Bendigo (Part 4): Our Food Trail

One thing good about cold weather is that ice cream doesn't melt, and I can take all the time in the world to enjoy. Which was exactly what I did, as I tried my best to eat an ice cream a day. I didn't succeed; but boy, did I give it all I could. Which was not hard, considering that Favourite Flavours was a stone's throw away from our accommodation.

Mango and Hazelnut

Another day, another ice cream cone.

Pistachio and hazelnut

I've tried tagging every flavour when we posted up these pictures on Facebook, but Facebook kept removing them. If I had more free time I would have created accounts for these ice-creams, so Facebook would leave my pictures alone.

Because Man can't survive by ice cream alone (I tried, believe me), we also had our fair share of kebabs from Turkish Kitchens Takeaway over the two weeks, as well as a number of brunch places around town. We also had Indian food on our first night at Indian Tavern Tandoori Restaurant, which was highly recommended by our friend who lives in the area. After a mouthful of the curry they serve, it's not hard to see why.

The lamb kebab (from Turkish Kitchens Takeaway) was excellent

As time passes, we found ourselves having brunches more and more frequently. Perhaps their most well-regarded brunch location is at Old Green Bean, where we visited a few times.

There's a little-known drink called Magic, which is an elusive coffee that I enjoy. But some baristas may not know what that is, or how to prepare it. (As an aside, the first time I asked for Magic at my campus coffee shop, the barista stared at me like he thought I was expecting him to start pulling balloons from his sleeves.) And if there's one thing I've learnt with food, drinks and haircuts, it's not to direct the person to do something if he himself doubts it would turn out well.


Brewhouse Coffee Roaster, was another place we were sorry we could not have gone a few more times, and whose staff instantly recognized how to prepare a cup of magic.

Magic. There's a distinct lack of balloons.

We enjoyed lunch there one weekday after class, and because I'm a better customer than food blogger, I could not recall what we ordered, but I can tell you the lunch was enjoyable. (There was a steak burger that was delicious and generously portioned as well, but that's about all I remember)

Quite nice, but not particularly Wow-worthy

Vanilla affogato

And if you're around Monash and have an hour's break, why not check out Debbie's Deli, serves delicious focaccia.

Atlantic focaccia, made with smoked salmon. It was grand.

We also had a meal at a steak place (damn... goldfish memory. Name will be up soon!), The sauce that came along with my steak was a little weird, as some of my friends have commented as well, and we were too stuffed from a previous lunch to finish the fries. The food wasn't particularly memorable, but then again, I was probably too full from before to make an accurate judgement.

Nachos. 

We also had dinner on the second week at Grill'd, a terrific, hip burger joint 20 minutes walk from our accommodation.

Another place that came highly recommended was The Good Loaf, which serves fresh bread baked on the premise. A friend insisted that we HAVE to try it, and true enough, her recommendation was spot-on (as usual) when we dropped by the place on our last day before heading back home.

I was still feeling stuffed from the day before, so the only thing I ordered was their Iced Coffee, which also had a scoop of ice cream floating on it. Watch and learn, Singapore kopitiams.

Pumpkin loaf

 

We had to bring a loaf home. Each. 

Sweet Corn bread (Photos courtesy of R)

I did, however, muster up the last of my appetite and bought two gorgeous loaves of Pumpkin Seed Bread and Sweet Corn bread, to squirrel away on a later date back in Clayton.

I love their blackboard, which had a pail of chalk alongside to encourage their patrons to leave a message. I had a spot of difficulty finding the restroom, which was hiding behind the blackboard, and decided to make it easier for everybody all around in the future.

My legacy in Bendigo. Y'all are welcome. 

Check out Part 1 of my Bendigo trip!
Check out some of my Bendigo curriculum (Part 2) here!
Check out our trips to Old Green Bean here (Part 3)
Check out Part 5 of our trip to the Farmers' Market in Bendigo
Check out Part 6 about our trip to Mandurang Valley Winery
Check out the last part, Part 7 about Bendigo's other attractions


Technical notes:
Magic, is steamed milk poured over a double ristretto and served in a smaller 160ml cup giving it the optimum coffee to milk ratio, ie a double-shot flat white. (A ristretto is a 'restricted espresso', meaning that it's the first half of a shot of coffee only and supposedly purer.)

- Taken from http://www.weekendnotes.com/magic-coffee-melbourne/