Brushes with fame

Adri saw Cate Blanchett in the fruit shop today.

Full trolley, 3 boys hanging off her, sunglasses on inside the shopping centre.

Not even too famous to duck in to the $2 shop!

West Ryde Woolies

Just felt compelled to tell the world that West Ryde Woolies has THE BEST selection of ice-cream I have come across.

At least half an aisle devoted to tubs and individual cones or sticks.

Far superior to Gladesville Coles.

(How good is Goody Goody Gum Drops?)

American Apparel

Their store has arrived in Sydney.

But before you go there, go here and think about what Dave has to say. Be careful!

Re: Melbourne

As mentioned already, Adri and I spent the weekend in Melbourne. We had a fantastic time.

The highlight was either breakfast at St Ali’s coffee roasters or lunch at the Local Taphouse Pub. Line ball.

The lowlight was undoubtedly the 8 hour door to door trip home. Top work Qantas.

On Shopping…

We didn’t go absolutely mental, but we did pick up some good purchases. Adri was a little disappointed that I came home with more purchases than she did.

Chapel street was superb. We clocked up a lot of kms walking up and down it. You could easily spend a week on it as there are hundreds of shops.

Best shop was American Apparel where we picked up 3 items. Apparently there is one coming to Paddington soon.

On Coffee…

Our first Melbourne coffee experience was not a good one. The cafe across the road from our hotel got 4.5 beans in the Melbourne coffee guide and was packed with people on Saturday morning. However, when we got inside and ordered our 2 lattes, they promptly forgot about us! I had to reorder after a good 20 mins. When it did finally arrive, it wasn’t too bad.

St Ali was another story altogether. Almost the ideal cafe in my opinion. The roasters were pumping out the delicious when we arrived at the converted warehouse. Our 2 lattes were perfectly made with a very well defined rosetta. Tap water was served in old VB bottles and tthe breakfast was he most delicious cafe food I’ve had in a long time. Labna, poached pears, muesli and mixed nuts/seeds and bacon and eggs on hashbrowns. Yum!

We bought 250g of the St Ali’s Espresso blend home. I haven’t quite mastered the grind yet, but it was pretty tasty this morning.

On Beer…

I don’t think the Victorians fully realise how good they have it in the beer stakes. It seems Victoria has far more boutique breweries than NSW. In the pubs we visited, I didn’t see VB or New on tap once – how good is that!

The beer highlight was the Local Taphouse on Chapel St, St Kilda. They boasted 40 beers on tap and had a beer menu that stretched to dozens of pages. I had the Otway Estate Otway Ale which was a tasty, full-bodies, subtly hoppy ale. Adri had the Hargreaves Hill ESB which I would say surpassed, or at least equalled, the Knappstein in the tasty lager department.

We also had le Coq Blond at the Lucky Coq in Prahran. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t as good as their $4 pizzas!

All in all, we had a great time. I can’t wait to go back and see more of Melbourne. It really is a great town.’

PS – Thanks for everyones tips! Photos to come