The inside guide to eating and drinking in Melbourne. Since 2005.
Tomato  »  Exhibition St • Melbourne • Restaurants

The chaos that is Misschu

by Ed

Order at the tuckshop window Click through to the MissChu website at your peril. It’s noisy, just like the restaurant, if you can call it that. The vibe is exactly the same as the crowded chaos of a SE Asian city at this joint at the top end of Exhibition St, between Lonsdale and Latrobe. [...]

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Do you know a surcharge sinner?

by Ed

If you can find somewhere open today – or any time this Easter weekend – potentially it’s an expensive time to eat out because of public holiday surcharges of 10% or more. It’s a unique situation having five days straight off work and I know I’ll be chowing down in what restaurants I can find [...]

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A Temple that needs more spice

by Ed

It’s very hip. It’s dark like a nightclub with individual lamps over each table illuminating the food. Not so dark that you could get away with the kind of nefarious under table hand shuffling that was reported in the defunct Bistro Guillaume bar that previously occupied the basement space. But dark enough to make any [...]

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Busting the great Pellegrini’s myth

by Ed

People love Pellegrini’s Espresso Bar. It’s because of the atmosphere and the 1950s charm. It’s a great place to hang out and watch the top end of Bourke Street go by – as long as you are not eating or drinking coffee. If you have anything more ambitious than a glass of water (alcohol isn’t [...]

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Albert Roux respects bugs

by Ed

Albert Roux: respect for the bug I‘ve often wondered why so much food is so bad in Queensland. According to Heston Blumenthal we need moist nasal passages to taste best, which is partly why food tastes of nothing on planes. Queensland being so humid should mean that everything tastes better than in the drier humid [...]

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Little Press and the mini wagyu burger

by Ed

Mikro Bifteki – the $7 mini wagyu burger It’s the sort of thing we all say: “I’ll meet you at Movida Next Door at 6.30.” Of course, you can’t squeeze in without a 40 minute wait. And Movida itself is full. And an ill-tempered waitress at Coda inevitably tells you to F-ck off. Next time, [...]

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The Point: old vs new

by Ed

Old: Poached egg, white polenta and black truffle It’s a nice idea. Pit the old school talent of your executive chef versus the new technique-led talent of a young chef. Tonight it was at The Point pitting the old school butter soaked technique of executive chef Scott Pickett versus Ryan Flaherty who has worked at [...]

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Heirloom – one foam too far

by Ed

Heirloom looks great but the food needs to be simpler. The best French chefs are Japanese nowadays, they say. But they aren’t French they are Japanese. They are just cooking French-style with the addition of Japanese ingredients. Meanwhile, the best French chefs are now open in Japan. They rock. Or at least Michel Bras does, [...]

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Josie Bones: we ate everything

by Ed

We all know Chris Badenoch right? The bad boy beer guy who was runner-up on Masterchef series one. He’s the one that was chewed-up by the tabloids and spat out a love rat. Now he’s a place of his own to, so to speak, chew-up rare breed animals and swallow, together with several hundred beers. [...]

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Book now: Food bloggers to prove they can cook

by Ed

The time has come for Melbourne food bloggers to prove they can cook in a special once-only dinner that is not for the food intolerant at Miss Jackson in St Kilda. Anchovies, tongue, pork, gin and strawberries are all on the menu. Some come and join me Penny (whose idea this was), Billy, Jess and [...]

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Izakaya Den is “quite nice really”. Or is it?

by Ed

What do you say to a celebrity when you meet them? It’s a question raised by the Freakanomics guys and what that I often face. When Rachael Griffiths pats my gimpy dog, or my grumpy dog tries to savage one of Guy Pearce’s Basenji, I just make polite conversation and try and treat them normally [...]

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No, I’m not involved with Golden Plates Awards

by Ed

I was surprised when I received an email from Pam Jewson asking me to suggest people who might like to be judges for the Golden Plate Awards as we have history. I didn’t reply. I was even more surprised to hear from somebody who had been contacted who said the Golden Plate Awards were using [...]

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Help needed to support Streetsmart charities

by Ed

In a world with big budgets and high overheads, Streetsmart is one of those charities that helps the small and local, roping in cafes and restaurants to support often forgotten frugal local causes. On Monday 9th November its 2009, running until Christmas Streetsmart’s campaign kicks off. The idea is that diners leave an extra $2 [...]

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My Sydney wine fix

by Ed

Fix St James: Funnily enough very close to St James station, 111 Elizabeth Street, Sydney NSW 2000 +61 2 9232 2767 There must be something about Fix St James to make me return. During the last two of my trips to Sydney I have visited, three times – twice in the past week. And it [...]

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