Melbourne Patron

Is it, though? So normal it's super normal? I think maybe not. There are a lot of 'normal' things at Supernormal (180 Flinders Lane, Melbourne) - you go in, get a table (if you're lucky), order food, eat it at said table. But there are a few things that set this restaurant apart. Kitchen behind the bar One is size. Supernormal is quite big for a Melbourne CBD restaurant. There are different sections: a looooong bar (behind which sits the kitchen, and which pretty much runs the length of the restaurant), a line of booth-style tables, a couple of walls hosting tables with bench seating, and stand-alone tables in the middle. Bench seating tables and random display flowers and bottles It also has a very high ceiling, which makes the interior feel very spacious and airy. Hard surfaces everywhere do echo the noisy chatter from so many covers, but the space above all the heads helps absorb it. Stand-alone tables in the middle and hi Another is ...

Some friends wanted to try the new Korean fusion joint Anju Restaurant + Bar (18 Little La Trobe Street, Melbourne), so I happily joined them for an early Friday dinner. Not having eaten much Korean food previously, I'm still learning about what constitutes 'traditional' Korean fare, so I was interested to see how this place did 'fusion'. Owner Young Choi went from a retail background to opening a completely fusion restaurant (combining Spanish, Mexican and Japanese), before adapting to patrons' requests for more the more traditional foods of his native background. The result is a schmick, modern restaurant/bar down a dodgy-looking CBD street, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Let me break it down for you... The style Anju has a warm industrial feel with traditional accents. Wooden floorboards, tables and decorative features (like planter boxes and wooden toy trucks hanging overhead) are interspersed with hard industrial surfaces like ...