Thursday 3 November 2011

A foodie tip for Australia

A couple of years ago I had a fabulous holiday to Australia. I spent 3 glorious weeks travelling around, from Perth to Sydney, Brisbane, The Great Barrier Reef, Melbourne and then back to Perth.

Obviously when I think about that holiday the first things that come to mind are the sun, the long journeys between cities and the fantastic, friendly people I met.

But the other big thing that I loved in Australia and really wish I could import to the UK was a chain of shops called MYO.



MYO stands for Make Your Own and the chain was developed to allow customers to walk in off the street and build their own lunch.

No sitting around waiting for counter staff to build you a sandwich - oh no! Get in there and do it yourself!

The shops offered healthy breakfasts and lunches, with toast, bread for sandwiches, salads, juices, smoothies, fruit....in fact anything you would want for a healthy breakfast or lunch.

If, like me, you are veggie, or you just don't like some of the usual items included in salads, this is the type of shop for you. Just select from a variety of sizes of container - and fill it up with the things you want.

All the meat eaters out there are also catered for. The stores are not strictly veggie and they do offer sliced meats too.

I used the MYO stores in Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth - but strangely not in Sydney. For some reason the shops haven't reached that major city yet!





The pictures above don't show the MYO stores they are just a good excuse to share some of my holiday photos of (from the top down)  Melbourne, Perth & Brisbane. Fantastic places that I would love to go back to at the first possible opportunity.

The MYO stores are just beginning to creep into the UK. There are two franchises in Glasgow, and I personally can't wait for them to find their way into England!

I think the MYO stores are one of the best kept foodie secrets in Australia. So my tip for anyone travelling there is to check out the MYO website, find out whether there is one near you, then get in there and Make Your Own!

If, like me, you love to travel and to share your travel tips you might like to check out the fantastic competition currently being hosted on http://www.travelizer.co.uk/

Oliver at travelizer is looking for your favourite locations, unmissable places, off the beaten track discoveries, unique moments, strange encounters or must try local dishes.

Share your travel tips and you could win a fabulous weekend to any European city.