Madame Brussels

Usually when winter hits I automatically morph into a hermit in response to the icy cold weather outside. Ideally I like to stay indoors with the heater blasting, tucked in a warm blanket with lots of yummy food sitting on the coffee table within arms reach from the couch. But it was my friends birthday so I manned up, emerged from my warm shell and went out into the coldness for afternoon drinks. Upon my arrival at Madame Brussels I was given a cosy blanket from my friend, similar to the one I had just been in at home (had she read my mind?).

I was thankful but confused. I know that some people use their jacket as a blanket to cover their legs or some people put their hoodie on and pull the jumper up to cover their mouth like a ninja to feel like they’re in a blanket, and more obviously some people wear blankets ponchos, which is basically a big blanket with arm-holes in it (I know I wear my poncho/blankie out all the time).  But this was different, my friends just straight out brought their blankets to the bar. I hadn’t been out for a while and wondered if it was suddenly socially acceptable to bring your actual blanket from home out to bars. And if this was the case hey, I was all for it. My friends soon explained that the bar provided the blankies (awesome and less akward). With the heater blazing above me and wrapped up in a blanket, I immediately felt right at home.

Third floor up we walk inside and the floor is covered in astroturf AKA fake grass and there is a curvy tiled pathway down the center of the room that leads you to the bar. The white outdoor tea settings scattered around the room made it feel like an enchanted tea party. The inside décor looks like your outside (this can become confusing especially after a few too many drinks). The real outside was the spectacular outdoor terrace overlooking our beautiful city of Melbourne.

The choices of drinks were mouth-watering, they had Jugs of Pimms with fruit and cucumber (my fave), Ameretto sour, Sangria etc. yum yum yum! We had these delightful little toasted sandwiches (no crusts) with poached chicken, chives and mayo. They were delicious! They had teeny bits of lemon rind in the sandwiches so each time you took a bite there was a hint of lemon. So refreshing! A sandwich refreshing?, who would have thought. Delicious! We also had Mother of Pearl’s homemade sausage rolls dunked in “dead ‘orse”. Dead ‘orse, tomato sauce, same same. Tasty! A table near us had the scones and the fondue, we viewed them from a distance and ate them with our eyes from a table close by.  They certainly looked delicious.  The tea was served in silver teapots with adorable knitted tea cosies aside mismatched vintage teacups.  Aww so cute even the teapots had a blankie. Before we left we couldn't restrain from trying the lemon sponge cupcakes with hot pink icing displayed at the bar.. they were average but they looked pretty and had hidden raspberries inside yay.

I had a blast on a winter afternoon but I heard it’s even better in the summer. It gets really busy so you need to go early to score a good seat and apparently the nights on the weekend get super packed so go early to avoid sad-faces.

I heart Madame Brussels!

Olives x

Madame Brussels 
Address: Level 3, 59-63 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Website: http://www.madamebrussels.com
Phone: 03 9662 2775
Trading Hours: Monday-Sunday (Everyday) 12pm (noon)-1am