Vietnamese bakeries - Best eats!

So I'm not sure if it's the same in every city, but in Melbourne in nearly every suburb, Vietnamese bakeries have popped up like a plague of places to get great cheap food.

Their business model is high turn over cheap product. Generally they use bread rolls baked freshly onsite, they have a refridgerated baymarie with a variety of traditional salads and condiments. Of course spring rolls and dim sims are on the counter.

One of my favourite's is the Vietnamese pork roll, they put in a variety of types of process and sliced pork, lettuce, coriander, onions (sometimes crispy), pate, a soy like sauce and chilly (of course, I ALWAYS hold the cucumber). I know that it's probably not the best quality meat cuts, but it's cheap and tastes good.

Now the point of this post is to highlight N Lee Bakery on Smith Street in Collingwood. N Lee is always packed and thankfully there is usually at least six staff on hand to process all the orders. My latest N Lee favourite is the pork meat ball roll, it cost $4 and comes with Vietnamese salad, crushed pork meat balls and some of the sauce that it was cooked it in. Forget what it is and just eat it...

spudbar

So rumours have been going around the office lately about this new place to eat on Brunswick Street. People have been sneaking off and then coming back, raving about this great new place to have lunch.

Feeling slightly jipped that I hadn't been, when I heard that there was a group going down to the spudbar today for lunch, I didn't miss the opportunity to jump on board and tag along.

Now this is a strange occurrence, not that I joined in, but more that I wanted to go and eat potato. Potato isn't really one of my favourite foods and I am often heard dissing the humble Tayta... My favourite way to consume potato is in the form of McDonalds French Fries... Now I know that sounds really bad, I just can't help it, especially if they are fresh out of the frier!

So off we trundled, and by the time we arrived there were around ten of us hungering for a potato. Anthony, a seasoned spudbar customer started off with a custom concoction... I opted for a Dahl-i Lama, this had Dahl in it if you hadn't guessed.

Anyways, these potatoes are baked in an oven (very healthy) and then are topped with a generous helping of toppings, you can have 10 toppings and a drink for $10.

How I am likening it, is a pizza with toppings. Just instead of processed flour you have a potato.

I am going to label this as the perfect way to consume a potato! I will definitely be eating there again and recommending it to all my friends.

ohhhhh, that sweet thang...

So, after a particularly grueling Body Pump class, Abby and decided to have a bagel from the shop under the gym...

I got a Rye bagel, filled with smoked salmon, cream cheese, the obligatory capers and asparagus; A resonably healthy choice. I washed this down with a fresh orange, apple, carrot and pineapple juice.

Abby opted for a bagel with cream cheese and jam.

I had spent the past two days avoiding sweet and sugary foods, as I'm trying to break my sugar addiction/habit. I had a bit of bagel left which didn't have any of my filling on it, so I grabbed a bit of Abby's jam slapped it on and ate it... ohhhhh, that sweet thang... Once it hit my taste buds I was filled with this taste sensation... Now when I've done some exercise, I usually tend to get a bit hyperactive... Combine that with this taste sensation, I turned manic... I had to have more... Now this ain't going to be pretty so if you have a weak stomach, navigate away to a different blog, but I started to scoff it, once I'd finished my bagel there was nothing left to do but chow down on straight cream cheese and jam... Abby was less than impressed!

Well, to me it was interesting how something so sweet and sugary made me feel. I'm starting a cleanse in two weeks where sugar is totally ruled out, I'll see how I go after that.

Shish

Okay, it's mid afternoon and it appears that half of an Avocado will not satisfy me for breakfast and lunch after I do session at the gym.

So I went next door to the Turkish take away joint and got a Shish Kebab. It was really tastey, I don' think it was too bad, shish kababed (on a skewer) meat, in a turkish roll, with some tzatziki like sauce and basic salad.

Went down just a treat.