Gradi Crown

Had a fantastic dinner last night at Gradi Crown!

Gradi is a great place to go with your friends, family or date. 

The menu is a classic Italian cuisine which brings you the flavours of Naples to you.

Including pizza, pasta, seafood and classic Italian desserts.

It was very hard to choose from the menu because there was so many great options.

Our starters were amazing!

We had to try the world famous Margherita pizza. 

Great fact Gradi's chef Johnny Di Francesco was named the best in the world at the 2014 World Pizza Championship for his Margherita pizza. This is really something you need to try.

Spaghetti al Granchio

And of course there is always room for dessert!

Delicious Tiramisu & Pannacotta

I highly recommend Gradi Crown.

Not only is the menu great but the atmosphere and staff are fantastic.

You feel right at home as soon as you arrive and the staff is very friendly and helpful.

Thanks again for the great night!

For more details please visit  

-Website:

http://www.400gradi.com.au

-Instagram: GradiCrown

 

Chocolate walking tours

The Royal Arcade 

If you love chocolate and city sights you would love The Chocolate Walking tours!

This is a great tour which takes you on a journey through the iconic and famous arcades and laneways while eating chocolate. 

You get to visit some of Melbourne's greatest chocolate boutiques and you also get to taste it too (YAY)

We visited Chocamumma, Lindt Cafe, Haigh's chocolate, Koko Black and the New York Chocolate Bar.  

Haigh's Chocolate 

ChocaMumma

I highly recommend this tour if you are planning a trip or if you want to get to know your home town better.

I learnt a lot and got to try new types of chocolate.

This is a great afternoon out with friends and it's also a great date idea. 

Koko Black

Lindt Cafe 

For more information please visit www.chcolatewalkingtours.com.au

Zimari Restaurant

Address: 268 High Street, Windsor

Phone number: 03 95297894

Opening hours: Monday-Thursday 7am-4pm, Friday-Saturday 8am-10pm

Website: www.zimari.com.au

Instagram: @zimari_restaurant

 

I visited Zimari restaurant today and I had a great lunch! If you love Greek food you will love it here! Zimari was established in 2011 their philosophy is to keep the menu traditional Cretan food using fresh and in season produce with a hint of Melbourne flavour/attitude. None of the food is fried or too heavy it’s a great wholesome menu. 

The staff are really fantastic, very helpful, friendly and explained the menu well. 

The atmosphere is very relaxed and welcoming you feel right at home as soon as you arrive

If you are wanting to find a great new place for brunch you should visit. They have a breakfast menu and really good coffee. Just to name a few things on the breakfast menu they serve omelettes and egg dako which is a unique breakfast from the island of Crete.

 

As I mentioned before I had lunch so I will be sharing with you what I had today 

We started off with coffee and Greek dips. Now for those who know me well you all know that I love good cup of coffee and this coffee was GOOD. The dips were really delicious packed with flavour and made fresh.

Prawns ouzo, which was sauté prawns in garlic, lemon ouzo and avocado. This tasted fantastic it was a great combination of flavours.

Greek meatballs this was one of my favourite things we had today. Every element in this dish was amazing and I  loved the presentation of the food

Beetroot salad, which was marinated beetroot, coleslaw, feta, walnuts and sunflower seeds.  This was another one of my favourites every ingredient complimented the beetroot

Lamb Yiouvetsi was a unique lamb dish with orzo pasta. (Yum!)

 

Portokalopita, this is Zimari’s signature dish and it was amazing! Portokalopita a traditional Greek dessert packed with great flavour. Everyone who has a sweet tooth will enjoy this.

 

So next time you are in the area make sure you visit Zimari Restaurant I highly recommended it because you are in for a fabulous treat. 

Kali orexi!

Steph xo

Mothers Day High Tea

Mothers Day is just around the corner! This is a great day to celebrate and honour our Mums.

Why not mix things up a bit and take her into the City for the day? There are so many great places and shopping opportunities.

Today I will be sharing with you some great places that serve high tea, coffee and cake in Melbourne

1)   The Tea Salon  (Level 2- The Emporium Melbourne: 295 Lonsdale Street)

(Photo taken at my last visit at The Tea Salon)

The Tea Salon is one of my personal favourite places to visit.  I went there for my birthday and have continued to visit after. The high tea includes sandwiches, sweets, your choice of scones and your choice of loose-leaf tea or espresso coffee. Everything is served on beautiful vintage plates, cups and teapots.

It may be a good idea to call and book a table as there might be a line to wait for a table.

2)   Hopetoun Tea Rooms  (Shop 1&2- 282 Collins Street MelbourThe Hopetoun Tea Rooms is one of the iconic spots to have tea and cake in Melbourne it was established in 1892 located in one of our heritage buildings The Block Arcade. You will be amazed with the cake display the atmosphere is great with old charm and heritage fine food

If you want to attend for high tea reservations are available and I highly recommend that you do book a table as the lines are usually very long.

3)  The Grand Hyatt   (123 Collins Street Melbourne)

(Photo credit to the high tea society)

If you and your Mum love luxury then this high tea is for you! You have a great selection of scones, elegant finger sandwiches and beautiful desserts and pastries from the kitchen’s patisserie presented and served on traditional tiered platters.

The atmosphere in the Grand Hyatt is great there is a beautiful fireplace and the staff are very friendly and helpful.

4) Little Cupcakes  (Shop 7 Degraves Street Melbourne)

If you are in a hurry and just want to stop for a quick cup of coffee and cake or your not able to have high tea. I highly recommend Little Cupcakes. It’s a great area and you can take in the atmosphere of the Melbourne laneways. They make great coffee, tea and the cupcakes are just amazing. They are baked fresh every day. The red velvet is my favourite.

5)  Koko Black  (Shop 4- The Royal Arcade Bourke Street, Melbourne)

(Photo credit to x_tan)

Not much of a cake person? Koko Black is for you! Koko Black is a great chocolate boutique there are several Koko Black stores around in Melbourne but the Royal Arcade store is my favourite. There are heaps of comfortable chairs and the environment of the Royal Arcade is great. You have a great selection of chocolates, coffee, tea and pastries.

 

I hope you all enjoy Mother's Day and got some great ideas from reading this even if you just want to go out for high tea with some friends these places are great.

The Block arcade

I absolutely love the Royal Arcade! It's one of the heritage buildings in Melbourne it was originally constructed in 1869. The Royal Arcade is a beautiful building.

The Royal Arcade has a great well known reputation for its collection of high quality of boutiques, stores and cafes

I personally love visiting The Little Royal they make great macarons. When I'm in the city I make sure I make a visit there 

There is a friendly staff and beautiful classic teacups to welcome you

The macarons are delicious 

But if you are more of a chocolate lover don't worry there's a Koko Black inside the arcade too 

There are many great shops with great gift ideas or feel free to treat yourself 

The Royal Arcade is great place to shop or to have a break and a cup of coffee or tea

Address: 331-339 Bourke Street Melbourne VIC 3000

Further information: http://www.thatsmelbourne.com.au/Placestogo/MelbourneLandmarks/Historic/Pages/6061.aspx

The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk

If you were wondering what all the excitement is about in the City of Melbourne regarding Jean Paul Gaultier here is a sneak peak to answer your questions.

The National Gallery of Victoria are currently running his first international exhibition which features more than 140 beautiful garments plus there are some photographs, original sketches and much more. 

This exhibition is seriously mind blowing! It took me about 2 hours to look at everything and I want to go visit again. There is so much to look at every piece has so much fine details. 

If you are planning to have a day in the city this exhibition is a must for your to do list for the day. 

So I thought that I will share with you all some of my favourite themes during my visit.

Punk Cancan

 

Jean Paul Gaultier traveled to London in the early 1970's, he got inspiration and influence from London's punk culture. I loved the bright colours and the extremely high Mohawks 

Urban Jungle

The garments in this room are stunning everything in there honours a mix of  many cultures.

Celebrity Costumes and Red carpet gowns 

If you love pop culture you will love this! This exhibition shows some of Kylie Minogue, Madonna and Beyoncé's costumes. 

You will also see Nicole Kidman and Cate Blanchett's red carpet gowns.

There are much more celebrity outfits there but you can see that for yourself 

I highly recommend  that you visit the National Gallery of Victoria while this great exhibition.

Here are all the details 

Dates/ Time: Finishes on the 8th of February. Open daily, 10am–5pm
Address: NGV International, 180 St Kilda Road, Melbourne

Ticket prices/details: Tickets can be purchased online or in person at NGV.

NGV Member Adult $17
Adult $22
Concession* $18
Child (5-15 years) $10

NGV Member Family^ $48
Family^ $60
Additional Family Child $5

If you need further information please visit http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/jeanpaulgaultier/home

 

Product Review: TruSelf Organics

 

A big thank you to TruSelf Organics for my lovely surprise today! This detoxifying mask is great and it's all natural my skin feels and looks great. If you need a late Christmas gift or you want to treat yourself check out truselforganics.com they have a great range products