Little Creatures Brunch

Earlier this week I had brunch with A'Strizzle at Little Creatures Beer Hall on Brunswick Street. I had no idea they did food and was pleasantly surprised. Of course, the best thing about the place is the awesome interior/set up. Their brunch menu goes until midday and is reasonably priced for Fitzroy pretension.

Melbourne Brunch Favourites Part #1

My two favourite brunch haunts of late. They're both restaurants which are generally a bit too pricey for a student, but the brunch menus are reasonable.

The European, Spring Street, CBD
Close to Parliament Station or take any tram up Collins or Bourke
I think weekday brunch ends at 11 or 12, but goes til 4 on weekends.
Favourite Meal: Turkish Eggs $18
The European is stylish, classy, and way out of my student budget for anything other than the breakfast menu. It's a popular lunch venue for business people of Collins Street... the Paris end, that is. I was once waiting for a friend and the waiter gave me the wine list to peruse, there was a bottle of French wine for something crazy like two grand. Me: " Tap water, please".

Manhattan, Toorak Village,

Catch the No. 8 Tram towards Toorak

I went to Manhattan for the first time a few weeks ago and have been back four times since. The waiters are lovely and the menu is great.

Favourite Meal: Flat Iron Eggs around $17

Trotters, Nova, and The Emerald Peacock. Celebrating with Lick.

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Yesterday Lick and I met up on Lygon street to see an Italian film. At cinema Nova all Monday screenings are only $6 before 4pm, and $9 afterwards. That pretty much knees all other discount cinema days in the balls!

Before the film we had lunch at a restaurant called Trotters. The food was great. The service? not so much. We had a sullen waitress, which I can accept - not all hospitality workers have to be all smiles and sunshine for me to enjoy myself... but when we went to pay the girl working the register scowled at us when we asked to split the bill as if we'd asked to pay it all in five cent coins. Considering the three seconds it took her to punch in our orders separately I'm not sure it was worth the further contribution to her frown wrinkles. Oh well, it has inspired me to not be so short-tempered with my own customers in the future.

The film we saw was called Ages of Love. It consisted of three (loosely intertwined) films about love, narrated by a teenage, arrow-wielding, cupid. Lick and I enjoyed the last short the most. It starred Robert de Niro as an American historian living in Rome who meets a younger woman - played by the stunning Monica Bellucci . I preferred this section because, unlike the other two, it didn't have an element of unfaithfulness. It seems that whenever Italian films are classified as ' Romance' there is always cheating. Just quickly thinking I can come up with three Italian films I have seen which portray infidelity: Cinema Paradiso, The Last Kiss and Remember Me. I find the cultural difference between Italian romance and American/Australian/British romance very interesting. Lick and I agreed that had the plot been the same but in English, set somewhere other than a European country, we probably wouldn't have enjoyed it. Italian films (and also French and Spanish films) don't seem to worry too much about having likeable protagonists, whereas if audiences can't root for the main characters of American films they won't bother watching them. Anyhow, I can't say I would like to sit through Ages of Love a second time, but it did make me think about different cultural appreciations and reminded me why I like to watch foreign films.

After the film we decided to celebrate our thesis marks with an afternoon drink and headed to Section 8. Sitting uncomfortably on a crate, sipping my cheap beer, I was reminded of being there five years earlier, celebrating the end of my first year uni exams. I wore a terribly uncomfortable pair of heels that night, and ended up stuffing half a roll of toilet paper and whinging all evening. I also patted the head of the bouncer and pissed him off by almost poking him in the eye and telling him he looked like Heidi Klum's man, Seal. Oh, to be nineteen again.

After our drink I wanted to check out the rooftop bar at The Emerald Peacock on a quiet day (the last time I went was Friday evening). It was lovely up there, a few groups of people relaxing in the sun, no crowds, and only a handful of business people who were game enough to start drinking on the first day of the working week. I can't wait to go back there on another sunny afternoon to try their food menu.

At Trotters: My favourite meal - any time of the day - Eggs Benedict.

 Lick got the Bella Pizza

The Emerald Peacock on a Monday afternoon. Practically our own private rooftop bar.

Brunch at Trunk Diner with Lick and musings about other things such as chocolate tomatoes

I am currently going a little podcast crazy. I bought an ipod classic with 160GB. Since my entire itunes library only takes up 39GB I have a whole lot of room to swing a cat around in there. I am downloading several 'learn Spanish' podcasts this very second. I have realised that in order to get my (realistic) dream job, I should probably work a bit harder at becoming bilingual. Oh hi podcasts. Whether I will actually listen to an entire lesson from start to finish, when I have the power of the skip function, is waiting to be seen. At least in an actual class you are trapped into learning. I like learning, but sometimes I have to trap myself in it. It's amazingly easy to trick yourself into getting an education when its something you desire. I am talking total rubbish.

Today was a perfect food day! I met Lick at the State Library and we walked to Truck Diner which is on Exhibition Street. I'd been wanting to try brunch there for ages but as they're quite strict about brunch ending at 11.30 I'd missed out a couple of times. We were in there before 11am though, and it was rather quiet. We both had french toast with berries which was delicious, and at $10 pretty well priced.

After our second coffee we had a walk around the shops and lamented the excess of people in the CBD. Screw you, Christmas. After I had put poor Lick through the trauma of helping me find a strapless bra (functional shopping is never fun) we headed to Workshop for a snack. Since I went there with Flower I have wanted to go back during the day to try their $6 pizzas. We had the pumpkin, fetta, and pesto pizza - it was delicious. I also had an iced tea, which wasn't on the drinks menu but the bartender said she could whip it up. Homemade pizza and iced tea are winners. There were a couple of customers who came in on their own to have a drink and do some study. I love places where people feel comfortable just sitting by themselves and relaxing, it reminds me of being overseas and all the times I sat in European cafes writing frantically in my journal. **random European nostalgic interlude**

I should make myself some dinner. I have just been munching on some tomatoes I bought from the supermarket called choc cherry. They are cherry tomatoes which are streaked brown. A tiny part of me was hoping they'd be some kind of science experiment which gave cherry tomatoes a chocolate taste. Alas. They taste like good ole tomatoes, no willy wonka business.

 French Toast at Trunk Diner

Pizza at The Workshop Bar

Mart 130.

Last Thursday I met A'strizzle at our favourite Brunch haunt, Mart 130. I have mentioned Mart before on this blog so I won't repeat myself. New things to add, perhaps, are that Mart has hilarious, friendly staff, and very attractive customers. In fact, I could hardly keep A'strizzle focused.

One of my main criteria for cafes and bars these days is that they are fun, but not pretentious. I can't stand it when hipsters act like they're doing me the biggest favour in the world by letting me order a coffee in their establishment. Movember makes it even harder to stomach. I just want to scream ' you look like a douchebag and you act like one too'. I realise Movember is for charity, but really, I'm sure half these boys just grow them for fun.

.....Okay, that was a little off track. What I was going to say is that Mart is refreshingly unpretentious despite being a very popular place.
Even their latte art is fun:

    My Photo

I like it in the city when the air is so thick and opaque

This crazy Melbourne weather!

This blog is off to a slow start, mainly because I seem to have fallen out of the habit of taking photos when I'm out having fun. Will fix that, pronto. I have been visiting some cute cafes/bars though - like Horse Bazaar in the CBD and Miss Jackson in St Kilda.

I dropped in to the Horse Bazaar on a weekday afternoon and we were pretty much the only ones there, all the better to have private conversations, my dear (that rhymed). The interior decorating is pretty damn cool, I kind of wish it were my house.

The staff at Miss Jackson were lovely - very chatty and attentive - and I had the most delicious ricotta pancakes. A-strizzle and I were already halfway through destroying our well-presented breakfasts before I remembered I wanted to take a photo, we decided it was too late. Fail.

So many plans for the Melbournian Summer. Oh, it is Summer now - officially, and all. Apparently this bi-polar weather is set to continue until Jan, so I guess my hair will just have to stop its childish bitching and embrace humidity as a challenge...how many ways can you style a frizzball? Anyhoo, back to Summer plans: dancing; drinking beer in beer gardens (screw you weather); high tea at the Windsor; Rooftop cinema; gigs, gigs and random gigs; giggles; books( I WILL start honours reading ....after some Historical Fiction, that's kinda educational); Byron Bay (okay, I know that's not in Melbourne but cut me some slack - our weather sucks!).

I'm ready.

Photo: Peter Guenzel

Mart 130 - for brunch

When I got back to Melbourne the first place I wanted to go for Sunday brunch was Mart 130. It is located on the 96 tram line to St Kilda at the Middle Park stop - it's inside an old station master's building (yes clever people, Mart is tram - backwards! and 130 is the number of the tram stop).  I go to Mart for the eggs - #2 Eggs to be exact, but I appreciate all variations. The French toast is also super, and I hear there is a mean corn fritter thingie. So the setting is great, the food is tasty, it's simple to get to AND it's right next door to an awesome playground to go swinging on once your eggs have settled.  Oh, I've even seen a few celebs there, but I was more interested in my eggs. The only downside is that the nice people at Mart don't take bookings, and it is extremely busy there on the weekends - be prepared to wait half an hour, maybe more. This problem is easily solved (unless you are a responsible adult with a 9-5 job) by going during the week when it's far quieter and you have your pick of tables.

 So many different styles of eggs!

Playground. After breakfast maturity denial.