Some favourites

Places: MoVida and MoVida Next Door

URL: http://www.movida.com.au/

Physical: 1 Hosier Lane, Melbourne; Cnr Flinders Street and Hosier Lane

Highlights: morcilla, roast mushrooms, battered quail, skewered lamb, stuffed baby squid, steak tartare

I know, I know. How unoriginal. But MoVida. Wow. My first 'expensive' meal was at MoVida. I tried many things for the first time there--rabbit, quail, scallops. A handful of the dishes are unimpressive, but most are bang on. So many of the favourite things I've put in my mouth have come from here. The prices, I'd say, are reasonable. You and a friend can eat very well for less than a hundred bucks. The selection of grog is good: there's a lot of sherry, of course (I like the dryness of La Goya), plonk and good Spanish beer (perfect for all those salty, deep fried tapas). The first book I use all the time. The second I need to acquire at some time as it looks equally good.

The mothership and its first child have different feels, different menus. The service is pretty good. The general feel of the place--both of them--is nice. Next Door is probably better for meals with large groups; the original for small groups and one-on-one outings. Whether you're going for a full meal or intending to drop in, have a beer and a couple of tapas mid-afternoon, both MoVida and MoVida Next Door are just plain loveable.

Place: Pamir Kebab (or Kabab or Kabob) House

URL: http://www.afghanpamirrestaurant.com.au/

Physical: 150 Thomas Street, Dandenong

Highlights: dumplings, lamb kebabs

I remember first visiting this place when they were situated in a garish-coloured place across the road from their current location. Even then, when Pamir had a tiny dining room and a TV playing Indian music videos, it was doing the edible things just right. The lamb kebabs--served atop Afghan naan, which soaked up all the lamb grease--were delightful. The maantu dumplings--loaded up with meat and vegetables, sitting in a rich gravy--were perfect for cold nights. When I used to work nights in Dandenong, I'd visit Pamir all the time for takeaway.

The food dropped in quality at one point, but since the move it's back to where it used to be and worth trekking out to Dandenong for. The new dining room is larger and not as noisy or colourful as the original. It may not look like the original any more, but the service and food is still classic Pamir.

For those unfamiliar with Afghan cuisine--there aren't too many Afghan restaurants or cookbooks--it's very hearty fare. Lots of lamb. Lots of rice. Lots of spices (cumin and cardamom are frequently used). Pamir's menu has a few items you've probably seen on the menus of Indian and Middle Eastern restaurants--yoghurt-based dipping sauces, curries, raw onion with everything (an Indian friend told me this is because, heh, raw onion prevents cancer >_>).

Go all out and order one of the banquets, although be aware you'll have to bring your own grog.

Place: Bergerac Restaurant

URL: http://www.bergeracrestaurant.com.au/

Physical: 131 King Street, Melbourne

Highlights: Unadulterated Frenchness

One of my favourite things in the world--possibly my favourite--is classic French cuisine. The real deal. Butter. The old-fashioned sauces of Escoffier and Larousse Gastronomique. Menus full of terms like 'steak frites' and 'confit de canard' and 'coq au vin'. I love--love--some of the work people have done playing around with French technique and French ideas and French dishes. Embrasse is currently my favourite restaurant. Really. I appreciate that sort of thing. And yet there are times when I want nothing more than a classic dish in its unadultered form.

I've been told Bistro Thierry in Toorak is good for that sort of thing and I intend to go there soon, but for now there's Bergerac. It doesn't look like much from the outside--it's on a street that quietens down after 5 on weekdays, the sign is kind of hideous--but inside it's the real deal. The waitstaff won't look at you strangely or feed you bullshit when you ask what the best cognac is. The specials menu includes things like homemade terrine. The food is, yeah, classic, comforting, wonderful stuff. This isn't about innovation. This is the sort of food I like to cook at home but here they do it really well.

Place: Bistro Guillaume
URL: http://www.bistroguillaume.com.au/
Physical: the ether

On that note, there's Bistro Guillaume. Guillaume's Melbourne operation took classic French dishes to the next level by serving them in Crown and making them expensive. I'd be offended by this if they sucked, but no, they don't. They're really good. The tartare is mediocre--when I went, at least, they'd used too much of some sort of tomato-flavoured dressing--but everything else is lovely. The charcuterie platter is like slow sex in front of a fireplace. Can it ever--and I mean ever--get better than a plateful of salty and fatty pork and duck products accompanied by crispy bread? No. Of course not.


Until the main course, at least. The roast pork belly was the best--by far--I've ever had. Top quality kurobuta pig cooked perfectly. The flesh tender and white and juicy. The skin brown and wafer-thin and crisp. The accompaniments delightful but subtle: puy lentils, mashed potato, a salad including apple and fennel. All this beautifully presented. A work of art.


The dessert was, again, simple and lovely. The theme of the night, seemingly. I ooh and ahh over fancy desserts, but if you serve me something as basic as a ganache made with quality chocolate that's sitting atop a wedge of chocolate shortbread and paired with an earl grey creme anglaise, I'll be a happy man.


Bistro Guillaume is closed at the moment. They're relocating to somewhere else in the Crown complex. Be sure to visit them when they're open for business in 2011.


Place: Dainty Sichuan
URL: nowhere
Physical: 176 Toorak Road, South Yarra


I've mentioned Dainty before and I figure I'll mention it again. Dainty moved to South Yarra from Chinatown some time ago and I'd argue it was a change for the better: better location, better dining room. Dainty's menu is a fucking ode. A sweeping epic of a poem dedicated to all that is good about Sichuan cuisine. Everything is as it should be. The gong bao chicken is an all time and forever favourite. The slow-cooked pig ears are a close second. Then again, maybe my second favourite is the crispy pork belly with assorted mushrooms. The lamb with cumin--which is the sort of thing I thought would be more at home in an Uyghur place--is comforting and, while spicy (in the spicy as opposed to hot sense of the word), is probably less confronting to the weak than some of Dainty's other offerings (which don't fuck about with chilli or numbing Sichuan peppercorns). The service could be a little better and the range of beers could be larger, but fuck, the food is good, good, good.