A stroll and desserts at St Kilda

St. Kilda Beach

So, two weeks back, on a gloomy Friday, after our walking adventures at Smith St., we headed to St. (saint not street) Kilda. It is an inner Southern Suburb of Melbourne, approximately 6km south of Melbourne's CBD (central business district) aka city. If you don't have a car, you can still reach St. Kilda by trams.

I mainly wanted to show the beach to J & G though it was pretty devoid of any two and four legged creatures. Usually and especially on a sunny day, you will see miles and miles of sunbathing Aussies and many girls showing their figures (even if it's best to hide them) in bikinis. LOL. 

Oh well, too bad for G today.

 

The famous creepy looking entrance

Besides being known for its beach, St. Kilda also boasts of a small theme park named Luna Park, if not mistaken, after the one at famous Coney Island in New York as a tribute. There were four Luna Parks built in Australia; Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland and South Australia but only the Sydney and Melbourne one is still in operations.

There are other attractions here such as the Breakwater, home to a colony of penguins. Instead of travelling all the way to Phillip Island, one can opt to come here during dusk as an alternative to see penguins. But if you ask me, it is worth the trip to Phillip Island which I brought J & G the day before and I am sure they enjoyed themselves immensely. ;)

 

J & G

After our stroll along the beach with the crazy, strong wind - it was amazing we weren't swept off our feet! - we headed to Acland St. (St. as in street and not saint here) for coffee. We went to Monarch Cakes. Sal brought me here, I think in February and the coffee is as good as I remembered it to be, only I had mocha. ;)

Monarch Cakes has an interesting history. According to its site, it has been baking from the same Polish recipes for over 75 years. Wow! Pretty amazing. Apparently the cheesecake is famous. Gotta try this next time. And another must try is their kooglhoupf (pronounced as kugelhoff, me thinks). It's slightly crisp on the top but moist in the insides. I have this every time I am in this shop and it's my third time here!

Chocolate Kooglhoupf

Adds to the quaint look of the shop as part of the deco

Macchiato

I enjoyed sips of my mocha, the right amount of coffee balanced with a rich amount of chocolate taste. J had iced chocolate and G had a macchiato. For those who are clueless about the difference between lattes to cappucinos to flat white, short and long black, here's a short write up.

Basically, Espresso (aka short black), Long Black and Macchiato are like Malaysia's Kopi O. It's black coffee WITHOUT milk. The difference is only the degree of water added into it.

Espresso is one shot and you can also order it as Short Black which the barista would and should know. If you think it is too strong, you can order a Long Black, an Espresso with more water. Macchiato is one shot but with a bit of froth poured in to coat the top layer of the drink.

Ok. Now, for the coffee WITH milk commentary. Flat White, Latte and Cappucino are basically the same except in the amount of froth each drink has. All three consist of one shot (you always have the freedom to request for more shots if desired) WITH milk. 

Flat White has the least amount of froth. In fact, there shouldn't be any if a skilled barista mades it. Mr. C used to order Latte but has been having Flat White of late as he didn't felt like having any froth. However, much to his consternation it sometimes comes with froth, defeating the purpose of ordering a Flat White.

While Flat White has no froth, Latte (generally served in a small glass) has some and Cappucino (served in a ceramic mug to retain the heat), even more.

In a nutshell, what I've explained is a simplistic view of the main difference between each coffee drinks. Hope it was helpful, informative and not too dry to take in. Lol.