Mad about Melbourne

Hi Guys, This post is my entry for a contest by Tourism Victoria on IndiBlogger.in.All I had to do was answer this....and boy did I know exactly why! 

What's your reason for falling in love with Melbourne, the most livable city in the world?

Wish me luck since this is the first contest I am entering as a blogger. 

 If I win the contest I could go on a trip to Melbourne! But there is something in it for you too. Read on 

I still have the pair of Koala Bear earrings my aunty Tutu brought me as a gift from Australia when I was nine, may be ten, years old. Aunty Tutu is my mother’s best friend who shifted to Australia after marriage, and her yearly visit to India has been the top annual attraction of my childhood years. Aunty Tutu’s accounts of life Down Under, the description of her suburban home on the outskirts of Melbourne, the backyard barbecues and wild macaws that visited her garden from time to time, are still brilliant and vivid in my memory. “Melbourne is the place to be,” Aunty Tutu would state categorically, “you guys must visit us soon,” she would urge my parents.

My parents invariably made promises, assuring Aunty Tutu that a trip was on the cards. They said it in such earnest that I too believed that I would be on a plane to Melbourne soon. In my mind I had imagined chasing kangaroos on the roads of Melbourne and cuddling Koala Bears in Aunty Tutu’s backyard. Come on I was only a child. But that trip never happened.

However, my desire to visit Australia, especially Melbourne, continued to linger at the back of my mind. And now, right at the top of my Things-to-do-before-I-die list is to explore Melbourne’s bustling food scene. Melbourne is all about gorgeous, delectable food – from tiny cafes tucked in narrow lanes to chic fine dining destinations, rustic backyard barbecues to groundbreaking culinary experiments in Michelin starred kitchens, celebrity chefs and ingenuous rookies – Melbourne has the world eating out of its palm. With a culinary fabric as rich, I have no doubt that Melbourne is the most livable city on earth. Add to that a crazy love of sports and the arts.  In fact, I say, it is the place to be.

My desire to sit on that plane to Melbourne returned with a renewed vigour following my fixation with the MasterChef Australia. The show of course needs no introduction. My obsessive love for food is no secret, and MasterChef Australia is all about glorious food. But that was not it. It was also about glorious judges, who in turn were glorious chefs. My favourite – Gary, of course. Gary Mehigan is a gorgeous man who cooks gorgeous food and one of the reasons why I would love to visit Melbourne is to eat at Mehigan’s gorgeous restaurant in Moonee Pond - The Boathouse. The food he serves is simple but stunning, just the way great food should be. I would happy to sample a simple wood-fire pizza at Gary’s. And I can always hope to bump into the man himself!

But The Boathouse is only one glittering strand in Melbourne’s mind-boggling culinary fabric. There are culinary giants like Shannon Bennett, Frank Camorra and others taking the city’s gastronomic reality to fantastical heights. Oh how I would love to crunch into Camorra’s signature Anchoa, hand-filleted Cantabrian Artisan Anchovy on croutons with smoked tomato sorbet, sitting in his very own MoVida. And what I could give to dine to a view like the one offered from Bennett’s Vue de Monde, located on the 55^th floor of the iconic 63 floors high Rialto building.

 It’s not just about, sophisticated gastronomy, I cannot wait to explore the lanes of Melbourne to make my own culinary discoveries that I would be proud of. Or spend an afternoon at one of the cafes in the beautiful Federation Square. “Melbourne won’t disappoint you,” a friend who has lived in Melbourne for a couple of years assures. Or merely explore the fresh produce at local markets – the meats especially! The best part about the city’s food culture, often dubbed as fickle, is its diversity. Melbourne has food from all over the world and for all budgets.

And, between all the eating in Melbourne, sneak in  a trip to the Yarra Valley to sample some superlative wine and with it some great food. And while in the area why not hop onto the Puffing Billy, the century old steam engine that chugs through the picturesque Dandenong Ranges. In fact, other than food, there are innumerable attractions in the city of  Melbourne and its surroundings in Australia's south-eastern state of Victoria. Read more about it here.

And now a contest for my readers too. Answer this question and stand a chance to win a exciting gift voucher. 

Which of these places would you want to visit in Melbourne and why? 

 CONTEST ENDS JANUARY 4 12 NOON

Please note this is a Tourism Victoria Contest on Indiblogger.in 

THE CONTEST IS NOW OVER and the WINNER is Hemaaa