Category Archive: Restaurants
France Soir
Google Maps suggested that we could walk to this restaurant from our Melbourne central hotel. Wrong. Luckily we chose to cab it through the leafy suburbs to this hole in the wall gem. France Soir is a treat. The provincial French theme may not suit those hardy souls who prefer minimalism and modernity but it suited TVC right down to the butter (butter!) served with the bread. The garlic snails were too garlicky for words and the bouef bourginon was black and unctuous. Pommes frittes come with the main courses. We were invited to have another drink despite the diners…
Continue Reading →The Flower Drum
Image courtesy of Huang dan 2060
Opposite the Ding Dong Lounge in Market Lane, Melbourne, is a sinister looking red door. Push it open. Nod to the couple sitting behind a desk in the “lobby” (why?) and catch the lift to reception on the first floor. Ahh!! The Flower Drum. Decorous, traditional and calming. The venerable waiting staff, (all Chinese, all male) are courteous to a fault. The menu is happily confusing and peculiar, in true Chinese style. The food is understated. It’s a must.
Continue Reading →Jamie’s Italian – Adelaide (with a Minority Report)
TVC ventured with friends L and M to Jamie Oliver’s eponymous restaurant in a restyled bank – an immense vault – on King William Street. Having valiantly resited the Jamieabilia for sale in the lobby shop the diner is then assaulted by a tsumani of sound and the unappetising sight of a sea of cafe-like booths. However, the further end of the restaurant is slightly more impressive, with individual tables and banquettes, low lighting and tall, bare windows. The “marble” bar, hung with red peppers and sausage lights, is an imaginative (if not authentic) rendering of an Italian lunch counter. People who…
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