Oh Melbourne, there are so many things I miss about you and your selection of great cafes is one of them.
A rough google search will tell you there are countless coffee places in this vibrant city to choose from. While I certainly can't go to all of them in the short few days I was there, Vincent and I picked a few and they all didn't disappoint. Melbourne, you are truly a hipster coffee city!
Here are the few that we visited:
#1 White Mojo
White Mojo was recommended to us by a friend studying there. We met up with her and had a good time catching up while sipping some good coffee the place has to offer. I had one of their deconstructed waffles and it was so pretty to look at I almost didn't want to eat it (sigh, pretty food). But I had to or I will be staring at it the whole time. The ingredients that they used to decorate the deconstructed waffles were pretty (did I say it already?) and also tasty. The berries are dried which added some crunchiness to the taste. But the portion was really small and I wish they won't be so stingy in giving me the good stuff!
Vincent had a pulled pork burger and the look of it already won me over (I had to have a bite of his food of course).
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| Left: Matcha Latte and Coffee Art; Right: Pulled Pork Burger |
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| Deconstructed Waffles with Dried Berries |
#2 Seven Seeds
Seven Seeds was recommended to me by one of my good friends, grace! She is an ultimate foodie and I know I can trust her when it comes to food recommendation. Seven Seed is located in an industrial area, quite close to the University of Melbourne. It's a little difficult to spot at first but you just have to look for a wall painted in a deep blue colour (below). Vincent had Eggs and Waffle Benedict and I had a toast with avo, cheese, carrots and beetroot cured salmon by the side. The beetroot cured salmon was so good!
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| Left: Toast with Avo, Cheese, Carrots and Beetroot Cured Salmon; Right: Eggs and Waffle Benedict |
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| Latte |
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| The deep blue colour wall to look out for (and their van if it's there!) |
#3 Industry Beans
Industry Beans is located quite a distance outside of the free tram zone (read about it here) but it is worth a trip there if you are an avid coffee drinker. The place is a warehouse turned cafe so expect some high ceiling with a good amount of natural lighting. As their name says it, they focus on bringing the best coffee beans from around the world to their tables. You know they are really serious about their coffee when they have a menu dedicated to explaining the origins, taste of different beans and ways to go about drinking it - pour over, aeropress, gold mesh, cold drip or cold brew. Not to let coffee takes away all the limelight, they also offer some great food to go with it.
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| Unhealthy vs healthy (ha) Left: Karaage Chicken Burger (add cheese and bacon); Right: Crispy Beans and Quinoa (add cured salmon) |
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| Well stocked up! |
Bonus #4 Monarch Cakes
Besides walking through cafe doors every single day, we also visited St Kilda Beach as the right thing to do during the Winter season. Hell no, I was shivering so much when the cold wind came. So to either stay out for the cold or to satisfy our never-ending quest for good food, Vincent brought me to this Eastern European cake shop. The place even retains the Eastern European vibe with its vintage furniture and the oldest cash machine I have ever seen. For food, we tried the 100 Years Old Polish Baked Cheese Cake (the recipe is 100 years old not the cake) and one of their dark chocolate pastry. They were a little sweet for me but someone with a sweet tooth won't mind a few more bites.
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| The oldest cash machine! |
What's a visit to Sydney without going to the Sydney Fish Market? It's like not going to the Opera House or not seeing the Harbour Bridge. Besides, how many times can you actually visit an Opera House or look at the Harbour Bridge without getting bored of it?
Of the two times in less than a year that I was back in Sydney, I went there thrice. Hmm, how is that possible? Because Vincent and I went back twice on our trip and I went once with Fiona in early May this year.
Again, not interested in how many times I have been there? Hope the photos make you wish you are there right now.
There are many stores over at the market but I frequent the one called Peters the most. Interestingly, the majority of the patrons there are China Chinese and they really ordered A LOT. They are quite rich so poor us only ordered a few of the stuff from each store to share.
The seafood are as fresh as it can be and the prices are highly affordable. For one dozen of oysters, it was AUD 22. But the tendency to over-order comes with the great variety of selection. You order this and you order that and before you realise, you have accumulated a whole table of food.
But again, Singapore doesn't even offer such affordable and fresh seafood so no point saving when you're at the Fish Market.
And yes, beware of all the seagulls preying on your food.
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Thank goodness for my planning notes.
If not by this time when I decided to edit the photos... I have already forgotten which tours I took.
Apart from stuffing ourselves with lots of cafe food, Vincent and I went on 3 separate tours - 2 in Sydney and 1 in Melbourne (in a later post) when we visited Oz last August.
So the two tours we went in Sydney are:
#1 Port Stephen
Port Stephen is 2.5 hours drive north of Sydney. A very chill area with some restaurants and beautiful yachts. Saw some pelicans and seagulls chilling around the area as well. Good life.
We went ahead with PJ Tours and I won't say it was very worth it. Most of the time was spent traveling to Port Stephen (inevitable) and the 4WD they promised us turned out to be on a minibus?! But it was still quite bumpy though so still get that experience of rolling over sand dunes on 4 wheels I guess... Yeah, so I would recommend driving or find a better tour provider.
#2 Hunter Valley
Hunter Valley is located slightly before Port Stephen so a 2 hours drive from Sydney will bring you there. It is one of Oz's oldest and major wine regions. So what do we do?? Wine-tasting of course!
We went to 4 or 5 wineries and the wine is really different from all the wines I have drunk in my life (disclaimer: I don't really drink). Since I don't really drink and for me to be able to appreciate the wines mean they are really good and smooth on the palate. Give it a try even for those who don't drink because they give only a small amount (duh, it's a tasting).
Hmmm. There was no grape on the vine for us to see because it wasn't the right season too. Besides wine-tasting, we also tasted cheese and chocolate at different areas specialized in different things. So worth it.
Maybe I just have to pick a better tour provider for Port Stephen and I would still recommend the above two tours if you are looking for something to do outside of Sydney city.
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After a year... I am back! (Chuckles).
I know I have been really bad at this blogging game. You cannot blame me when I have school to catch up. I just... *insert many excuses* (yes you can blame me).
So instead of telling you my grand plan for life which starts with p and ends with n and r-o-c-r-a-s-t-i-n-a-t-i-o in the middle, I rather we talk about today's post highlight: Sydney's Cafes.
Last August, I went down-under with Vincent to the land of kangaroos, koalas, and of course, great cafes! We had a really nice time over there with the slightly chilly weather. We went on some dolphin watching and wine-tasting tours which I will subsequently blog about later on (I promise I won't drag another year).
But who knows half a year later, I returned to the same city that fed me with lots of smooth coffees and yummy avo on toast. I was back in Sydney again earlier this month with Fiona as part of our Graduation trip (series). We returned to a lot of the cafes that I went previously so I thought I would combine them into a post.
If you don't really care how many times I have been to Sydney in less than a year, then just read on for my little comments about the place and food.
Not in order of preference:
#1 The Grounds of Alexandria
The Grounds is located further away from the CBD area and requires a short walk in if you are coming by train or bus. But if you ask me, I think it is totally worth the journey to get there. You can find two cafes, one florist shop (Is there a name for it?) and an area with some animals that will probably be your breakfast or brunch later (I'm kidding).
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| Right: They named the pig 'Kevin the Bacon' |
#2 Brewtown Newtown
Situated at Newtown as the name says it, this place has a really nice ambiance with its industrial style deco. Because I decided to blog about this one year later, my memory naturally fails me and I cannot remember the name of what we ordered. But anyway, cafes usually change their menu once in a while so it's better if you go there and choose from their updated menu.
W: https://www.brewtownnewtown.com/
#3 Black Star Pastry
This place in Newtown is only famous for one thing: Watermelon Cake !!!
Seriously, the Watermelon Cake is the best thing ever. It just has that light and juicy taste (which is normal of watermelon) which is surprising when you eat a cake? I love it so much I keep going back for it (even after a year).
W: https://blackstarpastry.com.au/
#4 Bondi Wholefoods
This is going to be a contradictory recommendation...
Because seriously, I am not a health-food eater??? I ordered the vegan pancake and it looks really pretty with the edible flowers as deco but the vegan pancake is very dense and not fluffy like the usual kind (duh). I guess it's worth a try (and worth a try being healthy as well).
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| Left: Eggs on Toast ; Right: 'Super Food Mesquite Vanilla Pancakes' |
W: https://www.bondiwholefoods.com.au/
#5 Showbox Coffee Brewers
This cafe is spotted at Manly Beach, a 30 minutes ferry ride from the Circular Quay. The prices of the food are slightly more wallet-friendly, maybe because it's located further away. Funny thing is we looked at an outdated menu online which I originally wanted to have their shakshuka but settled for their mushrooms on toast instead. It didn't disappoint I must say!
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| Left: Pegg Roll ; Right: Mushrooms on Toast |
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| Left: Flat White ; Right: Iced Latte |
Fun fact: flat white and avo on toast are both Aussie creation!! (and other tasty food)
And I am done!! Doing a food post is much more tiring than doing a scenery post...
Hi everyone, sorry for the long hiatus. I guess life just gets in the way (or life called procrastination). I have already been back in Singapore for a good 4.5 months and recently completed yet another semester of my university life. But anyway, I have finally edited more photos that were taken while I was on my exchange. I went on a trip to Iceland with my friends from 30th Oct to 3rd Nov 2015. It was truly a dream come true to be able to travel to Iceland. How can anyone not dream of going to such a beautiful place on earth? They must have it somewhere on their 'to-do-list' or 'bucket list' or whatever they called it nowadays. To tell you how much I dreamt of going to Iceland, I actually embarrassingly shed a few tears while the plane was landing. You know the feeling when you really want to go somewhere and you set your mind and all to plan for it and you momentarily forget about the fact that you are on your way there until you reach that ...somewhere? Yeah, you get what I mean.
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| þingvellir national park |
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| Gullfoss waterfall |
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| Geysir hot spring area |
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| Bubbling away... |
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| Ta-da! Oh, look at those tiny humans. |
On another day, we traveled to the south of Iceland to visit some iconic landmarks such as the Seljalandsfoss and Skogafoss waterfalls as well as the famous Reynisfjara volcanic beach. We were supposed to see the famous Eyjafjallajokull volcano that erupted in 2010 which caused major disruption to international flight schedules. But the weather was horrible that we couldn't see a thing and hence a lack of photo. Trust me, I was mad excited about seeing the volcano in real life after using this example 10000 times in my essay but I guess I just have to come back again. Anyway, the bonus was when they brought us to the massive Solheimajokull glacier. Definitely my first time seeing a glacier in real life!
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| Skogafoss waterfall |
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| Reynisfjara volcanic beach (yes, black basalt sand!) |
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| Sea stacks called Reynisdrangar |
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| Basalt columns |
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| Basalt columns resembling a rocky step pyramid called Gardar |
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| Don't go too near to the waves as many have lost their lives there.. |
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| Solheimajokull glacier (lots of it has melted away) |
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| Seljalandsfoss waterfall (you can actually go behind it!) |
Besides all the sight-seeing, we also went to see the Northern Light (or aurora borealis which I certainly did google the spelling) and spent some time soaking in the famous Blue Lagoon geothermal spa. Also, not forgetting the Reykjavik town centre which offers beautiful modern architectures such as the Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre and Hallgrimskirkja Cathedral. We had some good fish and chips around the area too!
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| Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre |
We didn't cover the whole of Iceland and there are many places yet to be explored. Lastly, I wanna thank my friends for making this trip so memorable! I will never forget the smell of the water at our hostel, us walking around in the cold either trying to look for money changer or food and the free-flow lamb stew was so good that we refilled 4 times :)
