Summer is coming. For some inspiration, here's a shot of what Melbourne does well - beachside fine dining.
The Stokehouse is an iconic Melbourne restaurant on the St Kilda foreshore. Upstairs the fine dining is superb, in glamorous surrounds - it even has an outdoor balcony for your apertivos while watching the sun set over the water. I've never had a bad meal there - recommended for a romantic splurge.
Downstairs the mood in the beach bar is far more laid back, and can often be noisy and cluttered inside. But there's an outdoor seating area right on the foreshore - and that's where you'll find me. The food's usually good. It's the perfect place for beers and pizza, or a divine bowl of pasta on a sunny summer's day while watching the world go by on rollerblades.
TPG and I enjoyed an excellent pork and fennel sausage pizza with olives, chilli and oregano ($20) and a scrumptious, al dente spaghettini alla chittara (ie. made with a guitar like instrument of wood and strings) with crab and pangrattato (fine, crisp breadcrumbs) ($24).
Here come's the sun....
The Stokehouse, 30 Jacka Boulevard, St Kilda, Victoria, Australia (Tel: 913 9525 5555)
