A Few of My Favourite Things !

On a (now) rare Friday night off, A & I decided to go bar hopping, kind of. We started off at La Vita Buona Cellar, part of the City Sqaure troika along with Three Below and Caboose Restaurant. We sat down with the noisy, after-work crowd to enjoy a glass of champagne and shiraz accompanied simply by french fries with aioli (just to stave off those hunger pangs). After catching each other up on our day, we took a walk down Flinders Lane towards Spring Street when I had the brilliant idea of checking out the Press Club Bar. And what a good thing too! We ordered some drinks (Shiraz & Sauvignon Blanc) and sharing plates from the bar menu and we were delighted with each offering.

It was a struggle to get photos with my camera given the lighting in the bar but these will have to do. The white taramasalata made with creme fraiche came with fried pita bread – so moreish! The dish behind the dip also appears to be served at George’s new Hellenic Republic restaurant – peppered fig on fried haloumi. I loved the peppered fig but, overall, preferred the other two.

I can’t remember how they termed this dish in the menu but it was basically an octopus & boccarone skewer coated with pistachio praline.

We then adjourned to Longrain for some after dinner cocktails (Soho La & Lychee Martini) and yet more little dishes – the son-in-law eggs and betel leaf topped with smoked trout, garlic, chilli, galangal & trout roe. If I thought the lighting at the Press Club gave me difficulties with photos, they were impossible at Longrain…so no images of the food, just memories of deliciousness.

La Vita Bouna
City Square, Melbourne
96547855

Longrain
44 Lt Bourke St, Melbourne
9671 3151

You don’t need to be a tea connoisseur to have heard of Mariage Frere, with many bloggers having waxed lyrical about their divine products.The post that caught my attention however was posted on Kuidoare where J. posted a photo that displayed the teapot of my dreams. It was the very shape that I had been searching for, with the platinum glaze and the cast iron lid only adding to its beauty. Whether I would be able to afford it or not, I knew that A. and I would have to visit Mariage Frere while in Paris even if it was just to gaze upon the teapot.

The sweet scent of mingled tea flavours assaults your olfactory senses as soon as you step foot in the door. The number of teas on offer is quite overwhelming but we managed somehow to choose four different types, including the Marco Polo.

We have only tried two so far, The Blanc au Jasmin and my favourite – The Rouge Metis. This red tea is very sweet smelling and contains berries, lavendar, currants. Although it tastes great brewed in the usual fashion, we love chilling it and serving it cold from the fridge with red tea ice cubes. It’s perfect for the humid weather we are currently experiencing.

And yes, we did travel home with the teapot

What could be better than sitting in a cosy cafe and having a hot cup of mint tea, with fresh mint no less, after walking around the sity streets of Prague?

Cafe Ebel in the Tyn Courtyard was the perfect place to do this. We watched people having croissants with jam and cream and a big Rhodesian Ridgeback trying hard not the fall asleep in the warmth of the cafe.