Considered the dining capital of Australia, Melbourne boasts every kind of cuisine imagineable. When we left Hotel Melbourne Australia we decided it was no time to diet. Oddly, we immediately went for fast food at Hungry Jack’s, the McDonald’s (or should we say Burger King) of Australia. They have the old regulars, the hamburgers, the french fries. Happily, the one we went to had vegetarian burgers, and bottled water so we could skip the soft drinks. The burger was quite good, try getting that back in the states. Fast food fix satisfied, we just needed some familiar chow, plus it was cheap and fast.
After that, some caffeine was in order, and a stroll down Degraves Street led us to, well, Degraves Espresso. We were too fast-fooded out to try the panninis, the free range eggs and chorizo, the foccacias, the place smelling strongly of ground coffee, everyone nice and friendly. We “settled” for velvety cappuccinos (even though it was mid-day) and were content to watch business men zip by, the tourists ambling about as we sat under our umbrella at this funky fun place.
We stumbled into Flagstaff Gardens and watched some lawn bowling at this leafy oasis and headed over to the Shanghai Noodle House on Tattersalls Lane. We waited for a table in this bustling enjoyable place, menus in Chinese but a few English menus circulate. As we waited briefly for a table a fellow waiting with us suggested we try the dumplings. They were really good. Who doesn’t love a good dumpling? Served in soup with shreds of pork and vegetables, seasoned with cilantro and a little seaweed, the dumplings were heaven in a bowl. It was cheap, and we were OK getting our own table ware, tea and water.
