The Australian city that became a global food and drink powerhouse

By Joe Minihane, CNN

(CNN) — Sydney or Melbourne? It’s the great Australian city debate, one which pits the commerce, business and money of Sydney against cultural, arts-loving, coffee-drinking Melbourne.

While picking one can be tricky, there’s no denying that Australia’s second city, home to 5.2 million people, has a charm all of its own.

Melburnians (never Melbournites) get to enjoy a place where nature is close by, urban delights are readily available and the food and drink scene isn’t just the best in Australia, but also one of the finest in the world.

Getting caffeinated

There’s no better way to start a trip to Melbourne than with a proper cup of coffee. Coffee is serious stuff here, with no room for a weak, burnt or flavorless brew. The history of coffee in Melbourne goes back to the years after World War II, when Italian immigrants arrived and brought their machines with them.

Within 30 years, a thriving cafe scene had developed and, as the 21st century dawned, the city had become the epicenter of a new global coffee culture. The iconic Pellegrini’s on Bourke Street and Mario’s in the Fitzroy neighborhood are the best old-school hangouts, while Market Lane helped lead the way in bringing Melbourne’s modern-day coffee scene to the masses.

Kate Reid is the best person to speak with about Melbourne’s coffee obsession. The founder of Lune Croissanterie, she was once a Formula 1 design engineer and has brought her expertise and precision to crafting the world’s best croissant, as well as knowing how to brew a coffee, and specifically a flat white, just the way it should be.

“Good coffee is just ingrained in everyday culture for every single Melburnian now,” says Reid. “I think that that peak of pretentious specialty coffee has come and gone, and now it’s just come down to a level of a really high standard everywhere.”

That’s clear when she pours a flat white. Describing herself as a perfectionist, the way she froths the milk and tends to the cup is a sight to behold.

It’s almost as impressive as her work with croissants. Having been blown away by one spectacular pastry in Paris, she returned to Melbourne determined to offer the very best breakfast treat for locals to enjoy with their morning flat white.

“It’s a three-day process,” says Reid, speaking about how her team crafts what has been dubbed the best croissant in the world. “We create 27 layers of dough and butter within three millimeters of pastry.”

A Lune croissant, she explains, is a hefty 43% butter. She even offers tips on when to eat it.

“If you’re going to eat a croissant, it’s going to be 10 minutes out of the oven, which for me is the perfect moment,” she says.

Demand is so high that Lune hand-makes 3,000 croissants a week. People come from across the world to try them and you can even pre-order to avoid disappointment, while special tasting sessions mean you try different flavors and drink as many flat whites as you can handle. If that’s not a perfect start to the day, then what is?

An island escape

If Melbourne’s coffee scene is the ideal way to shake off any morning bleariness, encountering the terrifying “hook turn” on its streets is bound to leave you fully alert. This counterintuitive driving maneuver has been a cornerstone of the city’s roads since the 1930s. When needing to turn right, you veer all the way to the left of an intersection into a dedicated box, waiting for the lights on the opposite side to turn green and then turning a sharp right to execute the move across every lane of traffic.

If that seems alarming for drivers and pedestrians alike, more placid thrills await two hours south, on beautiful Phillip Island. An easy day trip from Melbourne, its stunning beaches and lush interior offer a chance to slow down and spend time with some of Australia’s most remarkable wildlife, especially koalas and penguins.

In fact, it’s the latter that have made this island so famous.

Every evening, people come to Summerland Beach to watch a true natural spectacle, as thousands of Little Penguins return from hunting out at sea for a much-needed rest. Phillip Island is home to the largest colony of Little Penguins in the world, with around 40,000 making it their home.

“They’re so clumsy and ridiculous,” laughs Vivien Zajicek, a research officer on the island as the flightless birds begin to make their journey back to land. “I think that’s why we like penguins … they’re clumsy, they’re relatable.”

Looking closely, you can even work out their personality traits, explains Zajicek.

“You see which are more brave and which are… more shy. Their body language is a bit lower.”

However they carry themselves, this is a sight to warm the heart and make you realize why Australia is so special.

An Australian icon

Australia’s icons are many. Kangaroos. Koalas. Uluru. The Sydney Opera House. The Melbourne Cricket Ground. And to that list you can also add Vegemite. This savory spread, made from yeast extract, was invented in Melbourne about 100 years ago as a rival to England’s similar (but never say identical) Marmite.

A two-hour drive from Melbourne is Beaufort, Victoria. This is small-town Australia at its finest and was once the home of Cyril Callister, the man who invented Vegemite. It’s even home to a museum in his honor. Housed in a former gas station, it features a vast collection of memorabilia and also doubles up as a community arts space and co-working office for freelancers.

Much of the collection at the Cyril Callister Foundation comes from Vegemite superfan Gina Gardenal. She has amassed hundreds of pieces of memorabilia over the years, including magnets and photos, although, upsettingly for her, not the Vegemite travel clock.

Her passion for the spread is something to behold. In fact, she won’t even say the word Marmite, only calling it “non-Vegemite.”

“Alright… open up and bite,” she says as she prepares a blind taste test between the two bitter rivals, a feud every bit as meaningful as that between England and Australia when it comes to cricket. Of course, so close to its spiritual home, the Vegemite wins. To celebrate, Gardenal serves up a Vegemite cheesecake. Another thing to add to that Australian icons list.

Everybody needs good ‘Neighbours’

Melbourne’s myriad delights, from its street art-covered laneways to its world-beating coffee shops, are what make it a great place to both live and visit. But arguably its greatest export is a soap opera.

“Neighbours,” Australia’s longest-running soap opera, came to an end in July 2022 after 37 years due to UK-based Channel 5 deciding against renewing a licensing deal for the show. Its finale garnered huge audiences and saw past stars, including Kylie Minogue, Guy Pearce and Margot Robbie, return for a surreal final episode. Robbie even sent 37 bottles of Champagne to the set to mark what was seen by many as the end of an era.

However, in 2023, Amazon’s Freevee service engineered a remarkable comeback for the soap and it’s still being made.

“Neighbours” is set in the fictional Melbourne suburb of Erinsborough, although the street is real, as is the connection to the city. “Ramsey Street” is a place where visitors can come and explore and even meet stars past and present. The message is clear, the sets created to feel as if they are as much the viewers’ home as they are the characters’.

Lucinda Cowden knows about it better than most. She plays the soap’s long-running character, “Melanie.”

“It’s like a thing that’s always been here,” she says of the show. “It’s one of those sort of … It’s iconic. It’s a touchstone.”

Cowden takes us around the set, showing us the program’s Lassiter’s Hotel and Harold’s, a spot named after one of the soap opera’s most renowned characters.

Cowden returned to the show in 2020 and is effusive about its connection to the city.

“Melbourne’s got a feeling of heart,” she says, “And we have a real heartiness in Melbourne. And I think this show has that heart.”

She’s not wrong. This is an institution, both here in Australia and around the world.

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CNN’s Richard Quest contributed to this story.