I like food. I rather wish I didn’t. Well not quite so much anyway. But for a girl who has such an addiction, Melbourne is certainly a great city to live in.
Thanks largely to immigration, our proximity to Asia and availability of good fresh produce, eating options in Melbourne are eclectic and cater to a variety of wallet thicknesses. These are a few of my favourite (Melbourne) eating establishments.
Cumulus Inc, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
A delightful, well designed space with tres chic floor staff and fab food, it can sometimes be hard to get a table at this Flinders Lane eatery. Well worth persevering though. My favorite meal here is breaky - though this shouldn't cast a cloud over the wonderful lunch or dinner options - it's just a particularly gorgeous time of day to be sipping a rich creamy latte and munching on Turkish Baked Eggs with labne, spiced tomato and dukka. There's muesli - standard and bircher - and toast and spreads if you're feeling like you'd rather something less exotic and of course a wonderful array of baked morsels just beckoning to make merry with your hips. Cumulus doesn't have a booking system, so it's just lob up, cross your fingers and smile on approach.
Cumulus Inc, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
A delightful, well designed space with tres chic floor staff and fab food, it can sometimes be hard to get a table at this Flinders Lane eatery. Well worth persevering though. My favorite meal here is breaky - though this shouldn't cast a cloud over the wonderful lunch or dinner options - it's just a particularly gorgeous time of day to be sipping a rich creamy latte and munching on Turkish Baked Eggs with labne, spiced tomato and dukka. There's muesli - standard and bircher - and toast and spreads if you're feeling like you'd rather something less exotic and of course a wonderful array of baked morsels just beckoning to make merry with your hips. Cumulus doesn't have a booking system, so it's just lob up, cross your fingers and smile on approach.
MoVida, 1 Hosier Lane, Melbourne
Melbourne’s CBD is full of fabulous sneaky little laneways and Hosier Lane is one of the best. A magnificent ‘gallery’ of some of the city’s best grafitti and home to Movida, providing the CBD’s best Spanish fare. It’s always tricky to secure a table at this buzzy place, but well worth the effort. Offering gorgeous wee tapas ‘tastes’ or ‘racion’ – for something a little more significant. A lovely spin on some more traditional Spanish dishes made with fine fresh produce.
Melbourne’s CBD is full of fabulous sneaky little laneways and Hosier Lane is one of the best. A magnificent ‘gallery’ of some of the city’s best grafitti and home to Movida, providing the CBD’s best Spanish fare. It’s always tricky to secure a table at this buzzy place, but well worth the effort. Offering gorgeous wee tapas ‘tastes’ or ‘racion’ – for something a little more significant. A lovely spin on some more traditional Spanish dishes made with fine fresh produce.
Gill's Diner & Bakery, Lt Collins St, Melbourne
The in-house pastries in this bakery-cum-cafe are so light they'd barely do a dint of damage to the hips. No really. Flakey and ethereal, teamed with a robust Romcaffe latte, they make a suberb start to a morning in Melbourne. Gill's diner and commercial bakery is quite the find. Fabulous sourdough loaves, baguettes, danishes and muffins - all made on the premises. There's a select breakfast menu but if you've found brekkie elsewhere you can return when the sun's gone down and partake of equally delightful dinner options.
The in-house pastries in this bakery-cum-cafe are so light they'd barely do a dint of damage to the hips. No really. Flakey and ethereal, teamed with a robust Romcaffe latte, they make a suberb start to a morning in Melbourne. Gill's diner and commercial bakery is quite the find. Fabulous sourdough loaves, baguettes, danishes and muffins - all made on the premises. There's a select breakfast menu but if you've found brekkie elsewhere you can return when the sun's gone down and partake of equally delightful dinner options.
Ezard (Flinders Lane) & Gingerboy (Crossley Street), Melbourne
I couldn’t decide which Teage Ezard restaurant to add to my ‘favourites’ list, so, well, you choose (wink*). Teage Ezard is one of Melbourne's culinary 'darhlings'. He has several eateries in Melbourne and interest in venues much farther afield. Ezard is a ‘proper’ restaurant. A fine – rather very fine - dining experience. A slick and intimate dining room of plush carpets, shiny, shiny glassware and highly starched linen. You certainly get the ‘special’ in ‘special occasion dining’. But where so often the food falls short of the linen/glassware/carpet promise, at Ezard it confidently lives up to expectations. Modern Australian with a hearty smile to China and a warm wave to Thailand, executed with creativity.
I couldn’t decide which Teage Ezard restaurant to add to my ‘favourites’ list, so, well, you choose (wink*). Teage Ezard is one of Melbourne's culinary 'darhlings'. He has several eateries in Melbourne and interest in venues much farther afield. Ezard is a ‘proper’ restaurant. A fine – rather very fine - dining experience. A slick and intimate dining room of plush carpets, shiny, shiny glassware and highly starched linen. You certainly get the ‘special’ in ‘special occasion dining’. But where so often the food falls short of the linen/glassware/carpet promise, at Ezard it confidently lives up to expectations. Modern Australian with a hearty smile to China and a warm wave to Thailand, executed with creativity.
Gingerboy is Teage Ezard’s ‘Hawker-style’ eatery at the cheaper end of the Asian food continuum. While not exactly Hawker prices, they are significantly lower than those at Ezard. A noisy eatery with waitstaff that are sometimes a tad too brusque, the food is still superb. The red duck curry is a knock out, as too are the prawn and ginger house-made dumplings and the signature son-in-law eggs.
The Supper Inn, 15 Celestial Ave, Melbourne
The address might create a certain expectation of this chinese restaurant and that would be, well, both right and wrong. While the food is most often of the heavenly variety, the place itself is not. Cheap and cheerful. Nothing more. Nothing less. The tabletops are laminex, the walls fake wood panelling and the carpet has a smattering of each of the many dishes listed on the laminated menus. But it is something of a Melbourne institution, and in the wee small hours on a buzzy Melbourne night the flavoursome Cantonese food arrives quickly and is fresh and zingy. The suckling pig and garlic and spinach are two of my favorites, but you really can't go too far wrong with anything here.
The address might create a certain expectation of this chinese restaurant and that would be, well, both right and wrong. While the food is most often of the heavenly variety, the place itself is not. Cheap and cheerful. Nothing more. Nothing less. The tabletops are laminex, the walls fake wood panelling and the carpet has a smattering of each of the many dishes listed on the laminated menus. But it is something of a Melbourne institution, and in the wee small hours on a buzzy Melbourne night the flavoursome Cantonese food arrives quickly and is fresh and zingy. The suckling pig and garlic and spinach are two of my favorites, but you really can't go too far wrong with anything here.
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