Summer Factorie Try On Haul

There's (finally) a new video up on my channel! Enjoy x

Conservatory at Crown

Let me just start this post with one simple word that pretty much describes my experience at Crown's Conservatory Buffet...
Wow.

Just, wow.

There is such a huge, successful reputation behind Crown and everything in it - including the Conservatory. They aim to deliver a great dining experience, from the food quality and variety, to the decor and atmosphere - and they do so effortlessly.

Choosing to come by public transport, it was an easy 5-10 minute walk over the Yarra River via Sandridge Bridge from Flinders Street Station. Though it was a wee bit wet, it was hard not to appreciate the beauty of Melbourne as I made my way over to Crown. So points for location.

Crown itself was also in a beautiful location, overlooking the Yarra. The Swanky Casino is somewhat overwhelming, but ultimately its allure draws you in. Inside, it looks like something out of a magazine or a movie. Personally, I'm not used to visiting places as lovely as Crown so I may sound pointlessly starry-eyed, but this was something special to me! The casino reminded me - rightfully so - of the many casino's I ventured into back in 2012 when I was on holiday in Las Vegas. I will admit that it still had nothing on Vegas casino's, but we're not in Vegas - we're in Melbourne. And with that in mind, it was amazing.

After a bit of a stroll around inside the casino, we made our way up to The Conservatory for our lunch time booking. We were still a bit early and the staff were setting up for the lunch sitting. I peered into the Conservatory full of excitement at what lay ahead (well and truly prepared and comfortable in my stretchy jeggings, FYI). At last, we were seated.

Now the real fun began! Once comfortably seated with our bags finally off of our shoulders and no need to worry about waiting for a good seat, we were ready to tackle the buffet. Making our way to the many food stations, we were spoilt for choice. There was a great selection of fresh seafood, sushi, salads, breads and cheeses, an Asian station, Indian station, and a carving station with the most delicious medium-rare beef I have ever tasted. Oh, and my all-time favourite food - a creamy, delicious potato bake!

Yes, I was in love.

If you're not frothing at the mouth at the sight of these pictures yet, you will be soon!

After consuming as much savoury lunch food as we could possibly manage, along with a glass of complimentary red wine, we were ready to approach the dessert station. Now, I'd 110% describe myself as a savoury kinda gal - however - .though I may not be physically capable of consuming too much sweet food, I certainly like to try.

This station had such an amazing variety of gorgeously presented and incredibly tasty desserts! There were all sorts of cakes, slices and puddings - all in single serving sizes and so pretty you almost didn't want to eat them! There were the cutest little mini macaroons, a selection of fresh fruits, multiple flavours of deliciously creamy ice-cream, and the highlight of the station - the chocolate fountains. Yes please.

To die for, really.

Honestly, I was sad when it was time to leave. We literally were seated right away when the Conservatory opened for lunch, and before we knew it, it was almost 2pm and they were letting guests know they were closing soon. We jumped up (slowly, very very slowly) and were on our way home, beyond satisfied with the food, atmosphere and experience we'd just had.

And yes, we will be back. After all, it's mum's birthday in a few weeks time! :P

What do you think of the Crown Conservatory? Love it? Hate it? Never been? Dying to visit? Let me know in the comments below!

xx Chontelle Louise

Puckle Street Precinct, Moonee Ponds

Looking West down Puckle Street, through the station crossing.

Moonee Ponds Station.

Looking East down Puckle Street.

The other day, mum and I decided to go somewhere new for lunch. Being new to Melbourne, we've been doing a bit of exploring of different suburbs/areas and somewhere we'd been planning on checking out for a while was Moonee Ponds. 

Puckle Street, Moonee Ponds is the suburbs 'high street' and home to the Puckle Street Precinct. The Precinct occupies the first couple of blocks both north and south of Puckle Street, and includes a small essentials shopping centre (Moonee Ponds Central), along with standalone Supermarkets and an array of cafe's, restaurants, clothing stores and businesses. 

After a stroll down Puckle Street, we decided to step in to Lil Kitch for some lunch and coffee. 

Exterior of Lil Kitch Cafe.

Lil Kitch is located at the end of Puckle Street nearest to Moonee Ponds Station. The cafe is warm and comfy, it feels a little bit fancy (in design) but still nice and casual. The food is reasonably priced for the most part, and the quality and taste of the food is just lovely. Mum had the Omelette on Toast (which was freakin' massive!) while I had a Turkey Foccacia. 

I'm not much of an omelette person, I find the taste kind of sickening so I'm going on my mum's review of the meal, which she says way really nice. She loved the variety of toppings with the melted cheese, mushrooms (her favourite), tomato and spinach leaves. 

My Turkey Foccacia was really nice. The bread was lovely and fresh, there was a whole lotta shredded lettuce (which I think made the sandwich's presentation rise a few levels), just the right amount of melted cheese, 'smashed' avocado, and a deliciously sweet cranberry sauce. 

As I mentioned, we also ordered coffee with our meals however I've chosen not to include those in this post due to the fact that I've had better coffee in a pie shop/garage up in Queensland than the coffee we were served here (and given that Melbourne is known for it's coffee, it should of been average at the least. It wasn't).

Lunch at Lil Kitch.

Omelette on Toast.

Turkey Foccacia.

So all in all, Lil Kitch is a great place to grab a nice meal, but perhaps leave the coffee until later. Which brings me to the next place we stopped in at.

After a bit more of a stroll around the Precinct, supermarkets, Kmart etc, we made our way down south of Puckle Street to The Daily Grind. 

Interior of The Daily Grind.

The best coffee in Moonee Ponds (I think so, anyway!) 

Feeling like we still hadn't truly had our coffee fix, we decided to sit down, relax, and have another drink at The Daily Grind. This cafe is about a 3 minute walk south of Puckle Street itself, and just opposite the massive Woolies. They have a great selection of light foods and snacks, including sandwiches, cakes, wraps, croissants, and the most delicious *insert heart-eyed emoji here* cupcakes I've ever seen! 

Then there's the coffee - oh, am I glad we stopped in here! This coffee fully lived up to the 'Melbourne Coffee Standard', meaning it was really really good and I will definitely be returning for more at some point. I'd definitely recommend The Daily Grind if you're ever in the area, it's got lovely, reasonably priced coffee and food, as well as a really comfy and cosy atmosphere - especially great on a dreary winter's day.

OOTD

I hope you enjoyed reading this post! If you did, be sure to let me know! Have you been to Moonee Ponds, or any of the places mentioned in this post? 

Thanks so much for reading lovelies!

xx Chontelle Louise

Gekkazan, Melbourne | Review

This was the first time I'd ever had udon, something I'd actually been wanting to try for so long now, so I was really excited to try it! We'd just had a long morning of shopping, shopping & more shopping, so we were eager to find somewhere to relax and have some lunch (and be able to put down all our purchases and rest our arms)!

We had actually just finished at H&M and were on our way out, when we looked to our left and notices people eating in a small enclosed laneway on the back side of H&M. We decided to go and investigate, and I'm so glad because that's where we found Gekkazan! 

Gekkazan is a Japanese chain-restaurant serving mostly udon and ramen dishes, but also sushi rolls, dumplings, bento boxes and a few other bits and pieces! Mum went with the winter special 'Curry Udon' which along with the udon noodles, had a mix of vegetables, tofu and beef.

I decided on the Chicken Udon ($12), which was a lovely choice. It was nice, clean, fresh & simple. The chicken was perfectly cooked and the noodles were so delicious!

There was a deal on where if you bought a meal then you'd get the Gyoza Special (dumplings) for only $5.95 with it (usually $9.90), and since we were starving we took them up on that offer! I grabbed the vege dumplings while mum chose the pork dumplings - both were amazing!

Gekkazan was definitely a hit for us, and will surely become a regular haunt on future trips to the CBD.

Have you tried Udon before? Love it, or hate it? Let me know in the comments below! x

xx Chontelle Louise

Issus Cafe, Melbourne CBD | Review

It's been a while since I've sat down to a great meal out, so over the weekend mum and I made our way into the city and did just that. We hadn't pre-planned where we'd be going, but rather had decided to have a stroll around the many laneways of Melbourne city until we found something we liked the look of.

It didn't take long for us to make our choice, and we took our seats in the cosy back corner of Issus Cafe (just off Flinders Lane). The cafe is a lovely, comfortably intimate, low-lit space - perfect as an escape on a cold and busy day, or as a casual but romantic setting for a date.

We arrived at midday and were seated at one of only two remaining tables. While the table out front seated two, we didn't want to sit out in the cold and so requested an inside table. As I mentioned before, we were seated in the back corner of the cafe - a long table that could easily seat 6 or more people. The staff didn't even hesitate to seat us at such a large table, which we were very grateful for.

As the place was quite busy, we didn't expect to be served for some time. However to our surprise we were served within minutes, and after a short wait we received our meals.

I chose to go with one of the all-day breakfast options - House made granola mix with greek yoghurt and rhubarb. I love a good breakfast, and this one definitely hit the spot. Healthy and tasty, the rhubarb definitely made this meal for me! At $11.99, I'm not sure I'd order this again, but that may just be because I'm quite frugal and couldn't justify another $11.99 on a simple granola & yoghurt.

Mum decided on the pulled pork and eggs on potato hash cakes, which was an amazing decision. I literally cannot fault this dish - I'm so glad mum was kind enough to share some of this one with me, definitely the tastier choice! The pulled pork was only the slightest bit dry, but that was made up for by the delicious mustard and poached eggs, which blended perfectly with the hash cakes (which were literally to-die-for)! At $16.99, this dish was well worth it and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has a chance to visit Issus Cafe.

We also decided to order these delicious Eggplant chips to share, and boy am I glad we did! These were freakin' incredible! I love me some eggplant and the way these were prepared, with a delicious sauce to top it all off was just perfect! At $6.99, these eggplant chips are the perfect side to share (or have all to yourself, zero judgement here)!

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Issus Cafe - lovely atmosphere, friendly staff, comfortable seating, good service, and great food! Not to mention, a great location in one of Melbourne's busiest laneways! I'll definitely be coming back here in the future, once I've had the chance to try some of the other cafes/restaurants around Melbourne's CBD.

I hope you've enjoyed my review of Issus Cafe - if you live in Melbourne or are planning to visit and would like to check out Issus Cafe for yourself, you can find it at 8 Centre Place, Melbourne City (just off Flinders Lane).

Have you been to Issus Cafe? Would you try these meals? Let me know in the comments below!

xx Chontelle Louise

Exploring The Queen Victoria Markets!

It's now been almost two months since my mother and I packed up our house and belongings up in Brisbane and made the 20+ hour drive down to Melbourne, and a whole month since we moved into our new little home.

Visiting the Queen Victoria Markets was something that we had been planning to do since before we left Brisbane (after all, it is on just about every touristy 'must do' list on the web), and on Saturday, we finally decided to check it out.

We arrived a bit later than planned after sleeping in (whoops!) and stopping for a coffee at Starbucks first, but we arrived nonetheless at around 11:00am.

We started by checking out the fresh fruit and veggies section, which looks seriously amazing in pictures (as evidenced above). Everything looked great, definitely fresh and of good quality, decent prices, however not really anything special - meaning that there was nothing you wouldn't be able to find at your local grocery store or market.

We then moved on to the outskirts of the plants and souvenirs section for a quick browse, however we didn't stay long as we had already spent a fair bit of time walking from one end of the city to the other and were starting to get tired. I will however take this chance to mention to any visitors to Melbourne that there's a massive variety of souvenirs you can pick up at decent prices to take home with you as a memory of your trip! So yeah, if you're visiting Melbourne then definitely come along to check out the souvenirs!

               

Next on our agenda was a stroll through the fresh meats and seafood section, which led us through to the delicatessen area. All I can say is, the cheeses! Oh, the cheeses! There were so many different varieties and they all looked equally delicious, the part of me with a mild case of lactose intolerance was screaming, haha! I'm a massive fan of a simple meal of cheeses, deli meats, antipasto and fresh bread (which paints a lovely picture of many of the meals I consumed in Paris and Italy, so simple yet so amazing)! Which brings me the bread (and some sneaky cakes).

               

There was some lovely freshly baked bread for sale, and again, so many different varieties! There was white, multigrain, wheat, sourdough, rye, sunflower seed, pumpkin seed, organic, even a small selection of gluten free breads! So A+ for variety! The bread itself looked quite nice, however in a similar sense to the fresh fruit and veggies on offer at the Queen Victoria Markets, it wasn't anything special. The only difference I found between the bread here and the bread nearer to home was the variety - and the price. I could save a couple of dollars purchasing from a slightly smaller variety closer to home, and most likely will.

The cakes are a similar story - lovely but nothing out of the ordinary. However being nothing out of the ordinary doesn't stop you from drooling over these lovely fresh treats! I almost caved in to my cravings for one of the lovely chocolate brownies I could see staring back at me. But before I had the chance to do that, I turned around and saw some even more delectable treats.

               

               

Yes, the chocolates. Possibly the only thing that could make you stop lusting after cake in favour of a much smaller piece of sweet goodness at a relatively larger price. There was a string on chocolate stalls with a huge selection of chocolately treats to choose from, but in the end we were drawn most to Koko Black. As we were trying to select only two little chocolates each (at $2.10 each, we weren't planning to go all out), a group doing one of those 'Melbourne Chocolate Walking Tours' arrived. Obviously, having a walking tour visit the shop you're about to purchase some treats from is generally a pretty good sign that you've made the right decision!

I ended up going for the Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Cluster and the Aurelia Champagne Truffle. Mum went for the Baileys and the Orange Cointreau Truffle. We also decided to grab the Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Trio (a Trio of three milk chocolate bunnies) in the name of having some Easter themed chocolate over the Easter long weekend!

As we were heading out of the market hall, mum tapped me on the shoulder and pointed over to a small store in the corner. I turned to see what she was pointing at and instantly knew we'd be making another purchase before leaving. McIver's had a gorgeous selection of beautiful whole roasted coffee beans in a range of different flavours and strengths - from dark and fruity to light, creamy and nutty. Being the coffee enthusiast I am, I had to try some. We decided on the East Timor - also one of the organic beans on offer - a sweet, hazelnut and chocolate flavoured roast. Perfect.

 

And with that final purchase, we were ready to leave the markets. We still had a bit of a walk to the train station, followed by a 30 minute train ride back home, so we decided to take in a coffee to refuel for the journey home. We were actually going to grab a coffee inside the market hall at a fancy looking coffee stall, but they only served their coffee with full-cream organic milk. I love organic, but my stomach just is not made for full-cream. So we ended up leaving the market hall and finding this cute cafe (Coffea Coffee) on Elizabeth Street, just outside of the markets and the tram stop. And thankfully, they had Soy milk!*happy dance* There was seating both inside and out, but the interior was really cute and kitsch so we pulled up our chairs and settled in for a seriously good coffee!

All in all, it was a lovely day out. Although I wouldn't go there every week, it's definitely an interesting way to spend the day every now and again, and worth sparing a couple of hours to check out if you're visiting Melbourne! The Queen Victoria Markets are located on the corner of Victoria Street and Elizabeth Street in the Melbourne CBD, and are open Tuesdays and Thursdays 6am-2pm, Fridays 6am-5pm, Saturdays 6am-3pm and Sundays 9am-4pm.