Started the day with a visit from Dan and obligatory nose strips. I feel like the only reason why I put on pore strips is because Dan needs to and I feel obliged to follow suit. It's always extremely fascinating to see all the gunk pulled out onto the strip and Dan's strip is always twenty times more mountainous than mine - as gross as it sounds, looking at it up close feels extremely satisfying.

Our initial plan was to head out to Pu'er for lunch but I think we became lazy potatoes and opted for fish markets instead (since it's a less than five minute walk away). I felt like mornay and cheesy scallops so we ordered a platter for $50 and also brought Dad home a quick lunch.

Quality is horrendous :(

The honey prawns and calamari were nice but the rest of the platter tasted quite bland and just wasn't fulfilling at all sigh - My impression of fish markets have never been great (always feels like I'm wasting my money as meals are never very satisfying) but I guess splurging hastily once in a while is alright.

Then headed to the Opera House for dinner at The House Eatery by George.

Share board & George board

Absolutely fell in love with their pate and artichoke dip (never have I ever had artichoke so finally tasting the microphone vegetable was quite the unique experience) but the olives were a no-no for me as they were so much stronger than the normal black ones (and I never liked black olives in the first place anyway). I think the family finished 80% of the olives anyway so it's probably an acquired taste which takes a while to get used to!

Dan's lamb pappardelle (this was a bit disappointing crey)  

Dad and I both ordered confit duck - the duck was amazing but I didn't like the bean cassoulet around the plate so I left it all and demolished the centrepiece instead. Whoever came up with the idea of cooking duck in its own fat, god bless you.

Mum's pan roasted barramundi 

My brother and Mary shared the slow roasted lamb shoulder - this was definitely the highlight of the night, every individual piece was so tender to the extent that I would actually come back to this place just for this dish. I think this was $58 but the servings were very generous (even though it was for 2 to share) so it was well worth the price 

Headed back to the brother's for birthday cake and I usually get Savoy's cakes as they are the fluffiest, lightest and moistest cakes on Earth but change is never bad, especially when it's Messsina! Even though I'm one of the later ones to join #club19 but I finally made it aww yas