V, luckily, had quite a few options. Most of them food-related. I decided I was going to take Den once and for all to one of my favourite little restaurant gems. The Moroccan Soup Bar here in Melbourne is a bargain vegetarian feast place.. only $16.50 for the banquet at this place, all delicious Moroccan-style cuisine and usually a guaranteed line out the front when you arrive.

We’d tried unsuccessfully before to dine there – but always end up being put off by the long wait.

This time, we went for an early dinner. Den and I usually eat an early dinner, actually. It’s like being in training for retirement. We like to dine around 6pm or so… embarrassing to admit, I know.

I could spin you some line about how eating early is better for you because going right to bed on a full stomach isn’t good for burning off calories….

Reality is, we both work from home and so we both get bored and hungry around 5pm so we start making dinner then and before you know it, you’re tucking into your dinner at 6pm. It will be awesome when we have children and want to do the family dinner together at the table.

Anyway. If you live in Melbourne, if you’re visiting Melbourne and want to try a slice of great, cheap food that Melbourne is famous for, then the Moroccan Soup Bar is a great institution to go visit.

We rolled up at 6pm on a Tuesday to find the restaurant not yet open and a line already well-formed at the door. At first we thought we were going to be disappointed again (Vietnamese was the back up plan) but we joined the queue only to nab the last table in the restaurant rightaway. Brilliant!

The space is fun and colourful, it makes a great backdrop for a date.

At Moroccan Soup Bar, there is no need for a menu. Just order the banquet and let the staff take care of the rest. You can bet that 99% of the guests are all on the same deal. And for $16.50, it’s a bargain.

They start you with warm mint tea (no licence at all here, but then we’re not big mid-week drinkers anyway), followed by fresh pita triangles and a plate of yummy treats including dips – hummus and cauliflower – and olives, marinated carrots, etc.

After you’ve gorged yourself on those, the main courses arrive. We ate too much too early (never been good at self control) but still managed to finish up the three share plates – including the famous chickpea bake made with spices, slivered almonds, tahini, yoghurt and crispy pita chips for crunch.

Just when you think you can’t eat another bite, they tempt you with morsels of baklava and thick, molasses-black coffee to wake you back up again.

All-in-all a wonderful date night – at almost the right price to boot! (We went slightly over our $30 budget)… the good part is that they don’t even offer alcohol of any kind so you can’t be tempted to blow your budget on just one beer.

Where: 183 St Georges Rd, Fitzroy North
When: Lunch: 12 – 3pm, Tues- Sun Dinner: 6 – 10pm, Tues-Sat.
Tel: (03) 9482 4240
No Bookings Taken.

We kicked it off last night with a visit to Cafe Lalibela for African food in the heart of Footscray, Melbourne. It doesn’t get more authentic than eating with your hands. They served their dishes up on huge ‘pancakes’ of traditional, sour injera bread. You tear pieces off and use them to scoop up the tasty, spiced stews that are set in the middle of them.

Everything on the menu costs $12. They have some of the best vegetarian cuisine around – and we definitely recommend the vego dishes over the meat ones. The dishes were very filling, especially when you factor the bread into it.

Grab yourself an Ethiopian Beer while you’re there for a tiny $5 (Cafe Lalibela imports it into the country themselves!), and let the wait staff recommend to you their favourites… they definitely know what they’re on about.

Cheap as metaphorical chips, you won’t be disappointed and you’d be hard-pressed to go too far over your $30 budget. Take your own wine if you like, they don’t sell it there (Remember: it doesn’t count in the budget if you already had it in the house!).

Cafe Lalibela
91 Irving Street, Footscray (Melbourne, Australia)
Reservations Recommended! (03) 9687 0300

The nights will run over the next three Mondays and cover French, Italian and Spanish wines.

Says the Ben and Wine Site:

The courses are for beginners, and they are designed to give you an overview of the four countries easily and accurately. Come along and learn about the country, the wines, and how you go about choosing them for yourself when you are out in the world. Who knows, you might even find something that will change your life!

What you need to know.
Discussion will include the history, styles of wine, wine making techniques and taste and sensory evaluation.
Single classes: $75 per person $30 Per couple for the first three lucky $30 Date Night couples!
Class time: Monday nights 15, 22 February and 1 March, 6pm – 8pm
Venue: La Vita Buona, City Square, Swanston Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000 (under the Westin Hotel).
Visit Ben and Wine for more information.

Courses will be run with a minimum of seven and a maximum of 13 participants. Costs include all wine and GST.

As far as a date night goes, it ticks all our boxes. You learn something new together, indulge in fine wine and get out of the house!

First in, best dressed! Email Ben Knight to grab your tickets. First in, best dressed!

Happy Dating, Lovers!

While we’re all still shaking off the winter blues, sometimes a great date can be spent as a night in. With chocolate. And cake. How can you go wrong? This particular date idea also gets “frugal” bonus points because it involves recycling old cake!

Around Sugadeaux HQ, it’s not unusual to have spare cupcakes sitting around waiting to be eaten, but sometimes there is just more than any one craving can handle. We use this recipe as a way of recycling those left over cupcakes, its a technique that has recently gained a huge amount of popularity thanks to Bakerella and her blog of extreme cuteness.

I call them cupcake truffles (they’re more commonly known as cake balls), and what they ARE is deliciously moist and creamy cake morsels dipped in chocolate. I have not known anyone who can stop at just one…

Since it’s unlikely you guys would bake a cake from scratch just to moosh it up in a blender, we’re using a recipe using boxed cake mix, but feel free to substitute your own favourite cake flavour and frosting (we only ever bake from scratch at Sugadeaux because it’s against our religion to use mixes).

CUPCAKE TRUFFLES

So you’re going to need:

1 x Box of your favourite cake mix
1 x Can of pre-made frosting
(or instead of these at least 6 whole cupcakes)
2 x 250g package of chocolate for dipping

Two blocks of the chocolate is a lot, but it takes a little while to get the art of the perfect dip, so you want plenty to practice with. I recommend basic cooking or compound chocolate from the supermarket for the easiest version, but if you want to use coverture you just need to remember to temper it or it won’t set.

Bake the cake as per the instructions and allow to cool. Break up into pieces and throw into a stand mixer (you can also just use elbow grease and a wooden spoon in a large bowl). I use the paddle beater on the mixer. Add in the can of frosting, and mix until combined. The mixture should be very moist but still keep shape when rolled into balls.

Using your hands, roll the mixture into balls slightly smaller than golf ball size and place them on a tray lined with greaseproof paper.

You can also experiment here and make teeny tiny balls which you could pop into your mouth in one go. Place the tray in the fridge for a few hours to allow the truffles to firm up… We recommend settling in to a Cake Night-themed movie together while you wait – Chocolat, Waitress, Like Water for Chocolate and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory all spring to mind…

Once ready, melt the chocolate over a double boiler on the stove (or use the cheats method of popping it in the microwave for 30s second increments, stirring in between until its melted). Use a fork or toothpick to help you dip (or chocolate dipping tools if you have them), then place the truffles back onto the sheet. Once the chocolate is set – COMMENCE EATING!!

You can get creative with dying white chocolate in a range of colours and drizzling them over the top to create interesting patterns, or use sprinkles on top before the chocolate sets.

Best part is, you’ll probably have some melted chocolate left over which can be used as body paint for a whole different kind of date!

1. Breakfast or Brunch Date Idea
Find a great restaurant or brunch nook and head there for a dose of great coffee and a decadent breakfast. If you’re struggling to find time on the weekend, get up an hour earlier and have breakfast before you go to work – it will be a lovely start to the day.

2. Yum Cha Date Idea
A bit of a twist on your usual scrambled eggs with bacon, a lazy Yum Cha breakfast is a great way to do something a little different and unusual. Have a shark fin dumpling for me while you’re there!

3. Breakfast Picnic Date Idea
If it’s a lovely sunny day, head out to a nearby park and take breakfast with you. Think takeaway coffees, small bottles of juice, continental pastries or croissants, fresh fruit and even cereal! Spread out your blanket and enjoy the fresh energy of the morning… people jogging, people going to work, kids playing. Mornings have a different feel altogether!

4. Watch the Sunrise Date Idea
If you’re feeling super up to it, get up at the crack of dawn (or… well… before the crack of dawn!) and drive together to a lookout where you will have a beautiful view of the sunrise. Take a blanket and a thermos of coffee and snuggle together as the sun comes up, then drop into a bakery on your way back home to get fresh baked goodies for breakfast, warm from the oven!

5. Cook a Special Breakfast Date Idea
How often do you cook a really special breakfast at home? Get all the fixings for your sweetie’s favourite breakfast and slip out of bed early to prepare them a surprise gourmet breakfast in their very own house! You could serve it to them in bed or prepare a little “café nook” with white tablecloths, a flower in a vase and even a menu for them.

The place wasn’t much to look at – fluorescent 7-Eleven lighting that accentuates every flaw just so… sticky tabletops (DIY wipe down, apparently) and the television playing Funniest Home Videos in the background… really not the most romantic setting for a hot date. But the place is always packed… and if the décor looks that bad, then it can only mean one thing. That the Pho is really good.

And it was! After passing up the Tripe and Marrow varieties (maybe next time…), I ordered a vegetarian one and Den had the beef and “pork loaf” chilli special. Two steaming bowls of vegetables, meats and noodles were placed in front of us along with the lemon wedges, chillis, bean sprouts and basil to add, to your own taste.

It was delicious! My vegetarian tasted suspiciously like it was floating in chicken broth, but I do eat meat so that didn’t bother me… I imagine they use Pho like Westerners use chicken soup – restorative, calming, relieves all that ails you… A table of six sat down next to us chatting noisily but as soon as their soup arrived, all you could hear was silence (well, Funniest Home Videos) and the occasional slurping.

Oh, yes. The slurping. You know what? I wouldn’t recommend Pho as a first date. It’s messy, you have to negotiate the chopsticks, the noodles, the hot broth… you dribble it down your chin and you spend the entire time with your head down, poking around in your bowl to find out what other treasures may be sunken inside. Not a lot of chatting gets done, and if you do get a moment to talk, you most likely have food on your face as you’re doing it.

But for any couples comfortable enough with each other to slurp noisily away, it’s a great, cheap night out! Two huge bowls of Pho, a Coke and endless tea cost us AUD$20.00. We rounded the night off with a drink at a nearby bar and voila! You have yourself a great night out and great food to boot.

Rate the Date

Romance Factor: 1/5
Cheese Factor: 1/5
Fun Factor: 4/5

Overall: Wonderful food, cheap date out and great for longterm couples… not recommended for a first date! Too much slurpage!

Dominique Portet's Famous Rose

The Local Produce Plate at Dominique Portet

The Pentanque Pitch

Gorgeous Winery!

…all for under $30! Great date night in Melbourne’s Yarra Valley… go find your own local winery reigon and seek out some cellar door specials! Enjoy!

Rate the Date

Romance Factor: 5/5 – Gorgeous wine region drive, beautiful views, great food and great wine
Cheese Factor: 1/5
Fun Factor: 3/5

Overall: Wonderful date for a lazy Sunday. Opportunity for great conversation and connection. Just lovely.

Let me start by getting one thing very clear: I love my cheese. I would eat cheese all day, every day if I possibly could. Soft, hard, aged, blue, stinky… however I can get it, I’m in. So you can imagine I was expecting something pretty spectacular when it came to fondue night.

And Den? Well, as it turns out Den was expecting something even more than spectacular when it came to fondue night. I didn’t twig at first, but on the way to the restaurant he asked ‘So there’s just the fondue in the middle of the room and you go up and dunk stuff into it?’ I told him that no, we would get our own fondue on the table. He looked impressed, and slightly confused. I let it go.
So we get to the restaurant and order the fondue (this date night went WAY over the $30 mark by the way, but you can definitely replicate at home for under the budget, or your own local Swiss restaurant (?) may have reasonable fondue prices). We’re told it’s two kinds of cheese and a LOT of schnapps, served only with bread (don’t they usually chop up veggies and meats and stuff with it? Or is that the Western world’s take on it?).

As the waitress brings the enormous, molten bowl of fondue over and sets it on the open flame, Den’s face falls. She walks away and he leans over ‘We got jibbed, huh?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, where’s the three-tiered fountain?’

The poor guy! What a let-down! He was thinking of the chocolate fondue fountains you see so often at cocktail parties and thought that was the traditional Swiss way of preparing all fondues! And then I clicked! He thought that the Swiss Club would be sporting a HUGE cheese fountain of fondue in the middle of the room that you could walk up to and stick skewered food into!! Too cute.

As if the presentation wasn’t tainted enough for him, it soon became apparent that a meal of just bread and melted cheese laden with a litre of schnapps wasn’t really our cup of tea. I kid you not, I could’ve gotten woozy off the fumes alone! I think it would’ve been great if it wasn’t so potent!
After a few hunks of bread dipped in booze, we started to feel a bit heady – cheap drunks that we are!

It was hard to eat too much of… but we didn’t want to offend the Swiss and risk un-neutralising them! We battled on, and turned it into a drinking game! (Pure genius of me!). We played the ABC’s of Sex (courtesy of my iPhone DrinkingLite app) – the game goes like this: you start with the letter A and each person in the group (well, the two of us) says something sexual that starts with that letter. When someone can’t think of another sexy ‘A’ word, they “shoot” (or in our case, dunk a hunk of bread in the fondue and eat it), then you move on to ‘B’. We giggled like schoolgirls and blushed as we whispered dirty words to each other across the table… I did get rather enthusiastic at one point and shouted out ‘GANGBANG’ at the last second before forefeiting the G-round, so my apologies to the lovely, older Swiss gentleman that was minding his own business at the table next to us! By the time we got to H, we had lost the will to live and promptly abandoned the fondue.

All in all, a bit of a disaster of a meal but a funny date night nonetheless, which just goes to show that you make your own fun, assuming you’re both in a good mood with each other!

If you are going out for your fondue date night, I have to recommend the chocolate version. A hell of a lot more sexy…. Here is a great recipe, serve it up with cut fruit, marshmallows and sweet pastry, and make a rule that whoever drops a piece of food into the fondue has to remove an article of clothing, 70s style!

Move over Rockpool, Vue De Monde and Nobu… there’s a hidden secret out there that deserves a chef’s hat (Michelin star) from each of you. Sure I’m no food critic, but I do love my food! And yes, my opinion may not mean much, but this is it… and here it is!

Food gets me going – I love it! Colors, textures and tastes – it’s all amazing to me! I love fine dining restaurants, but I cannot stand snobby upperclass wannabies that only eat at such places. And it seems that this is the type of people the $30 Date Night site attracts – go figure?

Kind of sad tho… I just checked the stats out on the Elwood RSL date idea, and 9 voters have voiced their opinion about the Elwood RSL… 3 love it / 6 hate it.

6 crazy people!!!

I announced to Emma that I was taking her out for Date Night and that we would be dining out for the evening. Last month Emma cut me down – she cut me deep with an “apparent lack of effort into date night.” So I felt it was necessary to warn her that she should not expect too much of what is in store for her.

Her next question was “Do I need to change for tonight?” I said “No.”

(see right –> Emma was wearing jeans and some cheap-ass chequered cowboy top – geez I really hope she doesn’t read this post – or else she’ll kill me!)

Ems responded… “We’re going to the Elwood RSL,aren’t we?” I answered… “D’OH.”

The surprise element to the evening was blown, but at least she knew what she was in for = no disappointment as Em’s expectations were now low.

When we reached the RSL the place was packed. Yep, who would have thought that I needed a booking? So for your reference, here’s the number (03) 9531 4331. Remember guys, this restaurant is based in Melbourne Australia. Funnily enough, Ems was not that annoyed – hoorah! Bless the lack of expectations!!!

When seated we were given the menu – YUM. The choices – so many… do I have Steak and Guinness Pie or the Roast?

What of a dill of a pickle to be in… BOTH dishes cost under AUD$15 and they both come with garlic mash which didn’t make the choice any easier. There’s no table service so you have to go to the counter to order and pay. Easy – I’ll let the chick at the counter decide what I want…

“Sorry – we’ve run out of both the pie and the roast!” Ahh dammit!!!! I was sooo looking forward to eating both of them! Counter lady wasn’t too bothered by my puppy dog face.. she bounced back with “have the eye fillet, its only $24.”

Steak and I have this kind of bond you see… we like each other – a lot! But it takes a special kind of place to cook a good steak. Even my favourite steak houses don’t seem to get it right half the time. So I was a little dubious – AND the steak broke our budget of the $30 date night… bah, rules are meant to be broken. I went for the steak – Em’s had a burger.

The Elwood RSL had a 3 man band playing (Whisky Gypsies) which were amazing! A taste of Acoustic European – don’t ask me what that means… they played a U2 track, I guess Ireland falls into the Europe category??? But the highlight of the night was the steak… OH MY GOD!!! Cooked to perfection, this place knows what medium rare means – and the cut was magnificent! I want to go back there again tonight!

You know what – I can keep raving about this place for the next 3 posts but I’m going to stop right here… if you live in Melbourne – make the Elwood RSL your date night this week! Em’s and I had a blast, you can get away with 2 massive meals for under $30 but realistically with drinks it may cost you a little more. We spent close to $60 after buying the most expensive meal on the list as well as 4 glasses of wine… that is still amazing value!

And the tea menu was great! Beautifying teas, calming teas, happy teas, mental clarity teas… I could have stayed all day and had pot after pot!

Anyway, Yum Cha is a great date for a lazy Sunday. I’ve compiled a list of a few more for you here:

1. Breakfast Date Idea
Go out for breakfast, and pick somewhere fancy. You’ll still get away with it for about the $30 mark even if it is a well known restaurant!

2. Movie Marathon Date Idea
Have a movie marathon at home together – pick up some snacks, snuggle on the couch under a blanket and enjoy a themed movie afternoon. Select your DVDs according to actress or actor, or pick ones with a certain word in the title, that are set in a certain country (and theme your snacks to match!) or your childhood favourites!

3. Window Shopping Date Idea
Take your date shopping, let them spend the $30 on something for themselves! Take them somewhere new where you can explore little boutiques or handmade items you haven’t seen before and pick them up a little gift.

4. Jigsaw Puzzle Date Idea
Buy or borrow one of those huge 1000-piece jigsaws and spend the afternoon putting it together over a couple of mugs of hot chocolate, and some good conversation.

5. Garage Sale Date Idea
Trawl around your neighborhood’s garage sales with a couple of takeaway coffees and see what you can find. One person’s trash…

Bake Gingerbread Men together

6. Baking Date Idea
Pick up some ingredients for a yummy cake or squishy cookies or gingerbread people and get baking together in the kitchen with the music turned up loud before indulging in afternoon tea together once it’s cooked.

7. Floor Picnic Date Idea
Have a picnic in your very own house! Your choice of al fresco or lounge room floor, spread out a rug and lots of yummy cheeses and snacks.

8. Swimming Pool Date Idea
If it’s beautiful weather, go and laze in the sunshine at your local swimming pool. Take towels, snacks, reading material and enjoy an afternoon of nothing much together!

9. Yoga Class Date Idea
Take a yoga class together, or pop an instructional DVD on in the lounge and do your sun salutations in the comfort of your own home! Then drink fresh juice and enjoy the invigorated feeling!

10. The Memory Lane Date Idea
Pull out all your old photo albums and mementos and walk each other down memory lane. Tell stories from your childhood days, marvel over how young and spunky your parents used to look and get to know each other a little better. You may learn something new about your partner!

For Fun Date Ideas that can be done on days other than Sunday – Check out $30 Date Night.