2016
23 February 2016 The French Saloon - " It's more a fresh bistro than a French one, but that's good news for everyone." Our summary HERE
8 March 2016 Igni - "What makes Igni one of the most comfortable, casual and refined dining experiences we've seen for some time has everything to do with experience. The rolling list of dishes climbs to 30 at weekends, yet the kitchen is almost disturbingly calm, the moves quiet and economical. Service is enthused, professional and self-aware – everything it should be in 2016. Everyone's having fun, and so will you. Brace yourself, Geelong. The world is coming." Our summary HERE
12 July 2016 East Bar and Dining - "... the menu on the website featuring every cheffy trend of the last three years – kimchi, cultured creams, liquid nitrogen and chocolate with beets ... there's a lot of skill and passion here ... Pro Tip: Come early, it gets busy and slower later at night." LOur summary HERE
15 July 2016 Hellenic Republic - "There's fun to be had. ... George Calombaris brings his brand of Greek to the beach." Our summary HERE
2015
13 January 2015 Minamishima - "There's a nice balance between the rare. the wierd and the familiar. ... In this town it doesn't get any better." Our summary HERE
20 January 2015 L'Hotel Gilan - "The pan-European-and-sometimes-Asian menu tends to give traditional bistro and pub numbers a gentle nudge rather than a kick in the pants." Our summary HERE
27 January 2015 Hammer and Tong 42 - "Serious dining returns to Fitzroy ... The careful plating may tell a story of serious intent, but your overall experience stays on the casual side of the fence." Our summary HERE
3 February 2015 Pei Modern - "... elegent interesting food." Our summary HERE
10 February 2015 St Hotel - "This is easy earing Thai." Our summary HERE
17 February Entrecote - "What they're serving is steak, but what they're selling is the fantasy of wealth and luxury." Our summary HERE
24 February 2015 Highline at the Railway Hotel - "Highline is all about what's on the plate, and that's some elegant cooking from a young chef with eyes locked tight on the future... Take the ride." Our summary HERE
3 March 2015 Estelle Bistro - "... it's now an extensive choose-your-own adventure of snacks. There's a pretty staggering assortment of things you want to eat, and the hit rate is high." Our summary HERE
17 March 2915 Sagra - "... simplest dishes work best ... Sagra has potential". Our summary HERE
24 March 2015 Meat Fish Wine - "It's a luxe, central place where you can get a decent fish, steak and glass of wine. That may not win you over hook, line and sinker, but sometimes, it's enough." Our summary HERE
31 March 2015 La Bonta - "The menu is tight, gardeny and aggressively fresh." Our summary HERE
7 April 2015 Rosa's Kitchen - "... a menu with snack flexibility ... food made famous for its total lack of faff and fuss ... For maximum fun keep expectations set to 'accessible Italian'." Our summary HERE
14 April 2015 Transformer - "... creating complex, thoughtful dishes for all ... It's boundary defying food." Our summary HERE
21 April 2015 Moor Please - "This is smart-casual eating, executed well. All day, any day stuff adhering to the simple Middle Eastern idea that fruit, nuts, labna and cumin make everything better." Our summary HERE
5 May IDES - "... this is a once-monthly pop-up by Attica sous chef Peter Gunn ... Gunn is on a mission. He's even got a slogan. "In pursuit of creation, not perfection." ... It's $100 for seven courses, which is good value, but that's not the draw. There's something important happening here. This isn't just one chef making good. It's the start of a tiny revolution, and judging by the interest it has piqued on both sides of the pass, it's one we need to have. If this is what the great burger revolt looks like – wild, free-wheeling and risky cooking – we're behind it, 100 per cent." Our summary HERE
12 May 2015 South Society - "The menu rings bells too – bar-snacky stuff such as calamari and crab sliders, with bigger things like slow-cooked lamb haunches and roughage-filled salads that cater to the hottest intolerances of now. What matters is that young chef Auriele Ducasse is doing them well." Our summary HERE
19 May 2015 Becco - "Becco is a legend and for reasons that still exist. It's had a hit in The Age Good Food Guide since 1998. But if it wishes to remain a living legend, it needs to step up." Our summary HERE
26 May 2015 Anchovy - "Book ahead - this is the next big thing. ... classic Vietnamese flavours, sharply focused and formatted for fun." Our summary HERE
2 June 2015 Brooks of Melbourne - "Brooks is a restaurant you frock up for and put it on someone else's card." Our summary HERE
9 June 2015 The Roving Marrow - "If the yum cha concept sounds like a gamble, it’s a calculated one. Two sittings see a trolley loaded with a limited number of tweezer- driven small plates that know no geographical bounds." Our summary HERE
16 June 2015 Woody P - "Woody P is more easy than exciting. But sometimes easy is all you need." Our summary HERE
23 June 2015 Bax Food Co - "It's all about cheap. simple and and solidly executed Jamaican food ... You basically get a crash course in Jamaica's history of foreign occupation, mouth first." Our summary HERE
21 July 2015 Deja Vue - "Beam in on the bird. Eat and leave happy." Our summary HERE
28 July 2015 Lume - "Dining here takes a leap of faith, but the reward is an adventure. ... Don't expect perfect. This is an uncut diamond. A few facets gleam. Time and trimming will show its worth." Our summary HERE
4 August 2015 Saint Urban - "The restaurant has a progressive look but it's comfortable, as is the food." Our summary HERE
11 August 2015 Nant 1821 Distiller's Bar and Restaurant - "For what is essentially a cellar door the sell is soft. ... The menu hasn't fully graduated from bar land." Our summary HERE
18 August 2015 Estelle by Scott Pickett - "When Pickett began Estelle, the tasting menus were famously cheap. Potent yet brief. The room and service humble to a fault. It's now a $130 a head experience, minimum secen courses, backed by service so tight it's almost tense. It's no longer a neighbourhood restaurant but a restaurant-restaurant in a neighbourhood." Our summary HERE
25 August 2015 Hattori Hanzo - "It's a geographical brawl, the menu jumping from Thailand to Laos and Korea, with brief stops in Japan ... No one's taking things too seriously here and neither should you. Serious is not the point." Our summary HERE
1 September 2015 Dashi - "Wada has stepped quietly, carefully into Mount Eliza, placing one foot each into the classic and creative camps." Our summary HERE
8 September 2015 Nora - "... the new Friday-nights-only, bookings-compulsory dinner service is one of Melbourne's most exciting. Book it and now." Our summary HERE
15 September 2015 Lee Ho Fook - "Still the frontier for new-wave Chinese, still possessing a certain don't-give-a damnitude, still unique." Our summary HERE
22 September 2015 The Stag - "If it's native and edible you'll find it on [Chef Ryan] Sessions' plates. ... The Stag feels like a big step on the road back to glory. Sessions is settlling back into his groove." Our summary HERE
29 September 2015 Semi-Permanent - "The result is a dinner of classic wine food, executed with pep. ... straight forward excellence..." Our summary HERE
6 October 2015 Toko Melbourne - "It's the sort of place where what's going on around the plates seems as important as what's on them" Our summary HERE
13 October 2015 Lamaro's Bodega - ""This isn't a restaurant reinvented. It's a restaurant revived. And it's better than ever." Our summary HERE
20 October 2015 Lady Carolina - "... it's busy and loud and so on-trend that it hurts, but there's substance beyond the hype. And that's a rare and nice thing too." Our summary HERE
27 October 2015 Pinotta - "The $45 prix fixe gets you snacks, a starter and a main any time, any day Go-to dish Fresh gnocchi, spring peas, lots of herbs and salted ricotta." Our summary HERE
3 November 2015 Two Wrongs - "Two Wrongs nails hipster dining so well that you can’t tell if they’re geniuses or victims of their own joke. ... a collection of zeitgeisty dishes all tricked out in the same trash-glam fashion as the room." Our summary HERE
10 November 2015 Oakridge Winery - "There’s a classic entree-main-dessert format and a set menu at weekends of two or three courses. ... A couple of options in each course, and chef Matt Stone knows his way around vegetables" Our summary HERE
Marion Wine Bar, Fitzroy - "And while the formula is now familiar – the short, sharp snack menu of seasonal dishes where the likes of seared duck hearts buried in herb and onion foliage with slips of smoky leg meat is king one day, gone the next, and where the focus is on interesting and not exclusively natural wines; and the policy of busting open a magnum for by-theglass tastings is regularly enforced – no one’s tired of it. They do it well at the sunniest end of Gertrude Street." Our summary HERE
2014
28 October 2014 - Green Park - "... let's call it an Australian bodega." Our summary HERE
4 November 2014 O My - "... thoughtful mature dishes ... possibly the most exciting restaurant you'll discover all year" Our summary HERE
18 November 2014 Lady Boy Dining + Bar - ""... this is a business in its youth. The ideas are there; the ability to execute them well and lose what doesn't work hasn't caught up." Our summary HERE
25 November 2014 Tipo 00 -"If their mission here was to provide comfort and tastiness with polish, they've nailed it.'' Our summary HERE
2 December 2014 Mister Jennings - "Mister Jennings, at five months old, has become a definitive next-gen restaurant ... a talented chef who uses his talents for fun." Our summary HERE
9 December 2014 Bacash - "Fish get the respect they deserve". Our summary HERE
16 December 2014 Meat Maiden - "Good booze and boozing food". Our summary HERE
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