Australian Open, 2020

The first weekend of the Australian Open coincided with the Australia Day long weekend this year. How very Australian it was to have a barbie and watch sports on the telly, or better still attend the tennis in person. 

Even though there are more restaurants that have set up pop up shops and more retail shops this year, we hardly had time to check them out because this year I just wanted to watch some tennis and not be side tracked! 

We queued up for about 45 minutes in the sun to get into 1573 court to watch Ash Barty play women's doubles. It was very hot, and we were told to expect one to one and a half hour's wait but we figured if we were to move to another court we would just end up waiting for longer. So when we did get a seat, we were just content to continue watching the next match as well where Jamie Murray played in the men's doubles. 

We also went to the practice courts but did not see anyone we knew there so moved on quickly to the AO store before heading home.

I enjoyed watching the tennis this year as we managed to get a seat and watch some interesting games, and because it was not too hot. The smoke haze which saw some players struggling to breathe on the opening day and the bush fires were still very much at the front of mind but they had dissipated somewhat with the top temperature being at low 20's on the weekend. The torrential rain a few days before had also cleared the haze.

It is interesting to know that construction workers are protected by union rules to be able to stop work once the temperature reaches 35 degrees but no such rules are in place to protect tennis players who arguably have to exert more effort in their matches under direct sun. While there is a heat policy called the 'heat stress scale' which rates playing conditions from 1 to 5 as measured by a combination of factors being heat, humidity, radiant heat and wind speed but even if it reached 5 on the scale, play continues. Such is the occupational hazards of being a tennis player!

Black Toro, Windsor

Black Toro has opened a new branch at Windsor! The original restaurant in Glen Waverley on Kingsway served fabulous food which captured my taste buds and hearts so I just had to check out the new restaurant in Windsor. 

The restaurant feels a bit more casual, perhaps because we went for lunch and not dinner when we visited the Glen Waverley restaurant. There were only one waitperson that day, and when we arrived, there was a staff who was still cleaning the windows. Menu wise, I don't think there is much difference if any between the two. 

We ordered the porcini doughnut ($12 for 4) as entree. The use of the term doughnut in the name of the dish threw me off a little, because it was not at all fluffy as a doughnut is. Yes, there is a nice fragrance of porcini mushrooms but it resembled an arancini ball which is dense and gooey in the inside but without the crispy skin. The outside of the doughnut is spiced, looked dark and burnt (but is not burnt), which I didn't like. This is probably a dish I could have skipped ordering. 

Gaz ordered the jalapeno and cheese croquette ($9 for 2) as entree. Boy, they certainly did not skimp on the jalapeno! It was very spicy, much too spicy for me. The lime crema provides some sort of relief but ultimately the margarita we ordered did the trick. The outside of the croquette is crispy, but it smells like it was fried by the same oil used to fry the doughnut, in that they both tasted a little similar on the outside.

A deconstructed fish tempura taco ($16 for 2). The fish tasted like battered basa fish, with cabbage slaw and sriracha mayo. This dish was good, but I wished they had used another type of white fish like rockling because it is tastier and better quality.

For main, we ordered Lamb Barbacoa ($42) which is lamb slow cooked in banana leaf, pickles, salsa and tortilla. The idea is to pull apart the lamb, which is oh so tender and tasty, gather a little daikon, ginger and carrot pickles, pile them on a tortilla and put some salsa sauce before eating. The lamb was tender and not too fatty. The banana leaf adds a subtle fragrance to the lamb. This was probably the best dish of the day.

Overall I think there were some hit and misses this time as I didn't particularly enjoy the first two dishes, found the third dish to be average and enjoyed the last dish most.

Vegie Bar, Fitzroy

I'm making a conscious effort to eat healthy lately to help reduce the accumulated layers of fat around my stomach. They are so difficult to get rid of! So that meant for me eating less red meat, carbs and more fruits and vegetables. 

A couple of weeks, I visited Vegie Bar with a friend who is a vegetarian. We ordered laksa ($21), Mostly Greens ($22) and Top Deck Sundae ($11)

Laksa is not exactly a diet conscious food because of the creamy coconut milk that is a must in this iconic South East Asian dish. It is not laksa if there is no coconut milk. The spices in this laksa is a bit short but it is still creamy and tastes good. It is not spicy at all, which is perfect for many western tastebuds. The best bit is the crunchy eggplant tempura in the laksa. Sigh... I guess it's difficult to have a healthy, low fat diet without breaking your own rules now and then. 

I ordered the Mostly Greens, which was stir fried tofu, vegetables in peanut sauce with brown rice. The peanut sauce adds flavour but is not low in fat. Peanuts are high in cholestorol so have to be eaten in moderation.

Lastly, the Top Deck Sundae which is peanut butter fudge, chocolate and vanilla ice cream with drizzle of chocolate in a waffle cup. Definitely not low fat. I would not have ordered this but my friend loves peanuts and I think this was her dish of the night. I liked the chocolate ice cream because it was dark chocolate and was not as sweet.

I guess you can say that I definitely ate enough vegetables at the dinner, but I would have eaten more calories than I liked.

Le Charme, CBD

It has a french name but Le Charme serves modern Asian cuisine. The place was previously Hills BBQ, an institution in roast duck, pork, soy chicken and Hong Kong style cafe food. The food was cheap and delicious but in need of a renovation. I am not sure if the owners are still the same since the restaurant's change of concept but the food still feels essentially the same to me. 

The main differences from the previous restaurant and I love them, are the modern and clean looking decor, comfortable and roomier seating, the good service (compared to the abruptness of HK style cafe), and presentation of the dishes. 

Since opening, this restaurant had received a good rating on Zomato and the Feed Me menu for $30 pp for dinner seems tempting but we checked in for a quick lunch. To our delight, they have a specials lunch menu and dishes are reasonably priced at $9.90 or $11.90

We ordered prawn spring rolls to share:

Gaz ordered the wagyu minced beef with onsen egg on rice ($11.90). I think when the meat is minced, it really doesn't matter whether it's wagyu or not, it's all in little pieces anyway. The seasoning was good, and it tasted very much like the old fashioned claypot rice. See what I mean by the food being essentially the same?

I ordered the Singapore noodles ($11.90). I started saying the full dish name from the menu 'Singapore Curry Seafood Rice Noodles' but then the waitperson cut me off, nodded and said 'Yup, Singapore noodles'. Until then I had no idea it was just Singapore noodles, I thought it was some fancy pants fusion dish with dryish curry gravy on vermicelli. Again, see what I mean by the food being essentially the same? The only difference was that there were actual seafood in the dish, and there were big prawns that burst in the mouth. Nice but a tad greasy.

This is a glammed up joint that is perfect for those who want Western standards of comfort and service but still have authentic and delicious Asian food.

See Yup Temple, South Melbourne

See Yup Temple is located on Raglan Street in South Melbourne. From the outside, it looks like a public park. There is a simple archway that bears its name, and to get through to the temple you'll need to walk through the garden. The garden and the actual building which houses the temple is separated by a laneway which is an odd configuration. 

See Yup refers to the four districts in China of  Southern Guangdong province - Taishan, Kaiping, Xinhui and Enping. During the Gold Rush in the 1800's, many of the people from these districts travelled abroad with the hopes of finding employment, making a better life for themselves and their family in China with some eventually settling in the countries they travelled to. The See Yup society in Victoria was established in 1854 and acted as a centre to care for the wellbeing of its members, and a social hub for them to hang out. It is a lonely life for these migrants who were not allowed to marry and have a family in Australia or have their family members join them from their birth country. This anti-immigration policy is called the White Australia policy and was only relaxed some hundred years later. 

Besides the See Yup temple, there is also an administrative office / hang out place that I know off in Little Bourke St or Chinatown in the CBD. While member counts are slowly dwindling it is a reminder of the days long gone when people would congregate there each weekend to catch up on news, or gossip, play mahjong or pingpong, and generally have a good time. 

As many of its members are Taoists or Buddhists, the See Yup temple was built in 1855. Since then, the temple had undergone restorations and was opened to the public in 1976. The interior of the temple is dark and smoky from the many thousands of joss sticks burnt here since it opened and still is being burnt there. It reminded me of the temples of my childhood which were full of incense smoke, chanting and dark figurines of Kuan Yin and other gods. These days, temples are brighter and airier, and lighting of joss sticks is discouraged to avoid air pollution.

The See Yup temple has a main hall with an altar where worshippers can light joss sticks and pray, donate 'oil and rice' money as offerings, provide fruits as offerings, or shake the prayer sticks and have their fortune told. The ancestor tablets are displayed in rooms on either side of the main halls. These are rooms with shelves for wooden plaques carved with names and dates of those deceased. Prayers are offered by the temple on festivals and their relatives can visit and offer food and prayers at any time.

There is also a second level to the temple which we did not explore, and weren't sure if we were allowed to. Although there is a notice at the entrance requesting for donations from visitors, there is no donation box. At the time of our visit on the weekend, there were a couple of people praying and having their fortune told, so it is quiet even on the weekends. I suppose it might be merrier during festivals like Chinese New Year and on religious festivals.

The temple is basic, small and dark inside. I think the main altar is smaller than the two memorial tablet rooms combined so the place seemed like more of a memorial hall rather than a temple. It was good for a casual visit to know more of the historical places around Melbourne.