Dining Reviews
Purpose of the Restaurant Review Section to the website
Our aim in this new section is clear and simple: to share positive dining experiences with other food and wine loving individuals. The decision to set up this section on our website came as a result of regular requests to provide family, friends and other business contacts information on good places to wine and dine.
We are naturally drawn to our own client’s cafes, bars and restaurants as we like to show them support in return. We also know they will have good wine on their lists, and we make it a rule never to order the wine that we supply.
So you won’t find ratings and you won’t find damning reviews but you will find bright and breezy overviews commenting on the food, service, ambience and of course wine!
If you have a recommendation yourself for a venue we may not know about please let us know. Also, should you act on one of our reviews and have a great time we would like to know too.
Cheers and happy dining!
La Petanque – Mornington Peninsula
Date: Saturday 30th January - 2010
Restaurant: La Petanque
Address: 1208 Mornington-Flinders Road, Main Ridge
Phone: 03 5931 0155
Commentary: Sarah Andrew
Owner Philippe Marquet has much to be happy about after collecting both an Award for Excellence Best European Restaurant 2009 and Gourmet Traveller Best Regional Wine List 2009. These awards do not come lightly and generally reflect not only the talent in the kitchen (Simon Buckley is the chef) but the attention to detail on the floor (or surrounding the building as the case may be).
Boire – Collingwood
Date: Friday 8th January - 2010
Restaurant: Boire – Collingwood
Address: 92 Smith Street Collingwood
Phone: None - no bookings
Commentary : Sarah Andrew
BOIRE (French for "to drink") is a wine bar where you can choose from two entrées, two mains and two desserts, cooked in a peasant French style. Chef Arna McCabe selects local, fresh organic produce to dictate a seasonal menu in which free range organic meats are served, and traditional pates are prepared in-house.
Idea Fine Food & Wine – CBD Melbourne
Date: Monday 14th December 2009
Restaurant: Idea Fine Food & Wine
Address: 146 – 148 Little Bourke Street
Phone: 03 9663 8829
Commentary : Sarah Andrew
It is no coincidence that wine industry professionals (whether they be winemakers, wine consultants and other restaurateurs) are regularly seen in this venue. The food is excellent and the wine list very affordable and very interesting.
Champagne Darling? - Malvern
Date: Thursday 7th January 2010
Restaurant: Champagne Darling?
Address: 203 Glenferrie Road, Malvern
Phone: 03 9500 9533
Commentary : Sarah Andrew
“Champagne Darling?” is music to my ears! It is also a new and much needed venue on Glenferrie Road (between High Street and Wattle Tree Road) with several well known names behind it (Ross Duke and Ken John to name the two I have been in contact with recently).
Gills Diner – CBD Melbourne
Date: Tuesday 22nd December 2009
Restaurant: Gills Diner
Address: Gills Alley, rear of 360 Little Collins Street, Melbourne CBD
Phone: 03 9670 7214
Commentary : Sarah Andrew
The more I dine out and pay close attention to the ambience, menu and other customers, the more I realise that some reviews will be short and sweet. This is one such review.
Bopha Devi – New Quay
Date: Tuesday 15th December 2009
Restaurant: Bopha Devi
Address: 27 Rakaia Way, New Quay (Docklands)
Phone: 03 9600 1887
Commentary : Sarah Andrew
Owners Chan Uoy & Paul Thickett first launched Bopha Devi in Yarraville 11 years ago (27 Ballarat Street, Yarraville Ph: 9362 0941) and following its success added a Docklands location four years ago. A group of friends and I chose the Docklands venue to dine at one evening and enjoyed the stroll from Southern Cross station across to New Quay, on what was a balmy summer evening.
Donnini’s - Carlton
Date: Friday 11th December 2009
Restaurant: Donnini’s
Address: 320 Lygon Street, Carlton
Phone: 03 9347 3128
Commentary : Sarah Andrew
Marco is the owner of Donnini’s at 320 Lygon Street, opening the restaurant in August 2002. The kitchen opens at 12 noon and runs until 10pm daily. The restaurant offers traditional Italian cuisine in a relaxed atmosphere. Specialising in hand made pasta, there is a kitchen above the kitchen where Marco’s Aunt and Grandma make the pasta, and due to demand this kitchen runs six days a week.
Ocha Restaurant - Kew
Date: Wednesday 2nd December 2009
Restaurant: Ocha Restaurant
Address: 156 Pakington Street, Kew
Phone: 03 9853 6002
Commentary : Sarah Andrew
I feel lucky to have dined at Ocha before Christmas for two reasons: the first is that there is always a waiting list and the second is that they were fully booked until Christmas and so all I could do was hope being up on the waiting list would pay off. It did!
The waiting list is not surprising given that the current location seats a maximum of 35 guests. The main reason however is due to the fresh and modern style of Japanese cuisine which has been embraced by regular patrons enabling the repertoire of dishes to grow over the last few years.
L’Osteria – North Fitzroy
Date: Friday 4th December 2009
Restaurant: L’Osteria
Address: 616 Nicholson Street, North Fitzroy
Phone: 03 9489 6302
Commentary : Sarah Andrew
Our evening started with a Point Leo Road Sparkling tasting at Carlton Cellars that I organised. It was attended by locals and a group of friends who regularly meet on Friday evenings to support independent wine retail tastings and then carry on with a meal in the local area. As the wine tasting drew to a close around 8pm, we all departed on foot for the two minute walk to L’Osteria, where fifteen of us had booked in for an early Christmas gathering.
The Estelle – Northcote
Date: Thursday 26th November 2009
Restaurant: The Estelle – Northcote
Address: 243 High Street Northcote
Phone: 03 9489 4609
Commentary : Sarah Andrew
This review takes us out of the city again. There has been a lot of focus on the city and nearby Fitzroy and Collingwood from press and trade journalists for very good reasons. This said, there is an interesting crawl happening on High Street, starting in Northcote and heading north.