Newmarket Hotel's launch party

RNIS was invited and they did not have to pay.

Newmarket Hotel has been blogged about extensively by many foodies about their good food and wine service. But they have been too expensive for some.

Some sort of vegetarian pizza

I had wanted to try out their cocktails and cocktails I did. I loved their gin and tonic and their Aperol spritz which has champagne and liqueur. My friend had two rounds of orange juice and complained that there was no burgers. I in fact came early and got all.

First up was the chicken parma on a stick. This was cooked really well.

Then there was the cheese balls with the sweet sauce. I really enjoyed that sweet sauce. It worked a treat for a lot of people.

The two pizzas that we tried were a simple margherita and a ham one. I loved the simple margherita with onion in there.

Most people loved the chicken wings and that sauce. Ooh man they were the bomb.

The calamari was a bit a small and a bit oily.

The lamb was really good. I loved the harissa spice in there which gives it that nice kick.

The mac bites were fingerlicklingly good. So good that I had a huge bowl of cheesey goodness.

Do come by to the ever popular Newmarket Hotel and thanks for the invite Newmarket Hotel.

Jasper Hotel

RNIS did not have to pay for their meals or drinks at the Jasper Hotel as Entertainment publications paid for this.

This year we are raising money for the Salvation Army. This is because there are so many people who are homeless and in light of the Lord Mayor's plan to get rid of them the Salvos are at a breaking point. They try to help but either they have lack of resources or people refused the help.

Here the Jasper Hotel has received many good blog posts. Some of which are from Eat and be merry and Gastrology.

Here we both had sparkling water and I could not have any sweet things due to Febfast as I am supposed to be quitting sweets for a month.

But however I had a filling cheese okomiyaki for $8.9. Here it looked small but filling due to all that cheese on the top.

Many thanks to Entertainment publications for the invite and do buy the Entertainment book when the new version is released in April as they have 25%, 50% off and 2-for-1 offers. The book is $70 but they have a lot of offers which expire in June 2018. You can also buy the app for the same price.

Lane Restaurant

Lane Restaurant is in the Novotel hotel and its part of the Accor group. They do breakfast buffet as well as a la carte brunch, lunch and dinner. Here it was quiet at 11:50am when I came as they had just finished breakfast. Moreover the staff were really slow at taking my order and giving it. It took them five minutes to take my order and 25 mins to wait for a salmon bagel with scrambled eggs.

Dining area

Juice

They must have had a lot of room service orders and there was a big conference going on next door so they might have had to cater to that.

But the salmon bagel was not worth the hefty price tag of $19. Still the salmon was fresh and the bagel was good. And because of the wait the side of eggs and juices were free. The scrambled eggs was just ok.

The next time I come it will be for a drink only unless I want to wait ages. At least the guys were friendly and the place was clean.

Ibis restaurant

I only went there for coffee in the morning.

IBIS restaurant is part of the IBIS hotel which is on Therry Street in Melbourne. It is right near the Queen Victoria Market and I have passed by this place many times.

The tennis poster offering the shake

Here they do offer a Breakfast buffet but they already finished it by 10am when I arrived. It was ok by me as I had just had breakfast.

As it was a hotel restaurant their staff were quite friendly.

As it was Australian open, they had an Australian Open shake for $7. They also showed some of the Australian open on TV and they had ping pong tables in their restaurant where customers can play.

The latte was $4 and it was burnt and bitter. Although it had nice artwork.

Do come by for a meal or two.

Platform 270 at Hilton

Platfrom 270 is Hilton's newest bar and restaurant. The Hilton has been around for quite a while now. It was quiet for a Wednesday night. They too have been quiet on their social media page with not a lot shares and bloggers alike.

Platform 270 is right next door to my gym and I have eyed it a number of times, but never found the courage to go in. They have $20 meal deals which include a drink and a main depending on the day. This is a huge place which you can easily mistake for a bar because it is so dark.

The risotto that day was a prawn and pea risotto. It was not too cream which is great but there was not a lot of prawns in there. I would have liked there to be more. But the rice was fluffy and the sauce was good.

Seeing as I am trying to cut back on alcohol I had lemonade. Normally it comes with wine but I went with lemonade. I am on a bit of a health kick so no desserts or starters for me.

Rating: 11/20- an ok meal but good deal though