My week with food

17/4/2012- Cooking class at Realfoods from 5:30-8pm
It was a fun night with about 180+ people turning up. There were many cooking demonstrations with heaps of food on offer. Everyone there got a free showbag just for turning up and there were door prizes on offer. Many thanks to Lucy and her volunteers for putting on this show.

The food hall @ GPO
This was a great chance for restauranters to showcase their specialities. Everyone who attended got to sample some of their fine foods and picked up some free recipe cards. It was free to attend.
It was held over three different days as listed below:

18/4/2012
Ramen Ya vs Kenzan
I got to sample two different bowls of ramen. One of them was the thick udon noodles (Kenzan) with the lovely flavorsome sauce the other was thin (Ramen Ya) with a very distinctive pork flavour. Kenzans one had very soggy looking tempura. not sure if I liked that. But I loved the fresh spring onions and toppings though.

19/4/2012
Ca Da Vin
Ca da vin is one really expensive fine dining place which uses fresh produce and makes all of their food by hand. Today I had a chance to try their oils: chilli, lemon, rosemary and basil. I even had a chance to try their fresh basil and I loved it. It was heaven. The two most favourite oils of the day are basil and rosemary. The chilli one didn't have a big kick of chilli flavour in there. It was small and subtle. Too subtle in fact. But the fresh basil on top of one of them was a bit hit for me.

20/4/2012
Federal Coffee Place vs cacao
Today is the final day for the Food Hall and today is no exception. The coffees at Federal coffee palace was exceptional. The hot chocolate from Cacao was simply too cold from having been out for a while. I got there at 1pm because I had other commitments before then.

Crepes @La Petite Creperie
This place is a little pop up place which just opened just last week. I didn't discover it until yesterday.  It is just around the corner from Building 108 and at the temporary tram stop. Its about time a crepe place is open near the old RMIT business building
This is a traditional cute little French crepe place right in the heart of the CBD
For now they only do sweet crepes. Their crepes are priced between $4-$8 and they are heavenly. I had the lemon with sugar one for $4 and it is heaven!!!
These are affordable!!! Yay! Finally something that's affordable and meets the student budget!!! And something that is open until late at night so that we students can have a healthy snack!!!! OM OM OM OM!
The lady there was friendly and she said that it was really busy at times.

Victoria st, Richmond
This is a foodie haunt here in Melbourne. This is where some of the Vietnamese and Chinese live. This area is a little bit of a slum, but I do love the cheap and fresh Vietnamese food sold here.
Here I had the sticky coloured rice ($2.80 @ Nhu lan) and the rice paper rolls ($3 at Saigon Bakery). Geez $5.80 for a filling meal. Its not good; IT'S GREAT!!! And both the rice and the rolls were made freshly and were not stale. I like these ones better than the ones I get in the city. I would love to come here any day, just for good, clean and cheap food.
Lots and lots of trams go past this Vietnamese and student haven.
Vietnamese students you can feel right at home here!

David Jones Food world.
Here this is like the US version of food halls that pop up in the big business buildings. Think "The devil wears prada" where Andrea is in the dining room and you'll see what I mean.
Here they have different sections where you can choose your lunches and today I went to the salad stand as per usual and I chose two different noodle salads at $9.53 altogether. Expensive, but good for special occasions when you feel like gourmet food.

The world of Nespresso
This world is a lovely place to be in. It is heavenly!!!! Nespresso is an expensive brand of coffee (see earlier post) and today is no exception.
Today I tried three strong, intense brand of coffees.

USA today
I forgot to take pictures of this but this was a free lunch where I sampled a small cup of coke and hot chips. I was too full from lunch, but I wanted to share this free lunch with you all. I would love for you guys to come as it is every Friday during the semester and it is organised by the Student Union and its free for all students.