Date #13 - Burgers - The Burger Lounge and feeding the ducks

N has been very busy at work lately so we've not had time for too many dates but on Sunday we were finally able to make some time for a proper date so we went to The Burger Lounge (902 Main Road, Eltham). N had heard great things about it and had wanted to go for ages so it was a no brainer.

I ordered the Beef Grande (pictured) and N had the Lounge Signature Burger and we split some onion rings which came with an aioli. Everything was absolutely delicious particularly the onion rings. The burgers were huge and by the end I nearly had a cramp in my jaw from chewing but definitely worth the trip out.

Afterwards we went to a nearby park and went for a long walk as well as brought some old bread and fed the ducks by the pond. Very relaxing, although the walking after eating so much probably wasn't the best order.

 
Cost: 
The Burger Lounge: Lounge Signature burger $13, Grande Burger $13.50, Onion rings $5.80

Total cost: $32.30
Night of the week: Sunday

Date rating: 8.5/10

Verdict: The burgers were definitely delicious although not the healthiest option. Feeding the ducks though is a nice activity to add onto another date in the future and is also free.

Date #12 - Weekend Brunch - Balderdash

Image Courtesy: Urban Spoon

N and I have been to Balderdash Cafe (295 Bay St, Port Melbourne), many many times so I thought I should add it to our list of dates. Weekend brunch is something we both love to indulge in as I can never poach eggs, let alone more than one at a time as well as someone at a cafe can.

At Balderdash I generally switch between ordering the Corn, zucchini & haloumi fritters with crushed avocado (pictured above) and a poached egg and the Avocado, lime & goats cheese on turkish bread, topped with a soft poached egg topped with a poached egg. N always orders eggs benedict and we both love to add on a LOT of sides. They are very quick to serve you and are consistently very good. They have a large communal table and lots of smaller tables too both inside and out.

Afterwards we do sometimes try and go for a walk up the street to try and work some of it off, but usually I try and go to the gym beforehand as after a big brunch I don't want to do much!

Cost: 
Balderdash Cafe: Corn Fritters $14, Eggs Benedict, $16, Tea, $4 x 2, + lots of sides

Total cost: $52
Night of the week: Saturday

Date rating: 9/10

Verdict: Always always love brunch and will definitely be repeating this date as we have done many many times before .

Date #11 - Outside In Cinema & Melbourne Vietnamese Noodle House

Image Courtesy: State Library of Victoria

For our latest date I decided to take N and I to Outside In (State Library, 328 Swanston St, CBD), the free cinema put on by the State Library of Victoria every few weeks on a Wednesday night. It is very good for a nice cheap date. They call it outside-in but the cinema is entirely enclosed, they set up multiple deck chairs and about 10 bean bags if you are early enough to snaffle one. N and I saw Summer Wars, a japanese-animation movie, it was good but it did start to drag a little bit at the end. They let you bring snacks in so we both had chocolate almond magnums, delicious!

For dinner beforehand we went to Melbourne Vietnam Noodle House (251 Swanston St, CBD) as we have been many times before because it is cheap and more importantly super quick which is what we needed. N had the hokien noodles and I had the beef salad and we split some rice paper rolls. The salad was good but not as good as they usually make. Their rice paper rolls are always delicious and I highly recommend them.

Cost: 
Melbourne Vietnamese Noodle House: $19
Dessert: $6 (2 Magnums)
Movies: Free - just make sure you book at least the day before as they issue tickets
Total cost: $25
Night of the week: Wednesday

Date rating: 8/10

Verdict: It was a nice night out, it would be improved if we'd liked the movie even more, it was good but just dragged at the end. A very cheap date night though to do again.

Date #10 - Movie Date & Snag Stand

Image courtesy: Weekend Notes

For our latest date N and I decided on a very traditional dinner and a movie date as we had both wanted to see the new Batman movie The Dark Knight since it came out. We didn't have much time before the movie started as we had booked to go at 7.30pm on a work night so we needed to grab something quick to eat so we decided to go to the Snag Stand at Melbourne Central (Cnr La Trobe & Swanston St, CBD).

I had the 'Backyarder' which is a beef and tomato sausage on a roll with coleslaw, bbq sauce and cheddar cheese. N had the 'WeissWurst' which is a german sausage on a roll with sauerkraut and mustard. We both ordered chips on the side, mine with truffle aioli, N's with curry ketchup. It was AMAZING, we split the snags which was easy to do and very date friendly as they come cut in half already. N's could have used some tomato sauce but overall it was good. The chips were out of this world particularly with the truffle aioli which gave it a slight mushroom taste. I wasn't a big fan of the curry ketchup, it sort of tasted like curry powder mixed in with tomato sauce but it was still edible.

We saw The Dark Knight at Hoyts in Melbourne Central. Whilst we both enjoyed the movie we both definitely didn't enjoy seeing it at Hoyts. N had been given a movie voucher and we had tried to book online the day before to see if that night but they don't take online bookings with vouchers so we had to go in there and book it for the next night to get a good seat. We bought 2 choc tops and a bottle of water and it was over $15, which I know is pretty standard movie prices but when you have a $50 voucher you would think it would cover the cost of 2 tickets and some movie food.

Cost: 
Snagstand: $26.60
Movies: $55
Total cost: $81.60 (with the voucher it cost us really only $31.30)
Night of the week: Monday

Date rating: 7.5/10

Verdict: It was a good date night, we both very much enjoyed the movie and the food but I would definitely not choose to go back to Hoyts any time soon which is why I've rated the date lower than it deserves.

Date #9 - The Sharing House

Image courtesy: The Age

N and I decided to try The Sharing House at South Wharf (35 Dukes Walk, South Wharf) for one of our recent date nights. It is best described as an upmarket Tapas restaurant as most dishes are designed to share. We had the rabbit and cauliflower popcorn, chips, fondue, jamon pizza and the corned beef hash. Everything was absolutely delicious, in particular the fondue which was basically a whole camembert that had been baked in the over and you dipped crusty bread and carrot sticks into. The rabbit and cauliflower popcorn was also amazing both texturely and taste wise.

We shared a bottle of wine and they seated us near the water which was very romantic. The bill coming out is never usually a great experience but it was presented to us inside duplo with a little duplo man on top see picture below:

Cost: 
The Sharing House: $110
Total cost: $110
Night of the week: Thursday

Date rating: 8/10

Verdict: It was a nice date night out, not the cheapest but certainly not the most expensive either. Somewhere we will definitely go back to.

Date #8 - Andrew's Hamburgers and Albert Park Lake

Image courtesy: The Age

Last Wednesday N and I went to Andrew's Hamburgers at 144 Bridport St, Albert Park to pick up some hamburgers. N ordered a burger with the lot and I ordered mine with cheese, tomato and pineapple. We had to wait about 25 minutes for them to be ready so in that time we went for a quick walk around Albert Park which was nice.Once our burgers were ready we took them down to Albert Park Lake which is about a 10-15 minute walk from Andrew's and ate them by the lake and they were absolutely delicious. Also there is nothing more satisfying than eating a hamburger and watching people run around the lake, sort of like watching the Biggest Loser and eating pizza.

After eating we walked a lap of the lake which took just under an hour and although it was a little windy it was a nice simple date that we both really enjoyed. It was also a much healthier date than some of our other ones in the past since we did a lot of walking and even without getting chips on the side the burgers were very filling and more than enough.

Cost: 
Andrew's Hamburgers: $20.50
Total cost: $20.50
Night of the week: Wednesday

Date rating: 8/10

Verdict: It was a nice cheap and for the most part healthy date and I would definitely plan something like this again, at least in the summer months.

Date #7 - Food crawl

Image courtesy: The Age

For our next date I decided to plan a food crawl for N and I, basically going to 3 different restaurants for entree, main and dessert. To start with I took N to The Little Press and Cellar  at 72 Flinders Street which is part of Press Club but is a smaller version of the restaurant. The service and food were impecable but the price was a lot more expensive than I expected it to be. We had an appetiser and 2 entree dishes to shares with a couple of glasses of wine and some mineral water and it ended up being $110. For next time I would probably just get another few dishes and go for a proper dinner than as part of a food crawl.

Next up we went to Izakaya Den, a Japanese style tapas & bar place at 114 Russell Street. After walking around for a whilst trying to find the place, we discovered it was down a discreet set of stairs. We were given a table for 2 at the bar which was good as you can watch them cook your dishes whilst you wait. I really enjoyed this place and it'd be a good place to go back for Friday night work drinks since a lot of the food is smaller snacks. We had 3 dishes and a bottle of sake, all for $60.

For our last place we went to Bar Lourinha a wine and tapas bar at 37 Little Collins Street. We seriously over indulged and had the cheese selection and chocolate and hazelnut mousse. Both were absolutely delicious, although it was so busy that we had to sit around a smaller table for about half the time that we were there, but the waiters were great and as soon as space at the bar opened up they moved us up there.

Cost:
Little Press: $110
Izakaya Den: $60
Bar Lourinha: $60
Total cost: $230

Night of the week: Wednesday

Date rating: 8/10

Verdict: Had I known it would have cost so much I may have just taken N to one fancier restaurant but still nice to try all these places.

Date #6 - Hot Springs

Image courtesy: Peninsula Hot Springs

N took me for another day date down to the Mornington Peninsula Hot Springs for a nice relaxing date. We decided to use the public springs since the private baths were a lot more expensive. We went at about 3pm on a Saturday afternoon and unfortunately for us it was extremely busy! The pools were all very nice and hot but with the amount of people in them at any time you were less than an arms length from someone else, not very romantic to say the least. We found the hotter pools at the top to have a lot less people, however they say you aren't meant to spend longer than 15 minutes in them.

We also used their sauna at the end which was actually nice and relaxing and there weren't as many people in them as the pools itself.

Cost:
Mornington Peninsula Hot Springs: $35 per person (Peak)
Total cost: $70

Night of the week: Saturday

Date rating: 6.5/10

Verdict:The pools were just way too busy, if we were to go again, I'd either go at an off-peak time or pay the extra and book a private pool instead.

Date #5 - Mountain Goat Brewery

Image courtesy: Broadsheet

I took N tonight to the Mountain Goat Brewery, which is at 80 North Street in Richmond, off Bridge Road. We went on our normal Wednesday night which is the only other night apart from Friday nights that it is open. As a bonus on a Wednesday night they do a Brewery Tour at 6.30pm which lasts about 25 minutes and N and I both enjoyed as they explain their whole brewing process, including getting to taste the grains they use to make the beers from.

The Brewery is basically a big warehouse with a bar and some tables and chairs on one side and the brewery equipment itself on the other side. N and I had 2 of their rustic style pizza's which were tasty, not the best I've ever had but good for the price.


Cost:
Mountain Goat: $10 per pizza + drinks $40
Total cost: $60

Night of the week: Wednesday

Date rating: 8/10

Verdict: I enjoyed this as much as someone who doesn't drink beer but I enjoyed it more since I knew N would like it which he did. Highly recommend as a nice cheap date.

Date #4 - Healesville sanctuary & wine tasting

Image courtesy: Herald Sun

N planned this date night and once again we were busy on our usual Wednesday night so planned to have a day date on Saturday instead. On route to our destination we firstly stopped past good old Red Rooster, and got lunch. One can never go past a cheesy nugget or five!

Afterwards we arrived at our actual destination which was Healesville Sanctuary. Such a great idea! We started off looking at the birds including the broody emus. One of the highlights by far was watching the bird show which included watching an eagle catch food that was thrown up in the air with its claws.

On the drive home we saw that Yalumba Winery was open and stopped in for a wine tasting. The staff and wine were both really nice and we ended up buying 2 bottles, a Shiraz and a Cabernet Sauvignon from their Y series which are pretty well priced.

Cost:
Red Rooster: $25
Healesville Sanctuary: $25.40 per person
Yalumba Wine: $25 per bottle
Total cost: $125.80

Night of the week: Saturday

Date rating: 10/10

Verdict: Even though this was an expensive date, I really enjoyed it. It's not a date you could repeat every year but definitely worth doing at least once every couple of years.

Date #3 - Breakfast bagels

Image courtesy: The Age

For this date night we missed going on Wednesday night so this was our first Saturday daytime date. I had the idea to go to The Hardware Societe but the wait was a minimum 25 minutes to be served, which is great if you are happy to wait but we were starving so we decided to give it a miss - one to add to the list for another time.

So N suggested we try Manchester Press a bagel place at 8 Rankins Lane (Off Little Bourke St). This isn't just any bagel place, this is THE bagel place. You get a choice of bagel from plain, wholemeal, poppyseed and sesame seed and a range of different toppings. The place is very funky with both individual tables and a couple of larger communal style tables in a big warehouse. I had the soft boiled egg with smoked salmon and avocado bagel and N had the Chorizo bagel, both were delicious and around $11 each making it a pretty cheap breakfast.

Afterwards we went literally around the corner to Brother Baba Budan, meant to be one of the best coffee places in Melbourne. I'm not a coffee drinker so I had a hot chocolate which was delicious and N had a standard latte and was very impressed.

After that we did some window shopping and went for a very lazy stroll around the CBD.

Cost:
Manchester Press: $30
Brother Baba Budan: $7
Total cost: $37

Night of the week: Saturday

Date rating: 9/10

Verdict: Great date, and have since been back to Manchester Press for bagels again, definitely a great breakfast date or even a lunch date and nice and cheap too!

Date # 2 - Chinese & bowling

Image courtesy: The Age

For date night #2, it was N's turn to plan the date and we started with dinner at  Red Silks a Chinese restaurant at Level 1, 200 Bourke Street. It is a large restaurant with so many different menu choices at pretty decent prices. We shared an entree and each had a main and a glass of wine and it was delicious.

Afterwards we went to Strike Bowling at QV and bowled 2 games. Unfortunately N beat me at both games, the second game by a 3 pins, very frustrating but still heaps of fun. I always love bowling although it can add up to be quite expensive.

Cost:
China Red: $50
Bowling: $26 per person for 2 games
Total cost: $102

Night of the week: Wednesday

Date rating: 9/10

Verdict: I really enjoyed this date, even if I didn't win at bowling. It was a shame no pool tables were free after we'd finished but that would be a nice add on for next time.

Date #1 - Pintxos, Pool & Jazz Club

Image courtesy of Graham Denholm, Timeout

For our first date I took N to Naked for Satan, a cheap Pintxos place on 285 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. Pintxos are pieces of bread with different toppings skewered with a toothpick. The toppings at Naked for Satan range from blue cheese with an eggplant chip, to frittata to cheese and salami as well as some dessert ones. Since we went on a Wednesday night they only cost $1 per piece and they charge you by the amount of toothpicks you have at the end. It was absolutely delicious and we shared many Pintxos over a bottle of wine.

Afterwards since we had some time to spare we went and played a quick game of pool up the road at The Cue Club which cost $5 for a game. It is not the most inviting place but good for a quick game.

Then we finished the night at Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, it was $15 each. The show started at 9pm and was really funky and nice to watch some very talented musicians play. There was only around 15 people in the crowd which made it very intimate. To make up for the lack of crowd the drink prices seemed to be very expensive but apart from that it was enjoyable. Unfortunately N and I were exhausted and only manage to stay till 10.45pm (such party animals).

Cost:
Naked for Satan: $24 for Pintxos + $35 for wine
Cue Club: $5
Bennetts Lane: $30 + $15 for drinks
Total cost: $109

Night of the week: Wednesday

Date rating: 9/10

Verdict: Next time I would just go to Pintxos and play pool, the Jazz Club was fun but would have been better as a separate date.