Best eating in Melbourne to date. This restaurant is doing splendid things with the freshest ingredients possible for a low, low price tag. Have a Kir Royale to start and let the food whisper sweet nothings in your ear.
Pellegrini's, 66 Bourke St, Melbourne.
Coffee taken very VERY seriously. So seriously, in fact, that I have yet to see the bloke behind the machine crack a smile. Excellent ricotta cakes.
Journal Canteen, 253 Flinders Ln Melbourne
Not really a menu, more a directive, with only a few things on the menu, this is an exercise in trust. Excellent cannoli! Only low point was the stove-top coffee but forgiveness as they say is divine, especially if there's more cannoli in the offing.
Mario's 303 Brunswick StFitzroy
Old-school waiting staff, old-school menu, (for lord's sake don't ask for a decaf, flat white or skinny milk). I bet the waiters could circumnavigate the Sahara, short-black in hand and not spill a drop.
Honourable Mentions
The Press Club - We booked a table for dinner here on our first night in Melbourne. Unfortunately, the well-oiled machine that is Virgin Blue Airlines saw fit to sit us on the tarmac for four hours before take-off. Instead of the Press Club our in-flight meal options were a soggy egg sandwich and a bashed-about mars bar! #@!@#@^%%#@ The restaurant receptionist and I bonded over our mutual loathing of Virgin Airlines.
Yu-u - A natty little Japanese place in the centre of the city. It came highly recommended to us and looked hep and happening but we couldn't get a table. Give yourself a good half an hour before your booking to find this place. It's at 137 Flinders Lane but you need to enter via Oliver Lane, look for the sign about the size of your fingernail.
Europe is great....but,
I miss Melbourne soooo!
Posted by: Cassandra | January 05, 2010 at 06:26 PM
wow nanette, you really know how to get your eating groove on in our fair city! fabulous places! next time, be sure to get to boire for a drink and something fairly rustic.....right next to m truffe. anada in gertrude st for amazing tapas is worth it too. and ladro for fab italian fare, across from that is gertrude st enoteca, delicious little snacks with just about anything you care to drink....and, god, there's just soooo many places....!
Posted by: shelley t | January 05, 2010 at 09:08 PM
Why is that the people that visit find the good stuff because if you live there you can never be bothered sifting out the gold - no more I am off on the Rummage Melbourne Tour
Posted by: Cindy | January 05, 2010 at 09:44 PM
thankyou for all that great info, i am an ex Melbourne girl and now will revisit in June and see NEW places, now just cant decide The Nunnery or The Brooklyn ?
Posted by: no blog norma | January 06, 2010 at 08:52 AM
Really loving your rummage guides. And really missing melbourne right now. Don't get me wrong, I love where I live, but a good dose of Melbourne would serve me well right now! Your guide has some old haunts - and some new discoveries for me. Going down in February, can't wait!!
Posted by: Andrea | December 07, 2010 at 12:41 PM