Lygon Street, Melbourne Australia - You Wouldn't Want to Miss It!

Thinking Australia might not be the kind of place with leafy-tree lined boulevards

and bustling cafes and street life?  Where people are happy to queue and chat in the heat while waiting to sample the latest and the greatest gelato flavor at Pidapipo?

Think OZ will be like all those other places with the same old stores selling the same old stuff?

THINK AGAIN!  And then book your flights quick for the Christmas Holidays

and take good advantage of the sales while the Ozzies are all at the beach.

Make sure to schedule in a big block of time for strolling up and down Lygon St. and poking your

nose into all the lovely Italian delis, pizzerie, and gelateria.  Or sample some handmade pasta.

(Seasons Provedore)

Here the blondie Rachel Hunter type Ozzies cede the sidewalk to rugged featured - rosy bronzed

movie-type Misters and Misses because Lygon St. is, effectively Melbourne's Little Italy.

And as with many neighborhoods around which coffee bars and good happy Italian family restaurants

collect.....there are excellent toy and book/record stores on Lygon Street for pre-

and post dinner browsing, or last-minute gift purchasing for that special someone...

 who you'd like to keep quiet and very very happy so that you can enjoy your

hand-made pasta in peace in tete-a-tete with a few of your "Besties",  dahling.

"Readings" should be your destination for those books and/or records for your vinyl-file

mates and "Poppyshop" for those in your life who are eternally young.

If you favor "pesci" over pasta - Melbournians have a genius approach to fusion eating:

the sushi/fish bar where you can mangiare alla Giaponese with your sushi of choice

or stay gloriously old-school with good-old fried fish and chips.  All under the same roof

to be consumed at the same table, should you choose....and HEY, NOW, EVERYBODY'S HAPPY!

But before you leave the neighborhood or - erm - "precinct" as it's more properly called in OZ,

Make sure to stop into D.O.C. 

for impeccable Italian salumi, pantry-items and "AMORE".

You will probably find things you could only otherwise buy in Italy.

Everything is lovingly cared for and expertly presented.

Here too, you can get the fresh pastas and the sauces for your Thursday supper in, or Saturday

luncheon.  And thin-sliced luncheon meats to help you shrug off Sunday's noon-time hangover.

For the road, you can't go wrong if you

grab a couple of packets....Don't eat them ALL en route, cuz if you manage to get one home

to your honey - unopened and un-scoffed..... YOU WILL BE GOLD-EN!




HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND.  IT'S SPRING!!!!!  (ISN'T IT?)

Brunetti - It's a Must! - Melbourne, Australia

The first thing you will see is the cakes.

That is, the cases of cakes.  And more cases.  And it occurs to you that -

Christmas seasons notwithstanding, Brunetti on Lygon Street in Melbourne, is a place of cakes.  

For every season, for every occasion - cakes to please every taste

and every person.  Brunetti is serious about cakes, you need only count cases to be

convinced.....But as you penetrate further - and further - into the marvel that is Brunetti

you'll learn that Brunetti is also about pastries - of the Italian and the French styles

of biscotti and cannoli....

of savory lunch morsels,

G-E-L-A-T-I

TEAS.  AND COFFEES.

MORE CAKES.

 

MORE COOKIES.

MORE COFFEES.

And did I mention pizzas and pastas (and chocolates and nougat) too?  No I did not!  But you will find them there too.  

Brunetti's is a palace of Italian gustatory fabulousness.  It will not disappoint you. 

 I mean, you will never want to leave.  Seriously.

Destinations. Melbourne, Australia

There are some things they just don't tell you about Australia that you have to find out on your own.

  For example, like, that the pubs look just like Victorian English pubs on the 

outside - but that their opening hours can be rather different.....to English ones.....

And inside, no cozy velvet covered banquets and low tables crowded together but rather wide open spaces, with high stools.  And that the beer tastes QUITE different too - says Mr. Paradis.

(Labour in Vain)

That pub management can be a bit stroppy and selective about the customers they welcome ("this is no gentrified ale house or hipster-filled gastro pub") - or not.   And they might not even bother to open AT ALL during your visit to OZ......which is something that must be considered - but more on that later.

 (Bon App')

"They" also don't tell you that places like the "Bon App'' (run by "Damien, Francoise and Sebastien") exists -which has such a fidelity in spirit 

and flavor to your very favorite Paris bistro that you could ensconce yourself in one of it's

cozy corners and never miss the City of Lights

and its churning terraces, its fog of Gauloises, its

crusty croissants in homely paper sacks and glasses of pastis...ever...ever...again.  

They don't tell you that in Melbourne a single modest door can be a portal to a universe of entertainments.....oh, maybe o.k., the tourist books DO tell you THAT.  But you'll have to see it, to believe it.  (Brunswick St., Fitzroy).

 (Queen Victoria Market)

They DO tell you that Melbourne is home to a proper olde worlde covered market chock-a-block

with homely olde-world-ie set-your-heart-a-fluttering goodies.

I DON'T think "they" tell you though,

that the fish at Victoria Market are impeccably, IMPECCABLY  FRESH.  (And at these prices it should be.)    So much so, that they will make you want to move to Melbourne and cook fish every day.

 (Precinct Hotel)

"They" don't tell you that many pubs started out as hotels also and retain that as part of their names.

Or that sleek indoor-outdoor entertainment emporia

can be stumbled onto off the scruffiest out of the way lanes (with Bentley's parked outfront!)

when and where you're least expecting it on the coldest January 2 in 20 years in Melbourne.  (They also didn't tell the Paradis family that you can experience all four seasons in one day in Melbourne - apparently that is not uncommon.  Whereas we spread our seasons out over six days - going from 100 degrees Fahrenheit on a Wednesday arrival through torrential rains on the weekend, to 60 degrees and drizzle the following Monday.)

"They" never prepared me for HOW INSANELY GOOD the food in Melbourne is - from 

Singapore noodles, to (those very fresh) traditional fish and chips.  

"They" may not tell you that in OZ, fish and chips are NOT consumed with malt vinegar and curry sauce and mushy peas as in Mr. P's native climes, but rather, Dutch style - with mayonnaise, for dipping!  (Because once upon a time there were many Dutch in Melbourne on their way to the East Indies - otherwise known as Indonesia. There's always something to learn, isn't there?)  

 (Messina Gelato)

The servers at the Precinct Hotel will possibly not tell you that just down the road on Swan Street, you will find a branch of Australia's famous ("best") Messina Gelato...........

So don't forget that I TOLD YOU.  Because.......well, Y'KNOW - you might want to try some.

Finally what "they" REALLY don't tell you.....is that even though the middle of the Australian summer seems like a great time to visit OZ, many businesses close for the week before Christmas.  And/or, the week between Christmas and New Year's.  (When the Paradis family were there.)  Or the weeks right the way through to Australia Day on January 17!  (For crying out loud.)  It makes perfect sense because it IS.  THEIR.  SUMMER VACATION.  

But seriously.  You really wouldn't want to miss anything.  (Like we did!)   SO.  

Try another season.  Like the Fall - my Melbourne friends suggest.

until then,  and make sure you let me know when you go.......

HAPPY WEEKEND!!!