Melbourne Patron

The shops along Domain Road, South Yarra have a reputation for being a bit posh. It is South Yarra, after all, and the majority are cafes and restaurants that take advantage of their location (opposite Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens ) by providing some outdoor seating. Apparently The Real Housewives of Melbourne even frequent one or two venues along the strip. A little further down the road, on the corner of Millswyn Street, Entrec ô te (131-133 Domain Road, South Yarra) is having a party of its own - still refined, but with a little more colour and personality. In operation as a Parisian-style steak bistro since January 2015, the restaurant offers breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week in the former site of the infamous  Lynch's Restaurant . Business partners Jason McLaren Jones and Adam North developed the idea when they bumped into each other in Paris in late 2014. They took a meal together at the institutional  Le Relais de L'Entrec ô te : a no-booki...

In a hospitality scene as ever-changing as Melbourne's, it's impressive when any venue manages to continue trading for longer than a few years. To be given the label 'institution' or 'iconic' is high praise indeed, since it is so hard to come by. Some might say Pellegrini's is a Melbourne institution ( I don't love it myself ), or perhaps The European , or a classic music venue like the Palais Theatre or the Espy . Rarer yet is an Asian restaurant afforded the title of a Melbourne 'institution'. And yet this is a badge that  Flower Drum (17 Market Lane, Melbourne) has retained since its debut 40 years ago. Flower Drum (also a traditional Chinese dance) was opened in 1975 by Gilbert Lau at a site on Little Bourke Street, aiming to bring quality Cantonese food to the Australian masses. Ten years later it moved to its current home, and head chef Anthony Lui was appointed. Lui remains head chef today, and in 2003 also became part-owner along ...

Regular readers of this blog will know I'm a fan of the classic Aussie pub. When it comes to the Napier Hotel (210 Napier Street, corner of Moor Street, Fitzroy), a lot of rave-phrases (hereonin referred to as phraveses -  just cos I can) have been thrown around. Reviewers point out the pub's 'commitment to the old-school Fitzroy vibe', its support of the long-defunct Fitzroy Lions *, and inevitably mention its infamous Bogan Burger - a meal which the pub is no doubt trying to disassociate itself from, at least somewhat (as revealed by the words "Not Just Bogan Burgers!" on the menu section of its website) - possibly due to the gentrification of Fitzroy overall, and the prolific rise of foodies in Melbourne (ahem). And here comes the crunch: Although I like the Napier, I don't love it. I don't mind it. There are better pubs around, in my opinion. Despite this, it is still very popular, raking in a 92% approval rate on Urbanspoon at the time of...