Yelp Melbourne | Review Writing

With more than 60 million monthly visitors worldwide, in late 2011 the seemingly unstoppable juggernaut that is lifestyle reviews website Yelp.com landed in Australia. To mark its launch, Yelp commissioned a handful of journalists, reviewers and people around town to write about and photograph their favourite Melbourne haunts in the site’s signature colloquial style and I was asked to contribute.

Añada

I don’t mean to come over all zombie neophyte – or Hannibal Lecter God forbid – but Añada was the first place I ever ate brains. And churros. And it was sweet. And they were sweet. Añada is divine. A Southern Spanish restaurant and bar also influenced by Muslim Mediterranean flavours and specialising in Tapas, Añada’s owners founded this Gertrude Street gem in 2008 after a stint at London’s River Café.

Serving both Tapas and more substantial Raciones and boasting an excellent cheese and dessert menu alongside a truly stunning wine list, Añada is quite possibly the most romantic little eatery on the Gertrude Street stretch. And with prices ranging from a meagre $2 for Chorizitos to $70 per person for a Tasting Menu encompassing ‘twelve premium Tapas and Raciones over five courses, including dessert or cheese,’ there’s something for every budget and appetite.

My suggestion? A long, languorous evening at Añada filled a selection of Tapas, and punctuated with a couple of suggestively named Raciones. Oh, and bucketfuls of great Spanish wine recommended by Añada’s hugely knowledgeable staff.  All in all a brilliant culinary discovery. But the most unexpected discovery of all? Crumbed lambs brain with pork belly and red lentils tastes uncannily like KFC; a revelation that would have saved Hannibal Lecter an awful lot of trouble.

www.anada.com.au
197 Gertrude Street,
Fitzroy, VIC 3065

Foxy Brown Cafe

I can sympathise with wannabe Melbourne hospitality entrepreneurs and their struggle to come up with an original cafe concept. A struggle that seems to have culminated in the somewhat obscure decision to name – and theme – this little Northcote cafe after a much derided Blaxploitation film from the early 1970s.

All tangerine walls, ochre ceilings and modular mid century storage solutions, Foxy Brown is as faithful a themed cafe as you’re likely to find. Tucked away on one of Westgarth’s pretty backstreets, Foxy Brown is a decidedly local feeling cafe – all comfy loveworn sofas and bijoux backstreet courtyard – with a very high concept concept.

Aesthetic observations aside, Foxy Brown is serious about one thing: coffee. And by offering an almost unparalleled range of different espresso blends and single origins and using only the finest certified organic, biodynamic and unhomogenized milk, Foxy really does give good caffeine.

My one gripe about this technicolour little cafe – which also does a rather fine line in breakfast, burgers and light lunches such as paninis – is its occasionally icy service. Frostiness aside, Foxy Brown is a pretty good local cafe.

www.foxybrown.com.au
31A South Crescent,
Northcote, VIC 3070

Black Cat

I don’t know if the name of this grungy Fitzroy bar is a) a reference to the 19th century cabaret of the same name, b) an allusion to the cult Japanese manga series, c) a snappy little almost alliteration, or d) none of the above, but I like it all the same. A decidedly dive barish bar about midway down Brunswick Street, Black Cat attracts a mixture of girls who like girls, patrons that look like they listen to The Cure, and the occasional cashed up hipster replete with matching pet whippet. With holy grail of cider Monteiths on tap and a disheveled ambience that practically encourages daytime drinking, Black Cat is as good a spot for an afternoon tipple as a raucous but low-key night out. Fitzroy at its laid back best.

252 Brunswick Street,
Fitzroy, VIC 3065

The Resurrection

Finding a great new bar can be akin to experiencing a spiritual awakening. Or at the very least having a little drunken prayer answered. The Resurrection falls firmly into the latter category and was an unlikely discovery on an otherwise unexceptional Wednesday afternoon.

There I was rifling through rails of things at a vintage pop-up shop next door when said pop-up shop’s enthusiastic owner suggested, nay, insisted, that I drop what I was perusing and pop next door to check out The Resurrection. This place, she said, was too good to miss. She was right.

A bar slash cafe doing a fine line in some classic cocktails – numbering some unique takes on the Bloody Mary, Orange Gin Fiz, Mint Julep and more for a very reasonable $12 a pop – The Resurrection also boasts a fantastic selection of premium beers and ciders and an abbreviated food menu that is just big enough to include what I’m told are some exemplary toasted sandwiches.

What really sets The Resurrection out from the rest though is its incredible courtyard which is blessed with not only a generously proportioned outdoor bar but a ridiculously expansive amount of seating, some jolly green astroturf, several brightly coloured tables, and string upon string of festive multicoloured lights.

Staff are friendly and loquacious, drinks are relatively well priced, and The Resurrection has enough character, idiosyncrasy and quirkily nostalgic chutzpah to really set it out from its identikit Melbourne competitors. A Revelation.

135 Lygon Street,
Brunswick East, VIC 3057

Casa Iberica Deli

Today I was schooled in the complexities of chorizo by a jaded but very informative ten-year-old boy in Casa Iberica. It was a humbling – and unexpectedly educational – experience.

From the outside Casa Iberica may look like a jovial Mexican restaurant but inside lies Spanish/Portuguese/Latin American foodie heaven; all row upon row of painstakingly preserved peppers, more dried spices than you can shake a cinnamon stick at, and the kind of deli section that would make Coles verde with envy.

Today however I was looking for one thing alone: chorizo. Glorious Spanish sausage. It turns out that in a shop as well stocked as Casa Iberica the choice is not that simple.

Firstly there was a decision to be made between soft, semi cured and dry chorizo. Once that was made there was an option of mild or hot. In fact there were so many chorizo variables that I had to sequester a small child working behind the deli counter to seek his advice. Which was impeccable.

Freakishly knowledgeable service, a drool-worthy range of specialist food, and a boundless selection of great spices all conspire to make Casa Iberica my new go-to specialist food store.

www.casaibericadeli.com.au
25 Johnston Street,
Fitzroy, VIC 3065

HuTong Dumpling Bar

There is one very good reason to go to HuTong: its ‘xiao long bao’, or dumplings filled with meaty, soupy goodness. There is one reason you might come away from HuTong more than a little perplexed: its cantankerous, abrupt service that led my hugely patient, polite and upstanding dining companion to heckle the misanthropic maître d on the way out when we stopped in for tea on Friday. Hu Tong is a restaurant of two halves.

Provided you can handle the less than courteous service and don’t mind being rushed out of the door faster than the impoverished at Louis Vuitton, HuTong is, in my opinion, the best spot in Chinatown for a dumpling feast. I visited with a group on Friday and shared countless dumplings – the spinach gyoza and aforementioned xiao long bao being a particular highlight – and rather a lot of wine. The food? incredible. The damage? $20 a head. HuTong is amazing.

www.hutong.com.au
14-16 Market Lane,
VIC 3000

New Day Rising

New Day Rising is proof if proof were needed that good Melbourne things do often come in exceedingly scruffy packages. Granted, from the outside it looks like the studio flat of a friend that desperately needs rescuing from almost definite penury, but one look at new kid on the Brunswick cafe block New Day Rising’s scrumptious food and I was sold.

OK, it’s the size of a proverbial postage stamp, sure, it doesn’t have so much as an opening window – which can lead to this place becoming steamier than an episode of True Blood – but all in all New Day Rising really is a great little cafe.

Alongside, serving pretty good coffee, New Day Rising also offers some great value grub such as its bagels with accompaniments like homemade relish, Persian feta, avocado and rocket, which are nothing short of exemplary. Don’t let the squat like appearance put you off. New Day Rising is well worth a visit.

221D Blyth Street,
Brunswick East,
VIC 3057

99 Problems

This tiny little Collingwood bar may be called 99 problems but an awesome drinks list certainly isn’t one of ’em. Fortuitously located directly opposite Melbourne/Greek institution Jim’s Creek Tavern on Johnston Street, 99 Problems is a diminutive little dive bar with a soundtrack that is pure Pitchfork, a frankly brilliant wine list and Monteith’s cider on tap. In the words of the Jigga Man himself: hit me.

31 Johnston Street,
Collingwood, VIC 3066

Kelvin Bar

Its name might say ‘Working man’s club’ but retro inspired Kelvin Bar – or Kelvin’s as the locals have it – is more like Mad Men, but with Boggle in lieu of boardrooms, a soundtrack of Fat Freddy’s Drop instead of Roy Orbison and a bar that gives Don Draper’s stash a definite run for its money.

If, like me, the only reason you hungered after an iPhone was for the endless possibilities of the Scrabble app, you’ll love Kelvins. The décor is faithfully early seventies, the wine list refreshingly organic, and the cocktails exemplary. But what really makes Kelvin’s special is the veritable smorgasbord of board games on offer.

Not only is gaming of the board variety accepted at Kelvins, it’s positively encouraged. And with this retro mecca offering games including Yahtzee, Monopoly, Guess Who and more, you can easily while away the hours over a bottle of organic wine and a tryst with a board game in this unassuming and under-celebrated but really quite wonderful Westgarth haunt.

84 High Street,
Northcote, VIC 3070