Ms. Jazz Reviews: Der Raum, Melbourne

*waves* Has it been so long since my last entry?! Time passes by too quickly. It doesnt help that the entry i took 1 week to write with much effort did not autosaved itself and end up wiping out all my effort (and my time)

Prior to my Melbourne Trip last week, i've tried to explore more eateries, bars, clubs so my activities of the week evolved around eat, drink, drunk, hangover, eat .. u'd get my drift :)

One of the particular bar with a cutting edge that inspired me is Der Raum @ Richmond. Voted Cocktail bar of the year at the Australia Bartender Awards, No. 12 in the world's 50 best bars by Drinks International, and Austrlia's 10 most influential bar by Australian Bartender Magazine in 2010, Der Raum's ("The room" in german) credentials are endless and indeed impressive.

What differs this bar among the rest is their emphasis on quality drinks. To ensure their commitment in quality, Der Raum adopted a closed door policy with priority access provided by their membership holders. Don't expect seeing big signages at the door. It's not a place where you can walk by and discover, and this just further elevated the exclusivity of the bar.

Der Raum doesnt occupy a very large area, the room was dimly lit with not many sitting tables. Might as well, as the real showcase occupies the centerstage of the room, where spirit bottles were hanged above the bartender's head with bungy cords. It was definitely visually attractive watching the bartenders utilizing those liquors to make those innovative cocktails. (almost like an artform). Their cocktails are bound to please even the pickiest drinkers.

And if you think degustation menu only applies for food, think again. Der Raum provides an interesting 5 course menu (drinks that is) for those who couldn't make up their minds. "Tourist Route" its called, and with AUD80, this degustation will set to bring you through a collection of their popular drinks, from Arrival, Pharmacy, Teachers Tripple, Captain Blackbeer, and Departure. And For those who wishes a more hardcore journey, you should opted for the "Tour De Force" (AUD140) comprising of 8 course expansive cocktail selection.

1/ Spirits hanging above bartender's head with bungy cords

2/ Fancy some "zombie"? Rum, fresh tropical fruit, and flaming caramelized passionfruit 

Bartender making our drinks with sheer concentration

Pharmacy - Pear and Roasted Capsicum Gin with Sweet Italian Bitters. The brilliant part? Citrus pill, to pop into your mouth after all the "medicine". A light concotion that's a women pleaser

Our drinks waiting to be served *rubs hand in glee*

Fuck the Surpreme: Der Raum Kummel, Cognac, Citrus, and Champagne.

One should stay abid to the law, because if you dont, u'd get this- a nasty mixture

El Moroccan Blazer, Hennessy VS Cognac, Sweet Port, Flamed Lime & Pineapple. Yummay!

Death in the Afternoon, Spiced Absinthe, Champagne, Rosemary

Sayer au Champagne, Champagne, Grand Marnier, Maraschino, Vanilla

El Pozolero- Mezcal, Italian Vermouth, Citrus, Mole Bitters, and Maple Stewed plum

Bees Knees: Tanquerey Gin, Pressed lemon and Nitro honey nest. Another pleasing drink for the ladies

Ms Jazz n Crazieapple <3

If you can only visit one bar when you're in Melbourne, Look no further than DER RAUM.

Der Raum

438, Church St,

Richmond, (corner of Chuch n Swan St)

Melbourne, Australia

Open at 5pm-10pm daily

03-94280055

http://www.derraum.com.au/ for more information.

Crazieapple talks: Coffee

The Augustdiners love our coffee like how we love our clothes (and bags and shoes) ♥♥♥ *grin*

Coffee is like the petrol in my body, it keeps me running and doing my  daily routines. It's like  my daily dosage to keep me out and about. But a BAD coffee gives me a bad head start for the day, it makes me upset that i can't even enjoy a cup of good coffee and i'll feel demotivated for the rest of the day.

Everyone's expectations of a "good" coffee are pretty subjective as individual coffee drinkers have different preferences in flavor and body and type of coffee. 

Personally, i like my coffee to have a rich aroma, carrying slight bitterness, heavy, full-bodied mouth feel that lingers in your mouth after drinking it, silky foam to top my latte, of course, pretty coffee art adds on more brownie points!! Often, i like to sprinkle some sugar as a habit. Somehow i feel that it kinda brings out the coffee aroma better. Well, that's just my two cents. 

They even invented a machine to draw latte art!! Can someone scream "COOL"??

I've decided to put together some coffee knowledge to share with all you coffee lovers out there.. It's about time that we be educated more on what we love!! =)


The different types of coffee (and many more):

Single: single shot of espresso usually served in a demitasse.

Double: double shot of espresso usually served in a demitasse.

Quad-shot: four shots of espresso in a small mug, bigger than a demitasse.

Affogato: Espresso served over gelato. Traditionally served over vanilla gelato.

Allongé: similar to an Americano, except that hot water is not added to already made espresso, instead, more water is put through the ground beans as the shot is made. This results in a more complex and stronger drink.

Café Latte: espresso + hot milk - equal parts. Milk is poured over the espresso and preserving the order of the espresso going into the cup first is very important.

Café Mocha: café latte + chocolate - equal parts.

Cappuccino: espresso + hot milk + milk foam - equal parts.(topped with cocoa powder or non-traditional cinnamon).

Chai Latte - chai tea + hot milk (no espresso involved)! Chai in the U.S., is traditionally a blend of black tea, honey, vanilla, and spices usually to be served with milk (hot or cold). The word chai means tea in Hindi.

Corretto: coffee with a shot of liquor, usually grappa or brandy.

Flat White: (Australia and New Zealand) One-third espresso and two-thirds steamed milk.

Kennedy: a cup of coffee with three shots of espresso in it.

Lungo: more water (about double) is let through the ground coffee, yielding a weaker taste.

Macchiatto: espresso + milk foam - equal parts.

Latte Macchiato: Essentially an inverted cafè latte, with the espresso poured on top of the milk.

Caramel Latte Macchiato: The milk is vanilla flavored and caramel is drizzled over the top of the foam. This is the form of macchiato popularized by the U.S. specialty and boutique coffee shops.

Mochaccino: cappuccino + chocolate syrup - equal parts.

Flavour
A high quality coffee has high acidity giving it pronounced flavors often described as nutty, spicy, fruity, mellow, chocolaty, caramel, wine, floral, tangy or smoky, depending on the bean and roast. Lower quality coffees have less desirable flavors, often described as watery, chemically, muddy, rubbery or tasting like medicine. Low quality coffee often lack acidity, giving it an overall flat taste.

Milk
I have a friend who used to work as a barista commented on how a lot of other baristas always get it wrong when it comes to heating up the milk, they tend to overdo it. Burnt milk can really detract the coffee's quality and it's the most common mistakes that many baristas make. Texture of the milk has to be dense, silky and full-bodied. Common mistakes are overheating the milk, over or under aerating it and not grooming it enough. (Grooming is fine-tuning it to remove excess air and bubbles before it’s poured). 
We always complain that "the coffee is not hot enough", truth is, a good cup of coffees is NOT meant to be mouth-burning hot. 


 

My voted Best coffee for the moment is: Skinny Latte at Las Chicas

Best take-away coffee- convenient + good: is from Seven Seeds

SO, how do you like your coffee and where do you get it from? =)

Crazieapple reviews: A Breakfast place galore!

Are you guys up for a treat?? *grin*

With my terrible procrastinating habit, i have successful accumulated 3 breakfast post all mashed up in ONE post!! 

I've recently founded a Breakfast club among 4 other friends..

 Thank god for all day breakkie.. If not for it, i bet we won't even know how scrambled eggs taste like..

After years of studing in Melbourne, i've finally decided that it's time to explore some real Aussie breakkie.. The wonders of Google have introduced me to Birdman Eating. 

Their menu is modern and refreshing, with brunch available until 5pm (YAY!!), dinner from midday and no time constraints on when to enjoy dessert. Special of the day are listed on the blackboard and changed daily.

The comprehensive breakfast list includes offerings from toasted banana bread with Couverture chocolate, hazelnut and olive oil spread to black pudding with braised tomato, potato hash and baked eggs.

Birdman Eating is nothing like our familiar "big breakfast", poached egg with hollandaise sauce what-not.. But i'm not complaining, since i'm set to try out something different from now on.. *fingers crossed*.. Now now.. Don't you dare to roll your eyes on me!!! Let's have a lil' faith shall we?? *grin*

There's even the old favourites of Coco Pops or a boiled egg with soldiers. But seriously, i could never justify paying 5aud for Coco Pops.. I'm chinaman like that.. 

I've been converted. Latte to flat white...  ♥ ♥ ♥

The Genovese coffee is okay, though below par for the title of "best i've ever tasted". Yes, living in Melbourne gives me a right to have high expectation for coffee.. =P

 Definitely an addict.. How am i gonna survive with bad coffee when i go back to KL???


(Sleepy-o-meter: My level of need-for-coffee is reflected by the size of my eyebag)

 Eileen's Chai Latte comes with some complicated science instruments.. 

 I was really excited to order those Baked  Eggs that Birdman Eating is known for.. But was disappointed to find out that the only baked egg choice left (among 4 choices) didn't sound that appealing to me. So i settled for the corn, broccoli and ricotta hotcakes served with creamy smoked trout, avocado and Spanish onion. 

My dish was weird but goood..in a weird way.. The hotcakes were bland on its own.. But goes well with the creamy smoked trout mixture.. What i thought was a bit turning off were those fish bones in the mixture.. It was a bit of hardwork trying to pluck out every single bit of them.. 

Smoked pulled pork, shredded lettuce mint open sandwich with roast pineapple sorbet

Dinesh's disappointing angus beef sandwich.. Turns out to look more like shaved beef slices.. We almost refused to accept it as our order because we were sorta expecting like a huge slab of angus steak..  Bland tasting and unsatisfying..

 Brioche french toast, marmalade glazed bacon, orange pekoe tea ice 
cream, maple syrup




I thought that the idea of mixing ice cream to a savory dish was weird but it turns out to be quite weirdly-good!! haha defintely a recommendation *thumbs up*

Breakfast club: Nesh

Eileen

Say hello to my twins eye bags- Momo and Chacha..

THE Birdman hovering above our heads

Matt n Moi

I told Matt to help me take a picture of the interior cause i thought it was embarrassing for me to just walk in with my camera and start snapping pictures of random patrons.. He rebutted: "You're already wearing THAT THING on your head, how shy can u get??" -.- whats wrong with my beret?? 

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Auction Room

Who's got the highest bid??

Full of character and huge open spaces, former auction room, cum café in fashionable Errol St. 

Warehouse, industrial and humour in the decor. Unpolished wood, raw brick walls.. This is an exact picture of my Dream cafe!! 

Another Melbourne favo when it comes to breakfast.. Explains the crowd on a Saturday afternoon.. 

Ever since Tioks got her new car, she offers to fetch me around and is excited to explore places where previously needed to tram and walk what-not.. haha i'm definitely not complaining with my new chauffeur..  

We were seated after a brief wait on a busy day..

 Some people sure do love their breakfast

 Flat white was average- in fact, i was disappointed because i have such high hopes prior my visit.. Loyal Auction Room supporters might js shoot me down after my comments on their favourite coffee. 

 I wanted to sit outdoor because it was such a sunny nice day.. In melb, you don't always get this opportunity.. As they say, Melbourne's weather is like a woman experiencing BAD PMS... 

 Tiok's poached egg on sour dough with extra mushroom and bacons..


She isn't very adventurous when it comes to food. Clearly.

My knuckle sandwiches


Everything was excellent and 2 thumbs up.. Ham hock braised for hours and hours until it is falling apart, rocket (YUCK!!), piccalilli (made in-house English-style with cauliflower florets, courgettes, beans, cornichons, seeded mustard and turmeric) and Montgomery's aged cheddar toasted into a Dench ciabatta roll. It comes served with a pickled chilli. The meat retained its juiciness and tender to bites..

 Being explained what's Syphon Coffee.. A rather interesting lesson learnt.. I would love to try this on my second visit!!



Do take a look at how syphon coffee works.. 

I wanna get one and try it at home too!!! =)

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Madame SouSou at Fitzroy

A French Restaurant nestled in the South end of Brunswick Street, 

rich with ambience and atmosphere

"THE" must-have 

When Fat Latte and Skinny Latte meet

Tiok's English Breakfast tea.

Eileen's Chai Latte

The legendary as much raved about

I always like to be the one who tries to be different.. haha

So i ordered my usual smoked salmon with poached egg drizzled in hollandaise sauce. I'm a big fat sucker for smoked salmon and oily food doesn't do my tummy good in mornings.. 

Verdict: Coffee was strong, palatable

Service was attentive, waitresses were surprisingly lively on a sunday morning. (while i was half dead)

Highly recommend "big breakfast" lover to try out THE sousou breakfast!! you'll never regret =)

Where are we?

Sorry for the long dissapearance, i'm having so much fun in Melbourne at the moment, and felt a bit reluctant to sit down in front of the computer =D will be back to regular blogging sooooon, till then, Xx