I was only in Melbourne for 5 days (Wed morning to Sunday afternoon) and I did manage to gain 5 lbs!

How did I do it?

1. Chinatown

On my first night, I walked 2km from my hotel to Melbourne’s Chinatown. I was thinking of cheap and “light” meal but this was what I ended up having:

Everything for $20 and I’m sure it’s enough for 2 persons as long as Andrew is not one of them LOL. I ate the 2 pecking duck wraps nad probably half of the congee. I almost didn’t touch the youtiao (fried bread) because it was really oily. The one I had in one of the restaurants in Sydey Chinatown was better.

2. Cheap Japanese Food at Swanston

Second night, I initially intended to go to Cookie along Swanston but it was so packed when I got there and I thought it was not a good place to dine alone. I walked along Swanston and searched though Urbanspoon on my phone. I was reading about DonDon and when I looked up, I was right in front of it. Destiny.

It’s only $6! Having a university around the area allowed these small restaurants to sell cheap food. When I was there, most people did take-away and others finished their food on small tables in less than 5 minutes. You really don’t want to stay long inside as it’s small and packed.

3. La Petite Creperie along Swanston

Since I only spent $6 for dinner, I thought maybe I could do some dessert. I went back to Urbanspoon and search for the dessert places along Swanston. It lead me to this crepe stand.

For $5, yung get sugar crepes, and for $6 you get to add nutella or other jams. Their best seller is the salted caramel so I had try it. I had to wait 20 mins for my crepe. That’s how popular this stand is, several people are taking photos (and I’m one of them) like it’s a tourist spot.

4. Chinese Banquet at Man Mo Docklands

I met up with my ex colleagues in Ericsson Philippines. Both Richard and Emy are now working at Ericsson Melbourne, and we decided to have dinner around the Docklands area where their office is located. We had a banquet at Mon Ma, a chinese/malaysian restaurant.

I didn’t bring my camera and we were having good conversation so I wasn’t able to take photo of all the dishes. I got this list from their website (click here):

Lettuce Cup Delight
Steamed S.A Half Shelled Scallops
Black Peppercorn Prawns
Baked Salmon Fillet in Miso Sauce
Cantonese Eye Fillet Beef
Special Fried Rice

The beef was really awesome, it was so tender and bursting with flavors. I wonder what do they add to it. After the last meal, I was gasping for breathe as I was so full!

5. Big Breakfast at St Ali

Andrew had been talking about this St. Ali even when we still didn’t have schedule to go to Melbourne, so it was number one on our list come Saturday. We took a tram from city center to South melbourne. St Ali is one of a kind artsy cafe, it makes you feel like you went to a cafe just few blocks away from your house (even if we actually had to fly to get there). And it seems very popular. The place was so busy that Saturday morning.

They have a signature way of cooking eggs: 60 mins on 60 degrees. It’s similar to poached eggs but more goo-ey. Even the egg whites were soft.

I wasn’t impressed with their coffee though. And Andrew was pissed off, he just had a sip from his flat white and didn’t touch it after. He was looking forward to that coffee only to find out it was not as good as what he had before.

6. Sweets Galore at Acland, St Kilda

This is my Disneyland. It’s like a street of just sweets. I already went here on my first visit and I made sure I wouldn’t miss it the second time. Actually, I’ll never visit Melbourne without going to Acland!

First we had was this dessert from Monarch Cakes, Kooglehoupf ! Thanks to my friend Tuni for suggesting it!

Was so good we bought a whole cake to take home to Sydney.

After we walked along Acland street, I wasn’t hungry for lunch but I feel like I want to try the other sweets! I told Andrew, “Maybe we can have more sweets because we’re not having lunch, we only had breakfast!” Refer to the photo above to see the size of that “we only had breakfast.

We had these in exchange for our lunch:

and

Because we are fatties like that.

7. Sangria at funky bars

$5 Sangria during happy hour! And with atmosphere like this, you’ll like to have more than 1 glass. I wasn’t able to get the name of this bar, but it’s located behind the DFO at docklands.

8. Indian Banquet dinner

Saturday night, we were thinking on where to go for dinner. He said Indian food might be good. We searched in Urbanspoon. I said we’ll get the banquet!

I guess it will be a signature dinner for our trips (we had Indian Banquet dinner also at Tasmania), have an Indian banquet dinner and retire the day with bloated but happy tummies.

9.  Coffee!

I had at least 2 coffees per day starting wednesday, I was trying the cafes around my hotel. The best one (for me) was Little Wish, which is located on the same building as where I had my training along Little Bourke. Too bad it’s closed on weekends, Andrew was not able to try it.

On Saturday, we had coffee at: St. Ali, Dead Man Espresso (few blocks away from St Ali) and Monarch Cakes.

And on Sunday, we went to the famous Brother Buba Budan (because everyone’s telling us to do so). I went there on my first trip to Melbourne and thought that the coffee wasn’t so spectacular. But of course, I didn’t trust my own opinion as Im not really a coffee drinker. But according to Andrew, it’s really not that great. So our verdict for BBB: not the best coffee in Melbourne, sorry.

10. Queen Victoria Markets

Queen Victoria Markets is not just for cheap clothes and souvenirs, it’s also for fresh foods and delicacies. We didn’t go through the meat and seafood market because we can’t take them to Sydney. We went straight to the pavilion where food is ready to eat. And it did not disappoint! For $2.50, you can get either a lamb or a spinach and cheese Borek. It’s baked pastry with filling.

We did not miss the bratwurst. We actually had 2 each that day. I had the original and chorizo, while Andrew got 2 of the cheese-flavored. My excuse was because we didn’t have breakfast anyway. Haha!

And lastly, my day wouldn’t be complete without desserts!

I was grateful Sydney doesn’t have something like the QVM, else I’ll be so fat. Um, more fat I mean! 🙂