St Edmonds on St Edmonds

White, decorated with antique weighing scales and dressed in splash of denim, St Edmonds is located at the corner of St Edmonds and Greville street in Prahran. St Edmonds is the latest edition to the cafe scene boasts beautifully brewed coffee and a delicious menu. What to have at St Edmonds? Try their perfectly poached eggs with smoked ocean trout dressed in a sinfully delicious hollandaise sauce and their Asian inspired spanner crab omelet. I am serious when I say they poach eggs perfectly; cut into the eggs and find the golden yoke oozing out onto the bed of smoked ocean trout. The sinfully delicious hollandaise sauce;  just a creamy enough high quality clarified butter whisked into submission. We look forward to our next visit to St Edmonds for lunch.

Rear 154, Greville Street, Prahran.

Taste Bud Pleasers Rating: 5 out of 5 STARS.

Maggie's Harvest

With the new season of Master Chef currently showing and with Maggie Beer featuring more this season, it would be shame not to share the treasure that is Maggie's Harvest. Bound in fabric embroidered with a depiction of an apricot tree, this book beautifully sectioned into the four seasons - summer, autumn, winter and spring. In each section, Maggie describes and writes about ingredients that are native and abundant in the Barrossa Valley including tips and tricks as well as a generous offering of her favourite recipes (e.g., sour cream pastry). In summer, I made her delicious (and controversial to some) grilled peaches with prosciutto salad as well as white peach puree prosecco bellini (which made both myself and guest very happy after a couple of bellini flutes) and this week as we are towards the end autumn and the start of winter, I made a wagyu rump marinated in balsamic vinegar and lemon rind (absolute yum!) and her creamy blue swimmer crab risotto cooked in crab stock and verjus. An investment that you will not regret...

Book Junkies Rating: 5 out of 5 STARS

Wallis & Ed

Wallis & Ed (named after King Edward), located at the corner of Spring and Bourke Street in Melbourne, is the newest edition to the Melbourne food scene. They say curiosity killed the cat, but in my case, my curious peer into the windows of Wallis & Ed earlier this week earned me an invitation (as well as a cup of beautifully made cafe latte and canelle on the house) into the restaurant for a sneak preview into the good things to come. Part of the Hotel Windsor, King Edward's  namesake is staffed by polished and experience front of house staff and its modern chic decor promises a good dining experience. Wallace & Ed is open for breakfast and lunch service, Monday to Friday.

Visit Wallis & Ed at 111 Spring Street, Melbourne.

Taste Bud Pleasers Rating: 4 out of 5 STARS.

Chinese Roast Pork

Chinese Roast Pork, a staple that should be in any budding Chinese cook's repertoire. Here is my take on the infamous mouth watering dinner treat.  Serves 4.

You will need to begin this recipe one day in advance. Trust me! It is well worth the time invested.

What you need:

Pork belly (skin scored - ask your local butcher to prepare the pork belly for roasting)

Sea salt

2 tablespoon five spice powder

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

How to:

1. Rub and massage sea salt into the pork belly skin. Wrap with plastic wrap and marinade overnight in the fridge. The objective of this exercise is to draw up all moisture and will result in crispy pork crackling.

2. Next morning, take pork out of the fridge and pat the skin dry with a paper towel. Rub and massage more sea salt into the pork belly skin. Rub five spice powder on pork. Wrap with plastic wrap and return pork in the fridge to marinade for another 5-6 hours.

3. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius. Remove pork from fridge and pat skin dry with a paper towel once again. Run and massage more sea salt into the pork belly and rub skin generously with olive oil.

4. Place pork belly on a roasting tray and roast in pre-heated oven for at least 1 hour and 30 minutes or until cooked. 

5. Rest pork for 10 minutes before serving.

Chu The Pho

Visitor or resident, it is safe to assume that most of us love Pho. What is Pho you ask? It delicious Vietnamese rice noodles, bean sprouts and fresh basil served in a beautiful concoction of beef bones, star anise, cinnamon and various other secret spices simmered in water for hours to produced a wonderful aromatic stock. Our favourite Pho restaurant is Chu The located at 270, Victoria Street, Richmond, Melbourne. The owner aunty knows us by face and smiles every time we walk in. What to have? Their famous sliced beef Pho of course, prawn spring rolls and iced coffee.

Taste Bud Pleaser Rating: 4 out of 5 STARS.

The Sushi Monger

Situated in one of the many discreet allies on Bourke Street is the Sushi Monger. The Sushi Monger is known for its affordable Japanese hot meals and sushi box sets. A small sushi set and a sushi roll will set you back by only $10 - a reasonable price to pay for lunch these days if you ask me given the rising price of fuel and public transport. Table space is limited so if you are after a sit down lunch be sure to arrive before 12 to earn yourself a seat. Where exactly is this famous monger you ask? If you are coming down Little Collins Street, out of Australia on Collins, it is situated in the same ally as Laurent Bakery.

Taste Bud Pleaser Rating: 4 out of 5 STARS.

Kathrin's Daisy Cupcakes

Inside pink boxes held together by a pretty pink satin bow were Kathrin's daisy cupcakes - home designed and made with love, they were moist vanilla cupcakes topped with fresh lemon mascapone buttercream icing. A field of hand made pink and baby blue daisies decorated these cakes to tie the whole theme together.

Happy Birthday Kathrin!