Out on the town

Still slacking over the Malaysia and HK trip posts, but not to worry! While I get my travel-blogging, photo-uploading shit together, here are some nice piccies and food pr0n to tide you over :)

Over the weekend my fantastic friend the lovely Miss M and I checked into The Hotel Windsor and played tourists in our own city. Not a bad thing to do from time to time - I think we get so sucked into our boring regular day-to-day routines that we often forget that we're living in quite a spectacular city. Yes, Melbourne. You are spectacular, despite your crowded peak hour trains and bogan boys who ask me if I know kung-fu (I thought we were past that, fellas?).

So I got this awesome-awesome room deal over the interwebs (how I love thee!) - $209 for a deluxe room (read: upgrade!) with complimentary French sparkling rose, internet and a leisurely 1.30pm checkout.

Anyhoo, we threw open our room door and saw this:

This room is bigger than my flat!

TWO double beds? Spoilt, much?

Hello, bathroom.

High ceilings and beautiful, big windows.

Walk-in closet.

This is, like, a dressing area.

Chilled sparkling rose awaits! 

Oh my.

Now this was all very exciting because we've been watching Downton Abbey (look it up! With the power of Google) and this was all veerryy Downton Abbey. Especially when we failed miserably with opening the champagne bottle and had to, very sheepishly, ring for help! And, seriously, I kid you know, the hotel butler came up and opened it for us. Really. He was all dressed up, with coat tails and everything. It was all we could do to stop ourselves from swanning about pretending that we live in a huge Victorian/Edwardian manor and affecting posh British accents  ^_^

After a couple of glasses of champers, it was on to Ezard for our 9.30pm booking. Yay! Words cannot express how excited I am about eating here. Not only because it was Ezard, but also because it's been a while since I've been out on the town. I've blogged about our Ezard experience in a separate blog post - check it out.

By the time we finished dinner, it was 1am. YUP. One. A.M. In the morning. But it was one of the most amazing meals I've had in a while, and the service was impeccable. If only I had the dosh to do this more often (not to mention the personal trainer to help me burn it all off afterwards)!

With the city on our doorstep, the delightful Miss M and I went to see about a nightcap. I really wanted to go to the Emerald Peacock for cocktails, but when we got there - it was shut. We then see if Madame Brussels would be open - she, too, was shut :( I thought places opened til much later on weekends?! I know I haven't been out on the town in a while, but surely things haven't changed that much?

We ended up walking back to Bourke St and to the Melbourne Supper Club. It was the one place I knew would still be open. The place was abuzz with late-night patrons and both the bar and kitchen were pumping. Guess we're not the only ones still eating at this time of night (notwithstanding the crowd at Stalactites, of course!).

Both Miss M and I were so stuffed from our eight-course degustation that there was no way we could fit any more food in, so we ordered a couple of Baileys on ice to top off the night. I know, I know - who drinks Baileys on ice anymore, right? But hey, who says it's not due for a revival? I bet that we could bring it back and make the uncool, cool again ;-)

By the time we rolled into our glorious double beds (one each!), it was 4am. And there was still some champers left.

The next morning we woke up at around 9.30am (I think) and took our time getting ready, thanks to our 1.30pm check out time (yay!). We checked out earlier than that though. We left our bags at the hotel and went off in search of brunch.

I've heard lots of good things about this cafe called Hardware Societe, so we headed there in hopes of getting some good coffee and breakfast/brunch. Tucked away in Hardware St, this cafe ticked all the boxes indeed - check out my blog post on Hardware Societe.

With food in our bellies and coffee buzz in our minds, Miss M and I went shopping. I bought an oversized beanie (apparently they're all the rage) and stocked up on daily essentials like A'kin shampoo and body wash at David Jones. There was a queue outside Zara, so we didn't bother.

What a productive yet relaxing weekend. We wined and dined, explored our city and its laneways, had great coffee and had some retail therapy as well. It's really nice to play tourist in your own city once in a while, you gain a different perspective and the city becomes more than just that place you go to for work. It's experiences like this that make me fall in love with Melbourne all over again.