So last year I passed a small milestone. I turned 30. Not one to generally pay attention to the whole passing of time thing, I figured I was mostly immune from any sort of anxiety or insecurity at having reached a new notch on the belt of life. I leave that kind of thing to women with ticking biological clocks and guys hoping to be millionaires by the time they’re 40 who’ve realised they have bugger all chance of that ever happening. So with neither a hormonal imbalance I’m aware of, nor a particular desire to achieve anything, I thought I was in the clear.
That was of course, until I awoke on the morning of my birthday, looked into the streaky mirror of my windowless room in Melbourne’s crappiest hotel and noticed a crease right between my eyes that I swear was not there the day before.
With the panic of my diminishing youthful beauty starting to kick in, I managed to remind myself that perhaps the lead up I’d had to that morning was not the most skin rejuvenating way to approach such a milestone. But then I figured if it was going to happen, it was going to happen in style. So after finishing the bag of salt and vinegar chips, that had seemed like such a good idea the night before, I dragged myself out of bed and lurched into my future…
As a way of making it possible for me to even contemplate writing this up, and to keep the casual reader entertained whilst reading what can only be described as one man’s quest to develop gout as quickly as possible, I’ll try and concisely recount the events of the week I spent in Melbourne for my birthday.
This is going to be a work in progress post, so I’ll go back and update details for each place I’ve mentioned when I get a chance, and when prompted by the hordes of Melbournites looking for details on each one :) For now i’ve just included the names of each restaurant / cafe I went to and the photos I took at the time.
So it goes a little something like this…
Fly in Monday 14th of September at some ridiculous hour. Head to Hotel Enterprize (yes, it’s spelled with a Z) on Spencer St, henceforth known as The Crappiest Hotel in Melbourne (TCHIM). Drop my bags into a windowless box of a room next to an air vent, and head out looking for coffee. Along with me were Ben and Jen, long time sufferers of my gourmet wankery and fellow birthday road trippers (BRT’s), as Jen’s birthday is around the same time.
So I had a relatively forgettable flat white at The Dancing Goat (looked nice, but pulled too long and had a funk to it), then met up with the Frenchies for extremely good value pizza at +39. I loved the menu and even the excessive number of business people didn’t dampen the bustling vibe. Everything looked and tasted great, particularly liked the calabrese and pumpkin varieties. Let just say $12 pizzas look a lot different where I come from.
+39
Brother Baba Budan
Then it was over to Brother Baba Budan for coffee. If you haven’t heard of this place then I’m not sure where you’ve been. BBB was the second cafe opened by the godfather of the Melbourne speciality coffee scene, Mark Dundon. It’s tiny, ridiculously cramped, and consistently has a line out the door. I tried a Kenyan Wamugump through the Clover and recall it tasting delicate and fruity.
Caboose
A little more wandering around and with a lingering thirst, I stopped by Caboose on Swanston St for a glass of wine, although apparently I was in entirely the wrong place and should totally have gone to La Vita Buona (according to That Jess Ho), which is way better. Regardless the petit chablis and rose du provence went down nicely and imbued my adventuring spirit. The fit out is done like an old timey train carriage, which more or less works. Though sitting outside and swatting a billion little flies away from my wine glass meant most of it was lost on me.
The Grace Darling
And so to my first meetup with some of the Melbourne Food blogging Mafia (Ed, Jess, Claire). I’d done some pre-arranging and Jess decided that The Grace Darling in Collingwood might be a decent spot to catch up with a few people for a casual drink and something to eat. With the Frenchies and BRT’s in tow we navigated the trams and made it there early. The Grace Darling apparently used to be quite a dive until it was done up recently, and I quite liked it for the most part. My pork chop with apple and fennel salad was tasty and stealing Ed’s chips from his deconstructed parmiagana was entertaining. Like poking a bear with a stick. After a bottle or two of the Wolseley Pinot Noir and a whole bunch of lame food talk, we did what any self respecting food bloggers should, and went for more drinks.
The Black Pearl
This would become a faithful friend during the short week I was in Melbourne, and the end point to a number of big nights. The bar tender Chris Hysted has a huge reputation in Melbourne, and the greater Fitzroy area as a cocktail master, as his recent awards would attest, though apparently noone elses agrees with me that he looks like Johnny Depp. Ed seems to favour a drink called the “fog cutter”, which to me tasted like pure alcohol poured into a tiki mug. Fortunately there were plenty of other things to my liking, and requests for virtually any drink were met with keen interest and a historical breakdown of all methodologies for making it.
The other great thing about the Black Pearl is that it’s open late virtually every night of the week. Meaning you get a bunch of hospitality crew hanging out there after work, and would explain why we ran into Teague Ezard (Not the last name I’ll drop) and some of his staff from Gingerboy there. Awesome place.
HuTong Dumpling Bar
It’s the next day now. We’ve woken a tad later than expected and it’s close to midday, and I have dumplings on my mind. There are two schools of thought on the internet as to where to go for dumplings. One is cheap and cheerful Camy, the other is better quality HuTong Dumpling Bar. So HuTong gets the vote and off we go, this time with a couple of extra people in tow who’s taste in “ethnic” food could be described as rudimentary (but should actually be called nonexistent). Arriving outside we find the place is full, and it’ll be a little wait to get in. I peer eagerly inside to the small windowed kitchen with chefs rolling thin dumpling skins and deftly twisting the tops to well formed peaks.
The meal however, does not impress. I’m not sure if it’s that fact that our dining companions ordered sweet and sour pork right off the bat (seriously, why is that even on the menu??) or that they just didn’t like my face (it’s happened before), but the service was rude beyond recognition. Food got dumped unceremoniously on the table, with long gaps in between each, and no explanation of when the next was coming.
The dumplings themselves were good, the soup inside rich and warming, but the skin on the xiao long bao (Shanghai soup dumplings) tore nearly every time i picked one up, regardless of how delicate I was. I’d probably go back again If i were there and reassess because I love dumplings. But a place that looks as fancy as HuTong, with suited waiters and fancy cutlery, should not be giving back yard dodgy dim sum house service.
Seven Seeds
Attica
Charcoal Lane
Gertrude St Enoteca & Bahn Mi on Smith St
Cutler & Co
Cumulus Inc
St Ali Outpost
Rockpool Bar & Grill
St Ali
Von Haus
Gingerboy
Seamstress & Siglo
Mr Tulk & Dali Exhibition
High Vibes @ Northcote & Supper Inn
Movida
Bar Lourinha
Hey nice work, both in the execution and recording of the birthday. Creases around the eyes? “Character lines”. ;)
Now thats an eating frenzy.
Cant wait to get my +39 and Hutong fix in a couple of weeks.
Oh you made it to Charcoal Lane with Penny! Wish I could have come too, looks like a great cause with some good food too.
Happy birthday! They say that too much alcohol can cause gout, but surely there is a BA% threshold above which gout can no longer survive?
And err, thanks for the heads up about the top notch accommodation, shall file that information away (hopefully not remembering it later as a recommendation).
Alex: I’m wondering where the rest of my character has been stored up until now then ? :)
Al: It was a frenzy indeed, a non stop plunge into fatty oblivion. My advice with HuTong, expect crappy service, that way you might be pleasantly surprised.
Conor: Yes indeed, met up with Penny a couple of times, those Melbourne food bloggers are good at getting out and about together. Perhaps because they actually have places to go.
I’m not sure I’m willing to test your theory as to BA% and gout, but it’s always good to have options.
Nice work Matt. I should give my Eating Melbourne title up to you – I think you ate it all ;)
And beautiful, beautiful photos. Next time you are in Melbourne I am bailing you up for tips!
What a trip. Not much you didn’t fit in – although surely there was room for the Veiled Quail at Momo?
Happy belated birthday btw
Re: the blogger meetups: I’ve been to three in Melbourne already! This compares to zero in Perth.
Kate: You may just get your wish if I manage to make it over for the Food bloggers conference… First tip don’t be scared to get your camera out :)
Jo: I’m sure there was room for Momo actually, but an inconsiderate friend went and scheduled her wedding during one of the days I was there, thus cutting my precious dining experiences down by at least 3… Next time perhaps.
Matt: That would be because I’m mostly an antisocial bastard in Perth :) And it’s really only been lately that we’ve started to get a few bloggers of note who are keen to actually go out and do things, rather than stay home and bake cupcakes all day…
Hi Matthew, a very entertaining story. Wonder where you get that from? Now I know the reason for the detox when you got back!
Happy belated birthday – 30 is still a young age ;)
Nevermind all the places you have eaten, I am jealous you have gone to the Dali exhibition!
Mmm, looks like you had a delicious time. Apart from TCHIM.
May I suggest next time you check out http://www.magnolia-court.com.au/ – and don’t bother about a suite, the other rooms are fine and breakfast’s pretty good for the price. That’s where we stay when we go to Melbs. Cheaper than a (proper) hotel and I’m pretty sure every room has an actual window ;)
Cheers for the tip Kat, I’ll check them out. Though I do have to admit that TCHIM actually did have nice rooms. They’d gone and built a whole new section of new rooms as an extension to the old hotel. But I didn’t happen to be in that bit…
Realistically I only need a room and a bed when I travel, so little time to sleep when there’s all that eating to be done :)
mate you went everywhere!!! nice shots
Ah, no The Commoner :-(
Awesome pics as usual though.
Updates?? I need notes here… heading over for a few days for work and plotting my works schedule around coffee, meals, drinks. Is it wrong that I’m excited to be going by myself, and therefore free to eat whereever, whenever, whatever the cost?
More importantly, going over for a holiday in a few months and will need more detail in order to prioritise.
Yes, it’s all about me, thanks.
Nice to see like any other typical Perth person you chose to go to the some of the most expensive, overrated and mainstream places.
Not denying that some of the places you’ve profiled are quality but your attempt at being cultured comes across as being superficial. Anyone who has lived In Melbourne for any period of time know there is a lot more to eating out in this city than going to the trendiest places you read about in vogue living, Melbourne has a rich dining and coffee culture that doesn’t necessarily revolve around going to the most expensive trendiest places.
Happy Birthday
What a joyful soul you are Edward. And thanks for reminding me, I totally need to renew my subscription to Vogue Living !
As someone who has never lived in Melbourne, and who’s trips are normally around a week at the most, staying somewhere central, my eating is defined by what other bloggers and people on the ground recommend, what I feel like eating, and how much I can possibly eat in a week.
I’d love to hear some of your Perth dining highlights.