Our carriage awaits! If one is going to have a ten-course meal in a fancy restaurant then one must arrive on horse and carriage.
After pre-pre-dinner drinks and the odd photo or two, we climbed aboard a horse and carriage across to the Crown Casino where we were welcomed for our feast. We were greeted with a variety of cocktails that were far too delicious for their own good. In the meantime Ruthy got lost on her way to the bathroom, it wasn’t until later when the rest of us needed to go that we understood why, the doors are like a maze.
We were escorted to our table, right in front of the chef’s pass in the kitchen and greeted by the lovely Eric who may or may not have looked like he was 12, but had the knowledge of every chef in the kitchen in his head. We each had our menus placed in front of us, wrapped in a silver cuff and sealed in a box, followed by some of the fanciest cutlery we’d ever seen. Chris and James spoke with the Sommelier then we were underway with our dinner and a few nicely matched bottles of wine.
The food was divine! The service was fantastic, we had the Sous Chef serve each of our meals and explain what creatively plated art piece was in front of us. There was pate dressed as an orange, sauces galore, savoury porridge, sorbets, roasted pineapples, and the best part: Nitro ice cream! Dee was called up to call away one of the tables for the restaurant, and both of us were escorted into the kitchen to check out the roasting pineapples. By far an amazing experience all round. The photos really don’t do this experience any justice!
Tuesday saw James have a very quiet and relaxing day, while the rest of us went exploring the Victoria markets. Every bit of fresh fruit, vegetables, seafood, cheese and cold cut meat you could think of is in that place. There was so much to see and so much that could have been bought. If we owned one of those shops we surely would be fat and broke from eating all of the produce! We bought enough to make a few chacuterie plates, and then paired the food with a wine and a movie back at the hotel. Tuesday evening we went to Bluebonnet Barbecue house with Ma and Pa Smurf, Kitch and Ally for what seemed like another feast. The house special was 350g of all of their meats and a selection of sides, followed by dessert at another little restaurant further up Lygon St. SO MUCH FOOD!!! It was all delicious, although all of our waistlines are still paying for it!
The final packing to leave Australia happened Wednesday morning; who knew so much crap could fit into our packs? It took us a while to sort everything out but we eventually got there. We ventured for a quick trip to parliament house to get a photo then caught a taxi with Ruth and Chris to the airport for their flight back to Brisbane. In the midst of all of this, Dee needed to find a pharmacy that stocked the Hepatitis B vaccine, then someone who could administer it. Thankfully, there was a doctor surgery at the airport that could help out. We said our goodbyes to Ruth and Chris, with a couple of little tears and a few photos; then we headed back into the city to hang out with Mikey until our flight.
A wine or three later and a chill out in Mikey’s beautiful little courtyard it was time for us to head back to the airport… into the business lounge!
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