Melbourne Patron

Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tart Popular Malaysian Sweet Tart Inspired by Japanese Cheese   You can't work in hospitality or be a food blogger and NOT have heard about the Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tart . Even if you're just a regular Joe Blow, they would have been hard to avoid on social media. I'm not sure exactly how the craze started, but suddenly they were EVERYWHERE - little yellow rounds of promise. Like any good writer (!), I hot-legged it to the new Melbourne Central HBCT venue soon after its opening to try and obtain one of the cult-followed baked items, and alas, my first attempt was futile. (I stood in the queue for about 10 minutes, with over an hour left until the store's official closing time, only to see the person three ahead of me in the queue buy the last tart. So. Much. Sad.) My second attempt was better; also towards the end of the day - on a Friday, no less, when I would have thought queues for anything self-indulgent would have extended round ...

Spice Temple  Neil Perry's Fine Dining Chinese Restaurant at Crown, Southbank, Melbourne It's considered an institution in Melbourne, and with a chef to its name like Neil Perry , a location like Southbank , and an existence of six years in the Melbourne restaurant scene (when staying power is notoriously elusive), it's no wonder. Spice Temple's name is a pretty accurate description of the restaurant: food heavy in spices and spiciness; a dim space with a sort of hushed reverence. A line-filled eating den The quiet tone of Spice Temple (Shop 7, Crown Complex, 8 Whiteman Street, Southbank) could well be due to its design. With lots of dark wood and more traditional red and gold carpet, one might be forgiven for thinking it's a little dated. What keeps it current is the symmetrical and perpendicular fittings, creating neat squared-off eating nooks, and the dark, felt-like soundproofing material spaced out overhead, muffling any white noise. Over...

In my initial Googling of this place, I had to specify "restaurant" in the search term, because it was still new and Google thought I was looking for a bowling joint. Tenpin (67 Beach Street, Port Melbourne) is actually named after a giant bowling pin - not really relevant to South-East Asian cuisine, I would have thought, but hey! why not. I do very much like the bowling alley style font used in their logo, however. Retro and with a swish! Port Melbourne is a bitch to get to. Seriously, if you don't have a car, Uber or a cab is your best bet. (Sort out your s*^t, PTV !) I got there in a very roundabout way via PT, getting into the city first to catch the 109 tram right to the end (near where the Spirit of Tasmania docks) and walked five minutes down the road. Although annoying to get to, no one can deny this restaurant's premium position: literally across the road from the beach, looking out to Port Phillip Bay. We were there on a February evening (only a f...

For months, there had been speculation about the newest dumpling joint to hit Melbourne: Tim Ho Wan (206 Bourke Street). This one was setting the bar high, even for Melbourne diners: it was one of an international franchise based upon the original, a Michelin-star awarded 20-seater restaurant in Hong Kong. Michelin star dumplings! Yes, please. The Queue usually runs around the corner, but moves fast Signs identified the Bourke Street location even before Christmas, so it was no real shock that upon its opening in March, Tim Ho Wan's first Melbourne site boasted queues around the clock. Fortunately, they've done this before (there are currently over 20 Tim Ho Wan sites in Asia and Australia, including four in Sydney), so the waiting area had been neatly sectioned off around the corner, and casual stool seating provided. Menus can be found dotted along the queue area, and in peak times, clipboards are handed out by staff, bearing checklist menus ready to be filled out an...