Higher Ground, Melbourne CBD

After 45 minutes of waiting on a Saturday morning, was the wait worth it at Higher Ground? My friend who moved to Melbourne highly recommended Higher Ground but I was feeling very impatient this day.

Hash Specialty Coffee & Roasters, Melbourne CBD

Recommended by one of the locals, I visited Hash Specialty Coffee and Roasters for brunch. To our shock and pleasure, they served complimentary sparkling water - something absolutely unheard of in Sydney. Haha. 

They have really creative and tasty breakfasts. Here's the download on what you should order.

Lucy Liu's, Melbourne CBD

VISIT TO MELBOURNE: With the line being so long at Chin Chin even when I got there at 5:40pm, my friends and I head to Lucy Liu in Melbourne CBD for an Asian Fusion experience.

Dinner By Heston, Melbourne

VISIT TO MELBOURNE: I head to Dinner by Heston at the Crown Casino at the newly opened Sunday lunch with the option of the 5 course degustation in Melbourne. I end up spending more at Dinner at Heston than I did in two days of cheap accommodation. Hehe

My friends and I have been so excited about dining at Dinner by Heston. We go photo crazy and savour every mouthful.

Hardware Societe, Melbourne

I am a repeat customer of Hardware Societe in Melbourne and I want to go back.

Hutong Dumpling Bar, Melbourne CBD

Delicious dumplings await @ Hutong Dumpling Bar in Melbourne

Taxi, Melbourne

Fancy food with a view @ Taxi in Melbourne CBD

Jimmy Grants, Melbourne CBD

Does the big hype live up to the expectations @ Jimmy Grants in Melbourne CBD?

The European, Melbourne

Hearty European Breakfasts @ The European in Melbourne

Sake, South Bank, Melbourne

Sake is my favourite restaurant and I am very fortunate to have experienced Sake in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.  Each venue has a slightly different flair in plating up some of their key dishes and the atmosphere varies but their food is consistently delicious.

The customer service is absolutely superior in Sydney and Brisbane. The customer service was a bit of a let down in Sake with having to ask twice for a particular glass of wine and one dish was wrongly ordered/served but both were easily rectified.

On this occasion in Melbourne, I started with some edamame. At the time there was an option of edamame with floss and a mild spice coating ($6). It was a nice change but I think I prefer the original edamame. This version was very tasty (below).

My must order dish which I have ordered at every Sake is the King Fish Jalapeno ($20). Fresh king fish sashimi with the perfect combination of light yuzu soy, jalapeno and coriander. This is a simple but amazing dish. The flavours are just perfectly balanced. I just love everything about it. The King Fish is always fresh and there are light soy flavours that contrast with a slight zest and chili from the jalapeno.

Another regularly ordered dish is the seared scallops ($32, top) with vegetables in a miso cream reduction. This dish was perfectly presented in Melbourne, with bright contrasts to the blue plates. The scallops are big, fat and juicy and taste delicious on a medly of corn and asian greens. Soak up the miso cream reduction with some rice and you'll be in heaven.

I also tried the terakyi chicken ($29) for the first time. It was a very clean version of the chicken terakyi with the chicken very elegantly presented on a bed of greens in a pool of sauce. The dish was tasty but not as impressive as the others.

Prices: $50 per head plus drinks

Location: On South Bank Wharf, South Bank

Lisa's Rating: 5/5... it's my favourite restaurant after all. I love the food, I love the presentation of the food, I love the atmosphere..... that's why I stick to Sake whether I'm in Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne.

Gami, Chicken and Beer, Melbourne CBD

A local Melbournian recommended the Korean Fried restaurant Gami for some fried chicken and snacks. It seemed very popular with a gather of people waiting to get a table at the small restaurant of Gami. This would be a great venue for some food before a good night out.

Complimentary radishes and prawn chips (above) accompanied our Gami House Lagers ($4 for 300ml). The chips brought back many childhood memories.  For entrée, I ordered the corn cheese (below) which essentially corn with cheese on a sizzling plate for $9. I am a corn lover and naturally loved the simple combination of cheese and corn. It was a sweet corn combination with more savoury flavours of cheese.  It can become a bit rich so I suggest you share this dish.

The highlight of the night took it’s time to get to the table. It was really crowded and busy but I was getting a bit impatient after waiting an hour.  The hight light was the full order of chicken split between the original chicken and the glazed soy garlic chicken (below).   We were also tossing up ordering the spicy chicken but glad we didn’t when we saw the table next to us barely touching their spicy chicken.

The original chicken was not bad. It’s probably on par with KFC. The chicken pieces were more about the skin rather than large chunks of chicken. The taste was definitely in the garlic soy chicken. It was highly flavoursome and just very easy to eat.   It was a party in my mouth. I’d recommend the garlic soy chicken, a full serve ($34) should happily be eaten by 3 girls.

Overall, I’d recommend trying Gami, early if you can to avoid the crowds. Order some house lagers, enjoy the corn and order the Soy Garlic Chicken.

Prices: $30 per head

Location: 100 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne CBD

Opening Hours: 12pm to 3pm then reopens at 5:30pm to 11pm

Summary: Lisa's Rating: 

Food: 8/10 for casual dining (order the Soy Garlic)

Customer Service: 6/10

Atmosphere: 7/10

Value: 7/10

Mamasita, Melbourne

Mouth watering flavours and deliciousness are waiting for you at Mamasita. Up the stair way, get there early for a seat. For you corn lovers, start with some corn chips, salsa and guac ($9, above). I really like the corn chips so I order this every time I come here. The salsa is a thick paste as is avocado.

The corn cob ($4.9 for one, below) is very popular; titled "Elote Callejero" is char grilled corn with cheese, chipotle mayo and lime. It was a party in my mouth. full of flavours. I'd definitely recommend ordering the corn.

For another entree; I ordered the butterflied tiger prawns that were char grilled with a light salsa and topped with coriander. It was quite tasty but you are paying for two prawns at $13.

I also ordered a few tacos including the pig's cheek taco  ($6) and the prawn taco ($7). Each are very flavoursome in their own ways but the pig's cheek was my favourite. The taco tortillas are very savoury and floury. 

Prices: $40 per person plus drinks

Location: Up the stairs, 11 Collins St, Melbourne CBD

Summary: Lisa's Rating: 

Food: 8/10 for casual dining 

Customer Service: 7/10

Atmosphere: 8/10

Value: 7/10

Bistro Vue, Melbourne CBD

Bistro Vue, baby brother of mega house Vue De Monde is beautifully decorated with red velvet seats and random art works. I was eager to try an array of their menu so I opted for the 6 course degustation for $110. I'd recommend this if you are looking to try their range of delicious food.

With a minor food allergy, they replaced the first course for escargot. The garlic snails had a parsley crust and were quite nice. I've never been a massive fan of the Escargot but I seem to be ok with two to start off with.

This was followed by the cured ocean trout with brioche toast in a light tangy sauce. It tasted very fresh. The risotto below was beautiful. It was perfectly cooked with strong flavours of mushroom. This was one of the higlights for me. It was very homely.

Following the risotto was a neutral tasting gelato to cleanse the palette.

You sometimes feel quite hungry with these tiny portions of food. By the 4th course, I was still rather hungry.  The very rare wagyu beef was served with large pieces of onion and cabbage. The meat was served very rare which is not to my preference but you could tell it was a very high grade piece of meat. I was starting to become full but there were two more courses of dessert left.

For dessert, I had the cheesecake with green tea ice cream on a bed of crumble. I love cheesecake so I demolished this very quickly. The final course was a choice from their dessert cart. Cakes, macaroons, eclairs and anything else you can imagine was available to choose from.

Overall, it was a nice experience with a tasty courses. I'm not sure if this would be a regular venue of dining for me but definitely a first visit. Melbourne is full of fabulous restaurants that would give Bistro Vue a run for it's money in taste, value and experience.

Prices: $110 for the 6 course menu

Location: 430 Little Collins st, Melbourne CBD

The Hardware Societe, Melbourne CBD

The Hardware Societe is often spoken about, even among Sydney foodies. It's because Hardware Societe has beautiful looking food that is equally tasty. If you enjoy sugary, delightful dessert like breakfasts then this is your heavenly breakfast venue baby!

The iced chocolate (above) looks very playful with lashes of cream on top, playful colourful straw and chocolate to the side. The actual milk is not very chocolatey so you will have to scrape the chocolate off the sides.

The baked eggs Deux (below) with bread (with a splash of olive oil) was beautiful at $18. The baked eggs also had chorizo sausage, potato piquillo peppers, queso mahon, toasted almonds, alioli. It was just a very homely breakfast.

The Fried Brioche ($18) is a thick chunk of sweet bread topped with salted creme caramel, banana and crushed nougatine. For sweet-toothed lovers, you will enjoy the gooey caramel that is very rich and sweet. The hard caramel pieces with icing sugar on top is sugary and crunchy which brings another sweet dimension and adds to the layers of textures. 

You may need a breather half way to recover from the sugar highs!! Delicious but only a sometimes breakfast...

Prices: $20ish for Breakfast 

Location: 120 Hardware St, Melbourne CBD (in an alleyway)

Chez Dre, South Melbourne

Chez Dre in South Melbourne was a delightful, trendy cafe much like Grounds of Alexandria in Sydney. Perfect for breakfasts and brunches, the menu for Chez Dre has a bit of variety and many pastries that will make your mouth water. The cafe has a bustling atmosphere and was a good walk of about 20 minutes from DFO shopping centre in South Wharf.  The 89% like rate is well deserved.

The iced chocolate (above) and chai latte (below) were exactly what you wanted first thing in the morning. The smell of coffee also lingers in the air among all the chatter in the background.

The Grilled Asparagus (above) was $17.50 and was zesty in flavour with preserved lemon, almonds, parsley, poached eggs with verjuice hollandaise and toasted sour dough. The hollandaise sauce was very rich and I scrapped a lot of this to the side so I could enjoy the natural flavours of grilled Asparagus and poached eggs.  It doesn't look like too much food but I was very full after this. Simple ingredients but put well together.

The Chorizo and Smashed Peas is $19.50 and had mint, lemon and parsley, chevre poached eggs and toasted sour dough.  This meal is a much healthier version of meaty meals like bacon and eggs. The chorizo is spicy and well cooked.

So if you have some coin for a decent breakfast, Chez Dre is a great venue for Sunday brunch. You should get there at a reasonable hour if you want to avoid the wait.

Prices: $25-$30 per person

Location: Rear of 285 Coventry St. South Melbourne

Nihonbashi Zen, Melbourne CBD

On a hunch, I went to Nihonhashi Zen without checking Urbanspoon. I wish I did check because it's like rate of 44% was very accurate. The decore resembled a cheap Japanese Restaurant but the prices on the menu would rival of michelin hat restaurants. I ordered some Sashimi which had 12 pieces of Salmon, King Fish and Tuna for $40. 

The Sashimi was fresh but I was turned off by the cheap decore and when I saw food on the other tables, I was not willing to order any more for the michelin prices. I'd avoid this place if I was you :P

Prices: If you had a proper meal it would probably be $120-$150  per person

Location: 87 Little Bourke St, Melbourne CBD