31 Jul

Kumo Izakaya & Sake Bar was just named best Japanese Restaurant in the Victorian metro region by Savour Australia and I was recently invited to a sake tasting dinner held at Kumo, hosted by owner, Andre Bishop. Andre also runs other establishments including Izakaya Chuji and Nihonshu sake bar, and was the perfect person to teach us all about sake, having been titled a Sake Samurai by the Japanese Sake & Shochu Association in 2013 to award his knowledge and dedication to the world of sake. The sake...

23:06 / Bar/Pub / Brunswick East / Food / Japanese / Kumo Izakaya & Sake Bar / Restaurants
29 Jul

Co-owners Emily Bitto and Nathen Doyle, also responsible for Wide Open Road and A Minor Place, opened up Heartattack and Vine earlier this year. It's a cosy space that suits couples, groups and solo diners, with 40 seats indoors, and 30 outdoors. Heartattack and Vine serves breakfast and pastries, then a variety of rolls for lunch, but come evening it transforms into a cinchetti bar. For dinner they offer meatballs, a salad and desserts, but the biggest item of interest to me was the  selection of cinchetti - small...

22:25 / Bar/Pub / Carlton / Food / Heartattack and Vine / Italian / Restaurants
22 Jul

Rubira's is a popular and busy seafood restaurant that had its beginnings in Port Melbourne, and was expanded to North Melbourne nearly a year ago. It was started up by fourth generation hotelier, Paul Taberner, and restauranteur and third generation fish monger, John Rubira. John himself gets up in the early hours of every morning to get first pickings at the fish markets. For the North Melbourne branch, this wonderfully fresh and high quality seafood is prepared by Adam Barge, who came over from Port Melbourne to head...

22:47 / Food / North Melbourne / Restaurants / Rubira's / Seafood
01 Jul

University Cafe is the oldest cafe and restaurant on Lygon St, established in 1952 by Eros and Gianni Milani. A popular spot for coffee, it's also open from breakfast through to dinner. Although I knew it was a popular local, I was still surprised by how busy it was on a weeknight, with a number of regulars coming in. After ordering we were offered a basket of sliced sourdough with little tubs of Western Star, but didn't have long to eat it before the dishes arrived. [caption id="attachment_8778" align="aligncenter"...

20:32 / Carlton / Food / Italian / Restaurants / University Cafe
24 Jun

Not to be confused with the Carlton side of Lygon street, The B-East is to be found in Brunswick East (get it?). Far from being just a burger joint, it's also a bar and live music venue, open until late every day. Offerings include burgers, sliders and subs, along with fries, American-style sides like hickory smoked corn, mac 'n' cheese bombs and corn bread, and salad to make us all feel better. Brioche is the bread of choice here, but rye and gluten free options are available too. [caption...

14:43 / Brunswick East / Burgers / Food / Restaurants / The B-East
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