tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33719375622450951892012-01-15T22:16:24.173+11:00Melbourne Restaurant Reviews and Other Delectable ReflectionsTowzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.comBlogger541100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-63017491280101660772010-04-11T09:33:00.007+10:002010-04-13T00:02:47.837+10:00

The French may have the most obvious, though somewhat elitist bookmark in any current reference on the culinary attributes of snails. But having just returned from another work related (and food exploration) trip to both north and south Vietnam, I can attest that the Indochinese have their very own and certainly more down to earth chapters on serving up the diverse variety of gastropods that

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-47291759856677626032009-11-22T22:32:00.003+11:002009-11-23T23:17:16.640+11:00

Loathed to raise this again, it's horribly cliché but Melbourne's frivolous weather continues to totally baffle me. A mere day ago we were sweltering through the city's hottest November day ever as the mercury hovered around 38°C for most of it, and yet this morning we woke to the wettest day in several years with temperatures cool enough to have to dig our sweaters out of the back of the closet

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-86997219099070815032009-11-06T21:31:00.004+11:002009-11-10T00:13:50.665+11:00

We spent a recent long weekend dodging rain squalls along the southern Australian coastline halfway to Adelaide and back. Once again indisputable evidence that the surest way to break a prolonged drought in any region, would be to get us to plan a getaway there. Not that I’m complaining really. It made for dramatic scenery and it was a terrific time! Grateful to be breathing in lungfuls of

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-9679831003363492222009-05-20T20:35:00.019+10:002009-11-04T02:13:35.784+11:00

Peanut and pork steamed dumplings, braised chicken's feet, and wu gok (pork filled fried taro dumplings)Recently sampled the dim sum at the relatively new Gold Leaf Chinese restaurant in Waterfront City at Harbour Town Docklands. The venue is located within Melbourne's newest complex for factory outlet shopping, so new in fact that many of the frontages remain vacant or were not quite yet at

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-44230047775384265522009-05-12T18:39:00.014+10:002010-01-23T13:21:46.740+11:00

It was the second time we loitered near its inconspicuous entrance. The first pass we walked straight by wondering if we’d misunderstood the seemingly clear instructions for the rendezvous. Glancing around furtively over my shoulder at the surrounding deserted office district, I pressed thumb on buzzer and the door clicked open in acknowledgment. Why the espionage? Were we about to be handed a

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-51921844386552601002009-03-22T14:59:00.004+11:002009-05-13T16:20:55.990+10:00

If it feels like a snake, and it looks like a snake, then it must be a ... fruit!?In my last post I put up a couple of cropped pictures of some exotic fruits I'd encountered in Indonesia. Well, picture No.1 is of the salak also known as the snake fruit or snakeskin fruit. These grow in clusters at the base of the imposingly prickly salak palm that is native to Indonesia, with each individual

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-60775858703148409402009-03-09T22:15:00.010+11:002009-12-04T23:06:25.855+11:00

As Melbourne Food Bloggers were living it up at the rescheduled version of their latest get together, I was stuck in a 5-hour layover at the main terminal building of KL International enroute home from Jakarta with only the bowl of curry noodles pictured above and the How to Pay Off Your Mortgage in 5 Years paperback to break up the boredom. As terminal purchases go, the noodle curry was way

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-56129506060295299682009-01-23T23:40:00.005+11:002009-05-12T22:13:53.188+10:00

The stretch along Lygon Street that is Melbourne's Little Italy has always posed a bit of a conundrum for me. Just about every City guide book will list the street as a not to be missed destination for a sampling of the 'Restaurant City' that is Melbourne. And yet this busy and highly competitive length of packed eateries jostling for customers' attention each evening appears to be largely

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-90116880353758522622009-01-18T18:12:00.013+11:002009-05-12T23:46:35.320+10:00

Though I could continue to reflect back on the food encountered on a recent trip to Hanoi, there's really no reason to when similar action is currently happening right here in Melbourne! We hopped on the train last Sunday to join Footscray's Lunar New Year festivities on Hopkins Street, held a little earlier this year so as to not coincide with the Australia Day long weekend. The local Vietnamese

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-82978582591874611582008-12-30T22:11:00.031+11:002009-11-28T12:07:44.790+11:00

Investigation of restaurant opportunities in Hanoi led us to Nam Phuong, which offered 'traditional' Vietnamese cuisine within the fine dining confines of a revamped French villa, located within strolling distance from Hoan Kiem Lake. There was hardly time to wipe the sweaty post-walk sheen off our faces nor be dazzled by its fairylight cobwebbed facade before we were set upon by beaming doormen

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-12688494075544715752008-12-29T20:27:00.027+11:002009-05-12T23:49:28.899+10:00

This latest trip to Hanoi was over two months ago. Everytime I travel for work, I envision that there'll be plenty of downtime to blog whilst on the trip. Well of course that's never the case. If I'd spent the evening back in the hotel room, I would either be stuck with my usual desperate rush to complete preparations for meetings the following day, or have returned so weary that all I would

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-47062749599020005412008-12-11T11:54:00.009+11:002009-05-13T16:03:32.002+10:00

Previously unbeknownst to me, there are gourmet missionaries out there who challenge themselves to find the most compatible wines to partner with fine chocolate. And why not, a double whammy of euphoric neurostimulation if it works I suppose. My own experiences had been limited to spontaneous and regrettable occasions when mouth puckered at unpleasant tartness as vin du jour clashed with

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-32557872906554933042008-12-11T10:35:00.010+11:002009-05-13T16:04:02.078+10:00

A selection of buttery filo, pistachio, semolina and syrupy goodness at Balha's PastryYes I have been absent and neglectful for some time. I do admit to reaching a point where Blogger’s more annoying idiosyncrasies such as its unpredictable interpretation of command lines and tendency to spontaneously evaporate uploaded pictures into the ether, irritated me more than was rational. That and the

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-58739006087791414102008-08-08T22:41:00.007+10:002009-05-12T23:12:58.188+10:00

The dining room of Hako Japanese restaurant is a pretty sexy place in the evening. And by that I don't mean brash bordello sexy as in red lace and black leathers (too bad if that's your thing), but rather a classy jazzy sexiness exuded by its monochromatic base colours and dimly lit aesthetic. Politely demure wait staff dressed in black, flickering tea-lights on tables and sparse moody rows of

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-2686153637701491402008-07-27T23:35:00.012+10:002009-05-12T23:31:13.632+10:00

Looking forward to that cold and limp herbed chicken sandwich for your in-flight lunch shortly after take-off? Or worst if flying budget, anticipate forking out $7 or more for noodles-in-a-cup and a drink that will leave you feeling even more ravenous? Well here's an alternative if you happen to be on the highway to Tullamarine from late morning (11 am) to about 2 pm, or in the evening (5:30 - 8:

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-78073219727486833642008-07-20T18:05:00.006+10:002008-07-20T19:09:41.378+10:00

Sunday morning. Awake, but why? Winter. Cold, shivering, dim. Hungry.Kitchen. Espresso machine, strong long-black. Better...slightly.Courtyard. Colder still, biting breeze. Pot of herbs, struggling, sparse. But thyme, flat-leaf parsley.Stove. Ignite. Free-range eggs, dollop of milk, whisk, square of butter. Wooden spoon. Gentle yellow curds. Tasmanian smoke-cured salmon, hand shred. Add off

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-23002400381113410902008-07-17T14:05:00.005+10:002009-05-12T23:01:47.095+10:00

Cafe Plum's simple mushrooms on toasted sourdoughAgnes in her Melbourne food blog Off The Spork has repeatedly been positively enthusiastic about the breakfast virtues (and lunch, and dinner) of Cafe Plum, which was how we first found out about this otherwise very introverted diner located in isolation on Flemington Road opposite the Royal Children's Hospital. We were not the first from the local

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-45026489573758772882008-07-07T21:48:00.018+10:002009-05-13T16:13:36.636+10:00

We sauntered into the bar and mess lounge of recreation deck at last. It was welcomed relief after a hard day down at Engineering, recalibration of the antimatter injectors had been, well, downright anti-matter-of-fact! And Chief La Forge breathing down my neck didn’t add to the fun either, that man’s VISOR misses nothing! A quick scan of the room had the effect of calming familiarity plus Guinan

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-52815698166670247062008-05-19T22:57:00.005+10:002008-05-20T02:03:24.481+10:00

The gracious Agnes, fellow Melbourne-based food blogger of the always very readable Off the Spork has passed onto Spot4Nosh the E for Excellent Blog award. Thanks Agnes! It is most gratifying to know that there are folks out there who enjoy the blog. I certainly enjoy adding to it since that means we've had yet another memorable (good or bad, no matter) food experience!I would like to pass the E

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-84750495964793778962008-05-17T17:04:00.020+10:002009-05-13T00:00:36.063+10:00

Weeks continue to merge at a rapid rate. It appears we're still on Brunswick Street though it's another weekend, but which one already? Today is more than grey. Windy, shiveringly cold, frozen ears, heavy drizzle and fog on breath. Weather that Melbourne used to be known for, though we haven't seen it for quite awhile. But isn't this just what we Melbournians live for, and hadn't we all missed it

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-25961877064460562592008-05-13T23:32:00.013+10:002009-05-13T16:14:19.979+10:00

We woke late to rather bleak daylight, a weak almost noon sun struggling to break through the grey and with no hope of warming up the apartment. "What a delightful blue Sunday", commented KB half mockingly. But she was right, delightful enough motivation for us to attempt an escape from the chill with a leisurely walk somewhere out-of-doors. We ended up doing the entire stretch of nearby eclectic

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-67193622678404475192008-05-06T12:57:00.010+10:002009-05-13T15:56:14.247+10:00

I did manage some free days in Hong Kong to play tourist and fortuitously, the last happened to fall on the first bright and sunny day following two dreary windless weeks of grey smog and misty drizzle. Of course one of my first destinations on the day was to catch the funicular tram up Victoria Peak to take in the famous views of Hong Kong Island and its city skyscrapers and across Victoria

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-88341554024242412112008-05-01T11:42:00.014+10:002009-05-12T23:44:07.010+10:00

Stone tablet motif of Shui Hu Ju's menuThe line-up of drafts that call for my attention here reminds me of the somewhat unsettling queue of floating planes I witnessed out my seat window only just recently, each held up in their allocated pocket of airspace as they await their turn to land at one of the busiest of airports. Which is a convenient segue onto my short stay in Hong Kong for work

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-85948684684854868552008-04-20T00:19:00.019+10:002009-05-13T16:15:01.247+10:00

Regrettably this post had been languishing forgotten in draft for quite some time so hopefully our experience hadn’t become too redundant. But the restaurant is still quite new so it’s worth posting about. It is obvious that we at Spot4Nosh have a fondness for seafood. So it didn’t take much time for us to hear about a new seafood-centric fine diner that opened in the city during the latter part

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-56652164776771695472008-02-13T23:39:00.016+11:002009-05-12T23:33:50.814+10:00

As Valentine's Day is but tomorrow and because I'm in a generous holiday mood, let me tell you how to thoroughly impress and fully satiate your respective loved ones. And it'll work on those whom you're trying to make an impression on for the first time as well. Intrigued?If you live anywhere around the tropical top end of Australia, slap on your trusty Akubra (the one studded with crocodile

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-46905395505551770532008-02-11T12:11:00.002+11:002009-05-12T23:42:17.268+10:00

Currently back at my childhood haunts and family hometown of the Gold Coast and Brisbane for the week. The Gold Coast is ever busier but essentially remains the same familiar concentration of vulgar urbanity. And as far as I can tell, the place is still largely a cultural and gastronomic desert. Brisbane I concede, is continuing to gain maturity. More surprising however, is that the source for

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-1757329609259811022008-02-03T16:21:00.005+11:002009-05-13T16:11:12.812+10:00

Cravings for a meal of curry led us on a lengthy stroll up Sydney Road one recent warm and sultry Friday evening. The first aim of the walk was to shake out the work-week cobwebs from our heads by soaking in the free urban sensory rush dealt out by this cosmopolitan stretch of Melbourne suburbia, but our end-goal for trekking towards the Coburg end was to get to Bismi Restaurant to satisfy those

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-58951890753623192022008-01-16T00:45:00.000+11:002008-01-22T09:58:04.438+11:00

Spot4Nosh mostly documents our dining-out experiences. But we have been good lately. Plus it had been a month for entertaining so we have been eating rather well at home, which is perfectly fine for heralding in yet another year. So here's a quick photo-blog of some of the dishes we'd cooked up in the past month...We're by no means 'morning-people', so rarely get to enjoy a decent breakfast

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-48358865738009579762008-01-11T18:16:00.000+11:002008-01-11T18:37:25.462+11:00

We were introduced to a wonderfully tasty version of rillettes made from Atlantic salmon to accompany warm sourdough baguette slices as an amuse bouche at a recent restaurant visit. There was pretty decent plain butter on the table as well but that was soon all but forgotten once we'd started smearing the equally buttery and lightly savoury salmon-based spread onto our crusty pieces of bread. So

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-67125148355742065712008-01-08T20:35:00.000+11:002008-01-08T22:28:03.608+11:00

Dare I mention how fast time is flying by? One week it's Christmas and New Year's and now suddenly, we are already gaining hair-raising momentum into the new year. Anyway we spent a quiet but nonetheless very pleasant Christmas indulging over food at the home of some lovely friends, fellow season's orphans away from family. The weather was unpleasantly hot so it was fortunate that plans had not

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-7076137357318931992008-01-03T23:55:00.004+11:002009-05-12T22:50:59.285+10:00

Statuesque bovines celebrated at Rockpool Bar & GrillOur visit to Neil Perry's Melbourne Rockpool Bar & Grill occurred back in October (2007) so apologies for the delay. But the experience wasn't without its flaws, which needed to be mulled over...okay I was just lazybusy. My first visit to this highly awarded restaurant was greatly anticipated and something I'd been looking forward to for

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-90870810188063606712007-12-27T20:35:00.001+11:002009-05-13T16:10:00.390+10:00

Duncan of Syrup & Tang has been spreading the gospel on the sugary delights of macarons (light almond meringue biscuits sandwiched with sweet flavoured filling) to the ignorant and enlightened alike within the Melbourne blogosphere, and I had not been immune. In my previous post I touched on the challenge of gifting something small but different as celebratory bonbons in place of the usual

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-63968505353639237252007-12-26T00:28:00.007+11:002009-05-13T16:05:01.135+10:00

We just stumbled in through the door from a bountiful but thankfully not overly indulgent Christmas dinner at our friends' place, a fellowship of family-less interstate expatriates. And so Christmas is over for another year but while the spirit still lingers, here's the first of several posts about some of the delectables we'd encountered during the festive period.My desk at work is strewn with a

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-21956173221611351292007-12-09T17:13:00.005+11:002009-05-12T22:54:31.167+10:00

Following a previous post about some truly soul rejuvenating and memorable bowls of ramen we'd slurped on while on holiday in Christchurch NZ, Hungry Hamster left a comment enquiring about whether decent puveyors of ramen exist here in Melbourne. Well the short answer was that I really hadn't stumbled across that many to provide any decent recommendations. The best I could come up with was to

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-38932058016813961092007-12-06T18:15:00.005+11:002009-05-13T16:12:43.091+10:00

Postings here have been few and far between of late with time spent barely escaping from work, then having to manage the upheaval of moving to a new residence when we do get away. But our fresh and very rich hunting grounds in Brunswick open up great epicurean possibilities. Not that we haven't been out and about in the last couple of months, including first-time visits to both Rockpool and Nobu.

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-48942195672097159142007-11-04T21:20:00.001+11:002009-03-14T00:04:30.270+11:00

Regular visitors to Queen Victoria Market will know that Melbourne's famous 'wet' produce market has varied moods and a changing tempo depending on the day and time of visit. On a few of our trips there, even on a weekend, the market can be strangely subdued, with its displays of fruits and vegetables looking disappointingly past their best and the seafood trays uninspiringly stocked with little

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-27463563722524282122007-10-03T20:15:00.003+10:002009-05-12T23:47:42.088+10:00

Christchurch - Kaikoura. Christchurch is a picturesque and architecturally beautiful city in an 'Adelaide' kind of way. I believe they share a Sister City relationship. But outside of NZ's peak tourist season, Christchurch was all but quiet and vacant. And this was despite some glorious early Spring weather in which we occupied a morning strolling around the centre of town to admire the

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-34851635357345487262007-10-02T22:43:00.005+10:002009-05-12T23:48:27.756+10:00

Haast - Hokitika. From Wanaka we hit the NZ west coast, travelling north along coastspectacular Highway No.6. Exactly halfway between the southwestern township of Haast and the geographic drawcard of Fox glacier we came across the Salmon Farm Cafe & Shop, a nondescript lunch-stop that appeared suddenly out of the World Heritage listed coastal greenery. The establishment consisted of a number of

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-16492250767379354562007-10-01T21:55:00.004+10:002009-05-12T23:50:38.248+10:00

Arrowtown - Milford Sound - Wanaka. Wincing satisfactorily from aching seldom-used muscles, KB and I left the fanatics behind on the ski slopes to head off on a scenic tour-de-force of NZ's southwest and back. First stop was a mere half-hour away to the quaintly named, historic gold panning township of Arrowtown. A drizzle-dampened walk around its modern incarnation of re-vamped historical

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-86839213434334632252007-09-30T18:20:00.003+10:002009-05-12T23:51:57.091+10:00

Queenstown. Like any other hub that sells itself mainly as a tourist mecca, it's not easy for casual blow-ins to stumble across eateries that are reasonably priced while also offering half-decent food. Not for a lack of places where one can change money for a meal of course, but more a scarcity of the subset of these venues where the squirelling of one's hard earned cash into a till isn't the

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-52564656222060407892007-09-23T17:55:00.004+10:002009-05-12T23:51:20.420+10:00

Christchurch - Queenstown. Hmm New Zealand...beautiful, peaceful and just the place to clear the harried mind if only for a week and a half. We saw out August and welcomed Spring on a road trip through the South Island. First priority was to find some snow and get a little skiing in before the season was well and truly done for the year so despite touching down at Christchurch in the afternoon,

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-13054761762786126162007-08-25T23:45:00.003+10:002009-05-12T23:07:10.756+10:00

Busy busy busy! It had been mad workwise lately. Certainly no time to do anything else that hold more personal interests, like posting to blogs! Badly needed a break to get some perspective, which I guess I did achieve in a small way. Just returned from a week's skiing in New Zealand's South Island. The mind and soul are somewhat refreshed although on returning to the coal-face, the workload is

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-49877403621851681732007-08-14T17:07:00.006+10:002009-05-12T23:52:37.327+10:00

In the middle of yet another patchy grey Melbourne Sunday afternoon, KB and I popped into the Middle Eastern quarter of Sydney Road to hunt for some exotic spices and ingredients (inspired by our recent Lebanese feast). In contrast to Saturdays or the weekdays it was relatively quiet and we had no problems getting a park right at the epicentre of interesting shopfronts, and only a few doors away

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-43740449870605666852007-08-13T22:44:00.007+10:002009-05-13T16:06:04.027+10:00

Saturday afternoon found us rushing to Queen Vic Market in a desperate but hopeful attempt to grab some cheap seafood and fresh bread during closing time discounting. Alas we got there just in time to see the last few stalls locking up and the only activity left to be seen were stallholders hosing down and mopping floors in preparation for next morning's opening. We were of course disappointed to

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-68683680416272838402007-08-07T23:07:00.000+10:002007-12-15T15:15:38.518+11:00

We're well onto the final month of winter now. Have to grab every opportunity to indulge in cold weather comfort foods while scarves and coats remain necessary attire for the evening journey home around the city's train platforms and tram stops. For us tonight, it's smoked ham, bean and vegetable soup...and not courtesy of Campbell's.I wasn't able to resist the purchase of a whole smoked ham hock

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-40255849493219979542007-08-04T18:43:00.001+10:002009-05-12T23:36:27.101+10:00

On a recent weekend, a group of us had the good fortune to be invited to a friend's family home for a Lebanese and Middle Eastern feast. For me it was gastronomic heaven because not only did I get to sample many dishes that I have not had the opportunity to try before, I also got to interrogate our gracious hostess (I hope under not too much sufferage) on details of their ingredients and methods

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-15775400582178674872007-07-25T22:28:00.004+10:002009-05-12T23:10:17.196+10:00

We got the chance to give the fish'n'chips from Dockland's Fish Bar a taste test over the weekend. It was a rare sunny couple of days after continuous weeks of miserable wintry weather so not wanting to miss any opportunity to bask somewhere in some sunshine, we got ourselves down to Docklands to have a wander round late-ish Sunday afternoon. We seldom find much cause to visit the Docklands

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-54705203084182295082007-07-18T23:38:00.004+10:002009-05-12T22:57:58.561+10:00

We stumbled upon belleZain Restaurant and Bar in Port Melbourne back on the Queen's Birthday long weekend, now a distant month ago! Feeling guilty for procrastinating indoors the entire day before, KB and myself had decided to spend Sunday with a slow drive down the length of the Mornington Peninsula. We spent a pleasant enough afternoon revisiting those bayside townships of Rye, Sorrento and

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-90537544001059928872007-07-07T23:01:00.000+10:002007-07-23T02:03:36.277+10:00

Being new to the blogging universe, my posts so far have been rather mono-medium. There are several reasons for this but initially, I'd only wanted to treat the moments I get to spend with Spot4Nosh as a kind of memo or diary of our dining experiences and an outlet to get prose out of my system. But I've decided that when writing about food, you really can't argue with that old adage that a

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-87885099224859900322007-06-18T17:35:00.004+10:002009-05-12T23:23:00.880+10:00

Forgive the cheesy Frenched sequel of the title but the excuse is that it's quite apt since the final restaurant in our series on Thursday dining ventures happens to be a French bistro known enlighteningly, as Paris Go. Paris Go is one of those places that we'd been meaning to try for awhile as whenever we'd gone past it in the evenings, the restaurant always seemed to emanate a bright and cheery

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-26202042401402791312007-06-08T17:31:00.005+10:002009-05-12T23:04:06.774+10:00

Thursday's an odd day of the week in my opinion. Most of us would have just barely struggled over the summit of yet another hectic week, and now hoping to ease off the pedals to coast down towards the weekend. For KB and I it's usually when we start getting a bit lazy in our daily routine, including the process of pondering and preparing our nightly meal. Despite this, we rarely dine out in the

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-54983538389969232692007-05-31T20:43:00.004+10:002009-05-12T23:08:38.023+10:00

Earlier in the month, KB and I spent a leisurely weekend at Victoria's Yarra Valley wine region to celebrate a quiet birthday. It's late autumn here now though you wouldn't know it with the continuing warm weather we've been having. But what a lovely time of year to have a meander through the wineries, catching the vines in the midst of slipping from their greenery into the lemony and amber tones

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-72876814189158780142007-05-23T11:19:00.005+10:002009-05-12T23:18:04.135+10:00

On a recent Saturday evening, me and my partner KB were invited to join friends for dinner at Le Gourmet restaurant in East Melbourne. Le Gourmet appears to be some sort of Melbourne institution as far as French inspired fine dining goes having had a presence in the city’s restaurant scene for more than a quarter of a century! So it seems apt that I am christening Spot4Nosh with this review. A

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371937562245095189.post-49940723590436651032007-05-16T20:05:00.000+10:002007-12-15T15:34:37.414+11:00

Without a doubt I see myself as belonging to the former category, although I'll definitely be in on the latter as well...if it comes to that. So I've succumbed...to putting into text for all who care to read my thoughts and opinions on our dining (fine or otherwise) and food experiences, as my better half and I attempt to gastronomise our way around the broad spectrum of eating establishments

Towzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17680500293497027785noreply@blogger.com1