casual

HOT: Masak Masak, 230 Smith St, Collingwood

May 20, 2013 ⋅ Post a comment

Masak Masak has carved out a niche on restaurant-heavy Smith Street with its take on Malaysian hawker food. As soon as you walk into the bright and funky restaurant you’ll notice the charcoal barbeque front and centre. My (Asian) parents were very impressed with this piece of equipment as it’s rare for them to see [...]

HOT: Afghanistan Pop Up cafe, Melbourne Museum, Nicholson St, Carlton

May 8, 2013 ⋅ 3 comments

Every year Melbourne Museum hosts a special winter international exhibition and this year’s showcase Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures is from the National Museum of Kabul. If you’re visiting the exhibition (or even if you’re not) you may not be aware that just outside the entrance is a pop up cafe that serves tastes of the region. [...]

HOT: The Drifter’s Table, Small Block, 130 Lygon St, Brunswick East

May 8, 2013 ⋅ 2 comments

I love a good pop up as much as the next Melburnian, but a pop up one-night-only dinner that I found out about via Twitter? I had to get myself to The Drifter’s Table! The Drifter’s Table is a project by Zac Nicholson, Robbie Bell and Keelan Gallogly – three chefs with experience from Quay, Rockpool Bar [...]

HOT: Atico bar and Fonda Mexican, 144 Chapel St, Windsor

April 29, 2013 ⋅ Post a comment

By the looks of the ceaseless stream of people waiting to eat at Fonda Mexican on a weeknight, Melbourne can’t get enough of this Mexican wave we’re riding. So much so that Fonda Mexican has branched out from its small Richmond digs to skip across the river to Prahran. The second Fonda Mexican is bigger, brighter [...]

HOT: Bayte, 56 Johnston St, Collingwood

April 20, 2013 ⋅ Post a comment

It’s not often that I have a meal where every dish is faultless. And when I do have such an experience I want to shout it from the rooftops! So today I say – get thee to Bayte (bay-tee)! Bayte is a casual cafe/restaurant serving home-style Lebanese cuisine inspired by the chef’s grandmother’s recipes and childhood dishes. [...]

HOT: Itali.co, 1/173-177 Barkly St, St Kilda

April 1, 2013 ⋅ Post a comment

The partnership of Remo Nicollini, restauranteur, and Lino Maglione, master pizza maker, have recently opened a new casual Italian eatery called Itali.co in St Kilda. The two previously owned award winning pizzerias +39 and one of my CBD pizza haunts Espressino, then moved away to build the original Itali.co in Sorrento and start Docklands favourite [...]

HOT: Hammer and Tong 412, rear 412 Brunswick St (enter from Westgarth St), Fitzroy

March 22, 2013 ⋅ 3 comments

Fitzroy, I can’t keep up with you! I was walking along Brunswick Street a few weeks ago when I noticed that the ill-fated Brix restaurant had been resurrected into a cafe called Hammer & Tong 412 with a vaguely Communist looking logo on its doorstep. I made a mental note to visit and have only had [...]

HOT: Cantina della Casa, 13 Gertrude St, Fitzroy

March 20, 2013 ⋅ Post a comment

The domination of Gertrude Street by the McConnell brothers (Andrew and Matt) continues with another establishment opening, this time a cafe/deli/providore/bottle shop called Cantina della Casa. The small shop next door to Casa Ciuccio has been given a bright white makeover with unobstrusive smatterings of Latino flavour. One wall is dominated by a wine fridge [...]

HOT: Industry Beans, Warehouse 3, Cnr Rose St & Fitzroy St (enter from Fitzroy St), Fitzroy

March 17, 2013 ⋅ Post a comment

How do you convince a non-coffee drinker to drink coffee? Wrap it up in some fancy science and serve it with a smile. Regular readers of this blog will know that I don’t drink coffee. It’s one of my few weirdly inconsistent food habits – I will happily eat coffee cake and coffee ice cream, but [...]

HOT: St Ali North, 815 Nicholson St, Carlton North

March 15, 2013 ⋅ One comment

St Ali North is a cafe that ticks all the boxes for me. In fact, it’s almost as if they gathered a focus group of one (me) and asked what I wanted from a cafe. Let’s see now…an easy distance from my house via public transport or bike, an interesting menu using good quality produce, [...]

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