Melbourne Patron

It sounded cool. Pizza - which, as everyone knows, can be amazing when done properly - in a favourite old haunt of mine in Collingwood, just one block down from Smith St, with fluoro lights and even a disco ball, to boot. But there were a few things about Lazerpig Pizza Parlour (9-11 Peel St, Collingwood) that just didn't sit right with me. Occupying the site that used to house a great (albeit quiet) little pub, the Star , halfway down the notorious Peel St, Lazerpig is in a fairly accessible Collingwood spot. Its corner entrance is clearly marked by a fluorescent flying pig overhead. I'm yet to find a good explanation of the restaurant name (possibly something to do with gaming?!) - but it's certainly memorable. Lazerpig is the newest venture of the Grace Darling crew, which I found surprising, because I thought the Grace Darling was a fairly classic operation, and I didn't get the impression Lazerpig was being run very well, when I was there. Service was ...

Cheap Asian food is something I grew up with in Sydney. Melbourne is often touted as having a better dining scene than Sydney (medium-range and fine dining -- absolutely! -- well, in my experience), but even after nearly six years here, I still find Melbourne lacking in the cheap-but-great-quality-Asian-food category. And I'm not talking pan-Asian: I'm talking specific to one cuisine only, (Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Malaysian, etc). I still find it upsetting when I go to a Japanese restaurant and find Pad Thai on the menu, or something similar. I feel a restaurant should do one cuisine well, rather than try to pander to the tastes of patrons who may not yet be familiar with that cuisine. Use it as an opportunity to educate! Let your customers experience one of the last genuine representations of culture: food! /rant Happily, Jinda Thai (1-7 Fergus St, Abbotsford) is genuine, great-quality Thai food (only) at quite reasonable prices. It was opened in July 2013 by the ow...