Birdie Num Nums

This place is well known for families with prams on the weekedn so it should come as no surprise ET chose to sit by the window counter.  This is where they keep several newspapers of the day, as well as the bookshelf of children's books - a testament to their family-friendliness.

In case you happen to be a Peter Sellers fan, Birdie Num Nums is supposedly named after a line in the film The Party.  And just like the film, this place was slightly comical in that someone tried to serve us a muffin & coffee when no one had bothered to give us menus yet!

The big breakfast was the usual order for ET.

He also ordered a side of chorizos which arrived in a small bowl, cut up into pieces a minute or two after our meals were served.

I opted for the french toast and was disappointed to find some of the eggs had oozed out the sides of the bread so it felt like I was eating scrambled eggs. :(

Coffee was good so ET went for a second cup.  Although we weren't greeted as soon as we arrived, they also kept us waiting as we tried to pay.  We went up to the counter where a man was operating the cash register.  After about a minute he walked off without any acknowledgement!  We, in turn, were tempted to do the same.  It would have appeared to any bystander that we had paid and rightly so.  Imagine walking off on a paying customer like that!  Needless to say we will not be returning.  There were at least 3 other cafes within 30 second walking distance, all on the same side of the street.  And that's no exaggeration!

Birdie Num Nums

745 Nicholson St, North Carlton

Sapporo Japanese Restaurant (II)

What is it with places that don't hand you menus once you're seated?  We were shown to our table (which we actually booked for) then left to our devices.  This is the second time this has happened to us at Sapporo.  After finally hailing a waiter serving an adjoining table, I made ET choose between the two soft shell crab specials for entree.  He decided on the crispy soft shell crab.

I liked the crunchy bits but didn't enjoy the whole dish, specially as it had a touch of spice.  ET thought the crab too rich but either way, the dish did look impressive.

After tasting the terriyaki chicken, I got an "Oh wow" from ET.

His terriyaki beef just got a "not bad".  It wasn't as flavoursome as the chicken so we stirred the beef around the sauce a bit.

Although both dishes were terriyaki, and even had the same vegetables (which we didn't really touch) why were the two dishes not the same color?

Sapporo Japanese Restaurant

432 Mitcham Rd, Mitcham

Sakura House

Although I was craving Vietnamese cuisine, try as we might, we couldn't find any in the surrounding area.  Shame.  But seeing Sakura House as light-filled and roomy, we decided to give it a go.  ET was pleased with the tall indoor water feature but we didn't like the rude scratchings on it - it ruined the effect quite a bit.

But on to the food.  As usual I was starving so we opted for a platter for starters - the name of which escapes me.  I was pleasantly surprised with the large assortment and it was all served in twos so it was nice and easy to split.

ET enjoyed the spring rolls but it was too light in color for my liking.  You can barely just see it on the bottom left of the photo, covered in mayo.

The octopus balls had ET quite perplexed (topped in pickled ginger beside the spring rolls) but I've since realised that I just don't like octopus balls.  Full stop.  I would like to know, however, how they got the prawns so straight?  (See top of photo below)

ET was amused by how many edamame he had eaten compared to me, so we just had to take a photo of all the shells as proof:

Sashimi was Et's choice for main as he wasn't so hungry.  Although not bad, there were some tiny pieces next to ones twice as thick and a bit tough so they obviously need to work on this.

I went for the grilled salmon main.  After struggling with trying to get the noodles out from under the salmon, I was much disappointed with its rubbery texture.

One thing ET & I agreed on was how nice the miso soup was.  Lucky the mains came with this along with rice, pickled cabbage, salad and chilled tofu which I rue not trying.  But I was, after all, quite stuffed by this stage.

Staff were a bit haphazard on the night.  At one stage two approached us but neither one took our empty plates away.  I also said to another "Can we have some water please?" only to be given one glass of water even though ET & I both had empty glasses from our previous drinks.  Nor did they ask if ET would like another drink when his glass was already empty by the time the mains arrived. It wasn't until the manager came to clear our mains that he immediately bought another water for ET and asked if he would like another glass of red.

Sakura House
425 Burwood Hwy, Shop 2222 Knox O Zone, Wantirna

Suede

We seem to keep finding ourselves surprised in that at past 12:30pm we expected to have lunch at Suede only to be handed a breakfast menu.  Once we realised this, I asked if they had a lunch menu, only to be told “Not today”.  Hmmmm.  Since ET & I had already ordered coffees by this stage, we decided to stay.

There were 3 waitstaff and the place was less than half full but we still had to wait half an hour for our breakfast.  The coffees were good so ET finally decided to order another when our food was finally served.  The waitress said the chef apologises for the wait so he’s given us an extra big breakfast.  ET tasted his dish and straight away said the mushrooms were nice.

For once, I had more than enough bread for my eggs.  I’m unsure if it’s because I ordered fried eggs instead of scrambled or if the chef gave me an extra piece of bread for the looong wait.  The bread were nice thick slices but too hard to cut up with a knife and a piece of mine flew off the plate so I resorted to using my fingers.  And they mentioned hand-whipped butter on the menu but since the bread came buttered, I can’t attest whether this is true or not.

We were served nice cold water from a vodka bottle as soon as we were seated so they passed the water wellness test.  But staff were a little lax in picking up our empty coffee cups.  ET & I found it strange the waitress not only asked if we had coffee, but also if we had any breakfast!  She said she couldn’t find our ticket but we were one of only a few tables inside and were basically sitting in front of the counter and cash register with our breakfast dishes still uncleared on the table!  Plus they asked the same thing of the other 2 tables that left before us!!  (Excuse all the exclamation points, but I think they are well deserved!)

Suede

284 Smith St, Collingwood

The Firehouse (VI)

In all honesty we were hoping for brunch at Smoken Joe’s Cafe but they are still under renovation.  We then headed off to Firehouse thinking we’d be able to have the lunch menu.  Unfortunately we were an hour early :(

ET not wanting to order the same dish as last time, was swayed by the sound of  poached eggs, double smoked bacon, chive fromage and hash brown.  Both having compromised what to order the last few times we’ve been out, we decided to hell with it and ordered the same dish.

ET was much surprised at how much he liked it.  Me, on the other hand, was surprised that the hollandaise sauce was poured on top of the eggs because a lady at the adjoining table had hers served in a small bowl.  (Perhaps she’d specially requested it that way?)  Admittedly, seeing her dish while we were looking over the menu was one reason why I ordered it and why I nodded my head towards their table when telling ET what I was going to order.

The other things that surprised me was I didn’t like the double smoked bacon.  I think it was just too much for my palette.  And lastly, when I saw the fried triangle piece on the adjoining table, I presumed it was the fromage fried like saganaki & other similar cheeses.  It came quite a surprise to me that it was in fact the hash brown.  Fancy that – hash brown shaped as a triangle block!

The Firehouse

253 Maroondah Hwy, Ringwood