Melbourne Trams

Meet Yarra Trams, Melbourne's public transportation that I find convenient and efficient, especially when traveling to the city. Trams take you from various suburbs around Melbourne to and through the CBD. To ride the tram, you'll need to buy tram tickets that can be purchased at any 7-Eleven stores or from Metlink shops, or prepare a pocket full of coins (as they don't accept bills in the machine inside the tram). With the Metcard, you'll be able to use the trams, trains and buses.

For ticket information and route maps, visit Metlink site.

Chocolateria San Churro - Experiencing Churros

We've heard of Spanish donuts, and we've seen these pretzel-like food that people eat (looks like a huge 'maruku' doesn't it?) They are actually Spanish donuts called 'churros'.

Chocolateria San Churro is a Spanish Cafe (that looks like any other coffee shops) and they can easily be found around Melbourne. They serve coffee, chocolate drinks, and now we know how good churros are! Churros are basically made from flour, margarine/butter, eggs, salt & sugar, the fried in hot oil. They are eaten with chocolate dip.

In Melbourne CBD, Chocolateria San Churro is located on Swanston St at QV Building.



View Larger Map

Old Town Kopitiam Mamak @ QV Building

Another familiar Malaysian coffee shop in Melbourne. Mamak is a typical restaurant in Malaysia operated by mostly Indian-Muslims. One of the great things about Mamak restaurants is that they usually open till very late at night, and some even for 24 hours, and they sell a range of food at affordable prices - food ranging from roti canai, to mee goreng and to tom yum. It's great to finally find a very familiar and an almost-home feel at Old Town Kopitiam Mamak. Here are some of the updated photos of menu we've tried. So far so good and we really hope they maintain the quality of the food that we truly enjoy.

Cendol (shaved ice served with coconut milk, palm sugar syrup, red beans and jelly-like green cendol)

Kopi susu ais (iced white coffee)

Soya cincau (soy milk with grass jelly)

Prices were considerably fair according to standard prices of meals in the city

They even have kicap (soy sauce) and pepper on the table for those times that you'd want to have poached eggs

Mee Goreng Seafood (fried noodles with seafood)

Old Town Kopitiam Mamak is located at the center courtyard of QV Building in Melbourne CBD opposite of Max Brenner.


View Larger Map

* We have emailed Old Town Kopitiam Mamak to get a clarification on their Halal status, and they've replied "Yes, we got the halal meat supplier certificate at QV".

* However, Old Town Kopitiam at Chinatown (Little Bourke St) is NOT Halal.

Halal Meat Melbourne

Halal meat is easy to get in Melbourne. There's quite a number of Halal meat suppliers along Sydney Rd, so if you missed one, there will be several others up ahead. We often go to either Istanbul or Madina. Both sell a range of chicken, beef, lamb, burgers, and sausages; and Madina offers a selection of Halal frozen products like nuggets, goujons and beef patties.


Madina Halal Meats is located on 755 Sydney Rd, Brunswick.



View Larger Map



Halal Meats Istanbul is located on 609 Sydney Rd, Brunswick.



View Larger Map

Summer Activities - Cherry Picking

It's currently summer, and among the activities that we've done and were also recommended by friends is fruit picking. There's a number of summer fruits farms where visitors can go and pick the fruits fresh from the trees, and last year, we went for a cherry picking day-trip at Red Hill Cherry Farm in Mornington Peninsula.

*Post to be updated soon...

Rich Maha @ Little Collins, Melbourne CBD

Upon recommendations from friends, we had found yet another Halal eating place tucked in the middle of the CBD. This is Rich Maha, and from the photos, they offer a range of Mamak-style food, including roti canai, roti telur and mee goreng mamak. Their food was alright, nice to try, but we really liked their Teh Tarik Ais!

Their meals and dishes are Halal. The place is clean and does give you a bit of that Mamak restaurant feel. It's a bit hidden, but now you too can know about it.

Rich Maha is located on a small lane called Equitable Pl off Little Collins between Elizabeth & Queens St. They open from Monday to Saturday and Public Holidays, from 11.00 am to 9.oo pm.



View Larger Map

Suzuki Night Market @ Queen Victoria Market

If you haven't been to Suzuki Night Market (or miss the overcrowding ambiance of Malaysian pasar malam) then you should plan an evening to visit this night market. We haven't been to this night market yet this year, but these are photos from our visit last year. It was surprising at first to see this much crowd concentrated within one market place. The crowd was the only thing that reminded us of pasar malam. Other than that, the market is still different from pasar malam, from its layout, how the stalls are arranged, how the products are displayed, and one major difference was that they provided tables and chairs for people to eat food that they purchased from the vendors. From last year's experience, you can find Halal food here, but prepare to queue the long lines! Massive crowd, and you won't believe you're in Melbourne (at least we didn't for the first few minutes upon arrival).

You can find a range of things at Suzuki Night Market, from craft, artist's products, food & drinks, general merchandise, music, activities for children and more.

The Suzuki Night Market opens every Wednesday from 25 Nov 2009 until 24 Feb 2010, from 5.30 pm to 10.00 pm at Queen Victoria Market. Entry is FREE.



View Larger Map

Shirt & Skirt Market at Abbotsford Convent

Another art market in Melbourne! The Shirt and Skirt Market is held every 3rd Sunday of the every month, from 10 am - 4 pm. Here, you'll find the similar range of artists' works and products such as clothing items, accessories, jeweleries, bags, t-shirts, baby apparels and more.

Shirt and Skirt Market is located on 1 St. Heliers St, Abbotsford.



View Larger Map

Christmas at the Art House Meat Market - Photos

Since it's near Christmas, there's quite a number of markets being held around Melbourne, one of which is this Christmas market at the Art House Meat Market in North Melbourne. The market operated on Saturday & Sunday of 12 & 13 Dec 2009, from 11 am - 8 pm. In markets like these, you'll find a good range of crafted works from bags, cards, paper products to skirts, scarves, women's dresses, baby clothings and t-shirts. It's a great place to see what local artists have to offer.

Kulcher Food Fest - Photos

Kulcher Food Fest was the first cultural food festival organized by Migrant Hub. It comprised of residents from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India, with visits from people from diverse cultural backgrounds as well. The event was held on Saturday, 12 Dec 2009 at an open space behind Sistems Golf Complex in Werribee from 12 noon to 7 pm. We arrived there in the afternoon and were just in time to indulge ourselves in the range of traditional food sold by the vendors. During this event, there were 16 stalls, and according to the president of Migrant Hub, they plan to have more events and markets like this in the future.

Penguins at St Kilda Pier

Yes, it's true! There are penguins at St. Kilda Beach. Go to St. Kilda Pier at sunset, and you'll see the blue penguins swim and waddle back to their nests among the rocks of the breakwater. The penguins can be seen all seasons through out the year, at sunset. This activity is free, and there will be volunteers who will manage the crowds, as well as being a guide to answer your questions about penguins there.

Penguins can be found at St Kilda Pier, St. Kilda.



View Larger Map

Kebabs to try!

A friend of ours just informed us on one of the best kebabs in town, located along Sydney Road. Stay tuned as walkwalkmelbourne will definitely have a taste of this top kebab!

And watch out for our St. Kilda Penguin upload soon this week.

Minang Restaurant

Minang Nasi Padang is located within a walking distance from RMIT Swanston St and Melbourne Uni. It serves Nasi Campur with side dishes familiar in the Nasi Padang menu. 1 set of nasi campur consist of rice and 3 dishes, costing AUD 6.50, which is pretty affordable for students and cheaper than Nasi Campur dishes located in the CBD.

Minang Nasi Padang is located at Pelham St, Carlton.



View Larger Map

Malabar Hut

Malabar Hut is located on the northern part of Sydney Road. It serves South-Indian food and those very common to Malaysian taste-buds, such as Nasi Briyani, Tosai, Roti Naan.

They open 6 days a week for dinner from 5pm - 11.30 pm, and open for lunch on Fri - Sun from 12 noon - 3 pm. They close on Tuesdays.

Malabar Hut is located on 868 Sydney Rd, Brunswick.



View Larger Map