The Vulpine at The Empress

Last night was the final installment of The Vulpine's 'A Month of Mondays' residency at The Empress Hotel in Fitzroy North. Everyone (by everyone I mean our group of friends!) turned up to show their support and to catch up over a few drinks, some good bar food and some rockin' music. If you're wondering why I'm spruiking this gig hardcore, it's because my boyfriend's the lead singer in the band :)

We turned up early so the band could begin setting up for the night. Monday is $10 Burger Day at The Empress, and not only are they yummy, they're also such good value (they're usually $17). However, I didn't really feel like a burger last night, so went with the roast veggie risotto instead ($12).

The burger comes with a beef, chicken or veggie pattie, sandwiched between layers of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, sweet onion, cheese, and tomato chutney, together with some chunky chips on the side. Here is Jam's half-eaten chicken burger:

And here's my roast veggie risotto. It was good but just a little too salty for me. I also found myself biting into not-quite-cooked arborio rice - am assuming that it wasn't quite cooked as it was still a bit crunchy. It was a bit massive though...I couldn't finish it :P

The Vulpine was supported by Josh Levy and his brother Jake. Josh works with Sarah, who plays keyboard in The Vulpine. He is seriously talented, and has some pretty amazing tunes. I like how his songs are based on various moments in his life, and he is a good storyteller.

Josh and Jake (insert witty description here - I'm braindead)

The Vulpine rocked it as usual - no, I'm NOT saying that because my boyfriend's in it - and wrapped up their residency with an awesome set. This despite Jam being sick last week AND hurting his neck yesterday! He was sitting down for the whole thing, and I think he rather liked it! :D

The Vulpine rockin' out

Nothing like good music (and rainbows!) to start off the week, now I'm really really excited for Ben Folds at The Palais on Thursday!


Where things are:
The Empress Hotel
714 Nicholson Street, Fitzroy North
t: +61 3 9489 8605

How to feel better on a Monday

Nothing like a rainbow to make crappy Mondays just that little bit better!

A weekend in the city Part 2 - of coffees and juice

After a fantastic night of dining at Abla's, and a rather sleepless one in our little serviced apartment on Bank Place, the two of us were up bright and early the next morning (i.e. today! Sunday!). A lukewarm shower (yeeuuggh), a hot cup of tea (at least we got that one right), and we were out in the chilly Melbourne air by 10am or so, after checking out of the hotel and leaving our bags there to pick up later.

First thing on my mind: COFFEE!!! Need. Coffee. Now. And breakfast, although that came a pale second to the coffee. We wandered off in the direction of Degraves Street (via Centre Place), which, as many of you would know, is one of Melbourne's many (famous) laneways containing many little cafes peddling one of humankind's main legal addiction - coffee. Espresso coffee, to be exact.

I've heard many good things about Journal but have never been there (yeah, and my generation is supposed to be an early adopter). It's on Flinders Lane near the corner of Degraves St, in the CAE building if I'm not mistaken. It looks trendy enough for Melbourne - all high ceilings and communal tables, breakfast menu scrawled on a chalkboard near the entrance. Trendy, art student types made up the wait staff, wearing trendy, "i-bought-this-from-salvos/savers" outfits in trendy, asymmetrical (mostly) hairstyles.

Here are a couple reviews of Journal, in The Age Epicure and Melbourne Cafe Reviews.

Jam was craving eggs and bacon, however, today's breakfast board didn't have them :(  But, being the sweetie that he is, he opted for a toasted ham and cheese croissant instead. I had the toasted leg ham, tomato and cheddar sandwich. Flat white for him, soy latte for me. The coffee was fantastic. Yum. So good I had to have two. The toastie was rather delicious too, with enough helpings of melted cheese and good sourdough (I think) bread. And you know it's a trendy place when Dan Spielman walks in ;)

Oh yeah. Sorry, no pictures of the yummy toasted sanga - it simply went too quickly. The coffee too.

Leisurely breakfast in a trendy CBD cafe while reading the Sunday papers - check. Now to tick the other thing off our list - strolling through the CBD via its series of laneways.

We continued on Flinders Lane, and stopped by Polyester Records. Then off into Block Arcade, where we bought Sarah and Jules a bag of Haigh's peppermint chocs and a gold-wrapped milk chocolate frog, as tokens of our gratitude for them looking after Oska while we were away from home. Back out into Block Place and into Royal Arcade. Stopped by Suga to watch the masters at work, churning and rolling out those pliable chunks of sugar that would become bite-sized boiled lolly pieces, passed by the quaint little babushka shop, then out on to Bourke Street. Nipped into the GPO for a quick squiz at the latest fancy fashions, stared at a pair of Campers that I really want but are oh-so-expensive, then out on to Elizabeth Street.

Time for a morning pick-me-up. Where better to go for a cup of fresh juice than Tropicana Juice Bar? You'll know the place - it's brightly coloured and has all manner of fresh fruit adorning it's front doors (right now it's oranges). I got the Giles Special - a blend of fruit and veg juice with a hit of ginger, and he got the South American Delight (apparently the ingredients are a secret, but we could definitely taste the ginger and lime).

Then up on to Little Bourke Street, left at Hardware Lane (the cafes were just starting to come alive when we walked past), across Queen Street, past Vue de Monde and back into Bank Place where we picked up our bags and headed home. We could have done more in the city, but guess the combination of us recovering from being sick and the lack of sleep the night before had done us in.

What you need to know:
Journal
Shop 1, 253 Flinders La, Melbourne
t: +61 3 9650 4399

Tropicana Juice Bar
213 Elizabeth St, Melbourne
t: +61 3 9670 3568

A weekend in the city - Abla's and Metro Apartments on Bank Place

It's our two-year anniversary and we thought we'd do something extra special. So I booked us a night in the Melbourne CBD, at Metro Apartments on Bank Place. I actually booked this a month or so earlier, when I came across a travel article on The Age that promoted a Winter Warmer package at the accommodation - $130 per night, with a bottle of wine on arrival.

I wanted to have dinner at Vue de Monde, which was just up the road from the apartments, but turned out they were fully booked, so I reverted to an old favourite instead - Abla's. The yummiest of yummy Lebanese food, and awesome value for money.

Had brunch with Sarah and Jules in the morning at Monkey, this little cafe near the corner of Chapel and Carlisle Streets in Balaclava. We've been there a few times now. It's a quirky little place serves fantastic coffee, fresh juice and really yummy food. The owners are pretty quirky too, and best of all they sponsor orang utans in Borneo (the cafe has pictures of their sponsored families up on the walls). I usually have the french toast there, and the first time I had it I decided that it was the best french toast I have ever had. Period. The most beautiful bread (I think it's some type of Middle Eastern bread) that sopped up the french toast mix and maple syrup beautifully, soft sweet bananas and crunchy bacon. Yum.

I must say, however, that like the quirky but delightful owners, sometimes you never know what you're gonna get at Monkey. Today our french toast came drizzled with berries and berry syrup. Which was fine on its own, but I guess we weren't expecting that so it threw us off a bit. Plus the tart berry syrup didn't quite go with the bacon and banana and maple syrup. Hmmm. Anyway, I shall not write this place off just yet - next time we'll be more specific. Sarah had a flourless chocolate cake for dessert...and it was divine. It came with a rich chocolate ganache with ribbons of white chocolate icing drizzled on top.

Oska was having a sleepover at Sarah and Jules, so after dropping him off with them and saying goodbye (with almost a tear in my eye!) we headed into the city, and thus began our "romantic" weekend away. I say "romantic" with tongue-somewhat-in-cheek as we had both been sick for a couple of days now - I had spent Friday either sleeping or being a zombie - and it took pretty much all our strength to just stay awake and not pass out in our hotel :P

Our booking at Metro Apartments on Bank Place said we had a one-bedroom suite. I'm not so sure about the suite part. Since they were selling themselves as serviced apartments, I had expected it to be bigger. At least it had high ceilings to allay any feelings of claustrophobia.

The living area

The bedroom

The kitchen

Our free bottle of wine

The place overall was good for what we paid for it. It was clean and most amenities that were to be expected were there. I'm taking points of for the details (or lack thereof). For example, our duvet (or is that a bedspread? The topmost layer that goes on top of the doona to make the bed look pretty) had a hole in it that looked like a cigarette burn, and the hot water when we had a shower in the morning was lukewarm at best. My only other complaint about the place is the fact that it was right near a couple of nightclubs and bars - The Irish Times, The Balcony and Marrakech - which meant that it was SUPER NOISY up until about 4am. Thumping doof doof music, crowds screaming and yelling like a zombie apocalypse had befallen us, stupid people revving their bikes and cars. Not very good for when you want to get a good night's sleep. If you ever end up staying here, make sure you ask for a room as far away from these places as possible.

Caught the No.96 tram to Elgin Street in time for our booking at 7.30pm. Did you know that this tram route was mentioned in National Geographic's top ten tram rides in the world? Nah, I didn't either :P

The banquet at Abla's is probably the best value for money - 12 small dishes, including dessert and coffee at the end - for $55. The place has changed a bit over the years (not for the worst, just with the times I guess). When I first went to Abla's the banquet cost $40, there was no wine list and there was no corkage. Now there's a simple wine and beer list, and to make up for that, a $2.50 per person corkage. Not that I am complaining. The food, service and hospitality remain top-notch - warm, friendly and personable.

After ordering a glass of Secret Stone sauvignon blanc (I wanted to crack open the De Bortoli Willowglen that we got free with our hotel stay, but Jam felt like beer) and an Efes beer, we started off the banquet with pita bread and the mixed dips - labne (yoghurt dip), baba ghanooj (smoked eggplant) and hummous bi tahini (chickpeas with garlic, tahini and lemon juice). The baba ghanooj had this tasty smokiness to it, and you could really taste the chickpeas in the hummous...this rich, nutty flavour.

We then moved on to...

Lady fingers - crunchy filo pastry filled with perfectly-spiced minced lamb and pine nuts.

Silverbeet rolls - yummy but I'm not a big fan of silverbeet

Loubyeh - green beans in tomato sauce. I love it.

Makaneek - spiced lamb and beef sausages. I didn't take a very good picture of these yummy little morsels - they look better in real life and taste yummier!

 

Chicken wings - these were really well-cooked and literally fell off the bone. Mmm...

Tabbouleh - nice and tangy. According to the Abla's menu it's a Lebanese salad of parsley, tomato, mint, spring onion and cracked wheat.

Kibbee - this was stuffed with some lovely spiced meat and pine nuts. According to the menu the casing is made of minced lamb and cracked wheat

Possibly the best felafel I've ever tasted.

The yummiest rice dish ever - pilaf flaoured with minced lamb, covered with chicken pieces and almonds.

Yummy lamb skewers. By this time I was too full to eat the whole thing!

Dessert was Turkish Delight and the BEST, I mean *BEST* baklava ever. And I've had baklavas before.

The pastry was melt-in-your-mouth, and the filling had the right amount of sweetness, yet at the same time it tasted really decadent, like we were havinga treat that we weren't really supposed to. Despite the fact that I was too full to move, I could've had a couple more.

To finish we were served Lebanese coffee flavoured with cardamom spice. Perfect.

Oh the yummy places we would go!
Monkey Cafe
157 Chapel Street, Balaclava
t: +61 3 9534 4441

Abla's Lebanese Restaurant
109 Elgin Street, Carlton
t: +61 3 9347 0006

A year later (almost...)

So what did I say about being a lazy blogger? It's as if I need to wait until I go travelling again, or for something significant to happen, before I can get off my bum (or rather, get my bum on a chair in front of the 'puter) and crack open the good ol' Blogger account. Don't even know why I've got two blogs for (safe to say you don't really have to read the other one - there are only a handful of entries from my supposed 'alter ego', who must lazier than me).

Anyway, will try to put some Japan photos up and possibly even recount our adventures from around this time last year. I miss Japan - everything from the food to the fashion to the way the streets smell. From the way we didn't understand the language to the warm onsens and the crazy tv shows.

Oh yes, we've also adopted a dog. His name is Oska and he is VERY cute :D (and no, I'm not being biased). Check him out:





Oska on his first day home







Oska likes to sleep






It was summer so we decided to give him a haircut! Doesn't he look like a different dog?








Isn't he a cutie? :D




There's heaps more photos of him, doing every single cute thing imaginable. I might put them up on Picasa or something, and post the link up here once that's done. Hopefully it won't take another year.