I met up with Taylor, Maki, Sheena, & Brenda at the South Melbourne Market, where we had coffee and pastries, walked around, did some shopping, and then had a paella lunch at Simply Spanish in the market.

We stopped by their house for a bit before Taylor & I went to dinner at Supernormal, which turned out to be my best meal in Melbourne (so far at least!). We started with cocktails and the raw Kingfish with mandarin dashi, arame. It was a good start to what would continue to be a great meal. We moved on to the Crisp pork jowl & watercress salad – that pork jowl was not only crisp, but so tender it was like liquid pork. The New England lobster roll was perhaps the perfect form of a lobster roll – a lobster salad ensconced in a brioche roll with a fantastic light crunch. For the main, we had the slow-cooked Szechuan lamb with sesame bread & coriander paste. The spice was subtle and never over-powering, but the lamb was so tender and flavorful!

South Melbourne Market

Taylor & Sheena

Supernormal

Negroni

Eight

Kingfish with mandarin dashi, arame

New England lobster roll

Slow-cooked Szechuan lamb with sesame bread & coriander paste

Downstairs

Chief Wiggum

I stopped by Charcoal Lane tonight for dinner, which not only has delicious food and drink, but is also a “social enterprise restaurant that provides guidance and opportunity to young Aboriginal people who are in need of a fresh start in life.” So you can feel good about where your money’s going while enjoying some kangaroo!

I started with a negroni: Native pepperberry infused gin, Antica Formula, Campari. I couldn’t quite detect any significant pepperberry flavor, but it was still delicious.

To start, I enjoyed the charred asparagus + legume medley, with desert lime preserve, white onion + eucalypt cream, basil + pepperberry oil, chia seed crumb.

For my main, I chowed down on the chargrilled kangaroo sirloin, with parsnip, carrot + beetroot timbale, seared bok choy, davidson plum sauce. It was my first taste of kangaroo, which was a leaner and slightly gamier than beef. They recommend not going past rare or medium rare as it’s so lean. Overall, I loved the meat with the plum sauce, though I added a bit of salt to it. The parsnip was delightful too! So delicate. I paired this dish with the Innocent Bystander Syrah 2017 from Yarra Valley, Victoria (closeby to Melbourne).

To finish my meal, for dessert I had the native citrus marmalade steamed pudding with smokey whiskey anglaise, apple textures. Quite yummy! A perfect end.

I spent the morning in Torquay with Rob. We had breakfast at Ginger Monkey, where I had a scrumptious mushroom and poached eggs on toast, and we took a tour of the Surf Museum. He went home to work, and I drove down to Anglesea to a golf club where kangaroos live. I then drove further down the Great Ocean Road, which was quite gorgeous. If it wasn’t raining, I would have stopped to take some photos. I did stop at Kennett River where koalas are known to live. I followed some tourists up a hill, and after staring up at a tree where others were staring, I finally spotted the koala!

Kangaroos at the Anglesea Golf Club

A koala!

A bird

Surfboard art at the Surf Museum

A delicious bacon, egg, and cheese “brekky” sandwich at Cafe Moby in Torquay, before driving back to Melbourne

Me and the beach

I rented (or “hired”) a car via Oyo, which is like Zipcar, but is somehow related to Toyota (get it, “Toyota”), and I drove down to Torquay, a beautiful town on the beach about a 90 minute drive from Melbourne. I saw some lovely beaches, some gorgeous rolling hills, had some good food, and experienced some mediocre fast food. Plus I got to hang out with Rob and his family!

I rented a Toyota C-HR Koba AWD to drive down to Torquay. Here it is at a service station on the highway.

A rather disappointing chicken sandwich and fries.

My airbnb was dope!

The beach was just a few minutes walk from my airbnb.

I got to hang out with my old friend Rob, who moved from Atlanta to Torquay several years ago with his family.

Taylor, Sheena, & I took a walk around the Royal Botanic Gardens in Victoria, which was gorgeous. We had a coffee at the tea room in the middle of the gardens, and later had a delightful lunch a short walk away at Denis the Menace (lol).

Taylor & Sheena

Gardens

Sheena & Taylor

Spaghetti

I had a lovely breakfast at Rustica in Fitzroy, followed by a late morning espresso at Aunty Peg’s. I walked around a bit in Fitzroy and had a mid-afternoon visit to the Victorian House of Parliament, which was pretty neat. I got to see where Queen Elizabeth sat to open Parliament back in 1954!

I had a delicious dinner of dumplings & chicken at Hutong Dumpling House and a couple of cocktails at Bar Americano and Over Board, which were dope.

Rustica

Aunty Peg’s SL-28 Espresso

Three heads

Sitting

Mailbox face

Eye

Dog

Dalek

Brush strokes

Victorian House of Parliament: only the Queen or her governor can sit here

Bar Americano: Stefan made me a negroni & a brooklyn

Hutong: Xiao long bao and dry chicken in hot chili

Crisp

Above Board: owner Hayden made me a martini

I traveled to Hawthorne via a tram and a train to Taylor’s house to visit him, Maki, their child Sheena, and Taylor’s mom Brenda. It’s been great to catch up, and I loved meeting the baby!

Taylor & Sheena

Sheena & I

Hawthorne views

Breakfast in Fitzroy

It was a slow morning due to quite a bit of ongoing rain outside. I did make it out in the morning all the way across the street to the Saturday market to buy a loaf of sourdough and a coffee (which I then had with some eggs I made at home). I finally left the house for a bit this afternoon to get some lunch and check out some shops that were on my list. I hit up:

• Third Drawer Down: a quirky shop for weird home decor, that I generally appreciated.
• Melbournalia: this might suit others’ tastes, but the generic feeling Melbourne merchandise didn’t appeal to me.
• Original & Authentic Aboriginal Art Gallery: this was the highlight for me. I picked up an original piece that I’m excited about putting up in my apartment in Brooklyn!

Afterwards I dropped the treasures off at the house and went out to try a local Mexican restaurant. I got a beef brisket burrito and chips & guac, polished off with a Modelo Especial. Overall, it was a little bland. There were a few things that were different than I’m used to back in the States: very little seasoning and no salsa in the burrito, and the guac wasn’t actually mashed together – it was diced up pieces of avocado with other things? Like, they were almost there…

Street art

Burrito

Modelo Especial

Sunset

I spent the last few days in Tasmania, but I left my laptop behind, so I’ve just posted photos from the trip. Here are the posts I’ve just posted:

• Breakfast before flying to Hobart
• Hobart is pretty dope
• Pennicott seafood seduction cruise
• A day at MONA
• Evening in Hobart
• Last day in Hobart
• A walk through Fitzroy
• A lazy day

Come to Tasmania, we mean you!

I was wiped out from traveling back from Tasmania and doing the walking tour last night, so I laid low around the neighborhood, did some laundry, and ordered in for dinner. (And got this blog updated!)

Espresso, Grace Café

Mushrooms on toast, Grace Café

Brunswick Street building

Fried chicken sandwich, Industry Beans