Ever wondered if that dodgy looking Asian takeaway place near your house is any good? It could be authentic and a fantastic hidden gem you will never discover, or it will be an MSG filled grease hole, that you regret you tried. Sadly I've had the experience of the MSG bastardized hole too many times!

Saipon is the dodgy looking Thai takeaway/restaurant near our place. We had driven past a few times wondering if it was any good.

It was a cold, wintery, rainy night. I had an epic headache, and we had no food to cook. After a quick trip to the shops to pick up Hamsley's new specks, I really felt like Thai food. That night was the night we tried Saipon (obviously… it's what the title of the post is!)

We pulled up infront, and there was a Westerner at the counter…. could this be a bad sign? We checked the menu in the window and it had the dishes we wanted to order. Hamsley said we could try somewhere else if I wasn't happy with how it looked, but I saw Thai people cooking in the kitchen, so I had faith.

As we waited for our food to be cooked, a few orders were picked up. Thai music played through the micro stereo, and a fake aquarium added to the typical cheap Asian decor. I love at places like this. And the quirky sign that hung in the window made me feel transported back to somewhere in Asia.

Our food was ready and we took it home…. with a free bag of prawn crackers! Gotta love free prawn crackers.. I don't care where you come from!


Apart from the slices of onion that are far from authentic, it was a great pad thai! I squeezed some lime into it for a bit more moisture and sourness.


We also got a large coconut rice for $4.00
When pouring into the bowl, it was a bit runny and watery compared to other panning curries I've had. It did smell good though. Teamed nicely with the coconut rice, this curry was packed full of chilli but tasted just like any other panang curry I've loved.

There was alot of food, we are having the leftovers tonight!
I'm SO glad we have a good Thai place near us! It will be handy on those cbf nights, and the fact that it is so close to home makes it even more appealing!



We followed it up with the new delice flavours from Lindt since I had a coupon.


To be honest we weren't that impressed. The olive oil one had a funny taste, even when teamed with a white chocolate filling. And the salted caramel just seemed way too salty, but it was my preferred of the two flavours. I'll stick to passionfruit for now, until I can get to Zumbo!

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No prizes for guessing what's in this box...

Last week I was down at Chadstone shopping centre picking up my Snow Leopard upgrade for my mac, so does anyone expect me not to go to see if Lindt had macaron flavours I haven't tried? Really?

Well, all the flavours I listed that I wanted to try in my previous post about them were all available, so I scooped them up and took them home.

More pretty colours! It's almost like a pastel pallet for an artist! ... or a delicious macaron platter for tasting... I prefer the latter!

So, what did they all taste like?


Blackcurrant: a little tart and delicious. Reminded me a bit of the passionfruit one, full of flavour.
Coconut: very coconut-y with lots of dessicated coconut flakes. Reminds me of my mum's coconut ice.
Rose: very flowery! I thought I was eating potpourri with it's strong flowery flavour.
Peach: tasted like canned peaches, just not as healthy. Not bad, it's on the top side of the like scale.

So that somes up more of the macaron flavours available at Lindt. I am now on a self imposed macaron ban for a little while. I'm going down tomorrow to meet some friends, I might have to move to the cake section instead!

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It's totally a hard job, but someone has to do it. Luckily for you all, I took the liberty to try some more macaron flavours from Lindt, just so you know which ones are the best.
OooOoooooo.... look at the pretty colours...

I was in the city on Friday night with Rob, previewing the new James Cameron flick Avatar at IMAX, that will be released in December. And let me just tell you, so far it's looking super sexy and I can't wait to watch the whole thing. Check out the trailor. He came up with the idea 14 years ago, but the technology wasn't available then. It's insanely good when wearing the 3d glasses at the cinema.

Alas, back to the macarons! After the preview we walked around the city, and I convinced Rob to visit the Lindt Cafe (my current favorite place in case you hadn't noticed!). I picked up a nice variety, very colourful too.

I was a bit disappointed they didn't have the peach or black currant flavours I really wanted to try, but I figure they are more summer flavours, but I did see the black currant on my first trip. I'll just have to keep checking in!


Ok so you already know of my love for the passionfruit macaron, but what about the others?

Pistachio: very subtle pistachio flavour. I found I really had to concentrate to taste the pistachio.
Vanilla: a nice vanilla flavour. You can see fresh vanilla beans have been used, even throughout the cream filling.
Strawberry: tastes a bit like strawberry jam, and with the creamy centre, it's a bit like eating a scone with jam and cream.
Hazelnut: a definite hazelnut flavour, reminds me a bit of Nutella with the creamy hazelnut filling. Very smooth and full of flavour. My 2nd favorite to the passionfruit.

After plenty of "research", my conclusions are that passionfruit is still the best, hazelnut coming in a close 2nd, dark chocolate in 3rd place, then the rest.

Can't wait to try: peach, black currant, roselli & coconut.

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Ok, so I'm going to blame it on being half Swiss for being totally obsessed with the opening of Melbourne's 2nd Lindt Cafe. I mean I only just went to check out the first one in Collins St a mere 3 days ago.... and I couldn't wait to finish work and get down to Chadstone to see what the newest cafe looked like.

The Lindt Cafe is located in the new mall that just opened today at Chadstone. Housing 50 new stores, it's all so new and shiny. But I couldn't concentrate on anything else but LINDT!
It's probably the worst thing for my waist line at the moment, but well, it is Lindt after all. I could eat Lindt balls all day, and they have so many varieties I still need to try!
I would say the Chadstone cafe has more seats than the Collins St cafe, but the Collins St cafe feels far more sofisticated.

Until the 31st of August 09, you get a free "delice", or as they are commonly known; maracon with every hot chocolate. Not feeling like I needed the extra fat of a hot chocolate, I bought some maracons to take home for dessert at Rob's house. As some of you may know who follow me on twitter, I attempted to make iced vovo cupcakes, but they failed and ended up looking like yorkshire puddings. Not wanting to arrive empty handed, I picked up the 2 macaron flavours they had on offer: champagne and dark chocolate. I was rather disappointed they didn't have the passionfruit or black currant. Maybe next time...

They were packed so nicely in the box, almost like getting a present! There are 8 maracons in there, and I swear they are to be shared! I'm not going to eat them all myself. I had half of the champagne and half of the dark chocolate... all in the name of "research". Well that's what I'm going to call it!

I'd have to say I much prefer the dark chocolate to the champagne flavour. But Rob's sister really enjoyed the champagne. The dark chocolate is very rich and you can definitely taste the chocolate flavour in every way possible. But I still prefer the passionfruit one I had.

I can't wait to try all the flavours found in the collection pdf found here: http://www.lindt.com.au/1/6/34/56.asp I suggested to Rob that he can get that for me for Christmas!

And that folks, is visit number 2 to the wonderful world of Lindt.

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So ever since the Taste Festival last year when I sampled a hot chocolate from Lindt, I've been dying for them to open. They told me it was going to open in 2009, so the time finally came and the doors have opened! ... and apparently a little birdy tells me Chadstone is opening a Lindt cafe next week! Oh no for my waist line!

I was very careful when taking photos, since Rilsta got told off for taking photos inside.
I made the trek down with Alana since we were having an epic day of shopping (not for clothes for a change).

We joined the line which was soon to make it's way out onto the street for a table to sit and enjoy our hot chocolates. We even got offered free cookie samples whilst waiting in line. But after waiting, and waiting, and having places to be, we decided to get take away hot chocolates, and save the sitting down for another time when all the hype had died down.

The coffee machine has two swirling chocolate vats, one milk chocolate, one dark chocolate. You can get hot chocolates with either, or your standard coffees and teas on offer.

There is an amazing array of cakes, truffles, ice cream, chocolate and of course, my favorite; macarons! It was a tough choice; pistachio, hazelnut, blueberry, chocolate, champagne, but I settled on passionfruit.

The passionfruit macaron was AMAZING!! I had to let Alana taste it, it was just amazing! The flavour was so intense and refreshing. The perfect accompaniment to my mocha. The chocolate macaron was also yum, soft and gooey.

Alana modelling her hot chocolate with chocolate flakes sprinkled on top..... yummmmmm!!!

I think I want to live here! The building is spectacular. There aren't too many tables available, so if you are going, I'd suggest you get there early or be prepared to wait in line. I can tell you all now, I will be making many treks to this Lindt cafe, and the one soon to open closer to home.

There isn't just chocolate on offer here, you can also get savory foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

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