Melbourne Day 3 - Victoria, The Place To Be!


The little round pretty meringue-based confection, MACARONS have spread their wings around the world and Australia is not excluded.

Here is my confession, I am usually self-controllable in terms of shopping however I can't seem to resist the temptation of macarons. Everytime I see a shop selling the pretty macarons, my eyes just constantly light up and the next thing I know is I happily take out my wallet from my bag. So here comes the role of the BF: dragging me far away (so far far away) so that my eyes can't even catch the shadows of the little roundies! Pathetic!

Since I was having a break, it was fine to splurge myself a bit wasn't it?! :)

Raspberry & Violet Blueberry Macarons ($2.50)

Macarons Display at La Belle Miette

The shells of La Belle Miette macarons are not as crispy as those of Laduree and they are sweeter than Laduree's macarons. In terms of flavours, La Belle offers a lot more twist to them instead of the basic boring flavours. The unique flavours currently on the market are:
  • Cherry Blossom Sake;
  • Earl Grey Choc (my favourite so far, it is a match made in heaven!); 
  • Moet Et Chandon Champagne & Blackcurrant; and
  • Scone with Jam & Cream.
Salted caramel macaron from La Belle is a MUST TRY, it's not your usual salted caramel. The filling has a twist of sticky buttered caramel hugged by 2 salted caramel macaron shells. 

Enjoying the Raspberry Macaron
Pic Also Posted on Instagram (Instagnez) - Gift from a Cousin

Pic Posted On Instagram (Instagnez): Earlgrey Chocolate Macaron, The Solid Version Of Earlgrey Tea

We were craving for dumplings for some reasons and there we were queueing on the Little Bourke St for a seat in a small shop while observing what other customers ordered. A waitress came to note down our order while we were queueing, it did help to shorten the waiting time once we secured a table to sit down.

Lunch at Shanghai Street: Xiao Long Bao, Pan Fried Pork
Dumplings & Noodle with Spicy Pork Sauce ($26.80)

Xiao long bao 小笼包  is a Chinese steamed bun, the direct translation to English is "little basket dumpling". It is filled with meat and a gel of concentrated soup which turned into liquid soup once heated up, you should bite the top of the dumpling which will release the hot steam and then carefully sip the soup while waiting for the dumpling meat to cool down.

The xiaolongbaos at Shanghai Street were delicious and quite similar to Din Tai Fung's, the dumplings meat were extremely generous & the noodle was cooked to perfection with spicy minced pork sauce. Highly recommended food with a real bargain!

Close Up of the Bitten Xiao Long Bao - Pls Ignore the Messy Background :)

Pic Posted on Instagram (Instagnez) - St Paul's Cathedral As A Background

Pic Posted on Instagram (Instagnez) - Flinders St Station

Pic Shot from a Tram Window - Seemed Like a Scene from Downton Abbey TV Show Minus 
The Building Renovation, The Fence & The Speed Limit Sign

We met up with the BF's cousins at the Chang Go Korean restaurant, we had made the booking in advance and we must arrived there at 6pm otherwise the queue would take hours. Such a busy restaurant although it is located on somewhat isolated aisle on the Little La Trobe St.

The 8 flavors of pork bellies ($58) were ordered so that we could try everything and we ended up ordering 4 more individual pork bellies with our favourite marinades which were 2 chili, garlic & herb. Other dishes were a set of beef for BBQ ($48) & Beef Bulgogi. All set dishes came with 2 serves of rice, vegetables & tofu soup. The side dishes were unlimited with the kimchi as the star of the night, I alone finished 2 bowls of kimchi even before we ordered. OMG!

Chang Go Korean: A Waiter Barbequing Pork Bellies

The 8 Flavours of Pork Bellies: From Top to Bottom
Wine, Original, Ginseng, Garlic, Herb, Curry, Miso & Chili

ATTENTION: The quality of the videos isn't the best as they were taken via Instagram video function

Video: Barbequeing & Cutting Pork Bellies


As if we had not eaten for days, we walked to Brunetti for the last meal of the day (finally). Brunetti is an Italian cafe originated in Melbourne and has expanded to Dubai Mall. I absolutely ADORE this cafe and this is the place which moves my heart into moving to Melbourne. You can basically get everything from this place from coffee, cake, gelato, dessert, savoury, macaron & chocolate.

Even at 9.30pm the place was packed full of customers looking for good food to hang out after dinner time. It wasn't easy to find a table for a big group like us. We separated and each of us were assigned to look for a table, we communicated via mobile to inform our location and how our mission went. Hang on, were we filming Mission Impossible??? We finally got a place to sit down half an hour later.

The View of Brunetti From The Main Entrance

1st Section: Macarons Tower & Croquembouches Tower

1st Section: Celebration Cakes

Pic Posted on Instagram (Instagnez)
2nd Section: The Pretty Cakes & Cookies

Close Up - Enough to Make You Salivating?

3rd Section - A Big Round Table Full Of Baristas Making Beverage Orders

4th Section: The Savoury Section

5th Section: Gelatos & Freezed Desserts

Pic Posted on Instagram (Instagnez)
Canolli Vaniglia, Canolli Ciocolato, Mileflogie, Pistachio & Coconut Sponge, Custard Puffs on Glazed Sugar
($19.30)


Video: Cakes Excavator In Action aka The BF


WHERE CAN I FIND THE FOOD LISTED ABOVE???
La Belle Miette - 30 Hardware Lane Melbourne
Shanghai Street - 342 Little Bourke St Melbourne
Chang Go Korean BBQ - 70 Little La Trobe St Melbourne
Brunetti - 380 Lygon St Carlton

La Belle Miette on Urbanspoon

Shanghai Street Dumpling on Urbanspoon

ChangGo on Urbanspoon

Brunetti on Urbanspoon

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