Brisbane is a city of neighborhoods. The Brisbane river winds through the cityscape dividing the city into banks and bends that form a variety of unique areas to explore. These past two weeks were a wonderful chance to explore the city and the university before classes start next week. Last Friday, a friend and I decided to check out the West End. This neighborhood is across the river from St. Lucia (where the uni is) and next to South Bank. It's much less touristy than South Bank, and is also a lot more chill. The word that I really wanted to use to describe this neighborhood is crunchy. The streets are lined with herb shops, veggie and vegan eateries, gothic boutiques, and ahhh unique bars. I shouldn't be surprised since the Boundary Street markets, the huge weekend farmers markets, are held in this area. I decided that next time I'm there I'm definitely going to try some of the veggie restaurants! But this time we were just there for a afternoon stroll, so we just window browsed. However, one place stuck out to us and we eagerly went in.
This was the Cupcake Parlour! I love cupcakes and we decided to go in and check it out. It was the end of the day so they were selling mini cupcakes for 1 dollar each!!! An awesome deal, so we each got 2. I got Turkish Delight (on the left above) and Rose (on the right above). I didn't love the rose one, mainly because my sister makes a much better rose cake. But the Turkish Delight one was amazing. It was a chocolate cupcake with floral jelly flavored frosting and a piece of turkish delight on top. I loved how the chocolate and the flavors of the turkish delight complimented ash other. I actually really like turkish delight and it seems to be a common treat and flavor here in Australia. I'm super happy about that, but it's one of those treats that is an acquired taste.
After finishing our cupcakes we made our way to Vulture and Boundary Streets the two main streets of the West End. After the long walk, we were pretty thirsty so decided to stop in a bar and get a cold drink. We choose The Loft a bar on Boundary Street (above right). It had the right type of afternoon crowd, 20-30 somethings grabbing a couple of afternoon beers with friends. We headed inside and found a cozy area with high tables and sofas (above left) . The walls were covered in bookshelves and a stage with a microphone was set up in the corner. They have live music at night, which made me want to check this place out another night. But, that afternoon we instead ordered ciders (below) at the bar, and we took them outside to their deck seating area. This was the best part of the bar, we could enjoy the evening, and people watch on Boundary Street with a nice cold drink. It was an extremely pleasant way to spend an afternoon.
Overall, I really liked the West End and I can't wait to get back there to try some of the restaurants and perhaps bar hop a bit. Good thing It's only a ferry ride and a bus away!
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