Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Looking for Foodie Finds in Sydney and Melbourne

Visiting Sydney 3 Nov - 8 Nov and visiting Melbourne 8 Nov - 11 Nov. Would like to get the inside scoop on some recommendations to go and enjoy some great food in both cities. Most important things I'm looking for are places with a cool and interesting atmosphere and unique menu, prefer to avoid the touristy places for food and go see another area of town and eat where locals go. I have no particular type of cuisine I would rule out, open to any type of food. I'm a little sensitive on price so $30 - $50 per person for the meal is ideal but if you know of a really great place thats in the $50 and up range, I'd definitely like to hear about it!

Many thanks!!!

Welcome to FT, TheChadSD!

All the other people who will post here for Sydney will recommend Restaurants in Surrey Hills or anywhere south of the harbour. So my Restaurant tip will be for the lower north shore:

The Bathers Pavilion. There is a cafe and a fine dining section. Don't be fooled by the cafe name, the food there is excellent. I would make this my recommendation for breakfast for both the qualify of the food and the beautiful surroundings at the beach. Just a magical place and almost all people there will be locals. Serge Dansereau the chef and owner can often be seen cooking at the BP or chatting with guests.

Check out this very recent article, although the headline is negative (blame the sub I would think) there is some good suggestions in here.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/good-living/sydney-drops-off-the-global-dining-map/2009/10/22/1256147832872.html

This site is one of the best blogs on Sydney food:
http://grabyourfork.blogspot.com/

This blog is a good starting place on Melbourne food:
http://sarah-cooks.blogspot.com/

My personal preferences are:
Sydney - King St, Newtown for lots of good eating options, open late, plenty of people.
Melbourne - Rathdowne or Smith St in Fitzroy (rather than Lygon St Carlton) for an Italian fix. Otherwise lots of small local pubs have surprisingly wonderful menus.

Enjoy!!!

Good but modest restaurants cost AUD 50 per person minimum for a 3 course dinner (less at lunch but not always the same food, depends on the place). For under 30 you are limited to pub food or food courts -- which can be EXCELLENT. In Sydney there is a Japanese restaurant in World Square called Miso who sells an outstanding takeaway bento box of sashimi for AUD 13 for example (easily a 30+ meal otherwise). Look for grilled flatheads for fish & chips, when on the menu instead of fried it usually means good food there (and a good cheap meal).

Melbourne outstanding is European on Spring St (that is the name as well as the style of cooking) next to the Princess Theatre (also great coffee, better than any you find anywhere in US or Canada). Richmond Oyster on Church St. by Swan St. (this restaurant was originally an oyster and fishmonger doing wholesale to other restaurants but decided to cut out the middleman) ... really outstanding fish. Finally Melbourne has a high concentration of classically trained Imperial chinese chefs -- they were refugees from Mao's cultural revolution. So some world-class chinese restaurants around, many quite cheap (just walk around chinatown).

Finally Ganache, corner Chapel St. and Toorak Rd. has some of the best chocolate in the world (really outstanding and I used to fly from NYC to Brussels to buy chocolate on mileage runs).

Great Sydney food blog (with reviews):
http://grabyourfork.blogspot.com/

Great Melbourned food blog (also with reviews):
http://sarah-cooks.blogspot.com/

My favourite spots are streets with lots of options,
King St, Newtown (Sydney) and Rathdowne or Smith St, Fitzroy (Melbourne).

Sitting outside for lunch on a sunny day at the Sydney Fish Market can be a great "foodie" experience for you. http://www.sydneyfishmarket.com.au/

You can wander the stalls to choose what suits you & buy a bottle of wine from the bottle shoppe to ease you into the afternoon.

*

This site is one of the best blogs on Sydney food:
http://grabyourfork.blogspot.com/

This blog is a good starting place on Melbourne food:
http://sarah-cooks.blogspot.com/

My personal preferences are:
Sydney - King St, Newtown for lots of good eating options, open late, plenty of people.
Melbourne - Rathdowne or Smith St in Fitzroy (rather than Lygon St Carlton) for an Italian fix. Otherwise lots of small local pubs have surprisingly wonderful menus.

Enjoy!!!

Great Sydney food blog (with reviews):
http://grabyourfork.blogspot.com/

Great Melbourned food blog (also with reviews):
http://sarah-cooks.blogspot.com/

My favourite spots are streets with lots of options,
King St, Newtown (Sydney) and Rathdowne or Smith St, Fitzroy (Melbourne).

Deja Vu?

Great replies, many thanks for your suggestions!