Paddy Hills

If The Lokal was my 2014 favourite cafe, Paddy Hills certainly is my 2015 favourite cafe. In the span of less than six months, I popped by Paddy Hills at least eight times. If you do the maths, it's a visit or two per month. It didn't help that it was within walking distance of my office, so it was extremely accessible to have lunch there, either with my colleagues or lunch dates with friends. Or rather, should I say, my old office, now that I'm in a new environment.

I've amassed a collection of food shots from my multiple visits. The cafe opened in March this year, and my first visit was in May and my most recent visit was in October. They had a menu update before my last visit, so I managed to try several stuff from their original and new menus. In fact, this might just be my longest picture post for a cafe haha.

Paddy Hills

It was awesome having a cafe serving awesome food and drinks so near the office. I can say I almost miss my old work place, just for having Paddy Hills so near by. Ha. The coffee was constantly good, my type of coffee.

Truffle fries

Squid ink tagliatelle (old menu)

Ice latte

Kimchi fried rice

While yummy, the kimchi fried rice tastes more like fried rice tze-char style. The kimchi flavour wasn't strong enough for me. But that egg and the beef in the dish were definite plus points. 

Berry ricotta hotcakes

I first knew of berry ricotta hotcakes through Instagram - the famed Melbourne Top Paddock's version was in my news feed for the longest time ever. Then I saw that it was also a trending item in local cafes - if I'm not wrong, several cafes such as Habitat, Stranger's Reunion, Curious Palette and Paddy Hills offer berry ricotta hotcakes on the menu. I first tried berry ricotta hotcakes at Paddy Hill just a day before I flew off for my Melbourne trip this year and had the same item again at Top Paddock the very next day. Well, while the Paddy Hill's version was pretty decent, I preferred the Top Paddock's version better.

Affogato

I have two girlfriends who swear by Paddy Hill's affogato. A shot of rich bitter espresso poured over a scroop of sweet creamy vanilla bean ice cream. What's not to like about it?

Big Breakfast 

Salmon

Pink pasta

I'm not a big fan of pasta, so to me, the pink pasta and uni tagliatelle were pretty much similar tasting. The pasta was al dente, but could get a tad hard after sitting out for a while.

Yuzu effervescence

Their iced drinks are pretty refreshing. I've sampled most of the iced drinks (colleagues ordered previously, but I didn't take a photo haha) but my fave is the yuzu one. Citrusy and refreshing. It's a pretty easy drink to make at home I guess, but hey, I still love how yummy this was.

Orange ricotta pillows

As I had tried most dishes on the menu, this was one of the last few "untried" item I tried on my last visit. And I freakin' loved it. Can I say I might even like this better than the berry ricotta hotcakes? Well, berry ricotta hotcakes are pretty but so passé. These on the other hand are unique and really, those umeshu jelly cubes were the bomb. 

Hot chick

The chicken bites were poppin' good, and that chilli boy that chilli. Sure packs some heat man for those who like it hot.

Uni tagliatelle

Must say that one of my favourite dish there is the salmon dish (new menu). That crusted salmon was amazing. Crunchy exterior, with flaky soft meat (no dry overdone salmon here thank god). Yum-may.

The Maze

I think in the old menu, the maze was lamb meatballs, so I didn't try it cos I don't like lamb. However, they revamped it in the new menu by switching it to beef. Yay. So I ordered it once to try. It was alright, the meatballs were a little dry and crumbly, but the tomato-y sauce and soft boiled egg helped make the dish more palatable.

And...I'm finally done with the post! *phew*