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
Sickness, Arabs and the 7 habits
Time for another of my on-again off-again returns from the blogging wilderness, this time inspired by the musings of a certain pint-sized, bespectacled Vietnamese-Australian girl who happens to be wandering around in India right now and producing little nuggets of gold on her Facebook blog.
I've been in bed sick for the past week, apparently the most auspicious time to strike me down with an influenza-inspired bout of bronchitis was the day of my 23rd birthday... so after struggling through a few tutorials made even more painful than usual I staggered into bed at 2pm and slept the entire day... and so began 5 days of more or less constant vegetation and feeling like shit.
Punctuated by a few random catch-ups with friends just to get out of the house, my self-imposed isolation ended today when I decided to go to uni, as I was feeling at least a little better, under the pretext of getting some work done but the fresh air, daylight and seeing other humans being my two stronger motivations....
Questions that have been plaguing me:
- Which GQ is the best GQ? I was actually intending to by UK GQ but accidentally picked up the US GQ, I was fairly upset at first because it had advertisements for GAP and a 10-page long feature on Gridiron, two things that I find rather upsetting in general (we later find out that US GQ can be a generally upsetting publication, look at the tagline in that cover on the top)... but after leafing through the UK GQ today I found some of the crap in there even more inane (yes yes read the headlines on the cover on the bottom) Perhaps GQ in general has just gone downhill?
- Why are there so many Khaleejis in Melbourne? I don't know if they have always been here and I've only just noticed because I've come back from the Gulf myself but it really does seem strange. I mean if you are a rich, conservative Gulf Arab and you have more or less everything you want and live in a conservative society that protects your family implicitly and is, quite frankly and objectively, an extremely comfortable place to live... why would you pick up home and move to the unfamiliar West? I mean there are far fewer halal food choices, no call to prayer emanating from 5 different mosques within earshot wherever you stand, no ability to drive up to a store and honk your horn to get groceries and many other inconveniences that come with not living in the Gulf... plus it's cold! But yet, lo and behold... I couldn't believe my ears when I heard a conversation between two middle-aged men in Norsiah's Kitchen today interspersed with ya3nis, methalans and zains (Oh glorious "Zain" how I miss you!)... followed by more Arab sightings, I think I saw a total of 6 Gulf Arabs today!
- What is so unbelievably amazing about Stephen Covey and his 7 habits? I have been reading this book of late, and I know it's not at all my cup of tea but I couldn't resist the premise of getting a bit more effective... considering how freaking ineffective I usually am. And it seems to me that Mr. Covey has made his money by condensing around 5 pages total worth of gems/pearls of wisdom into a 350 page monster of a book.
Basically what he does is expound endlessly upon one of these said pearls for pages and pages when it could really be summed up in a dot point. He then proceeds to back up his expoundings, which by now must be painfully clear even to the most simple of simpletons, with boring formulaic anecdotes that all sound like this: "I once worked with Company XYZ where Person Joe Shmo came up to me and said, Stephen, I have a problem that is very bad that I have tried to solve with an idea (that is obviously stupid) from this handy copy of '80s style management for dummies' and it hasnt worked... can you solve it? And I said, why yes, here is an absolutely unexpected way of looking at the problem, you have to... look at things differently! And then Joe applied my wisdom and everyone lived happily ever after"
... or...
"Once my son decided to a) do something stupid b) not do something smart or c) prance around like a monkey... in response to this I tried a) a bad idea but something most parents would do b) a bad idea that still sounds not-so-bad... or c) any bad idea really... found it didnt work... then when I... looked at things differently and did a) something unbelievably awesome and fairly obvious that ties in perfectly with the topic of the previous 76 pages of drivel... it all worked out! hooray!"
I think that Mr. Covey was obviously trying to squeeze a book out of a few smart ideas he once had and thereby make a truckload of money - job well done there - but also all these anecdotes at the end of which good ol' Steve solved things with his patented tested theories may have a more insidious sub-plot... I suspect Steve is actually trying to build a sly personality cult to last the ages and fashion his 7 Habits as a Mao's Little Red Book of sorts. Why else would he position himself as so infallible as to be able to find a solution to any of life's anecdotal problems? Get ready... Covey and Paolo Coelho will be duking it out in future for overlord of the masses.
Labels: literature, melbourne, people
Melbourne first week back
Hate:
- everything is so expensive:
- 30c a litre for petrol in Bahrain... $1.60 here.
- packet of Dunhill lights in Bahrain $2... $10 here.
- lots of stuff has gone up in price
- $100 for al Fakher shisha tobacco? You have to be joking. $5 for 150gms in Bahrain :(
- even newspapers have gone up in price. $3 for the Fin Review? :(
- it's cold. damn cold. and grey and windy and rainy and cold and not nice.
- uni. almost all my friends have left and i am a loner and everyone is young and fresh looking and annoying. and i have to study. argh.
- St. Ali has been sold. double argh.
Lurve:
- Shanti Bhagwan. Well it's another decent cafe on campus. We needed it. Havent been back to Castro's Kiosk yet... too cold.
- Barretto. The first decent cafe on campus. The big windows, warmth, powerpoints and free papers (Fin Review!) to read make me happy. So does the coffee and generous loyalty cards (every 7th free!)
- Food. Glorious foooooooooood! A1 Cafe, this new Jap place near Hardware Lane, lots of other places... can't wait to eat everything!
- Coffee. Good. Espresso.
- Baba Brother Budan (or whatever it's called). The new cafe opened by the St. Ali's guys... goodness.
- Readings! Borders! Books!
- Uni, despite the above complaining it does feel good to be studying... or shirking studying... again
- Family. Nuff said.
- Friends. Missed you guys. Thanks to the guys that I've hung out with these past few days that have helped me with readjusting. Thanks for the big hug you gave me when I arrived on your doorstep, you don't know how much I needed that hug. Thanks for the snide bitching, remarks and comments about my chin, you bastard... I missed you. Thanks for showing me the new cafe and trooping around the city with me making wisecracks. Thanks for speaking some 3arabi and reminding me of the good times, shukran. Thanks for lending me DVDs. Thanks guys, and the others not specifically mentioned.
Labels: melbourne
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
Update + Melbourne Blog 6
It's been an up + down week as usual. The results of 3 out of 4 of my assessments have come back and they are all more or less favourable... haven't received the one I'm most worried about though, the essay about Chinese Peasants... that was a toughie, so we'll see how I go. I expect 60 at the most so I don't have very high hopes and will be happy with a pass... well not happy but sort of... not surprised.
Finals are coming! Argh! 3 weeks time! Seriously! And I'm still looking at quotes for my flight to Bahrain (which might turn out to be a flight to NYC, long story)... and trying to find a way to wrangle the Dept of Acctg to let me take my exam earlier...
A more-or-less party weekend (including V's party, Lammo's drinks, Isaac's potluck and Thomas' drinks) it culminated in a great night with the boys on Monday night at my place. Despite not winning their money for the first time since we started our poker nights (I won 3 in a row) and actually dropping out first, I had a great time. As usual... the shit talk and general good times were well worth it, especially the fact that I could drink without constraint since I wasnt driving home. The 3am (or whatever it was) drive to Maccas was a good call though. We polished off a good amount of Maccas + antipasto. Plus I drank a whole bottle of wine (never done that before, dont drink wine that much),
Pete polished off half a bottle of vodka and
Ippei+
Daryl finished a bottle of Jack Daniels between them. Reasonable effort given that we werent particularly drunk. One caveat... that room still smells of cigars!
I've finished reading
Zen + The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance... I'll put up my thoughts on it one of these days. I've also just read Camus'
The Outsider. A novel that impressed me a great deal and gave me a lot to think about, especially in relation to the theories of absurdism and existentialism. More on this later.
I've recently discovered a new love. Melbourne Supper Club, an excellent bar that is the epitomy of Melbourne laid back class... more info and pics to come in future posts but I do have some other Melbourne things I'd like to showcase...
Today, we have some grand old buildings...
This one is South Melbourne Town Hall. Photo credit goes to
Heidi here, snapped out of a car window too... there was a wedding going on here at the time when we passed by but I love the grand style of the building and its massive columns. Only a few of the inner city town halls around Melbourne are in this grand old style and they reflect the history of Melbourne's older suburbs. This particular hall was built in 1879-80 and is one of the best, most grand examples of this kind of Victorian style architecture in Australia. The building is actually much longer than this photo shows... here is a small pic from wikipedia
Another grand building is Melbourne's GPO or former General Post Office building:
Towering commandingly between the corners of Elizabeth/Bourke and Elizabeth/Lt. Bourke... this grand building is a wonder to walk through. It was built in 1859 in the Renaissance Revival style, GPO ceased operating as a post office in 1992. It was gutted by fire in 2004 and was then restored to be a major shopping and entertainment precinct and a hub for high end labels such as Akira + Comme des Garcon. It also contains a variety of restaurants (including Kenzan which serves reportedly awesome sushi) and some bars (including the Library, mentioned in previous posts and Lexington, ever popular with the after work crowd). It also has Fat, Mimco, Roy and Ben Sherman... some of my favourite labels.
Here we have a picture of Readings bookstore in Port Melbourne, taken trough a rain splatter car window by
the lovely Heidi. Readings is a great chain of community bookstores, with stores in Malvern, Hawthorn and Carlton, in addition to the above one. Its bookstores tend to become focal points for the community with important arts and literary events being conducted in store and bulletin boards advertising all manners of things by residents being heavily utilised. The Pt. Melbourne one also contains a quaint little cafe, pictured below with a man enjoying a book + a coffee, two favourite pastimes I also share.
The below photo which I'll finish with was also taken by
the dear Heidi (she's taken 3 of the 6 photos I've posted today... she does have an eye for great pics.) Taken out the window of Bimbo's, it's a photo of a street corner on Brunswick St.
The neon lights of bars, cafes + retail outlets are still glowing despite a more-or-less empty street, devoid of its usual revellers on a week night. A week night in Brunswick St is an enjoyable event... although many of the best places (Marios, Atomica, Ici) are indeed closed in the late evening, the street is also devoid of many of the yuppie/wanker types that go there to get drunk and create a ruckus. It is populated by more-or-less harmless homeless, poor workless bums from the Housing Commission flats down the road, and bummy student/arty types who have nothing better to do than to sit around in Gypsy Bar/Bimbos and chew the fat with their bohemian compadres. The bike with the basket says it all.
Labels: architecture, melbourne, social life, studies
Update + Photoblogging
It's been a while since I posted last, another bout of blogging laziness. Despite the lack of comments, I've had quite a number of requests for more Melbourne blogging, which is good because it means people do read this and it isn't
just for my benefit (although I'm totally gonna love reading this stuff when I'm overseas... love and hate that is). So included in this post are some more photos I've taken in and around Melbourne. No interesting cafes, restaurants or bars in this post, but will include some more in the next one. :)
In terms of updates, there was, of course, State Conference plus I went on a awesome Great Ocean Road trip with
my loveliest travelling companion and, for anyone wanting more details about the trip - lets just say it was 3 days and we took around 5Gb of photos. Yes. A lot of photos.
I've recently passed through a major mid-semester assessment period where, over a weekend, I had a 40% Financial Accounting exam on Friday, followed by a 20% Accounting for Corporate Entities exam and two major essays (one about Chinese peasants pre and post Communist Revolution and one about the Greater Syrian National Congress after WW1, totalling 3500 words) on the following Monday. That was hellish but I got through it, not sure with what sort of results (we shall see) and have been mostly kicking back work-wise, now realising that I'm hella behind.
I've finished reading
Jung Chang's biography of Mao, which was full of hate, vitriol and loathing for Mao on every single page. Biased indeed, but an interesting read nonetheless. Am now reading "the most widely read philosophy book of the 20th century" which is
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by
Robert M. Pirsig. If anyone's read it, holla at me, but it seems it was more of a baby boomer book.
I've attended two shows as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and they couldn't have been any more different.
Akmal, an Egyptian born comedian was absolutely hilarious... giving audience members a great deal of hell and repeatedly taking the piss out of Sheikh al-Hilaly, Alan Jones and the Cronulla riots at the same time.
Daniel Kitson on the other hand, a tubby, bearded, nerdish looking Briton, delivered more of a philosophy lecture than a comedy act which was funny at times but undeniably witty, interesting and full of magical insights into the way we are. His act won the top award for the festival's best performance so there ya go.
I've also watched some films.
Heavyweights, as part of the German Film Festival at Cinema Como (a lovely cinema, by the way, wish I had my cam). A true story about two rival Bavarian bobsledders having to work together for the benefit of Germany at the 1952 Winter Olympics.
Hostel,
Eli Roth's horror movie about 3 backpackers that get lured to a shady hostel in Slovakia by the premise of partying and hot sex (Americans, surprise surprise) and receive that, plus unspeakable terror. And, the best of the three,
300... (seen with
the glorious one, who detested the gore and is now forcing me to see a chick flick with her, shit) by now you shold know, the film adaptation of a comic about the Battle of Thermopylae where 300 Spartans (and some other random Greeks) made a heroic last stand against King Xerxes' of Persia massive army (of horrible fiends). As a result of the final one, I have been running around yelling "FOR SPARTA!!!" at every opportunity.
So thats about it from me, below are the pics i mentioned earlier, gonna try to blog more often but then again, how often do i say that.
The
Melbourne Trades Hall building on Lygon St, opened in 1859 and the home of the Victorian labour movement. The flags seen atop of this building are the Australian flag, the Eureka flag, the Aboriginal flag and the Red flag (most commonly associated with communism but actually representing the blood of workers worldwide, a symbol that predates communist ideologies).
The Melbourne skyline as seen from Southbank. The tall building in the centre is the Rialto Tower, formerly tallest building in Australia (now Eureka/Q1).
Some random bottles against the backdrop of graffiti art down an alley off Johnston St in Fitzroy, near Brunswick St.
The busy corner of Lt. Lonsdale St and Swanston St at dusk.
Snapshot of the sea, taken in Port Melbourne just near Station Pier.
Labels: film, literature, melbourne, studies
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
