under $20

HOT: Backstreet Cafe, 152 Kerr St, Fitzroy

January 11, 2012 ⋅ 3 comments

In Fitzroy, it’s another day, another new cafe…. Backstreet Cafe is the new project from the people behind Birdman Eating and it takes some of what’s great about that Fitzroy stalwart and extends it beyond – or more precisely below. More on that later. The cafe is located in a corner spot in amongst residential [...]

HOT: Helados Jauja, 254 Lygon St, Carlton

January 9, 2012 ⋅ 5 comments

Happy New Year! Hope you had an enjoyable and relaxing holiday break. Apparently one of the best ways to stretch out that happy holiday mood is to continue one holiday habit in your everyday life. With Melbourne’s unpredictable heat waves, one holiday habit I’ll be continuing is daily ice-cream! Fortunately in Melbourne there’s lot of [...]

HOT: Threefold, 381 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

December 8, 2011 ⋅ One comment

Threefold is a casual cafe/bar tucked into a narrow corner space on Flinders Lane and Tavistock Place. You’ll recognise it by the planter boxes laden with fresh herbs at its entrance - a happy contrast to the soulless vistas offered by its office block neighbours. It’s a smart establishment that seats mostly business people along narrow benches and small [...]

HOT: Janet de Neefe at Books for Cooks, Rice Queen, 2/231 Smith St, Fitzroy

December 7, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

I’ve written previously about the great author events that specialist cookbook store Books for Cooks run. They are becoming so popular that they’ve started moving certain events out of their store – too many books and people to fit into a small space! While the non-store events are generally not free, the great thing is [...]

HOT: Beechworth Bakery, 316 Maroondah Highway, Healesville

December 1, 2011 ⋅ One comment

I didn’t realise that the Beechworth Bakery had stretched beyond to town of Beechworth to other parts of the state – but it’s pretty handy that there’s one in Healesville. Beechworth Bakery prides itself on being ‘Australia’s greatest bakery’. That’s a tall claim! But it is an old-fashioned bakery filled with old-fashioned British style bakery items [...]

HOT: N. Lee Bakery, 62 Little Collins St, Melbourne

November 30, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

Summer’s here, the sun is out! (Well, not today. But it’s Melbourne so the weather could change by lunch time.) Instead of eating your lunch at your desk, why not stroll down to Little Collins Street to N. Lee Bakery? Join the fast-moving queue of office workers, grab a $5.50 Banh Mi and eat your [...]

HOT: Duchess of Spotswood, 87 Hudsons Rd, Spotswood

November 28, 2011 ⋅ One comment

So the Queen just visited to Melbourne and Princess Mary came to town. If you’re not royal-ed out, take yourself to visit the Duchess in Spotswood. Duchess of Spotswood is a cafe is located in an unprepossessing strip of shops near Spotswood station and when I arrived at 9am on a weekend it was easily [...]

HOT: Dandee Donuts, Dandenong Market, cnr Cleeland and King Sts, Dandenong

November 15, 2011 ⋅ 2 comments

The Saturday Age recently ran a ‘Five of a kind’ article on Dandenong Market describing five stallholders in the refurbished Dandenong Market, including Sataylicious which I’d recommended previously on the blog for their noteworthy satay sauce. Obviously there’s only room for five places to be featured in that article so let me redress the omission [...]

HOT: Mad Cow Thursdays, Hotel Nest, 111 Victoria Ave, Albert Park

November 10, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

A steak for $1? Too good to be true, I hear you say. Well, on Thursdays at Hotel Nest they’ve termed it ‘Mad Cow Thursdays’ when premium John Dee sirloin steaks start from $1 for a 125g steak! The catch is that you’re likely to be spending more than $1 as the larger steaks cost [...]

HOT: Wye River General Store, 35 Great Ocean Rd, Wye River

November 8, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

With summer arriving my thoughts turn to the beach and the coast. To be exact, my thoughts are turning to where to eat at the beach and the coast. And one of my recommendations is Wye River General Store. As the name suggests, it’s a general store which operates for the citizens and visitors of [...]