It was BEAUTIFUL bright sunny day so decided to head out to the StKilda Esplanade Arts and Craft market. R and the kids came to pick me up and we headed to One Fitzroy for breakfast. I promptly demolised the Big Breakfast (2 poached eggs, mushrooms, bacon and spinach) while R had the Eggs Florentine and the girls had the loveliest and fluffiest pancakes I've seen! Service was great as the staff was very friendly and attentive.
After breakfast we took a nice long walk looking at stuff at the stalls - I managed to slip in a few purchases - and then we headed to Acland Street for something to munch. Had a nice spinach slice thingamajig outside the Gloria Jean's walkway. Then we walked down the other side of Acland Street and I feasted my eyes on the lovely cakes and confectionaries from Monarch Cakes, Le Bon, etc. It brought back lovely memories as one of my schoolmates used to work in one of the bakeries and I remember her bringing a lovely fruit tart for my birthday. I bought a mini Kugelhopf and cheesecake from Monarch Cakes.
After a lovely day out in the sun, went home and managed to enjoy a gin and tonic before heading out to LiLi's for Chinese Imperial Court Cuisine with family and old friends. Lili's only serve banquets so patrons choose from 3 menus priced at $48, $66 or $138 per pax. We chose the $66 set and got a whole lot of appetizers and other dishes which included fish, venison, Peking duck, pork, prawns and scallops. I wouldn't say the food was like WOW and amazing, but the preparation was very unlike any chinese cuisine I've had before. The place is worth a visit for something different.
The visit to Lili's was made even more interesting when we found out that the police was outside and when we tried to leave they asked us to go back into the restaurant and wait for a while. From the windows, we saw 4 SWAT-team dressed policemen with guns staking out the place in front. It was really unreal, like one of those Role-Playing games that CK always plays. Anyway, after a while, we went out and saw no one around so we left.
We're off to the Yarra Valley tomorrow .. keep tuned ..
After breakfast we took a nice long walk looking at stuff at the stalls - I managed to slip in a few purchases - and then we headed to Acland Street for something to munch. Had a nice spinach slice thingamajig outside the Gloria Jean's walkway. Then we walked down the other side of Acland Street and I feasted my eyes on the lovely cakes and confectionaries from Monarch Cakes, Le Bon, etc. It brought back lovely memories as one of my schoolmates used to work in one of the bakeries and I remember her bringing a lovely fruit tart for my birthday. I bought a mini Kugelhopf and cheesecake from Monarch Cakes.
After a lovely day out in the sun, went home and managed to enjoy a gin and tonic before heading out to LiLi's for Chinese Imperial Court Cuisine with family and old friends. Lili's only serve banquets so patrons choose from 3 menus priced at $48, $66 or $138 per pax. We chose the $66 set and got a whole lot of appetizers and other dishes which included fish, venison, Peking duck, pork, prawns and scallops. I wouldn't say the food was like WOW and amazing, but the preparation was very unlike any chinese cuisine I've had before. The place is worth a visit for something different.
The visit to Lili's was made even more interesting when we found out that the police was outside and when we tried to leave they asked us to go back into the restaurant and wait for a while. From the windows, we saw 4 SWAT-team dressed policemen with guns staking out the place in front. It was really unreal, like one of those Role-Playing games that CK always plays. Anyway, after a while, we went out and saw no one around so we left.
We're off to the Yarra Valley tomorrow .. keep tuned ..
