The Running Man

Fri night

Went to watch my AFL team...the West Coast Eagles v Essendon Bombers. Along the way had supposedly (according to Lil) the best chips in Melbourne..."Lord of the Fries" (now I can hear Mich groan about this haha...) but its quite decent (probably due to the fries uniqueness and the different sauces that came with it) :) and not bad...Now unlike my previous posts...this time, the Eagles lost by 1 point :( so sad...especially since I went with 8 friends whom were mostly all Essendon supporters and really gave me s#it after the game (see the pure arrogance of Ess supporters haha). Other than that to watch footie in Victoria is always an enjoyable experience as Victorians are much more passionate than Sydney supporters :P. Lord of the Fries Perfect for a cold Melb night!

Oh well...the result didn't go my way, but at least it was a good night and we all had fun, and after the game we then went to one of the clubs in Melbourne (music was good, plenty of Asian chixs around, atmosphere was nice) unfortunately, Lil and myself weren't dressed for clubbing (we were in our Eagles jerseys) and we had to give it a miss after a drink or too :P. We went back to our serviced apartment at Southbank for instant noodles + canned steak and mushrooms (delicious considering the cold cold cold weather)

The Crowd

Saturday
This was the day when we were supposed to pick up Alicia from the airport (she flew a day later than us) and go shopping. However, due to the all-powerful ceramic gods...Lish missed her flight because she 'drank' too much the night/morning before :P (suspect that her drink may have been spiked as she is usually a good drinker :P..gotta becareful especially if you are female) (Does that bring back memories Mich?? :P haha is it me? but that is 2 trips in a row now when another party has missed their flight :P). So she had to purchase another flight to Melb since the missed flight was non-refundable :( now that is dedication! Having woken up especially early (hard considering the night before) to fetch Lish from the airport, we both went back for a quick nap. Later that morning we caught up with Cindy at a nice breakfast place in Fitzroy, called Madam Sousou...this place's decor was distinctively French. Quite nice and relaxed, and can definitely see all the 'beautiful' Melbourne people around haha... Corn Fritter Sausage Omellete 3 of Us Decor of Mdm SouSou

Chillin... Looking forward...

After breakfast, we went to the airport to pick up Lish, it was about 1pm then so the day was passing by very quickly. My original plan was to pick up Lish at the airport in the morning, then go the the city for our only day of concentrated shopping, however due to the missed flight, we had to settle for a concentrated couple of hours of Melbourne shopping (shops closed at 5pm). Shopping was sooo good :P sigh, bought a pair of Ben Sherman jeans (picked out by Lil...good spotting/taste Lil!) @ 40% sale discount!!! bargain! fits well and looks casual hehe...with winter coming will definitely be wearing more jeans :P. Lil didn't get anything as she was accompanying me whilst Lish went and hit $500 + worth of shopping in an hour!!! Amazing! that girl can really shop..haha. And of course what shopping in Melbourne is not complete without a stop-over at the famous Koko Black...for a dark hot chocolate (believe me, it really helps with the cold cold Melbourne weather)...ohh....so deliciously rich...melted chocolate (not powder!)...puts all the other 'hot chocolates' to shame really :P.

At KB, Lish bought about $130+ worth of chocolates! luckily they were for friends back in Sydney...yes they are that good!

Poor DQ :P Us outside KB Yummm.. KB Hot Chocolate

Tired and hungry we headed back and picked up Mich and Leo and headed for our 10 course Lebanese fine dining @ Ablas! (chosen by Leo...well done!) The food was ok and it was an interesting experience to have experienced the full Lebanese culture and I have never eaten sooo much lamb before (we must have eaten at least an entire lamb that night...seriously.). Price was pretty reasonable too...$45 for the 10 courses - but it felt sooo much more and the servings were huge (warning: should only attempt this if you have big eaters or have a very strong craving for lamb..haha). Please refer to slide show below for more pictures of Ablas and the rest of the trip...

After a very full dinner, Mich went back to pack for her bro's arrival and the rest of us went to Wally's apartment to pick-up the rest of the guys for a night of clubbing! Yes finally get to experience the Melbourne clubbing experience of which I have heard much about :) Went to a Club called the Boulevard. There were tons of people (mostly Asian I saw), and they were all looking cool and pretty (so we fitted in perfectly ;_ haha). Leo booked a table and a bottle of (cheap) vodka...danced (with Lil of course :P) and drank some-more :). We ended the night at about 3am, got back and had instant noodles *delicious*...slept at 4...A fun night!

Cold!!! Brave Girls..

We woke up (with a slight headache for myself :P) pretty early that morning, had McD breafast and went to meet Mich and her bro and friend for the road trip up Mornington Peninsula. We stopped by a place called the Church (literally this use to be a church) for lunch and then went to a vineyard for tasting :P (Mornington has numerous wineyards in the region much like Hunter Valley :P). However, after one wineyard, the gals decided to head back to Melbourne city for more shopping (and Lil to get some flat shoes for the partying tonight :P - a priority).
Again we found ourselves in Melbourne city again, this time with about an hour worth of concentrated shoppint, the gals went their own ways (to find their girly things :P) and I went my own way to find my own things :P (I wasn't successful as really nothing caught my eye :P). Despite the limited time, the gals still managed to buy stuff! amazing...it was pretty much see and buy (and Lil did manage to get her shoes). We even had time to have a sit-down hot chocolate/ice-coffee/chocolate affocato @ Koko Black!!! yeah couldn't resist it :P. We went home and had time for a quick 1 hour rest before going out to meet Leo and Wally for dinner and clubbing/bar-hopping.

For dinner we went to eat at Mirkas @ Tolano Hotel in St Kilda. Now this use to be owned by a 'famous' Aussie TV chef (like Jamie Oliver) however, he lost the resturant due to some legal dispute (thats when we lawyers come in! haha). Anyway a picture speaks a thousand words, and the food was absolutely delicious! (watch for reviews on the d0ublecooked blog soon! - Leo). I had the Ox Fillet with chips (not Ox tail, but an entire chucky Ox fillet...never had it before and it was a little different to beef and more tender...yumm!). We ordered Oysters, Mains, Desert, a bottle of red wine, and Coffee and each only paid about $70 pp...good value considering its a Melb fine-dining resturant and we had wine :) Oysters Ox Fillet with Fries Pork Cutlet ChateauBriand

Later that night, we picked up Yiken and went to explore the Melbourne alleyways...or more specifically the 'hidden' bars (this is also something that Melb is famous for) am so glad we went with Melb locals otherwise would never have found the place and stuck to the mainstream (sucky) local places. We went to 2 bars (since it was a sunday night and most bars would have been closed) Essentially these places didn't let me down...exactly as I imagined, hidden away, with comfy chill out chairs and sofas, a wide assortment of alcohol and capable bar staff, good/unique decor, good chillin music at a good volume, plenty of beautiful people (which the boys seem to know personally...this is Melb after all and I suppose the bar scene is pretty small :P). Let the pictures tell the story...

Enter a door in an alleyway..