[Melbourne 2022] Queen Victoria Market

 

It was one of my to-dos for Melbourne. Visiting a morning market!

We were going there to grab a quick breakfast, but the weather was a tad gloomy. My friends had warned that unlike South Melbourne Market where it has a food hall, the area for hungry diners to sit and eat at Queen Victoria Market was rather limited.

fancy seeing Musang King here

Ivan wanted to grab a bratwurst for breakfast, while I wanted to try borek. So off we went to get our stuffs. Hence went to queue for the donuts.

Bratwurst Shop & Co

The Borek Bakehouse

The staff at the Bratwurst Shop was lovely. She was patient in handling customers' preference on the toppings and sauces etc.

The queue for the Boreks may be long, but it moved quickly.

that familiar van

cute packaging

American Doughnut Kitchen - 5 for AUD7.50

fluffy and lovely jam

bratwurst

hot and yummy

Cheese & Spinach Borek @AUD4.80

tasty savoury breakfast

All the food that we tried that morning, tasted good. Key thing was, eat it fresh. Borek portion was good for one if you have it as a main. But best to share amongst two pax if you want to try some other foods. The bratwurst sausage was bursting with flavours and the sauerkraut was likeable. Donuts was the perfect ending to the meal. Jam was sweet but not overly so.

We had to run as it rained soon after we were midway through our breakfast.

American Doughnut Kitchen

Website: https://www.adk1950.com.au/

Business Hours:

Mon and Wed - Closed

Tue, Thur, Fri -  7AM–3PM

Sat:                          6AM–4PM

Sun:                         7AM–4PM

Bratwurst Shop & Co

Website: https://www.bratwurstshop.com/

Business Hours:

Mon and Wed - Closed

Tue, Thur, Fri -  6AM–3PM

Sat:                          6AM–4PM

Sun:                         9AM–4PM

The Borek Bakehouse

Business Hours:

Daily

Tue, Thur, Fri -  7AM–5.15PM

Wed:                        7AM–4.30PM

Sat:                          7AM–5.15PM

Sun:                         7AM–5.15PM

Breakfast @ Bearded Bella 8 Craig Road

Last visited in 2019. Read more about that visit here. We were doing a staycay at Amara and decided to drop by here one early morning for breakfast.

long time no see

Having started so early in the day, we needed coffee and Tracy of course, her tea.

White Cold Brew @$9

Homemade Chai Latte @$7

White Coffee 5oz Single Shot @$5

Ordered two mains from their brunch menu and a bundt cake for dessert. The Kookoo (am always amused by this name), goes meatless. But, definitely suited for brunch. What's not to like? There's rosti (potato), copious amount of greens (for good health), mushrooms and a lovely poached egg. Generous portion!

Kookoo v2 (V) @$22

customary egg flow shot

The Scallops & Cold Pasta, had an enormous amount of sprouts ontop. That gave it a somewhat 'raw' taste which I didn't like. Otherwise, the pasta itself was flavourful.

Scallops & Cold Pasta @$22

spot the scallops

It's been a long while since I last had a quiche. I think it was Tracy's pick? The bacon and asparagus quiche.

Bacon & Asparagus Quiche @$7

Hmm, the quiche was definitely milky! Its insides were soft and wobbly. 

profile view

And then, the chocolate bundt cake. But just to be sure, we asked if it contained coffee. And indeed, it does. So, no dessert for Tracy.

Chocolate Bundt Cake @$8

I think the gang misses Australia...

Bearded Bella

Address: 8 Craig Rd, Singapore 089668

Website: https://www.beardedbella.com/

Contact: 9880 0775

Business Hours:

Mon to Thur: 7:30am–5pm

Fri: 730am to 10.30pm

Sat-Sun: 7.30am-6pm

YY Kafei Dian @ 37 Beach Road

Was staying at Naumi Hotel and YY Kafei Dian is nearby. Like just a few minutes walk. Plus, I heard about YY Kafei Dian from Fiona. I remembered something she was sharing with me about their bread which is of the old school bun type. Hence, I trudged the next morning of my staycay 

YY Kafei Dian

One orders the breakfast set directly from the cashier of the drinks counter inside the shop. She will ask you for your table number. So don't be like the noob me whom luckily, still managed to point to an empty table during her visits.

waiting to be buzzed to collect

While waiting, one could observe the other patrons having their breakfast here. There was one uncle whom I saw on my two visits in the morning, so I reckoned he probably is a retiree who likes to have breakfast at the same shop most of the days. Back in my hometown, my dad used to do that as well but he hasn't been able to do so for the past one and a half years due to the pandemic. And yes, am checking out retired persons activities for future references.

traditional breakfast set of kopi and kaya toast

Actually, the only thing that I needed to pick-up from the counter, was the bread. The rest of the stuffs were brought to the table by the staff.

am ready

slurp worthy

I liked the size of the soft-boiled eggs here and how perfectly it was boiled. Both eggs had perfect liquid yolk. Do you break the eggs and mashed it up then dip the bread in? For me, I don't like breaking them up. Straight up slurp them in! Happiness!

kaya and butter

It has been a while since I had a toasted bun. They did it pretty good at YY Kafei Dian with its outer part crisp while the inside of the bun was still soft and pillowy. Kaya tasted of caramel and coconut.

Loved the kopi here for its balance of bitter-smokiness plus the milk taste not too strong. Good!

Their breakfast noodles are popular. Come on a weekend after 9am and one could see the long line outside the shop.

all these for just $4.80

bee hoon mee combi

A packet of noodles with 4 extra added ingredients costs less than $5, hence its priced reasonably. So one could add their favourites like luncheon meat, chicken drumlets, ngoh hiang, vegetable, egg etc. 

ngoh hiang

When you're adding the fried egg, can let the staff know if you prefer more cooked or more runny yolk and she will try to accommodate. I think shops that allow you to choose to this extent, are pretty nice. I added egg (with softer yolk), vegetables (turned out to be tasty chap chye, and it was yummy!), ngoh hiang and a longish looking fish cake. The ngoh hiang here is smaller than others but still packs a nice taste. The sambal chili was towards the sweeter side with some spice.

Came back during lunch and tried their Hainanese Pork chop. It was cooked upon order and served with chunky fries. The wait was about 10 minutes and it came piping hot. No extra sauce was served.

Hainanese Pork Chop @$10

The tomato sauce underneath the pork chop though watery, it was slightly tangy sweet. Soothing taste. The pork chop meat was tender, not too thin and its batter was crisp and well fried.

closer view of the meat

I spied other tables and most officer workers ordered claypot noodles , or chicken rice during lunch time. I felt like a tourist with the pork chop. Hahaaa!

Overall, YY Kafei Dian is a popular place for breakfast and lunch, with a nostalgic vibe.

YY Kafei Dian 

Address: 37 Beach Rd, #01-01, Singapore 189678

Website: https://www.facebook.com/yykafeidian/

Contact:  6336 8813

Business Hours:

Mon - Fri: 7:30am–7pm

Sat - Sun: 8am–7pm

Let's Sip Some Champagne for Breakfast, Shall We? @ The Edge Pan Pacific Singapore

The blackout curtains in the room did a good job to keep one well rested. That, and the comfy bed. For Day 2, I was up early before 8am and went down to The Edge where breakfast is served for Pacific room guests. For Day 3, I overslept and went down at around 9+am.

morning view

sunrise

taking the lift down to Level 3

The Edge

After Safe-Entry, the staff would pass you a piece of paper with a code written on it. This is the number that one keys in when ordering breakfast from the QR code located at each seat assigned on the box containing sugar sachets.

Items such as eggs, waffles and pancakes are ordered through own device. After trying the omelette with capsicum and the one with ham and cheese, I'd prefer the capsicum version for the fresh taste of the bell peppers.

breakfast menu

What is your must haves for a staycay breakfast? For me, it is eggs. Usually I'd go for scrambled or omelette. 

breakfast must haves - omelette

omelette with capsicum, mushrooms and tomato

omelette with virginia ham and cheese

The waffles also fared better than the pancake. Pancake was a tad too dense for my liking while the waffles was crisp on its outerside and fluffy inside.

waffles with gula melaka creme fraiche and pandan kaya

Pancake

Day 2 morning, which happened to be my birthday. Was surprised when one of the staff at The Edge, Fahmi came out with a cake slice after I had done with breakfast. This made the other table looked at us and sang along. Hahahaa! Thank you for the sweet gesture.

thank you Fahmi for the birthday treat

Taittinger Brut Champagne was available upon request. It is rather unusual for me to be sipping alcohol that early in the day and I shall remember this Champagne Breakfast at Pan Pacific.

Taittinger Brut Champagne

snacks from the buffet counter

The Edge was really busy on a Saturday morning and there were guests who came by for breakfast at about 10am. My order for omelette which was placed at 915am was also missing till I enquired for it after I had finished the pancake.

Had the chance to observe and liked that the staff treated all guests similarly with polite greetings upon arriving and leaving the restaurant.

For solo guests like me, when staff are not too busy, they'd drop by to enquire if you'd place your order or if there's anymore drinks that you'd like. It was a welcoming feeling in general.

Breakfast @ Dim Sum Haus

The good thing about our staycation is that we will traipse around the area to try out whatever that caught our fancy. The night before, we made plans for dim sum and so off we went towards Dim Sum Haus for breakfast.

Tracy leading the way

Actually, I was still feeling pretty full from the dinner the night before. Read more about it here.

Walked for about 15 to 20 minutes from our hotel, and reached around 9.48am. It was almost a mistake to go without a reservation as the place is rather small and weekend dim sum is popular. Luckily for us, managed to snag a table but with time limit of 1 hour.

menu

one of each

At that time, there were some promo code to get $2 off if we order via the app. It worked after fiddling for a while and as we were near the cashier, can confirm rather easily if the order went through.

order via app

was supposed to be a 'light' breakfast

Staff are friendly and drinks were served quickly once the order is confirmed.

soya bean @$2.90

Signatures Dim Sum

Baked Salted Egg Custard Bun 脆顶流沙包 @$5.90

no joke

The baked salted egg custard bun (liu sha bao) are no joke. Very rich, and be fascinated by the golden lava once you break it open. One is more than enough and probably good as ending to the meal.

Steamed Crispy Rice Roll with Shrimp 金网脆皮虾蒸肠粉 @$5.50

I'd recommend the steamed crispy rice roll with shrimp. That combination of smooth slippery and crunchy crispy plus sweet savoury shrimp, was just so good.

 Pan Fried Mushroom Bun 香煎鲜菇包 @$5.80

inside view of mushroom bun

Hmm, was a tad disappointed by the appearance of the mushroom buns as it was not looking very 'mushroom-like'. Taste wise, was decent savory earthy flavors.

Steamed Charcoal Chicken & Shrimp Dumpling" Hak Kam Kai Siew Mai" 黑金鸡烧卖 @$5.20

Steamed Pork & Shrimp Dumpling "Siew Mai" 香菇滑烧卖 @$5.10

For the siew mai, I only tried the pork and shrimp siew mai and they were juicy. Pretty good.

Fried Carrot Cake with X.O. Sauce @$6.70

Another dish that I really liked, was the fried carrot cake with XO sauce. There's something about this plate that I couldn't stop eating. The taugeh was good too! The flavors worked well together.

Chicken Feet in Five Spice

Chicken feet was mild and gentle. The skin falls off easily as it was well steamed.

Japanese Dumpling 日式抄手 @$5.80

good sized

The Japanese dumpling, is a twist to the usual spicy wantons. Nice and of a good sized but I prefer the original sauce for that spicy kick.

Breakfast with Tracy, Hence and Ivan.

We were done by 10.30am and there was a queue outside.

Dim Sum Haus

Address: 57 Jln Besar, Singapore 208809

Website: http://order.dimsumhaus.com.sg/

Contact: 6909 0777

Business Hours:

Mon - Fri: 10:30am–3pm, 5:30–10:30pm

Sat: 9:30am–10:30pm

Sun: 9:30am–9:30pm