Melbourne Patron

Ocha (3 Church Street, Hawthorn) is something of a suburban legend. The Japanese restaurant built up a huge following at its original location in Pakington Street, Kew - so much so that it relocated to its current location in the revamped Beehive complex in 2010, effectively doubling its cover size from 35 to 70 plus. Comfortably settled in next door to schmancy gastro-pub  Barkers Wine Bar  (old-man-pub the Beehive Hotel in another life), Ocha is still notoriously difficult to get a booking at. I haven't tried their degustation ($120.00 per head), held on the last Monday of each month - but I imagine it, too, would be very popular. Ocha has even released its own ranges of dressings and sauces for home use. MERCH! My, that is confidence personified. Bottled. Whatever. There to celebrate a milestone birthday, five of us rocked up on a Thursday evening, armed with lots of nice wine (of course). A delightful young chap was our waiter, most smiley and helpful, and he even remem...

Despite its excellent food and a stellar reputation, I only had bad associations with Longrain (44 Lt Bourke Street, Melbourne). Let's just say both of my previous visits had to do with the same former boyfriend and, well, it didn't turn out well. So it was with some trepidation that I attended a birthday dinner at Longrain last week. Continually swirling in the back of my mind was the phrase, 'Third time lucky!' Thankfully (touch wood), the evening was pleasant and trouble-free. Arriving early, I fixed my face (well, as much as possible) in the small but stylish and immaculate ladies' room, and sat in the bar area to await my friends. Several times I was politely asked by staff if I had a drink on the way: the service so good, it was almost annoying! When everyone had arrived, we were shown to the round table at the front of the restaurant, nearest the window. It has a built-in Lazy Susan - you know, that spinning round thing so you can share the food more eas...

For my first night back in Sydney for Christmas (which happened to be Christmas Eve), my parents wanted to show me a great little pub they'd found in Balmain called the Riverview (29 Birchgrove Road). The upstairs dining room was booked out, but bar food was available in the main pub area on street level from 6pm. We had arrived rather hungry at 5.30pm! So we perched on semi-uncomfortable stools around a long tall table and chewed the fat for a bit. The waiter was chummy, the wine plentiful, and the food (post 6pm) very tasty. All of us wanted the duck salad, but each ordered different things for the purpose of variation! I had the mushroom gnocchi, which was just the right amount for gnocchi, which can often be too much/too filling. My mother's prawn pizza looked great, but she hasn't expected the hidden jalapeños and extra water was required! Dad was content with his steak, and my sister's duck salad looked OK but probably not as great as all of us had hoped. ...

As part of a recent challenge to try every restaurant along Victoria Street, Richmond (since I am newly local to the area), I met friends on Sunday night and we chose to dine at Minh Minh, 94 Victoria Street, Richmond. The restaurant choice was mainly made based on the fact that Minh Minh had a number of "Cheap Eats" stickers in their window, and a fair few customers inside. We were shown to a table immediately, near the entrance and window, which was pleasant. The service was a bit hit-and-miss - but I have a feeling it's not really the focus of most Victoria Street restaurants. We'd brought a bottle of wine, which was promptly opened and poured, and our order of prawn and pork rice paper rolls for a shared entree also arrived very quickly. The dipping sauce was delicious: sweet and thick, with peanut and onion bits. Pork & prawn rice paper roll Between four girls, we ordered and ate almost every trace of Mongolian duck (absolutely fantastic - not too...