DUMPLINGS PLUS

269 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC 3000
Ph (03) 9663 8181

Dumplings Plus….does not serve vegetarian dumplings. Massive Dumpling Fail!! My friend S and I, who is vego, went to get some dumplings after a few drinks….sat down, only to find they don’t have vegetable dumplings on the menu!! WTF is this shit?!?!? Not good enough, I think vegie dumplings should be a given at any self-respecting dumpling house. This aside, the food we did order was quite nice. We had Tom Yum tofu, which was lovely, and massive, with some fried rice and chinese green vegetables. Staff were friendly, food is cheap and quick. If you are vego, don’t go to Dumplings Plus! Otherwise it’s all good.

MURMUR

17 Warburton lane, Melbourne VIC 3000
Ph (03) 9640 0395

Down a laneway, up some stairs, Murmur is a cute little bar that is nicely decorated, comfortable and has enough charm and personality to draw you in for a few after dinner bevvies. Check it out.

THE NIGHT CAT

141 Johnston St, Fitzroy VIC 3065
Ph (03) 9654 0444

The night cat is a great club, and has been for quite some time now. It gets quite busy on weekends, but the line moves quickly and once inside it is not overly tight or squishy. Always good for a boogie, the night cat has live bands of a funk/soul/latin nature. There is always an eclectic crowd there, and I am happy to say it is usually douche-free. Most weekends there is no cover charge which is refreshing. Thursday nights they do salsa dancing which is always fun. Definitely worth a visit if you haven’t already.

THE FLYING DUCK

67 Bendigo St Prahran VIC 3181
Ph (03) 9510 1173

The Flying Duck is a lovely pub to while away a sunny Sunday afternoon. Its location (set back from Chapel St), means that the place is never crowded or full of tourists who caught the train in from Frangga for the arvo to buy some Ed Hardy. The Flying Duck has one of the nicest beer gardens I’ve ever seen. I love the palm trees, the long wooden benches and the glass atrium room. I also like the way the pub still has the old school front bar with a few regulars and sport on the telly.

Drink prices are also much more reasonable than some of the Flying Duck’s Chapel St counterparts. There is a good selection of tap beers and the wine list is great, again very reasonably priced. The food is acceptable, but I think it could be better, and more interesting and inventive. Food prices could probably be around 10-15% cheaper, given that it’s a locals pub, but this is only a minor complaint. Don’t let my nitpicking about the food put you off. If it’s a sunny afternoon and you’re down that way you must stop by.

LITTLE CREATURES DINING HALL

222 Brunswick St, Fitzroy 3065
Ph (03) 9417 5500

I love Little Creatures Dining Hall. The main reason I love it so much is that they have pipsqueak cider on tap, and you can buy a pint of the stuff for $8.50. Ahhhhhh……..

 And on to the venue. Great beerhall layout. It’s huge so it’s usually fairly easy to get a table. Even on a Saturday night when it’s at its busiest you can sit at the bar and enjoy a pint or two of cider while you wait for a table. The menu is designed to share, which is fine with me, with delicious pizzas (the potato and rosemary is the best) and lovely tapas. The chips are amazing. The staff are always friendly. My only criticism is that they could change the menu seasonally. Other than that, this is a great place to go for a drink and something to eat. It’s a great place to start a night out on Fitzroy St. Go this weekend.

ALUMBRA

9/161 Harbour Esplanade, Docklands VIC 3008


Ph (03) 8623 9666
 
I’d heard from a few sources that Alumbra was overly pretentious, full of beautiful people and generally quite crap. Didn’t sound like my kind of place at all. So when a girlfriend had her birthday drinks there, I was keen to see if it lived up to the hype.

Sunday night apparently is Alumbra’s big night. I usually like to get a good start to the week, so going out on a Sunday (and getting all dressed up like it’s a Saturday!) felt a bit weird. So did paying a $12 cover charge, on a Sunday? Really? Wow, OK then!

 

So after paying a cover charge (an incident of which this only the second occurrence since I moved to Melbourne, not including bands of course) my friend and I went to the bar and ordered 2 glasses of wine, and 2 glasses of water. I was then informed by the barman that they did not serve water in glasses, only in ridiculously small bottles, and these bottles cost $5 each. WHAT??? Had I suddenly teleported to a summer music festival? When I enquired if this practice was in fact legal (as I was under the impression licensed venues were obliged to provide free drinking water), I was told these were the “house rules”. I didn’t press the matter further, but I was definitely pissed off. I mean, legalities aside, it’s not like I was being stingy!! I just paid $12 to get in, then another $9 for a glass of wine! I was just trying to pace myself a little since I had to work the next day, and I have to get penalised for that? So no, I actually just bought the wine and figured if I got thirsty I could take my empty wine glass into the toilets for some tasty Melbourne tap water, of which I can’t get enough. Classy, I know, but I’m stubborn, and I wasn’t going to let those greedy motherfuckers get their hands on any more of my hard earned dosh than they absolutely had to.

Right, now that my rant is over, let’s talk about the club. They have a really nice view, and I guess it is decorated OK. The music was allright, and they have a live band. Sunday nights they do a barbecue, which I didn’t eat but it looked pretty good. The crowd wasn’t half as pretentious as I had been led to believe. Yes there was a bit of Ed Hardy here and there and lots of beautiful people, but they weren’t so bad. I probably won’t go back again, but that’s just because it’s not really my scene, and perhaps because I’m a bit too tight to pay cover charges:)

SAN CHOI

352 Chapel Street, South Yarra VIC 3141

Ph (03 9826 9933)

I walked past San Choi a thousand times before I actually went in there. It is open late, and I found myself there around midnight one Saturday night after a movie and a few drinks. You know that stage when you realise you forgot to have dinner and you’re half pissed and need to eat something right now before you crash and burn? That’s how we were when we ended up at San Choi.

The menu is quite extensive and our tipsy brains were struggling to make a decision. Luckily our waiter was super-awesome and was able to make some solid suggestions based on the vague statements we had made regarding our needs. Our food came out quickly and tasted good. We had some prawn toast, chinese broccoli (I am obsessed with it) a chicken dish and some spicy squid. All were good – the squid was my favourite. Reasonable prices as well, and that waiter really was very good. He was really good at his job and didn’t seem to mind at all that he was serving drunk white people late on a Saturday night. I’d like to go back and check it out again for a proper dinner, rather than a stomach liner!

MOVIDA

1 Hosier lane, Melbourne
Ph (03) 9663 3038

So I get a bit of shit when I blog about a place and don’t put photos up. But it seems when I eat out with these two lovely ladies I’m having such a fabulous time I forget all about my little ‘project’ and leave the camera in my handbag.Entonces, Movida. This was my second time there and I had enjoyed the first visit a lot, so was looking forward to part II. And I wasn’t disappointed. The food was great and the service could not be faulted. We started off with some of those (are they Ortiz?) anchovies with tomato sorbet. YUM. We also had olives, barramundi, grilled octopus and valencian salad. I loved them all! The barramundi was delicious, and that salad is lovely. I’m not usually a fan of mixing sweet with savoury but I love the taste of the orange mixed in with the olives and fennel.
And the churros, ohhhhh, the churros. Best churros in Melbourne - hands down. And I would know; I am a bit of a churro-slut. They were so good. My friend B had never had them before and I am so glad she had Movida’s churros as her first ever!


We stuck to sangria as our drinks, and it was nice, but it didn’t seem very strong (or is that just because I am a boozehag and it takes vats of the stuff to bring me down?). I liked Matador’s better. Other than that, go Movida. They’ve found their niche in the market and are killing it. It’s tempting to take a bit of a stab at them, being tall poppies and all that, but they are good. Our bill was only around $50 each too, which was much less than what I was expecting. Although we definitely didn’t pig out, but I think most people know that if you are going to Movida you aren’t going to get huge quantities of food. It’s a less-is-more kind of place. If you go in with that attitude, you’ll be fine.