The first stop was the South Melbourne market. I envisioned the place to resemble the Prahran market and be filled with produce, meat, fish and culinary oddities but that is not the case. For the most part it is a trash and treasure flea market however there are a few fruit stalls. Seemingly it is open only on Wednesday, Friday and the weekends as there is only a demand for trash and treasure on those days of the week. Resembling the man with the bowlers hat in the Johnny Walker ad, I kept on walking and did not stop until I exited the place. I did notice that Claypots is located in this place as that requires a visit so I will be back in the future.
Being confronted by so much trash and treasure caused me great distress and also it built up a thirst. The epicurean emo and I retreated into The Blue Room as it looked like a sane venue and were advertising lunch specials. Some $17.50 lunch specials were on offer that included an alcoholic beverage so both the spaghetti and meatballs and the penne were ordered and the shiraz was placed before me and consumed with great anticipation. The morbid fear that I experienced being so close to so much trash and treasure dissipated and I enjoyed my warm lunch. The Blue Room had a calm and relaxed atmosphere and the service was prompt. They were advertising all you can eat mussels for $29 as a special for later in the day also. When I posted this, 74% of the reviewers like this place also according to Urbanspoon.
Still being thirsty, we ventured to the Golden Gate Hotel which proved to be quite the find. They were advertising a steak lunch special for $14 and when it was brought out to some other guests, I was shocked at how good it looked. The table that received the dead cow expressed their joy also. Pints of Kosciuszko Pale Ale flowed and my thirst was abated. I am looking forward to visiting this watering hole again and trying the steak and of course also ensuring that the Kosciuszko Pale Ale remains of the highest quality coming out of the tap. I am not sure why only 66% of the punters that wrote a review of this place on Urbanspoon like it. It is a pleasant place that is good value for money.
After walking 50m, I felt sense of discomfort as I was quickly becoming parched again so we had to retreat into the Clarendon Hotel. With the gas hearth it wasn't hard to relax and test the quality of the Carlton Draught. Fox News was being shown on one television and Judge Judy was airing on the other. Before the channel was changed to Fox News, Good Charlotte videos were being screened. One of the servers became distressed as he believed that the conga line of videos was to honour the memory of one of the members of Good Charlotte, as he believed one of the members recently died. As one of their albums is called "The Chronicles of Life and Death" I can understand the confusion but the server seemed to believe that one of the Madden brothers had kicked on. I was afraid to quiz him as to whether this would affect his viewing of the second series of The Voice.
Also in the immediate area is a Dan Murphy's so a few bottles of liquor was purchased for the home bar.
When I think of South Melbourne I used to think of places to get your brakes repaired or even your motorcar stolen, but this stretch of Clarendon Street defied my expectations. I look forward to exploring it further, returning to the Golden Gate, and perhaps wandering down to Albert Park in the not too distant future.
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