Melbourne Patron

As I was moving out of the area, I made a few nostalgic brunch visits to one of my favourite cafes, Three Bags Full (60 Nicholson Street, Abbotsford). It was on one of these visits that I picked up a postcard advertising French dinners at the very same venue. Two of the cafe's chefs, Nicolas Toll é  and Fabien Laville (better known as Nico and Fab), are French expats who came up with the clever idea to use the cafe's space by night to stage dinners showcasing their talents as chefs with French-inspired dishes. Two handsome young French men cooking me food with the novelty of a setting I only knew by day? Sold! It turned out to be a girls' dinner on Thursday 11 December 2014. Four of us met at 8pm (sadly the only booking time left - we were quite starving on arrival! luckily there was bread) among the quiet hum of chatter and clinking glassware. There were no great changes in the cafe's layout, however the tables were laid with floral fabric placemats, ...

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...

Want Melbourne Patron blog posts delivered straight to your inbox? Click on the "Subscribe" button at the top of this page and follow the simple instructions. Magic! I am a sucker for a good steak, and lately, what with moving house and all the extra expenses that incurs, I've been on the lookout for great pub specials such as steak nights. I've been keeping a list on my phone of some of the deals I've found at venues around my home and work (mostly in the CBD, Fitzroy/Collingwood, Richmond/Abbotsford, South Yarra/Prahran/Windsor, South Melbourne) - and there are lots, so please note I haven't tried them all.  Several of my friends have asked me to send them a copy of the list - so I figure this way, I can share it with everybody who might be interested! PLEASE NOTE: This is by no means a comprehensive list of all the pub specials in Melbourne (there are many websites for that already!), nor is it necessarily current. I will do my best to keep it up-to-dat...

A new kid on the Victoria Street block, Little Big Sugar Salt  (385 Victoria Street, on the Abbotsford side) seems out of place. Hey, I'm not going to lament another cafe within walking distance of mine, and I'm all for diversity. I'm hoping its arrival heralds the start of a subconscious social upgrade to the notorious drug centre of Melbourne. I don't always feel safe walking around the area, and believe a few classier shops and restaurants could raise help the bar. Upgrades to the Hive shopping centre and The National pub are also steps in the right direction, IMHO. But more on that another day. Maybe a rainy one. Let's season the shit outta this Fortunately, it seems LBSS has classy in the hand. Once you wrap your head around the name (c'mon guys, it may sound cool, but dayum, it's a mouthful), and associate the rather vague "LBSS" fluoro script on the corner of the building with the cafe you're actually trying to find, you can be...

An annual homage to Vietnamese culture, the Lunar New Year Festival takes place on Victoria Street, Richmond towards the end of January. It is a colourful mish-mash of stalls, music, performance, food, and people. This year celebrated the new Year of the Snake on Sunday 27 January 2013. Highlights for me were fresh coconut juice, excited kids, lots of colour and life, and the contrasts between East and West, traditional and modern, and gaudy stalls and the faded, peeling building fronts behind them. Parade Game stall Fresh coconut juice Flowered oranges Market stall Traditional dance Modern meets traditional Did you look twice, too? Hidden Accountants Tree of tradition Food on sticks Preparing for performance Kids get Bad Lucky apples. Is that a Playboy pic on the left? Tilted ride