Thursday, May 28, 2009

[Melbourne 2009] Meiji Japanese Cafe

Meiji Japanese Cafe
105 Little Bourke Street
Melbourne

Visited 12 March 2009 for lunch.

Kaki furai@Meiji Melbourne
Kaki furai

Gomoku kamameshi@Meiji
Kamameshi - Gomoku

Nice and quiet place for a rather unique Japanese fare (it's hard to find in Oz or even south-east Asia).

From wikipedia:-
'Kamameshi (釜飯) literally translates to "kettle rice" and is a traditional Japanese rice dish cooked in an iron pot. Similar to takikomi gohan, kamameshi is a type of Japanese pilaf cooked with various types of meat, seafood, and vegetables. By cooking it in an iron pot, the rice gets slightly burned at the bottom which adds a desirable flavor to the rice. It is often sold as ekiben.'

After lunch we went in search of the famed coffee specialist (or so they called themselves), Brother Baba Budan on Lt Bourke St just off Elizabeth St.

Word of warning, there is no signage.

Brother Baba Budan@Melbourne
Regular house blend

The place was super busy with tourists and nearby office crowds who were obviously loyal patrons for coffee break.

Unfortunately my cup of coffee was lacklustre.

The milk was barely warm and the coffee tasted bitter which lingered quite a while >_<. If this is Melbournian's idea of a terrific coffee specialist boutique or whatever fancy name they call themselves, I =X. $3.50 wasted. Period.

They should come north and try our Merlo and Campos.

Merlo's current coffee of the month is Costa Rican bean. Medium to dark roast bean. Medium bodied and smooth. Very good coffee bean.

I normally buy from the torrefazione (Italian for coffee roasting house) on James St where they also offered complimentary cup of your choice of beans to try.

Very clever tactic and I am sure they have got themselves many loyal customers. Myself included. But only because the coffee is really good. I switch between Campos and Merlo.

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