Christina chose to put us up at The Novotel on Collins Street and I think it’s the best place we’ve stayed at so far as it’s right in the thick of the city’s best spots. This was the view out our window, into the mall!
The meeting I had with the Cycling Express guys (see previous post below) almost killed me. A combination of not getting enough sleep the night before, catching a plane first thing in the morning then taking a crazy long cab drive out to the warehouse (which was out of town) for a 3hr meeting.
Despite being tired we both managed to check out the Tutankhamun exhibition which is now on at the Melbourne Museum.
The exhibit was pretty rad as far as these things go, some of the items on display from Tutankhamun’s tomb are over 3000 years old. The only thing that bothered me was that these belongings were dug out and put on display (these goods were buried with him so he could take them with him to the afterlife after all), that and the insane amount of bad consumer goods in the shop on exit, but if you do manage to catch it be sure to get the audio tour, well worth it.
CHINCHIN on Flinders Lane.
Drinks menu – nice graphic design language throughout the space.
The Mandarin Duck was awesome.
Roti.
They gave us the bug for free.
Liz, her guy Jan was too shy for pics, saying he even hates mirrors haha!
Later that night we caught up with Christina’s friends Liz and Jan who both now live in Melbourne. The initial plan was to go to MoVida, a much respected Spanish restaurant in Hosier lane (my fave Melbourne graffiti covered lane), but they were packed out. We ended up at CHINCHIN. We had no idea whether or not the food was going to be good (Asian with a focus on Thai) but the place was buzzing so we gave it a go.
We had to wait about 20 minutes for a table, and once we were sat down we were moved onto a better table, but then we were getting orders which were not ours (I assume from a table of people who were moved elsewhere). Some of the dishes we ordered had sold out too, which was a little disappointing, but the entree’s came out fast and they were excellent. It was a bit of a wait for the mains and with all the stuff ups they decided to give us a free dish which was awesome (we weren’t even thinking about complaining as the food was so damn good!).
It turns out that they’ve only been open for 2 days (which explains all the cuffaful). I highly recommend the place though, what a killer find!
I saw that exhibition in Manchester last year, I agree a bit sad it was all removed, the french nicked a lot of it. They loved cats alright and what’s with organs in seperate Jars? The best bit for me what the boxes inside boxes inside boxes all in a room just big enough to contain them. You would have loved all the detail I’d imagine!
Yeah loved the detail Ben, hard to believe some of the stuff was over 3000 years old. I had to work hard to stop that damn sci-fi movie “stargate” from popping into my head a few times though hahaha.