My last days in Melbourne were mostly occupied with trying to eat as much as possible before I left.
I enjoyed some awesome factory canteen meals.
I went with my housemate Blake to Rockpool Bar & Grill for the best steak of my life. One million out of ten, would eat again at every meal.
The restaurant was super ambient i.e. dark so I didn't get any decent snaps, but here are the drinks we had afterwards at one of the many many bars at the casino.
Mine was called a Turkish Delight and that's really what it tasted like! V sweet but good.
I did take one night out from my busy restaurant-going schedule to stay home. I made one of my favourite dinners: snacks!
Gosh I love smoked salmon.
Just a little snack in the factory.
We went to The Pancake Parlour in Chadstone with Taruna (hello if you're reading!).
She and I shared this cheese and potato pancake, with optional mushroom sauce and bacon. It was exactly how I wanted it to be, all cheesy and salty and delicious.
On our last night we went out to dinner at Red Spice Road.
There were cocktails galore.
This was a soft shell crab dish that tasted better than it looked, though a little aniseedy for me. The thing behind it is some kind of salad with salmon or trout in it, I don't really remember but I do remember that it was incredibly tasty. I would definitely have it again.
P.S. Here's what I was wearing:
And also my leopard shoes.
Afterwards we went dancing at Spice Market, which was super fun except that it closed pretty early, and then we went to a much less nice place for the rest of the night.
But it was heaps of fun! I had such a nice time partying with all my Melbourne buddies, I am gonna miss them all heaps.
Then I came home, packed a bit, slept for two hours, woke up, packed some more and rushed off to the airport, where I had one last crack at the food allowance:
Big breakfast! I liked the hash browns best.
And now I am home.
On Sunday my family and I celebrated Betty's 18th birthday at Sealevel, a favourite restaurant of ours in Cronulla.
We started with cocktails: a Pineapple Mojito for Betty and a pomegranate, cranberry, lemon and mint concoction called Simply Pink for me.
Betty didn't like hers that much so I swapped her. I thought it was good, but the Simply Pink was better. It was probably the most delicious beverage I've ever tasted. It's going in the Official List.
Entrees included squid, pork belly, scallops and beetroot ravioli. All were excellent.
The ravioli looked like Devon but I promise it didn't taste like it at all.
Mains included beer battered perch with chips, snapper, and steak with fancy onions and some delicious mashed potato stuff.
The waitress who served us was great too; very friendly and funny but still professional.
We got there early enough to enjoy the spectacular view of the ocean as well. I didn't get a photo but I really think you should all go there and sea for yourselves (boom boom). They have midweek specials, function packages, very reasonably-priced breakfast options and a hectic seafood platter too.
It was a fantastic dining experience about which I have absolutely no complaints. Even their bathrooms are nice. The only thing I'd change is maybe having a giant Simply Pink fountain on every table. Thanks Sealevel!
On Monday night James and I celebrated his completion of uni with a trip to the Beach Burrito Company at Cronulla. Some of my friends (hello girls if you're reading!) went the other night and I was really excited to try it.
We got there at about nine, but there were a few tables there and they were happy to serve us (unlike Splash tapas, who wouldn't take a booking for 8.30). I really liked the cheesy decor and fun atmosphere. Is this is trendy and/or hipster thing at the moment? I don't know but I liked it.
First we ordered drinks: Dos Equis beer for James and a Paloma cocktail for me. It had quite a light and refreshing flavour with pink grapefruit and other stuff and was $12, which I consider reasonable when the cocktail is actually good.
The guy corrected James's pronunciation though which is not only a bit rude but also super awkward because he said "Dos Ecky", which is wrong. You don't work in a French restaurant silly!
We forgave him though, because our burritos were fantastic! Mine was chicken and James's was beef; both were really filling and super flavoursome.
The food was really good value too: I think a burrito is about $14, but on Monday they do them for $10! They have a different special every day, how awesome is that?
Then we had a second round of drinks: another beer for James and a frozen vodka margarita for me. The guy recommended it and I was sceptical, since frozen cocktails are usually the worst, but he gave me a little bit to taste and I was sold, it was so yummy!
How's that for a serving size? Cool cup too.
Around ten they started to clean up and put chairs on top of tables and such, which is kind of annoying but I was a waitress once and I know how much it sucks waiting for the last person to get out so you can start closing up, especially if you won't get paid extra if you're late, so I can let it slide.
One of the guys also came over and told us they were about to close though, and I thought that was overdoing it. Customers can be remarkably stupid though, maybe he thought we didn't get the hint.
It was sort of a downer to be hurried out, but whatever, the food was amazing, the service was very friendly, the drinks were delicious, the value was excellent and the decor and ambience were really fun. I'd still give it at least 8.5/10 and I'll be back a lot.
Thank you Beach Burrito Company!
