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Dec 10, 20155 min read

#FELinMEL Day 3: South Melbourne Market, Gingerbread Village, CBD Area


The first location for today was South Melbourne Market! The South Melbourne Market is a food and goods market located in South Melbourne, Australia. It is a Victorian style building with wood and red brick, and began operations in 1867. There were so many things at the market! It’s like Sydney’s Paddy’s Market. Cafes, pastries, fruits, vegetables, flowers, toys, seafood, meat produce, clothing, gifts, souvenirs, craft, shoes, and many more! My favourite corner was the florist. The flowers were beautiful! I wanted to buy a bunch of Gypsophila (Baby’s Breath), but I think it was too expensive (AU$8).

SOUTH MELBOURNE MARKET

Opening hrs: 0800-1600hrs (Wed, Sat, Sun), 0800-1700hrs (Fri).

Address: 322-326 Coventry Street, South Melbourne, VIC 3205.

#1: South Melbourne Market.

#2: South Melbourne Market.

#3: Interior of South Melbourne Market.

#4: Fresh Seafood.

#5: Fresh Seafood.

#6: Fresh Seafood.

#7: Fresh Seafood.

#8: Fresh Seafood.

#9: Dried Goods.

#10: Brass Products.

#11: Interior of South Melbourne Market.

#12: Clocks.

#13: Fashion Skulls.

#14: Aztec Products.

#15: Huge donuts and muffins!

#16: Cool conflakes muffins!

#17: Pretty flowers!

#18: Gypsophila (Baby’s Breath).

#19: Apricots and nectarines in season now!

#20: Carrots.

#21: Turnips.

#22: Fresh Eggs.

#23: Pretty portobello mushrooms.

#24: Green beans.

#25: Vine tomatoes.

#26: Red berries and cherries.

#27: Watermelons.

Located round the corner is Chez Dre, opened by patisserie chef, Andrea Reiss. The French-inspired café consists a range of pastry like tarts, madeleines, gateaux and macarons. After being headhunt by Michelin-star restaurant in Paris, she returned back to Melbourne after gaining extensive working experience in esteemed restaurants in London and Paris, and started Chez Dre. I had a hot latte (AU$4) and a lemon meringue tart (AU$8.50), both were amazing! Thumbs up!! Following after, I went to Dead Man Espresso, which is about 5-10mins walk from Chez Dre. Dead Man aims to serve one of the best coffees in Melbourne, with top picks of roasters on pour at any time. Seasonal menu featuring herbs and vegetables grown at their rooftop garden. Their coffee taste less of the sourness (a good cup of espresso should taste ‘bright’ – sour) and more of the roasting flavour. It has this smoky taste in it and was more smoothing for my palate. I had a cappuccino (AU$4).

CHEZ DRE

Opening hrs: 0730-1630hrs (Daily).

Address: 285-287 Coventry Street, South Melbourne, VIC 3205.

#28: Turn right into the alley when you see Bibelot. Bibelot is a dessert boutique opened by Chez Dre that focuses on European-inspired desserts, while Chez Dre focuses on French-inspired sweet and savoury delights.

#29: Alley of Chez Dre.

#30: Entrance 1 of Chez Dre.

#31: Entrance 2 of Chez Dre.

#32: Latte ($4) and Lemon Meringue Tart ($8.50).

#33: Flower arrangement on table.

DEAD MAN ESPRESSO

Opening hrs: 0700-1700hrs (Mon-Fri), 0800-1700hrs (Sat, Sun).

Address: 35 Market Street, South Melbourne, VIC 3205.

#34: Dead Man Espresso.

#35: Cappuccino, $4.

If you are in Melbourne, you cannot miss this out. The former Victorian-era Melbourne General Post Office (Melbourne’s GPO) building converted into a three-storey H&M outlet! It is like one of the biggest and the most beautiful H&M outlet that I have ever seen. Every corner of this stunning fashion store is just an amazing spot for photo taking. However, do look out for the security! As they will stop you from taking photos.

H&M MELBOURNE

Opening hrs: 0930-1900hrs (Mon-Wed), 0930-2100hrs (Thu, Fri),0930-2000hrs (Sat), 1000-1900hrs (Sun).

Address: 350 Bourke Street, Melbourne VIC 3000.

#36: H&M Melbourne.

#37: H&M Melbourne.

#38: Interior of H&M Melbourne.

#39: Interior of H&M Melbourne.

#40: Home section.

#41: Home section.

Around the corner is Christmas Square, located at City Square – the centrepiece of Melbourne's Christmas Festival, and Gingerbread Village by Epicure, located at Melbourne Town Hall. Santa appears at Christmas Square daily from 1000-1200hrs and 1300-1500hrs, with an extra slot of 1600-1900hrs on Fridays. As for the Gingerbread Village, it is the fifth year running, led by award-winning Executive Pastry Chef Deniz Karaca, and together with his talented team, they have come up with a set of splendid model displays made from 500kg of gingerbread, 360kg of royal icing, 150kg of marzipan and around 800 miniature Christmas trees. The displays consist of some of the iconic landmarks of Melbourne which includes Melbourne Zoo, Luna Park, Town Hall, St Kilda Beach, Melbourne Cricket Ground and the Grand Prix.

CHRISTMAS SQUARE

Opening hrs: 1st Dec to 24th Dec 2015 (no opening hrs).

Address: Melbourne City Square, 44-86 Swanston Street, Melbourne VIC 3000.

#42: Christmas Square.

#43: Christmas Tree at Christmas Square.

#44: Santa's throne.

#45: Countdown to Christmas!

#46: Christmas countdown chart.

#47: Even the trees wear knits to match this joyous festive!

#48: Minced Meat Pasta for lunch at Christmas Square.

GINGERBREAD VILLAGE

Opening hrs: 1st to 10 Dec 2015 (1000-1800hrs), 11th to 24th Dec 2015 (1000-2030hrs).

Address: Melbourne Town Hall, 90-120 Swanston Street, Melbourne VIC 3000.

#49: Melbourne Town Hall.

#50: Gingerbread Village.

#51: Melbourne Zoo.

#52: Koalas, Pandas and Kangaroos.

#53: Otters, Rhino, Bears, Ox, Zebra.

#54: Elephant, Giraffes, Lion.

#55: Swans, Hippos, Rhino.

#56: Penguins.

#57: Alligators.

#58: Turtles.

#59: Grand Prix.

#60: Grand Prix audience.

#61: Pit Stop.

#62: St Kilda Beach.

#63: St Kilda Beach.

#64: St Kilda Beach.

#65: Speedboat.

#66: Luna Park.

#67: Luna Park.

#68: Luna Park.

#69: Luna Park.

#70: Melbourne Cricket Ground.

#71: Melbourne Cricket Ground.

#72: Melbourne Town Hall.

#73: Christmas Tree.

#74: Fresh fruits and vegetables for the mini people!

Last but not least, ending the chilly day with a hot bowl of ramen from one of the best soup noodles store in Melbourne, the Little Ramen Bar. The place is packed and I had to sit at one of the tables outside of the store. Everyone chose to sit inside because it’s cold outside. I ordered the Chashu Tamago, which is the classic ramen that consists of pork (chashu) slices and a ramen egg (tamago). There are three soups to choose from – miso (soybean), shoyu (soy) and shio (salt). I took shio as I want something lighter in flavour. Apart from the pork and egg, there were also seaweed, spring onion and bamboo shoots. The ramen was good, but too salty for my liking. However, the egg did not make the cut.

Alright, that sums up day 3!

LITTLE RAMEN BAR

Opening hrs: 1150-1430hrs, 1730-2100hrs (Mon-Sat).

Address: 346 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne VIC 3000.

#75: Little Ramen Bar.

#76: Chashu Tamago, $13.90.

Expenses for Day 3

Balance brought forward: $1,363.68

Chez Dre: $4

Lemon Meringue Tart: $8.50

Dead Man Espresso: $4

Little Ramen Bar: $13.90

Sub-total: $1,394.08

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