3 Double 2, Prahran

Prahran Market is one of my favourite fresh produce markets to visit. Although not that big, it has a large variety to browse and choose from, not to mention, it houses the awesome Essential Ingredient shop. I obviously can't afford to buy a lot of the things in the store (such as fresh truffles…), but just wandering through the store makes the girl in me giggle with joy. There are so many interesting ingredients that I wouldn't know where to buy otherwise.

I also love Fujimart, a Japanese grocery and house goods store right next to the market. This store is a definite visit every time Yuye and I are in the vicinity. You can pretty much purchase all the ingredients for making a great Japanese meal here as well as any plates and bowls that take your fancy, or even a bottle of sake to go with dinner!

Prahran is not only good for the market but also for the variety of restaurants and cafes in the area. Across the road is a cafe called 3 Double 2 where we enjoyed a very late lunch last week before rushing to the market. It is obviously named after the number of the store on busy Chapel St which I thought was ingenious because we would never forget where it is located. Although the decorations in the cafe were minimal, it still had comfy seats with soft velvety cushions that I could lean back on and interesting chandeliers to take my attention away from ordering my meal. I always take a long time deciding what to eat because I get distracted by my surroundings. Not a good thing this time as we were rushing to go the market before they close at 5pm.

Across from where we were seated was a DJ area with a turntable and music event posters stuck on the wall. I can just imagine this place full of livelihood and loud music at night when the crowd rushes in for after work mingling and late night drinks. Although their bar isn't the biggest around, it has all the essentials.

I started with a lemon lime and bitters ($3.50), my usual non-alcoholic drink when I can't decide what else to have. It was cold and refreshing, but perhaps needed a little more bitters to give it that extra bit of flavour.

Yuye ordered a dish off the specials board, a T-Bone steak with wedges and salad ($15). For such a cheap price, I was expecting something small and unappetising. However, I was surprised. The meat was well cooked and still rare in the middle (like how we wanted it) and there was plenty of meat and pepper sauce to keep Yuye happy. The wedges were crispy and well seasoned, however the salad was slightly oily, perhaps because of too much dressing.

I ordered lamb fillets with feta cheese, spinach, tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, grilled potatoes and topped with tzatziki sauce for $22. It was a plate full of fresh vibrant colours and made me salivate just looking at it. The flavours were wonderfully complemented by each other and I actually felt healthy eating it. I also loved the textures that the feta, salad and potatoes had which made this dish very interesting. Although the lamb was well cooked as you can see, still red in the middle, it was a little too tough for my liking. However, this was a very minor issue given how good the dish was overall. I would have loved just that tiny bit more tzatziki sauce though, without the sauce, the lamb became a little on the bland side.

Ice Cafe, Prahran

When I was a little girl, I had a dream of living in an igloo, being friends with a bunch of eskimos and go dog sledding around the snowy hills outside. But problem after problem surfaced that the kid me had to finally give up that dream. How in the world do I survive in that chill? Do they even have heaters? Isn't the bed very hard? Wouldn't my pants stick to the chair when I sat down? Would they even need a fridge? The only thing that seemed good about the idea is having an endless supply of shaved ice and the possibility of making sorbet just by pouring flavours on the ground. Well, that dream was short lived.

The name Ice Cafe made me think of my childhood dream, much like Chill On Ice Lounge & Ski Lodge on Russell St did. However, it wasn't at all icy. In fact, it was a comfy warm little place full of cushions and couches. Well, maybe the only thing that makes it a little on the 'cold' side is the layout of the tables and crockery. At least my pants didn't stick to those cushions as we ate our lovely meal :D.

The cafe is small to say the least but apparently it's very popular with the locals for a great tasting breakfast or lunch and as we found out, it was also fantastic for dinner. Why were there no people in the cafe you ask? It wasn't because it was too cold, but rather because this well hidden little gem is tucked away on quiet Cato St, just off the corner of Malvern Rd in Prahran, so they probably don't get as much foot traffic as they'd like - shame!

Our meal, you guessed it, was from a coupon yet again. I know, I've been desperately trying to use up all the coupons I bought at the end of last year which are all expired or expiring. This time it was a great bargain because for $25 per person, we got an entree, main, side, wine AND dessert. That's a lot of food. I literally couldn't even walk when we finished.

We were given the choice of either a Geoff Merrill "Pimpala Road" Chardonnay 2008 or a Grant Burge "gb51" Cabernet Shiraz 2008 for wines. We're both not big wine drinkers, but for the sake of the blog post, we got one each. :D I liked the chardonnay more as I thought the shiraz was a tad on the dry side for me. But one's white and one's red so you can't really compare right? I have no idea what I'm saying. I definitely need to touch up on some wine knowledge.

We were also given complimentary bread with butter like most places do. The bread was fantastic, although it was just normal white bread, it was soft in the centre and was very fresh. For some strange reason, I didn't have a big appetite that day so just to be safe, I only ate half of the bread at the start of the meal. It was sad to not eat my bread, but it was definitely a wise decision.

To make it easy, Yuye and I chose one each from the menu for all the courses. For entree, Yuye got the pumpkin and feta tart with salad. We both agreed that the layer of pastry at the bottom of the salad was too oily and a bit too crunchy (meaning it was probably overcooked). However, in my opinion (not Yuye's), the flavours were just perfect. The rocket leaves worked in great harmony with the goats cheese and caramelised onions. As the pumpkin was sweet, it also went perfectly with the dish as a whole. A simple yet stunning dish. This set the standard for the rest of the night and was by far my favourite dish. It was also nicely presented with rocket piled up high.

Basque Tapas & Wine, Prahran

2010 was the first Christmas and New Year's I've spent in Melbourne since more than 10 years ago. I had clearly forgotten how deserted the city was on Christmas Eve so organised with Yuye to spend some time together at a tapas restaurant that day. We drove around the whole CBD and couldn't find anything that we wanted to have because most places were closed! After a number of tries, we ended up in Prahran. As we walked along Chapel Street, we were suddenly drawn towards a gathering of people and what seemed to be lovely Spanish live music. As we walked closer, we noticed it was Basque Tapas and Wine.

Basque was established on busy Chapel Street in 2003 and provides authentic Spanish tapas, delicious wines and Friday/Saturday night live music by a band called Solo Porque. The atmosphere was very fitting and exciting, probably the best place to spend Christmas Eve that I could have found.

There were also nice furniture and decorations that make me think of Spain.

Yuye ordered a Spanish beer called Mahou Cinco Estrellas made by the company called Grupo Mahou San Miguel which was first made in 1969. It was a little sweet and very easy to drink, even for someone like me who doesn't normally drink beer. I ordered a glass of Basque specially made Sangria. It was surprisingly delicious! For those of you who don't know, Sangria is a type of Spanish wine punch made from red wine, fruit, sweetener such as honey, sugar or fruit nectar, cinnamon and a small amount of spirit. I'm not too sure what their recipe was but it was distinctly fruity, sweet and tasted a bit like dilutely red wine.

We also ordered a number of tapas to go with the drinks and to fully enjoy the atmosphere. The first dish we ordered was Vieras con jamon con culi de piquillos for $14.50. This dish consisted of scallops wrapped in Serrano Jamon (a type of Spanish dry-cured ham) and piquillo couli (pepper puree). I thought the ham was a little too salty for my liking but Yuye found it to be just right. But it was definitely very tasty.

Chez Olivier Le Bistro, Prahran

Yuye took me to Chez Olivier Le Bistro in Prahran for my birthday the other week (I know, I had a lot of birthday dinners, another one with my family to come :P). Chez Olivier is set amongst art and fashion stores on a small street in Prahran (near the Prahran Station), it really does feel like the Paris of Melbourne in that neighbourhood. I absolutely adored its petiteness (in other words cuteness), exclusivity and very French decor as well as the lovely waiter/waitress who served us (they spoke in beautiful French accents).

Misty's Diner, Prahran

When I think of American food, I think of Man Versus Food (the TV show where the host stuffs his face across restaurants in America) and Misty's Diner seems like it walked straight out of that show onto busy High Street in Prahran. It just screams classic crap-tacular American food such as burgers, fries, buffalo wings, bbq pork ribs and oreo thickshakes just to name a few.