Little Indulgences around the world, in 1 day

Eating my way around the world in one day. I’m clearly insane. Hmm. Is that even possible? Well, if lip-syncing throughout a whole concert is deemed fine these days, then hell yeah!

Some friends of mine just came back from a trip around Europe. During dinner with the group, Mr Sakata* was telling us how much he loved Paris, describing how scrumptious the buttery filled food was and how he has now learnt to appreciate simple staples like bread. “Everything was amazing, just everything!” he proclaimed whilst I was happily chewing on my steak.

Meanwhile, this got me thinking. No…not a spontaneous flight to Paris. I thought; why not take a trip around Melbourne’s fine ‘ass’ eateries in 1 day. Being my day off work, today I chose to auction off my tummy to the most delectable bidders as opposed to reading comics all day. A man’s gotta eat right?!

Above: Berry pastry at Les Boucheries Parisiennes

Upon waking with food on my mind (happens every morning) it was time to get prepared for a full tank. A jog around The Tan was in order. Work that $%&# out boy!

My mission: To take on as many eateries in 1 day until my buds are sent to food rehab. Along the way, to let you how my fullness levels were, I’ve included a Tummy capacity level check point.

Now with so many places on the overeating agenda, I’ve kept each adventure review as short and sweet as possible. Otherwise, this could turn into some lengthy university type thesis. Run!

The Flight Itinerary

Morning- France

Les Boucheries Parisiennes

Laurent

Stopover

Tommyboy

Lunch – Italy & Greece

Sugo

Nikos Quality Cakes

Arkibar

Afternoon- Denmark

Copenhagen Patisserie and Cafe

Dinner- Philippines

Kabayan

Armed with some loose fitting trakkies, I was off to France.

Morning- France

Stop #1 Les Boucheries Parisiennes

Details: 268 Toorak Rd SOUTH YARRA VIC 3141 Ph: 8256 1636

Surroundings:

Walking down Toorak Road, my eyes peered to the left as they saw a huge window sign- French Breakfast. Of course, I wandered right in.

A welcoming greeting from Patrick and I was seated. On the menu was a traditional French breakfast with an assortment of chocolate croissants, berry pastries and fresh baguette with jam.

The buttery pastry was flaky and sweetly tart matching quite well with the full bodied, crisp and not so bitter Lavazza beaned flat white. I’d certainly come back for this again. The white and raw sugar cubes added a nice flair.

Bring a date here? I’d like to come back for lunch to try out their Wagyu Pie. I’m still high from the Café Vue version.

Service: Welcoming and very friendly. When Patrick found out I was a food blogger, I was able to walk around comfortably taking various shots.

$$$: 7

Food Rehab Verdict: Sent me to food rehab (book this place now! Wowzer) – Greenlight

Stop #2 Brekkie at Laurent

Details: 477  Toorak Rd SOUTH YARRA VIC 3141 Ph: 9827 6928

Surroundings:

Mains: Croque Monsieur- was filled with creamy béchamel and slices of ham and cheese. From the first bite, it was definitely rich and sinful indeed. With crisp outer crusts and a cheesey meat filled center, what more can you ask for? It was a much heavier version compared to Café Vue’s.

Sweet Stuff: hell no.

Bring a date here? A great lunch spot for those blind dates.

Service: Polite

$$$: 7.50

Food Rehab Verdict: Sent me to food rehab (book this place now! Wowzer) – Greenlight

Stopover

Stop #3: Tommyboy’s

Geeze..what a life I lead huh? All blinged up flying everywhere in my private jet hehe.

Tummy capacity level: 25%

Details: 194 Bank St South Melbourne Victoria 3205

Surroundings:

Flat white- After such a long flight….*cough*- I needed some downtime, so chilling outdoors in my local hood at Tommyboy’s was the perfect solution. The coffee, like D’Angelo’s ‘Feel like makin love’, was smooth and set to a good temperature. A creamy froth was conjured up using full cream milk of course. No skinny milk belongs in my tummy.

Sweet Stuff: Tummy says no.

Bring a date here? The alfresco area makes a great spot for a Sunday morning newspaper read. Also the eccentric Butterfly Club is right next door.

Service: Well skilled barista behind the machine will serve you up a friendly caffeine hit.

$$$: 30

Food Rehab Verdict: Sent me to food rehab (book this place now! Wowzer) – Greenlight

Lunch- Italy

Stop #4- Sugo

Details: 105 Wattletree Rd Malvern, 3143 Phone: 03 9500 1558 Website: www.sugo.com.au

Surroundings:

Mains: By this time, my stomach was kicking me to slow the hell slow down! Thankfully, I only answer to the buds. My favourite bean, Vittoria is served here, resulting in a caramel sweet flavour which balances extremely well with the acidity.

Sugo has been my usual breakfast joint since 2003 but have rarely given their lunch menu a crack. The Italian flat breads aka focaccia, looked tempting. Being obsessed with fresh parmesan at the moment, I opted for the Roma tomato, mozzarella, fresh basil, rocket and parmesan focaccia which came with a side of salad.

The best part about their breakfasts is their Tomato Relish. It’s probably one of the best I’ve had which is why it was imperative that my lunch came with this on the side. The bread was slightly burnt but teamed with the fresh ingredients, ripened tomatoes and the velvety Vitoria beaned flat white, I was sent to rehab.

Sweet Stuff: See next stop.

Bring a date here? Ahuh. Hell yeah.

Service: Friendly service

$$$: 14.40

Food Rehab Verdict: Sent me to food rehab (book this place now! Wowzer) – Greenlight

Tummy capacity level: 50%

Stop #5- Nikos Quality Cakes

Details: 25 Portman Street, Oakleigh VIC 3166 Phone 03 9569 6338

Surroundings: An abundance of cakes, pastries and biscuits adorn the front window theater. Casual and packed crowds during lunch all queuing up for the galaktoboureko.

My workplace used to be positioned about a 5 minute walk from Nikos Quality Cakes. This equated to at least 3 lunch visits a week. My colleague and I would routinely hoover down our homemade lunches and scurry on down to Nikos for their Galaktoboureko. I could never pronouce this  though which had previously brought about a hilarious conversation with Sarah when we had asked Michele how to pronounce it.

Dessert time: The Galaktoboureko goes down as the best in Melbourne to date. With the layers of crisp pastry atop the velvety not too sweet custard lavished with their cinnamon vanilla syrup makes this treat a triple threat making this trip to Greece worth every sweet tooth dime.

Bring a date here? Lunchtime date for sure.

Service: Polite and welcoming.

$$$: 4

Food Rehab Verdict: Sent me to food rehab (book this place now! Wowzer) – Greenlight

Tummy capacity level: 60%

Stopover

Stop #5- Arkibar

Details: 27 Coventry St Melbourne 3205 Phone 03 9690 6688

Surroundings: Red, white and black striped seating lines then back wall of the casual but stylish outdoor deck. Inside, it’s welcoming and intimate with chocolate coloured seating making it versatile to both lunch and dinner occasions.

Why…hello there…

Sweet Stuff: You know how I love little surprises in the simplest of foods. The muffins at Arkibar do just that. To my delight, the Peach and the Peach and Blueberry varieties, once popped open, presented the one and only; mascarpone cream! The result? Combined with the succulent peaches and tangy blueberries, it was decadent,  moist and not overly sweet but refreshing. No sweet guilt here.

Bring a date here? Take me! Otherwise, feel free to pick up some of those muffins for me.

Service: Polite and welcoming.

$$$: 8

Food Rehab Verdict: Sent me to food rehab (book this place now! Wowzer) – Greenlight

Tummy capacity level: 69% full

Afternoon- Denmark

Stop #6- Copenhagen Patisserie and Café

So after wiping my mouth from all those muffins, I was off to Denmark for some more sweet stuff. Yes, I hear you- I’ll promise to hit the gym tomorrow.

Details: Park Street, South Melbourne. Next to Post Office- cnr of Park and Clarendon streets.

Surroundings:

Sweet Stuff: Croissant, being freshly baked, it was flaky opening up to its fluffy but moist layers as you begin to pull it apart- giggling as you smell the warm aroma of butter. It reminds of the sweet aromas during property inspections when the vendor would have cookies baking in the oven! So easily persuaded, I should be kept far away from the bidding process!

Their signature jam tarts were also great and made fresh.

Bring a date here? Take it…and go.

Service: Friendly and it was a kind gesture to offer to me a fresh croissant from the oven.

$$$: 6

Food Rehab Verdict: Sent me to food rehab (book this place now! Wowzer) – Greenlight

Tummy capacity level: 90%

Dinner- Philippines

Last Stop: Kabayan

I only saw it fitting that my final destination be my home country, Philippines. The problem in Melbourne, is the lack of Filipino restaurants. There are a few take-away places, but rarely have I come across a proper eat-in restaurant. I can understand why though. Many Filipino dishes require a few days preparation with some dishes actually tasting better after a few days in the fridge. I’ll get into this another time as I start to introduce some of these recipes.

Above: mouth watering Crispy spit roast pork : lechon

Details: Shop 10, Cairnlea Shopping Centre, Cairnlea, 8390 1346.

Mains: Paksiw Pork. ‘Pasiw’ is a dish cooked is vinegar and garlic. My mum usually makes this during Christmas from the leftover meat from the whole spit roast pig. The dish should be sweet, salty and very tender. The pieces of pig and its crackling should be served with steamed rice.

Being one of my favourite staples, I had to try Kabayan’s version. Results, not as good as mum’s, but was tender and had generous amounts of crackling. Woooohooo!

Sisig, originating from my hometown, Pampanga, initially, started as a condiment or a starter usually drunk with beer on a hot summers day. Consisting of mainly pig, Sisig is made up of onion, soy sauce, chili, ginger, chicken liver, pepper, lemon and butter. Kabayan did well here.

Halo Halo– a very popular Filipino dessert. Similar to other asain desserts like ice kachang, it consists of red mug beans, star apple, young coconut, sugar palm fruit, plantains, corn, tapioca pearl, ube (puple yam) and lecheflan (creme caramel). Not served with fresh milk, but rather evaporated or condensed milk and generous amounts of ice shavings. Kabaya’s version is propbabaly the best to date I’ve had in a Filipino Melbourne eatery.

Siopaw (steamed pork bun)– Filled with  pull apart  pork asado which is made up of soy, peppercorns, garlic, onion, hoisin star anise, sugar and egg. Think of a Chinese steam pork bun, but a little sweeter.

Another place to get your Filipino food is Lutong Pinoy: Shop 251, Footscray Market 81 Hopkins Street, Footscray 3011

Bring a date here? For sure.

Service: Very friendly staff.

$$$: 35

Food Rehab Verdict: Sent me to food rehab (book this place now! Wowzer) – Greenlight

Conclusion:

Back at home, I felt like a pregnant man. Ready to burst and finding it hard to breathe, I sought some solace in sleep. I may not have had actually flown around the world in my private jet, but with such  an abundance of diverse eateries in Melbourne, there’s no need. Although, with the all driving around, it does feel like I had jetlag.

Tummy capacity level: 120% over capacity.

Compliments of Sugo.

If you were to plan a round the world trip, where would be your first stop? And what would you eat?!