Melbourne - Day 3
I woke up a little later today at 10+am, but I still felt quite tired. Had some international roast coffee which perked me up (yeaa, i'm back to coffee after 4months of abstaining and detoxification..it's hard not to revert when u're in Australia where the coffee is so good and can be found everywhere), then it was off to the Asian minimart at Clayton's to get some groceries for the week. The minimart is probably the best solution to getting authentic Asian food and snacks, only the prices are abit steep. Then again, it's melbourne.
After dropping off the groceries at Yuting's place, we made our way to the city (train stop: melbourne central), where we had lunch at Stalactites, a rather well-known restaurant for its genuine Greek cuisine. I've never had a good impression of greek food (it's all greek to me), but Stalactites was not too bad. It served food very similar to that of the Turks and Middle East. We ordered a platter of mixed dips (AUD6 for small but we paid AUD9.50 cuz the waiter wrote down our order as large instead) which consisted of Tzatziki (the white dip), Hommus (light brown dip with paprika), Tarama (pink) and Melitzanosalata (darker brown), pita bread (AUD1.50), mixed souvlaki (AUD9.50) and the Kokinisto (AUD10.50 for entree). I absolutely adore the dips - my fav dip has always been the hummus from cafe le caire, but at Stalactites, i enjoyed the Melitzanosalata most as it had the strongest flavor and went perfect with pita. The Kokinisto I really enjoyed - esp the beef cuz it was so tender. But the rice was too separated for my liking. As for the mixed souvlaki, which contained lamb and chicken in pita bread, it was really value for money. The portion was huge and the fillings were crazily generous. Everything was spilling out. anw, i was too full to eat by then..so i packed my half of the souvlaki to go. I did try a bit of it though. It basically tastes like kebab in pita, only less chewy than kebab. I really really love the pita - reminds me of our prata ;)
After lunch we visited the state library's exhibition of famous people, but we didnt really understand the point of having such a gallery (it just had pictures of celebrities hanging on the wall and a description of them next to it - not description of the picture, but the filmography of the artiste/famous person). 
This is Yuting's place where I stayed at in Melbourne.
After dropping off the groceries at Yuting's place, we made our way to the city (train stop: melbourne central), where we had lunch at Stalactites, a rather well-known restaurant for its genuine Greek cuisine. I've never had a good impression of greek food (it's all greek to me), but Stalactites was not too bad. It served food very similar to that of the Turks and Middle East. We ordered a platter of mixed dips (AUD6 for small but we paid AUD9.50 cuz the waiter wrote down our order as large instead) which consisted of Tzatziki (the white dip), Hommus (light brown dip with paprika), Tarama (pink) and Melitzanosalata (darker brown), pita bread (AUD1.50), mixed souvlaki (AUD9.50) and the Kokinisto (AUD10.50 for entree). I absolutely adore the dips - my fav dip has always been the hummus from cafe le caire, but at Stalactites, i enjoyed the Melitzanosalata most as it had the strongest flavor and went perfect with pita. The Kokinisto I really enjoyed - esp the beef cuz it was so tender. But the rice was too separated for my liking. As for the mixed souvlaki, which contained lamb and chicken in pita bread, it was really value for money. The portion was huge and the fillings were crazily generous. Everything was spilling out. anw, i was too full to eat by then..so i packed my half of the souvlaki to go. I did try a bit of it though. It basically tastes like kebab in pita, only less chewy than kebab. I really really love the pita - reminds me of our prata ;)
After lunch we visited the state library's exhibition of famous people, but we didnt really understand the point of having such a gallery (it just had pictures of celebrities hanging on the wall and a description of them next to it - not description of the picture, but the filmography of the artiste/famous person). 
We also walked around QV shopping mall and Melbourne Central until it was time to meet Christine at Hungry Jack's. As promised, Christine brought us to her favorite gelato place, Fredo's, where she swears by the roche gelato. We ordered a triple gelato to share (4 flavors - AUD 7). Tried the roche, cookies, berries and durian. To me, the best gelato can only be found in Italy, but this one was nevertheless very enjoyable (since when was ice cream not enjoyable?) I love the cookie flavor, very unique and it cant be found in Singapore. The durian tastes very much like the D24 gelato at Suntec city.
Next Christine brought us on a tour around the University of Melbourne. Huge campus, so many buildings. I would love to swim in the indoor pool, although it is quite small and there's only one lane open for non swim squad people. I cannot imagine what it's like to study in such a big campus. Melbourne uni reminds me a little of University of Toronto, alot of greenery and pathways. We hopped onto the tram towards the chinatown in melb city, where we bought some Japanese snacks at the Asian supermarkets. After parting with Christine, we walked around abit more b4 making our way back to Alice street. We'll be going to the city again on Friday (meeting Christine to go to Smith St. and prob having dinner together) to experience the nightlife in Melbourne. Looking forward to that ;) and I also got good news from Lydea that we can go horseriding next Sat! It's like one of my main purposes in coming to Aussie (of cuz there are other reasons like taking a break and visiting friends..heh), but yea..really looking forward to that as well =)
Next Christine brought us on a tour around the University of Melbourne. Huge campus, so many buildings. I would love to swim in the indoor pool, although it is quite small and there's only one lane open for non swim squad people. I cannot imagine what it's like to study in such a big campus. Melbourne uni reminds me a little of University of Toronto, alot of greenery and pathways. We hopped onto the tram towards the chinatown in melb city, where we bought some Japanese snacks at the Asian supermarkets. After parting with Christine, we walked around abit more b4 making our way back to Alice street. We'll be going to the city again on Friday (meeting Christine to go to Smith St. and prob having dinner together) to experience the nightlife in Melbourne. Looking forward to that ;) and I also got good news from Lydea that we can go horseriding next Sat! It's like one of my main purposes in coming to Aussie (of cuz there are other reasons like taking a break and visiting friends..heh), but yea..really looking forward to that as well =)
This is Yuting's place where I stayed at in Melbourne.
Look familiar?
This is another of Christine's recommendations. We got this egg tart (AUD 1.40 each) in a chinese/cantonese bakery along Chinatown. Apparently it's quite famous and the tarts get snapped up very quickly, so it was lucky that we managed to get them fresh out of the oven. Very nice aroma, sweet and crispy crust, with an even sweeter and softer egg custard. Probably one of the best egg tarts I've tasted. It's quite different from those in sg.
posted by foodiesteps_here @ 7:36 PM
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