Viet Rose, Melbourne

A friend of a friend had pointed out the existence of trendy Brunswick Street, lined with numerous boutiques and cafes and that sounded like a lovely way to pass the early afternoon. We walked north along the street – here’s a tip, just keep going! The first part of the street doesn’t look at all promising but I assure you that many shops will show up. We popped into a Vietnamese grocer and inquired as to a Vietnamese restaurant nearby and he told us to go to Viet Rose, further up the road.

When we got here, the place was just starting to fill up with the lunch crowd and so we happily took a table by the window. The lunch menu had many good value dishes – rice, fried noodles, cold noodles, soup noodles were all covered. I ordered the spring rolls on rice vermicelli and a Vietnamese iced coffee while my friend chose the mixed meat fried noodles and a side order of summer rolls.

Not five minutes after our ordering, the server was back but with a plate of mixed meat fried rice. We sent it back, pointing again at the menu where mixed meat fried noodles was listed. All our orders did come correctly soon after but we then saw the same server try to give a similar (maybe it was the same?) plate of fried rice to the ladies sitting next to us….well…that was weird. Were they trying to get rid of a plate of unwanted fried rice? Double check your order if you visit!

My Vietnamese coffee was exceptionally sweet and I had to wait until a lot of the ice had melted before I could drink the syrupy joe. The spring rolls on top of my noodles were totally different from any other Vietnamese rolls I’ve had. They were tiny little rolls filled with a pure prawn paste – very delicious and quite unique. Pork, chicken or vegetables are other filling options. I was told that my friend’s noodles were also delicious but her summer rolls were mostly wrapping and not enough filling.

We walked out stuffed and pretty happy overall. But again, remember what you ordered and don’t accept anything else!

Viet Rose
363 Brunswick St
Melbourne

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A Real Aussie Barbie!

My second and last day in Sydney was spent mostly lazing around – I really just wanted to live like a local. And what do the locals do? They have barbecues, of course!

Wow, they really do live up to their barbecuing stereotypes and I was treated to an impromptu barbie that night. We made a trip that afternoon to Paddy’s Market and Chinatown to pick up potatoes, beef steaks, lamb chops and baby octopus. The potatoes were boiled for potato salad, the beef and lamb were rubbed with olive oil, and the baby octopus was marinated in chopped garlic and sweet chili sauce.

That night, the barbie was fired up (gas) and on went the steaks, chops, octopus and even some pork sausages too. (And no, we did not throw shrimp on the barbie that night!) Oh, the smell that came off that grill was spectacular! What a terrific, and meaty, dinner that was!

Things I learned that night:
In Australia, they call sausages “snags”. As in, “grab those snags off the barbie!” and my response of “the WHAT?!”
You now how they say “Aus-trah-lian” in the Fosters ads? They don’t say that in Australia – they say “Aus-tray-an”. Or at least, I’ve heard people in both Sydney and Melbourne say that.
Finally, Australians really do have barbies! 😀

Paddy’s Market
next to Chinatown
Sydney

 

Sydney’s Fish Market

When I arrived at the Sydney Fish Market, my first thoughts were, “I didn’t expect it to look like this!” I expected it to look more like a wholesale fish market but what I saw instead was a building filled with stalls selling both raw and cooked fish, ready to be cooked and eaten on the spot or taken home. There was plenty of both indoor and outdoor seating and I could see groups of people at each table huddled over vast spreads of seafood. Lots of people were also looking for tables while carrying huge platters of both raw and fried seafood. Oh yeah!

We grabbed a table and this is what we managed to consume.

Nigiri sushi:

Very large boiled prawns:

Oysters:

Grilled calamari:

Fish and chips!

Everything was just so so fresh and most of the seafood was fished from Australian waters. Go! I’d say this market is a must if you like seafood – visit if you’re in Sydney!

Sydney Fish Market

 

Toby’s Estate, Sydney

After Brisbane, I took a Virgin Blue flight to Sydney. The weather couldn’t have been more different – from hot and sticky in Brisbane to chilly and wet in Sydney. Oh well, lucky for me the weather cleared up by the second day.

I was taken to Toby’s for my first breakfast in Sydney. Their coffee was very delicious and actually, I just wanted to share this art I encountered on top of my flat white (Australian term for a coffee and milk combo similar to a latte)!

They also serve some nice sandwiches and baked goods but their coffee is the thing to have.

Toby’s Estate Roastery & Espresso Bar
129 Cathedral Street
Woolloomooloo, Sydney
Australia

 

Jade Buddha, Brisbane

On our last night in Brisbane, for some bizarre reason, all of us (me and colleagues) wanted steak. Perhaps this was due to all the cold sandwiches and salads we were fed at the conference? One colleague went off to the Hilton to ask the concierge to recommend a place and Jade Buddha was a name that he brought back. So off we went!

First impressions of Jade Buddha were that it was loud and that it looked hip. My impressions were spot on – it’s the only place I’ve been to that has a coin-operated hair straightener in the ladies’ bathroom! Most of the women sported ironed hair and short skirts and they flicked their eyes up and down on you as you walked to your table. It definitely wasn’t my kind of place.

Almost all of us ordered the eye fillet with potato gratin, myself included. Hey, remember we wanted steak! Steaks were cooked exactly as we ordered them and the sauce it came with was quite nice – brown butter based, I think. It was all quite nice but nothing special; it was just well cooked. The steaks also came with a small side of broccolini and I ate that like it was going out of fashion (off a friend’s plate too…heh…maybe I needed my vegetables).

Desserts were very weak. We ordered a fried ice cream (ice cream in a coconut batter crust), a chocolate Buddha (gooey choc pudding) and a sticky date pudding to share and I found them all to be both overly rich and much too sweet. Looks like this restaurant is mainly a place to be seen – once again, not my kind of place.

Jade Buddha
1 Eagle Street
Eagle Street Pier
Brisbane