Melbourne

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Sunday 16th August, 2009

We now have a married daughter living in Victoria. We love it. It means two to three trips a year to fabulous Melbourne. Not only is the flight from Auckland less than four hours, but with the time difference, there’s also an extra couple of hours to enjoy on the day we arrive.
We’re just back from a six-day city visit. Our accommodation was in a Southbank apartment, handy to the Budget rental car City Road office, which works well for picking up the car when we head out of the city to see her.
Our wish list of things to do was too big to complete. But, we had a great time trying, enjoying tasty and well-priced food at several handy restaurants, great coffee at numerous cafes, marvellous walks in heritage streets, the delights of fresh food markets, some shopping and even a live show.
Melbourne is foodie’s heaven and we went armed with recommendations from friends and the results of lots of research.
For centrally located breakfasts we loved the friendly service along with delicious choices at the very popular The Quarter  in Degraves St and the more ramshackled Degraves Espresso next door, with its fold-down theatre seats, serving large cups of full flavoured coffee. As well as these Melbourne institutions, there was the Riverland Bar and Café on Federation Wharf, right alongside the Yarra with seating in a brick lined interior or outside where you can watch rowers and enjoy specials like Morrocan eggs, Welsh rarebit Jaffles or mushrooms with feta on brioche toast.
Our coffee stops were plentiful and all over the place. The very busy French marble themed Laurent in Bourke St, specialising in pastries; the more contemporary Italian themed, austere Café Greco Restaurant and Bar at 560 Chapel Street where the coffee was above average; Prahan’s eclectic Spoonful at 543 High Street, with mismatched tables to share and a décor mixing eastern and European kitch, serving homemade cakes and very good coffee, but sour service, Giorgios Restaurant and Café Bar on the corner of High Street and Glenferrie Road, Armadale, with terrace or indoor seating and a huge cabinet full of luscious cakes; Little Cupcakes also in Degraves Street, where the coffee was deplorable but the attitude, atmosphere and mini $2.50 each or standard $4.00 cupcakes in chocolate, vanilla, berry, mocha, lemon and jaffa flavours topped with balls of butter cream and mini decorations, made your mouth water.
Our coffee pick-me-up in South Melbourne, after wandering through the stunning displays of fresh produce at the South Melbourne market (tram 96 from the city, stop 127), was just across the road at bistro style Caffe Panette. Our French waiter was charming but the decaf coffee was not.

Monday 17th August
Lunch was where we found ourselves. One of the best was tiny Creperie Le Triskel in Hardware Lane. We sat at a pavement table warmed by outside heaters and relished genuine buckwheat based galettes one filled with gruyere and ham, the other mushrooms in béchamel sauce, plus a crisp green salad and basket of French bread and a glass of smooth Cote Du Rhone; Cafe Sienna Ristorante, a Chapel Street fixture, where the clientele keep pouring in, gave friendly and competent service, the water arrived promptly and our two gourmet salads were crisply fresh and generous; The Pavilion Fitzroy Gardens did not deliver as it had previously. They served a reasonable long black, but deplorable decaf and a croissant that was crisp outside but was completely uncooked inside. The setting by the wishing tree is its best feature; Sezana’s Coffee Shop at 428 Toorak Road, Toorak Village, one of a chain, will make many things for you. My simple chicken, lettuce and mayo rye bread sandwich was just as I wanted it. Both the decaf and standard long black came in large white cups with great crema and full flavour. Seating was in and out, many diners seemed to be locals, orders were placed at the counter and service was friendly.
We had the most fun and one of the best meals of our trip at zany Zappa at 206 Bank Street South Melbourne. We fell upon this cute, madly decorated tiny restaurant, bursting at the seams with tables of people in every corner, but have since found many reviews attesting to its popularity and great value. The food is homemade and the choices are huge. My chunky bean soup with big crisp parmesan bread croutons on the side, was one of the day’s specials. Service was delightful and the coffee superb.
Thanks to lots of daytime walking we were more than ready to enjoy great dinners as well. Feddish on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets, in Federation Square, with its pretty Yarra riverside location, relaxed atmosphere and good value for money, was our choice twice. Both times we ordered fish of the day, very white, sweet and delicious deep sea Rockling fillets, with chunky chips and squashed peas for Au$19. The only downside was a 2% extra charge if you wanted to use Amex.
Our special night was at the very French France-Soir, 11 Toorak Road, in South Yarra. I had made a reservation by phone from New Zealand a couple of weeks before we left, opting for a Sunday night as Saturday was fully booked. (They don’t have email). Tables in European bistro style, were close, lining the two side walls of the corridor restaurant. Every chair was taken and the food was exceptional and the service superb. We shared Salad Provencal, while my main was moist succulent roast chicken, Alex’s the Plat du Jour, Navarin of lamb. We had a side of French beans and matchstick chips, accompanied by glasses of good Bourgogne Pinot Noir. We will be back......