Halal Food Journeys (4): Melbourne, Australia

Last week, I went to Melbourne, Australia and honestly, I was really worried about this trip cus it was my first time going to a Western country and I don't know what to expect. However, after this trip, it became one of my most favourite places to travel. There are so many things I want to share about this trip but firstly, I will just start on food first. 

In Melbourne, there are quite a number of halal food places and its really not that difficult to find one. There are several Malaysian-based food outlets such as Old Town White Coffee, Papparich and Nooodles (Airport T2) which have halal accreditation. You can also find Nandos which is almost everywhere in Melbourne. According to their website, all their restaurants serve halal chickens but only some outlets may sell wine or bacon. So, do check their website to see which has halal accreditation.

For me, there is actually nothing unique about the food in Melbourne. Its almost exactly similar to the food you can find in Singapore. Also, its crazy expensive! A plate of food can cost you about $8 to $12 on average. Compared to Singapore, where you can easily find food for less than $5.

1.

Little Ipoh
360 La Trobe St.
littleipohrestaurant.com.au

Nasi Kerabu $10

Nasi Goreng Kampung $11.90

Char Kway Teow $11.50

The first place we head to was Little Ipoh. It mainly serves authentic Malaysian food and a few Western food as well. It is nearby the intersection between Queen Street and La Trobe Street and is located at the 2nd floor of a shophouse. This is one of my favourite places to eat and I've been here twice during my trip. The dish I would recommend is their Nasi Goreng Kampung!

2.

Iluka Restaurant
65-71 Great Ocean Rd, Apollo Bay

If you're travelling along the Great Ocean Road, you might come across this place at Apollo Bay. We went to this restaurant as part of our Great Ocean Road tour with Melbourne Australia Tours. At the entrance of the restaurant, there is a halal cert. which show that their poultry are from halal suppliers. 

Since we were part of the tour, we only get to choose 2 items at the counter that they were serving and not from their menu. I decided to go for fish and salad as I was curious how Australian 'fish n chips' is like. Honestly, its not that tasty at all as compared to how you would find at Fish N Co or Manhatten Fish Market. I guess you could say its more healthier since you can actually taste more of the fish than the seasoning or the flour. 

3.

Bali Bagus
85 Franklin St.

Bakso Special $8.80

Ayam Penyet $9

Ikan Goreng Bumbu Bali $13

Now, back to Melbourne CBD is another place called Bali Bagus. Well, theres nothing much to say about this place except that its just your typical Indonesian restaurant. Food wise is okay~

4.

Mama Wong's Kitchen
2/76 Flinders St
www.mamawongs.com.au

Hokkien Mee $11

After taking a half day tour, the bus alighted us at Federation Square and so we decided to check out Mama Wong's which is only about a 5 minutes walk away from there. 

This place serves mainly Chinese style cuisines. I was clueless at first what I should get until, I saw someone having Hokkien Mee and it looks so delicious! So, I decided to get one for myself too. I'm not sure whether it was because I was really hungry or that it was really delicious but I absolutely love it. The thing that I really like the most is that they put a lot of things in the dish or rencah (not sure what the english translation of rencah is) and were really generous with their portion. Theres lots of prawns, chicken,  all kinds of vegetables and I'm not sure what else there is. Of course, they do sell other items but I was too full to try. I've seen alot of people tried their fried rice so, it should be good too. However, don't expect great service cus they can get especially busy during lunch hours.

5.

Lord of the Fries
www.lordofthefries.com.au

Lord of the Fries is probably the only place where you can get halal fast food. There have quite a number of outlets around Melbourne. The one I went to was at Flinders Station. Its actually a booth so you have to take away and find somewhere else to eat. However, since I did not eat the burgers straight away, it became cold and not nice at all. I believe that it would have tasted great so I strongly recommend you to consume it immediately. It can be pretty pricey though. One burger is about $5-$6 without any meal whatsoever. However, I do think Lord of the Fries is definitely worth trying at least once. Oh, and do remember to bring lots of those little packet sauces cus if you want to have chilli or tomato sauce on your fries, they will charge you $1. Otherwise, they are just gonna add extra salt.

Alright, that concludes my HFJ in Melbourne! Theres actually alot more halal places than what I've listed here but these are just a few that I managed to go to. On a side note, tomorrow is the start of fasting month!! I'm glad I managed to finish off this post before fasting month starts, otherwise I would be salivating throughout. Happy Ramadhan to all my fellow muslim friends!