Honestly, I’m no expert, but I do know fresh ingredients and food prepared with love. Little Saigon, on Victoria street in Richmond, is just another wee Vietnamese cafe amongst many. The interior’s plain, and it’s full of locals who do their best to keep this well kept secet under wraps- no pun intended…
Note to self: whilst in Melbourne, stop at any sandwich bar and marvel at the potential for a super fresh, high stacked salad sandwich. Remember with a shudder, the nasty mayo laden coronation chicken, sad single soggy lettuce leaf and watery tomato slice, so typical of the London equivalent I had to make do with. So rejoice, order with the lot, add avocado and pineapple and a splash of sweet chilli. This is my favourite Australian lunch. Obviously a bakery like Babkas will supply the best freshly baked bread, but with the rise of the Vietnamese bakeries across town, you can get one super cheap just about anywhere. N. Tran bakery at 263 Chapel street Prahran is great; their white bread rolls lighter and crispier than most.
A gem in the crown of Melbourne eating, Claypots is the kind of establishment I adore. Totally focused on simple, fresh, and generously proportioned seafood dishes, flavoured by the influences of Indian, Malaysian, Morrocan, Cajun and Chinese fare, Claypots remains a firm favourite and apparently number 29 of all things to do when visiting Melbourne according to Trip Advisor.
Karen Martini is the visionary and much awarded chef behind Mr Wolf, a rustic Italian wood oven pizza restaurant on Inkerman St in St Kilda Melbourne. So many people had told me to go here that I didn’t just because. Well, that was just plain stupid, because the food here is so incredible. Pricey yes it is, but sometimes, just sometimes, it’s really worth it.
Always fiish my trips to Melbourne on Victoria St with the family. We go crazy, 6-8 of us, polishing off plate after plate of fish, and squid and crabs and greens. It’s true delicious fresh carnage.
