Whilst researching places to eat in Melbourne, I was crestfallen to discover that Jamie Oliver’s “Fifteen Melbourne” had recently closed. I was pretty disappointed as I have never eaten at a Jamie Oliver restaurant and he is my all-time favourite chef. Luckily we had Gordon Ramsay’s Maze to console us.
From the ashes of “Fifteen Melbourne” rises “The Kitchen Cat”, which is owned and operated by Tobie Puttock, who has worked directly with Jamie in many different restaurants and projects (including setting up the first “Fifteen” restaurant in London). “The Kitchen Cat” prides itself on offering rustic Mediterranean food, with a heavy lean towards Italian food. Unfortunately, these photos don’t do it justice.
MoVida, located in an artsy graffiti-covered laneway, is a tapas bar/restaurant hybrid. It came highly recommended to us by a local foodie that we met and it constantly rates as one of the top food establishments in Melbourne. It isn’t cheap but the food was extremely innovative and the atmosphere made us feel like we were in a genuine tapas bar somewhere in Spain.
Another great spot that we ate at in Melbourne was Cookie, a popular casual Thai restaurant in the heart of town that also doubles as a beer hall. Cookie was serving the kind of Thai food that I have been yearning for since being away from Australia; Thai with a mod-Australian twist. I wish I’d had time to return to make my way through the extensive menu that consists of sweat-inducing curries, noodle dishes, spicy seafood selections, and various takes on stir-fries. Service was very slow but I’d expect as much in a place this busy. Try and visit at an off time (not sure if there is one!) to ensure you get a table.
Melbourne’s food scene truly stunned and impressed me. The food scene thrives in Melbourne and even with as many restaurants as there are, they seemed to always be busy. The Aussies have high expectations for a good meal and, from our experience, these expecations are met and often excelled. I cannot wait for my next trip to Melbourne.
As we had expected from a Gordon Ramsay restaurant, everything was elegantly plated and finely executed, from the complimentary bread basket, to the main courses, to the coffee. I particularly enjoyed the yellow fin tuna tartar, with white radish, yuzu, and black garlic, but the show-stealer for me was the rhubarb compote. I absolutely loved it!
If you have ever had the fortune of travelling to Melbourne you will understand exactly what I mean when I say that coffee is serious business in Melbourne (as is food, but that is an entirely different post). The result of the high density of European immigrants in Melbourne is that there is almost a coffee shop on every corner. And I’m not referring to Starbucks (Starbucks actually closed almost all of their locations in Australia due to poor sales). I am referring to genuine cafés that are manned with trained baristas who actually care about the quality of coffee that they are serving. I am talking about little cafés that make coffee such a highlight that their menu is limited and yet, people still flock. This is a city that takes its café scene seriously.
Australia (Melbourne in particular) reminded me that it is acceptable to be a coffee snob. I don’t want to drink bad coffee, heck, I don’t even want to drink mediocre coffee! What’s that saying? Life is too short to drink bad coffee. Well, I agree. I have been spoilt and I think it’s high time that Vancouver stepped up its game. Surely as a world-class city we can do better for coffee than what we currently have on offer.
