Day 13 - The Switch
The last bit of Melbourne was fairly staid, but still quite pleasant - mostly occurring within the enclave of Carnegie, the suburb that they live in. We walked down their main street which over the years has developed really nicely into a say 4-5 block stretch of all the Asian restaurants, basically 2-3 of every type of cuisine, with 5+ for the more popular ones (Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese). Melbourne has a lot of Asian immigrants and Carnegie from a food perspective has become a hub. And these were all generally quite inviting looking restaurants. If anything, I do regret I wasn't able to squeeze a meal local in Carnegie on this trip.
From there, and a nice last meal with my Aunt and her family, we were off to them dropping me at Melbourne airport. We left with plently of time, but Melbourne's arcane largely 80km/h speed limit even on their highways at least make it a bit nerve wracking. At the airport, I got in a quick drink at the Virgin Australia lounge (courtesy of their partnership with United) and settled in for a quick two hour flight over to Brisbane. I snagged a window seat, but chose the side that was blinded by the setting sun for much of it, but on descent into Brisbane, with the sun gone, I was able to look out and see the first glowing signs of the city below.
Brisbane is an interesting place, a very good place, but a curios one. I'll have mroe thoughts on it as we go, but overall it is a sign of just development turning a city into something more meaningful in the strange way that there is nothing particularly notable. Well, now people may say them winning the 2032 Olympics - which I think is about 60% of the reason I chose to visit, in a "if it's good enough to be an Olympic City there must be something to it" type of way. It's shot up as a city in population, growth, money, etc., over the last 15-20 years as well.
Given a perfect forecast of high of 74 and low of 55 in winter, I can see at least one reason why. In many ways this is like the San Diego of Australia. At least that's how it looked in the car ride down into the heart of the CBD where my hotel (Hyatt Regency, free night) was located. After a quick check-in, shower, etc., I was off to Honto, one of the more lively weekday restaurants in teh city.
Honto serves elevated common Japanese fare, all served as small / sharing plates. But they also have their "banquet menu", which I've learned is basically a standard in Australia. It effectively is a menu that just pick 3-4 small bites, appetizers, mains and a couple deserts and serves them. In most restaurants, if you are in a group of 6+ you are forced to go with this. If you are a solo traveler, it basically becomes a tasting menu, if you will, and generally maybe just 1.5x cost of ordering a standard one app and one main. As the math at Honto worked out that way, that's what I went with.
The meal was quite good, and I'm definitely happy I went with the banquet menu. From the starters, the beef tartare dish was excellent, as was their tuna tartare tostada (all of these are served basically as single bites), the pork gyoza (incredibly rich), and the main of a wagyu striploin (about 150g) with just a great jus and mushroom side. The place also had affordable sake as well. Everything about Honto was a great success.
From there, I headed back to near my hotel, whose drive-up entrance is in the small Barnett Lane, which is a tiny laneway, that also holds two great cocktail bars, one of which was Antico where I went today. What I leanred pretty quickly is that Brisbane people sleep early - another San Diego type similarity - so it was pretty sparse by 10pm when I got there. Still, the two cocktails I tried there were excellent. The next spot was less sparse - as the famed (in Brisbane) live music venue of Brooklyn Standard was having their weekly Mexican night, whi ch had a live band until 11:30 and then DJ after (they close at 2). It was nicely well crowded and lively. It was the type of place I love to see in random towns of the world. That said, I wanted some heartier fare, so I went down teh street to The Gresham, one of the few bars taht closes at 2am (most are 1am), which also had a graet set of craft cocktails. None of these places were earth-shattering, but all quite solid on their own and worth visiting if you're in this little gem of a city.
