Beach Cafe Seaford - Seaford, Victoria

Brekky on the beach can be fun. Brekky in a beach cafe can be just as much fun and someone else cooks and cleans up. That’s my type of brekky on the beach. There are a number of beach cafes which offer breakfast, lunch and dinner but on this occasion it was brekky only. Beach Cafe Seaford, not a very inventive name, provides a reasonable spread in a modern and rustic building at the end of the Seaford pier.

Parking is at the end of Seaford Road and like so many of these high tide establishments you pay.  Make sure you donate well to the local council a fine will make for a very expensive dining experience. Though the cafe is small it can be very noisy when full. Bare floors and a high ceiling don’t bode well for a quiet meal any time of the day.  Service is Ok, pricing is Ok and food is good. The menu cannot be varied at all so look for something you can eat and enjoy or eat around. Eggs are good but even for brekky there is one “egg” meal on the menu.

The beach is only meters away for a slow walk to help digest or kids to play. The pier is also nice to walk along. This is a beautiful area of the bay and part of the gateway to the peninsula where many wineries, cafes, restaurants and tourist interest can be found. Start with brekky here and work your way down the peninsula for a culinary tour bound to please. We do have it good down here. Share it with us. See you for brekky.

Apollo Bay Hotel, Wickens Cafe and The Vista - Apollo Bay, Victoria

On a recent visit to Apollo Bay I managed to visit a few eat houses, some excellent some not so excellent. On a previous post for Cafe 153 I did do a special write-up. Cafe153 was extremely good and I hope to dine there again. In this post I will make brief mention of a few other Cafes and a pub which I did also spend some time.

Let’s start with the pub. The Apollo Bay Hotel has a good selection of local and inter-state beers on tap and also Guinness Stout. I started with a Coopers Pale, once more on tap and progressed to the Guinness.  Beer was cold my bar wench was friendly I got to sit out under the shade watching the world go by, happy lad! Next day I came back with the wife for a coffee. All good. Drop by for a beverage or a meal.

Wickens Delicatessen & Provedore is a pleasant enough cafe which claims to provide a WiFi connection. Well they do really provide a WiFi connection it just isn’t very good. Well really it barely works at all. Visit here for a bite or a bite and coffee. Nothing exciting about the place, well really it’s just a little boring. Well more than a little boring. So is the food. Boring. It can get busy and where you order the staff is trying to pass through, logistical layout is poor. There is on street dinning, please yourself. There probably are better places to spend your pennies.

So many dedicated foodies like fish food. I know I do and all I know who really enjoy their “tucker” love a fish feed.  Whether from the shell, scampering along the bottom or off the fin, fish can thrill.  The Vista Seaford Restaurant is directly opposite Cafe153. The Vista is trying to promote itself as a “fine dining” restaurant. Though on the surface this is what is presented when it gets down to what you put in your mouth it just falls short.

Of a table of eight none were really pleased with the meal. I think this restaurant could be a lot better but at the moment its “OK” but not “fabulous”. Though not overly expensive you may feel a little rippled off. It this restaurant was a call girl I wouldn’t be felling very satisfied after the service and credit card swipe.  Staff is friendly and service is good. You can dine inside or out. Try this place yourself and let me know what you think. Are you satisfied? It is BYO you know?

Cafe153 - Apollo Bay, Southern Victoria

Apollo Bay, in the Christmas period, is a beautiful part of Victoria situated right on the Great Ocean Road. It is blessed with expansive wide open surf beaches, beautiful weather (well as good as Victorian weather can be on any given day) and a host of cafes, shops and hotels. Modern two storey units can be rented or if you like caravan park with cabins are available. It is a busy time of the year in this part of sunny Victoria with holiday makes, surfers and visitors alike.

I like my food and where better to practice the art of grazing in one of the finer cafes in Apollo Bay. Our first in town gave us our best “foodies” experience. Cafe153, though not a wholly imaginative name, did provide some dreamy food. I sat with about a dozen others and at the end of the night there was only praise for the food and even the service.

Let’s start with service. Firstly it’s a BYO cafe but if you would rather drink theirs than yours the beer and wine list is sufficient. Back to the service: extremely warm, funny and friendly. Meals (all dozen of them) were delivered hot and timely and all good portions. Big eaters may want an entree but meal size was sufficient. Start with some garlic bread while you decide your main. Everything on the menu looks delicious and smells divine. The decor is relaxed to modern and parking is easy. What is hard is picking what to graze on over a red or a beer. The food is all so nice. Nice one Cafe153!

Othello - South Bank, Melbourne.

I had no idea that where we were to spend New Year’s Eve would be at such a nice restaurant. We had also decided to stay in Melbourne knowing it would be a late night or make that an early morning. Thought not a cheap night of eats all restaurants large and small hike-up prices for this occasion. When you consider staff have to be paid public holiday rate and work ‘till late you can understand the extra cost. Don’t want to spend for this once-a-year occasion then home or with friends is the place to be. But for us it was in Melbourne for fireworks and a grand Greco nosh-up.

Staying in South Bank Melbourne is always a pleasant experience and my wife and I have dined at some different and exciting restaurants here but never before at Othello’s.  This well positioned restaurant is place out front of Eureka Towers just off the main South Bank walk. It not only has an indoor eating area for the cooler weather but a large outdoor undercover area. On the night a small Greek bank had the Greek community on the feet doing “The Zorba”. Fun to watch but not for me.

Our cots per head included about four courses and ALL delicious. Filling yourself on entree was a silly move because so much food followed. Even amongst some big eaters, at our table, we couldn’t finish it all. Service was efficient and friendly and the drinks list sufficient though not endless. Drinks cost were reasonable. Don’t come here for the drinks though this is a “foodies” haven if you like your Mediterranean cuisine. Crab, fish, meats, dips, breads, olives you name it we devoured with gusto like there was no tomorrow. In a funny way there was no tomorrow or more to the point no more 2012. All tomorrows will be in 2013 for the next twelve months. Hold my seat, in the words of Arnold “I’ll be back”.  Don’t wait twelve months to experience this well established and excellent taverna. Go now.