Le Bajo Milkbar, Publique Bakery and Joy Exhibition at Immigration Museum

Last week we had a nice day out in the city after a visit to the allergy clinic at the Royal Children's Hospital.  t is hard to get appointments at that allergy clinic and when offered a time to follow up Sylvia's recent allergy testing, we could not say no.  We were not sure how the appointment would pan out but they just wanted to say that Sylvia was unlikely to grow out of her peanut allergy at this age and that if she had any allergic attacks it was best to transition to adult services.  Not that useful but is considered low risk considering that she has not had a peanut allergy attack since being diagnosed as a baby. (Touchwood!)

After our short appointment, we were delighted to be free to continue our previously planned afternoon: a Le Bajo Milkbar lunch and a visit to the Joy Exhibition at the Immigration Museum, with a drop in to Publique Bakery as an added bonus!

Le Bago Milkbar is near the Queen Victoria Market so we parked there.  The parking garage was near to Publique Bakery.  This is a a beautiful French-style bakery that has been a viral sensation.  We could not resist looking at their beautiful pastries.

Sylvia was looking out for the popular pistachio cronut.  There were none when we arrived and then to her delight, one of the staff brought out a tray of freshly baked cronuts of her desire and laid them out in a neat row at the counter.  They looked so pretty.

There were so many gorgeous pastries and breads.  Laid out neatly in glistening colourful rows.  So many temptations.

To the side of the counter we could see the staff working in the bakery, preparing pastries and bringing tray after tray of fresh baked goods out of the oven.

We made purchases.  Sylvia got her pistachio cronut and a canale.  I was tempted by the chocolate matcha chocolate crookie (croissant with cookie dough stuffing and topping) and a brioche style roll with cheese.  Sadly I did not take the name of the cheese roll because it was very good.  But the pastries were for later. 

Some months ago, Sylvia had lunch with her dad at Le Bajo.  She loved her lunch and told me it was a warehouse with lots of plants.

For lunch she had eaten amazing teriyaki butter chips and a really nice mushroom sandwich.  The sandwich was a large crispy deep-fried portobello mushroom with sundried tomatoes and lots of salad leaves.  She also loved her iced lemon matcha drink.

 

We talked about going there for lunch and finally last week was our day for it.  The warehouse was unassuming at first glance.  Inside it was fun and welcoming.  

Le Bajo Milkbar takes part of its name from Labuan Bajo in Flores close to Komodo National Park in Indonesia.  Since starting in Melbourne, the owners have opened two restaurant bars-cum-stores in Bali and Lauan Bajo.  

The "Milkbar" part of the name is pure Aussie.  Before Sylvia's time, many of us grew up with the milkbar on the corners where we would regularly go for the newspaper, bread, milk, lollies and cheap takeaway meals such as meat pies and lemonade.  These days the traditional milkbars have all but disappeared, replaced by seven-elevens and supermarket.  But I notice a trend happening in recent openings of small milkbar cafes offering cheap fun retro meals and shelves of bepoke groceries.  It seems milkbars aren't gone, they are just continuing to transform!

Le Bajo Milkbar's "menu" on the above sign sounds like the sort of food you might have bought at a milkbar: coffee, milkshake, juice, soda, sando (sandwich), toast, pastry and cakes.  It is slightly fancier and slightly more pricey but still can be considered casual and cheap dining.  Although it seems to have an Indonesian connection, the food has a distinct Japanese influence.

We started lunch with drinks.  Sylvia had a flat white with soy.  I had a strawberry and mint house made soda .  Mine was excellent: fruity, not too sweet and served with a straw that was wide enough to accommodate the crushed berry texture of the drink.  Behind the drink in the photo you can see the retro second hand items such as a record player, mini piano, lamps and pictures that make a place homely and welcoming. 

Sylvia was sad that the mushroom sando is no longer on the menu but she was keen to share the Pirikara Eggplant Katsu Sando ($20) with me.  It was in the Limited Time Only section of the menu and consisted of soft eggplant with a crispy crunchy coating, home-made miso saucecrispy salad leaves and tomato and sesame seeds sandwiched together with fluffy Shokupan bread and served with crisps.  I found it gently spicy and incredibly messy.

We also had to get the Dirty fries that were tossed in miso mayonnaise.  A small serve was $7 and very filling.  I found the texture of the crispy chips lightly covered in sauce a bit odd and would have preferred the miso mayo in a dipping bowl but either way it was delicious. 

We were there on a Wednesdays because Sylvia was interested to try the chickpea curry ($22) that is on the menu on Wednesdays.  It was a huge plate of chickpeas in a Japanese curry sauce with a mound of rice and a garnish of pickled onions in the centre.  It was all so good but our eyes were bigger than our stomachs.  Sylvia was too full to try much curry.  I ended up taking home enough curry, rice and a piece of fried eggplant for dinner.

Before we went it was nice to wander about and admire the plants and groceries.  This display of loaves of Shokapan bread, made on the premises, was both amusing and bemusing.  Could we touch it?  We dared reach out a finger.  It was rock hard and stale.

We have our Publique sweet baking waiting for us in the car so we just admired desserts such as the pretty green melon pan and the fruit sandos that had lashing of cream between the bread and pieces of fresh fruit.  I would have loved to try the mushie pesto scroll or the yuzu scones.  Maybe another time.  we were also intrigued by the pear tea jam that was on sale. 

We really enjoyed Le Bajo Milkbar.  The staff were friendly and the ambience was welcoming.  The food was delicious and interesting at a reasonable price.

After Le Bajo, we got a free tram into the city to see the Joy Exhibition at the Immigration Museum.  It is many years since we had been to the exhibition and I was sad that the immigration journey on old sailing boats is no longer on display on the first floor.  However we were there for the Jo Exhibition on the second floor.  As we travelled up the life with its colourful view out the window, we were already cheered up by the bright colours.

The entrance into the exhibition was along a glitzy runway with lots of shiny colours and lights.  It is called Bring it to the runway, runway by Spencer Harrison.  There is nothing like a runway entrance to make us feel special.  And given that this exhibition was all about feeling good, this was a great way to start.

Next was In Search of the Simurgh by Elyas Alavi and Sher Ali.  The mural illustrate the Simurgh, a mythical Persian bird.  You can see this is a bird of many colours and fine feathers.

The Joy Generator by Nixi Killick,"future positive" fashion designer, had layers of lights, colour and textures that made me reach out curious fingers to investigate.

Video Land by Callum Preston was a colourful re-creation of a video store with rows of video titles that made me nostalgic for the excitement of the video store in its heyday before streaming took away that fun.

Inside the store was a payphone.  This hulking orange beast with the push buttons brought back memories of when these were the only option for phoning friends and family.  My guess is that this was there in case you had trouble with selecting a video and had to phone home for help in choosing.

More fun was around the corner in the Bunny Dearest room by Beci Orpin.  The stuffed rabbit was so huge that we could climb onto its belly and lie down.  We lay there fantasising about having this oversized rabbit at home.  I wished for space for it, and Sylvia was working out what furniture she needed to remove from her bedroom to fit the bunny in there!

After the exhibition we sat at the table to leave a note on what brought us joy.  The coloured pieces of paper with visitor's idea of joy were then added to a wall that was remniscent of a display of paint samples in a hardware shop.  It was great fun to read.

Sylvia drew a cute picture of Shadow and wrote: my joy is my cat.

I drew a birthday cake with a plant and bookshelves and wrote: joy is good food, a good book and good company.

Finally we headed back down to the ground floor to admire the colourful mural pieces called Que te puedo decir, así son las cosas by Nadia Hernández.

By then we were tired and ready to head home and eat our sweet pastries.  Sylvia was so happy with her pistachio cream cronut.  I found my crookie a bit dry upon first bite.  Once I heated it slightly in the mcrowave it was so much better, though not as good as it would have been if I had eaten it fresh from the oven.  However I also had my leftover curry for dinner which was an excellent way to end a fun day.

Publique Bakery QVM
18 Blender Lane
Off Therry Street
Queen Victoria Market
Melbourne 3000
Open: 7.30am-4pm daily
www.publiquebakery.com

Le Bajo Milkbar
8-14 Howard Street
North Melbourne
Open: M-F: 10am-3pm, Sat & Sun: 9.30a,-3.30pm
lebajo.com.au

Joy Exhibition
Immigration Museum
400 Flinders Street
Melbourne CBD 3000
Open: 10am-5pm daily
The exhibition runs until 29 August 2025
museumsvictoria.com.au/immigrationmuseum