Review - Rose Garden
The area along Elizabeth St, between La Trobe and Victoria Sts is a fairly seedy place. With such fine establishments as "Fluid Oz Bar" with its glowing blue, yellow and red neon sign "open 3am or later", and a branch of
the
hippy pothead institution
Off Ya Tree which stocks bongs, Bob Marley posters and all things relevant to the magic 'erb shot of the 'erb itself. The area is usually frequented by random backpackers and the sleazy drunken bogans that I normally consider Australia's lowest common denominator (lots of 'em in Queensland and Adelaide). Here's a snippet of conversation I overheard from a guy talking on his phone:
"So what are you, ya dad and ya brother doin? Goin to the strippers?" Charming...
The area does also have a growing population of international students which has spawned a number of cheap Asian eateries, many of which often hold a great deal of promise.
Rose Garden
435 Elizabeth St., Melbourne
One of these palces is
Rose Garden, a Hong Kong style take-away/cheap eating house in the same vein as
Dessert House, offering pan Asian offerings including Malaysian fried kway teow and Thai Red Curry, along with the ubiquitously white Beef with Black Bean Sauce (overheard some white guy getting it takeaway there in fact). Since returning to Melbourne I have heard a lot of good things about this joint so I decided to give it a try.
Immediately upon entering, several things stuck me, first and foremost how bloody packed the place was! Despite it being the fairly early time of 5.50pm, I still had to wait for 10 minutes to get a table for 1.
Other striking things about the place were the colourful menu promotions on the wall, the bright pink Hello Kitty aprons on the waitresses and the din. The place was not only packed but its acoustics amplified the conversations five-fold. Upon sitting down, the din, the waitress' general level of speed, stress and briskness and the dinstinct sound of young people yelling (talking?) at each other in Cantonese all served to remind me of Hong Kong and its distinct food cafe/dining hall culture.
I was immediately impressed by the free tea which was loose-leaf and in a proper teapot with Chinese teacups - not that watered down urine served in plastic cups at Dessert House, Shanghai Dumpling and their ilk. Since it was a Hong Kong place and I could see no roast meat in the window (empty hooks only) I decided to order a tried and tested Dessert House favourite - deep fried spicy chicken on rice. Besides, I saw several other people eating it while I was waiting.
Soon after I placed my order I was joined on my four-seater table by a white dad and his half-Asian son, they seemed to be either going to or coming from the footy. A table behind them freed up, they attempted a move and were promptly rejected... and exiled back to my table with sheepish expressions. the son asked for char siu (chinese-style BBQ pork) and was denied, they'd run out apparently (hence the empty hooks). They ordered some other stuff which I didn't catch...
My meal arrived and I proceeded to be thoroughly disappointed. It was garnished with useless broccoli, the rice was over-soyed, the chicken batter was bland and tasted vaguely like 3 week old onion rings, the chicken was stringy and even the chilli mix was not as refreshing and energetic as Dessert House. Yes, for this was the benchmark, ladies & gents, and Rose Garden failed. Upon enquiring about the quality of my meal, my table partners were told that it was not that good... They then informed me that apparently roast duck and pork is what people come here for - makes sense in a Hong Kong restaurant - but they were sold out unfortunately. I will give the place another try and return for its roast but for now it gets a definite fail from me.
10/20
(On my way out some roast ducks magically appeared in the window. Damn.)
Labels: cheap eats, food+drink, melbourne, restaurant reviews
Three current obsessions
30 Rock
No but really this show is ridiculously awesome. The show's creator and star, Tina Fey, is originally from Saturday Night Live, and the concept behind the show is the behind-the-scenes goings-on of a fictional sketch comedy show called "TGS with Tracy Jordan". Tina's character Liz Lemon has to juggle her work for the show, along with managing the team and keeping the other characters happy including: the clinically insane, extremely unpredictable, very conceited, sometimes completely inane and sometimes very conscious main star, Tracy Jordan; the, neurotic, paranoid, limelight-seeking and desperately aging former main star, Jenna Maroney; the highly conceited, very Republican, very intelligent, decisive, controlling and sometimes misguided big boss, Jack Donaghy (played to a tee by Alec Baldwin).
The show is filmed in a single camera set-up and is extremely hilarious. Here are some quotes:
Tracy Jordan: I learned fried chicken at the school of hard knocks. (when he is upset because Jack is using him as an African-American shill to curry favour with the CEO)Tracy: Affirmative action was designed to keep women and minorities in competition with each other to distract us while white dudes inject AIDS into our chicken nuggets. That's a metaphor!! (when Tracy is getting all self-righteous which he often does in between the inaneness)Jack: Once I set my mind to something I have to accomplish it. 10 years ago I was an inch and a half shorter than I am today. Sheer will power.Liz Lemon: Why are you wearing a tux?Jack: It's after 6 o'clock Lemon. What am I, a farmer?Jack (talking about his divorce): I mean one minute you're newlyweds making love on the floor of the Concorde, and the next your lawyers are fighting over who gets to keep the box your dog defecates in.Liz: You taught your dog to poop in a box?Jack: Bianca did, but I want that box.Wallpaper* Magazine. 
Ah yes my latest love. As per my previous posts about UK GQ vs. US GQ, I have discovered a new magazine which is far cooler, even though it doesn't cover men's issues specifically. The magazine focuses on travel, design, entertainment, fashion and media... but mostly it focuses on really cool things. The design of the magazine is really nice, the photography is more-or-less always beautiful and it usually covers things that are interesting and desirable. In fact, it makes me desire a whole lot of things which I generally can't afford... but that's the sign of a good magazine isn't it?
The magazine covers the above topics from all over the globe, and I mean all over! Not only the normal places you would expect like London, New York and Melbourne (yes I know we're awesome) but also random places too... like Ahmedabad and Reykjavik. Ever wanted to find that little store in Antwerp that sells art-deco furniture? Bespoke tailored suits in Shanghai? The latest hot Japanese restaurant in New York? Or perhaps you're interested in the latest hammam treatments in Morocco? Either way, this magazine will show you the way...
Wallpaper* is published by
Phaidon press and the company also publishes a delectable range of city guides (which cost only $12.95, much cheaper than Lonely Planet titles), all of which actually include all the awesome things you actually *want* to do in a city like hidden bars, edgy restaurants, art, architecture and even some sights (as opposed to Lonely Planet's often dry "The Eiffel Tower was built in... by... etc.")
The sucky thing about Wallpaper* is that to buy the magazine hot-off-the-press you have to pay $19.99 for the air freight issue at Borders... otherwise we have to be content with 2 month old issues for $9.99... which is totally ok with me because the stuff in Wallpaper*, it just doesn't age... and if you're too poor to buy the magazine, check out their super awesome website www.wallpaper.com. I am sure I'll be posting stuff from it on this blog for some time :)
Peppercorn Mortadella
According to
wikipedia: Mortadella pronounced /morta'dɛl:a/ is an Italian cold cut (salume /sa'lume/) made of finely hashed/ground heat-cured pork sausage which incorporates at least 15% small cubes of pork fat (principally the hard fat from the neck of the pig). It is delicately flavored with spices, including whole or ground black pepper, myrtle berries, nutmeg, coriander and pistachios.
But basically it taste's awesome. I especially like the one with black pepper... although Safeway does also sell one with olives which is pretty awesome. The great thing about mortadella is that it only costs like $10 per kg whereas ham sets you back around $16-22 per kg depending on the quality and cut. And it's not that I don't like ham. But basically mortadella is just seriously awesome.
Oh man I really shouldn't be posting about pork during Ramadan... but wait! According to wikipedia again: "In several Arab and Muslim countries, like the UAE, Qatar and Egypt, Halal mortadella is sold, which is made from chicken, beef, or turkey." Which makes sense because I'm fairly sure I used to buy sandwiches from al-Siraj on shawarma street (Ba7rain represent!) with mortadella inside... So there you go, my Muslim friends, you can also enjoy mortadella! :-D
Labels: food+drink, media, teevee
Written: [Anna's Cafe] 9.45am 16th April
You don't really notice places like this unless you walk. I wonder what this calm Filipino lady thinks of me wandering in at this time with my old jeans, flip flops and several day old beard confessing that all I have in my pocket is 600 fils. As expected when I walked past earlier this morning, there is no one here. I wonder how she makes her money. I must come back. There's nothing particularly special about this place apart from the fact that it's not very Bahrain. It's tiny, quaint and hardly patronised yet it still feels more European than Bahraini. It's nto a chain, no wi-fi and no credit cards. No shisha either, it seems, but they do bake their own bread and pastries and things. This would be a paerfect little local to frequent.
It has a very odd style about it. Rounded little hotel lobby-style camel chairs with a mahogany trim. Round pink ashtrays on tiny round black tables, pictures of pasties and cheese on the wall, all the same size and all in a row along the top of the wall. They all look like they're from the mid 90s. Some random fake vines in the corner and square wooden tables with green tablecloths and wooden chairs along the middle. Oh and a ceiling high circular shelving unit adorned with magazines on the bottom and faux wedding cakes at the top. All to the smooth commercial sounds of Radio Bahrain. Yet somehow the quiet mishmash of this place somehow fits together and it feels homely like Costa never could. The Filipino lady also seems pleasant, like a young aunt. I do wonder why the menu refers to it as a Cypress coffee and not Turkish. Political statement or gimmick?
Well you wouldn't call the coffee good yet there's still something enticing about this place. Maybe I'm just craving something different like this after all the cafe chains and shisha joints or maybe I just want to fall in love with a place that's so cosy and so human. The massive windows are a bonus but you wouldn't call the view 'beautiful'. On the other hand, this is the real, typical Manama neighbourhood. Road 3614, faceless grey apartment blocks, vans and old cars frame the dirtyish narrow concrete streets with not footpath. Random corner DVD store with posters of Egyptian and Lebanese posters adorning its window wall. This is Bahrain, or Manama at least. Rusty satellite dishes sit atop roofs of buildings a few stories high, all grey with dirty walls, grate square balconies and AC units sticking out. It's all function. Light colour walls, block the heat, ACs cool and satellite dishes entertain.
There never was a gothic period here, no renaissance. Surviving in the Gulf means protecting your family (women) behind thick walls and cooling your home from the 50 degree summer heat. They don't need flourishes, detail and fancy buildings. They live functionally, always have, maybe always will. They build beautiful monuments to Allah and they aim for their hearts to reflect the same kind of beauty. You don't need European charm for that. Life is simple. You fear God, protect your family, provide food and stave off the heat. Nowadays American TV and Asian labour takes care of the rest. America, a country born of the same functionality and simplicty seems a perfect cultural model for development in that sense.
Labels: architecture, bahrain, food+drink, people
New York City
And onto the second city I visited in July - New York City.
Basically, I had mixed feelings about this city. I'd heard Lyna raving about it for weeks before she left Bahrain so I was looking forward to something special or extraordinary. It was special in many ways. I mean the city is just huge, Manhattan is just a crazy cage full of people running everywhere, it's like they're on those exercise wheels seriously and constantly pepped up on something. The bustle of it was great, I love bustling cities, but the people were quite annoying. They kept walking around yelling randomly or at each other, seemingly unable to have a conversation at a reasonable volume. And everyone had that famous New York "fuck off" attitude. Which is great really, it's great to love yourself and your city but it's time to wake up and smell the roses. NYC is not what it once was, the world is full of cities that rival it in almost everything. Multiculturalism, size, food, drinks, partying, shopping, culture, etc. You name it there's a better city for it - and there's better cities with combinations of them too...
So my lasting picture of NYC was of an big, interesting, bustling city full of people who are proud to be marginally deluded assholes (note: this is a generalisation, and like all generalisation, doesn't apply to everyone).
Although I'm not usually much of a sight-seeing tourist, I did make an effort to see some of the 'sights'.
I checked out Times Square in all its glory and had a Jambo Juice while watching life go by.
Wall St was interesting too. Complete with the big 'fuck off' American flag posted up all over this building and the shitloads of security personnel, cops and God-knows-who-else to go with protecting the bastard. Is there a bigger monument to Capitalist greed than this building? Smack in the middle of Wall St with a massive American flag on it? A big 'fuck you' to the have-nots of the world? I can understand why they have security all over it.
Anyway I decided it would be a good idea to have Starbucks and a bagel on Wall St to feel really part of the New York capitalist scene... and it was interesting to note that people in suits everywhere are exactly the same. I'm sure they have personalities they leave at home but once the suit comes on, the personality hides somewhere while they talk about stock tips, their boss and why Larry hit on them at the office party last weekend... BORING.
i saw the chick with the torch in her hand for free on the passing Staten Island ferry. WoOt.
The best of the 'sights' though was this place, the UNHQ in New York, a place I would love to work one day and a kind of inspiring one. There really isn't much to see inside, apart from a few display pieces in the lobby, a giftshop, a bookshop, a post office (from which you can send UN mail), a crappy cafe and thats about it. It was still enjoyable to just sit there and soak it up for a while... the UN atmosphere, as cheesy as it sounds...
...it was cool to hang out with these guys for at least a few hours :D
So not to forget the purpose of my trip was for a meeting at the AIESEC US office. And an interesting meeting it was.
It's a pretty colourful office. I think that green chest of drawers with the flowers on top of it is a particularly nice touch.
And then onto this sushi restaurant on Paul's recommendation where I actually had decent sashimi for the first time since leaving Australia... oh man I miss Sydney fish markets.
But finally, as usual for me, it's the little places to chill that really count on any trip and, just like that cafe in Frankfurt in my last post, I found an NYC cafe to call my home/office too.
-aroma- cafe, as it was called, had decent coffee (for new york), free wifi, great (albeit pricey) sandwiches and a relaxed student atmosphere. I think I was there 3 times out of the 5-6 days I was in New York. Loved it.
Labels: food+drink, New York, people, travel
Frankfurt
Instead of the customary after-IC-euphoria-posting I think I'd rather catch up on some reflections and favourite pictures from two other cities I visited in July - starting with Frankfurt. A place I stopped over at on my way to NYC for a meeting, and then again on the way back.
My brief but eventful journey started on one of these trains. The trip from the airport into Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (main train station) cost me E$3.50 each way which is pretty damn expensive for a 15 minute ride but these trains were worth it. They were like long-distance trains, super fast, super smooth, super comfortable with reclining seats, tray tables and magazines.
The train station itself is very cool looking and reminded me a lot of Flinders St station in Melbourne - in terms of looks, positioning in the city, and the clock thing...
One thing I love about Frankfurt is the juxtaposition of really cool shiny skyscraper glass towers like this one...
... with beautiful European-style cobblestoned streets, parks, benches and many places to relax and watch the world go by.
In addition, Frankfurt has a very interesting historic precinct (that was flooded with tourists of course) which includes this very German-style looking building with the roofs that look like steps.
My favourite part of my day in Frankfurt (thats the first day I mean, on the way to NYC, I didn't take any pictures on the second) would have to be the time I spent at this little cafe on their Fressgasse (a street affectionally nicknamed so, after the amount of eating one can do on it). Sipping an espresso and reading Kafka in the morning made me feel very European... and the espresso was the best one I'd had since leaving Melbourne a month before... I returned to the cafe on my second day in Frankfurt (which was on the way back to Bahrain from NYC) and partook in some more coffee and reading...
Generally it was really nice to be able to walk around the city freely, look at things and bask in the German-ness of it all. There is something about travelling alone with no agenda in particular that makes you feel like you have the world at your feet...
Labels: architecture, food+drink, Frankfurt, travel
First 2 weeks in Bahrain
Sorry to those that have been asking for this post for a while but I really haven't had much time to do much apart from work and the endlessly fantastic social calendar.
First thing's first, I am officially MCVPER of AIESEC Bahrain. WoOt. Changeover happened at conference last week and, this week, Sahar and I have been in the office full throttle as the fledgling MC team with big shoes to fill. Go us! And to those that thought AIESEC was taking up enough of my life back home, it is now a paid full-time position looking after external relations, sales and strategic management of an NGO at a national level. Nice.
The AIESEC events calendar has been action-packed, I bought a new suit, shoes and belt for the Bahrain Future Business Leaders Forum (picture above) that happened last week and it was great. A room full of Bahraini students at The Diplomat Conference Centre listened to speeches on Islamic Banking and Entrepreneurship. National Conference followed soon after and was 3 action packed days at the Royal University for Women (smack in the middle of the desert!) with nice sessions including ones run by some external companies.
Apart from the office, the cafes here are pretty sweet for meetings, work or just chilling. Some of my favourites are La Ventana (pictured above), Verandah and Coco's... along with the usual chains (including Costa Coffee, a homegrown Gulf chain). The cafes also have good food, as do many of the other places around. For a population so small, there sure are a lot of places to eat! Some of the best food I've had include burgers, Thai food, Indian food, Tikka, Lebanese food, Egyptian food, mehiawa (fish juice), the list is endless... and fairly inexpensive.
At night there has been a lot of shisha with the guys. There are some really great shisha cafes around here, the one pictured above is Beirout (not the best Shisha but it only costs 500 fils (
A$1.50) and is cool to hang in. I have been slowly destroying my lungs and I feel this trend is set to continue.
The greatest thing I've experienced here so far is definitely the people. Thank you so much to all the guys + gals that have made my first few weeks on the island so amazing, pleasant and welcoming. You guys are fantastic... smart, fun, chilled... Bahrainis should be famous the world over for the coolness. Looking forward to an awesome year of forging new connections and endless fun + chilling. Here's a pic of all the peeps at the BFBLS.
Which brings me to some other special people. Lyna, Claude and John, the outgoing MC team. You guys are seriously amazing, the work that you've done here, your results speak for themselves in the people you have developed (and the bank account too, nice). Despite all the challenges, and yeah they were many... what you have achieved is so fantastic and so totally worth it. AIESEC Bahrain is going to be a MENA powerhouse and it's all because of you guys. Massive massive shoes to fill for Sahar and myself. Thank you for the chilled nights, the great chats, the support, the hectic (and mistimed) transition and the wisdom, guidance and strength you have displayed. It was a humbling experience. Lyna + Claude, I hope to see you both in the States one day. John, I'll see you back here in a month mate, enjoy your travels.
And that's me signing off. I promise to blog more. A promise more to myself than to anyone else.
Labels: aiesec, bahrain, food+drink, people, social life
Melbourne Post 10
Although I usually dont post more than 2 pics of a place in my posts, this one place deserves 3, it is one of my favourite cafes in Melbourne. Actually, the coffee at this place really isn't that fantastic, well it's drinkable, better than your average coffee... but the great thing about this place is just that it's got a cool vibe/decor about it, the location is awesome and it appeals to me as a book and coffee lover.
Check out Mr. Tulk:
Yes to the left side of the room there are stacks of books, there is a communal bench in the middle with lamps that people can read/study under. There are round stand-alone tables, square tables up against the walls, big windows, wooden floors, its just a perfectly laid out place.
Service is not overly friendly but quite efficient, plus the serving staff tend to be rather good-looking.
The book theme is fitting because the cafe is actually inside the State Library of Victoria, a fantastic building that I've posted photos of twice before, I think. I forget who exactly Mr. Tulk is, the first curator or something, but anyway the guy is an important figure in the history of the Library. As you can see the cafe also has an outdoor seating area with umbrellas and it serves alcohol too for those so inclined, perfect.
This is the street view of Mr. Tulk with La Trobe St on the left and the Library on the right. This is a very nice looking street because it is so wide... and gives a good feeling of the mix that Melbourne has, in terms of cafes, historic buildings and skyscrapers... plus trams!
Excuse the lack of clarity in these pics but they were taken in very low light with a high ISO setting on my camera. This is the Melbourne Supper Club, most certainly one of my top 5 bars in Melbourne, if not my favourite. This place is as old as the hills and has been there for ages. It has an old-school wooden decor, an encyclopaedic wine list which has everything under the sun, reasonably well priced cigars and a selection of rather strange but tasty bar snacks, such as party pies and peking duck.
The place is more or less perfect for a random drink at all hours. It's open from 8pm to 5 or 6am, I forget, and the best time to go there, in my opinion, is just around 11pm... if you intend to stay for at least a few hours, because it's very easy to while away hours here talking to some good friends about any old thing. The music is not too loud, but engaging. The conversations happening all around are not disturbing, but add atmosphere. The (table) service is absolutely flawless and the best service you will ever get in any bar. They have a variety of seating arrangements, including a smoking and non-smoking section, old school couches and round tables (soon to be opening up a rooftop smoking area when the anti-smoking regulations kick in). It doesn't get much more perfect, really, than this place. The only detracting factor is the fact that one often has to wait to get a seat as this place is popular and they totally do not take bookings. However, even waiting on their stairway is an experience in itself and I've never spent more than 10 minutes there so it's not a big deal...
Well that's it folks. Only two places mentioned here but they are two of my absolutely favourite places in Melbourne, and two places I've patronised many many times, and still am not sick of them...
Labels: food+drink, melbourne
Melbourne Post 9
As the tide of uncertainty and exam related stress washes over me, it seems there's nothing better to do than indulge in my favourite city. It's been a while since I've done one of these posts, was about time...
First up we have a cafe in Richmond, on the corner of Swan and Church Sts, called "Flavour of Lakhoum". This place is run by a bunch of Turkish guys and they do a fantastic "Lebanese" coffee (the one they make here is the typical Arabic Qahwa with Cardamom). In addition, they have some good light meal options, I had a lamb wrap with yoghurt which was superb. They have photos of coffee cup art on the walls which is a bit too spooky to be true and I absolutely *love* their wallpaper. Pictured below with the aforementioned qahwa
Next up we have a bar familiar to any who attended Heidi's party or my own birthday bash last year.
Murmur bar is safely tucked away in Warburton Place, a laneway off Lt. Bourke St between Elizabeth and Queen Sts, around the corner from "Soft Belly". The place is quite cool and they usually a play a nice mix of hip hop/jazzy beats. The place has high ceilings and a great old-school decor, comfy black couches and a reasonably priced and well-chosen selection of beers. Very chilled place, one of my favourites for sure.
As far as restaurants go, above we have Ying Thai 2 (so named because the original Ying Thai is eslewhere), a Thai restaurant in amongst a whole bunch of Italian restaurants on Lygon St. The place is a mainstay, though and very popular, because good quality Thai food in Melbourne is not that common (when compared to HK or Cantonese food which is everywhere). The place comes highly recommended as their dishes are authentically Thai and authentically spicy too!
Finally, if Melbourne was said to have one religion that unites the majority of Melburnians, it would have to be sport. Apart from being a cultural, fashion and culinary capital... Melbourne is also the absolute, uncontested sporting capital of Australia. And if Sport in Australia has a Mecca... it would most definitely be the MCG, "The People's Ground" or just "the G". This 100,000 capacity stadium has seen heroes made and men disgraced, streakers of all kinds and millions upon millions of happy faces. To walk upon the hallowed turf is to be part of history. Above, a ray of light shines down upon the ground as Melburnians gather for an AFL match... Australian Rules football has pride of place at the MCG, along with cricket, and will always have a special place in the hearts of Melburnians. Go Bombers!
Labels: food+drink, melbourne
The Namesake and Melbourne Post 8
On Monday night,
Heidi and I went to
Cinema Nova to enjoy their $7.50 movie night which happens every Monday. We opted to see a film called "The Namesake" which has been out for a while, thus we were duly bundled into a tiny cinema with a comparatively small screen. It was very comfortable, however, and didn't really diminish viewing pleasure at all. In fact, the movie was rather good.
Based on the novel of the same name by
Jhumpa Lahiri (which I read a while back and enjoyed, but not immensely), the film chronicles a family's migration from India to the US, the birth of a boy who is curiously named "Gogol" after his father's favourite author,
Nikolai Gogol. The main thrust of the film focuses on the boy growing up and coming to terms with both his name, and the cultural/psychological awakenings that come with growing up as a first generation American born into a migrant family. The film is very well made, the performances are quite fantastic, especially by the boy's father. Gogol himself is played by the Indian guy from that "White Castle" movie, a fairly different role here for him with a lot more meat, and he handles it reasonably well. Alltogether a good film, go check out - and read the book.
The other cool thing that happened today was that the Arabic Culture club on campus organised a tent on South Lawn where one could smoke shisha and procure Arabic pastries and sweets, all at the nominally low cost of $2 for membership. So I spent around an hour-ish lazing around in the sun with Simon, Kai Yau and
Heidi, smoking shisha on the grass and watching campus life go by. Awesome. Gonna be a whoooole lot more of that where I'm going!
Further, I am determined to continue chronicling my favourite activities in and around Melbourne, despite the fact that many of you are either sick of this or skip this section alltogether. This is because I want to look back on these posts when I'm overseas, to remind me of home, and when I return home also to make a heady list of things I need to refresh myself on... so here 's another one, number 8 in the series, this one has a very coffee related flavour.
Pictured above is the outdoor seating area of Tiamo. Tiamo, located on Lygon St, opposite Lygon Court, near the corner of Faraday, is an Italian restaurant that has been there for quite some time now. It serves up a decent mix of pastas, salads and sandwiches and the coffees are not too bad. The reason why you go to Tiamo, however, is for the atmosphere. It is the most atmospheric restaurant in Lygon St because of it's history. Tiamo is the embodiment of Carlton's laid-back Italian attitude to life, the place is plastered with posters promoting events and in Tiamo you will find a veritable mix of patrons, from your Italian gangster looking locals, to families of mixed ethnicity, to Africans from the nearby Commission flats, to tightfisted students debating over a latte. A perfect representation of the eclectic mix that is Lygon St, Carlton. See the indoor seating area below:
It should be noted that, this semester, I have quoted Lygon St as my favourite place in Melbourne. When I say this, however, I refer to the area in and around Faraday St and not really beyond that. This area has Cinema Nova, Readings, Borders, Tiamo, Carlton Yacht Club, Lygon Food Store, Carlton Espresso, Country Road and a bunch of second hand bookshops. Ahhh this is the real Carlton... not the Notturno/Papa Ginos infested area further down the strip.
The picture above is of Atomica, surely one of the best places to get a coffee in Melbourne, I would certainly place it in my Top 5. Atomica roasts all its coffee fresh on premises and also supplies a number of cafes (Animal Orchestra at uni for one). Although the staff can sometimes be a little surly, this quaint Brunswick St cafe's coffee and vibe more than makes up for it. They were playing hip hop then blasting heavy metal rock when I was last there... the latter made me rather unhappy but it was all worth it for that espresso. Pictured below, by the way :) with their cool logo on the cup.
And finally, upon introspection, pictured below are a few of my favourite things, taken in Laurent (a French-inspired cafe/boulangerie franchise) in Church St, Brighton, not far from where I live.
And while the cappuccino pictured is not usually my coffee of choice... coffee, the paper and my camera for random snaps, sitting outside a cafe on a sunny afternoon, who could ask for anything more? Well maybe a Cinzano...
Labels: film, food+drink, melbourne
Melbourne Post 7
On Friday night I attended the screening (run by the UNICEF society on campus) of an Oscar-winning film called
"Born into Brothels" which was about an English woman living in the red light district of Kolkata, India and helping some of the kids there. She is a photographer and teaches them her art, helping them learn to do something productive, something they happen to have a knack for too, and also helping them get into schools and find new opportunities to better themselves and get out of the brothels. A strategy that works well for some and not so well for others (who face opposition from their families who want to keep them there). The film was great, provided many great insights into life on Kolkata's mean streets, the woman was quite inspiring and the kids were terribly cute... even for me who usually hates kids.
Here are some more Melbourne pics and places to check out for all y'all.
Cocoro is a pottery cafe on Smith St. This is truly a great place, "cocoro" which means "heart" in Japanese, is very much a warm, loving and cosy place to be in. The serving staff provide not only excellent service, but warm, friendly and obliging demeanor 100% of the time. The menu, which consists of small dishes to be shared, is not pricey and you can get away with dinner here for around $20 per person. They have some very original desserts and their drinks take on a bit of a Japanese green-tea feel. You can try the "
macha latte" or "macha ice cream" or other green tea flavoured drinks/desserts. Alternatively, their regular lattes are quite alright... and served, like everything else, in Cocoro's own innovative pottery range... which you can buy!
This is a pic, taken by
Heidi, of some terrace houses in Sth Melbourne. Victorian era terrace houses, typified by their 2-story+balcony facade, shared walls and long floor plan, are very popular in Melbourne and can fetch very high prices because of their historical value and how cool they look! There are many other suburbs with rows of terrace houses, mostly in the inner-city, including Carlton and Fitzroy. I've also seen them in parts of Sydney, like Paddington.
Multi-coloured Gelati in many flavours.
Gelato, Italian-style ice cream, is very popular in Melbourne and common to find in the city, St. Kilda and especially Lygon St. This particular picture was taken in a gelati-chain called "Trampoline" which is quite good and pretty popular. They have stores in many places including Lonsdale St and Glenferrie Rd. Their Lychee flavour is recommended.
A barista, hard at work, as
a pretty girl is caught in the reflection of his shiny bar/coffee machine. This is -orange-, a bar/cafe on the Windsor-end of Chapel St. This place has Gravity coffee, one of the better major roasters, and although the quality of the coffee is temperamental, it is one of the better places to drink coffee on Chapel St. The place is in a very old style, and local celebrities and fashionistas alike can be seen lounging around on its outdoor seating area. Here's another pic of it:
And finally, another pic of the State Library of Victoria, one I've posted about before. Here is a different angle, during dusk. Note the couple having a chat on one of the benches in the foreground... and the engagement of the heavily utilised phone boxes. The state library is truly one of Melbourne's great places for meeting and socialising. A symbol of our great historic + intellectual city.
Labels: architecture, film, food+drink, melbourne
Melbourne Post 4
The Lucky Coq on corner of Chapel + High Sts. This place is run by the people who run Bimbos under exactly the same premise with exactly the same pizza deals and menu. We found Bimbos to be preferred to this place though as the original and the best venue. Something about this place looked more contrived and pretentious, and far less spontaneous and relaxing than Bimbos.
An old W-Class tram snail-paces its way up La Trobe st as one of the new trams passes it in the other direction. Melbourne's tram network is the third largest in the world and recently privatised. The W-Class tram was introduced in 1923 and was the mainstay of the tram network for 60 years, they are still used extensively today. The other tram is one of the recently introduced C-class trams built by Citadis. The intersection in the picture is the busy La Trobe + Swanston intersection with RMIT University, Melbourne Central shopping centre and the State Library on respective corners.
Library is a small bar within the GPO/Lexington complex, resulting from the recent refurbishment of the historic GPO building, which contains 2 bars and a club. It is a fairly typical Melbourne bar but somewhat lacking in the character of some others, it feels a bit more commercial and fabricated. The drinks are expensive but clear spirit lovers will enjoy the fact that house Gin (South) and house Vodka (42 Below) are pretty good.
The Royal arcade which runs between Bourke and Lt. Collins Sts dates back to 1869. It is a heritage Victorian building and contains many obscure fashion boutiques and other random stores including the Koko Black hot chocolate bar, several beauty salons and a store selling Russian "babushka" dolls.
The State Library of Victoria was opened in 1856 and is situated along Swanston St between La Trobe and Lt. Lonsdale Sts. It contains 1.5 million books and hundreds of high school and university students cramming for their exams (around exam time), particularly kids from Melbourne High, Macrob and Melbourne and RMIT Universities. The lawns outside the library
are a popular place for people to meet and lie around on sunny days. Protest marches often start outside the State Library and it featuers a weekly Speakers Forum (for anyone to speak on whatever they want), which attracts a fair few nutters, tai chi demonstrations by Falun Gong protesters and ad hoc breakdancing.
Labels: food+drink, melbourne
More Melbourne blogging
Continuing my blogging about Melbourne.
I shall try to blog about a combination of historical places, cafes/bars and things of personal significance to me. I'm sure I'll look back on these when I'm overseas and miss Melbourne a lot!
The historic Melbourne City Baths are located on the corner of Swanston and Victoria Sts, just outside the Melbourne CBD and very close the University of Melbourne and RMIT University.
The Baths now house an extensive fitness + recreation facility with facilities for swimming, weightlifting, aerobics and group exercise.
This building is a mainstay on the route from Melbourne Central railway station to Melbourne University and thus a common sight for many students like myself.
Bimbo's Pizza in Brunswick St. On weekdays and nights, it serves its fantastic set of gourment pizzas at a flat price of $4. An absolute bargain. The place is a pizzeria with a very pub feel and doesnt close til very late. In addition to the part of the pub with tables + chairs, Bimbo's also has a busy lounge section with a variety of armchairs and a small circular enclave room with carpeted walls...
Bimbo's is very popular with students, as a result of it's cheap but quality food and gets a variety of revellers from Brunswick St to boot.
Xiao Long Bao and Red Bean pancake at Noodle Kingdom restaurant on Russell St. Melbourne has a very plentiful restaurant scene, particularly a variety of different Asian restaurants. Many of these restaurants can be found on Russell St and in the vicinity of Chinatown.
There are several Northern Chinese restaurants, Noodle Kingdom being a recent addition. We found the pancake to be quite good but the Shanghai Fried Noodles were quite bland and the Xiao Long Bao were lacking in soupy goodness.
Threshermans Bakehouse on Faraday St, Carlton. Its proximity to Uni and cheap, plentiful food options makes this a favourite with the uni crowd and a variety of Carlton thrifters, despite the food quality not being great.
The communal atmosphere including wide tables, cutlery buckets and stacks of newspapers/magazines gives this place a homely feel.
Labels: food+drink, melbourne
More Melbourne
More photoblogging and hotspot reviewing.
It may look like a random nondescript hole in the wall but it's much more than that. It's Sweet Mama's cafe on Bourke St (ground floor of the Commonwealth Bank building, opposite the Village Centre, between Surf Dive N Ski and RMIT Business) and it has one of the best long machiatti in Melbourne. In addition, they also have fantastic omlettes, great yoghurt-fruit-muesli combos, amazing soups (that the office works totally lap up at lunchtime) and awesome sandwiches. Run by a bunch of Greek guys (who are still celebrating the Euro Championship victory from 2004 if you look at their walls), this place is a true hidden gem (because none of the papers, food guides or whatever seem to give it a writeup). If you want some good sandwiches or soups, better get here before 1pm because the food literally runs out the door at lunhtime. Otherwise, settle in for a good coffee, omlette or yoghurt...
This is a pic of Tattersals Lane, a pretty atypical Chinatown laneway, these laneways have plenty of hidden gems. This particular laneway has the Shanghai Dumpling institution mentioned in the previous blogpost. It also has a not half-bad Indian restaurant amusingly titled "Gaylords" (which was blasting Bollywood music on Saturday afternoon, interesting...) and another similar Northern Chinese restaurant called "Shanghai Noodle House" (not quite as good as the other but still not half bad and similarly economical).
As is more and more typical of Melbourne, this same laneway also now has a trendy bar called "Section 8: Countainer Bar". The bar is enclosed by none-too-friendly looking cage fencing, and the alcohol bar itself (the one behind which the staff stand behind and you place your order) is encased in an old shipping container. The seating consists of a mishmash of random boxes, crates and old couches. The "walls" (formed by the outsides of neighbouring shopfronts) are covered in graffiti, vines/leaves and other randomness. Note in the above photos, the presence of red lanterns as an obvious nod to the "Chinatown" location of the bar. It all works perfectly because the place is damn nice to chill in on a lazy (good weathered) afternoon or a balmy night. The music varies, usually I hear it playing house but last weekend (when I went for Fiona's birthday), the DJ was spinning chilled out reggae-dubbish type music. The place was also full of hippies (and a very bemused toddler), and apparently it was the DJ's first gig... he did pretty well. So Section 8 is a mixed bag, check it out, who knows what you might find.
Well that's it from me. Next time I shall like to mention Pay-The-Time@Lounge, which is something I've been going to every damn week since getting back... On another note, I recently finished reading the latest Bret Easton Ellis (of American Psycho fame) novel "Lunar Park" and it was suitably disturbingly violent, dark and misogynistic with dropping of random pop culture references and fashion labels... but not as much so as his other novels. And it was a lot more horror-vibe. Check it out. Now simultaneously reading Jung Chang's biography of Mao and "A History of the Arab Peoples", both of which tie in to subjects I'm doing in school. :)
Labels: food+drink, literature, melbourne
The Back in Melbourne post...
Well i've been back in Melbourne for almost 3 weeks but have been in the grip of absolute blogging laziness (to the point where I've actually had requests for a new blogpost [thanks kenny lol]).
It's been good to be back, but even though I've been back for such a short time, I already have this strange compulsion to jet off somewhere... *sigh* too bad about lack of funds and a uni semester, a 2 week trip somewhere random would be awesome (wouldnt it heidi?).
Nevertheless, I've been satisfying myself by indulging in the things I missed while I was overseas for 3 months over summer. This is the longest time I've been away from Australia since coming here and the longest time I've ever been away from my family. I can't say I experienced any culture shock whatsoever, but that's no surprise in Asia. I didn't have much difficulty with independence, nor did I experience heavy homesickness (apart from the usual missing family, friends, melbourne... just not to the point of depression). Having said all that, there are definitely things I was glad to be back amongst.
To make things even more nostalgic, a friend of mine bought me a camera in Hong Kong so now I have a cool new toy to take snaps of everything I love with. I've already been accused of being an Asian girl for taking so many photos. Well screw y'all.
So I'll try to post up some of the cool things I've been snapping... and reminders about why I love Melbourne, my home.
Whew. I just added a veritable shitload of photos to facebook and have realised that I am way too snap-happy to possibly do the last 2+abit weeks justice so I'm just gonna post a few at a time and see where that gets me.
Lygon Food Store, a deli which also makes fantastic foccacia, ciabatta and panini with all fresh deli ingredients. I ordered a ciabatta with ham, seeded mustard, tomato, cheddar cheese and lettuce... and a strong latte. I often order a ciabatta with lettuce, hot salami, kalamata olives, bocconcini and tomato... the prociutto is also good. This is my favourite place for food on Lygon Street, Melbourne's Little Italy (5 minutes walk from Campus :D)
Brunetti, now a franchise but the mega Lygon St store is the original institution... The outdoor seating area is popular on a warm night. Despite the fact that the coffee sucks and the food (not counting the sweet stuff) is small + overpriced... people still flock here for the atmosphere.
Oh yeah and they have an endless selection of cakes + sweets, many of which are quite tasty.
David + Camy's Shanghai Dumpling... Although I've heard that David + Camy don't actually run the place any more (moved to Box Hill), nevertheless it remains an institution. The pic is of steamed peking pork dumpling and shanghai fried noodle... two dishes I usually order here (although the fried dumpling and dan dan noodle are also recommended). The quality of the food has deteriorated but is still worth it, especially for the price. This is a restaurant frequented by white people and Chinese alike looking for a cheap feed, a cultural experience and/or authentic Northern Chinese food.
Well there's some Melbourne photo-blogging. Makes me feel good writing about this stuff :-) I love my city. Look out for more in the next day or two.
Labels: food+drink, melbourne
