St Kilda Archives - Wander Wonder Wonton

St Kilda Novotel – A Relaxing Melbourne break

August 22, 2018August 5, 2018

I usually stay in the city or Richmond when I’m in Melbourne but this time I thought I would give St Kilda a turn. I spend a lot of time in the heart of cities and I was looking for something a little more relaxed, out of the center and the water was alluring.

St Kilda is the perfect spot for a Melbourne break with everything the city has to offer without being in the thick of it. There’s still trams, great bars, cafes and the like but you feel a bit more relaxed there even though it’s only 20 minutes (6km) by tram to almost anywhere you want to go in the city!

I did some research on hotels and decided St Kilda Novotel was my best choice. Why? Location, location, location! It’s right by the tram to take you to the city, across from the baths and St Kilda pier and all the bars, cafes and shops of St Kilda are within walking distance. Oh, and there’s parking – a massive plus to explore the nearby attractions and restaurants.

I knew the hotel itself would be great, I’m already a fan of the Accor Hotels group and stay with them often all over Australia. My room was huge with two big beds (obviously I ran and jumped on to test as soon as I arrived) which was perfect as my cousin was joining me for the weekend.

After watching the sunset across the pier and over the water from the windows in our room (fab views) we went out and explored what was nearby.

There’s a great little bar downstairs, the Esplanade Bar, I’d love to try more of the menu and their milkshakes sometime!

Highly recommend a relaxing break at St Kilda Novotel for a weekend away or a break from the city without being too far away!

Hot tip: there’s a cafe around the corner called Il Fornaio that does fantastic brunch!

* While this stay was complimentary, this review is true and authentic. Fab place for a break!

Phamish, St Kilda

October 4, 2014

It all started with brunch. Somehow it ended up as lunch.

We missed the brunch menu as they had sold out of everything. Nothing left. It was 2pm but I’ll definitely have to try it. It’s either a sign that it’s awesome or poor inventory management. Let’s hope it’s the former.

Bloody Mary and champagne all round to begin.

I was left to do the ordering for the table. I love it when people let me pick!

I chose:

Natural oysters with shallot and red wine vinergarette
House made dips and sesame bread
Cheese board for two with the blue & Camembert
Porcini and pecorino arancini with truffle oil
Grilled haloumi with lemon
Middle eastern lamb cigars with yoghurt tahini
Pan fried prawn salad with eggplant and pearl cous cous

The food was delightful however I can’t say the waiters were very attentive.

Weekend Past

September 10, 2014

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Another bigger weekend has just past for me!

I had the St Kilda Football Club Best and Fairest on Saturday night at the Crown Palladium which was an absolute blast. I wore a beautiful red dress and I even got a spray tan.

Two of the five that we were heading in with were late to arrive and so we had to walk in amongst nearly 1,000 people to find our table. Not ideal. However once we were seated we had a great time, I knew most of the other people on our table and Billy Longer who is now with the Saints but was with Brisbane Lions when I was there, was right by me so I spent the entire night switching tables catching up with him and meeting some of the other younger Saints players.

We went upstairs to Club 23 at Crown where there was a VIP area for guests of the club. We partied the night away and before I knew it we were on our way to Boutique in South Yarra for some more dancing. We partied on and I got home at a ridiculous time.

Saturday I spent the morning recovering then met my good friend, Lisa for a picnic in the park to enjoy some sunshine! We grabbed some sushi and coconut water and lazed around on a towel before catching the All Blacks game at mine then going to The Serve for Indian. Brilliant Indian. I retired home to watch the footy finals and for an early night.

Sunday I was quite keen to stay in but Annabelle wanted to watch the footy at the bar. We tried out three bars in Richmond before giving up and heading back to our usual Sunday spot, College Lawn. I wasn’t feeling great so only had a couple of ciders and went home early.

Turned out not feeling great on Sunday escalated to a full blown chest infection come Monday and meant I spent the entire day in bed feeling absolutely spent on Tuesday. Now Wednesday I think I’m on the up!

Sunday Funday!

September 3, 2014

I’m a week behind in telling you about my weekend and to be honest I can’t particularly recall my entire weekend from the week before but I have photos of Sunday to jog my memory so that’s what you get!

Sunday I hosted on behalf of a client a bunch of guys at the MCG for the last St Kilda AFC game in Melbourne for the year. Now by host I mean I found them all (no idea who they were but had meeting points around MCG) then took them up to the function, introduced them to each other and made sure they had a drink and someone to chat to. By the end of the first quarter they were all set so I was set to start with the champers!

Annabelle accompanied me and I had a great time watching the footy (even though Saints lost big time) as I’m now quite familiar with a bunch of the regular guys and their wives at the functions. I actually look forward to seeing some of them now.

After footy we cabbed to my fave local, College Lawn and were immediately busy chatting to a bunch of guys.

Turned out the guy I was chatting to and the guy Annabelle had met separately were not only friends but flatmates and they were also hungry. You should know by now I’m always hungry. So we all cabbed over to St Kilda where we got a table at Topolino’s on Fitzroy Street.

We were all quite intoxicated and thought we were hilarious, although I’m sure the waitresses thought otherwise. We had a dozen oysters and a bottle of Chandon to start. Then pasta mains and we shared two desserts between the four of us.

We partied back at the boys house until 3am. One of the best nights I’ve had in a long time. Lucky none of us had to work Monday.

Actually I just remembered. Thursday I went to No.8 at Crown Casino for the St Kilda AFL Match Committee end of season dinner. I ended up at Supper Club & Siglos for cocktails and oysters afterwards.

Friday I went out to Fog with some girlfriends for champagne and we ended up trudging on to Boutique with group of people we met there. Good times and too much champagne on everyone’s behalf! Saturday was relaxed and I stayed in sat night. Brilliant.

Late weekend recap

August 14, 2014

Seeing as it is nearly the weekend I figure I should update you on last weekend!

Friday was great. Dumplings with Annabelle and Sophie at a BYO then off to the Emerson. We ended up at the Veuve party which was absolutely packed. We met some cricket players in from… somewhere (maybe the UK?) and had some drinks with them before heading to Burger King for our ritual cheeseburgers then home!

Saturday was a bit of a write off. I cancelled my plans (sorry Allan) and stayed in to watch movies and catch up on sleep knowing I had a big day Sunday.

Sunday was massive! My friend was playing in the St Kilda (AFL) Legends game and I went along to support. It was hilarious. A bunch of ex players and club sponsors on the field makes a humorous mix – some can play, some can’t.

Next up we had the offical St Kilda function for during the game. Cue champagne, and my personal favourite, the half time party pies and scones mmm. After the game it was down to the rooms to watch the boys do their stretches then back up for drinks with the Sales crew.

We ended up back at the Crown Hotel Suites where Bryce had a room for some drinks then up to level 28 where they made us some delicious cocktails and we ordered burgers and oysters. Always a brilliant mix.

We tried to find somewhere to party and was talked into a new club at the Casino, Co I think it was called. It was a RnB club, not the usual Sunday session I’m used to and I tired pretty quickly so headed home by midnight.

Now to get ready for this weekend! Can’t wait for the Lions v Collingwood game at the MCG on Saturday. GO LIONS!!

St Kilda Sunset

July 10, 2014

Following my previous blog, I realised I really hadn’t been doing enough exploring, so Ru and I headed down to St Kilda to watch the sunset and for dinner the other night.

We walked the pier, out along the yachts and settled back along the shoreline to watch the sun go down.

Unfortunately my phone was having an off day, it literally kept turning off so I missed taking pics of much of the sunset.

Awesome news: after borrowing the bathroom at Republica I discovered they do $2 oysters on Fridays! Just goes to show people, bathroom door advertising does work. Their ROI on that poster is about to go through the roof!

After sunset we cruised around St Kilda. We were drawn into the many cake shops (who wouldn’t be) and I ended up with a salted caramel macaroon in my mouth before I knew it!

Dinner was a difficult choice but we settled on dumplings at Shifu, they were delightful.

So much more to check out down there! Be brilliant once the weather eases up a little, it’s damn cold.