Day 9: Vietnamese Pho and Brunetti

One of the things that I really miss during my student days in Melbourne is Vietnamese pho. There's nothing quite like it there. And most of the time, when we mention about going to Melbourne to almost anybody, we'd usually get the same 4 syllable response - VIET-NA-MESE PHO!

So naturally we had to have pho when we were there. On one particular evening, Roger brought us to this place. I can't remember what it was called but I think it's Vietnamese Noodle Place along Swanston St in the City, the stretch between Bourke St and Londsdale St.

This is one of those places that you can expect plate-throwing action with food in gigantic portions. I've always missed the broken rice in Melbourne, but this plate of rice is not broken. Fail!
Nevertheless, the Vietnamese pho here still tasted good, especially on a chilly evening. But they were not really as great as the ones we had before. Maybe we should have just headed for Richmond, where Vietnamese food is supposedly more authentic.

Deprived of his Teh-C-Peng Special for more than a week already, Greg was desperately looking for something similar. I think if he had the chance, he would have ordered every special drink on the menu. But fortunately he doesn't have bowels of that size to hold that volume of water. So he settled for the greenish ang tau peng-like drink. This is called the Four colours but it only has 3 ingredients, which is why it used to be called Three colours. Get it? I know it's strange. It's like a name upgrade without actually upgrading the ingredients.

This was the Vietnamese Spring roll. You wrap it with fresh lettuce. This never fails to please us!


Vietnames rolls in rice paper wrap to be dipped with sesame dip.

Since this was our last night in Melbourne, we decided to stuff ourselves and go for dessert at Brunetti. There isn't anyone in Melbourne who does not know Brunetti, which supposedly has heavenly cakes and desserts. We've been hearing Roger talking non-stop about this place. He's been at it since like 4 years ago or something like that but somehow we've never been there.

Well, actually come to think of it, I was there once but just could not remember how things were like. Probably because it was so packed that we did not manage to order anything. I think i used to be like 1/2 of the current size. These people are really making big bucks.

It has certainly grown in size and variety. This is the coffee counter.

Pastry section.

Cookies & macaroons & everything else in between those two.

The savoury section for quick bites.

Then the almighty cakes part. The following is for selling off the rack for some who forget to order a birthday.

The gelato bar.


Choc fondue on display. If you drink from it, you'd probably get a nose bleed & experience a bloody volcanic erruption of the acne kind on your face.

There were lots of stuff to try but this was all we could manage:

Coffee ~ Vienna, latte and mocha

Italian cheese cake

Royale ~ chocolate with hazelnut i think.

Some mousse thingy which i could not remember the name.

I really don't know but it could just be me. All the cakes look very professional (I wouldn't be able to make cake decors like that) but seriously I was not that impressed. I mean they all taste pretty good and definitely better than Starbucks, Coffee Bean and Secret Recipe put together.

Maybe my tongue is really jaded when it comes to cakes. I have this bad habit of figuring out what's inside something that I'm eating. So if it's too easy, I'm not impressed. My world certainly was not rocked. With the abundance of ingredients available in Melbourne like top class choc, fresh fruits and whatever you need, to come out with these is really nothing much to shout about. I think Brunetti is kind of overrated and slightly too commercial for my taste. But still, it would be a good place for all ages for a day or night out.