Melbourne Darling’s Top 5 Picks for the Queen Victoria Wednesday Night Market

The Queen Victoria Night Market is back to excite your Wednesday night plans from now until the end of Summer. But before you race on down and make a bee line for the spiral fries like everyone else, read my wrap up of the top  5 things to do at the Wednesday Night Market this season:

1. Hammer and Tong’s Soft Shell Crab Burger

Last week I reviewed Hammer and Tong and their ever popular contribution to Melbourne’s gourmet burger scene with the Soft Shell Crab Burger. Well firstly, I advise you make the first thing you do when you arrive at the Night Market is to pinch yourself a table early, while you still can. I find the Night Market only gets busier and busier each year and the later the night gets, the increasing number of people flock to the dining areas and begin their hunt for a seat.  So before you go exploring the market stalls, I suggest you find a table with your group first and eat early in the evening.

That being said, if you were looking forward to trying the Soft Shell Crab Burger for yourself, the Wednesday Night Market is a great opportunity to do so. Hammer and Tong’s market stall is especially dedicated to pumping out those delicious burgers all night, so you’re getting the same delicious meal as you would if you were to order it in their restaurant, but for a few dollars cheaper too!

Hammer and Tong Soft Shell Crab Burger at the Night Market

Hammer and Tong Soft Shell Crab Burger at the Night Market

2. Vintage Hub

Among the sea of regular market stalls at the Queen Victoria Night Market – cheap sunglasses, handmade soaps, band t-shirts and jewellery - coconut watches anyone? This year it was refreshing to see the addition of the ‘Vintage Hub‘. Hosted by Vintage Garage, The Vintage Hub is a cluster of stalls selling an assortment of all things vintage from pre-loved and reworked clothing to retro homewares. Check out Grandma-Funk for her one-of-a-kind collection of vintage European leather patch jumpers and Vonruby for a gorgeous Vintage hairdo and makeover.

Vonruby

Vonruby Vintage Hair and Makeup at The Night Market

 3. Live Music

Your perfect summer evenings at the Wednesday Night Market are made complete with festive tunes hosted by Multicultural Arts Victoria. Each week features a selection of the diverse mix of performers. From my experience, some bands are extremely funky and engaging and will invite the crowd to get up and dance. A couple of sangria’s later and you may just be more than eager to get up and join them! You can view the full program of gigs for the 2013-2014 season here.

4. Dessert

After all that walking and talking (and perhaps after the last point, some dancing too?) you would have most likely worked up your second (or third) appetite for the night, and with so many exciting and exotic variations of food on offer, you’d be glad you did! There are so many food stalls you are bound to find something to tickle your fancy, but if you are having trouble deciding, try the Creme Brulee or Lemon tart macaron from Macaron De Paris, the Dutch Pancakes or the French Crepes (just look out for the giant tubs of Nutella)

Macarons from Macaron De Paris at The Night Market

Macarons from Macaron De Paris at The Night Market

5. Sangria!

It just wouldn’t be right if you didn’t put Sangria on your list of things to do at the Night Market! Not only do Running Bull Sangria offer a red and white wine variety, but they now have a couple of stalls set up around the market space, so you can sip on your fruity wine mix whilst browsing the market stalls in delight until…

oh! Whats that? You’ve finished your cup already and you’re already on the other side of the market by now? Oh look! There’s another sangria stall conveniently located two stalls down! And on it goes…

(Or for a non alcoholic sipping treat, try the original Lemonade stands instead!)

Running-Bull-Sangria-at-The-Night-Market

Running Bull Sangria at The Night Market

The Queen Victoria WednesdayNight Market

Every Wednesday night from 5pm-10pm

November 6th – February 26th (excluding December 25th & January 1st 2014)

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Dining Review – Hammer and Tong 412

I had been particularly looking forward to dining at Hammer and Tong 412 after reading and hearing about the multitude of glowing reviews it has received from many happy diners. Some even claimed it was the best brunch they had ever had! The result of a partnership between two prominent chefs who created a partnership after working at Vue de Monde together, Hammer and Tong is located just off Brunswick Street, at the rear of 412 Brunswick Street to be precise, which is across the road from Brother Burger and the Marvellous Brew and just behind Karton, the cardboard furniture store. The main entrance and seating areas overlook Westgarth Street, so unless you know specifically where Hammer and Tong is, you would most likely miss it as if you were just strolling down Brunswick street.

Hammer and Tong 412 is open from 7am til late Tuesday to Saturday and 8am til 5pm Sunday, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. When I arrived the café was already bustling for an early morning. You may recognise the bright, white interior which previously housed the restaurant ‘The Brix’ in a bright, very long and narrow setting where each square centimetre was used to fit in as many tables and chairs as possible (probably more of an issue for staff having to walk through the tight walkways all day than for patrons). We were seated quickly on a share table, luckily we didn’t have to move but I did feel sorry for the other party next to us that were made to do a couple of reshuffles each time the staff tried to fit a few more diners onto our share table. If I were to eat here again, I would recommend sitting by the windows if you don’t mind sitting adjacent to your fellow diners, as the bar seating that ran across on one side of the café was directly under open windows, which was lovely on a sunny day.

Our waiter provided us with menus and proceeded by immediately asking us if we would like to order coffees. Now, is it just me or do other people also get annoyed when they are asked for their coffee order as your backside barely hits the chair, let alone having been able to possibly even sneak a quick glance at the menu? I like to take a look at the beverage menu first and see what coffee blends they have on offer in addition to other drinks. Yes, I may be a caffenatic, but I can still function for two whole minutes to read the menu before I crash without a morning coffee. I was happy to find out that Hammer and Tong use Duke’s Coffee, but found it odd that they charge a small but never the less, additional charge of 50 cents to choose the single origin blend as usually there is no additional charge for this option.

Hammer and Tong feature two menus, a daytime menu and dinner menu. We were offered the daytime menu which featured some really interesting items including the ‘yabbie tail omelette’, ‘duck egg’, ‘pork belly’, ‘lamb ribs’ and their take on the ‘french toast’ all sounded like interesting choices but we couldn’t go past the Soft shell crab burger and corn & zucchini fritters, both which had a been majorly talked up by diners before me. I don’t think I have ever eaten a burger pre-noon before, but having heard the praise for this soft shell crab burger, I had to give it a go.

The food was served extremely fast, especially considering how busy the café was. I will admit that plated up, the soft shell crab burger appeared a little underwhelming, small and sloppy. I know it’s a burger, but in comparison to the delightfully presented fritters, maybe the presentation of the burger could’ve been helped with a small side or at least a skewer to help hold it upright and look a little more appealing. Luckily however, all hope was not lost as the taste test considerably saved the appeal of the coveted Soft Shell Crab burger. The crab meat was delicious and substantial and the brioche buns were extremely soft and buttery. In all, the burger featured a fantastic combination of flavours that tasted succulent and juicy. I’ve had beef and pork burgers but this is definitely the best seafood burger I have ever had (and actually a worthy competitor to my favourite beef and pork burgers also).

Soft Shell Crab Burger at Hammer and Tong 412

Soft Shell Crab Burger at Hammer and Tong 412

On the other hand, the fritters ended up having the opposite effect to the burger. While they was presented very well, the fritters themselves were a little bland and dry. They possibly could have done with a more corn, less zucchini ratio, as I felt the zucchini didn’t translate too well in the fritter. It just ended up tasting like a dense, bland and dry stuffing. The fried coating was also a little too thick, oily and hard for my liking. However, that being said, the dish did taste good, but I believe this all came down to the winning accompaniments of the manchego cheese, avocado and chilli tomato relish that really created that delicious pop of flavours.

Zucchini and Corn Fritters at Hammer and Tong 412

Zucchini and Corn Fritters  (without egg) at Hammer and Tong 412

Prices were average for what you’d expect for the increasingly popular breed of oxymoron dining variety, what I like to refer to as the ‘fancy casual ‘ eateries, or hipster eateries if you will. Service was quick and to the point (although maybe some better planning would have prevented the case of musical chairs I spoke about earlier). The coffee was good, although not as good as Story in Docklands who also use the same, Dukes coffee. The Soft Shell Crab burger was definitely the highlight for me, but I also enjoyed the interesting ingredients that starred on the menu, the bright sun room and the buzzing atmosphere.

Coffee at Hammer and Tong 412

Coffee at Hammer and Tong 412

Hammer and Tong 412

03 9041 6033

Tuesday – Saturday 7am – late

Sunday 8am – 5pm

Rear 412 Brunswick St.
Fitzroy, Vic 3065

View menu online

Hammer and Tong on Urbanspoon

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