We were dropped back in Collins St after the Yarra Valley winery tour around 5-ish and decided to walk around while deciding where to have dinner. Hubby had been wanting to have burger and so the final decision was to go to Grand Trailer Park Taverna. It is close by and we read many positive reviews of the place before, sounds like a good choice, right? The weather was miserably cold and windy, plus I was truly in need of greasy food after all those wine 😛
The front door and staircases leading to seating area, ain’t that cool?
Honestly, I was a little skeptical when looking at the front door. It looks cool but at the same time reminds me of old style pubs where people got drunk 😛 Then I looked up on the ceiling and saw all that fairy lights and it made me feel better about this place.
One side felt more retro, while the other side has a more rustic old barn feels (in my opinion) 🙂
Maybe because we came in a little too early, it was not busy at all when we got in. But by the time we started eating, we can see more people came in and seats were filling up soon.
The menu
Hubby decided to have Francis Underwood with a beer, while I opted for the Atomic and we had a large beer battered chips to share.
Francis Underwood Burger and Beer Battered ChipsAtomic BurgerThe beer with our table number …
I like the Atomic burger, very flavorsome and tasty. Beer battered chips was also very nice, crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Hubby thought his burger was super delicious and that creamy cheese macaroni croquettes was a bomb. Although he reckons that next time we go there, he wanted to have a burger, chips, and cheese macaroni croquettes by itself.
Definitely a place that we will go back to next time we are in town! I’d love to try their shakes with alcohol, they sound really interesting with unique flavor combination.
The Wifey’s Corner team went to Melbourne and it had been a really nice trip! All these years we live in Sydney and never been to Melbourne even once. Finally we decided we’d go there for our third year anniversary. It definitely was the right decision, albeit was a short trip, yet a very memorable one! This post is a review of our City Tempo, where we stayed during our short trip – and again is of our own opinion.
We left Sydney at 7.45 am and landed at Turramarine airport approximately 9.20 am. From there, we lined up for the pre-booked Skybus to take us to Southerncross station for another transfer to our hotel. We thought Skybus is convenient and easy airport transfer, however the transfer at Southerncross station puts us off a little. Luckily we booked only one way, and we used Starbus for our hotel-airport transfer, which was even more convenient.
I should also mention that one day prior to our arrival, I received an email from City Tempo confirming my booking and what time I would arrive. Communication via email was easy, they responded promptly and no problems whatsoever.
When we arrived at City Tempo, it was packed with guests checking ins or outs. Check in process was smooth, filled in some forms and that’s it. Unfortunately, the room was not ready but the receptionist offered to store our luggage until it is. They asked our contact number to text us once the room is cleaned, which didn’t happen.
Meanwhile waiting for 2 pm, we walked around and caught the free city tram for some sightseeing and lunch. We returned around 1.30 pm and again the room was still not cleaned but they will let us know as soon as it is ready. Because the guaranteed check in time is 2 pm, we thought we would just sit and wait in the lobby. At 2.20 pm after groups of people finished their check ins, hubby went to ask again and this time they said it is ಠ╭╮ಠ No one texted or told us, all the while we were sitting there waiting!
Located on Queens St, City Tempo is just one block away from the famous Queen Victoria Market on the north and walk toward the south you’ll find tram stop on La Trobe St. And not to mention, a very walkable distance to the famous Hardware St!
Anyhow, I wouldn’t complain since we were given a nice studio unit on level 23! Woohoooo excellent view from up there, especially at night-time 🙂 The unit is bright, compact, good size for two people, and has a functional kitchenette. Bathroom wall is of frosted glass, so it probably be a bit awkward if you are staying with a friend (¬‿¬)
Housekeeping came in the afternoon. On the day we did Yarra Valley winery tour, we came back to a nice clean room; the next day, he came when were getting ready to for pre-dinner stroll. By the way, they also have coined laundry facility on level 1. This is accessible with your room key card and there are laundry detergent sachets in your room.
Overall, we love the unit we were in (no. 2302); the only minor problem was just the mattress. Hubby complains that the queen size mattress is too small, but that was just because we get used to king sized mattress. Apart from that, we only experienced WiFi issue once during our 3 nights stay. When we asked the receptionist the next morning, he said it had affected the whole building the night before (our first night) but is fixed now. We found no other issues for the rest of our stay. In our opinion, this is a great place for short stay in CBD and if you find a deal on Expedia (like we did), it is truly value for your bucks.
The beautiful view at night – overlooking Queen Victoria Market and northern area
It had been raining on and off and windy since we arrived at Melbourne that day, actually the weather was also like that in Sydney as we left. And such weather usually calls for hearty meals right? As for us, we chose ramen and there is one in CBD that I have recommended to, Hakata Gensuke Ramen Professional. There are also plenty of positive reviews on the web, so hubby was really keen to try.
We walked through the little lanes from City Tempo, passed china town towards Russell St. There are so many temptations (read: other restaurants) on the way that we have to keep remind ourselves that we want Hakata Gensu ramen (ง’̀-‘́)ง
We arrived at the restaurant around 5.15 pm thinking that we might be their first customers since they will only be serving dinner 15 minutes ago. But voila, the restaurant was near full! Alright, that was not expected, but nonetheless a good sign.
The friendly waitress prompted us to our seats, left us a menu and two sheets of forms to fill in our order. On the form, you can choose which broth you’d like, texture of the noodle, how strong the taste, with our without spring onions, and any additional toppings needed.
Our food came not long after the waitress collected our forms. The ramen appeared similar to other ramen we have elsewhere, minus the egg (as we didn’t opt for extra topping). Don’t let the appearance fooled you, it tasted really good! The broth is delicious, not too salty or heavily seasoned with MSG. We have never been to
Japan, but I’d like to think this is how the real ramen tastes like 🙂 We also shared a plate of gyoza, which tastes just as fabulous.
Signature Tonkotsu ($13)Gyoza ($5)
It is most certainly not the cheapest ramen around and they don’t even come with egg (like most others do). But, we think it totally worth the hypes – very hearty and delicious broth. We both would absolutely love to come back here next time we are in town!
We were heading back to City Tempo after lunch and while staring at the Google Map for directions, Shortstop suddenly popped up. As it turned out the location is very close to City Tempo, we made a quick stop at Shortstop for their famous donuts. Learned from previous experience, when it’s location is in a small street or lane, you just have to pay extra attention for name plague. But Shortstop on other hand is very easy to locate, you could not have missed the glass wall, crowd and display of beautiful donuts.
The cafe is quite small in size with minimalist interior and very few seating. We actually came here twice, this first time we just got the take away donuts. Then we dined in on the second time when it wasn’t as busy. When walking in, you’ll see a coffee counter and cashier counter next to it and then a glass display of each of the different flavoured donuts for the day. It was as if you are looking for antiquities display in a museum (｡◕‿◕｡)
These excite me much!
And of course we must try the hyped Australian Honey And Sea Salt donut because it just so different to your usual donuts. Then hubby decided he wanted to try the Maple Walnut And Brown Butter one. We were too excited and forgot to take a close up pictures of these two and only remembered after we gobbled them down ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The honey and sea salt donut is certainly unique, both in flavour combination as well as the texture. It was less sweet than the other one, being balanced by the salt flakes. But the texture is just interesting, light and airy on the inside with crisp glazed on the outside. The maple walnut and brown butter donut is totally different to the former. This is more similar to your usual kind of donut in texture but the topping is very yummy. Mind you, it is very sweet – but then again, something you’d expect from a donut, right?
On our second trip here, we tried Boston Cream and Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake plus their coffee. They used Market Lane’s Seasonal; Blend beans. By the way, they have only whole milk for their coffees, but turned out really nice. Smooth and not too rich at all – we usually get flat while in skim because most of the time it is too creamy and rich otherwise. But the coffee here was very very good (read: memorable), even on whole milk. Both donuts are delicious and fluffy with sweet smooth cream filling inside.
These donuts are certainly not something you’d treat yourself everyday – not just they are sweet, they are not cheap either. But, I’d love to have them every once in a while and wash it down with a cup of their coffee.
