Hey guys! It's finally Friday again so here we go with my second day in Melbourne after having the photos sitting in the draft for a few days!

Click here for Day 1.

Melbourne (March 2012) - Day 2

We were greeted by the lovely sun and slightly chilly wind when we got out of the house that morning. Since I need my cup of hot coffee to kick start my day everyday(except when I'm sick and I need to take med), we stopped by McD for some coffee.

We took the tram to South Melbourne and walked a bit(okay, quite a distance for most of us who drive more than walk haha) to look for the place that where we'll be having our breakfast/brunch. Below are some photos taken from people's gardens and street side.

 Roses

 Apple tree

 Lavender

Hydrangea I suppose?

Second stop, Chez Dre.

 Turn into the alley once you see that.

I could smell good coffee from here!

XD

It was only a little past 10 in the morning and the whole place's filled inside and outside!

Wow! Thank goodness we're just a duo so it's easier. The warm waitress sat us at this large wooden table with some other people. Reminded me of eating at the school's canteen back in primary years! :)

Since I had coffee earlier in the car... apple & mango passion juice it is! 

Sorry for the repetitive style of photo taking~

It's either with the flowers or people sitting next to me and I didn't wanna be rude.

 Breakfast platter.

Smoked ham, Gruyere cheese, boiled egg, poached fruit, vanilla yoghurt, granola, raspberry jam, butter, croissant & baguette.

AUD 18.50

Everything is so so sooooo yummy! Especially the jam! Fluffy and frothy yoghurt on top of granola! Awesome croissant too!

 Croque Madame

Portobello mushrooms, rocket pesto, Emmental cheese & bechamel sauce topped with a fried egg and potatoes.

AUD 15.00

OMGGGGG this's my MOST FAVOURITE food from this trip! I can't stop thinking about it! Please..... can we have this here? It's just shrooms but it's super good!

T____T

The potatoes were cooked so well too! Not too cooked but not under cooked as well. Mmmm... perfect sunny side up too I should say! What with the gooey yolk~

*heaven*

 See the goodness between the breads?

*melts*

 The menu for that day.

 Really pretty cakes that I didn't get to try cause we were too stuffed!

:(

I'll be back!

 Macarons too!!!

Both of us got one ;)

 More cakes and tarts.

 Different kinds of bread.

 And more.

 This's taken in the..... loo~

;)

Come on, the wallpaper's pretty right?

Chez Dre

(rear of) 285-287 Conventry Street

South Melbourne 3205

Phone number: (03) 9690 2688

Chez Dre on the internet:

Website here.

Wordpress/blog here.

Facebook here.

Twitter here.

Chez Dre on Urbanspoon here.

A little more researching brought me to TripAdvisor, a site that I use from time to time when looking for travelling tips. Apparently, Chez Dre is #1 on their site! Awesome! Click here for other travellers' reviews. 

One thing about travelling in Melbourne is that it's really easy and convenient with so much info on the internet. You can look it up on their webite, twitter, blog, facebook or just Urbanspoon is good enough. Scared of getting lost? No fret! GPS! It's really updated and handy when you are looking for places! Well, it was useful for us~

After a splendid meal, we walked to Bank Street Market, which runs on the 3rd Saturday of every month. I was lucky to be able to visit at least one of the many flea markets in Melbourne. And that was the only weekend I had in Melbourne for that trip! *thank you lucky stars*

Third stop, Bank Street Market.

 More roses.

 If you see this, you know you are really close.

 The entrance to the market.

 Tadaaa!

The building doesn't look like there's a market taking place inside but really, the market is inside and extended to the courtyard at the back! It's a whole different world in there!

You get stuff from candles to cupcakes to artsy stuff to accessories to clothes to hand made books(scroll to the very bottom for more info) and more!

We're not allowed to take photos but fret not, I've managed to find their website/blog here and facebook here. You can see photos from those sites.

Image taken from here.

 If you happen to stay in Melbourne or visiting it soon, the date for this month's market is 21st of July. Market starts at 10am and ends at 2pm. For directions, click here. We're lucky to arrive at a little past noon so it's cool. I was so tempted to get so many stuff but I managed to control myself and got 2 things only.

A polka-dot lavender pack and a turquoise ring!

Then, we headed back to the city to do a little bit of (window) shopping before going for afternoon tea. Yes, such a blissful trip this time cause my aim for this trip's just to eat and relax. No rush in going anywhere or getting anything. Just going with the flow~

4th stop, Hopetoun Tea Rooms.

 Look at those lovelies!!

 I wanna taste everything!

 Cakes and tarts!

 Crumbles and pies!

 Tarts and macarons!

So many to choose from and we only could order 2 cause we're still very full from brunch.

 We queued for about 10-15 minutes and it's a torture looking inside and seeing other people enjoying their afternoon tea! But it's okay, it didn't feel that long actually. 

 Got slightly bored of waiting haha.

 Finally! We got a small table for 2 at the corner.

 Fresh flower again~

 Tea cup~

 Flat white omgggg love!!

 Pear tart.

It's better to eat the tart with the clotted cream cause for me, the tart's a tad too sweet.

 I forgot! It's either strawberry or raspberry cheesecake.

Not bad!

I love the interior(very vintage!) of the whole place and the variety of selections on their cakes, tarts and pies! I am definitely going back for their high tea one day!

Hopetoun Tea Rooms

The Block Arcade

Shop 1 & 2

282 Collins Street, Melbourne.

Monday - Saturday:  8am to 5pm

Sunday: 9am to 5pm

Phone number: 03 9650 2777

Hopetoun Tea Rooms on the internet:

Website here.

Twitter here.

Urbanspoon here.

TripAdvisor here.

Since the shops in the city have closed by the time we're done with afternoon tea, we decided to go home and have a good rest cause we're looking forward to our road trip the following day!

 The macarons that we got from Chez Dre earlier. That's how they looked like after being in my bag for the whole day, forgotten. 

5th stop, High Tech Burrito.

On our way home, Karen suggested Mexican food and so we stopped by High Tech Burrito for a takeaway. Click here for reviews on Urbanspoon and here for its website.

The burrito. 

Quite good! And it's really filling!

 One of the cookies that I got and I must say it's REALLY good!

Mexican chips.

6th stop, Kmart.

Since it was still early after getting the burrito, we dropped by Kmart for a while to do some grocery shopping. All I have to say is, don't complain that food or things from Supa Save are expensive. Wait til you shop at their local supermarkets, they are slightly more expensive! 

@.@

Of course, I could never ever exit a supermarket without getting something. So, I bought some tomatoes and strawberries as snacks for the next day's road trip! Aaaahhh I miss them crunchy tomatoes and strawberries! Texture's really different from the ones we have here! Probably due to the distance the fruits have to be transported and them losing the crunchiness on the way here.

7th stop(last), home sweet home.

Enjoyed the burrito and fruits while we continued to catch up on talking and of course, resting.

 Fresh roses that Karen's housemate got!

Soooooo pretty!

 Fresh figs!

To be frank, that's my first time eating fresh figs and they are so so soooo sweet! I LIKE! I don't get why they are not being imported here. Supa Save, you know I love you right? :P

And that sort of sums up my Day 2. Lots of yummy food and a good companion. What more can a girl on holiday ask for?

:)

 Phewf~ Finally done writing this post. Have a great weekend guys!

 PS: Just wanna share something interesting that I saw from Bank Street Market. There's this booth that was selling kids' story books. Well, that's what I thought at first when I saw from far but I suddenly recalled Karen telling me about old story books being recycled and made into notebooks. I went to the booth and took a look at the books that the lady's got. Imagine old hardcover books with some missing pages and new lined papers for writing inside all bind by a spiral wire. Ok, explaining that is not easy at all. Please click here for Found n Bound's website! I was so tempted to get one but I have too many new and unused notebooks! Maybe one day I'll get one. Hehe...