Melbourne Recount

 

Its our third time to Melbourne and only did we realised that we have missed the restaurant-lined Lygon St at Carlton. Besides numerous Italian restaurants and pizzeria to choose from, there are also countless cafes there. Lygon St had somewhat been a pilgrimage dinning destination throughout our 6 days in Melbourne. As we stayed at Little Bourke St and made our way to Lygon St via Russell St. It’s a 20mins slow walk from Little Bourke St.

 

This time round, we had short day trips instead of the longer driving trips during our previous two visits. Geared with our camaras, we headed for the vines at Yarra Valley. Dendenong Ranges National Park and Dendy St Beach @ Brighton were new places which we covered this time.

Dendenong Ranges National Park

 

Mount Dandenong is nestled between the towns of Olinda and Kalorama in Melbourne‘s bushy and scenic Dandenong Ranges National Park. It is just a hour drive from Melbourne City. The uppermost reach of the Dandenong Ranges provides a lookout from the Mornington Peninsular across the Port Philip Bay surrounded by Melbourne’s suburban fringes.

 

 

 

 

Melbourne Sights

 Sydney City Sights

 

Yum Cha @ East Ocean Restaurant

Dixon St, Haymarket

 

There are plentiful of restaurants at Haymarket that serves yum cha and we were often spoilt of choices. We had yum cha at one of the other restaurant 5 years back and they didn’t give us a wow impression. This time round, we are recommended to go to East Ocean Restaurant instead and its thumbs up for this. It tasted even better than the ones back home.

   

 Dough Stick Wrapped in Rice Noodles

 

Spinach Dumplings

 

 

 

 

Prawn Dumplings

 

 

 

 

 

Mango Dessert Wrapped in Mango Pancake

This chilled dessert is one of the most impressive mango desserts we have ever tasted. The skin is a nicely done up thin mango crepe and it is filled with fresh pieces of mango in cream. We even bought back an extra set back to Oak Harmony. A must-to-try for all mango fans.

 

Chicken Wrap in Bean-curd Skin

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Satang THAI
Quay St, Haymarket

 

Satang THAI has about a 1:1 ratio when it comes to kitchen versus dining area and you can fit no more than 10 customers. Food here is reasonable, fresh and most importantly TASTY.

I should say the portion sizes are very generous.

  

 

   

 

 Our first attempt was Pad Thai with Chicken. We waited patiently for 20mins before our order was ready. The noodles were really thin and it was carefully tossed with chicken and sweet tomato sauce.

The lunchbox was packed with noodles framed with crushed peanuts, bean sprouts, lemon and chives. It was a satisfying lunch.

  

 

 Pad See Ew was the second dish we ordered. Its a popular thai dish where rice noodles stir-fried with vegetables and egg, and coated in a thick chilli sauce and sweet soya sauce. This dish was tasty too but we found it rather oily as compared to Pad Thai. Anyhow, thumbs up for Satang THAI.

 

 

Ramen Kan
Hay St, Haymarket

  For the Japanese food lovers, Ramen Kan is another outlet which must not be missed. This outlet is situated just opposite of the Sydney Entertainment Centre at the second level of an un-noticeable building with a small doorway leading to a lift. All thanks to recommendation of our local friends there. We reached the outlet at 530pm and there weren’t much seats left. By 6pm, the outlet was filled with hungry patrons and a queue was already forming right at its cramp entrance.

   

 

Japanese Mo-Cha Served in a Pot

 

 

Tokyo Ramen in Pork Stock

 

 

Yakisoba, a giant platter of soba noodles stir-fried with  

vegetables,topped with a thick omelette and served with miso soup.

 

 

 

 

 

Sydney Fish Market, Pyrmont

The Sydney Fish Market is located at Blackwattle Bay at Pyrmont. Its close proximity to the city and easy access made is a must to visit for tourist.

 

 

 

Slices of Thick fresh Salmon Sashimi for A$6.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our breakfast were accompanied by a big serving of salmon sashimi, baked scallops and half a doz. of oysters. The sashimis’ came in thick slices while the scallops were baked with goat and mozerella cheese. – Thats our seafoodbreakfast spread.

Memoirs of Brisbane – Milton Landmarks

 

Milton suburb is about 1.5km from Brisbane’s CBD. Mitlon’s Park Road is reminiscent of a European cafe precinct, complete with mini Eiffel Tower. The UQ & QUT alumnis would always have fond memories of the days at Milton.

 

Another iconic landmark in Milton is the XXXX brewery which is located just off Milton Road. XXXX is undoubtedly Queenslander’s favourite beer.

 

 

Memoirs of Brisbane – Indooroopilly

Indooroopilly is also known as Indro. It’s another popular suburb with a large number of university students from the nearby University of Queensland campus at St. Lucia. Its close approximity to the city also draws many QUT students to stay at Indooroopilly.

 

Indro used to be one of our favourite hang-outs. Woolsworth, Franklins, Myers , KMART & of cause the Great Union cineplex were all in Westfields Indooroopilly.

 

Can you folks still remember these ?

 

Transformation of CityRail – Indooroopilly Train Station

Indooroopilly Bus Station

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Memoirs of Brisbane – Life as an overseas student

 

One of the best things about coming to Australia would be the fact that for the very first time, we were independent. Apart from studying, we need to cook, clean, budget, spend, save and most crucial was to adapt to the culture in a foreign land. These were the experiences a local student would never experienced.

   

As a student, always eating out in Brisbane would quickly frittered away the last bit of our budget. Cooking our own meals is part of the experience of living overseas by ourselves. Fresh food are easily available in Brisbane. In fact, we have choices of Asian food here than in Singapore.

  

Asian groceries can be found in Fortitude valley or Sunnybank as well as supermarkets like Coles, Woolsworth & Franklins. We ended up spending more time “supermarketing” than window shopping at the mall.

It’s fun to cook especially when we tried to recreate the exact same taste hawker dishes. We loved to cook when we were inspired but sometimes, we were either too busy with our school work or  just too lazy. Cooking takes up lots of time and with all the preparation, cooking and the most dreaded task of all – washing.

Nevertheless, we have mastered a fair bit of culinary skills during the two years in Australia.  Below is a bowl of typical soupy tom yum rice stick noodles with fish balls & fresh mushroom.