Colonial Tramcar Restaurant - Wonderful Experience with new - found Melbournians!

Saturday evening, 1 September was one of the well-spent Saturday's evenings.
It was a beautiful 1st day of spring... guess the max temperature during the day was 17 deg cel. After my regular gym routine and running some errands, I set off to this much anticipated event, which I signed up about 2 months ago! Was looking forward to meeting the organizer as she was really very "organized" than some of the others I joined.
As usual, I enjoyed the weekend tram ride to the city (always nice to sit and not worry about driving and parking) and walked leisurely (along southbank) to the meeting point (Station 125 at corner of Claredon St). The tram station is quite impressive, it is a shelter specially made for this ride and there I met up with the rest of the group. We had a group of 12, occupying 3 tables of 4.
I was impressed when we board the tram, we were in this very nice colonial setting dining restaurant... and I sat with Gail, Rosie, and John. The tram had 2 cabins, separated by a small "kitchen" area, and each cabin served by 2 waiters with about 4x4 & 4x2 passengers on board. Without any delay, we started off the tram ride (at 8.30pm) and it was supposed to last 3 hours, travelling around Melbourne! Was pretty curious how we will be occupying this 3 hours ride. We we served Sparkling wine to start off with a plate of crackers and 2 antipasto: cream, liver and cognac pate and roasted red capsicum dip. All of us were chatting comfortably enjoying that appetiser, and curious about the route the tram will be taking...kindda tracking our location along the way, spotting the nice restaurants and I was fortunate to be with some Melbournians who knows and introduced me to some of the nice places as we passed them. The waiter was going around taking orders of our preference for the evening from a selection of entrees and main courses.
The entree was a choice of grilled kangaroo loin or smoked salmon and avocado mousse. I had the smoked salmon (serve with a glass of white wine) and thoroughly enjoyed it, except that I didn't quite appreciate too much of the avocado mousse. A bit too creamy and too sinful!
Chatting, enjoying the ride, looking out the windows and etc... in no time, they were serving our main course, and we were about 1 hour from the time we set off. Between char grilled chicken breast and prime beef fillet, I obviously chose the former for the same reason. Sound normal, but the taste was fabulous! I commented at some stage that it was pretty amazing how good the food can be despite the fact that it is a "tourists" type of restaurant. Usually the food is not the main focus for such attractions, but somehow, this is different. The food can be a very good draw, as they were prepared by a chef on board and served fresh and hot! As an indication, I cleaned up that dish... everyone of us did. Yummy!
We were at Albert Park when the tram stopped for a little breather for some people we needs them. I took this chance to take a photo of some of us in the group.
Then, came the serving of a selection of Australian cheese with dried muscatel grapes and crackers... we were into out last hour and obviously heading the opposite direction towards the South of Melbourne.
Shortly came our order of after-dinner drinks (pro isn't it?) I had the warm sticky date pudding while some had the chocolate mousse dome. Gosh, the pudding was sized right (not too much) and one of the nicest I enjoyed thus. I finished it craving for a little more! Finishing it with coffee and a glass of Tia Maria just topped the evening. Gosh, what a professional served 5 courses meal! The only flaw was the filter coffee rather than espresso or long black! But that disappointment was mitigated by some chocolates!
Before we realised, we did actually spent 3 full hours on the tram and were back at the starting by around 11.30pm! Didn't quite get enough of each other's companion, Sheena (organizer), John, Gail, Shella(?) and myself, head off to the Crown for a cuppa before heading home. We chatted and John was nice enough to give me a ride back. One of those evenings that I thoroughly enjoyed, with good food, a chance to see Melbourne and obviously with some new found "frens"/acquaintances.

Nice Places in Melbourne

Almost hate myself for bitching and bitching about this place.. thought I post something nice for a change. Tyring to look at the positive side and not dwell too much into the negatives... and hope that will help reduce my frustration (guess I don't need anymore than what I have at work).

Desserts
- Ackland Street(St Kilda) has heaps of desserts cafe (i.e enjoying a cuppa with your dessert!). Brilliant idea and they looks tempting BUT quite expensive and really didn't taste as good as they look! :-> Nonetheless, still a good place to hang out on a weekends or weeknights after a long day of work!

- Greensborough. In fact, I believe that the suburbs have some of the nicest deserts places. Cna't remember the name of this particular Cake shop which serve one of the best Rum Balls! Seriously, the best I have ever eaten.. with rich Rum flavour, soft fillings and crispy chocolate chips coated on the outside. I would go all out to buy from there!

- Chapel Street. How can I forget my home ground? Well, there are a few, 2 that caught my attention. One near Toorak Road, and the other near High Street. Obviously pricey, but believe they are nice.

- Chocolate Factory at HighPoint Shopping Center. Very tempting set up. Nice chocolate with a variety of crepes and pancakes, with different fillings and etc... wonderful indulgence!
==> None of the above are as "refine" as those found in Singapore!

Pubs and Bars
- Martinis Club at Westin Hotel. A$18.00 for a glass of martini! Expensive but quite good quality! It reminds me of a S$13.50 a glass at Mortan's Bar in Singapore! Believe I tried something called "Borie" which is a mixture of Fragelico, Kahlua, and Espresso! Very nice indeed. Thoroughly enjoyed the drink.

- The Long Room. Crowded. A place to see and to be seen. Nice deco (even the people decorate themselves). Can be a bit loud... good if you wanna some place "happening"!
==> Still looking around for some clubs/pubs with Live Jazz.

Restaurants
- Dim Sum:
Have not been too a lot but there are 3 which are nice that I have tried.
1. Red Leaf at Sunshine. Cantonese, booking essential
2. Box Hill... this Taiwanese named restaurant that serve really good dim sum with good ambiance.
3. Sharks Fin in Chinatown. A little overrated and overcrowded till the boss is no longer friendly and the service is NOT fantastic. In fact, I did tell myself not to give them anymore of my business since they don't deserve it!
- Asian Food
1. Chinta Ria, South Yarra. Good Malaysian cuisine and friendly manager
2. David's, Prahan. Fantastic ambiance and good fusion food, typical Chinese food that resemble those from Crystal Jade.
- Others
1. Laurent, Toorak. Basically a cafe that serves really nice sandwiches! And the desserts are nice too!
2. Restaurant along Graham Road, Port Melbourne. Nice Aussie food... and nice ambiance
3. Stork House, Port Melbourne.

Will constantly explore and look out for better places to hang out and eat.

Getting An Internet Broadband Connection - Sounds Easy?

You are absolutely wrong! At least NOT in this country!
I tried, I tried and I tried... 3 attempts to do so with 'Mobile 3' one of the many service provider.
- First, no identity/proof of residence, cannot
- Then no passport, cannot
- Then Credit check, can't verify my employment, lots of problems.

Excuse me? I am paying the bill (and it's not cheap), why do I have to go through all these pain? The 'normal' me would have boycotted the company and NOT give them my business (since they don't deserve it)... but when here, I am NOT normal. I can't be... cause my options are limited, at least for the price I am willing to pay! The service providers here are ALL blood suckers! They drink blood in bright daylight. It's definitely not a consumer world... cause consumers have really no say but to live with those crappy services and hack-care/stuck up (take it or leave it) attitude! #&$#!@!

Am I too pampered in Singapore for being treated as I deserve as a customer? Or am I asking for too much? U know what? I believe any customer oriented and developed countries wouldn't have been like that. Competition and consumers' right to choose wouldn't have allow those businesses to survive... that's the norm, but not here... definitely NOT.

The sad truth is, I will be going back to that provider again this week to sign up for the connection... I despise myself for doing that, but I really have no choice since I am too lazy to search for a better provider and I'm not willing to pay for any hardware cost or a LAN line. In Chinese, the term is "Jian"! Sigh!