cumulus inc. @ flinders lane, melbourne

I'm a strong believer that a decent breakfast gives you a good boost to the day. My daily breakfast generally consists of toast, otherwise yoghurt - never really got into the cereal thing but over the years, I've learnt that keeping it healthy is the way to go. Healthy keeps the energy levels up and keeps you fuller for longer but saying that, I wouldn't say no to the occasional chocolate croissant or muffin (both are amongst my favourite!)

And when I go on holidays - finding great places for breakfast is always on the itinerary. On our recent trip to Melbourne, we were recommended Cumulus Inc. as one to try and when I get a recommendation, I generally make a commitment to check it out.

Starting the day with coffees and cannele (there's time when I've considered moving to Paris just so I could eat a cannele every day). At Cumulus Inc, they serve these in 3 sizes - of course I went with the big one.

The Full English Breakfast consisting of bacon, blood sausage on toast, fried eggs and smoked tomatoes.

I opted for the House made crumpets with whipped ricotta and rooftop honey. Rooftop honey seems to be the 'it' thing in Melbourne - this wasn't the first place we saw had it over the weekend we were in Melbourne.

All the cakes to be found near the coffee machine.

To sum up Cumulus Inc., expect really clean flavours and honest, good food. They're also open for lunch and dinner which I'd wished we'd stayed longer to try as the menu looks pretty awesome. And they have a cookbook too - which yes, I almost bought till the self control kicked in!

little cupcakes @ degraves st., melbourne

I love finding cute shops and little cupcakes on Degraves Street in Melbourne is a cutie! From the cupcake motif in their shop sign, the blackboard signage which draws you in, inside you'll find some cute bunting, filled glass jars and a cabinet filled with cute as a button cupcakes!

Here's the shop from the outside.

From where I was sitting.

We had a Belgian Chocolate milkshake which I'd highly recommend. I reckon Raspberry would've been ace!

Here's the cabinet with all the little cupcakes. So many to choose from and you can order them for birthdays too.

It wasn't hard to decide on Elmo & Cookie Monster - how cute are they! Just realised looking at this photo that I picked all chocolate cupcakes. The cupcakes are the perfect size - you can have that extra one without feeling too guilty.

That's me inside the shop!

To be really honest, it's been ages since I've had a cupcake. They were the 'it' thing at one point but then cupcake shop after cupcake shop started popping up and the cupcakes just got bigger and bigger and not very tasty. Good to see that little cupcakes has them just the right size and tasty too!

wonderbao @ a'beckett st., melbourne cbd

I remember growing up eating Chinese steamed buns. Mum would make these for breakfast or our nanny would serve these up as after school snacks. My favourite is the Steamed Bun with Lap Cheong; something I always had to fight dad with to see who got the last one. So for something that's been around for awhile, it's amazing how the 'steamed bun' has made a resurgence with 'bao' places popping up here and there. On my recent trip to Melbourne, a colleague recommended Wonderbao as one to try.

Arriving at 10am that particular morning, I'd actually wanted to try the Roasted Pork Belly Gua Bao which is apparently they're specialty but wasn't available till 10.30am. Instead, the boy and I ordered their mixed selection of sweet and savoury bao's with some hot soya milk.

There's only a handful of seats available with most of the space taken up by the kitchen and counter. I was expecting to see buns being made on location but looks like they're being made offsite (as I saw the car pull up transporting the un-steamed buns in plastic containers).

Aside from soya milk, there's a selection of what they call 'FOB' drinks - love it!

Unfortunately, didn't manage to stay long enough to try the Gua Bao but after eating 2 buns each, we were a little stuffed so wandered off. Of the bao's we tried, the Custard Bun was probably my favourite with the Barbeque Pork Bun following closely behind. Personally I think it's a great idea what they're doing in this space but wonder how long it's going to last. Definitely the Gua Bao's still have my interest but a part of me still thinks that the 'bao's' that mum used to buy frozen and steam at home were just as good as the ones I had this visit.

huxtaburger @ smith st., collingwood VIC

Can you believe it's the first of November already? Where did the time go?! The last 4 months of hiatus from this blog has included a trip to the Hunter, various weddings, watching Recipe to Riches on TV (and subsequently getting sucked in to buying the products each time I head to Woolies - will blog later), bit of a roller coaster ride at work but on a more exciting note, a long overdue trip to Melbourne where I did plenty of eating.

If you're like me, you're probably jumping on the Huxtaburger bandwagon a little late but hey, who's to judge. The tiniest of kitchens (pictured below) are serving up Melbourne's most sought after burger.

The Huxtaburger. Served with crinkle cut chips.

Burger innards. It's a tasty burger and I'd recommend it for the burger pattie if anything. Crisp on the outside which gives the burger a real texture kick.

We were at the the Collingwood store on Smith street - only limited seating available. Four of us were sat on benches facing the wall so a little hard to chat and if you observe around, most people dig in to their burgers and get out of there pretty quick. (You can't help it though cause the queue forms out the door and you'd feel pretty slack for occupying your seat too long)

One thing our Melbourne friends mentioned to us is that a bar opens up in the evening so you can enjoy a tipple or two with your burger. It's a cute little place and with 6 burgers on the menu - there's every excuse to pop back!