one week of being in Chch has passed by in a flash!

 i really love my thesis!! This sounds so geeky, but it actually excites me to find out about the urban regeneration things that are happening in Christchurch. All the public arts initiatives are really cool, and my thesis is a combination of all the things I like best - green spaces, urban cities, art, tourism, creative energy. hahaha, so I feel very happy after listening to my interviewees.

oh Christchurch, I've missed you!

 the container mall, and all the vibrant, colourful shops!

with plenty of street art everywhere

 had a hot piping Greek souvlaki for lunch at container mall! I loved it, except they added yoghurt, which was kind of refreshing, but felt a bit funny to me.

and of course, protecting the souvlaki from the seagulls was a challenge in itself. so many of them, although i only captured one on this picture.

Lunch with VV

Met up with VV for lunch at Samurai Bowl as well!

Samurai Bowl is quite an authentic japanese restaurant, and supposedly there are lots of cute girls working there.

I guess that doesn't really matter to me, but the food is always good there! had my favourite toji karage chicken ((: As good as I remembered!!

We then walked a long way to search for this cafe, C1, to have hot chocolate. It looked so pretty, with a chocolate fish and marshmallows on the side. Just how i like my hot choc (:

St Germain with Z 

I'd been wanting to take Z to this place for a while now, glad we finally got to go, it was absolutely perfect, no wonder it's touted as one of Christchurch's top restaurants.

Anyway, you can't really go wrong with French fine dining.

 Put a little more effort to dress up than I usually do when it's freezing, but glad that we did, cos everything was so elegant at St Germain, it'd be a crime almost for me to turn up in jeans.

St Germain was housed in a tudor styled courtyard, so it was quaint and pretty. They took our coats at the door, and thankfully, the temperature was comfortable enough for me to go sleeveless in the restaurant.

 bread with herb butter!

Entree was a traditional French onion soup with a large slice of Gruyere cheese bread soaking inside. It was a hearty comfort-type soup, but too filling for an entree i think.

Le plat principal was Rack of lamb with ratatouille, artichoke and pumpkin for Z.

I had fish with potato gratin, cherry tomatoes and spinach with crayfish bisque sauce. The flavour was really excellent, and there were plenty of veggies to keep me happy, and potato!

Being too full at this point, we shared a chocolate fondant with mint for dessert. I'd been dying to try this, and it didn't disappoint! Warm chocolate oozing out, paired with a light and refreshing mint-chocolate ice cream. Heavenly.