South Melbourne Market

I CANNOT REMEMBER THE LAST TIME I WENT TO THE SOUTH MELBOURNE MARKET AT Cecil St. It must have been more than 10 years ago. I have no recollection what the place is like. SM says, "This is like Chatuchak" because there are quite a number of art and crafts stalls inside the market on this Sunday morning; minus the heat and throngs of people as one would find in Thailand.

"Do you want to have coffee at St. Ali?" I ask SM. She says, "Nah we will have coffee at the Market." I think she wants to feel the atmosphere here. South Melbourne is a pretty mixed suburb with commercial buildings, Victorian houses, and small businesses dotting it here and there. We are liking it this Sunday morning.

SM is like a kid in a candy store when she sees the many stalls selling patisserie products; the cakes, tarts, macaroon, loafs and fresh breads. She buys this fruit loaf at 7.95 and we agree the bakery items are dearer that similar ones at Queen Vic market.

I buy us 2 croissants at 1.80 each from one of the bakeries and order "hand crafted coffees" for us so we can sit on the the sidewalk and talk and watch. So far an interesting day out because we are seing different things but we find Vic Market offers better choices of cheaper seafood, meat, fresh produce, vegetables and fruits. We struggle to buy seafood that we normally pay with "reasonable" prices but here we find green banana prawns at more than $23 a kilo, rockling at $31 a kilo! In the end we get a baby barramundi and a pacific salmon fillet, a kilo of cherries and some corns.   

Latte and flat white at 4.0 each that's the highest price we pay for coffee anywhere.

Lovely croissant, not oily; probably baked with margarine rather than with butter, according to my chef partner

As we leave the Market we walk past this "Meetbowl" cafe on nearby York St and I hear Indonesian spoken by the some people inside the cafe. I immediately invite SM to go in to try their food.

I ask the guy manning the counter what he would recommend. "Try the Bakso Special";which I did. It's 8.50 and I like the combination of meat balls (pork and beef) and the coup. I would have preferred it brought to me "dry" 干捞 like they do in Java or Jakarta.

SM being SM, orders the chicken laksa. She goes for safe territory. As it turns out it's a disappointment to her. She should have realized and agreed with me that Indonesians don't make good laksa but Malaysians do!

Meetbowl is 100% a cafe, so you find things in a cafe; simple tables and chairs, minimal decor, patrons who go there because of their food. There's nothing wrong with these with us. We are cafe-goers. As long as there are great food.

SM did not enjoy their laksa but I do the Bakso. If I had a chance I would go back there for their food again. I LOVE INDONESIAN FOOD!