Rain & Restaurants

Today in Melbourne, it just rained all day. There is not much you can do when it is raining, you just want to be indoors obviously so you don’t get cold and wet. The only things you can do or would do on a rainy day is stay at home and watch TV, DVDs or just hop online. You could also visit a shopping centre, go watch a movie or even go bowling.

If I had purchased outdoor gear in NZ (which is a lot cheaper) instead of jumping off bridges and planes then I wouldn’t be doing the things mentioned above. I would rather be in the bush, or trekking somewhere in the cold. My expensive gear will keep me dry and I can wonder off into the rainforest for some exercise, photography and some time to think.

It is winter here in Melbourne, so I’m glad that it did rain because it means that it will snow in the Australian Alps depending on how cold it gets. Since I am going to the snow in the last week of August (9th year in a row), I want the alpine resort to pack in as much snow as possible. More snow means more fun!

Mt Buller

I’ve been to Mt Buller for about 8 years straight, so it’s good that I’m going to Mt Hotham this year. I am so sick of Mt Buller. I would have loved to stayed longer in Queenstown, NZ and hit the slopes at the Remarkables, Coronet Peak and also Mt Hutt. That would have been an awesome experience. I did have a look at skijapan today, they had a nice 7-day package to ski in Japan in 2007 but I’d have to weigh up my options if I decide to do that. It would be amazing to go there, all the photos I’ve seen of this place is gorgeous.

I went to a restaurant today called Plume situated in the western suburbs of Melbourne to have some Yum Cha (Dim Sum). I’ve been to several Yum Cha places around Melbourne and this place has got to be the lowest ranked restaurant for this type of cuisine. I love my dumplings and I found that the best dumplings need to be firm and look compact.

Yum Cha (Dim Sum)

The dumplings they had were inconsistent; they were very flimsy and soft. The dumplings had probably being over-steamed because each time I went to grab a piece with my chopsticks; it would just collapse in a heap. That’s no fun! The sticky rice wrapped in the leaf was pretty tasteless. The rice paper prawn rolls didn’t go well with the soy sauce provided; the sauce tasted like it was watered down. This restaurant was quite expensive as well and it was not worth it.

A really nice place for Yum Cha is a restaurant called Taipan which is located in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne called Doncaster. The food there is fantastic, bravissimo! You really do get what you pay for. Another restaurant which I like is in the central business district of Melbourne called Shark Fin located in Chinatown. This place is highly regarded and normally you would need to make reservations. I think there’s like 3-4 levels of seating and it is still pretty busy. The food is really nice here; another definite must go if you haven’t already. It’s known to be pricey but I think it’s relatively the same as Plume.

I’ve also tried Kingbo on Russell Street and Dragonboat on Lonsdale Street (in the Melbourne city centre). The food is reasonable and it’s somewhat inexpensive. I’ve tried many other places but I’ll just leave it with those 5.

So the ranking of these 5 Yum Cha restaurants in Melbourne by food critic Quang is: