Anthony Bourdain once famously noted that brunch was the worst meal to eat out, mostly because it was a ripoff based on his knowledge of actual food costs (plus the use of the week’s leftovers) vs. inflated menu prices, plus the fact that “access to unlimited mimosas seems to invite a crowd inclined to all varieties of douchery.”

After 11 years of living in New York, I do believe this is likely to be true: the cost of eggs, bacon, and toast, or even a fancy kale grain bowl, really is not as high as what you’d pay over brunch in the city — likely anywhere from $15-25 as crazy as it sounds. You are most definitely getting ripped off and I have never for a second doubted it. Brunch is more a time to socialize and get together with catch-ups with friends, family, and/or visitors and guests. It’s not as much of a time to really eat gastronomically life-changing dishes or even great food. A handful of restaurants in New York can be an exception to this, but overall, unless you are eating dim sum or non-traditional western style brunch, the value and quality are never high.

I’d say this general rule does not apply to Melbourne, or maybe even Australia in general. Overall food quality and freshness are very high here, and every time I have eaten out at a breakfast/brunch spot, I’ve been really impressed not just by the food we’ve ordered, but also just by the overall menus. At a typical New York City brunch spot, there may be one or two things at most that make me look over the menu and think, wow, that actually sounds creative or tantalizing; I want to order that and that. Usually, though, I end up resigning myself to the least worst thing and getting that. In Melbourne on a brunch menu I’ve reviewed, there’s usually at least 5-7 things I’d want to order and eat that sound fun, creative, and/or unique, and it’s a challenge for me to select just one, so I hope Chris will choose something off my short list so that I can try something else I want to eat, too. That’s another benefit of having a life partner: you can always share food. We always swap plates halfway through so that we can have more variety.

We had brunch at Town House in the Hampton suburb of Melbourne today with Chris’s friends, and this is a sampling of the dishes on the brunch menu. If you don’t think this sounds delicious or creative, you must either be really boring or just plain suck:

Knafeh French Toast: Brioche stuffed with sweet Arabian cheese and coated with kadaif, orange, and rose compote, charred grapes, lime mascarpone, and fresh berries

Lamb and cauliflower hash: Slow roasted lamb shoulder, roasted cauliflower, crispy kipler potato hash, charred corn, peas, pistachio, kale, pomegranate, tahini yogurt, fried eggs on toasted sourdough

Flamenco eggs: Andalusian baked eggs, sliced mushrooms, chorizo, pimento, braised chickpeas, almond pesto, feta, herbs, dukkah, poached eggs on toasted zaatar bread.

Drool. Just typing out those descriptions made me feel hungry and want to go back. There were about ten things on this menu (out of a total of 15 dishes) I could have easily wanted to order. I ended up ordering the Benedict because eggs benedict in Australia is always the best. And what made it different? It was the amazing crispy edged pork belly slices with a soft, melty center, apple-fennel mint salad, plus the delicious crusty sourdough it was served on. I always end up eating more bread in Australia because it’s just so good, crusty, and fresh here. Even the supermarket breads taste better than what we have on average in the U.S.!

Australia, for those who are wine connoisseurs, is quite famous for a number of different wine regions. Abroad, South Australia is probably the most famous, but other areas, such as the Yarra Valley right here in the Melbourne area, are also quite respected. The Yarra Valley is a famous wine region in Australia, and on top of having many amazing vineyards, they also have the Four Pillars Distillery, famous for gins that served as the inspiration for the Barossa Distilling Company’s shiraz gin (we visited this distillery last December and loved it; this is the distillery that really turned me on gin, as I was not previously someone who even remotely appreciated gin) . Chris and I visited Yarra Valley today for some gin and wine tasting, as well as a casual winery lunch of wood-fired pizza and pasta.

The most interesting and unique part of Australian gin is the botanicals that are used given that Australia has some of the most peculiar flora on earth. There are spices that are common to other parts of the world (and, well, Asian/South Asian cooking), such as coriander, cardamom, or cassia, as well as commonly known herbs and roots such as lavender or ginger, but then there are herbs that are extremely unique to Australia, such as Tasmanian pepper berry, lemon myrtle, or Angelica root. And of course, juniper berries are a given since this is gin. In certain gins that Four Pillars makes, whole oranges is used, which is noted to be quite unusual. It adds an even stronger aromatic quality to the gin and is better able to support stronger and spicier botanicals. Fresh finger limes are also used in some of the gins to give a Southeast Asian spin on taste.

There are always endless things to see and explore even though I’ve now visited the Melbourne area seven times. It’s been a fun and productive trip even though we’ve only been here now two days.

One of the traditions we usually do when we come back to Melbourne during the Christmas season is to go into the Central Business District and check out all the Christmas decorations. One of the Christmas traditions of Melbourne is the annual gingerbread village by Epicure. Each year, the gingerbread village seems to get bigger and bigger: this year, it’s located at St. Collins Lane and is the biggest one to date: it has over 600 kg of gingerbread, 460 kg of royal icing, and 200 kg of marzipan. All of the village is sculpted into a mini representation of Melbourne and some of its most loved and iconic landmarks. The personal highlights for me historically have been Luna Park, Federation Square, Flinders Street Station, and the Melbourne Arts centre, most recognized for its tall spire. This year, some new additions I really enjoyed include the Royal Botanical Gardens and the Osaka Castle (no, not because there’s an Osaka Castle in Melbourne, but because Osaka is Melbourne’s sister city). And there’s even a bit of a Christmas market in the form of food stalls this year with very Asian dishes being served, such as dumplings and ramen! Unfortunately the mini food representations did not match up (they only had hamburgers and hot dogs), but I still appreciated the effort to show how Asian Melbourne (and really, Australia) is. I also found that this year’s gingerbread village was by far the most fragrant and spicy of them all. As you walked through the village, there was absolutely no doubt you were surrounded by gingerbread.

The gingerbread village seeks to raise money for the Royal Children’s Hospital and has raised more than $195K AUD since opening. It’s been quite a treat to experience this nearly every year, and for next to nothing given they are purely operating on a donations basis. On the other hand back in the US, the gingerbread village available for viewing in New York City, said to be the largest in the world and located at the New York City Hall of Science in Queens, requires that you pay admission to the Hall of Science, which is $16 per adult and $13 per child. The Melbourne experience just feels a lot more accessible and inclusive to me, not to mention that it’s located in the heart of the city, so it’s easy to get to for everyone. Just love this tradition and getting the privilege to enjoy this beauty every year.

Flying Qantas, particularly business and first class, is truly a luxury experience. One of the little things that also happens when you are flying in premium cabins in the U.S. is that you will also often be referred to as Mr. or Ms. so-and-so. When you fly Qantas premium cabins, you are constantly referred to by name. They rarely ask you, “Would you like some champagne?” but rather, “Ms. Wong, would you like some champagne?” It’s a very personal experience. Service is taken extremely seriously. Oh, hey, U.S. airlines — you guys could take a hint from Qantas on improving your services and manners in flight. But, you probably won’t because you aren’t “incentivized” to do so.

When I first started flying regularly, that was to travel to and from college, and I mostly flew on my uncle’s Delta companion pass back in 2004. Then, I would oftentimes get upgraded to business class because of his seniority as an employee there. As such, I got in-flight meals, premium seats, and constantly got referred to as “Ms. Wong.” Back in the day, even into my mid-twenties, I did not really enjoy this. I found this formality far too formal, and it always made me feel a little uncomfortable to be referred to as Ms. anything. I realized, though, on this flight to Melbourne, that when repeated called “Ms. Wong,” I actually did not mind it; in fact, I actually found myself enjoying it to a degree. Maybe it’s a sign I am getting older or settling into my 30s. Or maybe it’s just a sign that formalities such as these are more of a normal thing for me now.

On the first leg of our trip to Melbourne this evening from JFK to LAX, I watched the first three episodes of the series Chernobyl based on the nuclear accident that happened in the Ukraine in 1986. It was gripping and horrible, an awful reminder of not only how much error human beings are capable of, but also how stupid and senseless people can be in the face of real data and science. Those who were in leadership at the time not only did not want to face the fact that a true explosion had happened, insisting that only a fire was all that needed to be put out. And even while people are dying in droves and being sent to hospitals, those with power refuses to admit that there is a greater problem that could potentially poise and kill their entire population. In addition, when faced with actual scientists and people who could provide credible background and data, they didn’t want to listen to them, insisting to use their own (baseless) gut instinct based on their egos and positions. It doesn’t seem to matter whether it is in the 1600s during the Salem witch trials, the 1850s when cholera was poisoning and killing people in a growing London, 1980s in the Soviet Union, or 2019 in the U.S. — over history and time, history continues to repeat itself with people aggressively insisting to deny data and science, insisting on baseless fake ideas that have no rhyme or reason, and thus resulting in the denial of humanity and ultimately the countless deaths of so many. Those who are doctors or physicists are written off as “elitists” in a derogatory way instead of being listened to. It’s so sad that this keeps happening and that human beings just never learn from past mistakes. Because is that not what the learning of history is supposed to be for?

Chernobyl just made me so angry overall, seething at how stupid people can be with their perceived “logic.”

It’s time to start packing for Australia. Each year when I go through the process of packing for Australia when it’s clearly cold and miserable here in New York, I always look at all the clothes I lay out on my bed to pack and wonder if I am going to be warm enough… only because when I look outside my window here, all I see is the cold and grey, which is especially true today since it’s absolutely freezing outside with nonstop frigid rain. I didn’t even go outside the apartment today.

But Melbourne is a funny place. It’s the type of city where it can be 60 degrees F one day and then 100 degrees the next. I still vividly remember the very first morning Chris took me back to Melbourne for Christmas in December 2012. I kept thinking about summer, so I ended up wearing the lightest jacket for our airport transfers. When we landed and were waiting for his parents to pick us up curbside, I was absolutely freezing in the little bits that I was wearing and was really unhappy with myself. The sky was grey and it looked like it was threatening to rain. Is this what an Australian summer is in Melbourne…?!

Fast forward to a few days later when the thermostat was over 110 degrees F and his parents were warning us to stay indoors and not wander around the city… which of course, we did, because Chris never likes being told what to do. I was being burned alive.

Unpredictable Melbourne, we’re a comin’ for you.