Chez Dre, South Melbourne

Crunchy baguette with brie, walnuts, witlof and chutney

 On my wanderings between Gas and the South Melbourne market, I must have walked past Chez Dre a dozen times over the past few weeks without noticing it. Typically for Melbourne's cafes, it's tucked away discretely from the throng in a cobbled lane way with just a small sign above the door opening the way to a spacious patisserie/boulangerie/cafe.

The flat whites are true to Melbourne form ($3.50), and my crunchy half baguette with lashings of brie, walnuts, witlof, fruit chutney and a side of sweet shredded carrot are terrific ($7 half, $12 full).

The croissants and cakes are gorgeous - look out for the passionfruit tart topped with a mini macaron. I also love that there's a "Mac attack" - a coffee and macaroni tasting board consisting of short black, macaroni and a short macciato. There's lots of all day breakfast and lunch options for something heartier.

The space is fantastic - curved open kitchen, velvet booths, big wooden communal tables with colourful vases of flowers, or little round French style cafe tables opening onto the sunny outdoor courtyard. A lovely place to sit back and read the daily papers on route to the market - it's almost close enough to smell the sweet aroma of dim sims in the air.

Vue de Monde, Melbourne

Oyster, venison roll, celeriac and sunflower seed, smoked eel with white chocolate and caviar

Shannon Bennett is Australia's answer to Heston Blumenthal - just add a blonde surfie dude wig.

For my 21st again birthday, TPG took me to the 55th floor of the Rialto building, overlooking Melbourne's city skyline, for champagne and indulgence at the magical extravaganza that is Shannon Bennett's Vue de Monde.

Spanner crab, green strawberry, saltbush, parsley

Bennett's French style is hammed up with creative theatrics - each plate as gorgeous to look at as it is to taste. Surprises abound. Who would have thought smoked eel, white chocolate and caviar would be a match of the gods? How about about Blackmore wagyu beef, rose petal and anchovy dust, or ling, herb emulsion, prawn and smoked bone marrow? Do not attempt this at home.

Fried duck egg, lamb sweetbreads, pickled onion, truffle. Yes, seriously.

The scene is pared back sophistication with artwork and furnishings reflecting Australian culture (yes, it's not all about Crocodile Dundee and cricket). Knocking dead the theory that a glamorous view is in direct inverse proportion to the quality of the food, this - Australia's first carbon neutral restaurant - uses home grown and small farm organic produce as far as possible, and keeps bringing home the awards in the process (including Australian Gourmet Traveller Restaurant of the year in 2006 and 2007) and was the first restaurant to be rated 19/20 by The Age Good Food Guide in 2006. I loved the place 7 years ago, and it's still got it.

If you visit for nothing else, visit for this - the chocolate soufflé,
chocolate mousse and creme anglaise is to die for

If you're a chops and 3 veg purist, this will not be for you. But for a night of fine dining and theatre all rolled into one, it's pretty hard to beat anywhere on the world stage.

4 courses a la carte costs $150, or the gastronomes degustation is $250.

PS. TPG just reminded me of my favourite course of all - the butterscotchy, butter poached marron with kholrabi, caviar and tarragon butter. Oh my....

Vue de Monde, Level 55, Rialto, 525 Collins St, Melbourne, Vic Australia

www.vuedemonde.com.au

+613 9691 3888


I also love "Shannon Bennett's Paris" which has been my trusty guide to Paris' bistros and foodie gems for some years - recommended for any Francophile. Bennett has also more recently published a guide to New York and a guide to France which I wouldn't mind getting my hands on.

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.