Balenciaga shoe dinner!

Hello dear Paris '99ers!
Now a few weeks ago a dear friend of mine fell in love with a pair of the most divine Balenciaga glamazon heels at the salon. I asked her sometime later how they were and she candidly revealed she had not yet worn them. Shocking indeed!

It was decided then and there that the shoes were to have a 'debut' dinner at a fabulous restaurant in Melbourne, and I had read about an Italian institution, Cantina Cecconi's on Flinders Lane.
Holiday season was right around the corner so we postponed the date till the new year, but something came up and the dates shifted, then something else came up and we had to shuffle again. Finally, last night, it was third time lucky!

I didn't take any photos of me actually wearing my clothes (sorry), but I was wearing a red star print shirt and a tailored vest from a Napoli tailor under my favourite Dries Van Noten iridescent red 'dinner' jacket. Accessorised with an Alexis Belcher laser cut perspex brooch on a silver necklace and my handmade boots from a gentleman in old Jaffa. I actually have three pairs of boots by him, black riding boots, 'Hermes orange' slightly narrow round toe boots and these, the caramel stacked heel calf highs. Unfortunately he has since retired and vanished without a trace. Oh and yes, I did have pants on too, Surface 2 Air fitted jeans, nice :).

By a stroke of good luck I got the last free parking spot a stone's throw from the restaurant. It set the mood for what was a delightful and delicious evening with friends, food and shoes!
Nicoletta, the beautiful hostess, warmly greeted me with a glass of Mumm while the girls were on their way.

We were given the best spot, with prime viewing position of the organised hustle and bustle of the kitchen, and the ability to see and comment on what other diners were wearing, and it certainly was a fashionable and well put together crowd!
Starting our feast with crusty bread in olive oil and wonderfully potent balsamic vinegar dip, we moved on to an appetizer of beautifully cured meat cut nail thin and served with a fig that could have come straight from the garden, it was that fresh. The dish was a flat black cross section of a pebble; just stunning.

My Angus Sirloin steak was the best steak I've eaten in a very very long time, and when combined with the crisp then silky smooth polenta chips, it was texture heaven.

Admittedly, it was all about the dessert: a chocolate pudding that was a like a dark river of liquid chocolate just waiting to be released, and then a literal explosion with the straciatella ice-cream laced with popping candy (excuse my uncultured palette, its what I felt like I was eating!),  a creamy citrus parfait with a powerful passionfruit sorbet and scatterings of freeze dried raspberry and 'snow', and a rich panna cotta with sweet almond biscuit and a surprise chocolate ganache at the bottom of the bowl. Need I say more?

We know that food and fashion aren't always associated with one another (ok, minus the Prada and Stella McCartney fruit themed collections of last spring, and the Dolce & Gabbana vegetable printed frocks from the current show), but thanks to these fabulous heels for bringing us to Cecconi's, and many thanks to Nicoletta and the lovely staff; we really need to find an excuse to come back!

xx