Chez Dré

Chez Dré is a café situated opposite the famous South Melbourne market. It’s situated at the end of an alley way and looks like an old factory but the food there is amazing!

Went there on a Saturday with Chris, Cassy and Ethan for brunch before our kayaking adventures.

We were blessed with warm weather that day – it was so beautiful compared to the recent rain that we have been having in Melbourne (what happened to Spring!?)

I’ve been to this café three times now and all three time, I’ve ordered their duck sandwich. Amazzzzing! The duck is cooked so well, it melts in your mouth and I’ve never had bread that has been toasted so well.

Cassy and Ethan shared a steak sandwich – which was also amazing!

I got a karmarama juice which contained 9 different fruits. 100% fruit juice = super healthy

And the others got ice coffee, delicious and perfect for the warm weather. (All three of them drank their ice coffees before I had a chance to snap a pic! )

We also decided to spoil ourselves by ordering 2 desserts between the 4 of us. I’ve heard great things about their desserts especially their salted caramel macaron – so that’s what I chose and it didn't fail to meet my expectations!

And Ethan chose the lychee coconut jelly pudding – usually I don’t like the taste of coconut but it was very subtle and the lychee taste was beautiful!

Look at the detailing! So intricate!

Definitely coming back to try some other desserts! Look at their range. Wooww!

We then walked across the road – partly to help digest and partly to get Ethan some oysters. There’s a few oyster bars there, selling $1 for one fresh oyster. Ethan ordered 12 to share with Cassy. Oyster shots! Not Chris and my thing – we hate raw oysters!!

Chez Dré

285-287 Coventry Street,

South Melbourne, 3205

Victoria, Australia

Read More

Alex's Birthday

Chris has been recommending a Japanese Restaurant called Shira Nui to his friends for a while now. We finally had the chance to go there to celebrate Alex's birthday.

It's a small restaurant so we had to book earlier and thankfully secure the last table for 8!

The food there is melt-in-your-mouth amazing!

Happy Birthday, Alex!

Below is what we ate that night, seriously making myself so hungry now. Definitely coming again!

Was such a wonderful night filled with great food and awesome company! Going to come again to try the teppanyaki bench!

Shira Nui

247 Springvale Road,

Glen Waverley, 3150

Victoria, Australia

Read More

24

It was my birthday 3 days ago (Oct 3rd). Been busy catching up with family and friends the last few days. 

We don’t really celebrate birthdays in my household (apart from a small dinner every year) but this year I felt so loved on my day. I actually took the day off work to spend with my parents. I don’t have the privilege to see them much lately because all our working schedules clash L

After my wonderful sleep in, I woke up to find two red eggs on the table with a card from the family. So loved ♥

The weather was horrible that morning so dad and I just stayed at home and watched dramas the whole morning until he had to head off to work. Mum came home about 3.5 hours after that and she took me out to have coffees and muffins. Nice catching up with her, love her so much!

For dinner, my boy planned to take me out on a surprise dinner and he even prepared two gifts for me that night. Was so surprised because he usually finds it hard to keep secrets but I was thoroughly impressed (even though not everything went according to plan). He told me that he was taking me out for a dinner for two at a restaurant his sis recommended to him. I was really excited.

When we finally found parking, Chris was told that they actually gave our table away because we were late (doesn't help when the restaurant don't answer their phones - not impressed!!). I suggested we go to a different restaurant but Chris insisted that we go to this restaurant (even if there was no table for us). I started to think something was up and then Chris finally couldn't hold it any longer so he blurted and told me that my two good friends were there waiting for me!! ♥

 

The restaurant - Cookie - ended up preparing another table for us. They seated us in the bar section which was a lot noisier and had no table service but the food was amazing!

I had such an amazing night, haven't been so happy in a long time. Finished the night off with some nitrogen ice cream. Yumm~

Thanks to my friends and family for all your birthday wishes and gifts. I am really blessed to have you all in my life. I love you all very much x ♥ 

Also, special thanks to Chris for spoiling me rotten and planning so much for my day and thanks to Cassy and Ethan for surprising me x

Read More

Simon's Peiking Duck

Chris and I caught up with our friends, Cassy and Ethan for a dinner over Peking Duck. We decided to go to Simon's Peiking Duck. This is one of those places where their speciality is Peking Duck and everything else on their menu isn't all that great. The restaurant is really busy, so busy that they had to split into two dining sessions - 6pm and 8pm. We booked almost 2 weeks in advance for the 6pm session on a Saturday night. We decided to order 2 ducks for the night between 4 of us (as recommended by the waiter upon booking). You have to order the ducks beforehand otherwise they'll have no ducks for you and you'll have to order something from their menu. 

There are two duck sets available, one with noodles and one without. Duck soup, bean sprouts and peking duck is included in both sets. We decided to have one of each set. (Since it was Cassy and Ethan's first time dining at this restaurant, they wanted to try a bit of everything.) Ethan didn't try much since he came a whole hour late and had a super big and super late lunch so wasn't all that hungry.

If you're expecting 5 star service, this is definitely not the place for you. It's really loud - like a typical Chinese restaurant (also proven with the incorrect spelling in the name of the restaurant) and lacks service - no body cares about you unless you call them over. The owner, Simon does have a sense of humor though, he goes around table by table to teach you how to fold your peking duck - and don't you dare wrap it incorrectly!

Another thing I didn't like was that they tried to get us to eat faster so they can prepare the tables for the next session. We weren't even done with the first part of the meal and they kept piling the food on our tiny table. No time for us to sit around and enjoy the good food and the company.

Oh, and this place is cash only - another boo! But definitely worth trying.

Simon's Peiking Duck

197B Middleborough Road,

Box Hill South, 3128

Read More

Bloop

The past week has not been my week at all. I’ve been knocked down with that time of the month (yes, ladies!), Chris has had a fever and a stomach bug and to top it off, I was about to blog last night and my laptop decides to freeze. I just let it sit there, hoping it’ll unfreeze itself but nope, it decided to make a ‘bloop’ sound and switch itself off. Now, it won’t turn on at all. It just stays on the loading screen and loads and loads and loads continuously. :/ (Lappie, what are you loading?)

I'm not going to bother trying to fix it as I have had it since my uni days. (4-5 years). So frustrating though!

I guess it's time for a new laptop! Hmm, now it’s time to choose which laptop I want. Any suggestions? 

Bye bye savings (once again!) L

Read More

Enchanted Maze Gardens x Ethan's Birthday

Chris and I have been planning to catch up with our good friends, Cassy and Ethan for a day trip for a while now. We chose a Saturday that happened to coincide with Ethan's Birthday. We all decided that we wanted to go to a late night hot spring session so we planned our day around that. We had brunch, went for a walk to the coast, went cheese tasting, Strawberry farm, enchanted maze gardens, dinner then hot springs.

Ethan mentioned that he wanted to visit the Enchanted Maze Gardens. Chris and I actually wanted to visit this place about a month back but didn't end up going in because we thought the facade looked like it was designed for children and not suitable for us - it also rained that day, which drew us even further away.

We were really blessed with the weather on Saturday. It was forecast to rain that whole weekend but it was such a beautiful sunny Spring day. Chris and I were actually glad we didn't go in the last time because the rain would have spoilt everything as the maze gardens is entirely outdoors. Going in Spring made it so much more enchanting and beautiful, the flowers were in bloom and the trees were luscious green! Look how perfect everything is.

It really is so beautiful inside. The sculptures are perfectly cut out! Really impressive. It's not easy to maintain such a big high-maintenance area!

The lady at reception recommended we visit the Tube Slides and The 3D Spooky Maze first because they close earlier compared to the rest of the park. Good call from her because our favourite hang-out for the day was at the Tube Slides. Too bad it's super tiring because you have to lug these huge tubes

up a super steep hill before you can slide down and get sprayed with water. What's not to love?

Can't say the same about the 3D Spooky Maze. In my opinion, it was quite lame. You walk through these rooms with your funky 3D glasses on and the painting on the walls appear in 3D. I have to admit, I did get freaked out (at the very end, when the air machine popped and steam touched my leg). Props to me for freaking out the others! :P

Whilst we were going through the gardens, we looked up and saw these people tree surfing! Omgoodness, looks like so much fun but too bad, you require a booking to participate. Will definitely find time to go back there to tree surf!

Finished off a jam packed day with a relaxing night at the hot springs.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ETHAN :)

Read More