RJIE Manmade Mocktails

Oh man, these guys started showing up at the Boggo Road markets just before Christmas time in 2013 and now they've got a big stall up at the Eat Street Markets in Hamilton. They've come a long way. When I first started seeing them, they just had these laminated signs and that was pretty much it.

This was their sign at the time

Manmade Mocktails is their name and they have a Facebook page. They specialise in non-alcoholic fruity mocktails with all of the fanciness of real cocktails!

Their prices are much cheaper now

Pretty sure all the flavours are different now though

Even more combos!

Haha I forgot about this sign. Once you ordered the drink, the guy whose face you can't see poured it into a cup and mixed more stuff in to taste.

Mocktails!

My Boyfriend got the Passionfruit Tropacchino which consisted of passion fruit pulp, pineapple juice, orange juice, lemon juice, homemade coconut syrup and peach bitters. It was quite sour, like teeth itching and warhead super sour, the kind that makes your head shake. There was a lot of passion fruit pulp floating around in the mixture and every so often you had to stop and chew. I ended up mixing it with my drink to even out the sweetness.

So sour!

I got the luscious lychee oasis, lychee puree, mint leaves, lychee juice, apple juice, lemon juice, lychee syrup and mint bitters. I remember the guy saying that he decided to add elderflower syrup to my drink and I really noticed it, especially since it was the only thing I have never tried. It added a quite floral flavour to my drink and was quite sweet and honey like. This was very noticeable when swapping between drinks.

My drink!

In summary, I think definitely try these drinks if you see them. The flavours are very interesting and its great to have a good variety for non drinkers wherever you go. The guy is very friendly and sociable, he's very happy to chat to everyone about his business. When I saw him at the Eat Street Markets, he was always chatting to someone.

Samson and Sophie

Jubi was on her way back from our trip to Higher Octave and Atomica when she decided to stop by Esher St Deli for some museli and bits. When she was there, her waitress told her that a sister store had been opened up just recently. It was located somewhere in Teneriffe and she excitedly texted about it.

I checked out the Esher St store website and we found that there was a new entry called Samson and Sophie. A cursory examination of Urbanspoon lead us to its exact location, its current rating of 90% with ten votes, two basic reviews and best of all things, ZERO BLOG POSTS. OFF WE GO.

We had a bit of trouble finding Teneriffe because it wasn't found in Jubi's GPS, so we had to use my phone to Google Map it. It ended up being at the end of Merthyr Street in New Farm! Easy! The day we were there, it was overcast and constantly raining. That didn't seem to put anyone off their meals at all, all the tables were taken up when we were there and there was constantly people walking in and out of the store. I actually saw one of the doctors I worked with there, which was a bit weird. Like seeing a teacher outside of school, do they even have lives?

The store is a very cute little gift packed deli, even more so than Esher St is! Solely because the store is much smaller so things are piled on top of each other, there are four small tables nooks to sit inside that had people there and all the people milling around the store waiting to order. I went inside on four or five different occasions to try and get some clearer photos of the interior. Every time I went back, there were more and more things that I noticed and wanted to buy, from fancy hand made soaps, wooden iPhone cases, do it yourself fresh dairy product kits like a Greek yoghurt/fresh cheese and Italian cheese kit, book marks, salad dressings, pastas, sauces, hand creams and all sorts of jewellery.

Glass display cabinent

Hand creams galore

All kinds of shiny things

Even more shiny things

Cards and salad dressings

Flowers and the coffee machine

Like Esher St, they also see herbs, flowers and furniture. The desk that we were sitting at for breakfast, could've been yours for a cheap $35!

HERBS GET YOUR HERBS HERE

Even more herbs!

It has a space for all your junk!

I really like the redone Weber BBQs, which have been replanted with grass growing out of the grill and a small place for your meal or coffee to sit on.

Interesting

BBQ!

We had some difficulty finding a spot to sit at initially. Our waitress ended up wiping down a desk and we relocated it to underneath the awning in front of the closed hairdresser. We were identified by our cute little recipe card. I got a box of these from the Lifeline Bookfest a few years back and it has really odd combinations of flavours haha. Here is their menu incidentally.

The recipe was gross btw

Jubi ordered the Hobby House mixed museli with seasonal fruit. She got honey comb, strawberry and pears on top of yoghurt and a crunchy museli that I can't remember. Jubi says it was a pretty standard combo of rolled oats, dried apricots and toasted almonds with a hint of vanilla that made for a tasty vanilla milk at the end of it all.

Why icing sugar?

I've never had honeycomb before and I was unsure what the beeswax would taste like. Its oddly chewy and tasteless, it reminds me of when you eat the gummy outside from jelly beans where it constantly sticks to your teeth when you bit it.

Pretty pretty

I ordered the slow cooked ham hock with beans in a tomato sauce with poached eggs and sourdough. it was a very pretty sight. The tomato sauce was super rich and had been cooked long enough that the kidney beans were full of flavour. The sauce was so rich it actually gave me a bad case of reflux about an hour or so afterwards. The pulled ham hock was delicious as well, smokey, salty and so tender.

Tasty combo

The ham was hard to find in the sauce with that being said, I really had to search through my sauce and I had initially thought it had been left out. It was just hard to find between all the beans and sauce which was a bit disappointing. The eggs were poached a little firmer than I'd like but it was still soft in the centre. It was a very good winter combo to scoop up.

More gooey plz

I ordered the house salted caramel shake which came with the glorious streak of golden caramel down the side. It was a very frothy, creamy shake but I thought the salt wasn't a pronounced enough flavour, just enough to stop it being sickly sweet. It did look damn good though.

Ooooh, ahhh

Jubi ordered a piccolo which I could not photograph cleanly for the life of me. It took me almost ten photos before I finally got this one. She said it was a good strong coffee but that the milk had not been textured as silkily as she liked.

Cawfee

Samson and Sophie
Atmosphere: 8, very cute like joint with lots of places to sit at and to marvel at. I highly recommend sitting inside if there is space as there are lots of things to see. I really like the decorations, so vibrantly coloured!
Service: 6, the waitress at the counter who took our order was absolutely fantastic but everyone else looked very, very confused. Its counter service, but no one seemed to have any idea where anyone was seated. Jubi had to get up twice, once to get us water and the second time to remind them to give us cutlery. One guy asked me three times in about five minutes if I was waiting for anything else, same guy every time.
Food: 7.5, really good combination of flavours. My only disappointing half mark is that the food is a touch on the small side portion wise. The museli was served in a very small bowl with a very large jug that was half filled but held probably a cup and a half of milk. While my baked beans had about 2cm of sauce, and it was hard to find the ham hock bits, if I hadn't had my shake I would've still been hungry when I finished. I definitely think if you're looking for a tasty but small meal, head here.

Higher Octave

NEW PLACE. SO NEW I CAN STILL SMELL PAINT! Or is that the place getting rebuilt next door haha. This little gem is found in the other end of Boundary Street in West End, you know the end with the veterinary clinic, the Coffee Club, Nandos and the West End public library. It has several positive reviews on Urbanspoon as well as a very frequently updated Facebook page full of cute coffee art pictures and menu items. They were cited as having good Japanese style cafe drinks with an European influence on their foods.

Off to another Jubiventure! She was back in Brisbane so we decided to go here after our disastrous Atomica visit for cake and coffee. We got a bit lost because Jubi was convinced that it was at very end of Boundary Street near the pier and the cafe doesn't have a large name sign up either. We were wandering around until she spotted its teeny tiny board.

Oh yep.

The savoury menu is quite limited so we decided against breakfast/lunch here and came back for coffee and cake only. Here is their menu, there's lots of little offers combining both food and drink for discounted price. There was a good deal on at the time for a panini, cake and drink for $15 when we were there.

The whole pretty board

Top bit

Bottom bit

Their confusing chalkboard

The cafe is very cute if a bit eclectic in taste. There are lots of lovely framed photographs, interesting books and little wooden pieces to catch your eye everywhere. Its air conditioned but gently so, you can definitely feel the coolness when you walk inside.

Japanese bookshelf

A table with lots of books

Pretty long tables

People watching spot

More photos

Jubi ordered their piccolo and she was delighted to see a rabbit etched into the foam of her drink. She was so impressed that for several minutes she couldn't bring herself to drink it. When she finally did, she drank from the bottom of the cup and made the bunny blur so that it had a sad frown and she offered me a sip of her sad bunny. They serve Cafe Silipo blend here, a Gold Coast blend I've not tried before until today. They favour the Nero brand from this group, which is a blended Italian style blend. Jubi was very happy with her piccolo and also remarked that it was quite a large serving for a piccolo, so much so that I thought she had gotten a latte for once.

See the bunny?

I had eyes only for the Higher Octave latte made out of iced matcha and vanilla latte. The colour is not as bright in this photograph compared to its gentle pale greenish hue when seen in real life. You can see in the photo that it seems more brownish than green but after a few stirs, it evened out a bit, to the jade coloured shade at the bottom of the glass. The flavour is a very mild and not too bitter matcha green tea, with a milky vanilla base to round out the flavours. I was a bit hesitant in the beginning but after more and more sips of my drink the flavour became perfectly balanced. I'm normally a drink guzzler, but this was one of those best savoured slowly while having a chat with friends.

The colour got better after a stir

Lastly, I also got a bittersweet coffee jelly. The flavour reminded me of one of those Indonesian kopiko candies, a smooth, slightly bitter but mellow coffee flavour. It was absolutely amazing with the sweetened cream blob on top. I think if you like Asian jellies in general and appreciate the flavour of coffee, you will enjoy this dessert. I really enjoyed it and found myself quickly scraping the sides clean after Jubi had a taste.

Jubi likes the spoon

Higher Octave:
Atmosphere: 8, a physically cool, bright little cafe with lazily swinging ceiling fans. You can imagine coming here for a lazy coffee and having a book that you come back to to read every time you go here. Some of the pictures are a bit odd that they have on display, like a headless anime figure next to their glass name? But otherwise quite inviting.
Service: 9, super attentive. The two guys here came out to give us menus when we were perusing, and were keen to clear tables as well as chat to people in the cafe. Very enthusiastic and they thanked us when we left too haha.
Food: 10, gorgeous food and drink. Definitely go here again if I was in West End and wanted a coffee and cake with friends after a meal. 

 

Grocer and Grind

It's time for another Jubiventure! Jubi moved back to the Gold Coast so she's a bit far away now but we're still meeting up regularly for breakfasts together. This is the second time we've met up at the Gold Coast and Jubi gets to call the shots for where we go, as I don't know what is good in the Goldie haha.

It's a bit of a drive down, but its a straight line so it's pretty easy. The day I went it was absolutely bucketing down and also incredibly sunny every other second. At some times, the rain got so bad that I had my wipers on the highest setting and still struggled to see where I was going. Even though I'm a new driver, I don't find myself having much trouble driving in the rain even as bad as it was. I slowed down a wee bit and just kept driving.


The little block of shops that this cafe is in very strange. It's in a strange little block that is so small that there is only one way traffic around the shopping block and then parking spots scattered everywhere. There's another cafe there but it didn't seem half as popular as Grocer and Grind.

The interior of the cafe is very cool. On the right is a little organic shop full of veggie chips, GF flours and pastas, fancy pasta sauces, dips, sauces, nuts, honey, drinks and the shop's blend of organic sugar/flour and museli.

The fridge beckons!

So many chips

Random sauces, nuts, honey and stuff

Drinks, pestos, yoghurts and milk

Their own brand stuff

On the right, there's lots of different places to sit, low and high seats and big comfy chairs, where people waited for juices and coffees. The furniture is all metallic, lots of browns, blacks and brass. The fans they have are interesting, two semi twisted blades. Check them out if you're there.

Interesting layout

They have a nice glass display cabinet with a lot of trendy stuff, like protein balls and a whole range of raw cakes.

Brownies +_+

They sell a lot of coffee and juices. Their Reboot Bar of healthy/organic/super food smoothies seems to earn a mint, cause I kept seeing lots of girls in gym outfits rock up to get them.

All the drinks!

The coffee choices are very good too, they have all the usual stuff, plus a choice of how many shots and they make sure to ask you this. They also have a large range of milks that you can choose from, organic milk, rice milk, coconut milk, soy milk, skim milk and almond milk. After my meal, I got a small mocha made on coconut milk and it was honestly the most delicious mocha I've ever had, so rich and creamy with a gorgeous coconut smell. There was a noticeable thickness from the use of the coconut milk, however it was still very light and silky. The mix between mocha and chocolate was perfect with neither flavour dominating. It was a strong coffee too and had me buzzing.

Here is their menu. They do all day breakfast! Oh and counter service! Their food comes out when its good and ready, which was actually really quick. I personally prefer counter service as then I can easily stagger out my photos without having to force people to wait. People HAVE to wait as they're waiting for everyone to get their food before they eat. When all the dishes arrive at once, I feel pressured to take photos as fast as possible so everyone can eat.

I really like their table setting, rock salt grinders and ORGANIC COCONUT SUGAR. I was fascinated, I didn't have anything to eat it/drink it with initially but I was so fascinated as I had never had it before. Jubi and I ended up tipping a little in our hands and trying it. The coconut sugar has a large grain than caster sugar or white sugar, like raw sugar. It has a fresh and toasty coconut smell. There is a good sweetness and nuttiness to the sugar, and its slightly less sweet than regular sugar. It does add a certain coconut flavour to whatever it is added to however. We didn't get a pepper grinder but other tables had one.

Oooh fancy

Did you notice the table? It's got coffee beans in the top!

I wonder if they're real? They seem to be

I got the strawberry slushie as my drink, it has strawberries, coconut yoghurt, lemon and ice. The drink is very thick and served in a jar with a handle on the side. I found it wasn't as sweet as I thought, Jubi loved it as a result, she commented that it tasted like real tart strawberries and it was really enhanced by the lemon. There was a strong coconut flavour from the yoghurt used. 
 
Can you see the glass how its faintly brown in the corners? That wasn't from the drink, as I stirred it wondering if something had settled. I ended up only being able to get rid of the brown stuff by scratching it off with my straw. Slightly dodgy I think. The other thing I disliked was that there was a fair bit of ice and large uneven chunks of frozen strawberries, I'm not sure why they added ice cubes when its a slushie. Perhaps it wasn't blended long enough.

Perfect for Jubi, not for me though

Jubi ordered a piccolo, it had a strong punchy hit of expresso. It was a lovely coffee, robust with an appetising aroma, it was also quite sweet and nutty even without sugar added to it.

A piccolo!

Our waitress gave us some water after she gave us our drinks. Jubi was enamoured with the glasses, they have a much larger top than expected even though they look like highball glasses.

What an oddly shaped bottle

Jubi's meal arrived first, a sauteed wild mushroom stack with crushed avocado, goats cheese and your choice of toast! YOUR CHOICE OF TOAST. I have no idea why I was so excited by this and am still excited, maybe because they had fancy toast available? They had an ancient grain sourdough, organic rye bread and a gluten free bread. Jubi picked the rye bread. 

My god, it was a good combination of flavours, the meaty juiciness of the mushrooms, lots of caramelised garlic, a creamy and perfectly ripe avocado cushioning the perfectly crisp toast with a still beautifully fluffy bread interior. Oh and that goats cheese, it was so damn good. It didn't look like there was much initially, just three pieces but it was a beautifully mild and delicate goats cheese. It was rolled in some crunchy seeds and crushed nuts that added a nice contrast to the creamy texture of the avocado. Oh good god, this was a good veggo breakfast. Jubi was immensely happy with her meal and kept muttering, "these mushies are so good. So goooood." She adds that she thought the goats cheese was a bit strong for her taste, but it was essential for the goats cheese to be in every mouthful to add a bit of saltiness to the dish. She thought there was too much but we ended up nibbling it all at the end.

Can you see her body language is all like, YESSSS

I fluffed over whether or not to get the chorizo baked eggs or the black truffle scrambled eggs and got the chorizo baked eggs. It came in a thick, rich and slightly spicy tomato sauce, with chunks of tomato, roasted skinless capsicum, zucchini, onion and garlic. The chorizo acted as a perfect foil to the richness of the sauce, cutting through the flavour, I think it was from a fresh chorizo sausage rather than the dried ones as it had a nice bouncy texture. The eggs were perfectly oozy gooey and popped for me when poked. The bread that I picked was the ancient grain sourdough, it was slightly sweet, a bit nutty and had a mildly grainy texture, I wondered what the ancient grains used were. My bread was also perfectly toasted, crisp yet fluffy.

Oooh baked eggs

Pow!

Grocer and Grind
Atmosphere: 8, gorgeous, bright, airy with lots of things to talk about. I really liked our table setting and the coffee bean table. I really liked the brass tree sign in the back wall of the restaurant.
Service: 6, I think this place is still quite new but they have their heart in the right place. They were very enthusiastic and energetic, quick to clear tables and easily to find. Our waitress forgot to give anyone water until Jubi loudly said if there was any table water and started peering around the room. We also noticed a lot of the waitresses looked a bit lost trying to find the tables.
Food: 9, absolutely beautiful. I hope I can go here again in the future to try other food from them. The food was beautifully presented, with interesting ingredients that worked well with each other and well seasoned to boot. The ingredients were also all lovingly chosen and very trendy I think.