The first station for today was Flipboard Cafe. Flipboard Café is a café that offers multi-level seating space with excellent coffee and awesome healthy food. A great place for some private time or relaxation! I feel that Flipboard Cafe is not really that popular for their coffee, but popular for their unique interior design, creating more sitting area by dividing the small space into many levels. The coffee is of the usual standard, and I realised they didn't do customized coffee cups, which to me, shows that they are not popular for their coffee.
FLIPBOARD CAFE
Opening hrs: 0700-1630hrs (Mon-Fri).
Address: 141 La Trobe Street, Melbourne VIC 3000.
#1: Flipboard Cafe.
#2: Interior of Flipboard Cafe.
#3: Interior of Flipboard Cafe.
#4: Interior of Flipboard Cafe.
#5: Barista counter.
#6: A nice corner to relax at!
Next, I got on the tram to Federation Square, where I catch the free shuttle bus to Chadstone Shopping Centre, which takes about 30mins. If you were to take public transport, it's going to be a 1-2hrs journey instead. Chadstone Shopping Centre is the biggest shopping centre in Australia, opened in 1960, with over 500 stores. Throughout the years, Chadstone has undergone numerous developments and only about 20% of the original mall structure is left intact. Chadstone is the first shopping mall to have its total worth valued at more than AU$1 billion and the first mall to have the highest annual turnover of AU$1 billion.
CHADSTONE SHOPPING CENTRE
Opening hrs: 0900-1730hrs (Mon-Wed), 0900-2100hrs (Thu, Fri), 0900-1800hrs (Sat), 1000-1700hrs (Sun).
Address: 1341 Dandenong Road, Chadstone VIC 3148.
* Free Fashion Shuttle from Federation Square (shuttle bus to Chadstone).
#7: Free shuttle services between Federation Square and Chadstone Shopping Centre.
#8: Chadstone Shopping Centre.
#9: Interior of Chadstone Shopping Centre.
#10: A beautiful Christmas tree put up by kikki.K!
#11: Interior of Chadstone Shopping Centre.
#12: Interior of Chadstone Shopping Centre.
#13: Interior of Chadstone Shopping Centre.
#14: Chinaware teapot as utensil holder, cool!
#15: Lindor chocolate truffles are one of the best chocolates ever! Rainbow 12-flavour Lindor tube, I've got to buy it! Flavours are: red - milk chocolate, dark pink - raspberry dark chocolate, dark brown - cappuccino, brown - hazelnut, gold - caramel, yellow - white chocolate, green - mint dark chocolate, dark green - peppermint dark chocolate, light green - milk and white chocolate spring edition, light blue - stracciatella (cookies and cream), dark blue - dark chocolate, and black - extra dark chocolate.
It's so cool that Lindor truffles comes in so many different flavours and every flavour is so unique and awesome! Other flavours include: lime green - citrus, dark purple - vanilla white chocolate, blue - sea salt milk chocolate, bluenish-green - sea salt caramel, aqua blue - coconut, pink - strawberries and cream, dark orange - peanut butter, champagne brown - irish cream, purple - almond, orange - orange dark chocolate.
Alright, back to here... I met up with my friend (who is studying in Melbourne) and her family for lunch and we had it at The Food Truck Park! The Food Truck Park is an initiative to bring together the finest Mobile Food Trucks to numerous locations throughout Australia. It gives them the opportunity and location to show off their culinary skills and to create a dynamic and unique environment where patrons come and enjoy many different food experiences, activities and events. So during my stay in Melbourne, The Food Truck Park was at Chadstone Shopping Centre and will only be there for about 2 months. I was really excited prior to visit as this is my very first time experiencing food trucks. I don't think you get any of this in Singapore?
THE FOOD TRUCK PARK
Available Period: 13th Nov 2015 to 3rd Jan 2016.
Opening hrs: 17th Nov 2015 to 3rd Jan 2015, 1100-2200hrs (Daily).
Address: Chadstone Shooping Centre near Coles, 1341 Dandenong Road, Chadstone VIC 3148.
* Free Fashion Shuttle from Federation Square (shuttle bus to Chadstone).
#16: The Food Truck Park.
#17: The Food Truck Park.
#18: The Food Truck Park.
#19: The Food Truck Park.
#20: The Food Truck Park.
#21: The Food Truck Park.
#22: The Food Truck Park.
#23: The Food Truck Park, her iced teas are awesome!
#24: Getting this Blueberry + Mint tea!
#25: Blueberry Mint Iced Tea, AU$5.
#26: Featuring some of the food we had...
#27: Buttermilk Chicken Fillets.
#28: Grilled Fish with Salsa and Chips.
#29: Sweet Potato Fries.
Gyoza Gyoza is a Izakaya-style bar that offers a wide range of homemade Japanese dumplings, better known as 'gyozas', and popular bar dishes from Japan. Gyoza Gyoza uses the best ingredients accompanied with the traditional techniques of gyoza making, producing the freshest and the finest Japanese dumplings. There are many different types of gyoza and fillings to choose from - steamed, fried, grilled; pork, chicken, beef, seafood, duck, or just vegetables. Since I already had my lunch, I went for their famous Matcha Soy Soft Serve instead.
GYOZA GYOZA
Opening hrs: 1100-2100hrs (Mon-Wed, Sat, Sun), 1100-2300hrs (Thu, Fri).
Address: Chadstone Shooping Centre, 1341 Dandenong Road, Chadstone VIC 3148.
* Free Fashion Shuttle from Federation Square (shuttle bus to Chadstone).
Last but not least, the place that I wanted to visit the most, I can skip all the rest of the places but definitely not this - Kmart! Kmart is soooooo nice to shop! Everything is so affordable and of quality materials, it's like Singapore's Diaso (though Melbourne has Daiso as well). This is the place that I spent the most money on, probably one-third of my expenses goes here. And they have like everything - clothes, toys, food, chocolate, books, decorative items, footwear, diningware, craft items, etc. I wish I could buy more but sadly there is only a certain limit that I could go before my luggage goes severly overweight.
#30: Gyoza Gyoza.
#31: Matcha Soy Soft Serve, AU$2.80.
KMART
Opening hrs: 0800-2200hrs (Mon-Wed), 0800-1900hrs (Thu), 0900-1900hrs (Fri), 0800-2000hrs (Sat, Sun).
Address: Chadstone Shooping Centre, 1341 Dandenong Road, Chadstone VIC 3148.
* Free Fashion Shuttle from Federation Square (shuttle bus to Chadstone).
#32: Kmart - shopping paradise!
#33: Today's shopping haul.
#34: All the shopping thus far!
Expenses for Day 8
Balance brought forward: $1,708.38
Flipboard Cafe: $4
The Food Truck Park: FREE (kindly treated by my friend's family!)
Blueberry Mint Iced Tea: $5
Matcha Soy Soft Serve: $2.80
Lindor Sea Salt Truffles (500g - about 40pcs): $14.95
Lindor 12-flavour Tube: $9.95
Birthday/Thank You Cards ($1 each): $12
Kmart:
Chocolate Mints (2 boxes) $4
Mini Christmas Cards (40pcs) $5
Baby Tank Tops - $3, $4, $5
Metal Die-cast Fire Rescue Toy Vehicles (5pcs): $5
Gingerbreadman Cookies (45pcs): $5
Coffee, Sugar Cookies and Mug Set: $5
Tea, Sugar Cookies and Mug Set: $5
Sandals: $7
Female Tank Tops (2pcs) $14
Baby Shorts - $8, $8, $10, $10, $10
Christmas Reindeer Plushie $9
Black Sling Fringe Bag $15
Sub-total: $1,889.08
#australia #travel #wanderlust #eat #shop #play #budget #melbourne #experience #melbourneexperience #holiday #cafe #melbournecafe #melbournefood #flatwhite #coffee #flipboardcafe #chadstone #chadstoneshoppingcentre #lindor #lindt #thefoodtruckpark #foodtruck #melbournefoodtruck #blueberryminticedtea #sweetpotatofries #buttermilkchicken #gyozagyoza #matchaicecream #matchasoysoftserve #kmart #shoppinghaul #shoppingspree #melbourneshopping