Melbourne’s Top 5 Instagrammable Dishes
Forget the humble sausage roll or ham and cheese sarni, eating with your eyes has never been more popular. Images of pretty plates and oozy dishes make you drool and your stomach flip with glutton excitement. Foodies around the globe have been snapping Instagram worthy dishes, some creating viral sensations – rainbow bagel anyone?
On a recent trip to Melbourne, I met up with fellow Instagram lovers @IronChefShellie and @DaisyNeverTooSweet and was guaranteed a through-the-lens food tour of the Australian food capital, Melbourne.
Here are my top 5 Instagrammable worthy dishes you need to travel, shoot and post for:
N.B. leave any healthy rules at home!
Sea Salt Soft Serve @AquaS_au:
The ultimate Instagrammable treat. Snap the sweet billowing fairy floss treat in your hands like I have (don’t forget the manicure), or against the perfect backdrop painted in the store, fluffy blue clouds.
The sea salt soft serve is given a viral boost with the addition of caramel popcorn and a green matcha streak topped with a soft pillowy roasted marshmallow.
Ricotta hotcakes @KettleBlackCafe
These could possibly be the best hotcakes in the world, a perfect score on both taste and presentation. The hotcake is cooked to perfection with the right amount of fluffiness and lightness in the middle with a caramalised crust around the edges soaked in premium maple syrup. The seeds and nuts including buckinis, add to the textural pleasure and the hidden blueberries are a lovely surprise.
Visually the hotcake is topped double cream, dehydrated berry sugar and micro herbs and flowers - a signature touch.
Pikelet stack @FromonHigh:
I had been warned - “make sure you order the pikelet stack at From on High”. Now I love pikelets, they remind me of my childhood and mum mixing up batches on a regular basis, but these pikelets are like nothing I have ever laid eyes on. It would seriously have to be one of the best looking breakfasts I have ordered and it is in a super cute café on High St, Prahran.
Grab a seat by the sunlit oversized windows and allow the natural light to frame the dish. The soft spongy pikelets are piled high, almost a replica of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, topped with chocolate soil, berries and honeycomb. While it may sound like a sweetness overload, the dollops of savoury mascarpone balances the sugar and the tartness of the raspberries brings the harmony of the dish together.
Peanut butter waffles @DarlingCafé:
If Alice in Wonderland was to visit Melbourne and order breakfast, she would hashtag the Peanut butter waffles with #eatme. The whimsical dish in hues of light pinks, fuchsias and caramalised brown is luxurious and full of flavour and textures. The smashed banana in the cream cheese mousse is a winner especially when it is partners in crime with crispy bacon, golden syrup and fairy floss!
Lightbulb “Edison” smoothies @DarlingCafé
Move over Mason jars, the latest viral trend to hit the menus in Melbourne is the lightbulb smoothie. Yes of course we understand it is just a marketing technique and is otherwise a normal smoothie, but the appeal of sipping your drink in a lightbulb glass is alluring and of course makes for a unique and fabulous Instagram snap. This one is perfect for the ultimate selfie post.
Alana Lowes was a guest of Visit Victoria and Virgin Australia. Check out the best 'Non Bacon and Eggs' In Melbourne or search and book flights today!
