Travel Australia 🇳🇿

Was having a free day in melbourne and decided to venture south to revisit a nomad backpacking hostel I had stayed 20 years ago. Turn out the hostel has been transformed to a cafe but the exterior including the original entrance remains.

Decided to just settle for breakfast since the aroma of coffee are just alluring.

Ordered a mixed berries pancake together with chai latte. Noticed the Chefs are Asian and there is younger Chef In his early 20s whipping up every orders with precision despite endless orders kept coming in. We nodded to each other as to appreciate and acknowledge each other presences both as customer and a Chef.l when he noticed I was watching every move he made in kitchen with Admiralty.

Noticed that pancake making technique was somehow different. Pancakes are basically done in hot round pan and before serving it was further put in the open oven to cook and give it a hot fluffy textures in the interior of pancakes

Drizzle with tangy sauces of caramelised mixed berries fresh from south melbourne market which I believe they sourced right out next door every day and serve with cup of fresh cream decorated by a dash of mint herbs.

The pancakes are sensational and is worthy of Michelin standard as it is fluffy and is piping hot when cut up pancake where steam just emerged. With the mixed berries, the steak warm up berries that compliment the taste and together with a small dash of cream and the result is sensational to your palates.

They serve good coffees and other meals as well but this has to be the best pancakes I had for so far.

Price is around AUD$15/- per dish and drinks are around AUD$4/-

Was departing from melbourne and decided to hunt some for Asian food after days of burgers and steaks. Chance upon this venue which was newly launched 3 months ago.

Basically comes in 2 sizes - big (AUD$19) and small (AUD$14).

Difference between both set are that the large set has extra ingredients like black fungus meatball ; pork ribs and generous serving of shiitake mushrooms while the small bowl edition comes with fishball and noodle are pho instead of thick beehoon( rice vermicelli).

What really stands out are their servings of pork cracklings or we called it as roast pork belly in singaporean term that is crispy and well grilled.

Soup broth is clear and each meal is accompanied by sides of mixture of vegetables instead of traditional Vietnamese herbs which is a good touch for travellers who aren’t familiar with herbs. A dash of sriracha sauce helps elevate the taste of soup.

Chefs are 100% Vietnamese and basically they eMate what they cook so it was assuring in my view in term of taste and skills.

One of the best pho I ate despite of the price but is Australia price anyway so if you are transitioning at departure ; do give it a try.

https://www.baxanoodlebar.com