Sydney eating and drinking

New place for Sushi, $3 for just about all the plates. You can also order from the computerised menu. Huge selection and of course they make fresh orders.
High turnover, so fresh and not bad for the price.
Sushi Hotaru
Shop $P1.01
500 George Street
Galeries Victoria
Sydney
www.yesfoodservicecom.au


We didn't eat in the restaurant, but had a nice malt whiskey and glass of wine in the bar section. Food was great, pizza with anchovies and a terrine. Definitely worth a visit for a pre show bite to eat, or a place to drink and snack.

Glass Brasserie, Hilton Hotel
488 George Street,
Sydney 2000
Tel: 61-2-9266-2000
www.glassbrasserie.com.au.

Sadly not open in the winter months, but from November to April, this is such a fun place to have a drink and enjoy Sydney harbour. Cocktail bar on Cockatoo Island.



A fantastic little cubby hole of a coffee shop. Coffee beans, coffee, food in the back streets of Annandale. Yes good coffee.

Little Marionette
18 Trafalgar Street
Annandale 2038
www.lilm.com.au

Joanne
Twitter

Sydney shopping

So I am thinking why not Sydney for hot tips.

These are great places for shopping.

Childrens toys, gorgeous clothes and furniture
Little Voice
Queen Victoria Building
Shop 34-36
www.littlevoice.com.au

Just across the corridor is

Just White
Shop 45
More children's toys, posh bunnies, dolls house furniture, collectible teddies and more

Lots of gorgeous places for stationery can also be found on this floor

Joanne Kee
www.placesandspaces.com.au

More Melbourne finds

Catch great wine bar Cabinet in Swanston Street, if you can find the entrance. Must have are the eggplant fries, great big melt in the mouth eggplant with crunchy skin and yummy sauce. Pizza is also good.

Entrance is in the laneway just at the back of Swanston.
11 rainbow alley
melbourne, victoria.
03 9654 0915

Mekong says on the sign, that Bill Clinton ate here. It is busy, you share tables and sauces. It is cheap as chips, well actually good cheap Pho in Sydney is about the same price. This one is on Swanston street as well.
Ground 241 Swanston Street
Melbourne VIC 3000

Mekong

Also a good place to catch for a coffee is Sensory Lab in David Jones. Photo to come, but what struck me is the single coffee tables or booths, is that for loners who want to savour their coffee?


And one of my favourites is Journal in the library. Good coffee and good food in a cosy cafe.
Journal
253 Flinders Lane
Melbourne
9650 4399

Just remember not all coffee is good in Melbourne. I had apalling coffee in Degraves Lane. They didn't even use the machine and just poured me a latte from the dregs. bah, humbug Melbourne coffee.

Gerroa, Shoalhaven and Berry

Some places we have just been to in the Gerroa, Shoalhaven, Berry, Nowra area.

Discovered a gem of a pub on the river.

the Heads Hotel
Shoalhaven Heads

Pub food, family friendly, uses fresh produce and its true, not packaged frozen veg. Very yummy. Definitely will be a return visit by me. They also hold farmers markets on weekends.

New owners at Seahaven at Gerroa, near the beach
Good coffee
Up market, Sydney type menu
things like roast peaches, mozzarella & prosciutto

Sourdough Bakery
23 Alfred Street, Berry
of course is always good for a coffee, meal and you can take away bread or pastries


The Emporium Food Co
1b 27B Queen Street
Berry
Lots of yummy food here, some made on the premises like the spinach, ricotto, sweet potato pie.
Large rolls, gourmet pies, desserts also looked good

Red Raven
55 Junction Street
Nowra
Up market lunch and dinner. Didn't quite live up to expectations ie confit on pan fried gnocchi, had gnocchi which was a little tough. Salmon special, I am afraid I cook better myself and I do a crunchy skin. However food is OK and service is very friendly and restaurant is nice.

Joanne
www.ceressolutions.com.au

Melbourne

Hopetoun Tea Rooms
Block Arcade
282 Collins Street
Melbourne 3000
03 9650 2777
www.hopetountearooms.com.au

Yummy cakes, for afternoon tea you need to book in advance. Located in the Block Arcade in the centre of Melbourne.













the Fawkner Bistro Bar
52 Toorak road west
South Yarra 3141
03 9867 5853
www.thefawkner.com.au

The steak was fantastic at the Fawkner, would definitely go back again.

Joanne Kee
www.ceressolutions.com.au

More Shanghai tips - language

Contrary to all that I had read beforehand I found it really easy to get around Shanghai, without having any Mandarin.

I had studiously learnt how to count, but found prices in English and Chinese. Where there could have been confusion at markets, there were calculators.

Metro has fares in English and Chinese.

One thing though, it does help to have addresses written in Chinese if you want to catch a taxi.

Joanne Kee
www.placesandspaces.com.au

Shopping areas in Shanghai

Definitely have your hotel translate these addresses or locations into Chinese before leaving the hotel, as you can then show it to your taxi driver.

Otherwise, you can manage most places without too much problem by catching the metro system.

Shopping area

Hongqiao International Pearl CityHours 10am to 9pm
Hongmei Road and Yan'an Elevated Road
(Near Longxi Rd S metro) but tricky to find because of multiple exits from metro, you need the address written in chinese.
However it is quite well known
Bags, stationery, Chinese stuff, shoes, videos, games, curio shops
2nd floor has jewellery, especially pearls and jade. I am told that the stuff here is real, not fakes.
There is a really good video/dvd/cd shop close by, but outside the complex.

Xintiandi
Hours 10am to 9 or later
Taxis will take you to taxi rank at the complex
(Near Huangpi Rd S metro)

This is another really well known tourist area where shops have been built in an upmarket laneway system. Places like Shanghai Tang, Tony & Guy for hair etc.

Lots of good restaurants, bars and shopping.

If you keep on walking through you will come to a warren of shopping malls
with western brand shops. The first one has restaurants like Crystal Jade, Dai ting Fung and a cinema complex. The next mall through is a really up market mall that is just opening November 2010, very chi, chi.

Taiking road
Hours 10am to 9 or later
Dapuquao metro - though quite confusing getting out in that Shanghai way, it is not obvious where the Taiking Road complex is. It is a warren of laneways, so just walk into the laneways.

Up market craft, pottery, Chinese curios, t-shirts, clothing, jewellery etc. You can find similiar things at the markets for cheaper prices.



If you are in this area don't miss the shop at the Liuli china Museum
25 Taikang Road.

This is a glass museum, exhibitions, building and layout are really worth catching. The shop has some very hip objects of desire. These include beautiful glass sculptures.

www.liulichinamuseum.com

Yuyuan Gardens and bazaar
Hours 10am to 9 or later
Yuyuan Gardens metro.
There are more markets than you can poke a stick at here. From very basic down at heel looking warrens which sell scarves, jewellery, stickers, stationery, sort of like a paddy markets, through to the shopping laneways near Yuyuan Gardens which have souveneirs, chopsticks, clothing etc. I found beautiful business card holders and keyrings for 20 yuan which sold for 120 in the art galleries in town.

People try to sell you bags all over the place, they will often show you pictures and offer to take you to their place. It is generally quite safe to go with them.

There are also household things for sale in one of the warrens of markets and an area that sells gold.

Nanjing Road and Peoples Park
Hours 10am to 9
Peoples Square metro.
This area has No. 1 Department store on Nanjing Road East and West. There are the things you would expect to find in a shopping strip.

There are also underground shops and mini markets that sell things like wigs, toys, scarves, bags, clothes, etc in the labyrinth of retail opportunities that connects to the subway.

Shiliupu Fabric Market
2 Zhonghua Road
Xiaonanmen metro

This is a treasure trove of fabrics and you can have tailor made clothes. A good tip is to take what you want and have it copied.

I paid in advance and had clothese delivered to my hotel and am happy with all my purchases, shirts, cashmere jackets, dresses etc. Though I have a little split in my cashmere jacket that I will have to fix. However my husband is very happy with his tailored shirts. There are also scarves, belts etc downstairs.

Tailoring takes 3-4 days. Shirts cost from 80 yuan, dresses from 200 upwards, cashmere jackets from 600 upwards.

French Concession East
This area also has loads of shops and the streets are interesting to wander.

Benny Peng
For beautiful stationery, photo albums, this is the warehouse location.

Benny Peng
Rm 509, No. 56, Lane 767
Wan Hang Du road
shang Hai 200042 P.R.C.
www.benypeng.com
There are so many shopping areas, you could spend all your time shopping, but that would be a shame, as there are lots of interesting things to see and do. However, it is nice to browse and wander the streets and absorb the different flavours of the various shopping areas.