Brunch @ Lily’s Pad

After a restful night, we were off to Leura to get a taste of Lily’s Pad dining. The experience started footsteps away from actually entering the cafe – a quiet and charming entrance walkway off the main road features greenery walls and soothing water sounds from the little fountain at the front, setting customers at ease straightaway. Service was instantaneous and friendly – always a plus for hungry customers 😉

Buttermilk pancakes, free-range eggs (your choice – scrambled or poached), bacon, served with maple syrup.

Buttermilk pancakes with fresh and poached fruits, coconut chips and vanilla ice cream.

Verdict: simple, fresh food done exceedingly well, fuels us up, ready to take on the beautiful day ahead ❤ Fluffy pancakes, delicious, complementing flavours. The scrambled eggs perfectly cooked, bacon – the right amount of smokiness and not too oily. The sweet, soft fruits and crunchy coconut chips make an interesting combo because of the gentle contrast in texture. And the ice cream just welds all the beautiful components together in a harmonious note.

As I was enjoying the meal, couldn’t help my curiosity about the ingredients – I had to bug the busy chef/business owner Aaron Sutton, who was at the front greeting customers and who’d certainly met my questions with equal, if not more, passion about the food and the business in general. Their pancakes are made of wholesome allbran flour and buttermilk, which helps with the fluffy texture.

They usually make them with coconut flour and ricotta for the pancakes but allbran takes much faster to make, and you’d need SPEED for such a busy place on a weekend. I think this piece of information shows me a glimpse into their dedication and thoughts that are put into everything they do at the business – which was so inspiring and awesome to get to know!

Absolutely love the positive vibes from the whole dining experience – keep up the good work and good food, guys! Will definitely be coming back here!!

Lunch @ Leura Garage

This garage-themed place sure is a hit! We were on the waitlist and waited for 20 minutes. Love that the theme is well and truly present in literally every inch of the place, expertly designed of course. Vintage mufflers lining up atop rows of wine – very chic, car tires decorated along one wall, and large industrial fans all make up the feel of casual yet classy dining atmosphere.

A delicious plate of earthy, uncomplicated, fresh foods that compliments all of its elements – the fresh al dente pasta, the mushroom, the thyme and the parmesan work well together from first bite to the last ❤

Roasted eggplant (YUMMM), pureed olive, yoghurt, sun-dried tomatoes and rocket all encapsulated in turkish bun – those are 6 HUGE TICKS √ √ √ √ √ √ for me.

It’s a very well-thought plan, I reckon – so, thank you Chef! Roasting the eggplant brings out the best of the vegetable – tender, smoky, sweet eggplant goodness. The olive tapenade adds that savoury saltiness and as for the sauce, you know you’re in for a treat when you mix yoghurt, sun-dried tomatoes and rocket! To top it off, the turkish bread helps mop all those flavours and keep them neat for your mouth to savour. Wonderful flavour and texture combo indeed.

Pork meatballs with fennel and apple puree and crispy beetroot chips. From the To Share section of the menu, we’d ordered these yummy meatballs and we love the portion as it was perfect for 3 of us to share. Very tasty and generous portion, I especially love the fennel and apple puree sauce hidden underneath. The chips however, was not crispy, but taste was not bad. Would definitely be coming back when we can!

Dinner @Phô Moi

On day 2, we’d managed to do much more sight-seeing (yayy!) – Leura Cascades and Pool of Siloam, which were AWESOME. So psyched to see waterfall! Lots of heavy huffing and puffing from all those narrow stairs with the baby though! All of which worked up our appetite for some nice, big, comforting bowl of PHO.

Business must be booming because it was BUSTLING BUSY and we waited for about 40 minutes in the cold, to get our seats! Our steaming bowls of delicious pork broth noodle soup arrived and it was like God’s extended hand blessing our tummies and souls with this blissful soup that is Pho ❤

In all honestly, the broth was the best bit, the noodles perfectly holds its shape and texture, as well as the tastiness of the broth. The beef brisket however, a little less than ideal as it was mostly fat instead of protein. But all in all, the broth and noodles were champions! Thank you Pho Moi for the delicious meal!