VicAsia, Albert Park

The scene is subdued and sophisticated, but the food is where the action is. This feels like the best Chinese food I've ever had.

We shared the 5 course tasting menu for $50 per head. Light and crispy tempura calamari with coconut, scallops with ginger and spring onion, grilled prawns with almond sauce and the most divine Patagonian toothfish (my favourite piece of fish in memory) were absolutely gorgeous, if leaving us still a little peckish. Then 2 slices of steak marinated in a sweet plum sauce with Chinese greens and a bowl of fried rice (complete with its own bounty of big, juicy fresh prawns) saved the day.

A very respectable wine list completes the picture, with lovely wines by the glass for around the $10 mark.

In the end, we had just enough room for a stroll along the beach with a scoop of Jock's ice-cream (hokey pokey with massive chunks of real honeycomb).

I feel a habit coming on.

VicAsia, 95 Victoria Avenue, Albert Park, Melbourne (ph 613 9690 2390)

Hello from sunny Australia

Golden Fields in St Kilda - it rocks

The sun is shining, there are flat whites on tap, there's a beach at the end of my street and I've had dim sims for breakfast (twice). Hello Melbourne!

It's great to be home. There are so many new restaurants in Melbourne and I've started working through them already - there's been a lotta al fresco dining this past 2 weeks.

I've been AWOL for a while - my gorgeous gran died while we were in New York, just days before we made it back to Melbourne and so I was in no mood for the frivolities of the blog. Since then, we've found a place to live near the beach, started our new jobs and we are STILL waiting for our Internet connection. Not prime blogging conditions (not to mention making those last minute wedding plans) - without the net I feel like my right arm has been cut off. But this morning I discovered mobile blogging on my new phone so here I am. How ARE you??

I still need to tell you about beautiful Bordeaux and St Emilion! More later.