food and wine

HOT: Milawa Cheese Shop, 665 Nicholson Street, Carlton North

May 22, 2009 ⋅ 2 comments

A little bit of regional Victoria can be found in North Carlton at the Milawa Cheese Shop. The knowledgeable staff will talk you through flavours, textures, ripeness and storage of their huge range of cheese. They are all as far away from insipid rubbery Kraft singles as you can imagine so of course none of [...]

HOT: Maria’s Pasta, 677 Nicholson St, Carlton North

May 22, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Making fresh filled pasta (other than using wonton skins) is such an intricate and time-consuming process that for me it crosses into a task which provides low culinary return on investment. Thank God for places like Maria’s Pasta, with its upright wall-to-wall freezers bulging with a wide assortment of frozen tortellini, ravioli, agnolotti and cannelloni. [...]

HOT: Canals Seafood Appreciation Centre, 703 Nicholson St, Carlton North

May 22, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Other than in the major Melbourne markets, fishmongers appear to be dying breed on the high street. Canals is Melbourne’s oldest ‘seafood appreciation centre’ and I think the reason for its longevity is good old-fashioned service. If you’re at a fishmongers, I think the quality of the seafood should be a given, so the staff’s [...]

HOT: Natural Tucker Bakery, 809 Nicholson Street, Carlton North

May 22, 2009 ⋅ One comment

RM loves scones, but he is also deeply suspicious of anything organic, vegetarian or heaven forbid, vegan. When I spied the fruit-packed vegan scones lovely stacked at counter of the Natural Tucker Bakery ($1.50), I thought I’d take an epicurial risk anyway – and let me tell you, we agree that they are possibly some [...]

HOT: Bread Top, 200 Bourke St, Melbourne

May 14, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Oh, lovely, fragrant and sweet Bread Top. You tempt me every time I walk down Bourke Street with your self-serve glass cupboards piled with pillowy, wonder-white bread products and pastries. Don’t pretend that any of your bread is actually nutritious, but who cares when you get a sweetened roll filled with ‘pineapple’ or ‘milk de [...]

NOT: Nicholson Street Baker, 706 Nicholson St, Carlton North

May 9, 2009 ⋅ 3 comments

I love a good neighbourhood bakery, so I was disappointed with my taste-test of Nicholson Street Baker. On the basis of its cheerful orange awning, RM and I had a brief morning tea there and sampled a dry chocolate cupcake and a sturdy apple and walnut muffin containing minimal fruit and nuts. The best of [...]

HOT: Eurodore, 271 Bay St, Port Melbourne

May 1, 2009 ⋅ One comment

I adore Eurodore. This is the European food and produce store that I wish I owned, with floor to ceiling shelves of prettily decorated condiment jars, bottles of oils and vinegars from Australia and overseas, good quality chocolate and enormous wheels of French cheese. What fun I’d have jaunting around Europe, sampling all the wares [...]

NOT: Little Cupcakes, Shop 7 Degraves St, Melbourne

April 24, 2009 ⋅ 5 comments

Aww – I feel dastardly giving cute candy-striped Little Cupcakes a NOT. But really, it’s only because their red velvet cupcake ($4) didn’t compare favourably to the red velvet cupcake from London’s Hummingbird Bakery. The cream cheese icing and the flavours were right, but it was just a bit too crumbly for my taste. Perhaps [...]

HOT: Koko Black, Shop 4 Royal Arcade, 335 Bourke St, Melbourne

April 23, 2009 ⋅ One comment

In need of a chocolate boost, I ducked into the artisan chocolatier Koko Black and discovered that they’ve developed a product which taps into a lucrative market – students. I remember that as a uni student, I would regularly take a Fruit ‘n’ Nut into lectures, as it helped me to stay awake under a [...]

HOT: Phillippa’s Breads, 1030 High St, Armadale

April 22, 2009 ⋅ One comment

Philippa Grogan is the doyenne of her eponymous artisanal bakeries in Melbourne, and her breads and pastries are right at home in chi-chi Armadale. Although I really did fancy one of her expensive cakes for lunch, I opted instead for a pasty ($7.50) as I was starving and in need of carbs. It was an [...]