Friday 17 April 2015

Foodie Experience in Australia

I am back from over two weeks "Down Unda"! My first time to Australia saw me travelling between Sydney, Melbourne and some of the Victoria countryside. This blog post is a little bit of visual and written reminiscing of what was a great culinary trip.

1. Breakfasts. Boy, do the Aussies know how to make a good breakie and lucky for me, breakie is one of my favourite meals! Some of my top tips are...
  • The Fine Food Store in Sydney. Don't be put off by the name, it serves up some amazing breakfasts with plenty of indoor and outdoor seating and with a real focus on healthy foods and with varying dietary needs catered for but with great flavour being paramount.
  • Bills. I am sure you have heard of the well known Australian TV chef and restauranteur Bill Granger. Well he has a few spots around Sydney and on a bleak beach day in Bondi of all places, we happily sheltered from the rain in Bill's and enjoyed a late breakie. This place packs up fast and I believe we were lucky to get a seat without having to wait or pre-book. Bill's is worth a visit.
  • Avocados - they love them and serve them very frequently in breakfast dishes. Go for it. A simple sourdough toast and avo is a thing of beauty.
  • Manly/Bondi/Beach locations - Ideally get the ferry to Manly and stroll along the well signposted coastal walks and enjoy a lazy breakfast/brunch at one of the many cafés.
  • The Flour and Stone or whatever may be your local bakery. We found this particular place thanks to TripAdvisor and it was literally two minutes from our hotel. It served some of the tastiest breakfasts and most luscious pastries and coffees. It is teeny tiny and evidently beloved by the locals. We noticed repeat business when we visited, which is always a positive!
Breakfast Panini with poached egg, bacon, cheese, spinach and chilli jam at Fine Food Store

Spelt & agave granola at Fine Food Store

Bill's Granola with Greek yogurt and fruit compote

Chilli fried egg and bacon brioche roll

Cappuccino perfection at Bill's


Almond Croissant

Cute capped boiled egg and sourdough with avo at Flour and Stone

Flour and Stone's granola



Yarra Valley strawberries, granola bites, mint - a stunning breakfast in Melbourne

2. Websites. This is a quickie. Do check out and rely on...
  • Urbanlist - location based articles.
  • Eater - where you search by map location and it is just brilliant on your smart phone.
  • Instagram is a treasure trove of foodie delights from Australia. I loved the photos of theworldlovesmelbourne, sydneylovesatfirstbite, 2hungryguys and twogirlsonefork to name but a few...

3. Fast food! Well I mean the slightly slower and better quality variety. I had a couple of delicious burgers in Australia, feast your eyes on some photos here... One included a typical burger at a family BBQ, served with fried egg and beetroot! Not bad at all and as they say, when in Rome...
Pizzas too are pretty amazing and you will be in luck if you are a gluten-intolerant pizza fan; they're accommodating about these type of things.

"Tipperary" (went down well with the Tipp man!) burger at Boathouse

Local farm beef burger with the most tasty chipotle sauce, also Boathouse!
Gluten-free pizza deliciousness at Max, Melbourne

Chicken breast burger and formidable chips at Max, Melbourne

4. Asian Cuisine. Any and every variety of Asian food can be found and enjoyed in Australia. We particularly love Thai food and were delighted to find a cheap and cheerful local spot near us in Sydney, as well as a far busier spot called Chat Thai with locations in Thai Town and Manly among others.

Menus at Chat Thai

Emerald Duck (above) and Massaman Curry (below) at Chat Thai


5. Daylesford - we visited this idyllic spa town as it was the location for the main event of our trip - my friend's wedding day! It is a foodie haven about an hour and a half outside Melbourne. Boathouse served those wonderful burgers shown above in a fabulous lakeside location and there is a great little wine bar/restaurant that also serves tasting menus, it's called the Perfect Drop. Larder is a super breakfast spot and there is an array of bakeries to enjoy. Australians LOVE their coffee and if you're a coffee aficionado, you won't go wrong with coffee in this quaint little town.

A hunk of beef at the Perfect Drop

Here are a few final foodie photos to tempt you even further. 

Pancakes...mmm!

Healthfood quiche and salad in a Daylesford café

Mouthwatering Tasmanian steak with fries at Bergerac Restaurant, Melbourne

Creme Brulée at Bergerac

Sticky Date Pudding at Bergerac

By the by, the lack of wine, which is quite uncharacteristic for me, is due to our bun in the oven, set to join us in September this year! Any other time, winery visits and wine recommendations would feature prominently for sure! We do hope our little foodie-to-be also enjoyed plenty of the delicious foods we sampled and loved during our time in Australia.


2 comments:

  1. Sounds like a fab trip Nollaig. And congrats again on your lovely news!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks a lot. It was certainly a great trip with many happy memories!

      Delete