After another day at the Fitzroy pool, my new friend Kieran, a fellow swimmer, took me to the Abbotsford Convent, on the Yarra river, just a bit west of the centre of Melbourne.

During the 19th and part of the 20th century, it was one of the largest convents in Victoria. Today, it is a cultural center, hosting art, community, educational and cultural events and institutions, live music performances, a gallery, a theater, markets, a bakery, bar and café as well as an organic pay-as-you-feel restaurant.

That restaurant, called Lentil as anything, was our target: a yummy self service buffet that offered Mediterranean salads, chickpea salad, herbal rice, coconut dahl…

It’s all organic, vegetarian and vegan. Plus a yummy sponge cake. We have to go back for the cheese cake though. When you leave, you pay as much as you like and can.

It’s a not-for-profit organisation that relies solely on the generosity of patrons, partners and volunteers. The atmosphere was beautiful, a girl sang on her guitar, most visitors took their plates out onto the grass in front of the convent.

The convent also hosts an outdoor cinema, showing various moves at sundown, from classics to recent cinema blockbusters. I earmarked a couple of movies already….