boybi

What are the Melburnian foods one should try when visiting Melbourne?

Like fish and chips if you're in London, or pizza and pasta when in Italy.

bensyd

Chicken parmy – although they call it a parma just to be different.

JClasstraveller

If you order coffee, order a “magic”.

That’s Melburnian for a double ristretto, 3/4 latte.

CPMaverick

Seeing this thread pop up made me miss Melbourne, my home for 5 years.

Although I've posted here before I moved, lately I've been craving Sonido, on Gertrude St. It's a South American brunch place that's got everything going for it. Fun location, great food, great service. They did amazing takeaway during Covid. So I wanted to post my reco here, hope someone can enjoy it!

boybi

Is this available in any coffee shop?

JClasstraveller

Any one doing 3rd or 4th wave coffee.

Most will do it - except perhaps the very traditional Italianate type joints.

Just look for a hipster barista.

bensyd

Dare I ask what 3rd and 4th wave coffee is?

JClasstraveller

It’s in reality what we see in Australia mostly - emphasis on quality and properly sourced beans, used properly by baristas who treat the product with respect.

4th wave is essentially trying to bring that on a larger scale - which I think has innate issues to overcome that I think might be difficult. How many times have we seen a great smaller brand e.g. Campos get bigger but its consistency suffered as it got larger.

bensyd

Ahh. I understand. Actually used to own a house with a small coffee plantation, but I had nothing really to do with the picking of the fruit. I just organised some pickers to pick it and we'd share the proceeds 50/50. It wasn't top quality; too low and too hot.

bob12403

I posed some questions on the SYDNEY where to eat? thread in advance of our upcoming April trip, got lots of helpful advice, and now posting similar questions for Melbourne right here in this thread. As most of the prior recommendations here are around 3 years old, and pre-covid, this is probably as good a time as any to take a fresh look at the restaurant scene.

We're staying at the Crowne Plaza four nights for our first trip to Melbourne (and Australia). I'm trying to put together a diverse selection of excellent restaurants first and foremost for dinner, as well as some more casual choices for lunch. Pub recommendations definitely welcome, and of course restaurants in Chinatown. We will likely be doing the usual first-time visitor things, so probably spending a fair amount of time in the CBD and along the Yarra.

My list of maybes for dinner (possibly lunch) at the moment includes:
Nomad (already booked)
Hu Tong Dumpling Bar
SuperNormal
Flower Drum
Cumulus
Di Stasio Citta
Mo Vida
Florentino Grill

Besides Sydney, the rest of the trip will include Adelaide & McLaren Vale, and some time in Cairns and Port Douglas, so if you don't see a particular cuisine represented here, please don't assume we don't like it. Rather, it's probably going to be enjoyed on another leg of the trip. If you care to share some thoughts on places to dine that should not be missed (as well as ones that are better avoided) please lend a hand in the great FlyerTalk spirit. Good wine lists at a reasonable price are a plus. Thanks in advance.

JClasstraveller

No need to go to Nomad once in Sydney and once in Melbourne.

I really like Nomad and think it’s exceptional in Sydney but they are run by the same ownership so I think to get some variety, you might consider elsewhere.

If you possibly can, try to get into Tipo 00 - it is serious quality pasta. Easier to get in for lunch.

A lot of the suggestions remain valid - a lot are stayers for good reason. Half of them are Andrew McConnell restaurants (or so it seems!) who is seriously uncanny in the way he can home in on the zeitgeist of Melbourne dining.

His new flagship Gimlet is apparently very good.

Casual lunch choices you would be remiss not to spend plenty of time looking at cafes which are some of the best options - places like Seven Seeds etc

bob12403

Thanks, JClasstraveller. I have Nomad once in each city because we are doing The Feast in Sydney so I thought that it might be interesting to try ordering a la carte in Melbourne. But to your point, if something else really screams out "Eat Here!" in Melbourne, I have plenty of time to change our reservation.

And I appreciate the reminder about Tipo 00. I had looked at that near the start of this culinary adventure, thought the menu was just OK, and kept looking. I took another look after your comment--not sure if they changed the menu, or my mindset changed, but I'm far more intrigued now than I was originally. Adding that to my short list.

And regarding the Andrew McConnell restaurants, I've noticed that in both cities the number of different high-quality restaurants that are under a single restaurateur's umbrella is quite surprising. But it does give a prospective first-time diner a higher comfort level knowing that if you loved restaurant A & B from a certain restaurateur, then the odds are good that restaurant C will live up to the same high standards.

In the US, this reminds me of the Stephen Starr Restaurants group, but his empire is even bigger: 30+ restaurants, almost all of them different concepts, stretching along the east coast from New York to Miami, plus one outstanding co-owned small bistro in Paris. If you're ever in Washington DC, be sure to dine at Le Diplomate, his hommage to Parisian bistros (or perhaps more accurately brasseries), which has been going strong for 17 years. Food, wine, & service are consistently first-rate, which is why even with 300 seats it's still a difficult reservation to obtain without advance planning. https://lediplomatedc.com/

bob12403

I'm back with another Melbourne restaurant question. I was reading a short article in AFAR magazine about Melbourne's Chinatown, and one of the places mentioned was Ruyi, which is technically on the periphery of Chinatown. Very interesting "modern Chinese" menu, Good Food gave it a good review, but that was back in 2015, and Broadsheet's short but positive mention was from 2019. Anyone here have any recent experience at this place?

bob12403

As someone looking forward to his first trip to Australia next year, wondering if anyone has any thoughts, pro or con, on the new Melbourne list? https://www.goodfood.com.au/eat-out/...0221111-h27sv2
The Sydney list has resulted in some interesting observations about the individual restaurants and the overall list itself over on the Sydney FT board.

JClasstraveller

There’s some old warriors on that list. Dare I say it, the criticisms of the Sydney list may also be applicable to some on the Melbourne list - will leave that to those who live there to comment.

I can’t comment on the newer stuff as I haven’t been to Melbourne for awhile but I may have some more of an idea after NY as I am due to go there around then.