A trip to Melbourne to see Evita the musical
(source: Herald Sun newspaper)
This was my fourth visit to Melbourne in the last two years and on this occasion it was to see Evita the musical so as usual I took the opportunity to stay a couple of days longer to enjoy this fabulous city.
I stayed at The Langham in a lovely room with access to the Club Lounge. I hadn’t stayed at this hotel before but my friends Ray and Natalie and I wanted to stay close to where Evita was playing so we could walk to and from the venue so The Langham is what we chose. It was a very lovely hotel with a beautiful foyer area and as it was December it was decorated with a huge Christmas tree and decorations.
Every morning I would get up early and go for a walk along the Yarra River for about an hour, return to the hotel and after getting ready, pop upstairs to the Club Lounge for breakfast. whilst looking out over the city and the Yarra.
On my first day I walked to Brunswick Street in Fitzroy [I had done this on a previous visit so knew my way] walking past lovely tree lined streets and outdoor cafes and restaurants. 
It was about a forty-five minute walk and I had a list of vegan restaurants and cafes I had been given by a friend. I love the interesting buildings and terrace homes of Melbourne and in particular Brunswick Street so took the opportunity to snap a few photos.
Smith & Daughters was the first restaurant to visit on my list but unfortunately it was only open for dinner on the day I was there. I had bought their cookbook on advice from my same friend and it’s great but recipes are a little too complicated for me especially with me not being a cook of any sorts!!
The next restaurant I wanted to see was Tranformer which as its website says is ‘innovative plant based dining’ but by this time I was very hungry and had plans to eat at The Vegie Bar as the menu looked fantastic so continued walking. 
I arrived at number 380 Brunswick Street (The Vegie Bar) and saw there was a cafe next door called Girls & Boys which serves plant based desserts including ice cream/ gelato/smoothies/doughnuts and lots of other wonderful sweet things. I really could have eaten everything but decided to just buy a bar of vegan chocolate as I didn’t want to spoil my lunch.
Veggie Bar was definitely worth the wait. Communal wooden tables and a wonderful menu of both hot and cold dishes. And…santa clause sitting on a half moon near the roof!! I ordered a laksa with tofu and vegetables and a sparkling mineral water. The laksa was so good but incredibly filling I only could eat half.
The next evening my friends Ray and Natalie arrived from Canberra. I was having an alcohol free month so whilst they enjoyed some champagne in the Club Lounge I had some mineral water and again enjoyed the views over the Yarra River.
When the club closed we went downstairs for a late snack, a glass of scotch for Ray and Nat and a refreshing mocktail for me in the bar area of the hotel.
I woke up early again the next morning and took another stroll along the river followed by a walk around Melbourne city where I saw some interesting street art and also happened upon a lovely little Welsh church against a backdrop of a very modern building. It was nice to see the church as having dual citizenship it brought back lovely memories of my birthplace.
I always like to visit my favourite book store [Kay Craddock Antiquarian Bookseller] where many years ago I bought a First Folio {first edition} of William Shakespeare’s plays; beautifully blue leather bound in their own case. 
Melbourne is known for its shopping especially its high end shops. Cartier being just one which was decorated for Christmas along with huge baubles hanging from trees and other wonderful displays of the festive season.
It was then time to see the musical as it was the main reason we had come to Melbourne…glad I saw it but not one of my favourite productions. But a visit to Melbourne is always worth my time!!
We then walked for about half an hour until we found our next location and along the way we also saw some great local artwork along the street; this is definitely a real funky suburb with fabulous shops.
Jane said the bathrooms in the Sofitel are gorgeous; they have views overlooking the city – guess five star hotels can afford to have this.
In October this year, I met my friend Sandy in Melbourne. I travelled with my Canberra based friend Jane and prior to our travel I contacted two friends I used to work with (and had visited them both in NY and London when they lived there), so it was obvious that we would also visit them whilst so much closer in Melbourne.
Platform 4b is next to platform 4a and as we walked past we saw a train there, but as Jane had the lead we waited to hear from her….[silly us] so this was not good when we missed another train as it departed from 4a not 4b. Imagine how we mocked Jane!
Our dear friends, chef Annie and wait staff were all waiting for us and had pre-arranged a lovely meal taking into consideration my dietary needs. The menu at this fabulous restaurant is created from fresh food from the garden and meats and poultry from the surrounding region – exceptional food I must say!
Chef Annie creates a seasonal menu and sometimes the dishes are plated, sometimes shared, but always they revolve around what is being harvested from the garden or taken from the store cupboard.
The others were served dishes of duck which came out beautifully presented and I am told delicious.
My friend Sandy, who doesn’t eat duck [amongst many other things], had a pear, rocket and parmesan cheese salad.
At the same time as our main course arrived, we were also served a dish of scolloped potatoes to share which were oven baked in a cream sauce.
Our main courses consisted of a potato rosti with salad and dressing for me and a fresh fish dish for others.
It really is amazing how different fresh food from the paddock tastes – love it.
Annie also sells beautiful seasonal jams and preserves. I bought a jar of raspberry jam and marmalade [which I gave to a friend who said it was delicious). And I love the raspberry jam.
A really good friend of mine (one of my besties) lives in Timor Leste, so on one of her return trips home to Australia we decided to meet in Melbourne for a long weekend. I hadn’t seen Sandy for some time so I was very much looking forward to seeing her. Jane and I departed Canberra on the Friday at lunch time and we both used our frequent flyer points to upgrade to Business class – very nice! We started off with a glass of wine each in the Lounge.
Jane chose Matteo’s, an Italian restaurant after some searching on the internet and booked for lunch on the Sunday – its located in Fitzroy, a suburb about a ten minutes taxi ride from the centre of the city and in a very popular street that is known by most people who visit Melbourne (Brunswick Street) and there we met another good friend who lives in Melbourne.
The restaurant had a good feel from the outside and was really lovely inside with white linen tablecloths, great artwork and two fabulous waiters.
The menu is extensive and the restaurant also has a Lazy Sunday Lunch Menu for meat and fish eaters and for a little more $, comes with a glass of wine accompanying each course which is what my friends had and there is also the Chef Buddha Lo’s Spring Vegan Tasting Menu which as soon as I looked at I wanted. The vegan tasting menu comprised small dishes served over five courses. My first dish was a sweetcorn soup and I must say does not look all that great in my photo, but it was so tasty.
Second course was tempura zucchini flowers with a cashew ‘cheese’, tandoori-spiced beetroot, toasted nuts, seeds and grains. This was also very good and the cashew cheese was excellent.
Next was stir-fried asparagus spears, Otway shiitake mushrooms, steamed ho fun rice noodles and hoisin sauce. At this stage I was very full but knew I had two more courses coming…
My final main course was Miso-baked eggplant filled with bean curd and cauliflower couscous along with kohlrabi and a warm rice vinaigrette. I just love eggplant but must say this dish was not to my liking – I didn’t like the miso baked eggplant unfortunately. And probably because I was full I didn’t eat much.
The girls started off with 4 tastes…oyster ‘Kilpatrick’, tempura zucchini flower with goats’ feta, BBQ pork doughnut and a Queen scallop with XO condiment accompanied by a 2016 Serafino ‘Bellissimo’ Fiano from South Australia.
Their next course was a choice between a Bonito mackerel with asparagus, charred onion and a vichyssoise sauce accompanied by a glass of 2016 Port Philip Estate Pinot Gris from Victoria OR a seafood tortellini with Otway shiitake mushrooms and a miso consommé; accompanied by a 2015 Lawson’s Dry Hills Gewurtraminer from New Zealand. The girls chose the seafood tortellini dish.
Their next course was a quail ballotine roasted with streaky bacon with Chinese sausage, cauliflower puree and steamed leeks, red wilton and quail jus accompanied by a 2015 Clos Leon Bordeaux Merlot from France OR a pan roasted Flinders Island lamb fillet with a master stock lamb belly, grilled cucumber, watercress, wild garlic and a sansho pepper sauce and wine for this course was a 2014 Red Edge Degree shiraz from Victoria. Sandy and Jane ordered different dishes for this course.
Then it came time for dessert; mine was a passionfruit-lemon sorbet and coconut gelato with candy yuzu peel and a coconut ‘milk’ mousse – it looked fabulous on the plate and was very nice but I was still a bit too full to eat it all.
The girls were served a plate of three small desserts each; warm caramelised apple tart with macadamia praline, strawberries and cream and a vanilla bean ice-cream with blackcurrant sorbet and their final glass of wine was a 2014 Richards Muscat DBV from the Southern Rhone Valley in France.
We were the last to leave the restaurant having arrived at 1pm and finally departing at 4.45pm…there was just so much to eat, so much to drink and so much to catch up on…what a fabulous afternoon. We were all so full we decided to walk back into the city – only about a forty-minute walk but most enjoyable.
A few months ago my friend Jane and I went to Melbourne for a long weekend [I have previously posted on our visit to the theatre and a French restaurant] where we went to a lovely Italian restaurant I had previously been to. Melbourne is known for its fabulous restaurants and Becco didn’t let us down. 
The restaurant is located in one of Melbourne’s lovely cobblestone streets and its interior has dim lighting in the evening making it rather difficult to take photos on my phone.
Jane ordered an entree of ceviche which was marinated in fresh lime juice with sliced onions and vegetables and a light cream and pesto sauce . She said this was absolutely delicious.
Jane then had the veal dish which was topped with sauted spinach with a white wine reduction.
One other Italian restaurant I have been to in Melbourne is Il Nostro Posto; a beautiful converted 19th century warehouse. 
I went to this restaurant when I was working in our office in Melbourne and as our group was large we were seated in the cellar area downstairs – a reasonable size room with two large tables, wood panelling on the walls and one original stone wall – just lovely!
I wanted to eat and drink relatively healthy being a weeknight, so had my obligatory sparkling mineral water but no wine on this evening and an entree of mixed roasted vegetables in a napoli sauce with lightly toasted bread and olive oil. The dish was delicious and I only ate one small piece of bread…a good evening for me health wise.
Another signature dish of the restaurant is the seafood pie; guazzetto in crosta, linguine pasta tossed with fresh seafood and chilli then topped with a lid of pizza dough and baked in the oven.
