madame brussels @ bourke st., melbourne

A few weekends ago, J&I made a trip down to Melbourne to see Jamie Oliver (he was, to be expected, absolutely fabulous) and the rest of trip was just as fantastic. There's a few hundred photos from the weekend which I'll try to share as many with you and you'll see that J is really taking his photography quite seriously; it's vastly improved from when he first got his camera (which isn't all that long ago!)

The tickets for Jamie were for his Friday show so both of us took the Friday off and made the decision to fly in on a Thursday night. It's nice just to wake up in a new place and not have to make a mad dash to the airport first thing in the morning. 

Calmly waiting at the airport for our flight.

On arrival, J's cousin S took us to drinks at the much talked about Madame Brussel's on Bourke Street; as a heads up, you're probably going to miss it if you don't know that it's there. The sign is tucked away on the side of the wall and the place itself is actually on the top level of a building. On busy nights, apparently the queue extends down the 3 levels of stairs but seemed like we were in luck and no queue was in sight. Here we are seated and with the menu...

Loving all the pretty decorations! (although this is actually a photo of the toilet door!)

Here's a pretty seat which you can find in the indoor seating area. You can choose to sit outside or inside, both are just as nice as the other.

The window looking through to the bar (which was nice and close to our table!)

All of the signature drinks served at Madame Brussel's are served in jugs like these (and yep, that's a single chopstick for you to stir it all together). J&I ordered a singles jug (serves 2); alternatively you can order a doubles jug (serves 4). Continuing the tennis theme, do expect your drinks to come to the table served by a cute waiter in tennis shorts!

A fondue certainly makes for a great late night supper!

S was our designated driver for the night and she asked for the bar to mix up a random mocktail; a rather pretty one indeed.

Usually I'm in a foul mood when I get off a flight but drinks at Madame Brussels seemed to do the trick and wash away some of that foulness. And well, everyone is usually much better after a drink or two! I forget the name of the cocktail we had but I loved it. J thought it could've done with a bit more alcohol but being the lightweight that I am when it comes to alcohol, I thought it was just fine. 

And well, before we knew it, a few hours had drifted by and it was time to call it a night. Thank you so much S for taking us to Madame Brussels - such a pretty little space; if only we had something like this in Sydney!