Glorious Food, Wine, Birthdays, Shopping, Holiday

What a week it has been! I've been so busy having fun I haven't had time to log on to the internet. It started with Keith's sister and hub arriving in Melbourne from Perth on Saturday 10th Nov. We met up with them for dinner at Rockpool Grill & Bar, Crown Melbourne at 9:30pm as it was the earliest slot we could get. Rockpool is owned by local celebrity chef Neil Perry. He has written a few cook books and is famous for his steaks. I had a wagyu steak which was excellent. The dessert of strawberry salad was excellent too. We finished dinner at 1:15am, and by the time we got home it was 2:30am.

Next morning, we went to Melbourne Tullamarine airport to get Keith's mum and stepdad. Took them to our regular dim sum place in Glen Waverley. We had to wait 30 minutes for a table, it was so crowded even at 2:30pm! We enjoyed the food but was dissapointed that the egg tarts were sold out. After lunch we headed to St Kilda to check out the markets. Got 2 bars of home made soap. We then proceeded to Crown Towers Hotel to check-in. It was a breeze and we were given a villa suite. The view was beautiful from the 30th floor overlooking Yarra River and Melbourne CBD. Dinner that night was in Koko's a Japanese restaurant within Crown Hotel. We had teppanyaki, was quite good except that the bill was exorbitant so that took away the enjoyment of it.

On Monday, we went shopping in Melbourne city. Collected my Alannah Hill cardigan and went to Chanel to get my dust bag and care booklet which they ironically forgot to give me. They also lost my authenticity card which is irreplaceable. So pissed off with the service, had no choice but to accept it as it was the last bag in stock and they didn't know when the new ones would come in. We went on a hunt looking for birthday presents for Keith's sis and mum. Settled on a silver necklace and pendant from Tiffanys for his sis and a bag and wallet from Louis Vuitton for his mum.

Dinner at Nobu was excellent. I enjoyed the degustation menu of 8 courses very much. I'll definitely recommend going to Nobu and won't hesitate to go back for another dining experience. Nobu's owned by Robert De Niro and Nobu the chef. The food is very modern with Japanese and South American influence. The dishes were very light, refreshing and tantalising to the tastebuds. The only thing was they could have served us with better utensils instead of the wooden takeaway chopsticks. Here are some photos taken at Nobu.

Tuesday 13th Nov we celebrated Keith's mum's and sister's birthday. We went to Yarra Valley where the wineries are which is approximately 55km out of Melbourne city. The drive was quite pleasant except for the many traffic lights. We went to Tarrawara winery and had lunch there. Wished we had spent more time in Yarra Valley but we had to go back to the hotel early for dinner at Vue De Monde in Melbourne. Here's a photo of Keith, his mum and I at the winery.

When we got back to Melbourne, Keith bought me a black Versace dress to wear for dinner that night. I love it as I don't have any mid-length black dresses. Had to go on a mad shopping rush to get a slip as the material was quite transparent. Also bumped into Mark Webber the Australian F1 driver at the Crown lobby.

Dinner at Vue de Monde a French restaurant headed by Shannon Bennett was over the top. We each had a 10 course degustation menu at $250 per head. Food and presentation was excellent but I was so stuffed at the end of the night. I think 5 or 7 course would have been much better. Anyway it was worth the experience and we got to sit at the chef's table so we could see all the action going on in the kitchen minus the heat as we were sitting next to the ovens and pressure cooker. Get ready for the many pics and be sure not to view it on an empty stomach! :)

1) Photo shoot in the hotel room before dinner2) The chef and cooks working in the kitchen, there were about 20 of them!3) First dish was a soft shell crab with caviar and blue swimmer crab stuffing with Mojo sauce4) Box of whole truffles and white truffles shaved on to the dish of liquid gnocchi with mushrooms, tarragon emulsion, asparagus and cheese

5) Buffalo milk skin coated on top of crayfish dumpling served with bouillabaisse soup

6) Terrine of smoked ox tongue, foie gras and puy lentils with a jelly of Pedro Ximenex sherry served on a slice of toast bread7) Ocean trout soaked in beetroot juice with horseradish and baby beets, served with black cabbage and smoked at the table

8) Sliced wagyu beef with translucent soya yuzu noodle, spring onion and sweet corn puree9) Test tube of sauce poured over roast pork belly with pork rillette pancake and panada stuff baby apple

10) Cheese platter with salad11) Dessert as stated on the box
12) Honeymelon sorbet to clean the palate13) Meringue with apricot sauce, vanilla and apricot ice cream 14) Chocolate stick with fudge served like a cigar 15) Strawberry sorbet16) Complimentary handmade chocolates 17) The party of extremely full, satisfied people