The Boys lunch - The Girls dinner

 

Wednesday 17 March

Boys lunch day today. This is a tradition set a few years ago, that sees Christopher and Flashman enjoying a long lunch at a famous restaurant. Tas joined the team not long after we started and Andrew, if he was not working, also came along. Today, we decided on Guy Grossi’s Florentino Grill, a long established and well known Melbourne restaurant. So, it was an Uber into the western end of Burke Street to rendezvous at the RACV Club for a refreshing beer in the new downstairs bar. Tas is a member, so we also ventured upstairs to the wine bar for a sparkling and a rose. No sign of Christopher yet and Andrew unfortunately is working. So Tas and I entertained the waitress by checking our temperature on the temperature checking machine in the doorway every couple of minutes (36.2C so no COVID alerts). As it was a beautiful 23C autumn day, we walked to the eastern end of Burke Street and arrived at Florentinos five minutes before Christopher. Refreshing gin and tonics were followed by bottles of red to accompany the grilled prawns, fried sardines, wild boar ragout, duck sauce pasta and spatchcocked chicken. A satisfying meal as usual, but less expensive than previous years. Feeling like a walk, we ambled the 50m to the Imperial Hotel roof top bar and joined the 30 somethings sunning themselves and drinking wine. When the bar got too full for us, we headed across the road to the Windsor and it being St. Patricks Day, ordered a Guinness in the Cricketer’s Bar. Home in an Uber with the strong and silent Punjabi driver, topped off a very pleasant day.

Nanny P enjoyed a relaxing read in the sunshine on our balcony followed by a lengthy stroll along to the end of the Glenferrie Rd shopping strip and back. Many familiar shops remained but others were missing, no doubt the victims of COVID closures. And in the early evening a short tram ride into Swan St to meet up with Jo for a pre dinner cocktail, and then following that a delicious Japanese dinner with Jo's old boss, Sue at Future Future. The place was absolutely pumping and the food really simple but stunning.