Culinary Adventures in Australia

We did go to the Pancake Parlour in search of delicious bacon and pancakes. We were half successful. However this was not an enjoyable dining experience.

The restaurant was said to be in the Bourke Street Mall. Well, malls here are not what you or I would call a mall. In Melbourne they are composed of Arcades, which are not what you are thinking either, and don't necessarily connect. So, we headed down one Arcade, which is just a walk through of stores, restaurants and cafes, but we just came out on the other side and no Pancake Parlour. So, we went back and into another, still no pancakes. We walked further down Bourke and saw a sign for the place but couldn't find it. Finally, we went down an escalator and there it was.

We sat down and began studying the menu. Although I had already studied it online and picked out my choice. The waiter came and I ordered. Well, it was 12:01 and what I wanted was a special that lasted until 12. No blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon for me. UGH He suggested the lunch version which had fried eggs, regular pancakes and bacon. Apparently they don't scramble eggs after noon. Whatever, I just wanted bacon so I said fine. Oh, and I ordered some coffee. This was fun. He asked "short black, long black, latte" and some other versions I was not too familiar with. We ordered a short black. He brought it, but no cream was in sight. So, I asked for cream. He returned several minutes later with a bowl of whipped cream. We explained we were looking for something closer to resembling MILK and he was nice enough to swap it out for some. Then came the "bacon". Our faces must have looked disappointed and I'm pretty sure Nate sighed out loud because the waiter just stood there and asked if everything was OK. We explained what we were looking for and he said that was something we would have to look for at the market. The bacon here is more like Canadian bacon or ham even. They call it rasher bacon. The pacakes were delicious though and we stumbled upon "The Reject Shop" where we bought lots of odds and ends for our apartment. It is kind of like the dollar store.

It's funny when you get something in your head, like bacon, you start obsessing over it and become determined to find it. Thank goodness it was at the Queen Victoria Market or I think Nate was going to find a pig and slaughter it himself.

We haven't found Macaroni and Cheese here. They had something that looked promising in a bag that looked like Rice a Roni, but it tasted like chlorine. I would love a box of the good stuff, of course probably because I can't find it!

Also, ranch and peanut butter. You were right Suzanne. They just don't get it! We are happy with Nutella for now.

There isn't half and half in any grocery store we have been to either. I did find some Coffeemate, which they call "Coffee Whitener" here.

Beer is expensive, but good. Coffee is good. They call raisins Sultanas, pepper is like a dust or powder, any kind of squash is called Pumpkin, peppers are Capsicum, and turkey is really expensive. Just a few observations relating to food so far. They do love food here in Melbourne. There are lots of restaurants all over with a wide range of genres to choose from. I knew I would love it here (even when they don't have real bacon)!