Snow Pony

Greetings, y'all! Yes, we are back on the blogging block, and I certainly hope we are here to stay for a while longer. Lots has been happening since we last updated, but as MM had said, we never stopped eating (obviously) and am still always on the lookout for good food!

Brunchy times has become sort of a staple for girly get-togethers and catch-ups for us (as we have graduated from student girls to working girls (mostly), brunches are especially awesome for weekends), and lately I find our food adventures centering around the eggs, hams, bacons and COFFEE (as any self-respecting Melbournian, I am a complete addict).

Brunchy Pony Times!

MM has ventured to Snow Pony a couple of times with her uni-mates, and when we found out that it was one of the very few cafes opened on Easter Monday, we decided to swing by and hang out there. Snow Pony is a popular brunch spot that doesn't take reservations (because they clearly don't need to - hopping busy all the time), we had to wait about 20 minutes before snagging a table out in their little covered courtyard. It was a GORGEOUS day so the spot we had was really awesomesauce.

Snow Pony classic: Giddy Up, with scrambled eggs on the top and fried eggs on the bottom

MM and San opted for one of the menu favourites: Giddy Up (isn't the name just nauseatingly cute) with bacon, slow-roasted tomatoes, smashed avocado and thyme-buttered mushrooms. Sis opted for scrambled eggs and San opted for fried eggs. Sis loves the food (hence we are back there on her recommendation) and was overall very happy with her brunch plate. She especially heart the thyme mushrooms, which is a special for Snow Pony and its sister cafe in Hawthorn.

San's comments, specifically, were "full and happy" - so I guess we can make a deduction that she is one satisfied diner! :P But if I remember her comments as we were eating, she thought the roasted tomato was yums to the max. She also liked the avocado - in which I stole some off Sis' plate since she wasn't a fan of the veg in general. I like their avocado as it was salted and peppered quite perfectly with a hint of fresh herbs smashed (pardon the pun) in them!

Le Mouse choice: Fabulous herb + cheesy toast with bacon

Looking at the menu, my choice was the obvious choice for me, obviously (see nickname). But oh wow, the Snow Pony people didn't name this dish wrongly. It was FABULOUSSSSS. The MELTED CHEESE! It was hot, stringy, gooey and OH SO CHEESILY YUMMY - with a satisfying cheesy kick! I realised I'm sounding like some cheese-obsessed retard (trust me, I'm not...I think) but this is honestly one of the best cheesy toasts I've ever had. Added the fresh herbs melted into the cheese, and crusty seeded bread AND crispy bacon...nom nom nom. Very very happy. Very very satisfied. I should add that the bacon was made just the I like it - crisped and done just right without being fatty/burnt. Thumbs up!

Another house special: Lemonade scones

We knew these scones are massively popular, so we very cleverly asked to reserve some scones upon arrival - and snagged the last two they have left (yippee). They were served with blackberry (yay Blackberry!) and chantilly cream. The scones were crumbly and very tasty in the melt-in-your-mouth way, especially with a dollop of cream and a smear of jam. We were all especially taken with the cream, all of us found it to be very good and a fantastic accompaniment for the scones!

Price wise: all of our food, plus the usual coffees that goes with every single brunch came to just slightly below AUD$80. I'm pretty happy with the service as well - the staff is cheerful and friendly.

Overall, definitely a breakfast/brunch spot that goes into the recs/for keeps list. It probably is a good idea to go a little earlier especially during weekends, and be prepared to wait.

Snow Pony
95 Whitehorse Road
Balwyn VIC 3103
(03)9816 8911

- Mouse

P.S. a little trivia - do you peeps know why it's called Snow Pony? It's a clever word play on its location - Whitehorse Road. :P

Brunetti

After dinner at M.O.O. Restaurant (scroll down for our review or click here), since it was still early(around 9pm), we decided to go to Koko Black at Lygon street. Too bad there wasn't any parking space near it and also Koko Black was practically packed with people inside. So, we head over to Brunetti instead to try our luck. Of course we managed to get a space to park the car after turning here n there a few times =) *thanks MM* Despite the fact that Brunetti was as busy as Koko Black, we were determined to get seats by waiting. Not long after, we got ourselves tables. Happy.

There are 2 Brunetti cafes in Melbourne ~ at Faraday st. & Flinders lane. This one at Faraday st. is much bigger and offering 4 sections of service and products -- coffee, pasticceria , gelati and restaurant. We were seated opposite the gelati section where Brunetti offers a variety of different gelati as well as freshly squeezed juices and smoothies. A lot of choices rite? Whenever I go over to their pasticceria section, I will hav a headache since I dunno what should i choose because of their wide variety of cookies, nougats, tarts, chocolates, cakes n etc. So this time I choose to just order a hot drink although I was tempted to get myself a cheeeeeeesecake(!!!).

inside Brunetti, near gelati section

our orders (back to front) ~ Italian Hot Chocolate, Spice Chai Latte, Portuguese Tart and Gelati

MM's Gelati (Bacio and Stracciatella)

Mouse's Italian Hot Chocolate

San's Spice Chai Latte

I had the spice chai latte ($3.50). I feel that the flavours weren't concentrated enuff and tasted as if it was a bit diluted. Mouse had the Italian Hot Chocolate, which was very very VERY chocolatey. It was really good and hearty for the first few sips, but was sort of overdone towards the end. But Mouse understood that that is the way Italian Hot Chocolate is supposed to be, therefore she will stick to the normal the next time! HAHAAHHAH. Also had the Portugese egg tart which is DRY DRY (hence not wet). Not good. (San : I think the egg tart was not bad, it would be much better if it was still warm!) Hello! MM guest-blogging!! San is lame. Erm...I had the gelati...it was ok, a bit on the sweet side without any actual flavour (i.e. sugary). Freddo's!! Please open up again soon...I need your ice cream. Despite that, I like the environment at Brunetti. It was very comfy and provide us quite a good place to drink coffees and hanging out with frens n family at the same time. All I can say is its another lovely nite out.


San wans a table full of cakes


Brunetti Cakes
194 - 204 Faraday Street
Carlton Vic 3053
Phone: (03) 9347 2801

Brunneti cafe

Been knowing Brunetti has another branch at Flinders Lane for quite sometimes ago and at last, we went, as we heard that they serve crepes there =) We did order 2 types of crepes but they looks really similar and hence we only show you the nutella crepe.

The Nutella crepe :D + one strawberry


The strawberry up-close...isn't it a strawberry!?!

It has thick nutela sauce inside n on top of the crepes, with some chopped hazelnut. The combination of the nutella, hazelnut, and the crepes is quite good actually (not the best I have tried) although I do prefer the crepes to be slightly more crunchy outside.

However, we were a little distracted/annoyed by the pigeons eating/making a mess/fighting on other tables and also the very strong wind that blew away the icing sugar on the crepes as well as our napkins. As for the service, it was a little slow which probably due to only 1 person was making the crepes. Overall, we did enjoy the food.

- The San

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Apparently the Brunetti cafe at the corner of Flinders' Lane and Swanston Street have CREPES. Well, I must be blind or really out of it, I didn't even realise that until San was all like "OMGOMGCREPESFOOOOD" and dragged me there to eat the kind-of-famous crepes (I said kind-of because I haven't heard of it even if everyone and their mother has).

It was quite a windy day when we got there - and I found out that the crepe corner was actually not in the main cafe itself - it was along the block of shop-houses where Starbucks was. It was a tiny little stall actually, just for you to place orders (I think). They also serve Brunetti home-made gelati along with the crepes. There's lots of crepes available with fancy names such as Bachi and some other Italian stuff.

Anyway. We ended up ordering one Bachi crepe and one Nutella crepe to share between the four of us (that's the two reviewers plus two more greedy unnamed people). It was crowded that day, so we picked a spot behind the main cafe; at a long table. And waited an equally looooong time for service. Seriously, I thought they were picking cocoa beans to make chocolate. I was assured though, that they were short-staffed that day. Hmmm. Will go back there one day and see whether that was true.

Not a good day to be out - it was too windy and there were pigeons EVERYWHERE. Because Brunetti's Flinders' is outdoors, therefore those little buggers were all over the place - poking at leftover food and attempting to poke at just-served food. It was actually quite unpleasant with a whole bunch of mad birds attempting to steal my food.

Back to the crepes.

They're very good crepes, with just the right amount of chocolate-y goodness and nuts to round out the taste. The chocolate and the crepe itself was warm and gooey and very comforting and warming on a cold spring day. It's not too sweet either, I like the balance of nuts and chocolate. The only thing is:

I cannot tell the difference between the Nutella and the Bachi. >>;; They taste...THE SAME. It's not my tastebuds, cos my sister said the same thing.

Maybe we should've gone for something completely different otherwise, rather than choosing two chocolate-based crepes. But hey, the stomachs ain't complaining.

So in conclusion: I would recommend the crepes themselves, which are good stuff, but the spot/setting is just too...outdoors. It's probably nice in the summer or a warm day, but windy day + mad pigeons that I cannot roast for dinner definitely dampened the experience.

I would still go back there to try other crepes though. :D And as a plus, they do make very good coffee.

[Sorry for the lack of pictures for this post, we sort of ran out of battery. The pigeons ate our battery.]


- El Mad Mouse

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Brunetti City Square
214 Flinders Lane
Melbourne VIC 3000
Phone: (03) 9663 8085