Where to eat in Melbourne

This is my fourth trip to Australia and the first to Melbourne, known for its coffee culture and cool cafés. It does not matter whether you prefer to be close to nature along the Great Ocean Road, drink wine to your heart's content at the vineyards or shop 'til you drop. We need to take a break and refuel ourselves – tried and loved the ice-cream at both Dooley's Ice Cream and Yarra Valley Chocolaterie & Ice Creamery. If you are visiting Brighton Bathing Boxes and/or St Kilda Beach, drop by Claypots Seafood Bar that a travel companion found to be the best meal of our trip. Other than freshly-shucked plump oysters at Queen Victoria Market, there are also other lovely eats that I tried:

Lovely Cafés in Asia-Pacific

The café culture is here to stay, both in Singapore and overseas. It matters not whether you are a coffee and/or tea drinker (or neither) but that we slow down our pace and take time to catch up with our thoughts, family and friends. We may plan to visit a café, a particular one even, or just need a place to rest our tired feet. Sometimes, we chance upon a lovely café with a decent menu at a reasonable price. What better way then, than to sip a cuppa and watch the world go by while nibbling on small and not-so-small bites?

Perth, Australia
It was a planned trip to Padbury's Café Restaurant for breakfast. I loved its interior and exterior – one of the oldest surviving commercial and residential buildings in Guildford, built in 1869. All the dishes we ordered were beautifully plated and deliciously fresh, from the sweet to the savoury such as Big Paddy's, Magic Mushroom and Padbury's Benedict. Of course, we had to order Our Famous Meringue Munro Pancakes. No complaints about the drinks and pretty latte art too.

Seoul, South Korea

As my travel companions and I did not manage to visit Garosu-gil during our first trip to Seoul, we decided to do so during the second time. Chanced upon SkinFood Café located above its concept store and settled on the quiet space with cheerful yellow accents against wooden furniture, white bricked walls and tiles. Did not expect much of its food and drinks since this is a cosmetic and skincare brand but they tasted surprisingly decent, and were also Instagram-worthy.

Taipei, Taiwan

My travel companions and I penned down in our itinerary that we would café-hop at Yongkang Street, just like we did in Garosu-gil. We were still full from lunch at Kao Chi when we walked past Smoothie House and gave it a miss. Continued walking down the street, saw 8% Ice Bistro and chose this as the sky was threatening to rain. Lovely place to chillax with good gelato and dessert, and enjoy coffee as-is, iced or in powder form – pour from shot glass onto lemon slice and have them together.

Salt Tapas and Bar

There are a few café and restaurants outside the air-conditioned Raffles City Shopping Centre – Costa Coffee faces St Andrew's Cathedral, Brotzeit German Bier Bar and Restaurant and Marché Mövenpick are nearer to Chjimes while Salt Tapas and Bar by Luke Mangan overlooks Raffles Hotel which is currently undergoing renovations. The latter, a slightly more casual extension to Salt Grill and Sky Bar on the 55th floor of Ion Orchard, is a quaint odd-shaped place with red bricks that offers $19 lunch sets (choose from seven main courses and it comes with coffee, tea or soft drinks) and 5 tapas for $50. You can add $3 for sides and $8 for dessert of the day. These are good deals, considering how much the same item costs on the à la carte menu. Visited for lunch on a weekday and sat indoor at one of the 120 seats as the weather was not cooling enough for alfresco dining.

While pork ribs with miso and honey-soy glaze was tender, had to intersperse it with the accompanying pickled cucumber, apple and wasabi slaw. Roasted barramundi – served with mussels, caper berries and fregula in "crazy water", had a crisp skin and was neither mushy nor fishy. Found the Westholme Wagyu brisket sliders with aged cheddar, pickled beetroot and horseradish aioli too gamely for my liking though the fries was good. It was my first time trying lamb kofta with couscous, golden raisins, almonds, yogurt, cucumber, lime and mint. A tad spicy and exotic, not something I would order again. Decided against paying $8 for two scoops of strawberry sorbet and instead went for the churros with dark chocolate sauce, raspberry rose jam and cream. We had better ones before but this was not too bad either.

New Kid on the Block – Bécasse Bakery

Australian Bécasse Bakery finally opened in Singapore two weeks ago; half a year after it was due to do so. Brought in by jones the grocer, which acquired the bakery as well as burger joint Charlie & Co. from The North Group, its first outlet is located at the atrium on the 4th floor of Ion Orchard outside the entrance to Magosaburou. Charlie & Co. opened at B4 of the same shopping mall in January this year and both used to be part of The North Group, owned by Australian celebrity chef Justin North and his wife Georgia, that went into voluntary administration in June last year. According to the website, its French-style pastries and breads are baked in-house using traditional artisan methods with premium ingredients. And the new contemporary bakery is within walking distance to overseas offshoots of well-known bakeries, boulangeries and patisseries such as Japanese's Maison Kayser at Wheelock Place, Korean's Paris Baguette at Wisma Atria and French's Paul at Takashimaya.

jones the grocer

An impromptu decision for late lunch at Dempsey Hill led me to premium Australian gourmet store, jones the grocer. Bigger than the one at Mandarin Gallery and probably Ion Orchard too, this includes a temperature-and-humidity-controlled cheese room in a corner. Industrial-looking metal shelves along the walls complemented concrete floor in the sprawling space with high ceilings. Sat at one of the long wooden tables inside (outdoor seating also available) and ordered a jones club, requesting for the sauce to be served separately. Loved the toasted bread with a nice charred aroma, the bacon though it lacked melt-in-the-mouth fats and might be too hard for some, and the fried egg. While the grilled chicken was a tad bland and dry, it went well with other ingredients in the sandwich including the raw lettuce and avocado. With a side salad in tart dressing, the meal was well-balanced not just in terms of taste and texture but also nutritional value and portion. Thumbs up!

Update: The branches at Ion Orchard and Mandarin Gallery have closed.

Dimbulah

Located a few metres away from Black Coffee Dessert Bar at Hitachi Tower, Dimbulah at Chevron House was as vibrant when I visited after lunch. Loved how the colourful panels and pictures stood out against the mostly neutral palette, wood and metal in the brightly-lit place with lots of vertical space. Could smell a nice aroma of roasted beans in my order of macchiato – strong (all coffee are double ristrettos) with a tinge of bitterness overwhelmed by acidity. Am not so sure this is fine Australian coffee but the passion to bring quality coffee from plantation to cup has led to vertical integration of coffee beans from farming to retail coffee shop. Exclusive Arabica coffee beans are grown, harvested and roasted on Dimbulah Mountain Estate, its own plantation on Atherton Tablelands in Tropical North Queensland, Australia. Interestingly, only one of its six branches in Singapore is outside the Central Business District.

New Kid on the Block – Jamaica Blue

Took me a while to find Jamaica Blue, which was tucked away by One Raffles Place Tower B lift lobby. The café is contemporary designed with its distinctive blue logo against lots of wood and white. Ordered a Jamaica Blue Signature^TM Blend macchiato and was asked if I preferred it long or short. Settled for the latter with just a dollop of milk foam atop the freshly brewed espresso. Jamaica Blue Signature^TM Blend, a blend of 100% Arabica beans, is a CSR Golden Bean Medal Winner so I just had to give it a try. According to its menu, Wallenford Estate® Jamaica Blue Mountain® is a single origin coffee from the prestigious Wallenford Estate in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica.