Visit Preston Market

Preston Market is an Asian dominant market between Melbourne and Bundoora. It is about twenty minutes by tram and ten minutes walk from RMIT Bundoora.
This market is open from Wednesday through to Sunday and only during the daytime. Although I said that this is Asian dominant there are a few European shops and a Gozleme cart. There is a proffetjie cafe that I'd have to try next time when I'm here. There is even a donut cart, but these donuts are not as expensive as the ones at Queen Victoria Market. Here you can buy 6 for $4.50.
All the fruits and vegetables are under $7 a kilo. Here they looked really appealing and the bananas were about $2.50 per kg.
I went to a coffee and cake shop at the market that sells cheap cannoli. Cannoli is an Italian sweet with pastry and vanilla and chocolate filling inside.The cannoli there is $1.30 each or you can buy a pack of twelve for $14. I also got a very strong espresso with a sweet for $2.80. I like it when there is a free sweet with my coffee. It just makes my day.

There is a dumpling shop outside where you could buy some dumplings for lunch. Here I bought a tiny red bean bun for $1.20.

Some of the stuff I saw at the market

Next time when I visit I will have to explore High street a bit more.

Melbourne Central shopping day

Melbourne Central shopping day was happening today (24/11/2011). It started at 10am and it went until 9pm. Here there are a few one offers throughout the centre.
But there were also a few happenings such as free coffee at Plantation which I attended. There were samples of syphron coffee as well as pour overs and cold coffee. The coffee was really nice today. It had some fruity tones as well as being strong in strength.
There were also cupcake classes for the little kids ($25 run by the Cupcake central).
There was also champagne in store as well as a DJ playing on level 2 to get me in the mood.

Some other sights on the day:

Eat at Prahran Market

Today I went to Prahran market on this lovely sunny day. It was bustling full of people and I wanted to try out the Beangreen cafe since it had a nice vegetarian vibe to it. But whilst the front looked the good, the staff were really rude. They tapped me rudely on the arm and said " You have to ask before you can take pictures". Who wants to do that? So in the end I just walked.

I walked on to Rumbles, a little cafe just adjacent to the Essential ingredient. It was a lovely cafe with coffee from Venezianno. Here I had pumpkin and quinoa salad and a lentil salad all for $5. I also had green tea ($3.50 a pot).
The green tea was just ordinary, but the lentil salad was nice. The lentil salad was vinegary which I liked. The pumpkin salad was just little strange. I'm not sure what dressing they used but it was a little strange.

The lady was so nice that she let me buy the rice paper rolls from the cart outside. I had been meaning to try that cart for a while now. The rice paper rolls were $5.50 and there was a long queue. Everyone wanted the salads. The salads looked so good. Next time I'll have to try them.

Next time I'll have to bring big Fil here from Eat and be merry as they are a health cafe with the student in mind.

Patto's at South Melbourne Market

Pattos at South Melbourne Market is a tiny little cafe, selling biscuits and cakes as well as coffees, potatoes and other items.

There was hardly anyone here when I got there. All there was one little old lady enjoying a cake and coffee. The food court and the market was packed with people. I wondered why this place wasn't busy.  The server there was not too friendly. In fact she seemed bored. It was her and another 15 year old girl. They should seriously think about employing more staff on. It seemed to be only just two staff working there the whole time I was there. The food was incredibly slow to arrive at my table. The coffee however was quick.
I loved my short black ($3.50), but the pancakes were a little dry (too much starch perhaps) and were lukewarm at best. They took a long time to come too and did cost me $10.90. I like thick pancakes but they should be moist and not crumbly. This one was a little crumbly and I had to lots of maple syrup on there to make it a little more flavoursome.
The short black was a little weak, but this was fine by me.
Now I wonder why there are not so many people there. Avoid the place and keep walking on to Sofias and Padre. I'd probably only come back for their coffee and cake.

Tookaiya

Tookaiya is a Japanese restaurant in Keilor Road Essendon. It is serviceable by trams (zone 1). It is mainly open for dinner and run by Chinese. A few years ago it was run by Japanese. Now that it is run by Chinese some of the food quality has deteriorated.
They have dinner banquets as well as other things such as sushi and sashimi and main courses. They also have ice cream.
Friend D and I both went there on Friday night and it was really packed. The people here were caucasians, although there were a few Asians (but I'd say not many). There was a birthday party in progress.
The restaurant was clean out the front (and some of the decorations looked cute though), but at the back was a different story. At the back where the toilets are it is very messy (full of boxes and stuff). The service was quite good though ( it was efficient and friendly), but there were a few hits and misses with the food.
 Friend D and I both had the $33 banquet;
It consisted of:
1) Miso soup- a tad too salty but it was alright. It was mainly from a packet. A bit more tofu would be nice as well as kelp.
2) Sushi- the fish was fresh, but the rest not so. They used Australian rice instead of short grain. Where was the ginger or the pickles by the way? Every other table got them. And why oh why do they charge $5 for ginger when we can put a tiny bit on our plates for free? RIDICULOUS I say!!!
3) Agedashi tofu- this was good. The tofu cubes were soft, but just right. The sauce a tad bit too salty.
4) Gyoza- these were good.
5) Tempura- these were great, but the serving could have been bigger. The prawns were not so fresh.
6) Spring rolls- they were yum
7) Yakisoba- The noodles didn't taste like soba and the sauce was a bit too sweet. A sauce that is a little less sweet, might be better.
8) Beef teriyaki and salad- I didn't get the flavouring of the mayo. Here this was a little off putting for me. The salad was not fresh. It looked like it was in the fridge from two days ago. Beef was too chewy and the sauce again was a little too sweet for me. What did they use for the sauce? Oh let me guess Kecap manis???
9) Coconut ice cream- this was the highlight of the meal. It was just like Japanese ice cream.
10) Tea- My guess is Genmacha. It was not too strong but good. And the waiter filled the pot up quickly when asked.

I probably wouldn't come back here unless a friend really really asked me too. And what happened to the real Japanese waitress ( or maiko) from a few years ago? Sadly, this restaurant's food quality is going down the drain.

Penny Farthing Espresso

Penny Farthing Espresso is a coffee shop in Northcote along High st. Route 86 trams goes along High st and passes the place everyday.
The place was a buzz with people for their morning brunch. Here I saw that many people got take away coffees on their way to work.
Here it had a very homely feeling about it. It had an art gallery with quite a few artworks for sale. This place was featured in the Age good cafe guide. They had quite a few treats for sale as well as bags of coffee. THey really pride themselves on coffee, hence not much food. Here I got a strong short black ($3.50) and a yoyo ($3)
The yoyo was homemade and was yummy! It filled me all the way up.
Students from Bundoora and City I recommend giving this place a shot!