Foodie Travel Tales: Alison Treloar
Name: Ali Treloar
Age: 30
Best foodie destination?: Melbourne! I love the food, the coffee, the shopping, the footy. All of it.
Best meal you’ve had while travelling?: Overseas would have to be hot pot in Chengdu, China or Coconut prawns in Kerala, India. For domestic travel, I can’t go past my visit to The Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld, Victoria. We went two days after it was awarded it’s third Chef’s hat in The Age Good Food Guide. Chef Dan Hunter is a amazing, and the matched wines were superb.
Worst meal/dining experience you’ve had while travelling?: My husband and I bravely went to a backstreet hole-in-the wall in India. We took a few spoonfuls of our curry before realising it was lukewarm and the huge pot it came from was just sitting on the bench. Who knows how long it had been there for, so we played it safe and left. Fresh is best, especially in India.
Best café?: I was a regular at Padre Coffee in the South Melbourne Markets before moving to Tamworth. Great coffee and just the right blend of hipster+friendly. In Tamworth I get my fix at Addimi’s Allpress brew – hands-down the best coffee in town, although I do have a soft spot for Ruby’s, with their Genovese (yup, Melbourne again) and will always drop in if I’m up the ‘Paris end of Peel’ as they like to say.
Best restaurant?: Oh, too hard. Melbourne or Tamworth? My favourite place to eat in Melbourne is Cumulus Inc, but then it’s also a bar, really (see below). I also love to hit up City Wine Shop for a fabulous meal in cosmopolitan surrounds without spending the earth. In Tamworth, Le Pruneau pumps out some pretty good grub, and the drive down to Willowtree in is worth it.
Best bar/pub?: I love a good by-the-glass wine list, hence my love of Cumulus Inc and in Tamworth you’ll find me at The Tamworth Hotel or The Post Office Hotel.
Major food or drink weakness that you cannot resist?: It’s a tough call – chocolate, or wine?
Advice for choosing a place to eat?: When I’m travelling, I always look for places that are busy.
What to avoid?: The opposite – places that are quiet. This strategy works best if you are eating at the same time the locals are eating and that’s the best time to see the culture, anyway.
Favourite dining companion/s?: My husband because he likes food and wine almost as much as I do and my colleague from The Goods Unltd, Ginnie because she likes food and wine just as much as I do.
Dream dinner party guests?: There’s some amazing people in the world and so many questions to ask, but I really just love having my friends over for dinner and catching up over a few drinks.
Check out Ali’s wonderful food blog Gourmet Townie here.