I can’t believe it. Finally, a Melbourne trip that I’m going to write up properly. It must be Christmas! Or shortly thereafter. It also took a lot of planning and a 4 day weekend to get to this stage, so here goes nothing! A blog about my second favourite city in Australia.

My trip to Melbourne starts on the plane. I have a thing for flying full service, and here is my lovely meal to show for my money.

Okay, it’s the worst aeroplane meal I’ve had in a while. Those scrambled eggs weren’t nice after a while, and the potato gems tasted like they’d been thawed then kind of warmed up. Ick. The sausage thing was okay though, so I ate all of that, and the tomato.

It’s also been forever since I’ve had a fruit yoghurt. Real mango bits? How do they not go off? Is it dried mango that’s been put in yoghurt???

I actually had a purpose in Melbourne other than just food and coffee. I was off to do some dancing, and my dance partner had taken a different flight. I had to wait for him, we went to our hotel, then, with precious little time to spare, I dashed off, and got to my favourite ceiling-chair cafe with 8 minutes to spare. Oh, chairs. You’re so lovely.

And look, I finally got a window seat! Yay! This place is usually packed out the doors, but going at closing time has its benefits. Next time, I  would love to just chill here and stare out the window.

Even though I wasn’t supposed to be consuming coffee, the opportunity was too good to pass up. So it was espresso and flat white for me. Both were delicious, and the espresso was tasting super yummy!

A tinselly shot of BBB :)

The next day, I decided that I’d go to Operator 25. I actually had a whole schedule set up of which cafe to go when, but I was never very good at following instructions, even my own. So I did everything in my own order. Their batch brew was okay, but not terribly exciting.

I didn’t really want a sweet breakfast, but it sounded interesting, so I went with the tapiocoa pudding with fruit and matcha coconut cream. That cream was really yummy! And I loved that there was some freeze dried fruit in here too! However my body wasn’t used to the time difference yet, so it was difficult to muster up the appetite to eat it there and then. I hate adjusting to new timezones, but I know that food and sleep are the two most important things to assist with time shifting.

The next day would be action packed, so I picked up some donuts for breakfast, since I’d need to be up horrendously early and had to be well fed at the same time. I also treated myself to this adorable star donut at Shortstop, which was eggnog flavoured!

Swung by Hisense Arena to watch my friends. Yep, this was what I’d be doing on the weekend. How exciting! And nerve wracking!

My Friday, Saturday and Sunday were blocked out, so there’s not much of my own adventures over these three days except for a cheeky lunch at Cumulus Inc on the Friday, since it was my least busy day.

Had a bit of spare time on the Sunday morning, so I went to cafe that I managed to spot while walking near the arena – Fifty Acres! They served up a tasty Duke’s coffee.

Their breakfast was delicious too! These weren’t just any old scotch eggs, these were chorizo scotch eggs, and that made them the most delicious version I’ve eaten yet! My dance partner chose the pumpkin pancakes, which were amazing too.

Then, with dancing over, it was time to move out and start hitting my cafes and restaurants hard.

Lune. The best croissants in Australia. I love their little sign and the fact that they’re tucked away in a garage in some out of the way street. Luckily, there’s no queue on a Monday morning, compared to the massive queue I had to endure when I last visited on a Saturday.

Behold the might and glory of the traditional croissant!!

While the godliness of the traditional croissant was obligatory, it was the ice cream sandwich that I was after. Ice cream for breakfast, I love myself! A kouign amann cut in half, chocolate sauce and a perfectly shaped hazelnut gelato. The price tag of $15 was pretty hefty, but it was so delicious, especially as I’ve not had a kouign amann before, and the hazelnut gelato was so amazing! Yes! I’m so happy I got their special!

Now to visit my other old favourite – Patricia. I managed to get a cool shot of something other than their windowsill and plants! I called this one Sunshine in a Coffee Cup.

Okay, so I took a picture of the plants and window sill anyway. Mostly because the flowers had dropped into the sugar bowl. I also joined a great discussion about the Rowsaan spoons that they serve. About a year back, I had one of my Sydney baristas ask me about the spoons, so I took a picture, and then looked into it a little bit since he said that they cost $190 each. I thought it was a typo because I thought I’d seen them for $90 on their website, but no, today the barista confirmed they were indeed $190. Ouchies! What kind of a cafe can afford to stock $200 spoons?!?! Haha.

I knew, then forgot, then remembered that Shannon Bennett now has a Benny Burger. I’ve tried Neil Perry’s burgers, so it was time to see what Vue de Monde’s executive chef’s vision was. Also, I remember ages ago there being a joke about eating at the restaurant and then being left hungry so that people bought burgers at McDonald’s shortly after.

I hadn’t done any research into the joint, but apparently they still had specials running! It was half price burgers for a good while, but when I got there, they were doing free chips and drink with every burger purchase. Nice! I wanted to try their chips! I didn’t need the drink so I helped myself to the tap water.

I chose the Cheesy Burns, which was their cheeseburger. Yep, it was cheap and tasty, just how I like it. The sauce in this one was really nice, and my conclusion is that it was on par with the likes of Burger Project and Shake Shack. What did intrigue me though, was that apparently they used wagyu in their burgers? But to be honest my favourite beef patty still come from Burger Project’s Cape Grim beef. That stuff is just too good.

The picture makes the cafe self explanatory! A lot of baristas talk highly of Everyday Coffee, so I had to pay a visit. I had a Kenya Kiamabara PB, which had loads of blackberry flavour! I took my time to sip away at this, watching the other two people in my view working away at laptops.

That night was dinner at Embla, which has its own post. Even though the waiter had recommended that we go eat gelato from Spring Street Grocer, I did promise my friend that we’d go to the creperie. I changed my order this time, usually I get lemon sugar, but I figured, change is good, so I opted for chestnut paste this time. Quite nice, though a bit sweet for my palate (but it wasn’t overly sweet).

Aah, Proud Mary. I can’t help but come here since I know their food is as good as their coffee. I didn’t get a good shot of my espresso, and I only had the one coffee, since I had plans to geek out at Aunty Peg’s instead.

I also wanted the blue swimmer crab omelette for breakfast, but apparently the crabs that came in weren’t right so they didn’t have it available that day. The waiter did recommend the salmon pate and devilled egg instead, so I said yes! What a colourful looking and tasty breakfast!

Ooooh I got here during a geisha party! Woohoo! There were three geishas on offer today, and I learned (by asking) that what happens is that Aunty Pegs gets a 2 week showcase, before rotating it onwards to Proud Mary. That’s how it works! So I will always get a different coffee unless I clip the wrong Sunday + Monday visit haha. I had already tried Bambito Estate and Hacienda La Esmeralda, so this time, I chose Elida Estate. It was very very bright and fruity as an espresso, and when it cooled down as filter, it was so floral and delicious!

The baristas here are always so knowledgeable and chatty, and were describing the estate as being part of a natural reserve, and that it was very picturesque with its rolling mists, since it was so high up. It makes me want to visit!

Yes, I finally ate a Butterbing! This was at Aucuma cafe, where one of my barista friends was working, so I popped in and said hi. We walked around South Melbourne, but I didn’t realise the markets were closed, but that was okay since we were happy to walk back into the city. When I talked about Spring Street Grocer, it turns out that she loved it too and also spoke highly of the pistachio ice cream! So of course, now I had to go get one.

Well, after Minamishima, that is. There was no way I was going to enter a super sushi place without an empty stomach!

While there was definitely enough food at Minamishima and I was full, I had to get gelato. If two people both recommended it, then it must be good. And they weren’t wrong. The gelato here is kept under the metal lid things, just like Chicho back in Perth. And when the scoops came out – pistachio at the bottom, and white chocolate, yuzu, blackberry on top. Both flavours were amazing! The yuzu and blackberry were very prominent, and the pistachio one tasted exactly like pistachio! Yep, I’m glad I tried it!

Next morning, I took my friend back to Brother Baba Budan since she tried to go before, and it was packed. We were early and it was quiet, but there were still enough people that the only seat we got was at the counter, staring at the machine. I decided that it was close enough to Christmas that I would treat myself to this lovely fruit mince pie!

The picture of my piccolo came out horribly, so no post of that one.

Look at this place. How sleek! I was told this was the best place to go by both the Aunty Peg’s barista as well as my barista friend. It’s a super white, minimalistic space with a roaster at the back! They also have a cute looking snack called kolache, which is basically stuff in buns. I tried the herbed omelette one and it was quite nice!

As always, I went for the spo milk filter trio. All three were great. The Rwandan Kivu belt was what they had on filter, and the tasting notes were blueberries and blackcurrants. Those flavours definitely stood out, but I felt that it was at the expense of acidity, because I didn’t get a lot of that. The espresso was Ethiopia Adado, which was nice, but not as tasty as the filter. Then the flat white for prettiness!

It’s a great little cafe and I’d love to visit here again and try more of their coffees!

Finally, I visited 8 Bit, which is a little burger joint in the city. I always find this place so cute looking, and my friend was eating one of these the day before and it smelled so good, so I had to get a hot dog too – I was starving, wanted something small and tasty, but wouldn’t weigh me down as I was about to enjoy the most epic meal I’ve had in a while.

Then at night, I had a blast at Kisume. Oh yeah. That place was awesome, and I walked out feeling like a superstar.

The superstar feeling carried on to the next day, when my time in Melbourne was finally up. Because of my recent mass of travelling (especially premium economy to Japan!), I managed to get some lounge passes. So I figured, I may as well use them since I won’t maintain my status when it expires.

The Virgin lounge in Melbourne is pretty cool, and has its own little express customs area so that you don’t have to go back out and line up again with all the “commoners”. What was really caught my attention after scanning the buffet tables, was the 1 press pancake maker! There were a couple of these machines. All you had to do was press the GO button, and it would start making pancakes inside. There was even a little progress bar that showed you what stage readiness your two pancakes were at, and then when done, out they popped from the side! It was so entertaining!

I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to eat, so I just piled on some blueberries, maple syrup and cream. But I also grabbed a sausage, some ham, and a boiled egg. On the same plate. Because sweet and savoury together is cool. Or something. Not too bad considering it was free! Also, while I was initially bewildered, I quickly realised that most of the people here were business people, so everything could be left unattended so that they could get food and drinks. Cool, it was nice not having to drag around my luggage just to get my breakfast!

The view from the lounge is pretty cool too. I didn’t realise it at the time, but that was actually my plane!

Keeping those windows squeaky clean :D

Bye bye Melbourne, I love you! But only almost as much as Sydney.

Onwards we go!!!