30 December 2012 - more food, or so we though
I am not really a fan of all things "Crown" but I had wanted to try Spice Temple for some time. Granted I had heard some mixed reviews. We met James and Stuart there after a relaxing walk in the sun. The restaurant is quite dark but we had a nice table by the window. This is where the positives firmly end.....it was very quickly explained to us all of the items which were NOT available on the menu. This included a number of their signature dishes. OK, I can accept you run out of some items. So we ordered some things to be then be told that more items had run out. This was getting annoying so we spoke to a manager who did not apologise but kept saying that because of the public holidays they could not get items delivered. This was a Sunday and the Thursday and Friday were not a holiday! We then got told that they were also open for lunch which meant they ran out of items. I had had enough by this stage and indicated that they needed to find us somewhere else to eat. They found us a table at Rosetta (another Neil Perry restaurant and we ended up having a great night). I think they need to change the restaurant name to Space Temple for all the room they have on their menu - it was a disgrace.
31 December 2012 - NYE
S was thrilled that we had no commitments all day which meant a lovely sleep in (we ended up having breakfast only once for the six days in Melbourne) and some time to wander through downtown Melbourne. Had a lovely bite to eat at Caffe e Trattoria and bought some DVDs, had a walk in the park, tried not to get sun burnt etc, etc.
Little rest back at the hotel and then it was off to the New Year's Eve festivities at Fenix Restaurant (owned by Gary Meaghan of MasterChef fame although I doubt he is ever at the restaurant anymore!). The wonderful Michelle and Craig picked us up from the hotel and we got to the restaurant well in time to secure a great table spot. You know, be the centre but not quite the centre.
It was a tasting menu and the food was pretty good, some ups and downs and not sure two desserts were needed. We had a great waiter looking after us which helped a lot. The drinks flowed nicely and then, oddly, as the witching hour approached, a decision was made to leave the restaurant. As this was not really my group of friends I could not protest too much. So we jumped in a cab and drove to a bar.....................which was closed! So we found somewhere else open (The Boozy Rouge) and had midnight on the street. Not terrible but not great.
1 January 2013 - a fuzzy start
Isn't it always the way that it doesn't seem like you had much to drink until you slow down or lie down? Well, we both were suffering from a little malaise this morning. Urghhh!
We were meeting my Melbourne breakfast boys for a little picnic in the park and needed to feel more sprightly than when we first woke up. Also needed to forage for food for said picnic. The only option was to let my fingers do the walking and I ordered two club sandwiches to go. I have to say that the Fitzroy Gardens are a lovely spot and perfect for a few butch boys to get together for a picnic. We were joined by Mark, Stephen, Malcolm (and friend), Stuart (and Frank), Dale, David and Lindsay for a blanket luncheon. Spent time gossipping, catching up, braiding hair, painting each others nails, just the usual.
S and I headed back to the hotel to inspect the pool to discover that it was overflowing with holiday revellers...so we scurried back to the sanctuary of our room to debate our dinner options. Int he end we thought let's give the the hotel restaurant a go....our advice now is, DON'T. It is overpriced, soulless and scant on choice. That could be their tag line! So we went for a wander and discovered not much was open, even in cosmopolitan Melbourne. We ended up at the Grand Hyatt which was better.
2 January 2013 - Neigh!!!!
Another day, another missed breakfast as they say in the classics. We managed to surface well in time to walk to the State Theatre where we had tickets to War Horse on Ice, just kidding, it was plain old War Horse. I had seen the show in London (name dropper) and loved it and thought S would too. We ended up with seats in the heavens but still a central view. The puppetry is still incredible and I still highly recommend it. Go on, do yourself a favour!
My wonderful friend Kate, always at the forefront of what is new and hip, had organised a dinner at Moon Under Water at the Builder's Arms Hotel - phwoar - tradies maybe? In fact it is a very elegant restaurant which is decked out in the latest style - all white. We were also joined by a former flatmate and friend Louise. There is no menu just a daily degustation. The food was excellent and they also had a great wine list. Highly recommended and bookings a must.
For us it was also walking distance which meant the pleasures of Fitzroy Gardens. As many of you may know, it comes alive at night with bats and possums. I reckon the possums are pretty cool and they were surprisingly tame and curious.........see below for the German version of Steve Irwin....
3 January 2013 - Food and Friends - the continuing story
We threw caution to the wind once more and skipped breakfast and headed straight to Mess Hall on Bourke St for a light lunch with David and Graham. More gossip and airline geek chat followed by a coffee in the Greek part of town, I know that doesn't narrow it down all that much.
We had a few hours to digest lunch before we wandered into the city to meet Praveen and Adam (former work colleagues) for an Asian food bonanza. Again was great to see them and to meet Adam's wife. Last time we saw Praveen was in India where he could not stop dancing!
4 January 2013 - meal reprieve until dinner!
I have a feeling, but my memory is a big foggy that we may have even made it down to breakfast. Really not sure though. I do remember, if we were there that it was a little chaotic.
I am going to stick with my fog analogy until dinner which is super clear! It was off in one of Melbourne's yellow taxi's to Flemington and a dinner with Mark and Stephan. Always a super duper time with wine, laughs and yummy food thrown in.
5 January 2013 - the end is nigh
Well, that is the end of another down under adventure of the mostly culinary kind. Today is our flying day. This means some packing and stuffing around.
Car picked us up and whisked us to Tullamarine. We had been trying to change our flight to the non-stop A380 service but the cost was too much. Our flight was going via SIN to DXB. So we thought we would ask at check-in. Still a world of no as we were told First Class was full. Oh well, it was worth a shot. Never one to give up, we tried again at the lounge and lo and behold it was possible, including moving our checked in baggage across. S and I both did not believe the lass at check-in and were proved correct - it is so good to be right! We did reward the lounge lass with a bottle of champagne as a thank you.
That did mean an extra three hours in the lounge. There are worse places to be! Flights home were pretty good and managed to get a good night's sleep on the 14 hour flight to DXB as well as eating and drinking our fill!! A380 is good fun and S liked the showers on board.
We ended up with a very tight connection time in DUS to make our Air Berlin flight. The Emirates station manager was waiting at the door with our onward boarding passes - now that is service. We made it with a few minutes to spare even with a very thorough liquids check at security.
What another fantastic journey. It was so wonderful to see and break bread with everyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment