Melbourne Patron

It has been months since I ate at Tonka (20 Duckboard Place, Melbourne). My work crew chose it as the venue for our 2013 Christmas lunch, and the photos I took have been lying in wait (taunting me!) ever since. It's not that I didn't want to write it up; but I've had a backlog of posts to write - and the delay possibly also says something about my reaction to Tonka: I didn't need to rush the write-up, because I knew it would still be there. Like its sister restaurant, the excellent Coda , Tonka boasts that X-factor: a mixture of classiness, cool design, warm service, and of course, high-quality, original food, accompanied by perfectly matched drinks. Tonka's take on food is widely seen as 'Modern Indian', although it's more Modern Australian/Indian, with touches of other influences. As one workmate put it, this place gives us "a fine dining version of Indian". In any case, it seems to have filled a gap in Melbourne's dining scene t...

Despite the name, no one got naked here. Sadly. I'm still waiting for the day when Naked For Satan (downstairs) hosts a nudist Satanists party, amped with flavoured vodkas and THE BEST CROQUETTES EVER ('cause they're pretty friggin' awesome). I guess the new upstairs venue, Naked In The Sky  (285 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy), would be the meeting place for naked angels. Or birds without their feathers. Or Supermen without their capes. Or something. I digress. My now-ex-housemate - let's call him 'The Chef' - started working at Naked In The Sky (which, frankly, I'd rather not think about in too much detail) when it opened, so I've been hearing of this place for quite a while. Prior to Christmas, just after opening, it had queues of patrons waiting to get in on Friday and Saturday nights. I was happy to wait until January to check it out. An out-of-town friend was staying with me, and what else do you do with out-of-towners in Melbourne but take t...

It was one of those places that became fashionable with hipsters before hipsters were even really a thing. But Bourke Street Bakery  (633 Bourke Street, Surry Hills) has apparently stood the test of time, consistently churning out great baked goods and coffee since 2004, expanding to four locations in all the hippest areas of Sydney. Being a coffee addict who needs at least one decent espresso-based coffee to start the day, my family try to mix it up for me every time I visit them in Sydney. We try all the local cafes, plus more, and naturally there are a few favourites. I hadn't been to Bourke Street Bakery before, but I'm pretty sure I'll be going back. We rocked up three days after Christmas and there was a queue. It's not unusual, apparently, but it was fine, because it moved quickly. Which unfortunately didn't give me a lot of time to peruse the baked items on display in the window. When I got to the front of the queue in the tiny shop, there al...

Boxing Day in the Sydney CBD is madness. So, naturally, I headed straight for it. I needed to get out of the house and wanted to reacquaint myself with the guts of my hometown. Boxing Day was probably an extremely silly time to do it, but friends were floating around the city and keen to catch up... so it was happening. Pitt Street Mall, Boxing Day 2012 After fighting for life and limb among the bodies pouring off the footpaths and blocking the flow of traffic, I found my friends at the beautiful Queen Victoria Building, and we headed for the relative quiet and safety of Jet Cafe (G55, QVB Sydney). The crowd-fighting ordeal had left me in dire need of alcohol, and this was one of the few licensed venues open, so we had a glass or two of Stella Bella Sem Sav and relaxed in the air con. Jet Cafe is in a great spot, with curved windows right at the southern end of the building. The staff were hasty and flustered, but who can blame them when they were attacked by grumpy Boxi...