Pier - Melbourne - 1 Pier Street, Port Melbourne

We thought we would make a trip to the other side of town to Port Melbourne.

We rocked up at Pier with no booking and got in straight away - a worry.

There were many cuisines on the menu - greek, italian, french, spanish, Aussie - and worrying a little bit more.

And my friend added "Look at the prices babe, my steak is $40 and I get shit wine and paper napkins."

Despite this, the whitebait was surprisingly edible and moorish. My rib eye was cooked perfectly medium rare and the vegies were rightly crisp. My friend's eye fillet was also well done or rather done well medium rare.

Restaurants on this side of town have a more exclusive and chandelier feel about them, as do the beautiful people. The menu is just outdated - try-hard sophistication does not mean hip in my book.

Cost was around $65 with a bad glass of wine.

Overall quite good but nothing to rave about.



 6.5/10

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Senoritas - Melbourne - 16 Meyers Place, Melbourne

Faced by voodoo dolls on the counter, voodoo paintings, voodoo candelabras and voodoo statues I was like "I love it already!"

There was a seediness masked by sophistication about this place that just draws you in.

Reading through the Mexican menu I was super excited and I gotta feeling that this was going to be a good night - a good good night.

The guacamole was excellent, lemony and smoothe and a great beginning.

But then the seared tuna and octopus came out and it looked like burnt bugs on a plate. No flavour

and I was like "mmmm maybe this is a minor mishap."

The pork tacos were good, but then the prawn tacos looked a bit blue and the duck rolls were rather cakey.

My hot chocolate was lumpy and the coffee was served on a saucer with the drink split all over.

It is great that Mamastita has opened our mouths to the door of Mexican cooking but those that follow like Senoritas need to execute well. This was just not well.

Despite this, the place is full and people seemed to love it.

But for us, we were feeling it at the start but then it just went down hill from there. 

And waiting for the bill and the screw ups with all that, felt like climbing Everest in thongs.

Price is around $55 each including a cocktail but no dessert.

6/10

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PM24 - Melbourne - 24 Russell Street, Melbourne

PM24 is actually quite good.

Melbourne has its fair share of French restaurants around town. Many have served food that is just too rich. Rich food is a thing of the 90s. PM24 recognises this trend and keeps it fairly simple.

The pumpkin veloute is the best form a pumpkin soup you will ever have. It is velvety, slightly chestnutty and just yum. The deep fried prawns are wrapped in a piece of basil and then further wrapped in a delicate crunchy pastry.

You can have a 5 course dinner which costs around $55 and may include chicken terrine and a fine piece of duck confit.

Or a 2 course lunch which includes a roasted beetroot and goats cheese salad and rotisserie lamb on a bed of cassoulet.

This place does the best roasts that even beat mum's Sunday night dinner. My dad has a philosophy that chicken is merely useful for a stock or a carrier of flavour but nothin else. I would have to agree with the exception of the rotisserie chook at PM24, it is the best.

Desserts are very traditional but always satisfying.

Lunch is $37 for 2 courses or $45 for 3.

Dinner set menus are $55 or around $80 for a la carte

Bustling atmosphere, good wine, good service and chef celebrities coming and going, this place is always hyped with action.

The food won't blow you away but the produce is excellent and cooked with skill.

7.5/10



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Cafe Corretto - Melbourne, 225-227 Lygon Street, Carlton

After all these year I still love Lygon Street.

Everyone has a personal favourite based on a particular moment in time. Mine is Cafe Corretto where I reminisce wagging lectures at Melbourne Uni to enjoy a generous plate of pasta.

This place has not changed one bit in the last 20 years. Same red tablecloths, same cash register, same menu (not just the food but also the physical menus), same fantastic frozen seafood on the pescatora and the same ferrari paraphernalia all round.

Cost is around $20.

6.5/10

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Terra Rossa, Melbourne - 87 Flinders Land, Melbourne

I really don't have much to say about Terra Rosa other than I was bitterly disappointed when my friend could not get a table at Cumulus Inc and chose this place as what he thought would be a suitable alternative.

Negative to that.

It has a great wooden bar and a cosy, couchy atmosphere but the menu has about 5 different cuisines which tells you that really it is only good for a meal after a heavy Friday night's drinking.

It is one of those places where the menu makes you salivate but come the over-cooked chicken, the awful onion rings and the watery sweet potato, you wish you had a McDonalds burger in hand.

It is all a bit average but luckily not that expensive (around $20).

4.5/10



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Cookie - Melbourne - Level 1, 252 Swanston Street, Melbourne

Cookie is definitely a good place for a farewell lunch where there is a large crowd or for a bite to eat after a few too many drinks on a Friday night.

The menu is big and looks like it can please many.

For me, I find the choice just too much and question how there can be attention to detail with so many ingredients and combinations to be dealt with by the chefs back in the kitchen.

I ordered steamed snapper with herbs. It felt more like herbs with a bit of over-steamed fish - too much lemon grass, too much ginger and too much garlic which made conversation for me back in the office a bit awkward.

The beef with chilli and basil was too hot and the spice on the soft-shell crab a bit heavy. 

The thai beef salad was fresh and the calamari stuffed with pork was good.

I would say this is a place of goods and bads.

Cookie for me is great for a vino as it has a magnificent wine list or for a cocktail after work.

As for food, I would probably give it a miss unless you need to cater for the leaving office folk -  as long as it is not for me.

Cost is around $40 per person with a glass of wine.

5.5/10

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Il Bacaro - Melbourne, 168-170 Little Collins Street, Melbourne

When it comes to a restaurant that epitomises Melbourne dining, Il Bacaro is the one.

It has a dark moody feel which hides the lines on the face - good.
It has a bar designed for late walk-ins to enjoy a fine glass of sauterne - better.
It is the place where I first discovered the best panna cotta in town - great.
It has Italian men musing around, serving, drinking, eating, talking to the maitre d'e - unreal.

I have not had a bad meal at this Italian icon of Melbourne. The calamari is excellent and you should always try the quail as the style and flavours change all the time. The goat is magnificent and the pastas are perfect.

My only concern is the creeping prices. While my moreton may bug spaghettini was awesome, I paused and realised the extremity of paying $38 for a meal which was small, which I had to hold myself back from inhaling in a matter of minutes by eating bread between each mouth full and which I humbly believe I could have easily put together myself.

Entrees are great but over the $25 mark and now that my mum has mastered the panna cotta, I feel a bit cheated paying $18.

I compare this to New York City with the likes of Otto where the most brilliant goats cheese agnolotti costs a mere $11.
Although Il Bacaro does serve one of the best desserts in Melbourne - "it is all about the cheesecake" as the waiter says. There is a bit of honeycomb going on with some violet ice cream, some of those pop and a crackle explosions in your mouth and a vanillery cheesecake that you will never forget.

But really what is Melbourne coming too?

It is a city that clearly has money to burn and an average of $45 for a main meal does not turn people away - this house is always full.

Alas, I will keep coming back because it seriously has the best atmosphere in town and because sometimes I just can't be bothered making my own pasta.

8/10



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