restaurants and cafes

HOT: The Italian, Level 6, 101 Collins Street, Melbourne

June 19, 2010 ⋅ One comment

Today we have a post from a new guest blogger, Huy – man about town, fine dining aficionado and on a mission to collect as many Michelin stars as possible. Take it away Huy! Entering the foyer of 101 Collins Street never fails to take my breath away. Nothing gets my heart racing like water [...]

HOT: Italy 1, 27 George Parade, Melbourne

June 18, 2010 ⋅ 2 comments

Whenever visitors ask me to recommend a casual CBD restaurant for dinner, I tend to always direct them to Italy 1. Why? Because it’s down a typical Melbourne laneway so it’s not that easy to find (though not so difficult that it’s going to freak out anyone tumbling down a dark alley), it’s small and [...]

HOT: The Hardware Societe, 120 Hardware St, Melbourne

June 17, 2010 ⋅ 8 comments

OK, so I’m not a trendsetter. But sign me up to the long list of food bloggers who are in love with Hardware Societe. I should’ve known that I would love it before I even stepped in the door when my friend D told me that the owners used to run Beetroot. Oh Beetroot, with [...]

HOT: Waffle On, Shop 9 Degraves St, Melbourne

June 16, 2010 ⋅ 7 comments

My French-speaking friend A introduced me to Waffle On when it first opened in 2003 and I’ve been a fan of this tiny establishment ever since. Even when I lived within a couple hours of France, I would still come to Waffle On on my visits to Melbourne to bask in some of owner Marc [...]

HOT: Citrus Mint Thai Restaurant, 357 Victoria St, West Melbourne

June 15, 2010 ⋅ One comment

West Melbourne is a funny place. It straddles the city and trendy North Melbourne in a kind of grungy business/pretty residential mix and it’s not somewhere that necessarily comes to mind for dining out. However, for locals of West Melbourne (and North Melbourne for that matter), Citrus Mint is a nice little neighbourhood Thai restaurant [...]

NOT: Boynton’s Feathertop Cafe, Boyntons Feathertop Winery, 6619 Great Alpine Rd, Porepunkah

June 14, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

In the second of this long weekend’s out-of-town series, today we head to Porepunkah (near Bright) in Victoria’s Alpine region. In my view, a perfect Sunday involves friends, lots of food and a long white table under the shade of a big tree with rolling hills as far as the eye can see. The setting [...]

HOT: Milawa Cheese Company, Factory Rd, Milawa

June 13, 2010 ⋅ 9 comments

It’s a long weekend and the perfect time to think about taking some trips outside of Melbourne. Today we’re off to Milawa, about 2.5 hours drive from Melbourne and the home of the renowned Milawa Cheese Company. David and Anne Brown founded the Milawa Cheese Company in 1988 when they set out to make Australian [...]

HOT Spots Winter 2010

June 11, 2010 ⋅ 4 comments

Once again the City of Melbourne have produced a free pocket-sized booklet full of lots of ideas to inspire you to get out of the house and enjoy winter in Melbourne. This is a post to bookmark! I sat down with a cup of tea and flicked through the booklet, which you can pick up [...]

HOT: Lau’s Family Kitchen, 4 Acland St, St Kilda

June 9, 2010 ⋅ 4 comments

The Jetsetting Parents were in town and as usual, I’d planned an eating itinerary for their stay. While I was contemplating where to take them, I remembered Lau’s Family Kitchen, a Cantonese restaurant in St Kilda that I’d always meant to try but being south of the river, had never really made the effort. It [...]

HOT: Madame Sousou, 231 Brunswick St, Fitzroy

June 8, 2010 ⋅ 3 comments

Madame Sousou is a slice of Paris placed into a corner of Fitzroy and it transports me to one of my favourite places in the world every time I step through the doors. The interior is all old-world romance, with gilded mirrors, cosy tables, antique posters and wooden champagne crates decorating the walls. The lighting [...]