Melbourne Patron

My little sister had just arrived in town from Sydney with two friends, and I wanted to have a girly gasbag over dinner whilst showing them somewhere 'Melbourne' and funky. I picked Belle's Diner  (150 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy), which has been open for maybe a year (in the old Dante's site) and been quite a hit so far. It's slipped right in with Melbourne's 'Americana' craze: burgers, ribs, fried chicken, French fries... basically kitsch comfort food. But rather than overdoing the retro, Belle's Diner is very clean and fresh - a modern take on the prototypical diner. Located right in the guts of the ever-cool Gertrude Street, slowly building into an empire of awesome, it was going to be pretty difficult for Belle's to fail. We arrived at 7pm-ish on a 39-degree day, and it was surprisingly easy to grab a booth. But after five minutes there, we realised why: no (or poor) air con! Ohhhh. Nevertheless, we were seated and had wine and food wai...

Last week was Double-Christmas-Party-Day for me. First up, my immediate team and I went to Dandelion  (133 Ormond Road, Elwood) for a late lunch - one of Geoff Lindsay's AWSBALLZ venues that we'd all heard a lot about, but never tried. Put quite simply: it was amazing. There were seven of us (including one vegetarian and one non-seafood-eater), so we shared a bunch of entrees and then ordered one of every main we could see on the menu (from the Curries/Claypots and Coconut Grill sections). Entree standouts were the tiger prawns - HUGE and so fresh - and the soft shell crab and avocado with "Mrs T's magical sauce" - no idea what was in it, but it included shredded coconut and was fantastic. The mains I can remember were goat curry, fish curry, BBQ ribs (their signature dish - a must-try), pork belly, clams, and wagyu steak. Needless to say, the vego/non-seafood members of our party didn't fare overly well, but at least almost every dish came with a side salad...