editor’s note

Note.1

Dear Friend.

How are you? Welcome to the first issue and possibly the only issue of Realise Mag. That is unless I one day have another Media ¾ assessment to do. I joke. Maybe one day I will continue this jour-ney, maybe. Well, I am Danny Hou, the owner, founder and producer of this magazine. I currently dwell in Melbourne, Australia as a student in Year 12. This is a one man project, so it’s very fun that is because I can do the things that I want to do, without having to please anyone else. (apart from I guess VCAA and Ms Moore)

The idea of this magazine originated from a production I was working on in 2015 called Infusion magazine. Infusion magazine showcased some of Melbourne’s top cafes. Whilst working on that project and brainstorming ideas to which cafes I would showcase. I realised that there were many other things to Melbourne that I wanted to show my audience. This magazine could go beyond just Melbourne though. Really depends, if I can be bothered or not. Since this is a one man project I don’t really have anyone up my butt demanding me to do something. Sorry guys. I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank some of the people who made this magazine possible. Miss Helena Moore, thank you for your ongoing support throughout this project. Mr Jason Portelli, for calling people up because of my incompetence to talk to strangers. My friends and family, thank you so much!

So friend, I hope you enjoy this magazine.

Thank you

Danny Hou | Founder, Editor, Producer

ambience

inspiration

food for thought

photo essay

Living in: Melbourne

contents

Ambience is by definition “the character and atmosphere of a place”. Once you walk into the State Library of Victoria you immediately notice a character and atmosphere that ra-diates from every fascinating nook and vibrant quadrant. You’ll have to take my word for it when I say that, in each and every room your experience will be completely different. As a high school student, I visit the State Library quite often. The ambience of this place is defiantly a highlight that I never tire of. The library situated in the centre of the CBD, standing proudly on the corner of Swanston and LaTrobe streets holds over 2 million books and 16,000 serials, including the diaries of the city’s founders - John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner – as well as the folios of Captain James Cook, R.N. It also houses the original armour of one of Victoria’s most notorious criminals Ned Kelly. Every step you take in the Library is pleasing to the eye and remedial to the mind. Within the State Library the drawcard for tourists and regular visitors alike is the Domed Reading Room. Opened in 1913 and designed by Norman G. Peebles, its octagonal space was designed to hold over a million books and up to 600 readers. Standing at 34.75m in both diameter and height, the dome is punctuated by an impressive oculus, nearly 5m wide. The dome was the largest of its type in the world on completion. If the Domed Reading Room’s antique furniture and natural lighting isn’t really your thing, you can always hang out in the Redmond Barry reading room where you can enjoy your peace of mind on comfortable chairs. If you are a hard-core chess fan, the Library also offers a whole room dedicated to the game. Here you can put your mind to the test against people ranging from beginner to expert.

As you wander around the rooms and halls of the State Library, something that often stands out is the amount of people taking out their cameras and posing for that one shot, before dashing back out on to the busy Swanston Street. Don’t get me wrong, the place is beau-tiful, the place is actually stunning; worthy of every shot. But, these flash and dash sight-seers are missing out on the true State Library of Victoria. Sure your shot is amazing but, you didn’t exactly get to experience the place, you didn’t actually get to be in the place. Nowadays, we are always trying to get that perfect shot to post on Instagram, rack up the likes. But with this historic icon, I urge you to take your hands away from your phone for a minute. Sometimes we get so caught up in our ‘holiday’ that we actually forget to holiday. The seven AM wake ups, the bossy tour guides and endless shopping tours. Sometimes, we get so caught up in this busy “I can’t waste a minute” mindset that we eventually forget to enjoy our surroundings. In the great city of Melbourne, the State Library is a great location to break from your normal day to day routine and relax into a carefree, stress free zone that we may not necessarily be able to enjoy every other day. Perhaps your visit to Victoria’s State Library will entail just sitting down at one of the innumerable desks to write; perhaps it is a chance to begin that online blog or that novel that you had been long putting off. Perhaps this is the time and place to just stay seated, let the ambience take you to a new dimension, just day dream and leave the frantic sightseeing to another day.

market lanean interview with nick dimitrievitch

Market Lane is a specialty coffee roastery, cafe and retailer, born and based in Melbourne. Market Lane is dedicated to high quality coffee; wanting to make good coffee accessible and exciting, simple to understand and appreciating. Realise spoke to Nick a coffee roaster working for Market Lane, about how Melbourne has shaped coffee.

Realise: Were you born and raised in Melbourne/Why Melbourne?

Nick: I was born in San Francisco, but raised in Canberra. My family moved to Melbourne 10 years ago. Initially I found it difficult to adjust to the change, with moving schools and all but I have grown to enjoy what Melbourne has to offer. It’s a fairly laid back city, and almost everyone here is crazy about coffee.

Realise: How did you start out?

Nick: I started out working in a local cafe just selling retail coffee as a part-time job while studying at university. I developed an obsession with coffee and wanted to know more. I spent a few years working as a barista but slowly became more interested in coffee roasting. While working at Market Lane, a job opened up for a coffee roaster position so I applied straight away even though I had zero experience with roasting. I have now been roasting for 2 years.

Realise: Can you tell us what you are working on right now/What do you get most excited about? Nick: Right now we have just received a shipment of fresh Guatemalan and El Salvador coffees. As coffee is a seasonal product we don’t use the same coffees all year round, so it is exciting to taste what has changed from previous years. We also introduced a new origin to our menu - Colombia. We have never had Colombian coffee before in Market Lane, so it was new territory for us in terms of roasting and flavour profiles. It was so well received here that we’ll be bringing it back next year.

Realise: Why is Melbourne considered the ‘coffee capital’?

Nick: I believe it’s because we’ve had espresso here for so long. There was a large influx of Italian migrants back in the 50s, and with them came their espresso cul-ture. It’s been a big part of Melbourne ever since, and every year it seems to grow.

Realise: What’s the hardest thing you do?

Nick: I’d have to say moving green coffee bags around! We get frequent deliveries from our warehouse, and we have to manually stack them in our shop. They can weigh up to 70kg each, and we usually have 3-4 tonne delivered at a time.

Realise: What’s your motto in life?

Nick: I don’t really have a motto, but I guess our own Market Lane motto pretty much de-scribes me and pretty much my life and career as a roaster. That “we love to make coffee for the city that loves to drink it”, I’m pretty sure that’s what is the motto of my life at this cur-rent moment in time.

Realise: Where can we see your work?

Nick: I’m usually at the Prahran Market Lane where we roast the coffee we know and love. But Market Lane is everywhere. We have a five locations across Melbourne which allows everyone to enjoy our coffee.

Realise: Could you describe in three words what its like working at Market Lane?

Nick: Fun, Challenging and Cool.

Realise: Interesting, could you please explain why you have selected those three?

Nick: Haha, well It’s fun everyday work-ing with such a diverse and interesting team. Everyone has a really good sense of humour

and its really just such a diverse range of peo-ple. We get people coming from all over the world here for one common reason. And to explore the world of coffee with these people, that is what makes it so fun

Working at Market Lane is quite challenging, challening in a good way though, it feels like a quest every day when working here, I’m roast-ing some of the best coffees this world has to offer with hundreds of palates assesing it.

Cool, well isnt that quite self explanatory? Haha, its cool cause we are Market Lane of course

Realise: In terms of what you are working on right now, what gets you most excited?

Nick: Right now we have just received a shipment of fresh Guatemalan and El Salva-dor coffees. As coffee is a seasonal product we don’t use the same coffees all year round, so it is exciting to taste what has changed from pre-vious years. We also introduced a new origin to our menu - Colombia. We have never had Colombian coffee before in Market Lane, so it was new territory for us in terms of roasting and flavour profiles. It was so well received here that we’ll be bringing it back next year.

Realise: Thank you so much for taking the time to answer these question

Nick: It’s my pleasure, thank you

brunchfood for thought

a collection of Melbourne’s essentials

-operator 25- -operator 25-

-mammoth cafe- -mammoth cafe-

Every Sunday Morning something magical occurs in Melbourne.. In these few magical hours when many are still recovering from the previous night we head out for Sunday brunch. We as Melbournian’s take pride in the breakfast options we have available and its suits us to say we serve the best coffee here too. Smashed avocado, Eggs benedict, Baked Beans on toast - these dishes are not only staple menu items, but so intricately bordering on fine dining cuisine it’s insane. Born and raised in Melbourne I must say it is always a struggle finding which laneway that super hipster hidden cafe.

On this Sunday morning, I find myself in the ever so welcoming Operator 25.The trendy hideout is one of the more easy to find cafes. The exposed brick and hanging wires is a subtle reminder of heritage listed building the café resides in. It was the home of Melbourne’s first telephone exchange company. The modern and simple furniture, fresh flowers and aromatics of freshly ground coffee beans set as cosy ambience in the sleek industrial setting.

The menu offers not only the staples to Melbourne brunch but also a range of different options; dishes such as the Japanese Omelette or the BBQ Pork Benedict. This is what I call the true essence of Melbourne cafes. Melbourne is a very culturally diverse city with people from all over the world. This allows the creation of what we call fusion food. It’s interesting seeing the way two cuisines can come together and form an entirely new sen-sation for our palettes.The coffee here is sourced from Melbourne based coffee roasters, Code Black Coffee and Small Batch Coffee, which both had entries into the 2016 World Barista Championship and World Brewers Cup.

Mammoth offers something different. Where Operator25 is all about being cool with the dark atmosphere and hipster vibe, Mammoth is about being cute, elegant and pretty. Mammoth is packed out quite quickly particularly on weekends. The trick is to get in early to avoid lengthy waiting times. Tucked into a stand-out, albeit awkward, triangular building on the corner of Malvern Road and Beatty Avenue, Mammoth delivers a surpris-ing and totally creative menu.

The Breakfast Ramen with smoked bacon and mushroom broth, ramen noodles, 62O egg, kaiserfleisch, fermented chilli oil is not something that you see on every breakfast café menu. Emma Jeffrey (former chef from Hammer and Tong) created a menu with original-ity and wholesome, complementing the cute ambience in the café. The café is bright and airy, decorated with blue steel and splashes of cute and bright pink serves a perfect little juxtaposition. Mammoth sources coffee from another Melbourne based coffee roasting company. 5 senses coffee situated in North Melbourne. Yes, we love our coffee.

-mammoth cafe-

the food trucks phenomena

food for thought

Over the past year a new trend has made its way into Melbourne - the phenomena of the food truck. These brightly coloured renovated caravans may appear tiny, but they often serve thousands of customers a day. These days food trucks come in all shapes and sizes serving a huge variety of quality cuisine – Louisiana po’ boys, Cantonese dim sum and Wagyu beef burgers – as well as specialty coffees our city famously obsesses over. Gone are the deep-fried fast-food options of yesteryear. These food trucks are thing in Melbourne now. What is so interesting about food trucks you may ask? What draws us to this idea… To this little caravan… To this food?Mr Burger which regularly situates itself in the Melbourne CBD and surrounding suburbs, offers just three different burgers, fries, drink; all in one little space. The ability to serve a simple menu and do it damn well, is a primary reason for why food trucks are making a killing. Let’s call this the Ray Allen principle in honour of the famed three point shooter. When you can be a master of one, you do not need to be a jack of all.

In terms of my experience with Mr Burger’s cusine – a party in a box is how I would describe it! The chips were really well cooked – you could tell they were freshly made to order and hadn’t been sitting in a fryer for ages as they were super crispy on the outside but fluffy on the inside. The burger, the burger served with a brioche bun, American cheese and a well-cooked Pattie. The food truck is such an interesting concept. A small caravan with one or two workers and the ability to serve quality foods for hundreds if not thousands of customers every day. The next time you are contemplating what ‘fast food’ you will seek out, navigate your way passed the commercial mega franchises and think of the classic food truck instead.

photo essayst kilda beach

Photos : Danny Hou

living in melbourne

It takes a certain something to live in Melbourne. It takes a certain something indeed. I’m not saying you have to be a workaholic or be super serious. As a matter of fact that’s the complete opposite to what you have to be. Melbourne is a city that lives on throughout the night, keep that in mind. Once work is done for the day, the night life, the weekend life, the life outside of work comes alive. That is Melbourne. So what’s it like living in Melbourne? “The most liveable city in the world”. The city that has topped that list for three consecutive years. Melbourne isn’t a city known for its fashion or the place where dreams come true. In fact, most of us here live the suburban lifestyle. According to Melbourne’s Lord Mayor – Robert Doyle – it is the city’s “diversity on offer” which sets it apart “In Melbourne it’s not about what you see, it’s about what you do. On any given day you can enjoy such a wide range of different experiences and tailor an itinerary that caters for your unique tastes.” As a Melbournian born and bred, I only realised the great fortune in living here when I left for Adelaide to visit some family for a week. I wanted a full day into my trip before I began to miss Melbourne. Melbourne is both laid back and adven-turous. Melbourne is passionate, romantic, fun. Melbourne is cute, funny, beautiful, sweet, bitter. Melbourne is Melbourne, and I cannot to express enough the joy I receive from living here.We get to experience the regular drinking of third wave coffee and the “craftsmanship hipster vibe” that is incorporated in the city. On the streets we often see people holding that Fujifilm film cam-era or that guy sitting on the park bench with the suede shoes, rolled up pants and denim shirt. It inspires me to wear something more out of the ordinary, take out my DSLR go out into the city and actually use it on something, anything really.

Melbourne to me is kind of like my ideal romantic and passionate girlfriend. The late night or-chestra at the MSO or the exhibition at the NGV. Here we get a really interesting nightlife, we get to hang out at Southbank after work or go to hidden bars to meet new people. Unlike our neighbouriung Adelaide at 8PM, Melbournians are only beginning their nights; ready for the adventure the city holds just waiting to be discovered. When you can walk around Melbourne, you can check out the juxtaposition of old and new. With a reputation as a city of no charac-terising architectural style, Melbourne is rather an accumulation of buildings dating from the early European settlement of Australia. On any street, around any corner, you will be wowed by the architecture this city holds. Melbourne’s weather is interesting to say the least. Everyone knows that in Melbourne you can you experience all four seasons in one day. And that is entirely true. Sometimes you can step into a building full of sunshine and by the time you walk out, it’s pouring rain. Whilst for some visitors to this great city [namely Sydney-siders] our weather is a deterrant, for me it is simply another aspect of the beauty and cosmopolitan city that is my home town. New York is the city that never sleeps. Paris is the city of love. For me and millions of my fellow Melbournians, this city is the place to be.