Before we started that trek, we needed some breakfast. We hadn't had fast food yet in Australia so today was the day when I would had to Maccas. The name doesn't seem familiar to you? Macca's is how McDonald's is marketed in Australia.
In addition to our daily long black fix, I tried the Big Brekkie Burger.
This was a burger patty with egg, bacon, cheese, hash brown and BBQ sauce on a poppy seed bun. It is okay. The bacon could be a lot crisper. And the BBQ sauce doesn't really go with the egg.
In other fast food news, Hungry Jack is the franchise name for Burger King here in Australia. Except for the name of the restaurant, it is still the same Home of the Whopper you know (and maybe love) in the United States. I recall the reason is that Burger King was already a restaurant chain when Burger King came here years ago so they needed something different.
For our Fitzroy adventure we needed some lunch. My wife found a place that was offering a tasting menu up in this area which sounded perfect.
Amuse bouche which was sliced fresh radish with creme fraiche and a rice cracker with seaweed. Both were great starts to the meal. The radish was sliced super thin and perfect with the creamy creme fraiche. My favorite was the crisp rice cracker with salty seaweed.
Some delicious sour dough bread served with freshly made unsalted butter with sea salt on the side. I loved that you could make the butter as salty as you wanted.
This was the kingfish crudo. A crudo is generally thin sliced fresh fish, served with herbs, oils and other accompaniments. This was a great one mainly because the fish was so fresh. Also loved the cucumber.
Fresh asparagus which a delicious tarragon sauce.
Marinated cuttlefish.
The first entree we chose was the snapper. This was really nicely seared with a perfect crust. I loved that the savory sauce sat underneath the crispy fish do it didn't get soggy. Too often I see kitchens spend so much time to get something crispy, such as fried chicken or chicken fried steak, and the pour a sauce on top, essentially ruining all that hard work.
This was the local pork chop. It was cooked medium, was still a bit pinki so still had lots of moisture. I know many people are afraid of pork that isn't cooked medium well. However the USDA does say you can cook pork to 145 degrees F which is medium rare. I usually don't like hazelnuts but they were a welcome addition for added crunch.
Dark chocolate cake. This dessert was just okay. I found the cake a bit dry. The cherries were good with the yogurt ice cream.
The second dessert a strawberry dessert. This was similar to a shortcake with a biscuit. The most interesting addition was a drizzle of olive oil which added a savory not so it wasn't just "sweet". I nicely composed dessert.
To finish, we received two chocolate truffles and two "jellies". The jellies had a hint of rose essence and the texture of a gummy bear. The chocolate truffles were smooth and creamy.
And of course, another chance for a long black. This was the best cup of coffee I had the whole trip!!! Served really hot with just the right amount of crema.
The Fitzroy area of Melbourne has lots of eclectic bars and restaurants so after our great lunch, it was time to explore. We decided to do what my wife refers to as bartender's choice. We would pick our first bar, and then have the bartender recommend the next one. One our way to the first stop, we saw some great street art.
First stop was at Rook's for a great Old Fashioned made with a local bourbon.
The bartender at Rooks recommended the Shady Lady which was only a short walk away. On that walk, I saw the name of this coffee shop which I loved.
Shady Lady is known for fancy cocktails.
The bartender at Shady Lady recommended the Black Pearl.
This was Beyond Bush.
The top of the drink had a twig and some honeycomb. It reminded me of Blair Witch Project.
The foam on the drink, which I thought was from egg whites, was actually from this ingredient which I had never seen before. The bartender said it was very common in Australia.
After visiting a few bars, we now needed a snack. It was time to visit one of our favorite bars from the 2012 trip, Naked for Satan. They had some burger specials for $3 which would fit the bill.
Mushroom burger which was my favorite!! It was a grilled portobello mushroom with more sauteed mushrooms on top.
This was a chicken burger with a cheesy ssauce.
This was the beef burger. While it was cooked well, it was missing some beefy flavor. I did appreciate that the lettuce was on the bottom so it didn't get soggy.
That would be the last place on our Fitzroy visit - at least for this trip. We made the walk back to our hotel as we had to get up early tomorrow for our flight to Los Angeles. Our two week trip was coming to an end. We got to so many places and had some amazing bites. If you have stayed for the whole journey, thank you very much for following along. More blogs are coming for many upcoming trips so stay tuned to this blog for those. If you are interested in planning a trip, whether it is exotic like Australia or maybe an all-inclusive in Mexico or even a cruise, please consider contacting my wife on her website https://www.tripswithangie.com.
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