Reviews by bluepenguin
This small local cafe is actually the casual outlet of the Living Room restaurant across the road. You can come here for a more simple meal or a sweet treat and coffee. They also do take home meals-hearty comfort food like lasagna or casseroles. I had a take home spinach and ricotta canelloni which was was very tasty and fresh, and a cupcake which I'm sure I'm sure would have been nice on the day it was made, but unfortunately this was clearly not the same as the day as it was purchased!
If only Foxy Brown Espresso was near home-I would love to make this a regular hangout! This must be one of the most child friendly cafes in Melbourne. The atmosphere is casual and homey the food tasty and wholesome and the staff unbelievably friendly and accomodating. We came at a quiet time before the lunchtime rush and our waitress spent at least 10 minutes entertaining our children-telling them jokes and playing games! They also pride themselves on the quality of their coffee.
Tapas style places are a dime a dozen these days, but not many places do it as well as Foxey's Hangout. The food is delicious with top quality ingredients cooked simply but perfectly and if you leave it up to the chef to choose the dishes banquet style-it is good value as well. The real charm of the place though is the ambiance, a casual but stylishly trendy space with huge glass windows overlooking a lovely rural scene with a deck outside. Seating is limited so you have to get there early with a few indoor tables and plenty of space to perch on the deck outside if the weather permits. It is an open kitchen and you can watch your food being produced by the laid back chef.
Charisma cafe and kebab is a Turkish cafe offering traditional kebabs, wraps, dips, breads and platters, but also generic cafe dishes like focaccias and hot breakfasts. The staff were very friendly and hard working but communication was a bit challenging, and they seemed rushed off their feet. The ambiance was pretty basic, but the food tasted authentically home made and was very good. Prices aren't super cheap, but are fair for the quality of the food.
At Cooper and Milla you have to queue to order your food, sit and eat it in a room that is as narrow as a corridor, and then queue again to pay for your food. As unappealing as that sounds the place is always packed and I (obviously amongst many others) just keep coming back for more. Why, you may ask? Because of the food! At the shop front is a display of as many as 10 different salads all made with top quality ingredients and all with interesting flavors and textures, as well as a display cabinet full of various house made patties, slices, schnitzels etc, a top of the counter array of tempting looking desserts, and usually 2 types of gourmet sandwiches. Everything tastes good, prices are fair, and with such variety there is something to please everyone.
Having eaten once at Pearl Restaurant to which this cafe is related I had great expectations of the cafe. It is a very trendy looking place with lots of hard surfaces and clean lines. The menu sounds interesting and the first time I ate there I enjoyed my meal-a vietnamese style prawn salad, although I found the portion size to be small. However, when I returned, the prawn salad was no longer on the menu, and I so ordered a pasta dish with zucchini. It was almost inedible. Not only was it too salty, the pasta was swimming in oil. The only redeeming feature of that meal was the Portugese custard tart I couldn't resist taking away, which was delicious. I found the service on the two occasions I was there to be a bit offhand and lacking in warmth.
I don't live anywhere near Williamstown, but I must confess that I look for excuses to cross over the Westgate Bridge, just so that I can have lunch at Breizoz French Creperie! The cafe is in a lovely old building, and despite being very spacious it has a warm and welcoming atmosphere. The staff are friendly and are happy to make helpful suggestions. The highlight though is the food. The crepes and galettes (made of buckwheat flour) are delicious, and seem very authentic-you could imaging you are dining in a cafe in France. My favorite is the seafood galette, which they sometimes have as a special.
Express Cuts is in the Centro shopping centre in Cranbourne, and is one of those high volume no frills hairdressers, where you turn up and wait your turn. The salon is quite small and fairly basic, but the hairdressers are efficient, competent and pleasant, and unlike many no frills salons, aren't young girls straight out of hairdressing college. Prices are very reasonable.
Shanikas is an unusual name for an Italian Restaurant, and the dishes although they sound Italian often also have ingredients, and combinations of flavors, that are not conventionally Italian and wouldn't please an Italian purist. However, the food generally tastes good, and that's the main thing! There is an obvious commitment to quality reflected in the freshness of ingredients used, the cloth tablecloths, and the service-which is impeccable. Prices are moderate, but serves are generous.
I had some old family documents and certificates of great sentimental value, and decided that rather than framing and displaying the originals which would degrade over time, I would have them copied and digitally restored and then archive the originals and frame the copies. I was looking for a specialist photo and document restorer, and I found Visual Heritage Photo Restoration after an internet search. The quality of their work was excellent-they obviously have great expertise and experience and a meticulous approach to their craft. When the work was going to take a bit longer than they had originally estimated, they communicated this fact immediately and were very apologetic. As I was after quality, I didn't really shop around, but their prices seemed reasonable.