Good company (but not so great food)
So, I spent the weekend with A to celebrate our anniversary…and all we did was eat!
First, we started out with a light lunch of some gyoza at a little sidewalk Japanese bistro called Yoyogi on Swanston St
Cheap, fairly average food but decent for a quick meal.
Next stop was Max Brenner for a decadant dessert - I forgot to take a picture of our dish, but we had the waffles, which is belgian waffles, drizzling milk chocolate, mountains of fresh strawberries and a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. Oh, and I forgot to mention that he also had a hot chocolate and I had a white chocolate and strawberry frappe 
Not what we had, but still looks great. This is the chocolate pizza at Max Brenner - a specialty cafe in Melbourne that serves NOTHING but chocolate drinks and food!
After that, we needed to take a bit of a walk…in order to get to Crown Casino, the location of our dinner restaurant, JJ’s Bar and Grill Whilst we were crossing the bridge, we were treated to a fantastic light show as the fire columns outside the complex went off.
The fire show begins…
And lightens the entire night sky!
We’d both been looking forward to dinner at JJ’s as we’ve never gone to a posh nosh restaurant together before…but I must admit that the service was less than fantastic at best. Other than the girl who took our orders, the rest of the wait staff were extremely fake, uninterested and the quality of service was disappointing (our bread basked was removed before we were done with it, a waiter spilled wine on our table and didn’t apologise or offer to seat us anywhere else, another waiter forgot to give A a steak knife, and the waiter who spilled the wine walked away after asking how the food was and didn’t wait for a response). I doubt I’d be interested in going back there, but A said he might if it was to try the seafood grill for two.
Our starter - the tasting platter with chicken skewers in the top left corner, chilli grilled calamari in the top right, prawns in the middle, scallops in the bottom left and mushrooms in pesto in the bottom right.
A’s Victorian Farm ribeye served with a red wine jus - he was pretty disappointed with it.
My milk-fed veal in a mushroom sauce - I found it was far too overcooked, the edges being extremely difficult to chew, though A said it was far better than his ribeye (I ended up giving him most of it).
And of course, the token vegetables - a green leaf salad with tomato and avocado in white balsamic and olive oil dressing. Pretty decent, but it’s hard to go wrong with a simple salad like this.
After our meal, we sauntered back towards Elizabeth St to A’s tram stop, and witnessed some kids running around through the Crown complex fountains outside…
Melbourne city by night is a gorgeous thing to behold…
I know I haven’t made anything new in awhile (I have been cooking, but quick, familiar recipes as I’ve been buggered and busy), but I’ll probably give something else a try later this week.
Technorati Tags: relationships, anniversaries, restaurants, Max Brenner, JJs Bar and Grill
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Comments
Hey there Rachel 
I think I was the most disappointed, Alastair tends to be a lot more forgiving about food than I am it honestly wasn’t that bad, but the food certainly wasn’t worth the $115 bill we received. Ahh well, there’s always next time
And Max Brenner’s is absolutely amazing, the store we went to had a giant vat of chocolate being mixed/tempered…felt very much like Augustus Gloomp You can see their catalogue at http://www.maxbrenner.com.au/
Oh wow thats an absolute feast!
I love Max Brenners.. if they never closed I would consider living there. I’ve also had the wafles, but I think my favourite is the chocolate souffle.
Nice pics BTW.
I’m so glad you guys had a great time! Your pictures are fabulous and make me want to see Australia in all it’s glory even more badly than before! I fear now though, that if I went.. I’d end up stowing away in the back of the chocolate restauant and beg them to adopt me. Congrats on your 6 mos. anniversary! *hugs*
Hey Jen - ahh, a fellow Max addict I absolutely know how you feel - hell, if I could afford it, I’d just buy the whole damn store! I’ve had the souffle before, but the last few bites were sheer agony. “Must…eat….can’t….waste…”
My friend told me to leave it if I couldn’t finish it. PFFFFFFFFFFTH! Not finish a Max Brenner dish? Was she insane? I think so 
Lisa - I’m tellin ya girl, Melbourne is definetely the place to be, it’s got foodie things to cater to eeeeevery taste and dietary requirement! Hehehe, the chocolate restaurant would be pretty dangerous though Perhaps you could chain yourself to the vat of chocolate? Then they’d HAVE to keep you
And thanks for the congrats - it’s been a loooong time since I landed a quality man, and Alastair is by far the best I’ve ever been with I’m a lucky gal to have him!
Sorry your dinner wasn’t so hot. That happened to my husband and I on our first wedding anniversary, so I know how disappointing that can be. The all chocolate restaurant looks awesome though!