maker coffee

i started my trip to melbourne with the best coffee i would have all week! while i want to hate some of these fru-fru upmarket joints, their coffee always feels considered instead of a cafe afterthought. the toasted sandwich was also really lovely - i'm not sure the coffee rub for the beef was necessary or even that noticeable, but the smoked mayo was a delightful touch

1x small long black
1x toasted sandwich (coffee rubbed beef, smoked anchovy mayo, fontina)
- $22.86 aud

rooks return

i poked my head in here at a friend's recommendation. wednesday night is when the house jazz band play (the rookies)! i didnt know anyone and was honestly too wiped to get into socialisation so i just camped behind the bar and doodled the crowd. the house lager was delicous and the overall vibe of the location was great, although the night definitely attracts more randos, many of whom were explaining the fundamental of jazz to each other lol. the staff were awesome and watching them chat with the regulars was homely, and the music was top notch

1x pint rookies lager ($14.35)
1x negroni ($16.40)
- $30.75 aud

rocket burgers

i got this on the way home - the spot is right out the front of flinders st station. it was potentially the most default burger i've ever eaten, but i was kind of drunk at this point so it was exactly what i needed

1x rocket classic
- $12.00 aud

mr. summit

i was drawn into this place by its cool branding, and while it wasnt the best joint i visited in melbourne it was still very sweet. the coffee i got was perfectly fine but the almont chocolate croissant was a perfect breakfast

1x long black
1x almond chocolate croissant
- $10.50 aud

ol mate's

the staff here were very cool, and the fitout had those melbournean green tiles that i love so much. the fried chicken sandwich was perfectly cooked and spiced, and the apple in the coleslaw was absolutely next level. the coffee i bought wasn't too fruity or interesting but i was surprised at how pleasant its bitterness was. i normally prefer acidic coffees because the harshness of something really bitter isn't my style, but this managed to walk the line without tipping over the edge

1x long black
1x fried chicken sandwich
- $10.50 aud

arnold's

i went here to catch up with a friend and we got totally carried away! we got the "a little bit of everything" menu, which had a selection of really lovely south american fusion food, including this extremely poorly photographed trout. we got a sparkling wine to open and a chilled red, both of which were excellent. the experience here was lovely as long as you're willing to spend a little moolah, but i would recommend skipping the meal and just picking the items you want - our napkin maths said we might have actually had a worse deal than if we'd bought the items individually

2x wines
1x a little bit of everything menu
- ~$120.00 aud

the premises

this place has an extremely strong "suburban cafe vibe" - the fitout was clearly fairly new and hypnotically caucasian. not my style in general but not offensive. i did love the deep forest green highlights on everything and it is on busy intersection so it did at least feel really lively. the food unfortunately was just fine; the rhubarb danish was clearly yesterday's batch and had an overwhelming nutellex flavour, and the coffee was uncomfortably bitter - a far cry from yesterday's offerings

1x small long black
1x rhubarb danish
- $12.00 aud

keki milk bar

this north cbd location was sunk below the ground floor, which was a surprisingly cosy spot, and had a twee, if a little well loved, fitout. the music was unbearably saccharine and involved a lot of covers of love songs. my souffle pancake was impressively fluffy - i bought one back in osaka and this was definitely lighter and fluffier. the matcha latte was also very nice but disagreed with my stomach for some reason

1x matcha souffle pancake
1x strawberry matcha latte
- $23.85 aud

the helenic museum

this location is surprisingly easy to miss - it's in the old treasury building but it's off the street, and also in the northeast of the cbd. it was an absolute gem though! the ground floor had an exhibition about tributes people would give to the gods of ancient greece, and the upstairs had some military garb, traditional greek costume and jewelry, as well as a bunch of marble statues and a featurette on an ancient greek inspired videogame made in melbourne! i told loads of local melbourneans about this spot and none of them had actually heard of it which i found funny, but i thought it was 110% worth checking out!

1x standard entry
- $16.00 aud

fortune alley

i unfortunately don't have a great photo of this place, but i went here with a friend after eating very little all day and absolutely stacked a plate with noodles and stir fry. if you need an insertion of protein and calories at a (proportionally) low price and high speed, this joint is a good place to go. it was also delicious!

1x large plate
- $17.56

monforte viennoiserie

i made a fuss of lune on my last trip, and i got this recommended as a local competitor. where lune was a tourist trap concrete bound well oiled machine with seven staff working nonstop for an entire day, monforte viennoiserie is a hole in the wall in the suburb of carlton run by a single person. i kind of wanted to try out their coffee but i didn't want to hold up the people behind me - luckily the weird little honey soda i bought was really refreshing and a great counterpart to my croissants. as for the croissants - the chocolate and peanut butter was a bit gimmicky and not an everyday classic, but still incredible. the peanut butter filling was salty to contrast the dark chocolate topping. on the other hand, the plain croissant was lovely and fresh and flakey - not as tooth rattlingly crisp as a lune equivalent, but that's more a matter of taste as far as i'm concerned. if i lived in carlton i would be visiting this place very regularly

1x croissant
1x chocolate and peanut butter croissant
1x honey soda
- $22.00 aud

pauli

i spent about an hour in goodbyes before this - nothing notable happened and i didn't buy any clothing, but i noticed this ceramic store on the way back and couldn't stop myself. they'd just had a bit exhibition with somewhere in the range of fifteen artists, so the varietywas out of this world. each piece was pretty expensive, but they were all handmade by a local artisan and each had a bit of a story, which is exactly what i go for

2x cups
1x small vase
- $120.00 aud

eat pierogi make love

i poked my head in here out of pure curiosity, instantly clocked that it was a bit of a wanky pricey place but decided to treat myself. the pierogi was delicious and the salad refreshing, but the price tag was pretty eye watering. a nice date spot perhaps, but not one for regular lunching

1x kielbasa pierogi
1x sauerkraut salad
1x glass of sparkling wine (i forget which sorry)
- $42.10 aud

capitano

this pizza place looked extremely cosy but was also completly full up, so we got takeaway and ate it in a park. im of the opinion that theres a sort of quality plateau to neapolitan style pizza where past a point it's all "good" - debating the smaller differences is largely unproductive. and this pizza was good! aforementioned fence-sitting aside, one of the pizzas was a beef tongue option that was actually fucking delicious and just a bit of an interesting option that you don't see to often. they also didnt skimp on the sausage for the pepperoni pizza, which is always appreciated

(my friends bought the pizzas so i have no idea what they cost)

readings

after drinking a bunch of silly beers and eating a bunch of silly pizza we head into this book shop in order to immediately and terrifyingly realise just how drunk we were. the range at this spot was really nice, lots of nifty art books and intriguing non-fictions. i wish i'd been here sober

jungle juice bar

the naming of this spot is absolutely insane - i'm not sure that they even sold juice. their crockery was really lovely and colourful and their menus were in old hardback childrens books, which i found extremely cute. they had a load of different bagels on offer (i stuck to the classic salmon, cream cheese and capers) and they had a collection of interesting dring choices - my cafe cubano was a lovely pick me up, and a nice treat to try for the first time

1x salmon bagel
1x cafe cubano
- $18.50 aud

agathe patisserie petite

this spot is squeezed into a side room in a (shopping) arcade, and i think is just a resale location for a larger bakery. there definitely wasn't space for a whole bakery back there. the flan patissier scratched a bit of a portugese tart itch, while the croissant was just okay. not bad for the price and the location though!

1x flan pâtissier
1x croissant
- $10.16 aud

wunderkammer

a little curiosities store in the northwest of the cbd, i give this one a decent chance of containing real human remains. i didn't buy anything, but it was an interesting spot to look at for half an hour or so

ngv

my hometown's gallery pales in comparison to this the national gallery of victoria. we were there for three or so hours and only saw half of it. and i saw a rothko!

acmi

i was fair less time-limited when i came here so i kinda got my money's worth out of the experience (the whole thing is free btw). the first third or so of the museum is all early film history, which is interesting but, the main attraction is all the little behind the scenes items they have, followed by the more recent and abstract artworks. they had a bunch of sets from memoir of a snail and a lot of writing about considerations, concepting and design work for various australian (and international) films, as well as a bunch of lovely slow short films. one of my favourites followed an impossible victorian trainline that jumped between different places in the state

code black

i grabbed a little long black here and sat out the front to write this blog in an hour of downtime i had. the coffee was really nice (i've had code black shipped to me before and their beans are extremely good) but the interior was playing thumping house music? a really bizarre choice. i far prefer a weird bench on the street anyway

1x small long black
- $6.15 aud

mr ramen san

this is maybe one of the most authentic feeling ramen places i've been to in australia. lovely timber panelling, weird posters on the walls, everything a little rough around the edges. the food was delicious, if a touch expensive and a touch small, but you take what you can get. i'm definitely going to be back here next time

2x charsu ramen
2x orion cocktail beer
- $74.10 aud

nimbo

as a last little hurrah for my trip, we poked our heads into this dessert place. their main selling point is bingsu, a dish i don't really care for, but they also sold a variety of french toast stuffed with a chewy mochi paste on the inside. i've had a bunch of mochi-adjacent dishes before but nothing quite like this - the ube added a fun tang and the corn flakes amped up the crunch on an otherwise pretty soft dish

1x ube mochi toast
- $22.50