We wanted to celebrate the holiday season in Melbourne with our friends but who would have guessed that right before our departure date, there would be another Covid outbreak in NSW, causing complete lockout from the rest of the states. We got our negative swabs and took off on a nice Virgin Business flight, leaving Sydney in another lockdown 😂 (like how we left for Japan in March LOL). We seriously have the weirdest / luckiest timing.
Anyways, this is a summarised travel diary with a mix of photo quality because I was not consistent with my camera 😅.
Anyways, this is a summarised travel diary with a mix of photo quality because I was not consistent with my camera 😅.
Our Adventure
We missed this view!! 😍 We landed on Saturday evening and the first thing we did was stock up at Dan Murphys and had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant in Springvale.
On Sunday, we had D’Penyetz & D’Cendol (LINK) and partied with all our friends 🥳.
Hwaro Korean BBQ Restaurant was a little ridiculous in price. We had to pay $1 for kimchi refill 😑. The quality of the meat was excellent though, but that pricey refill had us regretting our decision.
Tuesday was more eventful, starting with a nice gym session at Dermot. Holy fuck, Melbourne gyms are LIT! 🤩 This one was spread across four warehouses with an indoor rock climbing station, a trampoline and a basketball court. I would love for this to be our gym.
To fix our hunger, we went to the South Melbourne Market and had a bunch of foods (LINK).
On Christmas Day we went hiking at Cape Schanck. There was a point when the flies situation got out of hand, with 20 of those annoying bastards buzzing around our face and back. As a result, Mick created this invention with natural resources 🤣.
We had Pho Hung Vuong Saigon in Springvale afterwards. We rated this pho close to Pho An in Bankstown, Sydney. It was a huge portion for a reasonable price of $13. The broth was rich with a variety of beef flavours 🤤. At least we know that if we ever decide to move to Melbourne, we would still be able to get our pho cravings satisfied.
For dinner, we had a large Christmas gathering with BBQ meats and SodaStream 😂.
For dinner, we had a large Christmas gathering with BBQ meats and SodaStream 😂.
On Boxing Day we checked into the Savoy Hotel and had a wild night out in the city.
It started with dinner at Lantern by Wagaya, where we chose to do a Roulette Sashimi. This was a scary but hilarious eating game, with one of us eating the wasabi bomb 😨.
Afterwards we went bar hopping. We started at the Emerald Peacock and ended up at this secret bar (that looked like a Chinese opium den LOL) with a deadly Zombie Drink. This was a $35 cocktail with an overdose of hard liquor that fucked us all up.
It started with dinner at Lantern by Wagaya, where we chose to do a Roulette Sashimi. This was a scary but hilarious eating game, with one of us eating the wasabi bomb 😨.
Afterwards we went bar hopping. We started at the Emerald Peacock and ended up at this secret bar (that looked like a Chinese opium den LOL) with a deadly Zombie Drink. This was a $35 cocktail with an overdose of hard liquor that fucked us all up.
At Sunday noon, Mick and I were reunited with one of our first loves, Hawkerchan 🤤🤤🤤.
And dinner was dedicated to Peking duck 🦆 *quack*
Now that we were staying in the city, we had more access to all the foods in Melbourne. Mick and I set out to try the famous Saint Dreux (LINK). We also got our daily dose of Milksha 😍.
And for dinner, A introduced us to Nana Thai style hotpot & BBQ.
This was a combo of both worlds, as you can see in our tiny pot, but it was very difficult to manage. When we spread the pork fat to grease the pan, the fat slid into the boiling soup and splashed on to us 😭. The food was great with a lot of variety from intestines to the tongue, but the concept was inconvenient. Apparently, the OG location is located in a garage – so cool!
This was a combo of both worlds, as you can see in our tiny pot, but it was very difficult to manage. When we spread the pork fat to grease the pan, the fat slid into the boiling soup and splashed on to us 😭. The food was great with a lot of variety from intestines to the tongue, but the concept was inconvenient. Apparently, the OG location is located in a garage – so cool!
On Tuesday we revisited Calia. The new location was really nice but oooft, our lunch was expensive. Mick ordered a $69 Ultimate Bowl 🤑 (LINK). We went to another Dermot gym to work off the food.
This was my third day with just these two and my eyebrows were getting tired of having to do this -> 🤨 LOL. Wednesday’s lunch was at Shanghai Street (LINK).
For dinner, we booked a last-minute fancy reservation at Steer Dining Room. I said it already in the full review but DO NOT GET THE MASHED POTATOES! It was a ripoff. The steaks were good though 🤤 (LINK).
On Thursday, we did a bit of exploring and reminisced over the fails of 2020. We had DoDee Paidang for lunch. I thought I could handle one chilli but it was SPICYYYYY 🥵. Mick had two chillis and he died. There was even a dish on the menu with SEVEN chillis. Apparently, only two people have ever ordered that dish LOOOL.
We were so impressed with Tetsujin (LINK). This was an excellent dinner choice with delicious sushi and strong cocktails. It was a perfect way to end the year 😍.
The only placed opened on New Years Day were Asian restaurants and selected cafes. We tried Hash Specialty cafe again and unfortunately, this was a disappointing visit (LINK).
We met up with Aaron for a farewell over some comforting Hawkerchan 🤤.
We met up with Aaron for a farewell over some comforting Hawkerchan 🤤.
This was probably the longest time we had stayed in one city. After the one week mark, we felt homesick, only because we missed our Sleeping Duck mattress so much 😂.
Thanks for ending the year with a bang, Melbourne. See you again soon.
And thanks for reading through this travel diary 💕.
Thanks for ending the year with a bang, Melbourne. See you again soon.
And thanks for reading through this travel diary 💕.
Wow, incredible blog layout! How lengthy have you been running a blog for? you made blogging look easy. The whole look of your website is fantastic, let alone the content!!
Wow, superb weblog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you make blogging glance easy. The full look of your website is fantastic, as neatly as the content material!!