Favorites from Melbourne Victoria Australia: Part Two

Day two of the adventure in Melbourne was an excursion to the Great Ocean Road.  This is a stretch of road on the southeastern part of Australia that is 243 km long (about 150 miles).    It is said to be one of the most scenic routes in the world - and I concur.  You'll get to decide when you see the pictures.

The excursion was scheduled to be about 14 hours in length from pickup (7:30AM) to drop off (estimated to be 9PM).  Of course I needed to start out the day with some coffee.  7-11 stores are on almost every block in downtown Melbourne.  In the United States, they are prevalent but you don't see them as much in the big cities.  Since we needed some bottled water and snacks (in addition to coffee), I decided to go to the 7-11 across from the hotel.  The last time I went to a 7-11 in the United States, the coffee situation was not remarkable.  It was a generic Bunn coffee urn that you poured from.  In Australia (and perhaps elsewhere), the coffee situation has been elevated with  the additional of a barista-type of machine.   

I think all of Australia is fanatical about their coffee, but Melbourne seems to win the prize for having citizens who care more than other Australians.  Maybe that prompted this change in 7-11.  It was certainly welcome since the coffee was only $2 for a long black.  You might ask what is a long black?    In the United States the closest thing would be an Americano which is espresso and hot water.   It was a delicious coffee and better than another one I had at a chain called Hudson's which was double the price.    Maybe these types of machines are also in United States 7-11 stores.  If you know, please add a comment.

Our first stop was to Torquay which is one of the most popular places for surfing in all of Australia. 

We next stopped at the official beginning of the Great Ocean Road which has an archway overhead.  It was burned around the edges in 1983 when there was a huge fire that burned most of the towns along the road.

 
We then went to Kennett River and saw a few koalas.  Look closely and you will see them in the trees.  They don't move much since their diet is only eucalyptus leaves.

Now, what you have all been waiting for (maybe)!!  Our lunch stop in Apollo Bay!!  We had 45 minutes allocated by the tour guide for lunch so had to make a quick choice.  On the way into town, I spotted the Seafood Cafe.  Since we were right next to the ocean, seemed like the chances were high that we would have some fresh seafood.    My instincts were correct. 

Apollo Bay Seafood Cafe Menu

Apollo Bay Seafood Cafe display case of fresh seafood

My wife saw a special appetizer called Chili Scallops which sounded delicious.    It was outstanding and the highlight of our lunch. 

Delicately grilled scallops served in their shell.  The sauce on the bottom was clarified butter with some sauteed shallot, garlic and a bit of heat from what tasted like a serrano.  The topping was finely chopped tomato and basil.  After eating the delicious scallop, all that was left was the tremendous sauce.  I couldn't let that go to waste and treated each scallop shell like it was an oyster and drank that sauce as a shot of buttery goodness!!     I tried one of the local beers.  This was the Barrapool Ocean Road Pale Ale.    When in Rome!!  It had a nice hoppy bite to it which helped with the richness of the scallops (and that butter!!!).

For our main dish, we got a platter of fish and chips.  It consisted of two pieces each of barramundi (a mild white fish), crab stick (the stuff they use to make California rolls), Potato cakes and dim sum.

The fish was definitely the highlight.  It was fried in a rice flour batter so it was like you were having a very light tempura.  Many times fish and chips have a flour based batter which can make a thick coating which takes away from the delicate nature of the fish.  A thick, crispy batter is great on fried chicken, but has no place on fish - unless you are a fan of Mrs Paul's fish sticks which can hardly be called fish!!

The crab stick was unusual.  I expected to hate it since it didn't seem like an item I would want to have fried.  It was surprisingly delicious.  The dim sum was too mushy for me.  It was similar to a pot sticker that had been battered and then fried.  Maybe the oil wasn't hot enough since it came out soggy.  The flavor was okay so with better execution I would try this one again.  The potato cake seemed like it should have been an easy win but instead was a huge swing and a miss.  If there is anything that can usually be made better it is potatoes in a deep fryer.  Hot and crisp fries, immediately salted after cooking are one of my favorite food items.  Unfortunately in this case, the potato cake had the same problem as the dim sum:  not crisp at all.  It also suffered for not having any potato flavor - really no flavor at all.  The regular chips seemed redundant given we had potato cakes.  The chips were much better but sadly had not been salted fresh from the fryer so they also lacked flavor.  I did add some malt vinegar and then some salt which helped but these were not excellent chips.  Go back to blog Part One where the Charles Dickens Tavern served up some fantastic fries!!

After lunch we went to the Melba Gully which is a rainforest.  I always expect it to rain when I go to a rainforest - but it didn't at this one.  It actually hailed!!  Such crazy weather here in Melbourne!!   We saw some of the tallest trees on the planet (second to only the Sequoia in California, the world's only carnivorous snail (it eats insects)  and a waterfall cascade.

 

One of my favorite things to experience in other countries is to see what snack foods other cultures enjoy.  I have found that every country has some kind of snack chip - usually almost always a potato chip - and you can find out about what flavor profiles they enjoy based on the types of chips.  I mentioned earlier I had gone to 7-11 to pick up some snacks.  This was one of them and it was time to try them.

The flavor was more like a mild BBQ flavor which only a mild hint of heat.    The other flavor was a bit wilder.  Surprisingly they had nailed the steak flavor.  The chimichurri flavor was muted and the chips would have been better with a bit more of that flavor.

Our next stop was to Port Campbell to see the Twelve Apostles.  No - not those apostles.  These are limestone rock formations made millions of years ago.  Whether there ever were actually twelve separate ones is in dispute.   As of this blog, there are actually seven since one collapsed in 2005.    Depending on weather conditions, you can't always see them all.

The weather on our visit started out sunny.  That quickly changed when the winds picked up and it was like a tropical storm with winds pushing you around, and hail biting at your skin.  Then fifteen minutes later, that stopped and it was sunny again.   Highly recommend visiting this place.

Our next stop was in nearby Shipwreck Beach.  This is a notorious area that was named for all the ships that had tragic circumstances after getting pushed to the seawall here.  The sites you see here are breathtaking.  I had never been to anywhere in the world that looks like this. 

This is the same beach area from different viewing angles.  I really appreciated the massiveness of it all and the power of water, being able to erode these formations.

Our final stop was in Colac which was for a quick dinner before we made the two hour drive back to Melbourne.  As with lunch, we had to make quick decisions on where to go since we only had 45 minutes before the bus had to leave.  The tour guide said her favorite place was a Vietnamese restaurant.  That sounded great to us.   We had to make a made dash across the road to get to the place.  It was so tiny so very hard to move around once we got inside.  We took one look at the menu and my wife and I both knew we would get Pho.  If you haven't had this, it is fragrant, light broth made from brisket and beef bones that is usually flavored with soy and fish sauce.  Then there can be vegetables and herbs like scallions, cilantro or thai basil.  And it comes with rice noodles which when cooked properly are just a bit chewy not unlike a great vermicelli pasta.  It is a very satisfying dish and one this cold afternoon, it was going to be the perfect meal.  We placed our order and were told it would be a few minutes.

There were three tour buses that had stopped in Colac and everyone was under the same deadline where they needed to head back to Melbourne.  You can imagine that every restaurant, including this one was seeing crowds they normally wouldn't see.  The waitress told us there had never been three buses at once before.  Why do I tell you this?  Because it made it so you couldn't get a table to eat your food.   Our waitress noticed our dilemma.  She told us to come with her to the office next door.  It sounded like a strange request, but since we had no where to sit in the main restaurant, it was our best option if we were to have a place to eat our Pho.  She led us to this place.

At some time in the recent past, this space had been some type of financial company, now out of business.  It looked like the owners of the restaurant were using it for storage and maybe an eventual expansion.  We didn't get into details.  Quickly, the owner had others help her get a large table and chairs into the space where we were told to sit.  It was very odd, but we actually felt like VIPs!!  

The soup came and it was everything you would want in a Pho.  Meaty broth, tender beef and al dente rice noodles.  It was as perfect as I had hoped and a great end to this day of amazing sites.  

Our next stop is Launceston (pronounced Lon-nes-ton) Tasmania.  My next blog will have information on our travel there from Melbourne and our first days there in that small town. 

Favorites from Melbourne Victoria Australia: Part One

We are currently on a two week trip in Australia.  It is a beautiful country to visit and well worth the investment in time you need to make for the long flights.  Most flights in the United States leave from the West Coast (Los Angeles or San Francisco) and I know of one that was leaving from Houston but that was tied up in the 787 MAX issue so is nor currently flying as of this blog.  Wherever you fly from in the United States, plan on it being nearly a whole day or more of travelling.  We left our house in Tampa at 4:45 AM Australia time on Sunday November 10th and landed in Melbourne at 10 AM Monday.  The flight from San Francisco alone was 16+ hours.  So you may feel like this is a one in a lifetime type of vacation.  It doesn't have to be.  Let me add a little history.  Back in 2012 my wife and I found an inexpensive trip to Australia that included the main cities.  We flew into Melbourne for three nights, then had three nights in Cairns (the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef) and then finished up with three nights in Sydney.  What a great trip, especially being able to experience the sea turtles at the Great Barrier Reef.  Melbourne became one of our favorite cities in the word.  We loved the friendly people, easy to navigate streets, free hop on/hop off bus around downtown and the great food!! 

We are both big fans of oysters and had the most amazing ones we ever had in Sydney on that 2012 trip.  We asked the server where they were from and they said Tasmania.   We both looked at each other and knew we had to get there. We didn't have time to visit Tasmania (or Tassie as all the Aussies seem to call it) on that trip, but we pledged to come back some day.  Would we be able to make it back?  Neither of us knew since we tend not to visit the same countries again with so many others that still need visiting.  So this trip, is that pledge realized.  I joked with my wife that Tasmania is our Troy, the famous lost Greek city.  "We have found our Troy!".   This was a reference to a couple we met on a trip many years ago to Turkey.  This couple had been to all places mentioned in Homer's Iliad except Troy,  The city of Troy is (allegedly) in Canakkale Turkey and we got to visit it on that trip to Turkey.  The husband was quite overcome with joy upon seeing it.  Whether it was really Troy, I don't know.  Seemed suspicious, but I am not a Greek historian and wasn't about to burst his epic bubble. So at least you know why we made the trek back to Australia and focused this trip mainly on Tassie.

We had landed at Melbourne (pronounced Mel-bin by the locals) airport at 10AM.  It was a very quick process through baggage claim and immigration.    Australia is one of the countries where you are supposed to have at least six blank visa pages in your passport, else you can't enter (or exit) the country.  We both met that requirement, but it was never checked.  The reason is that Australia, like many other countries, has adopted much more mechanized immigration processes.  They have self serve kiosks where you scan your passport, answer a few security questions and then off you go.  We were in the arrivals lobby by 10:30 waiting for our transfer.  We had actually planned on it taking about an hour but it was super fast.

We went to our hotel and as we expected, it was too early to check into our room.  They held our luggage and our next objective was to find some lunch until our room was ready.  Like most other big cities, you can walk in any direction and find something.  Melbourne has an eclectic population so you can find nearly any food you like.  On our ride from the airport there were countless noodle restaurants, Thai, Chinese, Hot Pot and many others.   What we needed the most at this time was just a place that had some wifi, cocktails and some decent pub food.  We weren't trying to be too adventurous - yet.

We found the Charles Dicken Tavern which sounded like it would meet our requirements.

Catching the Sunday afternoon NFL games with a pot of beer.

Whenever I go to a pub for the first time, a great test of their food is to try a burger. I went with the signature Dickens Burger. The patty had crisp edges which really adds to the umani!! And they put the greens (rocket in this case) on the bottom which helps keep the bun from getting soggy.   They were dressed with a little garlic aioli.  You will find that in Europe (and also Australia) rocket is the name used for what we would know in the US as arugula.  While I agree they are very similar, I have found that rocket doesn't have that peppery bite you get from most arugula.  It could have something to do with how or where it is grown.  

The surprise addition was a sweet and spicy pepper relish on the top of the burger!!   When I was growing up, there was something my dad would always buy called piccalilli.  I recall it being made by the Howard company. It was a sweet and somewhat spicy pepper relish and what was on this burger reminded me of that.  The chips were super hot and crisp, made even better with a touch of malt vinegar. Terrific burger and a good start to the trip.

Dickens Burger with Crisp Chips

We also had some delicious calamari strips.    These were tender and well fried served with a garlic aioli (might have been the same one that dressed the rocket on the burger).

Fried calamari

After lunch our room was ready so we were headed back to the hotel.  One of the ways we like to fight jet lag after long flights is to immediately jump into the time zone where you land.  Your body will likely fight you on this and want to sleep, but it has really helped us in the past.  We tend to book an excursion that is led by a tour guide so we don't have to figure out too much stuff.  In this case, we had booked a bar tour of Melbourne.  We were going to visit between three and five bars and then at each one we were able to buy what we wanted.  This was a welcome change to bar tours we have done before where you show up at the place and receive their signature cocktail or shot which may be something you don't even like.  The way this tour was conducted was more to my liking so we could order what we wanted (or nothing at all).

Melbourne has lots of street art and also green spaces where some alleys are turned into gardens.

First stop was at Madame Brussels which was an actual bordello "back in the day".    I tried a sour beer called Wolf of the Willows Jalisco Sour.  It had a pronounced "smokey" taste which must have been from the "charred pineapple" listed as one of the ingredients and flavor profiles.  I am glad I tried it since it was so different that other sour beers I have had,

Our next stop was at a recently converted parking lot called Ascot Lot.  Here we found a food truck that had a few sandwiches and differents beers.  I tried the Black Cherry Acid from 3 Ravens Brewery. This was closer to the sours I have sampled in the United States.

Our next stop was at the Croft Institute.  This is at the end of a very long alley which I would definitely have second thoughts walking down if it was dark.   Even during the day, the alley was a bit sketchy.   Once we arrived, we found it to be a craft cocktail bar which was themed around chemistry.  I think they must have found an abandoned high school and taken anything they could find from the Chem Lab.

The bartender here lets you tell him the type of cocktail you like and he will make you something.  Such as gin cocktail that is sweet.  Or in my case a bourbon cocktail with some sour.   I got what I could call a whiskey sour - with emphasis on the sour. So much that you couldn't taste any bourbon at all which seemed to be a waste of a good bourbon.  I liked the concept here, but the execution needs some work.

Upstairs you will find the Department of Hygiene (aka bathrooms).

Our final stop was at Union Electric which was a rooftop bar specializing in gin cocktails.  I got the Gin Botanica was such a well balanced cocktail.  Just enough bite from the Citadelle gin, that unique taste of elderflower liquor paired with a surprise ingredient:  Apple Juice from Adelaide Hills here in Australia.  I never would have connected apples with Australia but they are a thing!!  The cocktail came with a nice slice of cucumber and edible flowers.  Absolutely my favorite cocktail of the day!! 

I also tried a Tropical Sour Cider from Hills Cider.  This was so delicious since it was not sweet.  I don't like most ciders since they can be too sweet.  This was refreshing, but be careful since it was surprisingly 8% ABV!!  

As it was approaching 7PM, we felt we were getting close to our bedtime.  We had pushed our bodies into the Australian time zone, but they were fighting back!!  We headed back to the hotel (only about 1 10 minute walk) and we would get prepared for our full day excursion on the Great Ocean Road tomorrow.