Rice Paper

Rice Paper
Address: 245 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia.

After walking on my own for quite a while, I texted my cousin asking for guide for food in Melbourne, and she suggested to me to look for the Vietnamese food which is quite famous with its beef noodle. Australian’s beef is great, so does the Vietnamese beef pho.

It is a must to try the beef pho when you are in Melbourne. There are plenty famous Vietnamese restaurants in the city, I went to the Rice Paper which is located at Swanston Street, not too far from where I was at that time. There were quite crowded when I went into the restaurant during the dinner time.

There is no issues ordering the food because the menu is in English and the waiters and waitresses are able to speak English too. Simply put down the order number on the order form and the food is ready within the 15 minutes wait. They provide complimentary hot tea serves in the big thermal flask.

Here is the picture of the beef pho which I was quite surprised by its portion, it is quite a lot for me. For this price, it is very worthy and satisfying. The beef is generous, well done and the noodle is springy. The soup broth is not oily and salty. I added some chili paste into my soup to bring up some spiciness. Their chili paste is good to go with the beef too.

Queen Victoria Market Winter Festival

Queen Victoria Night Market Winter Festival,
Melbourne, Australia.

September 2017.
Upon reached Melbourne City, we went directly to the Queen Victoria Market to attend the Winter Festival Night Market. The event held on every Wednesdays and it was the only Wednesday we were in the city, so we could not miss it.

It was cold and drizzling night. A lot of people sat around the fireplace, eating, drinking and chatting with the friends. I stood there for a while as well while waiting for my friends finished their food. It was quite lovely and memorable moments.

I bought the seafood chowder from one of the stalls as the night was really cold and nice to have something popping hot for dinner. My friend bought a chicken and sweetcorn soup from the same stall and we took the picture together with our soups in front of the stall with the mountain of breads.

Below are all the food which we bought on that night. One of it was the charcoal grilled lamb which we watched how the workers of the stall preparing the grilled lamb on the spot at their stall.

It smelt great when we were standing at the stall queuing to buy the grilled lamb.

Tasmania Day 3: Dinner

I think I started to lose count which day we baked our own pizza for dinner. The first night we had our dinner outside where we ate plenty of big scallops, fishes and calamari rings. Well, I just named it as Tasmania Day 3: Dinner to begin my story.

The pizza dough was brought from the Farm Gate Market on Sunday, but we did not immediately bake them on the same day. As usual, we bought all of the ingredients for two large pizzas from the nearby supermarket. The closest to us in our Airbnb’s neighbourhood is Woolworth’s.

The first pizza was filled with a lot of pepperoni slices, sliced mushrooms and lots of cheese. The second pizza was filled sliced mushroom and vegetable, which I think is spinach. I cannot really remember it.

Both dough are thin crust and it is quite easy for us to handle and put it into the oven for baking. It is recommended to eat them straight away after being taken out from the oven. Since we were busy preparing food for the kids and ourselves, the pizza turned a bit soggy when we ate them and it was difficult to cut then into eight pieces perfectly with our knife. Maybe, we should have baked it last.

While we preparing the food for the kids which include some canned soups, the kids started eating our finger foods which we bought from the floating seafood stall, Flippers Cooked Seafood at Sullivans Cove. We went back to the same place to get more scallops and calamari rings for our dinner that night. Seriously, these scallops are very worth to go back to the stall and eat again.

It was a long and tired day after the dinner and that night, I spent the rest of my night talking over the phone with my friend in Malaysia through WhatsApp’s call. We talked about relationship because I brought up this topic went I texted her after my shower. It was my first time I dreamed of this person and it happened on the night before, I remembered it. I dream everyday, some I can remember and many of these dreams I do not remember after I wake up from my sleep.

The first words she told me upon hearing my story, she said in Cantonese, “You think about it during the day, you dream about it during the night”.

I felt weird because I was enjoying my holiday in Tasmania. I did not do a lot of works or reply emails which related to this person. Occasionally, I received messages from my colleagues who talked about this person, and this person just popped up in my dream. My conversation with my friend lasted for 2 hours or more and she concluded that I might like this person due to the surrounding situation, maybe I am not truly in love. I think so.

Richmond Bakery

Richmond Bakery, Tasmania, Australia.
Address: 50 Bridge St, 7025 Richmond, Tasmania, Australia.

We did not complete the whole Bruny Island trip because partial of the road in the island was closed for construction work. Half way through the road down to south, we decided to make a U-turn and head back to the port and board the next ferry back to the mainland. There was a long queue for the ferry because it was approaching off work time.

While waiting for the ferry to begin its journey, we googled for our tea break location. We have plenty of choice and we chose to head down to Richmond, which is a city rich of the historical buildings.

Upon reaching the mainland, we drove to the Richmond Bakery to have our tea break with all my friends. It was raining drizzling when we reached the bakery shop and a few couple of people sitting inside the shop having their teas and pies.

The bakery shop did not have many choices left for us to choose. We placed our ordered and tried each of almost everything that they are still serving. It included pies, scone, muffins and cakes. As for drinks, we tried their hot chocolate, hot teas and one of their cold drink.

It is a lovely top view picture of our tea time at Richmond Bakery. Again, these are shared among us. The taste of all the above is just normal. If want to compare the pies with Jackman and McRoss, I will say, let drive all the way back to their bakery and eat there instead.

Thinking that we shall have a decent meal for dinner that night, we did not spend too much time eating here and drive back to our home to prepare dinner. We have bought some pizza dough and we can make our own pizza from the oven.

Perhaps, in my next visit to Tasmania, I shall travel to this place to see the historical building and the beautiful scenery in this quiet town.

Bruny Island & Get Shucked Oyster Farm

Get Shucked Oyster Farm
Address:  1735 Bruny Island Main Road, Bruny Island, Great Bay 7150, Tasmania, Australia.

It was a day trip to the Bruny Island in Tasmania, Australia by taking our car onto the ferry service at the Kettering Port. I was not able to recall when was the last time I took a ferry from one place to another place.

It was about 11am before we reached the port and queued to get on board. The weather was good, sunny and not windy when we arrived. However, when it was about to board the ferry, the weather changed and upon reaching the island, it was cloudy and occasionally drizzling. We made a few stops in the island and we did not travel the whole island for visit.

We stopped by Get Shucked Oyster Farm, one of the recommended places to visit in Bruny Island for our oysters and of course, our lunch. We went to its restaurant which is located at entrance of the farm. We did not get to see how they process the oysters at this restaurant which I felt it was kind of disappointed.

However, their food is great, fantastic and satisfying. We ordered the oysters platters and a salmon and some drinks to be shared. We thought that we would be moving around in the island and kept trying all the food in different restaurant. So, we just ordered these two.

The oysters platter which consists of half a dozen of fresh, medium sized oysters and others are the cooked oysters in various styles. All these oysters go well with their sauces or you can just eat the oysters without dipping into the sauce. The original taste of the oysters is slightly tasted like sea water and did not have smell. Unlike, the oysters I eat in Singapore and Malaysia, they have some smell and have to dip with lemon.

This platter comes with a loaf bread with cheese. Also, we added another main which is a salmon. The size of the salmon is quite small, definitely it is not enough for six of us to try them. Each of us just get to try a small bite of the salmon.

The salmon does come with bread as well and a bowl of salad. It is supposed to be meant for a single serving which could be just good enough for a person. Since, we traveled with kids, french fries is something we cannot miss out on the table for them.

They do sell some sauces and stuffs at the side of the restaurant, nothing is interesting. The interior of the restaurant is quite simple, it does not have many tables inside but they do have bigger tables and lounge area outside of the restaurant. Okay, during the winter time, no ones will be sitting there except my travel mate, where she took a picture of a wonderful quote, “Livin’ the dream”.

From this angle, you may see the sea view directly. It is quite closed by.

Farm Gate Market

Farm Gate Market.
Address: 104 Bathurst St, Hobart TAS 7000, Australia.

Every Sunday, come rain hail or shine, a busy street in the heart of Hobart transforms into a bustling farmers’ market. I captured this line of words from their website. This morning market sells both fresh vegetables, herbs, meats, fruits, flowers, breads and etc. We were here on our second day to buy some fresh vegetables and meats for our dinner. We planned to prepare steamboat at night.

Before I visited this place, I googled online and saw one of the beautiful pictures of a cup of hot coffee with the background of the market. As I walked along the street, I stopped by at one of the mobile coffee stalls and queued up to purchase some. I bought myself a flat white and my friends chose to have hot chocolate.

The flat white is just normal, not fantastic, same goes to the hot chocolate which my friends said it was quite sweet. The main purpose of having a cup of drink is to take a picture of it here, similarly to the beautiful picture I saw from the Internet.

I took a picture of the coffee right at the middle of the street, standing in front of a bread stall while waiting my friends to choose the breads. Is it lovely? On a sunny Sunday with a cup of coffee, walk down the street and get the groceries for tonight’s dinner. This is how the life should be during the weekend.

Flippers Cooked Seafood

Flippers Cooked Seafood
Address: Sullivans Cove, Hobart TAS, Hobart TAS 7000, Australia.

You can see this stall when you are driving along the main road, Davey St. It is located right opposite of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. They serve various types of cooked seafood and we loved their scallops, fish and calamari.

It is fresh, juicy and delicious. The best way to enjoy them is just simply add some salt and vinegar and squeeze some lemon juice. Look at the size of the scallops, it is so big, bigger than those we eat in Singapore and Malaysia and most importantly, it is fresh.

The calamari rings is another one which you should not miss out. Yea, I am going to repeat the words, it is fresh, delicious and the ring is big. Maybe, you might find the price is a bit expensive for this stall as compared to another one, however, it is really worth to get it. The service is good and the waiting time is not taking long. There is no tables and chairs nearby, the drawback of eating here.

Jackman and McRoss

Jackman and McRoss.
Address: 57 Hampden Rd, Battery Point TAS 7004, Australia.

It was our first stop for food in Tasmania, the restaurant called, Jackman and McRoss.
Bakers of fine breads, cakes and pastries. We’re here for the scallops pies, one of its famous.

This is how the scallop pie looks like when I cut it into half. It is plenty of medium sized scallops. It tastes good, well spiced and not salty.

The lamb pie is equally nice and it is recommended by the waitress to try it. She told us it is also one of the best sellers. Indeed, it is a good recommendation and worth to visit the bakery for a pie or drink.

New York Bakery

New York Bakery, Sovereign Hill
Melbourne, Australia.

We were at Sovereign Hill for a day tour. After went through the gold digging session and trying my luck to get some gold pieces from the stream of water nearby the entrance, we decided to stop by to relieve ourselves at the nearest washroom. And, my cousin told me that there was a restaurant next to the washroom.

Since, we tried but failed to search for the little shop that sells pies, we just settled down at this restaurant. All the setting of the restaurant were based on the olden days design except we were using modern apparatus for dining.

There was nothing cheap to get from the menu, so we just went according to our desires. And, I chose to have Coffee Latte, not hoping that it could keep me awake for the rest of the day, however, other drinks were almost the same price.

Fish and Chips

We both chose to have the fish and chips, which was the most expensive fish and chip we ever had here. It came with lots of fries and a bowl of salads, so that could be the reason why it was expensive.

Of course, if we could have more tartar sauce it would be great, as salt and pepper still did its tricks. The fish was fresh and popping hot when it was served. Same for the fries. I quite liked the dressing for the salad but I could not tell what dressing it was using.

Location: Sovereign Hills, Bradshaw St, Ballarat, Victoria 3350, Australia.
Ambience: Olden day style or setting but did not look elegant or antique. Maybe, some renovation is needed to bring back its glory.
Rating: 2/5. It is still expensive for a budget traveller like me to have this fish and chip. Though its portion is big for fries and came with salad, somehow, I expected it to give more fish.

Rochford Wines

Yarre Valley, Rochford Wines.
Winery Tour Lunch

On my second day in Melbourne, I went for a wine tour at Yarre Valley with GoWestTours. The tour guide came and picked up from our hotel. At one of its stops, we were there for our lunch. Tasting wine while having lunch.

We were giving the menu before arriving at the restaurant and we have to choose from the menu. Since, I do not take lamb, so I opted for beef, the Braised Wagyu Beef Cheek.

The lunch was ready as soon as we sat down at the reservation tables at one of the corner of the restaurant.

It came with three different types of wines for our tasting. Generally, I liked all the food above but I cannot tell much about how nice the beef is because it is my first time eating it. I did not know how well it has to be cooked, however, I felt it was slightly overcooked and too soft for my taste-bud. The death by chocolate was a very rich chocolate cake and it did go well with wine that they matched for us.

Here is the close up of the wagyu beef,

The scenery around this restaurant is very nice and it has an observation desk above the restaurant which allows the patrons to go up and visit.

Address: 878 – 880 Maroondah Hwy, Coldstream, Victoria, Australia.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RochfordWines
Ambience: Big and nice restaurant. A little big noisy as there are crowd of people around either for dining or wine tasting.
Rate: 3/5. Nice chocolate cake and views around the restaurant.