Tag Archives: australia

HOT: Dognation, Shop 2, The Causeway, Melbourne

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Fancy hot dogs have gone global with .

I do love hot dogs so was quite intrigued to be invited to try flavours. How would it rate against these and these?

Well, you won’t just find the American or German style hot dogs that you’d normally expect – offers you a Japanese dog, a Mexican dog, a British dog. Even Melbourne gets its own dog (yes there’s beetroot in it).

This tiny hole in the wall hot dog stand does brisk business in its lunch hour with its fancy snags, all under $9. Just line up, choose your bread, choose your dog and then see whether you’re lucky enough to snag (pun intended) a seat at one of two tiny tables edging The Causeway.

The simple sausage-in-a-bun concept belies the attention to detail that have gone into these hot dogs. Each sausage and its accompaniments have been designed from scratch (though the Berlin dog is the most traditional). The bread is from Schwob’s and made to exact specifications so that the sausage is resting snugly inside the bun – no dangling overhanging ends, no mouthful of dough and no dog. The lean sausages are handmade using their unique recipes by Hansa, Mordiallic butchers and continental smallgoods specialists.

They’ve even tested whether or not to divide their hot dogs in half when serving them (nope- they’ve decided to preserve the integrity of the original hot dog look).

 also serve matching soft drinks from each country and there’s a reason they don’t serve chips. Not only do they not have room for a deep fryer, they deliberately didn’t want to get into a ‘best chips in Melbourne’ competition when their focus is quality hot dogs. So instead they provide a side of mashed potato with gravy ($2.90) if you need some starch with your meal. And it’s not even that unhealthy – apparently only 200g of butter goes into 3 kg of potatoes, plus some milk, salt and pepper.

I tried their most unusual hot dog – the Tokyo dog ($8.90) – plus a bottle of fabulously artificial Barbie-pink peach lemonade from Japan ($3.50). Never before have I seen seaweed in a hot dog and the Tokyo dog is a juicy pork and beef sausage wrapped in seaweed and topped with miso mushrooms, a kicking wasabi infused Kewpie mayo, okonomiyaki sauce (not sure what that was) and garnished with nori flakes. It is gloriously messy, sticky and hot on the tongue and a hot dog worthy of a return trip because you won’t be able to get it anywhere else.

The Ramune certainly had novelty value. In order to drink it you have to go through a semi-complex manoeuvre involving popping the lid, pushing a glass ball inside the bottle, fizziness and uncapping. Anyway, it’s fun to drink.

I was fully intending to try a second hot dog but was too full for even a taste of potato mash. For my return visit I’ve got my eye on the Mexico City Chilli Dog which contains beans inside the sausage. And I’m going to have a bottle of Bionade, an organic soft drink that I became familiar with during my visits to Germany and which has only just launched in Australia, with being their first retailer.

Come July are intending to get into the Olympics spirit with their hot dogs – maybe a challenge to eat each style of hot dogs in one sitting (finishing with the London dog, of course). Anyone who can eat five of their hot dogs in one go will certainly deserve a gold medal!

, +

Mon – Sun: 11:00am-3:00 pm


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HOT: Breakfast Thieves, 420 Gore St, Fitzroy

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The best thing about Breakfast Thieves is that it lives up to its name. It is open for bright and early for breakfast every day (except Monday) from 7:30am and for an early riser like me that’s perfect timing. My brain and stomach can’t deal with having breakfast at 10am – don’t get me started on the concept of brunch :–)

The thievery bit comes into the equation via the theme of the cafe – a mysterious hat and coat hanging permanently by the door. Tricksy ‘thief’ references for the menu items. The fitout is otherwise industrial-warehouse-chic with the exposed brickwork, bare light bulbs and timber furniture so beloved of inner city Melbourne cafes.

I’ve had numerous breakfast items there since it opened and I can highly recommend the brioche pain perdu ($15), two thick slices of eggy brioche with maple syrup, poached apples, strawberries, a scoop of light vanilla mascarpone and a generous sprinkling of crushed pistachios and almond flakes.

If savoury is more your style the try Thieves on the Run ($11.50) – basically a egg and bacon sanger but jazzed up with 12 month old Jack’s Reserve Cheddar, wild rocket, homemade tomato relish and those delicious ciabatta rolls from La Madre that I’ve raved about before.

RM, who I’ve never known to eat porridge for breakfast, ordered the quinoa, oats and barley and loved it ($9). This is a huge rib-sticking mixture which will keep you full for hours and warm you against the winter chills. While sweetness comes in the form of drizzled honey and a swirl of vanilla, you can also choose to accompany it with banana and candied walnuts ($3.50) or crushed pistachios and strawberries ($3) for extra flavour and textural interest.

The one failed dish I’ve tried are the sweet corn and basil fritters ‘The Leprechaun’ ($16). The baked beans, smashed avocado and poached eggs were all as expected but those fritters were so bland and wet and mushy inside that I couldn’t finish them. Their gluey masses ruined the whole dish for me.

Finally, if you’re after something sweet to go with your coffee my toddler daughter highly recommends the gigantic Anzac biscuit ($3). It certainly keeps her quiet and occupied so I have a chance to enjoy my meal and I have learnt to order it as soon as I get in the door!

For other great cafes just around the corner, try Ici and Backstreet Cafe.

Breakfast Thieves,  +

Tue-Sun 7.30am-5.30pm

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NOT: Rita’s Cafeteria, 239 Johnston St, Abbotsford

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Rita’s Cafeteria had all the credentials of a place which would rate a HOT.

Cool inner city venue. Artisan pizza. Funky Melbourne-esque décor. Owners with experience running successful food businesses. Smiling staff.

So what went wrong?

Gourmet Chick and I visited Rita’s on a weeknight and the place was full to the brim. The friendly waiter suggested that we pull up a bar stool and peruse the menu while other patrons finished their meals.

So we perched ourselves at the back of the room, feeling the heat from the roaring gas burners fan our faces and watching the back of house staff completely run off their feet.

There’s lots of entertainment for diners with an open kitchen. But it’s one thing to watch your food being made and appreciating the skill of chefs, it’s another thing to feel the sting of the hot pans in your eyes throughout your meal. The ventilation in the restaurant desperately needs to be improved – I actually had trouble breathing from the smokiness permeating the small room and it was pretty embarrassing for my hair and clothes to smell like pizza on the bus ride home.

While it’s unpleasant to have to get your clothes dry-cleaned after a meal, it could be forgiven and put down to a new venue’s settling-in process if only the food was fantastic. And it was only ok.

The dinner menu contains antipasto, pizza, pasta, risotto and salads. Given the wood-fired oven dominating the room the obvious choice is a pizza so we had the pork sausage ($17 for large). The pizza base had a curious texture unlike other Italian-style artisan pizzas I’ve encountered – crispy instead pliable and chewy, with a thick cakey rim and no distinctive char or bubbling from the wood-fire treatment. The random scattering of rock salt also meant that you’d be surprised at alternative bites with a kick of thirst-inducing salt (and we had to keep asking for water top ups from our friendly but frantically busy waitress).

While the toppings were delicious (how can you go wrong with sausage, tomatoes and cheese?) the pizza was best described as a sort of like pizza on a shortbread base.

To share we also ordered a pappardelle with cavolo nero, rocket and broad beans ($16). A great way to get your health kick but regrettably not a very appealing dish for the eyes or the palate.

The dish was under-seasoned, the rocket was woody and the broad beans had not been double-podded so we chewed through thick, bitter, greeny-grey bean skins at every forkful. While double-podding is not essential to the presentation of broad beans and it’s a painstaking task, I’d expect a professional kitchen to double-pod their broad beans except if the beans were very young and tender (and they’re a spring, not autumn, ingredient). It’s like not stringing beans – you may skip doing it at home but you don’t want to be fish out strings (or pods in this case) from your mouth to leave on your plate at a restaurant.

Dessert was a choice of ice cream, apple and berry crumble and chocolate calzone. The crumble was pretty good – not spectacular but not disappointing, unlike our main courses, and they didn’t charge us extra for swapping out the cream with pistachio ice cream. The ceramic ramekin is a very generous size so it’s definitely a dessert for two, a bargain at $9.

Rita’s is an all-day venue so their breakfast and lunch offerings may be better. But based on my dinner experience, I’ll be sticking with my other pizza favourites – Ladro, Supermaxi and Espressino.

Rita’s Cafeteria,  +61 

Daily 7.30am–late


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HOT: Wallace and Gromit’s World of Invention, Scienceworks, 2 Booker St, Spotswood + Giveaway

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My favourite English claymation characters Wallace and Gromit are in Melbourne for a cracking exhibition at Scienceworks.

If you haven’t been to Scienceworks since you were in school, now is the time to go and take your kids. As evidenced by the preview night that I was invited to, Wallace and Gromit’s World of Invention can be enjoyed by kids and adults alike.

In fact, I think the adults will get more out of the exhbition because a lot of the more serious, educational information is at adult height. And frankly if I was a kid I’m not sure how interested I’d be in learning about using and protecting intellectual property when there’s a Karaoke Disco Shower to enjoy!

The exhibition is set out in a life-size version of 62 West Wallaby Street, Wallace and Gromit’s home. Inside you’ll find some of the wacky inventions that have featured in the movies, including the Telly-scope II and Hat Barometer…

…plus original film sets such as the Vegetable Plot and Living Room.

It’s worthwhile spending some time examining the sets as the attention to detail is amazing and quite often amusing. Look at the names of Wallace’s records and fridge :–)

Interspersed with the Wallace and Gromit displays is really interesting information about many Australian inventions such as plastic money, the Victa lawn mower and ByK kids bike.

The exhibition contains lots of fun interactive elements – buttons to push, levers to pull, games to play and drawing and art activities – plus modelling clay right at the end!

But if you don’t fancy sharing the exhibition with children, Scienceworks will open up especially for adults on Saturday 26 May for Big Kids’ Cracking Night Out. For $22 (concessions and Museum Victoria members $20) you get to tinker and play in Wallace and Gromit’s World of Invention, see the Fire and Light Show in the Lightning Room, play with lasers in the Playing with Light exhibition and chill out at the Planetarium. Beer, wine, drinks and food will be available for purchase and you will need to book as there’s only limited tickets available.

And once you’re done with the exhibition make sure you drop by the Scienceworks shop. I really want this set of nesting cake tins and I’m obsessed with the Porridge Blaster! Woohoo!

Giveaway! Thanks to Museum Victoria I have 5 x double passes to see Wallace and Gromit’s World of Invention, which includes entry into the general Scienceworks exhibits (but not the Planetarium or Lightning Room which is extra).

To win, all you have to do is leave a comment and the winners will be drawn next Friday 1 June. Good luck!

And the winners are….#7 Sienna, #10 Min, #19 Tim, #24 Viola, #28 Sebastian. Your passes will be sent out soon!

Wallace and Gromit’s World of Invention, Scienceworks, 2 Booker St, Spotswood

Daily, 19 May – 11 Nov 2012
10:00 AM – 4:30 PM

Adult $9, Child $6, Concession $7.50 + Scienceworks General Entry Adults $10, Child and concession free.

HOT: Storm in a Teacup, 48 Smith St, Collingwood

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I’m a Melburnian and I’m a non-coffee drinker.

Gasp!

My hot drink of choice is actually tea and finally, in amongst the million excellent coffee shops in my neighbourhood, Storm in a Teacup has arrived to cater to those who are discerning about their tea leaves (and maybe even convert some diehard hipster coffee drinkers).

I can’t believe the venue used to be the garish orange Trippy Taco. It’s now a calming white and pastel space with seating starting from the window and wrapping around the bar, with a few small tables and a communal bench at the back. I love the stormy lightning bar stools!

Storm in a Teacup is a teabag-free zone. Instead you receive three infusions from a tiny, single serve teapot of your tea leaf selection from a mind-bending choice of black tea, green tea, white tea, oolong and tisanes.

I enjoyed the fine flavours and delicate aroma of my green tea served in a ceramic cup alongside my choice homemade sweet treats (they also have a small breakfast menu). I highly recommend the daily freshly-baked muffin – mine was a fluffy concoction of blackberry and spices – as well my giant hunk of macadamia praline cheesecake.

You can go home with your tea of choice and they also sell tea wares from local and international artists.

At night Storm in a Teacup offer dessert tea,  frappes and cocktails with a savoury menu and starting from Wednesday 30 May they’re hosting monthly sessions of Cake Bar – a pop up dessert degustation by Cake Boy (in the picture below). The first Cake Bar event has the theme of ‘art’ with three disparate artists providing inspiration – Pollock, Caravaggio and Mondrian. [Update: Event has sold out! Be quick to book for next month’s event, provisionally called ‘Will Contain Nuts’]

Storm in a Teacup is a modern tea salon that appreciates the ancient arts of tea and the tea making ritual. Yay a place for non-coffee drinkers! I love it.

Storm in a Teacup, +

Tue & Wed 10am–5pm
Thu to Sat 10am–11pm
Sun 11am–4pm


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Art Melbourne 2012 Giveaway!

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Every year I visit Art Melbourne, Melbourne’s affordable art fair, and this year you could visit too…for free!

Art Melbourne is held in the grandiose Royal Exhibition Building and it is a hive of original, affordable, interesting art to suit every taste. As well as the 4 day exhibition there are talks, demonstrations, music, food and drinks plus the best thing is that you can chat to gallerists and artists directly about work.

This year they have a special event on Friday 25 May. You know that singer Gotye and his little ditty ‘Someone I used to know’? Well, artist Emma Hack and Gotye will be collaborating on a photographic piece exclusively for charity during at Art Melbourne 2012. The work will not be a recreation of the video still from ‘Someone I used to know’ but something made specifically for auction, with proceeds going to  The Thin Green Line and Make-A-Wish Australia.

Giveaway! Thanks to Art Melbourne I have 10 x double passes to any days of Art Melbourne to give away. To win all you have to do is leave a comment and the 10 winners will be drawn randomly on Monday 21 May so that the passes can be posted out to you in time. Good luck!

Art Melbourne, Royal Exhibition Buildings, Carlton

$50 Opening Night – Thursday 24 MAY 5PM – 9PM
$15 General Admission advance / $20 at door (Available for Friday, Saturday and Sunday)
$10 Concessions advance / $15 at door (Available for Friday, Saturday and Sunday)

And the winner of the Next Wave Festival 2012 Day Pass is…..Andy! An email has been sent to you with instructions as to how to claim your prize.

***This giveaway has now closed. Random Number Generator has told me the 10 winners are comment number #1 Julian, #2 Claire, #7 Lara, #16 Joni, #27 Anth, #34 Jenelle, #43 Mademoiselle G, #58 Madeleine, #61 Kate, #62 Fee.

NOT: Money Order Office, 2 Drivers Lane, Melbourne

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Lunch at Money Order Office is a gloomy, macabre kind of dining experience.

The hidey-hole entrance is on Drivers Lane, off Little Bourke Street, and a set of stone steps descends into the dungeon (I mean restaurant) via an automatic door which opens on your approach with a creepy squeeeeak. I expected Lurch from the Addams Family to greet me rather than a smiling waitress.

I can only describe the décor as a glamorous haunted house – simultaneously plush and ghoulish. One side of the room is lined with intimate 4-person booths, leather couches abound and I seem to remember a claw-footed bathtub (with a skeleton?) the last time I visited years ago.

Given that the restaurant/bar is an underground cavern it’s not a venue that naturally comes to mind for lunch, particularly when the sun is shining bright. However, they offer a 3 course lunch for $35 which is good value in terms of filling your tummy but varies in quality. For dinner it turns into a tapas bar.

The menu has 3 options for entrees, 3 options for mains and 2 desserts and you can order each dish a la carte if you don’t fancy all three courses.

C and I chose a poached pear salad with wild rocket and valderon with lemon vinaigrette ($14) and the roast pumpkin and pomegranate salad with toasted almonds, goat’s cheese and pumpkin puree ($12). Neither of those dishes was particularly impressive and were more suited to being a side dish to a main meal than a course in itself.

My salad was as a pretty pedestrian combination with no hint of the advertised dressing.

C described the other dish as ‘pumpkin on pumpkin’ which would have benefited from a handful of the wild rocket from my plate for some colour and textural contrast.

I can never go past pork belly when it’s on the menu so I had twice cooked pork belly with jamon, savoy cabbage and cider foam ($18). The meat was tender but the skin was not at all crispy (though not chewy, thankfully). The cabbage was too soggy and overcooked for my liking and the cider foam was ignored after one exploratory mouthful – it was like eating cold, alcoholic shaving cream.

C fared better with her tempura monkfish ($16) which was lightly crusted and juicy inside and accompanied by saffron aioli but a slightly weedy watercress salad.

Things picked up with the last course. A large slice of chocolate truffle cake ($9) was a familiar and filling dessert with lots of chocolate and a thin biscuit base, while the vanilla and goats curd mousse ($9) was a standout, a dense mousse (like cheesecake filling) served inside a miniature preserving jar with some spiced orange and figs and crumbled nuts.

All in all, C and I agreed that Money Order Office didn’t offer a bad meal. Overall the food was ok and the service attentive and it was easy to get a table for lunch. But the experience wasn’t so good that we’d be tempted to return, even to try the tapas, or necessarily recommend it to others given the myriad of other, better options in close vicinity.

But if you’re a vampire, Goth or albino Money Order Office might be just your kind of restaurant.

Money Order Office ,  +

Tuesday – Friday 12pm-3pm
Bar: Tuesday – Saturday 5pm-late
Tapas: Tuesday- Thursday 6pm, Friday-Saturday 5:30pm


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HOT: Argos Loves Company, 149 Brunswick St, Fitzroy

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Argos Loves Company is a cute-as-a-button cafe in the previously unpopular but now revived end of Brunswick Street.

I first noticed the cafe because of the brightly coloured wooden blocks lining the window sill. A peek inside elicited a little squeal of delight – a pretty pastel room complete with a vintage kitchen scale, biscuit tin and teapot collection, a shiny wooden bar-cum-cake cupboard and a large canvas picture of a gambolling pooch. It’s like your granny’s kitchen updated for the inner north.

The menu is equally quaint and homely rather than cutting edge – not a speck of quinoa to be found. There’s bread, muesli, fruit and eggs for the all day breakfast (eggs are RSPCA approved free range) and a variety of mixed nibbles and pressed sandwiches for lunch. I headed straight for the highlighted ‘famous’ Argos Egg, Bacon and Cheese toastie ($11).

I was surprised when I was given cutlery to eat a toasted sandwich but I understood why when it came out presented on its own wooden platter. I don’t know about it being famous but it’s certainly rave-worthy. Buttery crusty sourdough paired with two fried eggs, slices of honey-sweet free range Otway Ranges pork (free range really makes a difference to the flavour I find), melted swiss cheese and a smear of sweet sauce. This is kind of sandwich I wish I had the dedication to make at home and it was so delicious I wanted two.

However, I decided to save room for waffles ($10).You don’t often see waffles paired with whipped cream and maple syrup or ice cream and chocolate sauce on menus these days. It took me back to my teenage pancake-eating feasts at Pancake Parlour, which was the only place open late in Brisbane that I could go to when I was thirteen.

Three golden rounds arrive in a floral arrangement, each with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a squirt of chocolate sauce. While the combination was deliciously nostalgic, the actual waffles themselves were unlike any I’d ever had. More like a biscuit than a doughy baked good. Not bad, just different.

Sometimes a cafe doesn’t need to cook with trendy ingredients or be into third wave coffee to work. Argos Loves Company shines with personality and warmth and the food is comforting and familiar. Perfect for a wintery day.

For other cosy cafes on the revived end of Brunswick St, try Slowpoke Espresso and Newtown Social Club.

Argos Loves Company, +


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HOT: Two Bob, 270 Queens Pde, Fitzroy North

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So here’s my two bob on Two Bob.

The café is an airy, high-ceilinged transformation of a former bank (remnants of the secured bank vault are still there) based in leafy North Fitzroy/Clifton Hill. Inside it’s all white and blonde wood with a few dashes of greenery here and there. Very calming and Scandi-chic.

Two Bob is a daytime venue and their breakfast menu is something to behold. The kind of list of breakfast classics-with-a-twist which makes it impossible to choose…until you flip over to the reverse side of the menu and discover the equally tempting lunch menu.

Paralysed by indecision by the time the waitress arrived the five of us ended up with 2 x steak sandwiches, 1 x slow cooked baked beans and ham hock cassoulet, 1 x crumbed poached eggs and 1 x ocean trout. A balanced menu traverse between breakfast and lunch, filling and light, hot and cold.

My slow-cooked cassoulet arrived with hearty chunks of meat, a poached egg floating on top, a sprinkling of feta and coriander and a hunk of multigrain toast ($16.50). A solid dish and the kind that soothes you with its familiarity.

M said that his crumbed poached eggs ($16.50) were very slightly overcooked and he actually didn’t enjoy the crumb very much as the frying gave the eggs an oily coating that lingered on the tongue. However the grilled asparagus and floret of smoked salmon got a thumbs up (but really they aren’t ingredients you can stuff up).

The baked miso ocean trout came with a cold noodle salad, Asian coleslaw and a sweet-sour tamarind dressing ($18). Perfect as a lighter choice if you’re not feeling so hungry but J definitely got food envy (as did everyone) from the winning dish at our table, the steak sandwiches ($17.50).

Mainly because of the presence of fried onion rings – we all went ‘wow’ when we saw those! The black Angus steak was carefully grilled and combined with a traditional filling of cheese, tomato, rocket plus some sweet beetroot relish and dijonaise instead of mayonnaise. A two-hander of a sandwich full of smashing colours and textures.

For dessert we each had a pick of the very moist carrot cake topped with a light cream cheese and walnut frosting ($5) which by itself, along with that steak sandwich, is worth returning to Two Bob.

While Two Bob is not pushing any major gastronomical boundaries it does what it does well, without fuss and pretence and with care in the use of ingredients and presentation.  I used to frequent the owners’ former cafe in Brisbane (Cirque) and Two Bob is definitely an extension of a winning formula.

For other great cafes in North Fitzroy, try Mitte and Mixed Business.

Two Bob,  +61 3 9482 5444


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HOT: Bottega, 74 Bourke St, Melbourne

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You know how there are some restaurants which are your go-to destinations? The default choice for a first date, the default choice for a family gathering, the default choice for Sunday brunch?

Well, before I got married Bottega was my default location for introducing boyfriends to my parents for the first time! I knew that the Modern Italian restaurant would be reliably excellent with lots of menu options, the service was friendly and it wasn’t so loud that you couldn’t have a conversation yet not so quiet you felt like everyone was eavesdropping on you.

While Bottega has remained a consistent favourite even after marriage things have changed somewhat since my last visit – foremost being the fact that a new menu has arrived along with new head chef Gabriele Olivieri (who was previously the sous chef).

I was invited with some other food bloggers to try some of the signature dishes on their revamped express lunch, a la carte lunch and dinner menu.

First up, bruschetta with baccala mantecato and vincotto ($19). I really enjoyed the salt and sweet pairing of the fish and the vincotto reduction, but I didn’t particularly like the temperature at which it was served – stone cold. That’s the way it’s supposed to be done but I’m not partial to cold, cooked fish generally. Reminds me too much of schoolyard tuna sandwiches.

I have an unreasonable fear of offal but this char-grilled ox tongue with salsa verde, anchovy and croutons was my style of dish ($19). Shreds of meat fell away from my fork and the richness was cut through with the green tang of the salsa verde. Plus anything with anchovies gets my vote – hairier the better!

A curiously summery-like dish for the autumn season – zucchini flowers stuffed with buffalo ricotta and served with a  tomato and basil coulis and that sweet vincotto again ($22). I’d prefer the zucchini flowers battered to give the limp petals a bit of body in order to hold the filling inside, but otherwise the flavours worked well together.

Beef carpaccio has been on the Bottega menu since forever but now they’ve revamped it to a pretty floral clock of Vitello Tonnato ($21). The delicately braised pink veal was paired with some crunchy pickled celery heart and crispy capers and the traditional mayonnaise-like sauce.

Pasta is a speciality at Bottega and the two plates we tried were worthy of a return visit in themselves. Honestly, I’m still dreaming about these dishes!

The individually hand rolled strozzapreti (which translates to strangle the priest!) with seafood and prawn bisque ($26/$37) emanated a bouquet of heady seafood flavours and the twisted pasta held just the right amount of al dente resistance.

The folded parcels of roasted tomato and burrata agnolotti were served unusually with what was effectively a baba ganoush ($24/$32). The smokiness of the eggplant puree was an unexpectedly Middle Eastern touch to a very Italian combination of cheese, tomato and rocket and I’m going to steal this idea to use up the glut of eggplants I seem to be getting lately in my vege box delivery.

Out of the main dishes we tried the Western Plains pork belly, cooked sous vide then pan fried with a dash of peppered apple puree and a crisp square of crackling ($37). If you like pork belly, don’t look any further. The meat and fat melded into a single mouthful with a crust of herbs and spices to lend some body to the meat. The photo doesn’t do it justice as it just looks a bit brown, brown and brown.

Along with pasta another of the kitchen’s main focuses is on housemade sorbetti ($18 for a selection). We were tempted with pear, mango, vanilla and chestnut and peach, each scoop declaring its provenance with clean flavours of fruit and nuts.

My visit to Bottega reminded me why this restaurant has been in business for 10 years now. It delivers excellent food, service and apparently an accessible wine list aimed at diners, not sommeliers in sophisticated yet unpretentious surroundings. Buon appetito!

Bottega, 74 Bourke St, Melbourne +
Mon – Wed: 12:00 pm-10:00 pm
Thu – Fri: 12:00 pm-11:00 pm
Sat: 5:30 pm-11:00 pm

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