-
Burger Got Soul Review
On a recent trip to Tasmania, I had the chance to dine at Burger Got Soul. My perceptions was that this was like a Grill’d and I wasn’t wrong but I was also pleasantly surprised. Burger Got Soul has greater menu options than Grill’d and the quality of ingredients are simliar. Staff are friendly and efficient and waiting time between order to food is the within 15 minutes. This place is popular and there is limited seating so get in early or opt for takeaway.
The order:
The LOTR burger. Key ingredient were the onion rings with your usual bun, rocket, cheese, and capsicum. I ordered this as I am a lover of onion rings but the flavour of the rings was lost due to the other stronger flavours within the burger. However, outside of that, this burger was absolutely delicious and completely filling. Would recommend you take the rings out and eat separately. Apparently this is was a permanent addition to the menu due to popular demand.
The Tassie Burger. Egg, bacon, cheese, beef patty, lettuce, tomato. This burger had everything and was so delicious to look at. Friend ordered this one and guaranteed me that this was absolutely amazing. Highly recommended.
If you’re in Launceston, Tassie and have a burger fix, this is definitely up your alley.
-
OPI Teasy Does It Review
Polish: OPI Teas-y Does It
Collection: Burlesque Movie Collection
Application: 1 base coat, 2 colour coats and 1 top coat
Chipping factor: Medium (within 5 days)
I’m not usually ones to choose dark nail colours but this colour really grabbed for some reason. The colour is a dark burgundy with shades of maroon that appear in the sunlight. The polish also has very subtle maroon glitter as well that just makes it so pretty. (and to me, not a boring, dark shade, thank god)
This colour is almost an identical match to what Laura Mercier has on her packaging except the polish has subtle maroon glitter whereas LM has subtle white glitter in her packaging.
Would I “nail” it again: Yes. i really like this colour as it gives my hand a bit of a mature look but is still fun with the glitter. For me, a great compliment to a bright outfit.
-
Tutto Bene Review
Wow, what a fantastic restaurant! The team was taken here for a retirement dinner for a colleague who had served the bank after 40 years (and yay for eating on the company’s dime). Thank God this restaurant was chosen or else I would have missed out on one of the best Italian restaurants in Melbourne.
The atmosphere was casual and a buzz with chatter. The view of Melbourne from the restaurant is gorgeous and extremely pretty at night. But most of all, despite having an extremely long menu and no english translations beside their dish names, the food is fantastic and definitely worth the visit.
ENTREES
-the waiter choose our entrees, so I’m taking a guess as to what these dishes are.
Parmigiano Reggiano 2007 con aceto balsamico e grissini - 50 grams of aged Parmigiano reggiano with balsamic vinegar reduction and grissini
This was so delicious! You don’t need a lot of this to taste its deliciousness so go easy and savour.
Top Tier: Prosciutto di Parma “riserva” con verdure sott’olio - 24 month aged Italian prosciutto with house pickled seasonal vegetables and grissini
Your standard prosciutto and some very salty veggies. Good if you like salty things.
Bottom Tier: Calamari fritti - Fried calamari on wild rocket with pickled vegetable mayonnaise
I am a lover of Calamari so this dish was a thumbs up for me.
In the pan: Caramelle di Parmigiano Reggiano e Prosciutto di Parma - Crispy parcels filled with Reggiano and Prosciutto
The most delicious things on earth! If you only want to try one entree, this is the one to get! You will not regret it.
Arancini di funghi, Fontina e Parmigiano - Arancini of mushrooms, Fontina cheese and parmesan
A tasty Arancini Ball. The parcels still steal my heart though.
MAINS
Filetto di manzo in padella su crema di funghi con scalogni arrosto e pancetta croccante - Pan seared 185 gram prime beef eye fillet, on mushroom sauce with roasted shallots and crispy pancetta.
A colleague ordered this. Definitely no complaints. The best steak ever? Possibly not…
Stinchi d’agnello brasati, su fricassé di cannellini con porcini e pancetta e pomodori semi secchi - Slow wet roasted lamb shanks on fricassé of cannellini beans with porcini and pancetta, aromatic semi dried roma tomatoes
A colleague ordered this. Very hearty and extremely delicious.
Brodetto di pesce - A selection of seafood in a shellfish broth with tomato, chilli, basil and Sardinian “crumb” pasta
This was my choice dinner of the night. The thing that I loved the most about this was that they did not skimp on the seafood at all. It was fresh, plentiful and the broth perfectly complimented the food. I love seafood and am so glad this dish did not disappoint. The crumb pasta, which to me was like cous cous was okay. It added texture to the dish but not really any flavour.
Overall, everyone on the table was extremely happy with dish.
DESSERTS
Pannacotta con frutta cotta - A vanilla cream mousse with poached seasonal fruit
Brulee al tiramisu con ganache di cioccolato e gelato al mascarpone - Tiramisu infused brulee served with our in house mascarpone gelati and chocolate ganache
Tortino di cioccolatto e nocciola con gelato - Belgian chocolate and Mt Buffalo hazelnut tortino with pannacotta gelato drizzled with truffled honey
Coppa di gelati misti - A selection from our artisan produced authentic Italian gelato.
I am a huge ice-cream lover so I went with this dessert option (and also because their gelato has won many many awards). I had a raspberry sorbet, strawberry gelato and choc cherry gelato. The raspberry sorbet was extremely refreshing and I can definitely see myself come back during the summer for this flavour. The strawberry gelato was very creamy but in my opinion was did not have enough strawberry resulting in a very mild strawberry gelato, not a fav. Choc Cherry, which I had my hopes set on, since I love Cherry Ripe, also suffered from too much creaminess and not enough flavour. I was a bit disappointed in this since my expectations were set high with the awards and the genuine gelato flavours being advertised. That being said, I still want to go back to try the other flavours and definitely the sorbet.
Overall, a wonderful restaurant that delivered on its entree and mains. Everyone else seemed to enjoy their desserts but for me who possibly places more importance on desserts, especially ice-cream (Well, I’m a girl after all) I was disappointed with what I was given. Also their hot chocolate wasn’t great either, but I may have been spoiled by Max Brennar and Ganache.
-
Purple Peanuts Review
Purple peanuts is a favourite of many work colleagues and not without reason. Great, cheap, fast food served within an interesting decor is a surefire way to win repeat customers.
Yes, that is a monkey hanging in between Purple and Peanuts
The menu is handwritten on brown paper, sometimes attached with pictures and staff comments, which I personally find adorable.
The staff are friendly and despite the small space between door, queue, food, register, they are an efficient bunch who try to get you your food as fast as they can.
On this visit to purple peanuts, my friend and I dined in where I ordered the Prawn Salad and my friend opted for the miso soup and teriyaki chicken. The miso soup is handmade and comes enriched with carrots, potato and spring onion and tastes great. The colour is lighter than your standard miso and seems to contain less salt. The most surprising thing for me was that it came out in a lopsided mug!
The teriyaki salad and the prawn salad were beautiful plated when served.
The teriyaki chicken came with a side of green salad and carrots and green beans that had been marinated in a sesame dressing. There was a generous serving of chicken upon rice.
The prawn salad came with some fried tofu, buckwheat noodles, green salad and cucumber. The salad had a creamy dressing whilst the the prawns and noodles were laying on sweet chilli sauce. I probably would have preferred less chilli sauce or for the sauces to be in their own containers as they didn’t taste great when mixed. Keep the sauces apart, and this is mega tasty!
Overall, a good dinner. Both dishes were about $9.50 and the miso soup is an extra $2-$3.
The great thing about purple peanuts is that they dish up known japanese dishes with a twist using fresh ingredients without burning a hole in your wallet. Their variety of sushi ( in brown and white rice), their offerings of potato salad and vegetables in sesame dressing and fried onigiri (tuna and vegetable) ensure that everyone has multiple options to choose from ( and to come back to try). As this place fills up pretty quick, you should get there early if you want to dine in during lunch or be prepared to do takeaway. Dinner fares much better as there is less traffic and you’re almost guaranteed a seat.
Some of that interesting decor…
-
Ramen Ya Review
Located in the lane beside GPO on Bourke St, adjacent to Kenzan (who offer great sushi and onigiri) is Ramen Ya, an unassuming place serving up some great ramen in the CBD. Haven eaten ramen whist on exchange in Japan, I can not say this is the best ramen I have ever eaten, but it is infinitely better than what is being served over in AJISEN (urgh) and for under $12 bowl, there isn’t much to complain about.
The broth is light and rich in flavour but not oily and is a treat to sip. The noodles are thin and chewy but not too flour-y and there is nice mixture of extra ingredients to even out the flavour of the ramen.
My friend and I stopped over here last Friday, she ordered the Char-Siu and myself, the kimchi variety.
Kimchi Ramen
Char-Siu Ramen
Both my friend and I were very happy with our ramen and we felt full after the meal but not too full ( we still had dessert to go to!)
A word of warning, I am a sucker for anything green tea related and thus ordered the green tea milkshake that was on the menu. I found the green tea far too sweet and creamy to compliment the ramen and even on its own was definitely not worth the $6.50 that it was being sold for. Save your money folks and get the standard green tea!
-
OPI I’m His Coral-Friend Review
Polish: OPI I’m His Coral-Friend
Collection: ? (not in the Iphone App)
Application: 1 base coat, 3 colour coats and 1 top coat
Chipping factor: High (within four days)
This coral coloured polish is a great way to liven up the day and the imagination! This colour brings to mind, a sunny beach, a mojito in hand with naught a care in the world. Too bad, that isn’t reality but you have to appreciate a nail polish that conjures up such an image. The finish on the polish is “jelly” like and requires three coats for it to become solid. You can get away with two coats if you don’t mind the white section of your nail peeping through. I noticed that this started to chip about the fourth day for me which is unusual for OPI polishes.
I got so many compliments whilst wearing this polish, which I attribute it to its bright, fun nature and everyone who saw it, definitely wanted to try it out for themselves!
Would I “nail” it again: Yes. Compliments aside, this colour is a cheap fix for me to feel like I’m on a holiday whilst trying to get through the daily trials of work.
-
Brim CC Japanese Cafe Review
I really love this Japanese Cafe on Little Collins St. There’s something about the food here that brings me back to the time when I was an exchange student in Japan. For me, the flavours are very Japanese, in the sense that they are carefully balanced, tastes homemade and are subtly flavoured. In saying that, I have taken many a friend here, who enjoy the food (and the price!) but still prefer Purple Peanuts on Collins St, where the flavours are more prominent and food is Japanese Fusion.
Brim CC is open for both lunch and dinner and the menu changes for each session. The lunch menu is very reasonably priced between $8-$15 and even less if you just want sushi. The dinner menu is $16-$20.
Lunch: Tokyo Bento Set
Price: $12-14
Full Factor: Mega
Taste Factor: Its Tasty!
This bento set is value for money as you get three onigiri’s (tuna and seaweed, fermented yellow pickle and black sesame seed) alongside a small hamburger patty, a piece of tofu with miso paste, a scoop of potato salad (yum, my weakness), some marinated carrot and green salad with tomato. Wow, that was definitely a mouthful (pun intended)
I found this bento to be very tasty and filled me up very quickly to the point where I couldn’t finish all the onigiri and wrapped one up to eat for later. I will be eating this again
Dinner: Colourful Soba Set
Price: $16-18
Full Factor: Comfortably full
Taste Factor: Yummy and refreshing
My sister had this for dinner as she is a soba lover and very highly recommended it. You get your standard soba sauce and soba noodles, sweet rolled egg, tomato with green salad leaves. To mix with your soba sauce, you get wasabi, spring onion, fermented yellow pickle and something else I don’t remember. It was definitely colourful and I was jealous until my own dish came out.
Dinner: Tokyo Style Omelette Rice
Price:
$16-18
Full Factor:
Filling
Taste Factor: Strange ketchup like after taste?
Omelette Rice (or omuraisu) is one of my favourite Japanese dishes, its easy to make and yummy to eat. I’ve had many great omuraisu’s in Japan so I was a bit disappointed with this one. The rice had a strange aftertaste to it and I thought that it was perhaps due to flavouring the rice with more ketchup than needed but I can’t quite put my finger on it. I thought i would get used to the taste but it just seemed to bother me more as I kept eating.There egg was nicely cooked though. Not sure if I would try this again.
Dinner: Kyoto Dessert Sweets Set
Price: $5-$6
Full Factor: ??
Taste Factor: ??
My sister’s friend had this. I didn’t get to try any of it, but I loved how it looked when it came out and the smell of the green tea wafting over.
Overall: Brim CC is a great place for Japanese food but if you’re looking for punchy flavours, you’re not going to find it here. Brim CC, for me, has more traditional flavours, which means that their food is quite subtle (read: plain, or could definitely use more salt). The staff are extremely friendly, the food here can’t be beaten for value and for me, its an enjoyable reminder of what it was like to eat in Japan. I’ll be back.
-
OPI Big Apple Red Review
Polish: OPI Big Apple Red
Collection: New York City Collection
Application: 1 base coat, 2 colour coats and 1 top coat
Chipping factor: Medium
This is a vibrant bright red and one of my favourite colours from the OPI range. I honestly think this colour suits any skin tone and I find myself reaching for this when I want to brighten up my hands during this dreary Australian winter. And also, because I have a very black corporate wardrobe and this is a great way to add some colour.
I think this polish is not as thick as other OPI’s formulas and thus why begins to chip within 3 days. I was extremely surprised at how quickly this colour began to chip as I generally find that other OPI colours can last me a week before any chipping begins.
Would I “nail” it again: Definitely. This is a gorgeous red and is a great fun way to add colour to your hands and to any outfit.
-
OPI Windy City Pretty Review
Polish: OPI Windy City Pretty
Collection: ? ( This colour doesn’t show up in the OPI Iphone App)
Application: 1 base coat, 2 colour coats and 1 top coat
Chipping factor: Minimum (TBC)
I got this colour from a 3 OPI’s for $30 sale from one of those discount kiosks that gets set up in the middle of a shopping mall that’s there one day, and gone the next. This, coupled with the fact that I couldn’t find it in my Iphone OPI app did make me think that it was a dodgy colour but the polish formula seemed legit so I purchased it on a hunch.
This colour is not my usual choice of colours as I prefer bright and vivid reds and pinks. However, as it currently winter in Australia, I wanted something a bit subdued and thought this mauve-y like colour would hit the spot.
Would I “nail” it again: Undecided. Its a pretty colour and I like how it makes my hands seem mature and sophisticated. Not entirely sure if it suits my greenish-yellow skin tone. Likely suits lighter skin tones.
-
Introductory Post
This is a blog set up for me to talk about nail polish, restaurants reviews, movie reviews and whatever else catches my interest and warrants a review
I’m a 20 something year old girl, living in Melbourne, Australia enjoying life
I’m pretty new at this blogging stuff, so please bear with me as I figure it out
The above photo is my sister’s “JOKER” nails. Pretty right?
I’m jealous of her slim fingers and small, white hands
