Buzzy--Bee

Well at least we have great quality food shopping and things to do apart from go to and from work and nothing else

BB

BadgeIsBack

You can't beat the best of British countryside but I still find it amazing how cramped and dirty many places are: (I sometimes think parts of Melbourne look grim): the simple fact is that not everyone lives in a Grade 1 listed building and visits a National Trust property at the weekend...

verystormy

I will add my comments then on my trip back.

Houses seemed small. But, didn't feel "plastic" - I can never look at a WA house with a tin roof and not think it isn't just a shed.

Beer I found, compared to WA prices cheap and good to finally be able to drink a decent beer.

Roads were slightly busier than Perth, and repair a bit shabby. Also seemed narrow

Driving a million times better than WA - I still refuse to believe there is a actual driving test here.

Eating out blew Oz out of the water - a dozen restaurants and any of them would have been better than what are supposed to be Australia's best restaurants and at prices less than I pay for a pretty ordinary meal in Perth. (I have eaten in most of what are regarded as the best of Australia's restaurants)

People complained about the weather too much, which was funny as in two weeks it was great weather for 10 days and cloudy for 2 and rain for 2. But everyone commented on how terrible the weather was.

Shopping was a LOT cheaper for same quality - went to Tesco a couple of times which was massively cheaper. Went to M&S once which didn't seem as good as I remembered and Waitrose once which was fantastic, though prices on a par or even more expensive than Oz. Though quality better.

DC10

Took the train down to Geelong for work recently and as I walked out of the station precinct (on a drizzly, grey morning) was thinking how grimy and unattractive it was and yet how eerily similar to so many post-WWII town centres in Britain. Only difference is that the Luftwaffe never made it to Geelong...

Beoz

You really must stop confusing Perth with Australia ..... or Oz

DC10

In my experience they still have a lot to learn about service, even in Melbourne. A lot of the little details of excellent service are missing: offering a taste of the wine before pouring, understanding that people like to have their meals served at the same time, that an empty glass (esp. water) should be noticed and topped up, checking during the meal that it is to your satisfaction (ok, some of the British places go OTT with that).

Been to many good Michelin starred restaurants in Aus lately? No, because there are none!

Kim67

I've been poured a wine taster at nearly every nice restaurant I've ever been to - but after dropping the pretentiousness that youth can sometimes bring - I've always asked the waiter to just pour the full glass. If I order wine I usually know what I want and if it's tainted, well, it all goes down the same way hey.

Beoz

Do Michelin actually include Australia in their judging criteria? I think not.

Michelin guide star system and FAQs

To be honest, I eat at good restaurants in Sydney and London all the time. For mine you pay for what you get in both. 15-20 years ago Sydney trounced London for good restaurants, but since then London has certainly lifted its game. I can't really find much difference between the 2 now. If you pay well everything is pretty good.

I can't comment about the restaurants you have in Gippsland. Never been there.

Amazulu

Service is, overall, shit in both countries

I've just spent a week in Singapore - Asia can teach us so much about service

astera

Restaurants in Australia are generally terrible. And surprisingly it's Asian food that is the biggest let-down. Overall out of all the restaurants I've tried I would only return to about 15% of them. In fact once you find a handful of good ones you simply don't want to try out any new places since the chances of them being decent are so slim.

As far as the weather is concerned, it's a local thing there to moan and complain. In fact out of all European nations we are probably 'whinge central'. Heck, I'm pretty sure we are in contention for the podium in the global ranking as well...

astera

You mean just in restaurants or overall?

Amazulu

Overall

astera

In the restaurants I would agree, but overall Singapore doesn't rank too well in the service column when it comes to retail shopping.

Staff are often annoying and keep pestering you as browse stuff in-store, and after-sales support is some of the worst ever. Never buy expensive stuff like watches in Singapore, only buy stuff where you don't care about warranties, etc. This is a SELL, SELL, SELL culture and nobody cares about anything that happens later.

Amazulu

Cool. I didn't do much shopping but service in restaurants, bars, tourist attractions and when using uber was superb

Service in the UK and Australia is, in the main, pretty average. On my recent trip to the UK I went to M&S to get a suit for the wedding and the ladies that helped me were superb but going to the Tesco near my hotel in Liverpool was like dealing with the walking dead. Went to a very nice Italian in the city and service was very good. On the other hand, the service on a visit to a 'highly recommended' gastro pub was pathetic - ages to get served, meals not brought out at the same time, had to keep asking for water etc. Prices were high too. Buying a mobile wasn't fun either - young staff who didn't give a shit and struggled to understand their products. This was at an EE store

Agree that service in Australia is pretty average but it is in the UK too, so it makes me laugh when posters on here try and make it out to be better

Beoz

Everyone should work for commission. It discourages mediocrity. Of course the lefties wouldn't like that.