Australian Journal #1

Hello everyone and a very happy Merdeka to all Malaysians!

Yes, finally. An update on Australia! It'll only be a short one but I hope it'll do much justice.

As some of you know, I'm in Melbourne primarily for education purposes. Aside from that, being someone who has lived in Malaysia literally for her entire life, I thought I should give a shot at experiencing the life of being an independent person.

This trip is where I leave a second set of my footprints in Melbourne. I guess this is the experience that I've missed out on because I was on tour the last time I was here rather on a self-exploration journey.

Unfortunately, food isn't on the top of the list for "Best Melbourne Experience". Without hesitation, I put the people first. With regards to that, there is much to say about Melbournians. For instance:

This guy definitely has a Masters in Photobombing.

Prime example of an Australian, if you'd ask me. "Friendly" would be an understatement for this young lad. "They know how to enjoy life" would be more appropriate words to describe the people here.

I have my own fair share of friendly people around me especially those living in the same hall as I am. I got lost in my hall itself wandering for half an hour and looking my room only leading to failure. I guess I am to be blamed for I define a woman with bad directions but the 8-hour flight and the 1-hour journey to the campus drained me too. After unpacking, my shelves were empty and I could only think of one thing. Food.

I am utmost grateful for my neighbours who volunteered to take me out to Brandon's Park to grab groceries, a couple of essential items like plates, a lamp, hangers, SIM card etc. With that, I would consider myself settled in and only within a couple of hours after arriving which was self-surprising.

Aside from that, Australians have their own slang in which I am still trying to pick up. They shorten words so much it's just weird. For instance, "arvo" means "afternoon" (I have no idea how that is derived) and "brollie" means "umbrella".

From personal experiences, they use quite a fair bit of sarcasm in their conversations. Which reminded me of this Big Bang Theory scene:

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Anyway, my friends and I arrived in Melbourne when it was 6 degrees and raining. It was extremely hard to sleep at night without a comforter. I was personally freezing inside and out and that was when I thought, "Thank goodness I'm not in Canada or Moscow!" But as winter passes, the weather got more merciful. This was one of the best days ever and it so happened to be the day we decided to shop.

 

Beautiful, beautiful day to walking by the Yarra River and shopping at DFO South Wharf!

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Speaking of food, oh boy, I didn't know where to start as I was typing this out.

But these were what my friends and I had during my first trip to the city:

Slow roasted lamb with tomatoes, red onions and chips. [$9.00]

Yes, I wanted to try Greek food badly so we discovered this restaurant that serves Greek street food. I was expecting the chips to be served as a side order, but little did I know, they included them in the souvlaki and pita which tasted amazing! Not too sure how authentic this is for I have not had any Greek food before. If you know any Greek places I should try out in Melbourne, by all means, drop a comment or email me!

 

Greek village salad [$8.00]

Information:

Restaurant name: Kalamaki - Greek Street Food

Address: 389, Londsdale St, Melbourne, VIC 3000

Contact no.: 0396024444

Website: www.kalamakigsf.com.au

 

The dessert theme was French!

 

La Mongolfiere [$10.00] which looks like a scrumptious, ginormous dumpling. Inside is vanilla ice cream.

Close up shot of the berry and whipped cream.

La Charabotte [$10.00] of homemade salted caramel, bananas and vanilla ice cream.

This was the one with flames is La Suzon [$11.50] or orange marmalade, warm melted chocolate and grand marnier under the "Les Flambées" section. Sadly, I didn't catch a snapshot of the flames. This dish, without the flames, is absolutely bland for it'll be missing a scoop of ice cream.

And I absolutely love the deco!

Information:

Knock yourselves out!

I shall update soon. Thanks for reading and have a very pleasant day ahead! (:

The Pre-Melbournified Duo Special

Hey all! So this is the exclusive double post as promised. I'd like to introduce you to a new (perhaps as of now, not-so-new) place my dad discovered before I left for Melbourne which I really love. The next section will feature new items on the new menu for Burgertory.

I apologize for taking ages because I've been spending the past couple of days settling in and finding my way around everywhere. Melbourne is too amazing. Happy reading!

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CAFFEine, Setia Walk Puchong

Setting

Nothing like your usual Starbucks or Coffee Bean, obviously. A different setting, more casual-like and homey yet has that industrial-warehouse theme to it - most probably because of its cement floor and lighting style. Is this the in thing now?

View from the entrance of the restaurant.

Coffee-making counter - heavily industry themed i.e. the glass rack and brick counter style.

Of course, wooden tables. The stools are pretty cute!

There is no exact standardization for the design of tables and chairs which adds to the casualness of the entire setting.

Sacks on the wall to further enhance the warehouse theme. Not too sure what's going on with the rainbow-coloured curtain for the toilet though.

They also have plenty of stuffs going on on the display counter! 

Ice cream sticks and those paper clips. Genius. 

Usually people would display just the croissants, but this one displays the butter and jam too. Well, at least we know what they're serving!

RM10.50 for a slice? No, thank you.

Tea display! Interesting brand. 

Proudly displaying their coffee makers.

 

This one has quite an in-depth philosophical meaning behind. Methinks.

Menu

Typical white/light coloured chalk-ish style on blackboard. And I'm not complaining. 

What went into our tummies

Chocolate Baileys Crepe [RM17.50]

The word "enjoy" put a smile on my face that night. I distinctively remembered that. Price wise, I thought it was a lil' steep. 

Ice Blended Caramel [RM12.00]

The RM6.00 coffee which dad said was okay. 

Ice Blended Strawberry Banana [RM12.00]

Looks just about a large scoop of strawberry ice cream to me.

So I got the ice cream for free because I checked in on Foursquare. A tip for you peeps, always check Foursquare when you're at restaurants, particularly franchises or decently big places. And I do not mean go around checking everywhere you go like your house in which some of you may refer to as your "Castle" or something. I mean utilizing the application for its actual purpose. Some places have promotions and free stuffs you do not want to miss! And psst.. Mayorships mean nothing in the real world the minute you log out of that app!

Setia Walk is crowded during weekend nights generally because of the bars and late dinnners. When I was there, I saw many families as well. I guess the entire design of the space attracted many people's attention. Somehow, it felt like a good escape from the traffic jam just outside the walls of the structure.

I should warn you that parking is absolutely horrid at night if you try to get the public space. So what you should do is to head down straight to the season parking area. It's open on weekends I believe. At least that's what I did. But then again, season parking is usually only for weekdays so I don't see why not.

Information:

Address: G-09-1, Level 1, Block G, SetiaWalk, Persiaran Wawasan, Pusat Bandar Puchong, 47160 Puchong, Selangor.
Operating days: All except Tuesdays
Operating hours: 2.00 p.m. - 11.00 p.m. (Mondays, Wednesdays - Fridays), 12.00 p.m. - 11.00 p.m (Saturdays & Sundays)
Contact no.: +60358790033
Website: http://caffeine.my/
Email: info@caffeine.my
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/caffeine.my

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Burgertory's New Items

Have I told you that I'm a sucker for peanut butter? No? I probably did, I think. It's something you must know about me. I think I inherited this trait from my dad because he loves peanut butter too.

The new menu! *puts on Caption Obvious hat*

This is definitely an improvement from the previous menu design. The red background gives it a more fiery look and the fonts are bold and clear. The frame is a plus point to the design, giving it a more classy yet strong look.

So anyway, these are the two new burgers my friend, Brandon and I ordered the other day.

Blue Label [RM19.00] which Brandon said was excellently done and that the blue cheese is amazing. [Add RM9.00 for Burgertory Fry Combo]

And my order of the Skippy Bacon [RM16.00] with complimentary wedges from the chef.

Just look at that layer of peanut butter. Just look at it!

The only peanut-butter-in-burger I've ever had was the Peanut Butter Bacon from Crayon Burger (reviewed here) and that was only satisfying. This one is an exception. Firstly, the use of Skippy peanut butter which is an amazing brand. It is smooth, creamy, not light and frothy and has the right density of flavour for peanut butter. Secondly, the ingredients are arranged in a way that the flavours do not clash. The patty's moisture and flavour is maintained because of the layer of veggies between the peanut butter and patty. I do think the veggie layer helps very much in distinguishing both the ingredients. Also, they use cheddar mild cheese which doesn't have an intense flavour. The bacon is perfectly fine up there by itself. Last but not least, well... did I mention peanut butter?

If you'd like a healthier option, I suggest having their salad as opposed to the fried options to accompany your burger. I love the fried stuffs, I cannot lie. But do give the salad a try for once! I've had the Swine Belly Salad and had this image of a balanced meal in my head which made me feel less guilty. Trust me, it works.

For more information on Burgertory, click here.

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Wishing all my Muslim readers Selamat Hari Raya from Melbourne! Stay safe on the roads and have a pleasant journey. To everyone else, happy holidays and enjoy yourselves! I'll be back with Melbourne stories soon (: Cheers!


If there's a place you wish for me to visit in Melbourne, drop me an email with the description of the place i.e. website, Facebook page, location.