Gratuitous Foodie Pics - Part 2 Melbourne

Picking up where I left off, we drove the Great Ocean Road towards Melbourne, which involves a lot of highway driving that's not very scenic, but we did get to see the 12 Apostles, which is truly amazing. We left Adelaide on a Tuesday, and we made it as far as this little town called Port Fairy before we were about to run out of gas, and the gas station in the town was already closed for the night. So rather than get stuck out on the highway, we thought we'd stop, stay over and start again in the morning. That was the best decision ever. Port Fairy is one of those small little towns where everyone knows each other, and it possesses a quaint charm that you definitely don't get with big ass cities. We totally lucked out, having come across a bar that was still open and whose bartender was nice enough to help us get a room at the hotel next door. I was expecting a teeny tiny motel that's kinda dingy, but what we got was a really spacious apartment-style room which even had its own little patio space! Nice.

The next morning, we had to get some brekky before setting off, and according to the lady at the concierge, she said Rebecca's Cafe had some of the best breakfast in town. And she was right! (Not like I had any basis for comparison, but the breakfast and coffee were pretty damn good.)The first thing that caught my attention was this shelf of sweet treats by the door. No better way to get me through the door than with a big array of desserts!!

I decided to get a scone, while my boy had hash browns with poached eggs and baked beans. Being used to the size of scones back home (i.e. ridiculously small), my boy ordered me 2 scones. And when they came, we almost fainted. The scones turned out to be HUGE. And much as I love a good scone, there was no way I could finish 2 of those things. Eggs, hash brown, baked beans, spinach and pita bread. Makes for a mighty fine breakfast.
Nice picture windows at Rebecca's.

So with brekky in our bellies, we thought we'd explore Port Fairy for a bit before setting off on another mammoth drive. Port Fairy is right by the water, which was really nice. We kinda drove around for a bit, snapped some pics and we were on our way.After dinner mints, anyone? We found these at a candy shop at the next town, I forget the name. We did pick up a tin of Peppermint Peckers for our friends though. Tee hee. We actually wanted to get the Dick on a Stick, but it was made of chocolate and we thought it would melt and go out of shape, which would then defeat the purpose of getting it in the first place.

Fast forward many hours later, we finally got into Melbourne around 7-ish in the evening. After being stuck in the car for the past half a day, the first thought in my head was to go shopping, but seeing as shops closed at like 5, I settled instead for dinner. A phone call to one of our buddies later, we found ourselves at this little Vietnamese diner, which was packed. We scored ourselves a table without too much waiting, and had ourselves some of the best pho in town.Yes, once again I was too ravenous to think of taking photos before eating.

Back in the day when my boy was in uni and I was at LCB in Sydney, we used to make trips to Melbourne whenever we could, time and finances permitting. Shopping in Melbourne is better than in Sydney, and we also discovered a number of eating joints that we found ourselves coming back to again and again. Gordon's on Little Bourke is one such place, although when we went back this time, we were kinda disappointed to find that it'd been renovated, and the grungy charm that was once its signature (along with the swaggering waiter who thought he was the hippest shit) is now sorely missing. We ordered our fave duck risotto, which was yummy, but somehow didn't taste the same. I still enjoyed it nonetheless, along with the pita bread and the trio of dips. But I do miss the old Gordon's. Sniff.Still yummy, but the place just doesn't feel the same. Oh wells.

Another place we hit up every time we're in Melbourne is the King of King's, where the egg chiffon rice is just to die for. Like any good Chinese restaurant, they serve the staple roasted meats, but really the egg chiffon rice is what I come here for. You get is a choice of chicken, char siew or whatever roasted meat you want, served on a bed of steaming rice and topped off with a giant fluffy omelet. What makes the egg chiffon rice special is their secret sauce which they serve alongside the rice, which is just so good. Drool.Lookit that! The amount of self control it took to snap a photo before diving into it... it was quite the effort.

If a good brekky is what you're after, Caffe Panette is a good bet. It's located in South Melbourne, and if you're lucky enough you can get a seat al fresco and enjoy a leisurely breakfast while basking in the warm sunshine. We got pancakes and eggs benedict. They were both goooooood.So my pancakes look a bit burnt... but they had wonderfully crisp edges which I like. Oooh... runny yolk... the best part about eggs benedict.

So after gorging ourselves on that sinful breakfast, we decided to take a walk around the market nearby. You know me and markets... just can't stay away. We came across this little shop that sold doggy treats, so we had to get some for our pooch back home.All natural doggy treats galore! We got some doggy bones for our golden, Latte, and her friends. Yeah this I thought was a little much.

Strangely enough this is the last of the foodie pics that we snapped in Melbourne. I don't even remember where we had our last meal before leaving for the Gold Coast. Oh wells. It was awesome while it lasted. Good times.