders (4 pieces) with a mild sauce, southern heat, with a side of fries and ranch dressing ($20). While we ordered pretty much what was a sour cream sauce what we actually needed was tomato sauce or sweet chili mayo, to go with the crinkle cut fries. They were crispy though of the supermarket freezer variety. Grill'd does the best chips, yet to be topped.

The tenders were good with no chewy bits and wasn't oily, served with a slice of white sandwich bread?? and pickles. It was good though nothing amazing. Everyone else ordered the hot chicken but I'm not a fan of the spices. It's not them, its me. As it is about spicy hot chicken, if that's not your thing then maybe check out Belleville instead. 

We actually wanted the chicken and waffles, but it was a weekend lunch only offer. We'll be back to challenge ourselves with the medium heat! I'm that person who finds toothpaste too much to handle sometimes!

Service was minimal, and not as friendly as we'd like. It was more like too busy to smile.   






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