Superlative sipping {The Carlton Wine Room- Review}

When I say 'The Carlton Wine Room' I always have a little swoon in my voice. I lived in Fitzroy when the gorgeous building that houses it, showed signs of new life. I walked past and saw the signs being mounted. I peered through the window at the menu. And then finally, one day, we popped in for a glass of wine. It was exceptional. Yes, the wine, but everything about the place was too- the wine list, the service, the ambience. We kept promising ourselves we would come for dinner one night but, as always, our budget is more in line with a special glass of wine or two and then home for cheese on toast :(

So, finally, three years after it opened, multiple drop-in glasses of wine and dinner promises later, we made it for dinner.

But of course, we had to relish our tradition of sitting at the window table and swooning over a glass of wine first

Did I mention the wine list is exceptional?

These are a few of my fa-vour-ite things {Melbourne}

When I work in the the Queen Vic markets I often end up becoming the tourist information centre as well. This is in due to the corner location of the wine shop and the fact that we are actively offering wine tasting and so are pretty approachable. I love it when people ask for suggestions of what they should eat/drink/see in Melbourne so I thought I'd share some of my favourites here (warning that it is fairly North-centric)


Carlton Gardens
I used to walk through these gardens almost everyday. It is a beautiful oasis right on the edge of the city. Filled to the brim with possums it can be quite freaky at night as they all stop and watch you as you walk past. There is a fabulous water fountain on the edge of the gardens in front of the old exhibition building. A lovely park for a picnic.

 A close-up reveals that this little fella doesn't enjoy having water spat on his willy by a turtle.