Ishizuka
If you talk to Japanophiles about their eating adventures, they won’t just tell you about rollicking izakayas and exceptional sushi. They’ll also talk about getting lost while looking for restaurants.
Pretty Boy Italian Steakhouse
If you were visiting Melbourne and staying in a city hotel, would you also choose to eat in it? Most people don't or, if they do, they get a cheeseburger sent to the room. The "capture rate" for most hotel restaurants (the proportion of in-house guests filling their bellies on premises) is under 20 per cent.
Oppen
Just when you thought there was nowhere new to go with avocado toast, along comes Oppen. The Scandi-style cafe specialises in smorrebrod (say "smairbrud"), a Danish open sandwich on rye, generally smeared with butter and topped with herring, cured meats, pickles and other such delights.
Curly Whiskers
It doesn't happen often but when it does I tend to listen. Another diner – overcome with joy – recommends the dish they have just eaten. It happened at Curly Whiskers, a curious, original and charming little restaurant in the Gardenvale shopping strip.
Hibiki
Just as we've borrowed umami from the Japanese to describe the deeply addictive savoury lure of foods such as parmesan, tomato and mushrooms, cafe owner Reiji Honour thinks we need to add another concept to our culinary lexicon. It's encompassed in the name of his new cafe, Hibiki, which is Japanese for "sound" or "echo".
Ercolano
There's a special art to crafting a restaurant that feels like it's been trucking on for decades and Ercolano, on site for a year, has it nailed. It's the timber beams and family photos, the hanging salami and mantelpiece knickknacks, the Italian menu which makes a virtue of tradition and – probably above all – the warm welcome which suggests that there's always another seat at the family table.
Hotel Jesus breakfast
How do you feel about nachos for breakfast? I feel great about it, especially if they're the chilaquiles at Hotel Jesus which, praise the lord, has finally brought Mexican breakfast to Melbourne.
Minh Minh Saigon Soul
Melbourne owes much to Sandy Tran, original owner of Minh Minh, and an honorary aunty to thousands of Victoria Street eaters, many of whom ate their first pho in her presence. When she opened in 1995 (across the road from the current location), many customers picked nervously through her menu and plumped for familiar Chinese-Australian dishes like lemon chicken and sweet-and-sour pork.
My Trip to Restaurant School
Knives and forks akimbo. Napkins scrunched into leftover soup. Diners wandering around the restaurant while on the phone.