All posts filed under: Australia

A Lone Diner in Melbourne: Gensuke

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Where Gensuke, Hawthorn   Experience Gensuke doesn’t do much for my longing to go to Japan. Having popped into work to take a few snaps of a beer tasting on Thursday night, I decided that going home to cook my solitary aubergine just wasn’t going to cut it. I was going to try a new pizza joint, but as I approached I stopped in my tracks, turned around and headed to my car. I had remembered my friend telling me about an amazing Hawthorn ramen shop on Glenferrie Road, so I whipped out my phone and with a minute had tapped the address of Gensuke into my sat nav. The first thing that struck me about Gensuke was the lighting; the glow was so bright that I could see it from where I parked my car a good 50 meters away. Undeterred, I ventured through the door and was greeted by a chorus of Japanese waiters and chefs communicating to each other in harmony. A smile emerged across my face and I knew I had …

Table for one? A Solo Diner in Melbourne

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He’s back, I thought to myself as I saw Omar being seated at the kitchen bar. The last time I saw him, he was about to embark on a five week work/fun trip around Asia. Little did he know that during his time away, a series of solo dinners were taking place and a blog series idea was bubbling away, all inspired by him. When I told my friend who worked at the restaurant before my time that I was inspired by a guy that comes in on his own most weeks, he knew exactly who I was talking about. Our conversation reinforced the fact that I had developed a soft spot for Omar’s style. And I wanted in. Most of the friends I have made since arriving in Melbourne work in hospitality, which means that evening rendezvous are usually out. It was only when I started working full time in PR that I was able to hold the knife and fork to eat with again, rather than to polish, and rather than wait around …

Fremantle Arts Center Cafe

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Fremantle is one of Perths best suburbs, in my opinion! We visited for a day to have a look around some of the vintage shops and stumbled upon a fantastic book shop, which had a huge cookery book section. I got lost in there for a while before trying on and buying a dress from the vintage store in the back. We then went for a bit to eat in the Fremantle Art Centre Cafe. By this time of the holiday, I was becoming obsessed with coffee – I cast my mind back a few months ago and I wouldn’t even touch the stuff. So I ordered a Flat White (my new favourite drink) and a Chorizo and Halloumi lunch board. We sat in the courtyard, which is very pretty – vintage bicycles hang on the wall and the tables are laid with flours. When we arrived, all of the seats in the shade were taken so we had to sit in the sun and it was slightly too hot for my liking. When you’ve …

The Greenhouse, Perth

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The Greenhouse in Perth city centre is certainly impressive. Open for breakfast, lunch, dinner and drinks daily (closed on Sunday), it’s an all around foodie destination. The first thing that strikes you is the Strawberry Plants that are potted all the way up the walls on the outside of the building and when you walk in, it soon becomes apparent that nearly everything in here has been recycled. From the plywood walls to the sugar in old jam jars, the watering can jug and the fruit and veg bowls along with the toilet door handle all made out of the tops of old gas cylinders. An eye-catching feature is the bar – bottles of spirits hang overhead by blue rope. I’d like to see The Greenhouse in operation for a few drinks but on the agenda this time was, you guessed it, brunch. The breakfast menu is not overly large but they do offer a different range of breakfasts to most places in Perth, including a ‘Brekkie Pizza’ and Calzone. As it was my last …

Cicciolina, St Kilda, Melbourne

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After a nice long warm day walking around Melbourne, we stopped off for a few drinks on a mini bar crawl along Fitzroy Street, down from The Belgian Beer Garden before riding on the oldest rollercoaster in the world at Luna Park, St Kilda. We wanted to go for a special meal on our last evening so we headed to Cicciolina on busy Acland Street as it had been recommended to us by my boyfriends family friends who live in the area. Apparently it is a favourite of foodie Melbourne residents so we had to try it out. Cicciliona is a small, cosy, dimly lit and very atmospheric up market Italian restaurant. When we arrived there was a 30 minute wait so we decided to put our names down and have a drink in the adjoining bar at the back. I walked in and it was very dimly lit – it reminded me of a New York bar. A couple of the party were very hungry so we decided to order our starters in the …