restaurants and cafes

HOT: The Maling Room, 206 Canterbury Rd, Canterbury

May 18, 2011 ⋅ 2 comments

At first glance, the sign for The Maling Room looks like The Mailing Room. Which is an apt name for the airy cafe housed in a Victorian era former post office, its faux majestic columns hailing the entrance to the little village street known as Maling Road. Maling Road is a favourite pram-pushing destination for [...]

HOT: North Cafeteria, 717 Rathdowne St, Carlton North

May 10, 2011 ⋅ One comment

North Cafeteria is small and straight to the point, just like this review. It’s located on the northside of town. To be specific, it’s a favourite with the locals of North Carlton, right in the heart of sedate Rathdowne Village. The cafe is essentially one room with small corridor of outdoor space at the back. [...]

HOT: St Ali, 18 Yarra Place, South Melbourne

May 9, 2011 ⋅ 3 comments

No doubt many of you have heard of St Ali, the cafe and specialty coffee purveyors who are one of a handful of places responsible for Melbourne’s love affair with ‘third wave’ coffee. Well, I don’t drink coffee, so this puts me at a disadvantage when a reviewing a place such as St Ali. However, [...]

HOT: Gypsy Hideout, 68 High St, Northcote

May 2, 2011 ⋅ 4 comments

Sometimes a wrong turn can be the right decision. I was cycling along the Merri Creek bike track one afternoon, intending to head up to CERES. However, at the junction for the path heading north I heard the loud rumble of excavation works and chainsawing and so I decided to take a right hand turn [...]

HOT Chat: Emma Leonard, illustrator

April 29, 2011 ⋅ 3 comments

One of the fun things about going to crafty, artisan markets is that you get to meet all sorts of interesting creative people. On my recent visit to Finders Keepers markets, I was drawn to the delicate, ethereal work of Emma Leonard under the label Belafonte. Today’s HOT Chat is with the lovely Emma – [...]

NOT: Shire Cafe, 69 Victoria St, Fitzroy

April 28, 2011 ⋅ 4 comments

The majority of the time my reviews on the blog are of places and events that I attend because I’ve done some research beforehand. Thus, it’s always surprising (and a little disappointing) when that research turns up a NOT experience. Such was the case with Shire Cafe. I’d read positive reviews of the place in two food [...]

HOT: Shanghai Dynasty, 206 Bourke Street, Melbourne

April 27, 2011 ⋅ 2 comments

Whenever my parents are in town I try to make the most of their Chinese language skills and food expertise by steering them towards meals at Chinese restaurants. Our latest trip was to Shanghai Dynasty for lunch, after I read a review of the restaurant at Addictive & Consuming. Since Jeroxie’s review in January the [...]

HOT: Fatto a Mano, 228 Gertrude St, Fitzroy

April 21, 2011 ⋅ 7 comments

Every year around this time I do a little taste-run of hot cross buns in Melbourne. Ostensibly it’s to provide blog readers with information but really it’s just an excuse to eat a lot of fruity, spicy, sticky bread (I’m a purist – chocolate chips should not be found in hot cross buns!). Sadly this [...]

HOT: YumTable launch, St Jude’s Cellars, 381-391 Brunswick St, Fitzroy

April 11, 2011 ⋅ 5 comments

When you read my ‘About’ page, you’ll find out that amongst other things I like discount coupons :–) In fact, in my social circle I’m well known for whipping out a coupon for every occasion. Might be my Asian upbringing – why pay full price when you can pay half price? That’s why the new [...]

HOT: Sugadeaux Cupcake Tasting, NorthSouth Eatery, 760 Chapel St, South Yarra

April 7, 2011 ⋅ 3 comments

Once again it’s time for one of the highlights of a food blogger’s calendar – the Sugadeaux Cupcake Tasting night! Last time we trialled eight full-sized cupcakes, this time we tried five miniature cupcakes from the newest collection. It’s commendable that a small business like Sugadeaux is constantly innovating with new ingredient combinations and values [...]