The Foodie Post - Tropico North Beach

Today's scrumptious looking food photos are from a restaurant called 

Tropico North Beach

After seeing many mouthwatering, hunger-inducing photos on Instagram (thanks

@BreakfastinPerth

) we decided it was about time we checked this place out.

So on a rather rainy Sunday morning, Tom and I headed out for a drive and met up with our usual brunch buddies to test out this much hyped breakfast spot (they also do lunch and dinner, but as you know I'm all about the breakfast food!)

With a great menu to select from, a lovely atmosphere and amazing food that tastes just as delicious as it looks, we weren't disappointed. 

I struggled choosing my food (there were so many yummy sounding options), finally settling on the

Sourdough toast, smashed avocado and lemon curd

, on the proviso that I could also share Tom's

Banana bread with spiced banana, honeycomb and vanilla meringue

. Both were delicious and it was particularly good to have the mix of sweet and savoury so I'd definitely recommend sharing if you can! 

Their

Pineapple, coconut and raspberry smoothie

 was also very yummy and tasted basically like a non-alcoholic Pina Colada (which is always a good thing in my book)

Our friends had the

Tropico breakfast trifle

and the

Waffles with strawberries, dried grapes and mascarpone with a side of crispy fried chicken

(sounds like a weird combination but I had a bite and it was yum!) as well as the

Mango, passionfruit and raspberry smoothie

and they seemed very happy with their choices. 

Good food and good company - a pretty perfect way to spend a Sunday morning :)

The only downside that I found was you really need to get there early or you could find yourself waiting a good half an hour for a table.

For us it is a bit of a drive, and considering how busy it gets, it requires a bit of pre-planning in order to avoid anyone getting too hangry (something that we don't often do when going out for breakfast - it's usually a last minute decision) so Tropico won't become one of our regular hangouts, but we'll definitely be going back again at some point (there's still so many things to try!)

If you can plan ahead or don't mind the wait, its absolutely worth the drive and I definitely recommend checking it out!

I hope you enjoyed!

Let me know if you've checked out Tropico and what you thought of it.

Also, on a different note, does anyone have any recommendations of things to do in Melbourne?

Tom and I are heading there next week and would love some suggestions!

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

The Foodie Post - Typika Artisan Roasters

Hello Hello :)

Today I'm sharing one of mine and Tom's favourite brunch haunts which we always turn to if we're stuck for ideas.

Typika

in Claremont never disappoints, and these photos are actually from a few different trips so you can tell we really do love this place!

As you'll see from the photos  there's clearly a favourite go-to order - Tom can never go past the

Wagyu Beef Burger 

(which I'm always happy about because it leaves me free to try new things and still get to have a few bites!) It is seriously one of the best burgers out there and the kimchi filling adds a special little flare. The bun is just that perfect mix of soft but still crunchy and there's something about it that reminds me slightly of a Hungry Jacks burger (but a really amazing, delicious, and good quality Hungry Jacks burger!) The chips it's served with are also lovely with some sweet potato ones thrown into the mix to make it even better.

The pancakes pictured above are just as delicious as they look, served with vanilla custard, poached pears, strawberries and a nut crumble sprinkled over the top. It's just a slight variation on the ones in the photos below which are actually hiding under a very generous amount of vanilla custard. The ones below are the

Cast Iron Pan - cakes

"a doughnut style pancake cooked in steaming hot cast iron", which gives them a delicious puffy crust . I'm not sure these were available last time I was there but they do change up their menu now and then so we'll just have to wait and see if they make a comeback.

My friend Alex is an Egg's Benedict connoisseur and we've actually joked that he needs to start up an "Eggs Benedict of Perth" instagram account he's tried that many places. The Typika

Eggs Benedict

get's the thumbs up from him so you know they're going to be pretty good.  

Pictured right down the bottom is their

Vegetarian Bagel

with roasted pumpkin, capsicum, dukkah,  caramalised onion, aioli and spinach. A very nice bagel and another good savoury option (but it doesn't quite match up to the burger or pancakes for me!)

Another of their staple dishes (which I don't have photos of unfortunately) is their

Golden French Toast

. This one is seriously rich - "french toast served with maple candied bacon and lashings of salted caramel sauce". A delicious one if you're feeling indulgent and have a particularly sweet tooth. I'd recommend sharing this one if you can and maybe having some sort of savoury option on the side!

Ok enough about the food, let's talk about the drinks.

Considering the name of the place is "Typica Artisan Roasters" it's not a surprise that they're mostly known for their coffee which they roast on site. I can't really comment on the coffee myself (I'm just weird and don't actually like coffee) but Tom tells me it's pretty good. 

For those like me who are not so fond of coffee, they also have a pretty decent selection of smoothies, juices and of course chocolate-y drinks - in particular their

Ice Chocolate

which (in my opinion at least) is the

best ice chocolate in Perth

.

I usually always start slurping it down as soon as it's placed in front of me, so haven't been able to get an amazing photo of it but as you can see from the quick snap I did get (pictured below), it's served in a 

mason jar

 (oh so hip these days) with a scoop of ice cream and a good sprinkling of chocolatey goodness on top. As I mentioned in my last Foodie post, I'm a pretty tough critic when it comes to ice chocolates and this one is seriously the best. None of that over the top sickly sweetness you can sometimes get, just perfectly chocolatey and yummy.

Seeing as we're heading into the cooler months I might be switching up my ice chocolate for something a bit warmer soon and I highly recommend their

Deconstructed Hot Chocolate. 

Served on a platter with a glass of warm frothy milk, chocolate flakes and melted chocolate it's also a winner. 

For those coffee drinkers out there wanting something a bit different, they actually also do an interesting

Cold Brew

which is served with a beaker of sparkling water and a glass of ice. This one's a favourite of Tom's in summer.

(I don't have a photo of these two at the moment sorry!)

In terms of the service I've read a few unhappy reviews on 

Urbanspoon

,  but personally I've always found the staff to be really friendly and helpful and for us the food has always arrived pretty quickly. The one downside is that it can get quite busy on weekends, so there is usually a bit of a wait for a table. We've never found this to be too much of a problem though as there's usually somewhere to sit and you can always order a drink at their espresso bar if you're really starving! 

Hopefully you're enjoying these posts - they're a bit of a change from my usual ones but it's fun to mix it up a bit. I'm not sure I have many Perth readers so these may not be particularly helpful or relevant, but who doesn't love looking at mouthwatering food photos anyway? ;)

I hope you've had a great day! Let me know what your favourite breakfast food is!

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

The Foodie Post - Stimulatte

If you happen to follow me on Instagram, you would have probably realised by now that going out for breakfast/brunch is one of my favourite things to do. 

In my opinion, there's no better way to spend a weekend morning than going out with Tom or catching up with friends over a yummy meal, either at an exciting new cafe or our old favourite hangouts.

Seeing as I'm always snapping photos of my food on these mornings, I thought it might be fun to share a few pictures, as well as my thoughts on the places we visit here on the blog. 

Starting out with one of our new favourite finds - Stimulatte.

It's a little cafe in Subiaco with great atmosphere,  good coffee (I'm not actually a coffee drinker but Tom assures me it's good) and a interesting breakfast menu that's a little different to your standard bacon/eggs /pancakes option. Don't get me wrong - I love pancakes (which I'm sure you'll see in future posts), but I love places that offer a slightly more unique selection, and Stimulatte does just that.

On this particular day I had the

sweet corn fritters with smashed avocado and poached eggs

 (as did the two other friends we went with) and Tom chose the

grilled chorizo and salsa verde with parmesan scrambled eggs

. It was a delicious breakfast and with the generous serving sizes we were all left feeling rather full, but very satisfied!

Also worth a mention is there ice chocolate. Ice chocolate tends to be my drink of choice and it seems I've become somewhat of an "ice chocolate snob" lately. Stimulatte's one gets a big thumbs up from me, coming in at second place out of all the ice chocolates that I've tried (and I've tried a lot!)

I'll let you know where the one that wins first place is from in the next Foodie Post ;)

If you happen to be in Perth I'd definitely recommend checking Stimulatte out - you won't be disappointed!

Have a great long weekend!

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx 

The Weekend Post: The Bakery, Breweries and Visiting a Lighthouse

Hello! 

Today I have another set of photos from our little trip down south to share with you. 

We had a lovely start to our  Saturday with breakfast at The Margaret River Bakery, which is my absolute favourite place to visit when I'm down there. It is such a cute little place with great atmosphere - old chairs and sofas on the veranda, photos, artwork and plates covering the walls and quirky mismatched mugs and tea cups. Not to mention

the best

tasting food!

My drink of choice is usually tea which is always presented so beautifully in one of their many adorable little tea pots. This time though, I had a chai latte (which was soo good), and avocado and feta on sourdough toast with cherry tomato salsa. Such a simple dish but it was done so well and is truly one of the best breakfasts I have ever had. 

Tom had the banana and honeycomb pancakes which were also seriously amazing!

After breakfast we decided to explore somewhere different, so after a bit of a drive we ended up at Cape Naturaliste and had a nice walk up to the Lighthouse. The view from there is so beautiful, but it was extremely windy so we didn't hang around for too long. Tom did snap a few photos for me though so you can expect an outfit post coming up soon!

Tom loves his beer so next it was on to the breweries (I'm not a beer drinker, so was happy to play the designated driver for the afternoon).

We stopped in at the Eagle Bay Brewery where Tom enjoyed the beer tasting plate and I cringed and pulled funny faces when he convinced me to take a sip (nope - beer is just not my thing).

I did however like the chalk board out the front - "I'm not addicted to beer, we're just in a committed relationship" -very applicable to Tom!

Then, after driving around and stopping off at a few other random spots, we headed to the Bush Shack Brewery which had a really nice, laid back feel, and spent a lovely afternoon just relaxing there. 

After a very fun but quite busy day, we headed back, cooked Spaghetti Carbonara for dinner and spent the night watching The Perks of Being a Wallflower (which has now been added to my list of favourite movies - partly because it has Emma Watson in it and partly because it was just an awesome movie). 

All in all it was a pretty perfect weekend away :)

Now I'm just daydreaming about the next one!

Hope you're having a great night

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

The Foodie Post - A Super Simple Spinach and Pumpkin Salad

Today I made a spinach and pumpkin salad which turned out rather well (if I do say so myself), so I thought I'd take some photos and share it here with you. It's very simple and easy to make and is perfect as a side salad or even a main meal as the pumpkin and nuts really bulk it up. I would usually use pine nuts for this salad, but as I didn't have any on hand I substituted them with cashews and I think I actually prefer it this way! Feta cheese is also a nice addition if you have it on hand!

Ingredients:

*Baby spinach

*Butternut pumpkin

*Cashews (or Pine nuts)

*Avocado

*Feta Cheese (not included this time but my favourite is Danish Feta)

*Olive Oil

*Vinegar

*Pepper

Let's Do This:

Ok so it's pretty self explanatory - basically you want to chop the pumpkin into small bite size pieces, coat with a little olive oil and pop it in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for around 25 minutes. This timing is approximate though so it may be a little longer or a little shorter.

Place the cashew nuts (or pine nuts) in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat, continually stirring so they don't burn.

For the dressing, stir together a little vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. 

Place the spinach, pumpkin, avocado and nuts into a bowl. Crumble over the feta and then drizzle the dressing over the top. 

All Done! There you have an easy-peasy, super yummy and filling salad!

I like making salads like this as you don't need to be precise and you can throw in whatever you happen to have on hand. That's the kind of cooking I enjoy - adding a little dash or this or a handful of that. I'm not fond of really precise cooking where you need to measure everything out exactly - this probably explains why baking is not my forte! 

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this slightly different kind of post. I always planned for this blog to be a bit more varied and not

just

fashion based - so hopefully this will be the year that I mix it up a bit!

Let me know if you have any favourite salads. I'd love to get some ideas!

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

On a completely off topic note, while I was eating this salad tonight I watched

"It's Complicated"

and I had forgotten how much I love that movie - it is

hilarious

, and Meryl Streep is fantastic as always. 

Just thought I'd mention it in case anyone's in need of a fun feel-good movie suggestion!