Melbourne food tips for visiting blogger

by Ed

Gastronic Leena emails me from Adelaide and asks where to eat in Melbourne:

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

stickyfingers November 11, 2007 at 4:13 pm: OTHER SPOTS:

St.Kilda –
i Carusi for Pizza in Barkly St
Acland street for just general cake window shopping
Baker D Chirico in Fitzroy St for bread & cake
Cacao for afternoon tea and chocolates
Ciccolina for a unique Melbourne experience, hang in the bar behind it or dine – great sticky date pudding – Acland street
Chinta Blues for Malaysian Hawker food

South Melbourne –
Zappa for gnocchi on a thursday or brekkie, Bank Street
Cafe Sweethearts – a breakfast institution, Coventry Street
Dim Sims at the Sth Melb market, also tapas, tortillas & take away yum cha
Cafe Panette opp market, good baked beans and corn fritters
Curry Club – opp Coles in Coventry St

Albert Park –
Misuzu’s Village style Japanese in the right hand side shop front – I can’t go past the chilled stuff, salads, sushi, yakitori, dengaku
Jocks Ice Cream
Bakeries galore
Award winning book shop
Andrew’s Hamburgers – an institution
Beer Garden at the Railway

Richmond –
Victoria Street – tons of great Vietnamese restaurants and grocers
The Bar & beer garden at The Grand
Public House – great Bar, roof garden and some decent dining
The Corner Hotel – decent food in the rooftop beer garden and great bands

My head hurts, I could go on, but I’d be here all day…here’s something I wrote for tripadvisor…(hope it works, code bamboozles me)
Melbourne is for foodies
another outspoken female November 12, 2007 at 6:22 am: Some great ideas guys.

Going back to the cheap eats end of the spectrum, there is The Moroccan Soup Bar 183 St Georges Rd, Nth Fitzroy. It is very cheap, vego, an oral menu and no alcohol. Very busy due to price (about $17 for 3 courses) and uniqueness so go early in the night, then check out some of the local bars after (head back to Brunswick St and go to Polly, 1 coctail would be the price of the whole meal at the Soup Bar!)

Vic Market – main food market days are tue, thur, fri, sat – make your own picnic from the delis.

If wanting a quick lunch in the city, Shenies Curries on Russell St (near flinders lane) looks like just another bain marie curry joint but the Sri Lankan food is better than most and very cheap.

Smith St and Gertrude St’s Fitzroy have a number of cheap eats for breakfast, lunch and dinner – as well as Books For Cooks, a quirky Japanese bar and eatery which is suprisingly cheap (Ume Nomiya) and the great bakery Made a Mano (all nestled in the same part of Gertrude St).

Last tip, if eating early in the week google the place first to make sure it is open.
leena! November 13, 2007 at 9:51 am: Thanks everyone! All the suggestions sound great…and there will be one day that I am completely on my own, so I certainly will be trying out a good handful of these places (lunch anyone?). One question…Ed, you mentioned the the Victoria, Prahran or South Melbourne markets …are these farmers markets, open air markets, or just an area where there is a lot of good food to buy?
Ed November 13, 2007 at 10:25 am: They are fixed undercover markets. Victoria is the biggest and has the most amazing deli food hall and other food areas. It also does clothes and souveniers. South Melbourne is sort of a smaller version and Prahran is only really food.
Here are some links:
http://www.qvm.com.au/
http://www.prahranmarket.com.au/
http://www.portphillip.vic.gov.au/southmelbournemarket.html
if you want to catch up send me a line.
Linda November 17, 2007 at 9:03 pm: Leena, I hope I’m not too late for a few suggestions. My list of places are either CBD or in the inner north areas of Melbourne.

FITZROY
Babka (358 Brunswick Street) – fantastic sourdough bread. The multigrain loaf is a winner! Good place for brekky too.
Filter (285 Brunswick Street) – tasty breakfast.

FITZROY NORTH
Moroccan Soup Bar (183 St Georges Road) – as mentioned by another spoken female, the banquet is great value. Don’t miss out on the chickpea bake!
The Green Grocer (217 St Georges Road) – great organic breakfast and lunch.
Dench Bakers (109 Scotchmer Street) – good sourdough bread and sweet things.

CARLTON
Cafe Zum Zum (645 Rathdowne Street) – tasty Middle Eastern food with friendly service.
Sweet Source (288 Rathdowne Street) – cute patisserie/cafe with delicious cakes and good spot for brekky/lunch.
Casa del Gelato (165 Lygon Street) – best gelati in Melbourne!

NORTHCOTE
Curry Cafe (73 High Street) – cheap and fast Indian. Chicken masala is my fave.
Pizza Meine Leibe (231 High Street) – funky restaurant with delicious thin and crispy based pizzas.

CITY
Beetroot (123 Hardware Street) – fantastic breakfast. Hot chocolate comes with Persian fairy floss

CITY BARS
Order of Melbourne (Level 2, 401 Swanston Street) – on the second floor, so not a good place to get drunk as you’ll
Section 8 (27 Tattersalls Lane, off Little Bourke Street) – as suggested by Ed; a very funky outdoor bar which gets packed on a warm summer’s night.
Golden Monkey (389 Lonsdale Street but you enter from Hardware Lane) – Asian inspired with Asian tapas-styled dishes to nibble on.

Hope you have a nice time in Melbourne, Leena!
barbara December 8, 2007 at 2:49 pm: I loved Movida and also Hako.