Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Back to Business

Probably not such an appropriate title. I do not have any business unless it is walking in the streets of Melbourne taking random shots of people or interesting things.

Many would think Melbourne is a good place for photography. It probably is if you like to take bad photos of buildings or just stuff few hundred people crossing the road into the frame. Other than that, there is probably nothing worth taking. However, being stuck here for most of the year and with a camera, I can only work with what I have. Armed with that belief, I went out yesterday with Keith into the streets and alleyways of Melbourne CBD. Here are the results:

A contrast between the pace of the old and the young.
Walking into the graffiti alley.

The interesting bike with a lot of wood on Little Collins. Probably not the best composition.
Rear view of the bike.

Last night was the reunion dinner among my group of friends, Keith, Henry, Mimi, Cherry, Edwin and Amanda. As much as I would like to think it was a welcome dinner for me, it was probably not. Anyway, we had Korean food in Oriental Spoon.

Korean appetisers.

As usual, there is always a serve of beansprouts and kimchi before the mains arrive. This time there was some sour, chewy, springy, noodle-like strips which most of us did not appreciate.

Stone bowl bibimbap.

Probably the only Korean food I know other than kimchi and bugolgi. Nonetheless, I still had high expectations despite knowing next to nothing about Korean cuisine. However, I was disappointed with Oriental Spoon's version of bibimbap. Being such a pricey and posh (for my standards at least) restaurant, the quality of the bibimbap fails to justify. The shitake mushroom slices had the texture of rubber and the chicken lacked flavour.

Korean seafood pancake.

I forgot the name of this dish in Korean, but the taste is definitely unforgettable. This is probably the dish I will be ordering if I ever return to Oriental Spoon. Being a great fan of seafood, I could not resist the fresh octopus, cuttlefish and prawns in that crispy skin batter. It was savoury but not yet salty enough as to overpower the freshness of the seafood, a big plus. This is the dish that single-handedly or should I say tentacledly saved Oriental Spoon from the big bad blacklist.

After dinner we went for a drink at Max Brenner's in Melbourne Central. I did not bother taking any photos due to the bad lighting and high ceiling which makes my external flash almost useless. Another reason was probably my long time disappointment with Max Brenner's drinks. I ordered a thick Italian milk chocolate. It was really thick, I give it that, but the flavour was not full enough. It was far from the complex amalgam of various nuts; all I tasted was thick, sticky chocolate.

Nights out never end until after a congregation back in my place. Last night Keith's guitar was in the limelight. Keith, Edwin and I took turns to play a guitar but none of us could play an entire song. The rest were just lazing around, being bored and sleeping. Somehow, I have a feeling that there will be many deja vu moments of this moment for the next few months.

1 comment:

  1. haha you guys are pathetic. Go learn one proper song!

    ReplyDelete