- Melbourne
- /
- food
- (18)
-
Australia
Another nice little find in my local neighbourhood... Sarands presents a Mediterranean-based menu of seafood or meat dishes. The restaurant itself is light and airy (with an upstairs private dining area for functions), service is pleasant, the wine list small but well chosen and the (mains) servings huge. The prices are reasonable too. Coffee is excellent.
532 Hampton St, Hampton
3188 Vic (200m south of South Rd)
Ph 9598 8944
www.greateats.com.au/restaurants/au/Melbourne_Inner_South/Hampton/14489/Sarands_Mediterranean
Dining at Mirka is a tasty visual experience. Surrounded by murals by Mirka Mora, you dine on food from the kitchen of Melbourne's famed Guy Grossi. Based widely on a mediterranean style (Grossi is Italian), the menu here is about making one feel cosseted and at home.
The wine list is superb with wines from France and South America as well as the best of Australia. Superb service along the art of the dining room makes 'Mirka' one of Melbourne's best culinary experiences. We will be going back.
42 Fitzroy St
ST Kilda
03 9525 3088
100m from St Kilda Light Rail station
www.mirkatolarno.com/
Strange name for a new restaurant in suburban Hampton. However, it's one with an upmarket atmosphere, very good food and superb service and that makes for a very fine dining experience. It's a touch above our other local Chinese restaurants.
356 Hampton St Hampton 3188
ph (03) 9521 6066
100m south of the railway station
Salix restaurant at the Willow Creek Winery on the Mornington Peninsula south of Melbourne is simply superb.
Local produce and seafood, a great view and the fine wines from the winery and other areas create a high-class dining experience. Go for lunch or dinner and enjoy!
Willow Creek Vineyard
166 Balnarring Road
Merricks North 3926
Salix Restaurant
ph: 5989 7640
www.willow-creek.com.au/index.php?page=salix_restaurant
Melbourne might be addicted to great coffee bars and a second rate form of football, but to really taste its gritty, multicultural heart visit
the Queen Vic. It’s enormous – it claims to have 1,000 stalls and be the largest in the southern hemisphere – with Greek, Italian,
Vietnamese and Yugoslavian flavours of local flogging everything from fresh fish and pets to rugs and furniture.
The food stalls are unforgettable: every variety of olive, glistening slabs of fresh fish
and walls of cheese. So that’s why Melbourne has so many epic restaurants.
Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Or, so it said in Lewis Carrol's Jabberwock!
Cafè Callooh is a new cafè in Hampton with an unusual interior, great coffee and snacks. Soup of the day and other eats are great. Kid-friendly too. Tucked away from the main part of Hampton's High street, Cafè Callooh is well worth a visit! Enjoy the wall writing....
75 Ludstone Street
Hampton Vic 3188
T: 9521 6865
Just opened, Kushi Indian Flavour Restaurant (strange name) presents seriously good Indian food in a restaurant setting that has some class. Nice seating, crisp white tableclothes and super service from the young black-clad waiting staff.
The wine list has been well thought out and there is also a good range of beers (which suit Indian food). A choice of the various Indian breads are offered on the menu. Vegetarians are not forgotten with quite a few selections in the Entree and Mains area of the menu.
504 Hampton St
(near cnr with Littlewood st)
Hampton 3188
ph 95984023
Cafe Latte is not a drink, it's a nice little Italian restaurant in swanky Toorak. Great pasta dishes (mainly southern Italian style), nice wine list, central bar and a fantastic atmosphere make this a place 'to eat out' at.
521 Malvern Rd, Toorak, VIC, 3142
Phone: (03) 98265846
www.cafelatte.com.au
Tucked up in the ranges overlooking Melbourne is a series of small villages, most with little restaurants, cafes and bistros. At the small village of Olinda is 'the Cuckoo' restaurant probably one of the best known and famous for its Bavarian (German) based entertainment and food.
It's been there for about 50 years and thrives with families going there for a great night out.
The food? A huge variety of seafood, meats, side dishes, hot and cold. The freshly made pancakes are a favourite for desert, with cream of course!
The music and entertainment? Bavarian with something for all the family.
508 Mount Dandenong Tourist Road, Olinda Victoria
Australia 3788
phone: +61-3-9751 1003
Fax: +61-3-9751 2229
www.cuckoorestaurant.com.au/
We found this restaurant provides quick takeaways and decent sit-down dining. The menu covers all the traditional stuff, like pad Thai, satay stir-fries and curries.
You can try Poppy's 'Anna and the King' dish - a combination of Penang curry with mushrooms, tofu and vegies, which apparently won them a food award.
298 Bridge Rd
(straight across the road from the Town Hall)
Richmond 3121 VIC
Phone: (03) 9428 7222
www.poppys.com.au
Definitely different is this japanese restaurant but lunch is great. All the usual favourites (tempura etc) are there along with some others more unusual like salmon rolls and shishamo.
Try the teriyaki beef rolls (delicious) and even their pizza!
Okonomiyaki is awesome (and Japanese for pizza). The decor is different too.
By the way, they also do dinner -
try it.
179 Russell St
Melbourne CBD
ph 9663 1938
Great all round produce market. There's even a cooking school.
163 Commercial Road, South Yarra 3141
www.prahranmarket.com.au/
Like Indian food? Authentic Indian?
The Indian Express in Hampton St, Hampton (bayside Melbourne) provides all that. There is virtually no room to eat in (it is a takeaway after all) but the queues for the takeaway say it all. People come from surrounding suburbs for their fill of Indian... it is that good!
Tel: 9598 4444
miettas.com/Australia/Victoria/Hampton/Indian_Express.html
Melbourne sits on a great bay and having a meal as the sun descends in the west across the water is a great dining experience. There are many places especially on the eastern side, from the bistros, pubs and restaurants of the peninsula towns of Portsea and Sorrento or Mornington to the elegant dining of Donovans at St Kilda, Sails on the Bay at Elwood, the restored Brighton Baths or Windows by the Bay at Mordialloc.
Closer to town at Port Melbourne, the London or Graham are not to be missed. Eat out at the St Kilda Pier or sit in the Espy and have a beer. The view from Number 1 Fitzroy St is worth cost of the dining experience.
South-east of the CBD... along the shoreline of Port Philip Bay
This is the best place to have breakfast in Melbourne, according to me. Take a seat at one of the old tables and choose from coffee, sandwiches or pastries. I spent two weeks in Melbourne and had a breakfast of French toast (brioche dipped in egg and fried), a mocha and fresh apple juice.
23 Degraves Street, opposite Flinders Street station.
Around 90 minutes from Melbourne is the Yarra Valley, one of Victoria’s loveliest wine and cheese producing regions. There are lots of tours to guide you around the vineyards or you can simply hire a car and travel at your own pace.
Like Britain, the closest Australia comes to an indigenous style of cooking is modern fusion, but thanks to a proximity to South East Asia oriental-influenced styles are particularly good. The local produce is amongst the freshest and cheapest in the world, making it almost impossible to stumble upon a bad meal. Europeans will find the prices hard to believe.
Well worth a walk as it encompasses some of the the best vistas onto Port Phillip Bay and some good beaches. Set up to educate users on local artists and why/where they painted what they did - includes Tom Roberts and Arthur Streeton. If you have time, have a coffee at the Rickett's Point cafe overlooking the beach...
Send your feedback or queries to been.there@guardian.co.uk
Search Been there
Your tips about Melbourne