The popularity of  lamb shanks inspired us to try a Lamb Shank Pie. There was nothing individualistic about our group and we all ordered the same.  A brief discussion and we thought the meat from the shank should be delicious in a pie.

What arrived was a dinner in a pie.  It was all there the shank, mashed potatoes, carrots and peas.  It was rather fun opening this huge dish and letting out the steam.  It tasted good too. The meat on the shank was tender and tasty and the gravy soaked, deliciously into the mashed potatoes.  The pastry was a nice touch.  Priced at $21.00.

The Local Pub
Bay Street, Port Melbourne
22-24 Bay Street (the Beach end)

Phone:- 9810 0076

Opening hours:-
Daily from 11am

Related posts:

1. Hotel Albion, Port Melbourne – Great Bar-Food and Good Value Nights.
2. Cricket Club Hotel South Melbourne – ideal eating on a cold night
3. Station Hotel, Napier Street, Footscray – lunch in their European-style dining room.

A strong recommendation from a colleague prompted my first visit.  She went on a week day evening and loved the food.  She likened it to tapas and it is a kind of Yum Char that you order from the menu.

She took a bunch of cards while she was there and distributed them around the office.  We joked that she was getting commission but she said it was that she enjoyed the atmosphere and the food she wanted us to know about it.
The atmosphere is something else – I haven’t experienced it before.  Take a look at these photos.

One of the things I like about Yum Char is seeing the dishes pass-by giving a visual view before you decide to sample.  For this to really work you need to go to a large busy Chinese restaurant where they cater for a large number of people.  Then you get variety and freshly cooked dishes.   A smaller place doesn’t give you the same variety and I think that often dishes go round and round for a couple of hours.

The Red Door is a smaller place.  A strange place when you walk in.  It is full of Chinese antiques.  It is wonderful.  Rather like eating in a relaxed antique shop.

We went for Saturday lunch and we chose to eat at a table in the window.  If we weren’t addicted to people gazing while we talk  we would have had a different experience of being swallowed into a different world by choosing a table in the interior.  Well try that next time.

You can see the Red Door Menu here

We chose Prawn and Crab Dumplings, Vegetarian Jiao Zi, Duck Bean Curd Wrap, Northern Chive & Prawn Dumplings.

Vegetarian Jiao Zi

Prawn & Crab Dumplings

For desert we had Red bean and Custard sweet buns.

These Red Bean sweet buns were delicious.

In fact all the food was good and I thanked my colleague for the recommendation that took us to the Red Door.  We will be back.
Red Door:-
1  McIlwrick Street,(off Chapel Street)
Windsor
Phone 9510 9658

Opening Hours:-
Monday:     Closed
Tuesday:    Dinner only  6pm-10pm
Wednesday to Sunday:  Lunch 12pm-3pm  Dinner 6pm-10pm

Web:-

http://reddooryumcha.com/r/

Getting there: -
Train:-
The Sandringham Line to Windsor Station – McIlwrick Street is opposite the station.
78 Tram:-
This tram runs from St Kilda East to Richmond along Chapel Street.

Related posts:

1. Trash, Treasure or vintage? It is hard to decide in Womango, 47 Chapel Street, Windsor/Prahran.
2. Street Art at the Windsor end of Chapel Street.
3. The Oriental Tea House on Chapel Street, South Yarra – good eating

Grosvenor Hotel

We arrived shortly after 6pm and for a good three quarters of an hour we had the Bistro to ourselves and the waiter’s full attention.  We needed this attention.  The Bistro has an Italian flavour and lacking knowledge of the Italian language we found some of the expressions and words on the menu confusing.   The waiter who had memorised the daunting number of specials was able to explain what we needed to know.   It makes for secure dining when your waiter knows what the food is all about.

Bistro – Grosvenor Hotel

One of the group chose ‘Durum wheat fusilli, almond, chilly and parsley pesto from Trapani with pecorino pepato’ This was listed under pasta and that, of course, is what it was.

Durum wheat fusilli

My other companion and I ordered ‘Kid goat slowly roasted in wood fire oven with peas, potato and five herbs’.  This was much the better choice.  It was delicious and the meat just fell off the bones.

Kid goat slowly roasted in wood fire oven

My friend who had the pasta felt it was a little bland and wasn’t hot enough.  She believes that they served it early and kept it waiting.  When she mentioned that she would have liked it hotter it was explained that was how it should be – something to do with the cheese.  So if you like your pasta steaming hot this isn’t the dish for you.

There is an array of desserts.  Our table had ‘Tiramisu al Fruiti Di Bosco’ which tasted good but unlike your average Tiramisu but none the worse for that.

Tiramisu al Fruiti Di Bosco

And ‘Buffalo Panna Cotta with cantucci crumble, orange and vin santo syrup’,

Buffalo Panna Cotta

We shared a bottle of Merlot Çhurchview ‘Silverleaf’ Margaret River $26.00.  Very good drinking especially with the goat.

Seven o’clock appears to the magic hour for dining in St Kilda and when the clock hit seven the restaurant began to fill up.
The food was interesting with the goat being outstanding  for a cold winter’s night.

We plan to return and try the bar food menu.  It is opens for lunch so that could be an option.

The menus are available on line here and I suggest you have a look at it before you go.  That would have served us well.  We could have given more attention to the specials and with so much to ponder I missed an entree that I later wished I had tried ‘stuffed zucchini flowers with ricotta and pecorino pepato mousse, fregola salade’.

The wines on the wine list are all available in the drive through bottle store at $10.00 less than the wine menu price. So if you liked your choice you can grab a bottle on your way out, knock $10.00 off the price and drink more at home.

The menu identifies dishes that are gluten free and vegetarian.

Where:-
Grosvenor Hotel
10 Brighton Road
St Kilda East.
Phone: 9531 1542
Web: http://www.grosvenorhotel.com.au/

Opening Hours:-
The Bistro opens for dinner from 6pm
The Wine Bar is open all day from 12 noon.

Getting there:-
Tram : 67 tram stops out side
Car: There is a  parking space behind the hotel with the entrance off Grosvenor Street and street parking in the side streets – try Brunning Street

Related posts:

1. Lunch at Hotel Nest – Albert Park
2. Cricket Club Hotel South Melbourne – ideal eating on a cold night
3. Station Hotel, Napier Street, Footscray – lunch in their European-style dining room.

Gattica Restaurant, next to the ANZ Bank in Carlisle Street, Balaclava

It is one of the cafes clustered around the Balaclava Railway Station.  The morning I visited was grey, drizzly and dreary.  What did I think?   Well, I would go back for the atmosphere and the coffee.

It is hard to know what creates an atmosphere in a place.  This cafe is long and narrow with one side taken up with the bar.

Does good coffee create an atmosphere? Does the pleasure you get from sipping your coffee give off positive vibes?

I have never been able to answer the atmosphere question.  Let just say that I love the atmosphere at Gattica.   When I entered it felt crowded but there was no trouble getting a table and a paper away from the noise of the coffee machine.  People around me were, reading, chatting and discussing business in a relaxed way.  I ordered coffee and a breakfast I love.  Corn fritters!  Perhaps it was an off day in the kitchen but the fritters were not of a standard I have had at other local eateries.  See Mart Cafe and Hot Honey Cafe. Perhaps I should have followed my friend’s recommendation and chosen the Hash Stack.

Instead I grabbed the chance to have the corn fritters topped with a poached free range egg.  The egg yolk was hard so no chance of a delicious runny yellow liquid to mix with the pancakes which were stodgy and would have been improved with egg yolk.  The best thing was the bacon.  That was delicious.  Keep that in mind if you are there for breakfast you may like to add it to your dish.

The corn fritters were a visual feast – great combination of colours.

Corn fritters come with tomato, basil salsa, bacon, avocado and finished with sweet chilli sour cream and I added a fee range poached egg.  The egg on the menu is fried.  I asked for poached – perhaps that is where the problem lies.

This may have been a bad day for fritters but as I can get better elsewhere I wouldn’t order it again.  However I will go back. As I said, I like the atmosphere.  Next time coffee and the paper and perhaps I’ll try Toasted Turkish Bread with seasoned avocado, fresh tomato and feta.

The cafe has a row of tables on Carlisle Street with gas lamps for the colder weather and it flows through to a courtyard at the back that opens on to Charles Street – a tiny street that finishes under the walkway from Balaclava Station.

There’s a take-a-way window onto Carlisle Street where it does a steady business in take-away coffee.

Getting there:-

Trams:-
No 3 and 16 from the CBD stop outside Las Chicas
No 78/79 from Richmond stop at the corner of Carlisle and Chapel Streets.

Trains:-
The Sandringham Line to Balaclava Station

Related posts:

1. Batch for Breakfast? Head to Clarlisle Street East St Kilda
2. Las Chicas, Balaclava, for breakfast still great eating in Melbourne
3. Hot Honey cafe in Armstrong Street, Middle Park, serves one of my favourite breakfasts.

I know this happens all the time but it came as a shock to me when I found a place I knew well was to change.

Yesterday I drove past a corner I used to live near.  As I waited at the red traffic light I saw this new notice attached to a charming old house.

” Construction begins soon,”  ‘they’ say. I always liked this house especially since it was painted black.

This is a corner in St Kilda where Inkerman Street crosses Barkly Street and becomes Grey Street.
You may recognize the corner because of this block.

The old uncared for houses opposite the building have wonderful concrete decorations on the second stories.

The notice of construction suggests more modern sleek units will pop up and the old pretty decorated houses will vanish.  In time we will forget they were there and we will forget what we have lost.

I want to remember this Melbourne Place as it is now. That is why I am posting the photos;  to keep a record of what was on this corner in 2011.

The corner is a bit of a show place of old houses displaying the frivolous and labour intensive concrete decorations of the past.

I suggest if you go through this area look up and check out the beautiful upper stories of these building.  Better still take time at a red light to click a memory-photo.

Strangely, the corner milk-bar/laundry appears to be invincible.

I used to do my laundry here every Sunday morning while I read the papers.  It has stayed exactly the same! It even has the same ice cream ads on the windows as it did then.  Will it be next to go?

This is the corner of Grey Street, Inkerman and Barkly Streets, St Kilda.

There are some interesting and long-term shops here too;

“The Bitch is Back” features 20th century modern interiors.

“Surround” features contemporary and often cutting-edge-furniture.  They have they have some of the most stunning window displays in Melbourne.

“Liquid Snow Tours” at the moment they are collecting used and new warm snow gear for the victims of the Japanese Earthquake.

Several eating places including “Mr Wolf”. – It is a great corner.

To get there by tram:-
Catch the 67 to the corner of Inkerman Street and St Kilda Road
Turn right and wander up Inkerman Street until you get to the corner with Barkly Street.    It is an interesting stretch of road.

Related posts:

1. Sacred Heart Mission’s Inkerman Street Op Shop adds new interest to East St Kilda
2. Salvos move to Carlisle Street, St Kilda and take on a new look.
3. Gattica Restaurant, St Kilda East, is all about atmosphere

The easiest way to reach the Terrace Cafe that overlooks the ornamental lake is to enter the gardens from the corner of Anderson Street and Alexandra Parade.  The paths are lined with trees which shelter them from too much rain.

The entrance on the corner of Anderson Street and Alexandra Parade

The gardens are different in the wet. The first sound we noticed was the pure ringing note from the bell birds. They appear to like warm, wet, still days.

As we walked moorhens scooted around us giving their high pitched squawk, the earth smelt of vegetation and the noise from cars in Anderson Street was deadened.

Friendly Moor Hens

We passed this notice.

I always look for turtles but I have never seen one even on a wet day like this one.  I wonder if they are real and if any one has ever seen one.

It is quiet expect for the birds, the sound of rain on the leaves and  the voices of visitors.  Even voices seem to quieten on this moist day.  It was peaceful and relaxing wandering along to the Terrace Cafe.

The cafe was restful too.  We sat outside at the back completely protected from the rain and with glimpses of the lake.   For a wet day the Terrace Cafe was busy, couples chatted over coffee, singles read, someone wrote and a group of mothers met there with very young and quiet babies. The voices came from the mothers in animated conversation.

The ornamental lake in the Melbourne Botanical Gardens as seen from the Terrace Cafe
The cafe is known for its scones, cream and jam.  It is the one of the best places to have a Devonshire tea.  The scones are so good you want to go home and try making them so you can keep indulging.

Scones cream and jam at the Terrace Cafe

Lunch is fairly simple.

Baguettes with a variety of fillings.  These ones are smoked salmon and avocado.

Thai chicken pie.

The chips were excellent.  If you like chips order a serve to have with your coffee if you just want a snack.

Presentation is tops. One of our group brings her own bread to have sandwiches made to order.  This is what they created.

To cleanse your palate the fruit salad not only looks good but is refreshing. I like the way they write on their white plates

Rain or shine the Terrace Cafe is  a relaxing place to be with good simple food.  There is a garden shop next door with some interesting items including a very beautiful umbrella covered in pansies.  Too beautiful to use – a beautiful present, perhaps.

Getting there:-
Tram No 8 get off at the corner of Domain Road and Park Street.
Enter the gardens from there and follow the signs.

Parking:-
There is 3 hour parking in Anderson Street and 2 hours on Domain Road.

Opening Hours:-
The Royal Botanical Gardens:-
Every day of the year from 7.30 to sunset.

The Terrace Cafe:-
9.45am to 4.00pm, May to September
9.00am to 5.00pm, October to April

Related posts:

1. Peace and relaxation in the Tropical Glasshouse, Melbourne’s Botanical Gardens, St Kilda Road,
2. Camellia time at the Royal Melbourne Botanical Gardens is July and August
3. Guilfoyle’s Volcano in the Royal Botanical Gardens – look into the crater.

I  looked for Orange or was it Red or possibly Red Orange Cafe.  A cafe I remembered that served a great breakfast.  It appears to have gone.  It is always a bit sad when somewhere you remember has disappeared without any goodbye.  It is like a  sudden hole in the ground that you have to navigate around.

I navigated into the Prahran Market and wandered into the Market Square.  This turned out to be an ideal place to be on Sunday afternoon.

There is live music, relaxed families, people eating and people who are just enjoying the music.

I shop at the market and have written about it before see here.  But this is my first Sunday Lunch/breakfast experience.  I say breakfast because I  always order breakfast at this time of the day.

Mojito’s had a breakfast special; two eggs any style, three rashers of bacon and two slices of toast for $8.90. I ordered this with the eggs scrambled and my usual flat white.

The coffee was good.  The band played.  The sun shone.  People chattered. The waiter with an Irish accent brought a bottle of water. There was a constant movement of people coming and going.  My breakfast came.  The scrambled eggs were just right, bacon tasty and the toast thick and firmly toasted.

There are other choices in the Prahran Market Square for Sunday Midday eating.  Cafe Egnaro serves focaccia and Prides

Cafe Egnaro

The Beangreen Vegetarian Cafe has salads of various combinations with chick peas and there are interesting looking fritters.

Beangreen Vegetarian Cafe

It was so pleasant and relaxing I was loath to leave but my glass of wine in the city called.
Mojito can also be accessed from Commercial Road.   The food is described as Mediterranean, Australian and Italian and they also have wood fired pizza.    I can only speak for their breakfasts.  It was the scrambled eggs that won me over.  So often they can be watery.

Where:
Market Place Prahran Market

Mojito Cafe and Bar 169 Commercial Road, South Yarra
Phone: 9826 6544

Mojito can also be accessed from Commercial Road.

Opening Hours:- Mojito
Every day from 8am for breakfast
Thursday Friday and Saturday until about 9.00pm for dinner.

Getting there:-
Tram 72  from the CBD
Tram 78 runs from Richmond to St Kilda along Church & Chapel Streets

Related posts:

1. Prahran Market –the food lovers market in South Yarra
2. Red Star Cafe right opposite The South Melbourne Market, Clarendon Street
3. Cakes and coffee at the Special Cake Shop – Chapel Street, Prahran

Pictures of last years market in the early evening  The Market is from 5 to 10pm

This year the market runs for another three Thursdays – March, 10th, 17th, 24th

My first visit this year will be on Thursday, that is 10th March – I’ll report back.

Getting there:
Trams 96 and 16 to St Kilda – Follow the smell of food. Last year the food was wonderful.

Opening Hours:-
5pm to 10 pm

Related posts:

1. St Kilda Night Market 2011–hang-out there during the last Thursdays in March.
2. St Kilda Beach Night Market – Thursdays
3. The Esplanade Market, St Kilda is worth a visit

Outside Lau’s Family Kitchen, Acland Street

For me the restaurant has lost its edge.  The service was amazing and the staff very knowledgeable and helpful but the place looks tired.  The wall opposite where I sat was covered in black scuff marks – rather like the inside of a wardrobe.  I wondered how they got there – no one throws shoes at the wall and these marks show above the couch which won’t have caused the marks – interesting.  There is another wall that is quite beautiful that is covered in a large wall hanging of Asian fabrics.

This is not your cheap Asian cafe that you find in Richmond.  This is classy dining and I believe a view of scuffs marks is unacceptable. I wanted to get up and paint them out.

I remember a visit for dinner not long after it opened.   The food was expensive but special.  This wasn’t the case at lunch.  The food is still on the pricey side but not out of the ordinary.

One of the entree specials was a New Zealand whitebait omelette. My eyes lit up and I started with this.  It is sometime since I had New Zealand whitebait.  I was disappointment but I think this could have been my expectations.  The whitebait resided in a rather thick egg mixture.  Whitebait are delicate; you could almost say tasteless creatures.  They need to be lightly bound together so their flavour can dominate.  I think the word omelette should have warned me so probably this dish did represent the description on the menu.

After the whitebait entree things began to look up.

Yu Heung

Yu Heung,  a special on the menu, is described as  a tradition Szechuan dish of braised eggplant and minced pork with a touch of spice, served with steamed rice.  This was pronounced to be delicious by those who ordered it.

Steamed seasonal vegetables

The seared beef  with steamed seasonal vegetables was thought to be just right by my companion who is very limited in what she can eat.

Singapore noodles

My Singapore noodles were good; dry with some noodles crispy.  I like that.  At $24.00 they could have had added a few more prawns and barbecued Pork.

We didn’t have dessert.  All in all it was a pleasant lunch with good food but not brilliant food.

I believe the lunch menu is different from the dinner one.   If you wish to eat here dinner could be more interesting.  Most of the reviews -check some here – are for dinner.   I hope someone gets busy with a paint brush.  The toilet door could do with a couple of coats of paint, too.

Where:-
Lau’s Family Kitchen Restaurant
4 Acland Street
St Kilda

Phone 8598 9880

Opening hours:
Monday to Friday and Sunday
12.00pm – 3.00pm 6.00pm – 10.00pm
Saturday
6.00- 8.00pm
The evening is divided into two sitting 6 – 8pm and 8 – 10pm

Getting there:
The restaurant is at the Fitzroy Street end of Acland Street
Trams:-
16 and 96 get off at the beach end of Fitzroy Street

Related posts:

1. Cafe Saigon, Victoria Avenue, Albert Park
2. Green Field -cheap and cheerful Vietnamese, Sydney Road, Brunswick
3. Acland Street, St Kilda, buzzes when the rest of Melbourne is on holiday

One of my favourite breakfasts in Melbourne is at Hot Honey in Armstrong Street, Middle Park.  I eat breakfast there about three or four times a year and I always choose the same thing. I never eat anything else.

Recently we were there again and thought we needed to  study the menu and move on.  We told each other that ordering the same thing every time we walked through the door was boring.   We studied the menu.  We discussed various options.  We looked at the plates on the tables near us.  We mentioned to our waiter that we thinking of trying something different and told him what we usually ate.

He said, “Why don’t you try it with a poached egg?  When I eat it that’s the way I have it.”

That decided us.  So once again we ordered,  ‘House made corn bread with grilled bacon, fresh avocado and tomato salsa and sour cream’ and then we added, “With a poached egg”.

We smiled at each other  “That’s different” we both said at once.

Why be adventurous when you know what you want?

House made corn bread etc with a poached egg.

This is an example of what we could have had if we had moved away from the ‘tried and loved’.

‘Beetroot and sunflower loaf topped with smashed roast pumpkin and ricotta and balsamic beetroot reduction’.

For something more spicy; ‘Middle Eastern Eggs: two poached eggs in a rich Napoli sauce with chickpeas, Dukka, and a mint coriander and green chilli salsa’

Anything with poached eggs would be good their poached eggs were cooked, perfectly.

Where:-
Hot Honey
40 Armstrong Street
Middle Park

Phone:-
9696 1900

Hours:-
7.30am to 5.00pm seven days a week.

Getting there:-
96 Tram – you get off at the Mart Cafe where the food is delicious and the atmosphere unique so drag yourself past that and cross Canterbury Road and head into Armstrong Street.

Find out more about Hot Honey from their web site.

Related posts:

1. Mart Cafe – Tram route 96 Stop 130 Middle Park
2. Gattica Restaurant, St Kilda East, is all about atmosphere
3. Cafe Racer, St Kilda Beach