Alpha Ouzeri

We’ve always breezed past this restaurant on our way to Vegie Bar or Bimbos.  Maybe we were intimidated by the ambience and chalked it up as one of those out of the realm of our humble budget. But Thursday night we saw the tables out on the side walk and it seemed a lot friendlier than usual. We checked out the menu and decided the prices seem fair.

And boy were we glad we finally decided to try it! Aside from the famous Souvlaki King, I haven’t really tried any other Greek food in Melbourne. The fare we ordered reminded me so much of food in Kazahkstan, skewered meat with a distinct flavour. Servings are huge! We ordered the mixed meat platter with salad for one ($26.50) and we couldn’t finish it between us. The bread and 4 dips were delicious as well ($11.50) and again there were so much of it. So for food that was more than enough for a hungry couple, a glass of wine for me and a bottle of beer for the boy, we paid a little less than $50. Not bad at all!

Best thing was the service was superb! Even if we were the only ones dining outside, we never felt like we always had to catch the waiter’s attention. Food was served quickly. The man who waited on us was such a lively and funny character and there is nothing better than getting excellent food for a fair price with a healthy serving of friendliness and good humour.

Alpha Ouzeri 342 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy

Gastronomic Delights on Brunswick Street

Jack and I love eating out (or maybe we just hate eating at home.. could it have anything to do with my non existent culinary skills?). Some nights we have full intentions of cooking something for dinner and then get too lazy so we invent a reason to eat out..

Lucky for us there are a myraid of places to choose from 3 flights of stairs down from where we lie prostrate prodding each other to get up and make a half decent meal. But these choices could be overwhelming. I mean there are just so many to choose from on Brunswick Street alone!

Jack’s decision process on choosing a restaurant? shaking his iphone so Urban Spoon could suggest a place..

Me? I fast type it to my two favourite (and my most trusted) review blogs in Melbourne: fitzroyalty and mel: hot or not and let their previous experiences or mouth watering photos make a decision for me.

I don’t do reviews very well. I will limit myself to one line per establishment but I did take really bad photos that you can salivate over. If you want a proper review of any establishment featured below, click on either of the links provided above and it is likely they’ve already given their 2 cents about it.

Akari

177 Brunswick Street

~ good old japanes food done really well~

Mixed Tempura, Wafu Salad, Yakitori

Red Rice

193 Brunswick Street

~Incredible food we couldn’t stop raving about!~

King Prawns, Salmon Spring Rolls, Calamari & Red Rice

On the Tram 112: Spencer St Station to St David Street, Fitzroy

Melbourne is such a picturesque city and it is so easy to forget that. Going back to Melbourne after 3 weeks in Vanuatu, it hit me again.  Just on my usual tram ride home there are so many remarkable, beautiful sights to take in which we take for granted because we are tired, the tram is crowded, we are lost in our thoughts, we have become immune to the beauty that surrounds us everyday.

Here’s something that would hopefully remind me to see the beauty in everyday’s mundane.

Hot cocos & churros

Because I’ve been wanting churros for ages since we had a free taste of the one in Elizabeth Street we went here:370 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, Victoria. Between Bimbos & Joe’s Garage

walls in stalls & $4 pizzas

Went to Bimbos for $4 pizzas for Philippa’’s birthday. Man.. even on a Monday that place was packed! Good thing they came a little before 7 and they were able to secure a table. But even then seats had to be shared.

The first time I went there, I was expecting real rubbish pizza but for $4, those pizzas are amazing! My personal favourite is the Calabrese with a generous amount of salami with just the right kind of zing. If you manage to make your way to the bar to place your order the pizzas would come within 10 minutes. As the night progresses though.. the wait gets longer. But who could complain with $4 pizzas anyway? Plus.. they have a good selection of beer on tap to wash down the pizza with.

I could have taken photos of the adorable lamps in the courtyard or the interesting ambience downstairs (although it might have been too dark to take a photo of anything) but what really tickled my fancy was the ‘decor’ in the stall at the ladies.. Am I weird? But it was cute and uh… informative.

Fridays are for FUN

Jack & I were feeling celebratory (for a reason that will remain undisclosed) and planned a night of ‘things we’ve never done together before’. So we started with an early dinner at Houndstooth on Johnston Street inspired by this rave review.

The place is a great find! Excellent service, awesome atmosphere (if it is nice out, ask to be seated in the courtyard), great music selection and sumptuous and cheap food!

Finished the meal at 7:30 and made our way to the Comedy theatre along Exhibition Street. Saw Avenue Q and loved it!

Katsu & Coffee

I can never be a food blogger.. The reason for that is soon as I order I already have the utensils (or chopsticks) in hand in eager anticipation of the yummy feast that will be brought before me. Soon as the plate makes contact with the table I attack the food within 2 seconds. What is the point of this admission? Oh yeah.. I never get to take a photo of the food. (I’m no good at taking photos anyway).

But today we had lunch at a Japanese restaurant called Yume on Brunswick Street and I just have to rave about my favourite Japanese dish – Katsudon. I‘ve been to quite a number of Japanese restaurants in Melbourne, and every time I go to one, I always order Katsudon. And so far, all of them fell short of my expectations until this one..

Okay so I’ve already taken several bites from this dish and the photo is unclear because I took the photos with my mobile phone but believe me when I say this particular one was fantastic! It tastes just like I expect Katsudon to taste. The breading was tasty, pork cooked to perfection, egg just the right kind of gooey and the rice was sticky enough for my mediocre chopstick skills. We also had assorted tempura as appetizer and they had a good mix of prawn, fish, eggplant, potato & carrot there.

I think (but I may be speaking too soon) I have found my favourite Japanese restaurant in this city. The ambience is unpretentious with simple origami décor and a few Japanese paintings. The service was superb without being stifling. The prices are reasonable (we he paid about $8.80 for our plate of tempura and $8.90 for our individual rice dishes each).There were other customers but the place was not packed allowing for conversations without having to overhear what the other diners are saying. Best of all it is only three blocks from where I live!

On our way back to my flat, Jack and I decided we needed some caffeine in our systems and sat down for lattes at Café Nova, also on Brunswick Street. Coffee is good here too and they have raw sugar which I personally believe make coffees taste a lot better than white sugar.

Another beautifully spent couple of hours in Fitzroy. I love my neighbourhood!

i REALLY didn’t mean to..

I went for a 20 minute errand run to withdraw money, rent out our car space, post a parcel and pay our water bill. Simple.. I don’t even have to cross the road to do any of that. That’s what I love about living off of Brunswick St in Fitzroy.

And that’s what i hate about living off of Brunswick Street because in this wonderful, eclectic street, many many things entice from the evil shopfronts. And I don’t have the will power to resist.

And today I was back at our flat half an hour after I left but I came back with these:

One could never have enough hosiery in these winter months. Specially me who wear mostly dresses and skirts. Cute detail, huh?

and two awesome scarves:

love the skull print! Very Avril of me, no?

love the silver threaded one too (and would probably do a better job at keeping warm than the skull print one)

Jack reckons I am addicted to scarves.. but in my defense….. ok I don’t have one. But at least scarves are a handy, useful, affordable addiction. It’s not like I buy hermes or vuitton ones, right?

Living off of Brunsick Street isn’t helping me overcome this scarf hoarding either. My proximity to the many wonderful scarves out there for my taking is like an alcoholic living on top of a pub. Oh well.

the family in melbourne

Parental units and my two Australia-based siblings (one from Canberra, the other from Adelaide) were  here for about a week to check up on me, experience the awesomeness that is Melbourne and to celebrate mum’s birthday and mum and dad’s 30th anniversary. It was a whirlwind week of activities, laughter, taking the piss, eating (heaps), shopping, a LOT of walking, tramming, seeing, playing Wii and enjoyment!!

Make a Smilebox postcard

Unfortunately.. Anj, my eldest sister couldn’t make it so this is the only complete family photo we could take:

Oh well.. one day hopefully soon this wacky and wonderful family unit will be all together long enough to have a family photo taken. And not just on the Wii screen.