Destination Australia for Food, Glorious Food!

Australia is Food Paradise!!! Period.

The wide choice in food, thanks to its large migrant population, the amazing quality, makes Australia one of the world’s foremost destination for foodies. Steaks, seafood, sushi, desserts – the best in the world. We went bonkers with our three meals every day of the fourteen days we spent here.

Here’s categorising them to help you plan your gastronomical itinerary! 😀

• BEST steaks in the world! Being one of the world’s largest producer of dairy products, the quality of beef available in Australia is second to none. The variety of cuts in the restaurants, the popularity of barbeque is testament to the same. Needless to say, we had some of the best steaks here — the aroma that fill the streets would be enough to pull us into some of the best grill restaurants. A number of restaurants have their cuts on display, thereby allowing you to pick the ones you want, order it prepared your way with accompaniments.

•  You can kill for the Australian Lamb Chops! Their very thought makes me drool, even though we had our heart’s full there. The chops are huge, so much meat on the bones and cooked to perfection

• Australia’s seafood platters are, without exaggeration, majestic. We hit upon them as soon as we hit the Great Ocean road drive. The freshest of catches only — Mussels, Abalones, Prawns dime a dozen, Calamari, Octopus, local fishes — steamed or boiled, heaped on a big plate, with chips and salad as accompaniments, was our staple all along the coastal towns. Never had so many oysters, each feeling like just off the sea with all the smells and saltiness perfectly trapped inside. You can rarely get better than this anywhere else in the world. Try out the local places especially if driving on the Great Ocean Road. Most roadside joints though serve only fish and chips, while the restaurants usually have dishes and platters.

• Out of the world Sushi rolls: This one takes the cake! We love Sushi and have always struggled to find good quality ones in India. In Australia, you have such brilliant Sushi and Sashimi everywhere. The Sushi Hub, Sushi Sushi chains are some of the most popular restaurants in Australia and we saw office goers, students, tourists all make beeline for them in every town. Sushi Hub was our favourite – we had sushi rolls for breakfasts, dinner sometimes, at airports, while touring … ensuring we have our full for the next one whole year!! Try out the Sushi Train — my 9 year old could finish off some 10 plates in equal minutes. Other than Nigiri & Sashimi, the most popular item here are the large rolls – almost equivalent to three or four sushi served together, at a fraction of a price. We miss it so much now….sigh…

• Exotic Meats: We had only two – Crocodile meat and Roo. And found crocodile meat to be hard and chewy, while the roos are more popular as steaks. Tasty and juicy, worth a try when in town.
• Berries from the farms: Be it at Melborne’s Victoria Market, or while on the tour of the Huon Valley and Great Eastern Drive in Tasmania, we would simply stop by farms growing berries, cherries and nectarines and keep munching them for the rest of the drives…..

• Deserts: Adriano Zumbo & most Masterchef Australia winners have their own outlets across towns and with one of the best cream in the world, abundance of local berries as accompaniments – they cannot get any better. Do not miss the exquisite Pavlova — Australia’s national dessert. And if in Tasmania, do not miss having a pastry at Kates Berry Farm. We had it while on the Great Eastern Road drive…

• Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne: This deserves a special mention – only for the night market on Wednesdays. As crowded and chaotic as the local Indian streets, we were just not prepared for the assault on all our senses there. The variety of meats and food, the rush of thousands of people, queues and the noise was crazy. It was something we would never expect in Australia but what a place. A meat lovers paradise … the options are what you would come to Australia for — Turkey Drumsticks the size of your fists, Roasted Suckling Pigs to the exotic Kangaroo and Croc meats, Sausages made in front of you and local drinks and deserts sold alongside – it is a must visit destination if you are there on a Wednesday. Don’t eat anything the whole day to do justice. Other times, you get the freshest of berries and fruits & lovely breakfast options in the morning.
• Cheese & Wine: While the choices  for both cheese and wine kind of confused the hell out of us, everything was top quality. Having said that, we are more inclined towards Europe’s cheese and wine. That of course didn’t stop us from picking a bagful of 6 / 7 local favourites of cheese before flying back home.

Note, other than Sushi (Rolls at AUD 3.50 ea) at the take-away joints, food is very expensive in Australia. Most seafood platters for one would set us back by AUD 50 or more. Steaks with prime cuts or Lamb Chops are priced around AUD 40 or more. Sashimi and good quality Sushi at restaurants are steeply priced. Night market at Melbourne had most dishes around AUD 15 – 20 ea and enough for one. Cherries and Berries were worth every cent and very reasonable.

Read our complete Australia story at — Ring In The New Year With A Holiday in Australia