Text 9952, 74 rader
Skriven 2007-01-04 16:59:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: 815
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Carol made me promise I'd take her to Lush, so we did that
bright and early. I really can't spend much time in Lush or
even within smellshot thereof, so she was kind and didn't
take all day. As a result we had more time on our hands than
we had anticipated, and being in the mood for an adventure,
we then decided to take the first tram we saw to its
terminus, which turned out to be Port Melbourne, a good
choice. My understanding is that this was a fairly grotty
industrial area that is upscaling itself rapidly (it has
all the ingredients, good transportation and good beaches).
The tram ride itself was fairly lengthy and boring, but
getting back near the ocean is always a good thing for
Carol's psyche. It was a bright sunny 20 degrees when we
stepped out into the salt air of Station Pier.

After looking with dismay at the rather uninteresting menus
of the upscale restaurants in the area, we decided to lunch
at Waterfront Fish and Chips, the takeaway part of the
restaurant of the same name - the Waterfront has an
irritatingly trendy and irritatingly expensive menu,
whereas its takeaway is relatively sensible in both
respects. We got there just before it opened and got to
look (with bars between us) at the raw ingredients from
which our lunch was to be made. At noon we ordered an
assortment of fried things -

fillet of flake, an extraordinary fish - tender to the point
of mushiness but with a distinct grain; a delicate flavor
calamari - rings in a reddish coating, not bad
prawns - standard
scallops - pretty yummy
chips (i.e., fries) - better than average
whitebait - decent, a humongous serving, of which Carol
partook minimally and I tried without success to finish as
the serving seemed to get bigger as we went along, as well
as colder and fishier.

I also had a half-dozen Tasmanian oysters, which were the
usual thing at a very good price.

To drink: James Boag pilsener - slightly skunked, low hops,
but quenching; Cascade premium pilsener - good, clean,
fairly hoppy.

When we first arrived, there wasn't anyone else around,
but gradually the place became populated; the first were a
couple of old Chinese grannies who said that the food and
service at the takeaway were better than at the restaurant,
not to mention the prices. Then they ended up splitting a
green salad and after that ordering an order of chips, which
they also split. I don't know on what authority they told us
about the details of the two places.

We walked down the shore to South Melbourne and caught a
tram back into town and then back to St. Kilda. We did the
usual thing, looking at all the menus on Acland St., with
nothing quite suiting - taking into account both of the
Chinta Ria restaurants -, so I decided to take a flyer and
poke my nose in at Circa the Prince to see if there was
anything available that night. The hostess looked at us
sympathetically and said that she'd check with the boss,
who looked us up and down before saying that there had just
been a cancellation, but we must show up at and no later
than 6:30. As I'd heard pretty fine things about the place,
we assented to this condition; I asked the nice one whether
we were underdressed, and she said we were just fine, only
many people liked to dress up for the occasion. So we went
back (just down the street) to the Marque and washed up,
changed into our traveling best, which is to say, nothing
elaborate, and headed back, to find a crowd in tuxedos and
fancy gowns. Turns out it was a wedding reception at the
restaurant for drinks before heading off for parts unknown.
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