Coffee Stops in Melbourne: #5 Aunty Peg's

CAFE || COLLINGWOOD

I would say no other cafe is like Aunty Peg's, this is a playground created for the coffee geeks.

ESPRESSO MACHINE: Custom-made under-counter Synesso, single-group
GRINDER: Mahlkonig EK43
ROASTER: Probat
ORDER: Anything black

That's right, Aunty Peg's only serve black coffee -- espresso, filter, cold drip and nitro cold brew. Be it a small cup of espresso extracted using the world-first under counter Synesso (wow!!!), or a pourover coffee made with a V60. Beans selection? The barista would go through with you one-by-one, so make sure you are not in hurry. If you want to learn up some brewing skill, just pre-book your session with the cafe, for free!

Aunty Peg's poses a role model for what a specialty coffee shop can offer to the coffee community: it is an educational center for people who are interested in coffee, and a training platform for the coffee professionals. This is a place every coffee professionals and hobbyist must visit once in a life time.

BUSINESS HOUR:
Everyday 8AM-5PM

WEBSITE:
www.auntypegsbypmc.com.au

ADDRESS:
200 Wellington Street
Collingwood VIC 3066

MAP:

Coffee Stops in Melbourne: #4 The League of Honest Coffee

CAFE || 8 EXPLORATION LANE

First impression the League of Honest Coffee gave to me was: the coffee was very sweet and creamy. I have to agree that this is one of the best cup of coffee in Melbourne.

I ordered a flat white at LoHC. In Australia (and NZ) if you want to drink milk coffee without add-ons like chocolate powder or cinnamon, flat white is your best choice. So my flat white was sweet, milk-chocolate-like using the cafe's house blend -- Daddy's Girl roasted by Padre Coffee Specialty Coffee Roaster. The DG is a blend of Columbia and India (sorry I wasn't paying enough attention on the bean's origin), which is aimed to give chocolaty and low acidity characteristic. I had a sip on Big Fish's chocolate-dusted cappuccino and it was equally impressive too!

ESPRESSO MACHINE: 3-group Slayer x2
GRINDER: Mazzer
ORDER: Milk/Espresso-based, whole bean

Like many other cafes we visited in Melbourne City, the coffee take-away crowds in LoHC was CRAZY. At first, we thought we have to wait a little longer to get our seat but it was not. People simply queuing up for the takeaways! We managed to get a table and had our yummilicious breakfast -- Chicken Avocado Toast and Vegemite Toast (both are Australian's proud creations!). We chose sourdough and immediately love it after the first bite.

BUSINESS HOUR:
Monday – Friday 7am - 4.30pm
Saturday 8am - 3pm

FACEBOOK:
www.facebook.com/leagueofhonestcoffee/

ADDRESS:
8 Exploration Lane, Melbourne

MAP:

Coffee Stops in Melbourne: #3 Higher Ground Melbourne

CAFE || LITTLE BOURKE STREET (OPPOSITE SPENCER OUTLET CENTRE)

***Disclaimer*** [Coffee Stops in Melbourne] is not a cafe ranking. The numbers does not represent any ratings.

There are 2 types of cafe in Melbourne: The one which serves "hipster food" and coffee, and the one who only focus on specialty coffee. Higher Ground Cafe belongs to the first category.

ESPRESSO MACHINE: La Marzocco
GRINDER: Victoria Arduino Mythos One, Mahlkonig EK43
GOOD FOR: Milk/espresso-based coffee

Just opened its door in July this year, Higher Ground is located at the western-end of Little Bourke Street (part of the street is Chinatown Melbourne) opposite Spencer Outlet Centre. If you are travelling to Melbourne, just remember these landmarks. Tips: take any tram to Southern Cross or Spencer Outlet and walk across the road, or just ride on a Uber!

This hip-looking cafe has high ceiling, probably 3 or 4 storeys (see picture below) and fitted with many potted plants -- including a tree inside the cafe!

BUSINESS HOUR:
Monday - Wednesday: 7AM - 4PM
Thursday - Friday: 7AM - 11PM
Saturday: 8AM - 11PM
Sunday: 8AM - 4PM

FACEBOOK:
www.facebook.com/Higher-Ground-Melbourne-241720442841013/

ADDRESS:
650 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne

MAP:

Coffee Stops in Melbourne: #2 Seven Seeds Specialty Coffee

Coffee Pop-Up || Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne

Melbourne-based Seven Seeds Specialty Coffee was having a pop-up coffee shop at the Finders Keepers Melbourne Spring/Summer Edition, last October at the Royal Exhibition Hall, Melbourne. They were among another coffee pop-up supplying to over ten of thousands of visitors -- imagine the stress when the orders piles up! Probly not the best venue to experience Seven Seeds' coffee, we had 2 cups of takeaway -- they were simply too milky to my liking! Nevertheless, the micro roaster offers very good coffee bean -- the Kenya Kigwandi (Washed) I bought from the shop was very sweet and delicious with lemon acidity when I brewed at home using V60.

ESPRESSO MACHINE: La Marzocco
GRINDER: Mazzer

FACEBOOK: 
www.facebook.com/SevenSeedsSpecialtyCoffee

CAFES:

1. Seven Seeds Cafe: 114 Berkeley Street, Carlton, Victoria
2. Brother Baba Budan: 359 Little Bourke Street
3. Traveller: 2/14 Crossley Street
4. Hortus: 131-141 Harbour Esplanade, Docklands

Coffee Stops in Melbourne: #1 Sensory Lab Specialty Coffee

CAFE || LITTLE COLLINS (INSIDE DAVID JONES), MELBOURNE

It wasn't my choice to pick Sensory Lab as my first coffee stop in Melbourne, but its location in the middle of all the shopping malls at CBD area, Sensory Lab appears to be a perfect stop for coffee drinkers.

ESPRESSO MACHINE: La Marzocco Linea
GRINDERS: EK43, K30 (Mahlkonig), Mazzer
GOOD FOR: Milk/espresso-based coffee, black coffee, whole coffee beans

Sensory Lab and its affiliates play an important roles in shaping Melbourne Specialty Coffee scene that we see today. Like any other specialty coffee brands in the world, they involves in every part of the "coffee chain" -- from seed to cup, from coffee tree to the table.

There are 5 Sensory Labs (2 at Little Collins) in Melbourne, I managed to visit the outlet near David Jones* gents' department. Expect to see big crowd here due to its location, unfortunate for me: I've never try the V60 filter coffee hand brew by the pourista at Sensory Lab due to the high traffic -- despite I visited this cafe twice, 2 years in a row.

*David Jones is a department store

BUSINESS HOUR:
Monday - Wednesday : 7:30 am - 7:00 pm
Thursday - Friday : 7:30 am - 9:00 pm
Saturday: 8:30 am - 7:00 pm
Sunday: 9:30 am - 7:00 pm

FACEBOOK:
https://www.sensorylab.com.au

ADDRESS:
297 Little Collins St., Melbourne VIC 3000

MAP:

The Korean Club Restaurant @ Tanjung Aru, Sabah

NON-HALAL | KOREAN FOOD | 11.30AM - 10.30PM

If you live in Kota Kinabalu long enough and a fan of Korean BBQ / Korean food, I trust you won't miss out this Korean restaurant at Tanjung Aru, just next to Shangri-la's Tanjung Aru Resort! Established in year 1992, The Korean Club offers some familiar menu such as Tuk-Bok-Ki (Korean rice cake), Jab-Che (stir fired tongfun), Kal-Bee-Jim (beef spare ribs stew), Pa-Jun (Korean Pancake), and surely, BBQ pork belly and the marinated pork slice.

The side dishes or banchan however, unlike other Korean restaurants, is not complimentary and not able to top up when its finish.

The food was good, if not great. No complain.

Most of the menu is written in Korean

Salad

Banchan
The taste is pretty good, especially this cabbage roll in the picture and kimchi. However instead of free-flow style, expect "fine dining" kind of setup here -- no refill :P

Tofu Bean Paste Stew

Pork Belly

Only this BBQ pork comes with Pa-Mu-Chim (seasoned scallions)

Pa-Jun

The portion is generous

Inside the restaurant

Queuing up for payment

FOODIOT'S POINT: 70%

BUSINESS HOUR: 11.30AM - 10.30PM

PHONE: 088-233213

ADDRESS:
No.4, Jalan Aru, Tanjung Aru
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

D'Place @ Kepayan Perdana

SERVE NO PORK | KADAZAN-DUSUN FOOD | KOTA KINABALU

It is quite difficult to get local food (I mean, Kadazan-dusun food) in a proper restaurant except for hotels (#shout-out: Le Meridien KK always have local food such as ambuyat, hinava & tuhau in the buffet menu!) and places like Pasar Tamu (equivalent to a farmers' market) Donggongon. Sometimes when I wanted to treat my friends from the Peninsular, I got no idea what kind of restaurant I should bring them over which represent Sabah!

D'Place could be one of the option to consider. No matter what you order at the restaurant, local delicacies such as bambangan, tuhau and hinava would never missing from the plate. Then we have the aromatic and sweet Nasi Linopot -- often rice and yam wrapped in leaves; Sabahan favourite fish -- ikan basung --  deep fried until crunchy from inside out, and bosou sada -- the fermented fish which has strong and unique taste of buah pangi.

Love

Salted Fish with Calamansi

Sambal & Lada (chillies)

The Gulu-gulu Bamboo Rice Set:- Nasi Linopot and the condiments

Do you know what is the names of these side dishes

Ikan Basung
You can literally swallow the whole fish including bones, if you want >.<

Kadazan Set #2

There is no chicken dish, strange eh?

FOODIOT'S POINT: 80%

BUSINESS HOUR: 4.30PM - 11.00PM

PHONE: 016-8332381

FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/Theplacebistro

ADDRESS: E-36-2, 1st Floor, Kepayan Perdana, 88200 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah