Bellota Wine bar

I have been to this place a few times and am hooked on trying their wines. They don't have much in terms of food but they do have a lot in terms of wine.

Their wines change weekly depending on what the Prince Wine store has on offer. I usually like white wines with oysters and raw seafood. It is the same with champagne. Then I like red wines and shirazes with pastas, cooked meat and seafood dishes. A riseling works best with prawn and chicken dishes.

The bar staff at the place is lovely and knowledgeable. Here they were training another new employee on all the wines and all the things in the shop. The atmosphere in the bar is warm and welcoming.

I love their oysters and the mingonette sauce as it worked well with the wine. The oyster itself does't seem to be fresh as I had a hard time getting it out of the shell.

The souradough bread that I had last time was lovely and divine.

Do come by for the wines and the tastings.

Clocks

Clocks is an old Pokies venue at Flinders St station. But did you know that they are also a bar? Well, it's true. They look like pokies from the outside but they are not.

Here they have old school drinks at old-school prices. We went there on Friday when it is wine and whine. Wine and whine is about promoting venues which have happy hour and drinks at reasonable prices. Food too.

I tried a Crown lager and he had a pot of Carlton. Both the drinks were $5.50. It is $5 for members. He also had a glass of coke.

We were served by a lovely English lady who enjoyed looking after the customers. He had been here many times.

We shared a bowl of chips and wedges. Here they are $6 and $7.50 respectively. They were good and they came out quickly after we ordered. We were hungry so we dived into them and they were divine. It's a pity that they don't do meals or spring rolls here.

Do come by for the cheap drinks and it is $5 for a one-year membership to this place which includes free food.

Chalawan

RNIS did not have to pay for the curry and the drink but paid for the Pad Thai.

Chalawan turned one and they are still going strong. This is a place in Collingwood known for good Thai food and cocktails. It is the Cookie of Collingwood as in everything here is expensive. All the drinks are around the $19 mark but they do have half priced drinks for Friday between 7pm-10pm.

The place is on Smith st via tram and its easy to get to.

The staff behind the bar are great. They were friendly and attentive. The bathrooms are behind a door and they smell. But the smell isn't too bad though.

Thai the Knot is a Thai cocktail with a lime flavour to it. I felt that there was not a lot of alcohol in this and I would have liked a bit more. For $19 it was a bit on the pricey side.

The Pad Thai was great and I loved the king prawns. Here they used rice noodles. There wasn't a lot of egg in this and I would have liked a bit more.

The beef curry was also great and for $19 it should have included rice. Here there was not much meat and a lot of sauce. But the beef was tender and the sauce was a little bit on the sweet side. This curry is not too spicy for those that don't like spice.

Rating: 12/20- its just ok. A bit pricey though but do come here for your Friday night drinks.

Oakdene vineyard and Portarlington

We went to Ocean Grove for the day just to visit a friend. Yep me, Friend A and B. Here Oakdene had some nice views and the cafe there was great.

Friend A and B didn't really like the food all that much. But I enjoyed the pizzas and they would be great with a glass of wine. Here we ordered potato pizza and ham and mushroom pizza. I could taste the truffle in the potato pizza and I liked that very much. A white wine would work well with this.

Gardens

Linguini

Pizzas

As well as marinara, fish with apple slaw and crab cakes. I have had better marinara in the city which was worth the price tag. This marinara here was not fresh and the linguini was about a day or two old. It broke easily and there was too much sauce to it.

The apple slaw was very vinegary. Here the fish had a lot of batter and it was hard to eat. But the batter was crispy. It was a beer battered fish,

Whilst going around the vineyard and exploring my friends had coffee and they didn't enjoy it that much. I saw that they had high tea going for $45 which is a little bit pricey. They also had $5 tastings for their well known wines. For me that is also expensive seeing as city gives it for free. But I did love their dukkah.

The pier

The pier again

After lunch we went to Portdarlington which is about a ten minute drive away. There, there was lovely sea on a lovely sunny day. Here there was a mussel stall selling mussels at $5 a kg. Friend A wanted some so she got.

And then we walked off lunch. Around the bay we went and enjoyed some of the sights and here are the pictures.

Do come up for a road trip away from the city when you want a break.