SYDNEY TRIP | 2023 FAVOURITES

The last time I came and visited Sydney was back in 2021 and was there for less than 24 hours, which I must say was one of my favourite, spontaneous trip I've taken so far (interstate)! There's something about Sydney that keeps me wanting to go back each time and honestly I've been considering on moving there one day. There just so many places to go and see (especially so many cute cafes have been popping on my Instagram timeline). 

I had the chance to go this year to Sydney during winter and it was so much colder than I thought it would be. Living in QLD where you experience so much warm weather compared to the cold made Sydney FREEZING (and I definitely didn't bring enough warm clothes.. oops). While I was there I visited three cafes: The Grounds of Alexandria (they had a Disney theme revamp to celebrate 100 years of Mickey Mouse), Left of Field (Rhodes) and Riso Cake Cafe. I also went to Taronga Zoo and obviously stop by to see the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge!   

 2023 FAVOURITES 

1. Books: The Ministry of Healing by Ellen G. White
2. Tv Shows: The Glory (Kdrama) & Doctor Cha (Kdrama).
3. Movie: The Little Mermaid 
4. Youtube: Rosie Maio, Viviandotme, deemd, saranghoe, daiz,  Ondo, Cecilia Blomdahl, mojo camping, 
5. Music: Christian music 
6. Food: Vegetarian pizza @ Wildfire Pizzeria, Tofu Kimbap @ SinJeon.
7. Drink: Water, Chai Latte 
8. Clothing: Dresses & matching skirt and jacket sets 
9. App: Youtube & TikTok 
10. Accessories: Mini crossbody bags 
11. Beauty: Face masks by esfolio, Rare Beauty liquid blush 
12. Brand: Zara, My Dearest, Henne, Freckl Studio, Maje & Furla 
13. Other: Reading, Beach trips 
14. Travel: Japan, Jerusalem, Iceland & New York. 
15. Quote: "Earn all you can, Save all you can, Give all you can" - John Wesley
16. Sweets: Bianco's Milk Chocolate Pretzels (costco), Choco Boy (chocolate snack), Leo Coco Milk Chocolate & Hazelnut spread & chocolate covered strawberries. 

What's your favourite trip you've ever been too?

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PEACH CAFE | BRISBANE & DECEMBER MONTHLY FAVOURITES

 

The Peach Cafe is nestled in the heart of Auchenflower, and offers a wide range of delicious brunch food and serves great quality hot drinks. I didn't order any food unfortunately since I was there for a quick catch up with my sister but while I was waiting in line to order my drink I stumbled across their sweets display counter and on display they had their cookie of their month which was Kinder Cookies (my two favourites, Kinder chocolate and cookies). They also had other goodies such as Nutella Lava cookies, Almond Croissants and Muffins. I obviously had to try the cookie and it was so soft and chewy and I'll definitely will be going back to try their next cookie of the month and of course I need to try out there food too! 

What I ordered was a Chai Latte and the Kinder cookie and how cool is the Pink Hot Chocolate? Have you ever seen a pink hot chocolate before? I quickly skimmed over their menu to see what I want to order next time I'm there and I definitely want to try their Halloumi Hash Burger (grilled halloumi, russet potato hash, coral lettuce, hollandaise and fried egg on local milk bun) or the Winter Harvest (pumpkin croquettes, greens, poached eggs, smoked sunflowers and green goddess dressing). 

Lastly, every year I like to do a yearly favourites.. which I started back in 2019 to see what I liked during the year. So here is this year's favourites! 

 2022 FAVOURITES 

1. Books: The Great Controversy by Ellen G. White 
2. Tv Shows: Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Money Heist: Korea, SnowDrop & Pink Lie 
3. Movie: Bullet Train (The only movie I watched this year) 
4. Youtube: Ondo, Cecilia Blomdahl, mojo camping,  campingG, Minivanlife & BangtanTV 
5. Music: Jack In The Box by j-hope, INDIGO by RM & New Jeans - The 1st EP
6. Food: Vege Bibimbap and kimchi pancake at Chi MC, Nourish Bowl at The Garden Room (falafels, avocado, seasonal greens, quinoa, fermented carrots & turmeric kraut, hummus, radish and tahini dressing) and Zucchini Fritters by Bear Boy Expresso (Zucchini potato fritters, avocado, tzatziki, halloumi and poached eggs) 
7. Drink: Water, Soju + Kraft Beer mix together & Chai Latte. 
8. Clothing: Dresses & matching skirt and jacket sets 
9. App: Twitter & TikTok 
10. Accessories: Mini bags 
11. Beauty: Face masks by esfolio 
12. Brand: Zara, My Dearest, AJE, Maje & Furla 
13. Other: Watching my nephew grow 
14. Travel: Japan, Iceland and go back to Seoul and Italy's coastline 
15. Quote: "Not everything is for everybody." - Rick Rubin
16. Sweets: Chocolate covered pretzels and Choco Boy (chocolate snack)

What have you been loving this year?

(can be anything)

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Botanical Lab | Brisbane Cafe

 
Botanical Lab cafe is located in West End, Brisbane where it serves yummy bubble teas in glass beakers, and also serves tea infused cakes, soft-serve parfaits, cream puffs, ombre drinks and many more treats and drinks! The interior of Botanical lab is stunning, where it has a soft pastel pink colour scheme and displays a wide range of dried flowers! 

I'm a huge fan of anything black sesame (from black sesame ice cream to black sesame croissants)! So of course I ordered a black sesame mochi milk tea and a lavender mochi cream puff (I also really love mochi)! 

What to order: 

1. Black sesame mochi milk tea with almond milk

2. Lavender mochi cream puff 

3. Milk tea parfait (Black tea jelly, sponge cake, pearls, crumble melted cookie, brown sugar, syrup, waffle biscuit and soft serve)

Which cafe do you keep going back too?

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Social Hideout, Waterloo | Sydney Cafe

 

A few days ago, I went to Sydney just for a day trip and while I was there I stumbled across this beautiful cafe in Waterloo! Social Hideout cafe is known for 'Sydney most instagrammable cafe' full of vibrant colours and flowers and of course, many photo opportunities! Social Hideout has the most delicious food - I definitely recommend the Taro Hotcakes and the bathtub milkshakes!! It's best to visit this cafe during the week day - It wasn't busy at all but I can imagine how busy it gets over the weekends though! 

What I ordered; Taro Hotcakes (Pitaya, berries, mango cubes, black sesame ice cream, mint and taro lychee ganache and the Bathtub Chai Latte! 

I made a vlog of my day trip to Sydney, check it out here: 

What's your favourite cafe you've ever been too?

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Industry Beans Newstead

Industry Beans is one of the most beautiful cafes I've ever visited - just love the atmosphere there. Especially being surrounded by one of a kind coffee greenhouse! Have you ever been to a coffee greenhouse before? or even heard of one? The cafe has a minimal design with natural materials to create a welcoming atmosphere and also has a seasonal brunch menus from sides to desserts and obviously delicious drinks. Industry Beans is well known for its 'Coffee Bubble cup' - cold brew coffee with coffee soaked tapioca pearls. 

What to order: 

1. Pandan Bubble Waffle (Blueberry gelato, coconut gel, sesame brittle, banana coconut foam and fresh seasonal fruit). 

2. Avocado Smash (Whipped ricotta, sunrise lime gel, beetroot dust, green tea sea salt and sourdough 

3. Chai Latte with Almond Milk

4. Hot Chocolate 

What do you usually order from a cafe? 

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Nodo Donuts | Brisbane cafe

A new week results into trying a new cafe! Nodo Donuts (pronounced "no-dough") was founded in 2014 to 'spread happiness through beautiful baked goods that combine artisan methods and naturally gluten free ingredients'. 

What to order from Nodo Donuts? Here are some of my recommendations;

AVOCADO 
house pumpkin sourdough. crushed avo. mountain pepper dukkah. pepperberry goats cheese. dried blood orange

+ 

Hot Cross Bun Donut 

+ 

Organic Hot Chocolate by Heirloom

What are you looking forward to most in May? 

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PADDOCK BAKERY | GOLD COAST CAFE

Paddock Bakery is located at Gold Coast, Queensland where it offers wood-fired sourdough, plus brekkie and lunch, in a stylish weatherboard space with a leafy garden! A great place for brunch with friends and family. It opens 7 days a week from 6:30AM to 3PM, a perfect little cafe to go to before heading to work/university or school!

What to order from Paddock Bakery? Here are some of my recommendations;

Smoked Salmon Bagel 
New Zealand King Smoked Salmon, cream cheese, pickled red onion, capers, lemon zest and fresh herbs on our house boiled and wood-fired bagel 

or

Rustic Avo 
Fresh avocado served on our house 7-grain wholemeal sourdough toast with toasted pistachios, sunflower seeds & pepitas. Dressed with lemon juice, Joseph olive oil & fresh parsley

& Hot Chocolate!

What's your favourite breakfast meal?

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IVY & LARK CAFE | BRISBANE

Photo Credit

Can you believe it that its nearly the end of March? Which means were so close to Easter 2018!! What are your plans for Easter this year? My Easter break will be mostly me stressing and working on my university assignments and also preparing for my sisters wedding in April!! Anyways, last week when I was shopping at Chermside Shopping Centre in Brisbane, I stop and had a quick break at this quirky cafe - Ivy & Lark Cafe. 

When you walk inside the cafe you will see greenery simply everywhere, honestly it's spilling out on hanging baskets, or growing in stylish and quirky pot plants and also there are interior garden beds!! There are these gorgeous white French doors and beautiful ornate patterned tiles and lovely woven lampshades which creates a refreshing vibe. I ordered basically a hot chocolate with almond milk, which was seriously so yummy and also a vegan chocolate brownie, which was really good too. Ivy & Lark do breakfast and lunch and of course coffees, shakes, teas, smoothies and mocktails! 

I definitely recommend going to this cafe, if you are planning on visiting Brisbane or if you live near by! 

What are your plans for Easter 2018?

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PIGGYBACK CAFE | JINDALEE

Last week I went and visit yet another cafe (don't worry plenty of more cafes blog posts coming soon). Piggyback cafe is located in an ordinary stretch of shops in Jindalee. Piggyback Cafe is the 'Home of Unicorn Parties' and 'Masters of rainbow coffees', in other words famous for its unicorn hot chocolate and rainbow coffees. My Cousin and I ordered the Smashed Avocado, which was really delicious and I ordered the Unicorn Hot Chocolate which was super duper yummy, topped with colourful sprinkles and marshmallows. 

Have you ever seen or drank a rainbow coffee before? 

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THE SMUG FIG | BRISBANE CAFE

This morning my cousins and I decided to go out for brunch since were on holidays now and the perfect place to have a yummy all day brunch is at the Smug Fig cafe in East Brisbane. The Smug Fig cafe shares a roof with a Clothing Store, a Florist and Antiques store and a Cottage Garden Nursery. Outside of the cafe is a bright blue shipping container (a coffee nook) which caters for takeaways and the inside of the cafe is really spacious with high ceilings, wooden decks and a play area just for kids!  The cafe is surrounded by awesome wall art and beautiful plant terrariums which create a very relaxed environment for brunching with friends, families and couples. 

The Smug Fig cafe would have to be my favourite cafe in Brisbane, the food is just so good and this morning I ordered the Smashed Avo which comes with; crushed avocado, charcoal sourdough, citrus labneh, almonds, pumpkin and sesames seeds and I added a extra side - smoked salmon. I recommend coming to this cafe during the week days then the weekends, because on sundays its gets pretty packed! 

Since I'm on holidays, I will be blogging a lot more on food cafes, so stay tuned!

What is your favourite cafe to go for brunch? 

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FATHER JOHN | MELBOURNE CAFE

On our last morning in Melbourne, the girls and I visited a quirky cafe called; Father John, very interesting name right? The food at Father John cafe was really yummy and inside the cafe had a really cool neon sign of "Stay Curious". What I really liked about this cafe is that they were vegetarian friendly and also had vegan food options too. We arrived at the cafe around 9:30AM and it was really busy, despite the cold (7 degrees) we all enjoyed drinking our hot chocolates and coffees too warm us before heading off to do some last minute shopping and then heading off to the airport. 

At the cafe I ordered a cheese and tomato croissant (so yummy) and yet so basic (wasn't feeling too adventurous). Some of the other girls ordered smashed avocado on toast with goats cheese and cherry tomatoes which looked so good! 

What are your favourite cafes to eat at? 

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MANCHESTER PRESS | MELBOURNE CAFE

While I was in Melbourne the other week with my friends and cousins, we went too many cafes. On Sunday morning (Mother's day) we stumble across a cafe hidden in a alley way on Little Burke Street. What caught our attention about Manchester Press Cafe was their rainbow bagel and avocado smash breakfast. So we thought we would give it a try and let me tell you it was pretty damn good. Manchester Press is busy all the time and we arrived at the cafe around lunch time - so basically it was brunch for us girls.   

Manchester Press is famous for its crafted coffee and its wide selection of bagels, savoury and sweet ones.  A fun fact about this cafe is, that it was named after a printing press that once occupied the venue. The interior inside Manchester Press has very high ceilings, exposed brick facade, barred windows, low hanging lampshades and wooden tables. The food at Manchester Press is absolutely so yummy. I ordered a Peanut Hot Chocolate and a Matcha Maple which had a toasted rainbow bagel, topped with maple matcha mascarpone and fresh strawberries and Persian vanilla cotton candy. The other girls ordered Avocado and feta smash, so avocado, lemon and chilli smash, topped with Persian feta and micro herbs and also a Green Bean and Fig salad, blanched green beans, rocket, pomegranate and fresh fig, tossed with verjuice and Persian feta. 

When I go down to Melbourne again, I shall be definitely be going back too this cafe to try their other foods. What caught my eye the most was the toasted rainbow bagel, which was really good. Another Melbourne cafe review will be posted next month, so stay tuned. Also my heart goes out to everyone who was affected by the explosion in Manchester City in England after the Ariana Concert this morning. 

Have you ever tried a  rainbow bagel before?

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