65 Degrees Cafe

I love meeting up with my Mum and Auntie in the city for lunch whenever those two peas in a pod invite me along (they know I’m always up for a long lunch!) and this lunch was no different, I was happy and excited because it was my Birthday (oh how quickly that came around!) (excuse the blurry photo taken in my excitement/haste)

They wanted to opt for somewhere close to Parliament Station (not realising the entrances to Parliament Station spread from one end of Spring to the other) so we met up at 65 Degrees for a highly anticipated baguette.

Babka Bakery Cafe

How often is it that food makes you weep? … No? Just me?

It was a Sunday morning when I said I would cook eggs on toast and be done with it, but the thought of foraging for the ingredients and going out to buy fresh bread – let alone the cook up – was like adding a jackhammer to the pounding in my brain. Good times were had with my boyfriend’s youngest sister turning 18 – but I think I’m going to stick with adult drinks from now on. Like coffee. That was an absolute godsend and up there with one of the better breakfast cups of Joe that I have had recently.

Saigon Pho (Carlton)

So I managed to make it back to Lygon Street for my Vietnamese after I was convinced that there is actually decent pizza to be had there (who would’ve thought, huh?) and pulled up a chair at Saigon Pho. It’s in the part of Lygon Street that others call the ‘terrace end’ (due to there being a lot of historical terraced shops in a row) but I call it the end of ‘world cuisine’ as you’ll find pretty much everything here except for an awful Italian pizza joint. (Here’s your Vietnamese style iced coffee and Longan drink – each $3.50)

Tiba’s Lebanese Restaurant

I think we know each other well enough now that I can let you in on a secret restaurant of mine: Tiba’s in Sydney Road. I almost don’t want to blog about it because I understand the power of the written word, the power of word of mouth and the (very small) amount of power I wield as a food blogger (Muahahahaha)… I just don’t want to be crowded out of here or see a rise in prices. So use your new-found knowledge wisely!

Okay, seriously now. The first time I went to Tiba’s I went with a vegetarian friend of mine who insisted that this was the most filling and awesome vegetarian feast that you could get this side of the city at a fraction of what you would expect to pay. I was astounded to find that this was true, so I brought back a host of friends (well, 5 plus me) and found that this claim also holds for the meateaters and non-eaters and everything in between.

Madame Sousou

It was one of those days at work where I didn’t even want to care. Ever have those? Some days I don’t care, but I wish I did; some days I just couldn’t have been less present. As I was sent out on assignment to my neck of the woods, I figured I would take a long lunch and try somewhere that I wouldn’t necessarily get the opportunity to try (other people’s tastes, wallets, etc) and when I checked out the lunch menu online… oooh la la.

Madame Sousou takes up a corner on Brunswick Street (back toward the city from Johnston Street) with a good number of outdoor seats from which to watch the passers-by, like any good restaurant in Paris. On a sunny Friday this is absolute heaven. Table for one, with my book? Don’t mind if I do.

Liaison

I can’t help thinking when we’ve scooted down the alleyway at the bottom of Monaco House that this would be a pretty good secret spot for a bit of a liaison of sorts. I just love that word.

My lunching partner C and I figured this was definitely worth a try – not too far to walk from work at lunchtime (ah, this lunch hour is closely guarded!) and with the enticement of a good coffee to finish (or finish me off, as it were). I definitely appreciate a good hidden gem, so I’m always up for a treasure hunt down some of Melbourne’s laneways.

D.O.C. Pizza & Mozzarella Bar

I thought I had dinner already scoped out for the night with The Boy. We planned to meet up after my squash game at the Uni and go for Pho on Lygon Street. No, you didn’t hear me wrong. I wanted Vietnamese in Melbourne’s most famous Pizza mile…yeah. My squash mates had different ideas and convinced us to change plans to go and get Pizza.

But Pizza in Lygon Street? My experiences have always been bad. I mean, I like pizza (who doesn’t?) – but only in Italy. I’m a pizza snob; yes I am. Lygon Street is, for me, like running the gauntlet past various old Italian spruikers (and they’re not even attractive, unlike the ones in Hardware Lane) who are trying to pass off their various La Porchetta-like restaurants as authentic. Or any good at all.

Pho Dzung

I’m going to have to eat my words. Hopefully not literally. For ages I’ve been citing Pho Dzung as the easiest spot to go for good pho up my end of town (you know, up the top end) and that although I think MVNH is better, Pho Dzung comes a good second.

No more.

Not only is the pho seriously msg-erific and prone to cause serious headaches and parched throats, I was actually poisoned by the food this time around. And I think the deliciousness of the pho has gone downhill too, just sayin’.

This is a fail. Service is bad (although when has it ever been good?), the place is still as popular as ever and it is a cheap eat, but desperation won’t drive me here now. I would much prefer to head down to Swanston Street and get some real food that won’t leave me feeling msg’d and rotten on the inside.

Komeyui

I haven’t been this surprised by Japanese for a LONG time. It was still morning when I called up Mum and asked what it was we were going to do for dinner that night. Apparently my sister had laid down the law requested Japanese. So which Japanese restaurants in the inner South/East are on my hit list? Komeyui was certainly one.

It was relatively full for a Friday night, I made a booking earlier in the day and we were the only spare table at 8pm. It’s a very clean restaurant with a good sushi bar element down one wall, where you can spy the incredible chefs doing their thing.

As you can imagine, we ordered about 8 different dishes between the four of us (not including dessert) so it was a fairly lengthy sitting with a lot of different flavours; but what excited me the most was that everything we ordered was at least ‘good’ and sometimes amazing.

Seddon Deadly Sins

For a place for sinners, this is just too much fun.

As soon as I walked in the door, I knew this was going to be a winner. I don’t often find myself in Footscray, but today I was out in the rain for an auction (for work, not for fun) and the one thing that made me perk up about this little outing was the promise of ticking this one off the ‘to eat at’ list. I beat the lunch rush (at 12:30 on a Friday) and scored quite a large table all to myself, where I summarily laid out my book and phone – my favourite lunch for one companions.