Singaporean Hawkers Market

Proudly featuring Yeo's products which is their sauces and drinks.

The Singaporean Hawkers Market was on between the 6th and the 9th of April and its aim was to bring a taste of Singapore to Melboune for all. There are many Singaporean students in Melbourne and this brought them a taste of home.

We paid $15 to attend this event at Rendezvous Hotel. Here it included one of Yeo's drinks and two dishes. You can choose two out of any five. Any more and you'll need to pay. The baba cha (Singapore soy dessert) was $5 extra.

There were quite a few people by the time I arrived.

You collect your drinks at the Travellers bar. From there you can select a can or one of their mocktails. I chose the watermelon mocktail to go with my chicken satay and my bee hoon. I could have chosen a milky drink but I heard that they were bad for you around your monthly periods.

I really loved the chicken satay. It was cooked well. Here it went well with the salad and I really liked too much of the peanut sauce.

So for the second one which is the bee hoon I decided not to have sauce. They put too much noodles in mine and not a lot of vegetables. But I still liked the al dente noodles and the vegetables were fresh which is good.

Many thanks to Rendezvous for this successful event

Schnitz in St Kilda

We loved this Schnitz very much.

This Schnitz in St Kilda was really packed and one Saturday night we decided to visit after our run for some much needed carbs and protein.

The place was understaffed though. I think they need more staff for a Saturday night. I had to wait in a very long line with one cashier. Luckily food didn't take very long.

The other table has left their chips behind and a whole bagful of it. I'm thinking that they did not like their food and the group that left the burger bun behind probably hated their burger.

We really liked the Thai burger that they did in Crown so we decided to have this again but this time with fish and this time with chips. Unlike the other group we enjoyed them.

We polished off the burger and the chips. There was a drink deal but we were happy with water. The fish was fresh and the chips were nicely salted. They did not need any more salt and the lady at the table next door to mine put a whole heap of salt on her's. The sauces however were an extra $0.50- $1 and to be honest the chips didn't need them as there was a lot of sauce in the burger itself.

Rating: 14/20- do go to this Schnitz if you are around St Kilda and yes they do salads for the healthy gurus.

Your legal obligations

International students may sometimes have trouble with the law in Melbourne. But don't worry help is always at hand thanks to Victoria's legal aid.

Image courtesy of westernwallprayers.org

Family violence
Sometimes there is family violence in the home. You are entitled to an Intervention order and its easy to apply for in Melbourne. In Melbourne you can apply for it via the court system. Court usually takes a whole day and you will need evidence. Don't forget to photograph any injuries and do keep a diary. But in many Asian countries it is viewed as a family matter.

Hence many International students are scared to face the court.


Unpaid fines
If you have multiple fines or have not paid them or appealed them then the sheriff can come and arrest you. Do not ignore your fines.

If you can't pay by the due date then it is wise to ask for an extension in writing. Or if your parents are willing to pay then do ask them.

Traffic offences
Some International students have a car and the International driver's permit. After six months of arriving in Melbourne you will need a Victorian drivers license which is easy to get by passing a driving test. Do get someone who has been living in Victoria for a while ( a local student who you have been friends with could come in handy) teach you the road rules. Make sure that you understand the rules for driving in Melbourne and if you offend twice or three times you could be sent to prison (for drink driving) and lose your car. It's really strict in Melbourne.

Its better not to drive for a while.

If you do get into some sort of trouble it is better not to leave this until it is too late.  Do seek help from your uni's legal service as it is free for all students.

Product review: Fuze tea

Fuze tea is a new tea drink which was just introduced into the market in sometime January. RNIS first heard of it at the Australian Open when the teas were being sampled.

Fuze tea from chiukatherine@instagram

This is not as sweet as other teas as they use stevia in their teas. This is great for your fluid intake. They use stevia which is a natural sweetener and is quite alright for Febfast; a challenge in which we participated in.

There are five flavours: peach, mango, original, raspberry, lemon. You can buy them in big 1L bottles or smaller bottles for on the go at Woolworths and Coles. They are usually about $1.50-$6 depending on what you buy and where. The city stores might be a little bit more expensive as they usually have to cover the high rent.

Do buy your healthy tea now and make sure you stay hydrated

Mediterranean Greek Tavern

RNIS was invited to dine at this place and did not have to pay

This place is about a stone throw away and they have been opened for a few months now. Here they are rated as the best Greek in Elsternwick. It is not hard as to see why.

Here they use the freshest of ingredients and they have Greek wine in which we sampled some. Here it was strong but light and fruity in taste. This worked well with the fish dish that we had which was grilled whiting. This is evident in everything we had from the dips to the fish.

The staff were attentive and the owner was really nice to everyone. He replaced someone's broken glass and opened some of their wines when they needed to. This place is BYO by the way.

At 6:30pm when we came it was quiet. By 7pm it was busy and there apparently was Zorba dancing (which by the way is Greek line dancing) but we weren't around for that.

Marinated vegetables. Image courtesy of chiukatherine on Instagram

Dips from chiukatherine on Instagram

Main course of fish, salad and calamari from chiukatherine on Instagram

Dessert from chiukatherine on Instagram

Here we started off with a Greek wine and dips and turkish bread. The four dips were roasted capsicum which was spicy, tzatziki, salmon and taramasalata dip. We liked all of them especially the spicy dip which worked well with the tzatziki. The dips are made freshly everyday.

And then came the beetroot and capsicum in marinade. The marinade was extra virgin olive oil and it was subtle which is good. Greek and Mediterranean food is all about being simple, clean and subtle and they were that with everything. All the vegetables were fresh.

We loved that the greek salad had not much cheese to it which was good for us health freaks,

The fish in the fish dish was grilled well and we loved the small serving of potatoes on the side.

The baklava was a very nice way to end the meal and it was sweet but not too sweet.

Rating: 18/20- we enjoyed ourselves. Do come here for good Greek food on this side of Melbourne which is not too pricey and very reasonable.