I just wanted to make a tiny announcement and that is – I m going to be in Hong Kong for a month! Yay! Meaning I will have limited access to the Internet, time to blog and respond to comments and emails >_< I m sorry about this but will try my best to update regularly ~ posts may also be varied hehe I m trying really hard to clear my backlog so there may be posts from Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Hong Kong or even London and Paris hehe hope it won’t confuse you too much hehe 
Are there places that you like and it’s not that far away but you somehow never go find time to revisit? Miss Marples in the Mount Dandenong Ranges is definitely one of those places ~ The last time I went was actually 3 years ago for my best friend Sa Sa’s birthday! GOSH!
But there are seriously too many places in Melbourne it’s very hard to keep up. Also because Miss Marples is really a place that you go on your days off as they are only open 11am to 4pm daily, but it gets so busy on the weekends it’s virtually impossible to get a table. So my suggestion is to either go extra early or go on the weekdays
Last week I had a day off, I finally dragged Mr Bao to Miss Marples. It was a good 45 minute to 1 hour drive, from Melbourne city but it’s definitely worth it!
It’s actually quite easy to find Miss Maples as it on Mount Dandenong Road and kind of on the corner so its hard to miss There’s a not a lot of parking in front of the cafe, but there’s parking across and behind.
Lianne (Food Made With Love) had recently gone so I was excited to see the cute Christmas window display they had ~ Definitely pretty with the two Christmas trees, gift boxes and dolls. Even though it was a weekday… the whole cafe was full and we were told that it would be about a 10 minute wait.
We used this time to visit the store next door which specialized tea but didn’t really see anything that I wanted, then made our way back and they had a table waiting for us YAY We were quite lucky that they were still serving dishes from the lunch menu as Mr Bao was starting to get ‘ANGRY’ oops I meant ‘hungry’ hehe
As you can see Miss Marples has a very traditional cottage interior and even staff wear uniform that resembles clothing from the 1920s I love it! The menu also matches their decor offering very traditional British dishes such as sandwiches and pies and also a whole page full of dessert options YAY!
Soup of the Day – Pumpkin Soup $10.50 AUD
I opted for the Soup “Hot & Hearty” which is their soup of the day which was a homemade pumpkin soup, it was quite thick and rich. I’m pretty sure they used potatoes to help thicken the soup which made it very comforting. Perfect lunch ~ it also came with a dinner roll served in a cute basket and was lightly toasted.
Chicken Cottage Pie $14.50 AUD
Mr Bao decided to get the traditional English cottage pie ~ which was a chicken filling topped with potato mash and what they called ‘Miss Marples own sauce’ which was like a tomato relish Another hearty wintery kind of dish, and even though we liked the flavours, we found the chicken to be slightly overcooked and a little underseasoned. We did like the sauce though ~ Mr Bao particularly liked the tartness of it.
We then had a little break while we wanted for the famous Devonshire scones ~ we ordered of one plain and one scone. They soon arrived in a little basket accompanied with homemade jam and whipped cream.
Scones!
I love the look of these scones, they’re so high, tall and spongey They’re definitely not the average scones and to be quite honest, they had a texture of a sponge cake and flavour of scones ~
Best way to eat these, would be to cut them in half (share or eat it all yourself 
) slather huge amounts of cream and then topped with spoonfuls of jam! Seriously heaven! However, I do know some people who don’t really like these scones as they find it too cake-like, but we love them So please go try for yourself!
Christmas Pudding with hot brandy custard $13.5 AUD
We were both so stuffed but now…but I couldn’t say no to Christmas Pudding, after all Christmas only comes once a year right? And the lovely waitress had mentioned that their Xmas pudding was really delicious and she was right. Mr Bao and I aren’t the biggest fans of fruit mince but this had very nice flavours, however, it wasn’t as moist as we expected it to be. But we really liked the hot brandy custard that was so thick, rich and yum and the brandy-flavour wasn’t overpowering either ~
Houseblend tea $3.50 AUD
We then got a pot of tea each to end this joyful afternoon tea ~ I went for the house blend Yorkshire Gold which is like an English Breakfast but slightly stronger, which is how I like my tea Mr Bao ordered the Irish tea which is the strongest tea they offer, I found it slightly overpowering, while he really enjoyed it with the addition of some milk and sugar ~
By the way, do you know who Miss Marples is? Have you watched any of her TV shows? Apparently, Miss Marple is a fictional character created by Agatha Christie who is an old lady who also acts as an amateur detective hahaha now wouldn’t that be cool to have a grandmother like her?
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year! Only one day left in 2012! Make the most of it! xox
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