What I Ate Wednesday: The Melbourne Edition

Today we were back to our regular routine after 3 great days in Melbourne! It was pretty cold, and probably not the greatest time of year to visit what is oftentimes referred to as ‘the world’s most liveable city’, but with me being gone to Canada for 5.5 weeks in July and August, and our new little one on the way in November, we figured we might not get a chance to check off this Aussie bucket list city for some time. Plus, we thought it would be fun to get away to celebrate this old girl hitting her big 3-0.

Melbourne is known for its wining and dining, and with the colder temps, eating was pretty much our go-to activity. If you are very familiar with the healthy living blog community (or a blogger yourself) then you’ve likely heard of What I Ate Wednesday (WIAW) which is a blogger linkup hosted by Jen @ Peas and Crayons. I’ve been enjoying countless bloggers’ posts over the past year(s), documenting their Wednesday OR themed eats, but have never participated in a link up. This is mostly due to the fact that I can never remember to document my daily food consumption, or don’t want to bore people to death with my repetitive food choices. BUT, I figured what better time to participate in a WIAW segment than after 3 days of binge eating in another city!?

city!?

 

We got into Melbourne on Saturday evening just before Thomas’s bed time, so we ordered some room service. I had a lentil burger and some sweet potato fries! Our hotel, The Intercontinental Rialto, was pretty fab. We lucked out and got a suite with a patio overlooking the foyer (all enclosed), so we enjoyed our dinner “outside”.

Adam went out to find some adult beverages for himself, and I asked for a “treat”. What I meant was chocolate or candy or anything to satisfy my pregnancy induced dessert craving. He came back with wasabi peas… Yeah, I know. Anyway, this simply led to my raiding of the hotel snack trolley. $8 chocolate bar, please and thank you. Hey, at least it lasted me 3 nights!

Breakfast the next morning on Degrades, a cute little alleyway in the CBD: veggie omelette and whole grain toast with a skinny cappuccino.

We toured around/dodged the on-again-off-again rain for the greater part of the day and by-passed lunch, as we were still full from breakfast. We obviously had to stop at a cafe for a warm beverage and afternoon treat.

 

For dinner, our friends had recommended a popular Asian-Fusion restaurant (‘Chin-Chin’ on Flinders). Since they don’t take resos, we were there by 5:30pm. However, there was already a 1.5 hour wait. Aaaand they didn’t have high chairs. So, we hightailed it up to Carlton to try out some Italian! We never seem to go out for Italian food, so it was a great change!

I’d never tried this Limonate San Pellegrino before; so good!

Appetizer: bruchetta!

Main course: we went for a pasta trio share plate. It was absolutely delicious, but I didn’t even think to snap a pic. Why? Well…this photo may be indicative of where our attention was diverted during this phase of the dinner. Adam and I were speed eating champs, as Cranky McGee was out to get us that night!

Birthday breakfast! Giant bowl of oats w/ banana and some organic bacon that actually tasted like my tried and true Canadian variety. Australian bacon is not my favourite thing in the world…it’s more reminiscent of ham, so I never eat it. This was a great treat!

We did some shopping and took Thomas for a run around a park. Afterwards, he fell asleep for over an hour in his stroller, so we took advantage of our down time and enjoyed a peaceful lunch at Rococo in St. Kilda.

Birthday watermelon, mint and green apple mocktail 😉

Pizza time!

Of course, we couldn’t leave Acland Street without a stop at one of their many Cake Shops.

People seriously stand outside these windows like they’re at a zoo! Anyway, we went for a slice of chocolate hazelnut soufflé for my “birthday cake”. So, so good!

We were all dressed and ready for dinner that evening, when Thomas decided he had had enough for one day.

We really didn’t want to push him too much, as he’d been such a trooper touring around the city for the past 48 hours, so we settled for some more in-room service and called it a night.

I had a chicken and tofu laksa soup. Not the greatest of photos, but it was damn delicious!

A little breakfast the next morning at a café in Federation Square: a perfectly prepped bircher muesli (it’s hard to come by) with pear, almonds, honey and vanilla yogurt.

And a little snack to tide me over before we headed back to the airport.

Oh…and one more of these. Just because.

So, there’s a little recap of my food consumption in Melbourne. Between being pregnant AND travelling with a 16 month old, our options were a lot more limited than had it just been Adam and I (or had older children). We found that Melbourne restaurants weren’t as child/baby friendly as are Brisbane and Queensland in general, where even high end restaurants seem to have high chairs and lots of space for prams. However, we still definitely filled our bellies and did not go hungry.

After stuffing my face for almost three days, it was back to Body Pump this afternoon for a much needed workout!

Tonight we were back to our basics: grilled salmon with sweet potatoes and green beans on the side. It’s certainly fun to go away for a few days and eat like a pig (isn’t that part of the whole traveling experience?), but it always feels great to get back to your normal routine and healthy eating patterns.

So, there it is! My first WIAW post. Not sure if there will be more or not; we shall see what the future holds.

Melbourne is an awesome city. If I had to make a comparison, it reminded me a bit of Vancouver, with perhaps a greater focus on arts/culture/dining. I hope we get an opportunity to go back when the weather is warmer so to enjoy some more of what the beautiful city has to offer.

Have you been to Melbourne?

Do you typically eat more/different foods while on vacation than usual?