Papa Gino's

Address: 221 Lygon St, 3053 Carlton, Melbourne, Victroria, Australia
Web site: http://www.papaginos.com.au/index.html
Phone: +61 03 9347 5758

We came there yesterday Me, a colleague, and my supervisor Michael. We were uncertain about the place to stop so we went looking in Lygon and stopped at Papa Gino's. The name and the website suggest that this place is run by Italians... Well I cannot say, but they service Italian food.
It's the first time I stop eating in a supposed to be Italian restaurant... because I generally prefer to try different kind of food here.... but I will also have to try this to see how is it.
Papa Gino's has a full menu of Italian dishes and it also features pizzas. I decided to go for the pasta and I had meat ravioli with tuna sauce as a cream on it. This was a really weird decision because it si definitely not Italian in the combination of the flavor.... but anyways it was my choice and not the proposal of the restaurant: for pastas they allow you to combine the kind of pasta that you want with any other sauce that they offer... another interesting but strange thing.
My supervisor got a pizza, and my colleague pasta Carbonara.
The food tasted good even with my awkward combination. The ravioli were nice, the tuna sauce tasted really good, and the dish was generous... Its presentation was also nice. Even my colleagues were pretty satisfied... well I have to say I've never seen a Carbonara made with ham instead of bacon..... but anyways.
The price? not really expensive as you can see from their on-line menu.

Classic Curry Indian Food

Address: Elizabeth and Queensberry St. (see map)

To eat there was not really planned.. I was supposed to go with my flatmate Chrisy to watch a volleyball game and before going to the gym we just headed to this place that was a little bit far from the University of Melbourne Campus.
Located on the north east corner of the CBD this place seems to be very popular because even if the place is not definitely elegant it was almost full and not only of Indian people. Classic Curry Indian Food is special for curry: they basically have different dishes and are sell side by side with curry sauce. The curry sauce was very tasty and we enjoyed the whole dinner... you can have lamb or chicken with it together with some Roti or Chapati (Indian flat bread)...
The price? very convenient for nine bucks we had:
- One abundant portion of meal (chicken, lamb, or whatever)
- Curry
- Roti or Chapati
- Somethink to drink (A coke, fanta, etc..)
If you like curry drop by this place ... it is definitely one of the best curry I've found around.

Nasi Lemak House

Address: 113 Grattan St., 3053 Carlton, Victoria, Australia

Well we dropped by this place me and my friend Mukaddim at late Friday evening to try some Malaysian food. I passed by that place many times before and it was almost empty but anyways my friend told me that there was good food then entered and had dinner. The place is really peculiar as its name tells: house. ... and it is really a house! which has been turned into a bar restaurant, that is kinda weird because it makes you feel as there if you were at your own home or in a hostel. The place looks familiar but it is very essential and the style is rather poor... but obviously this is not the first reason why we went there... then... pass on.
Let's move to the menu... they have attached to the wall a the list different dishes available and prepare on demand each course. I got rice with peanuts and egg... well I do not remember really well the name... it wasn't really bad but the roasted peanuts gave a strange flavor to the whole plate.... I really think I missed to one to get... while the plate of my friend seemed a little bit more interesting: it was basically rice with soja and additional dressing and the whole covered with a fried egg (see the picture.. on the background). I had a try of it and it was definitely better than mine.
So as a final thought about this place... if you wanna quick food and spend very low price (we spent 10 bucks each and the food was really abundant..) go there... but it is not one of the bast places I've tried.

Max Brenner

Address: Shop 25, 210 Lonsdale St, QV Building, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia
(Also in Melbourne Central).
Website: http://www.maxbrenner.com
Phone: +61 03 9663 6000

We just decided to went out this afternoon, and chocolate was our mission... so after a couple of people told me that Max Brenner was really good we decided to go there... Actually you have two choices in Melbourne for this kind of shop: Melbourne Central or QV building... well you do not have to walk a lot between the two because these shopping center are just one in front of the other.

We finally decided to go for the one in the QV building. The place, being Sunday afternoon, was crowded.... but fortunately we had the chance to get a seat inside. Max Brenner does have service at the table but you have to go the cashier and order... they give you back a number and you'll get served... Waiting time was a little bit long... but the place was really crowded so we just waited and admired all the chocolate creations around the shop and watching at the other people to admire all the yummy stuff that was going around...

Max Brenner has a lot of varieties of chocolate creations... from pizza chocolate to milkshake by passing by all the possible things that you can do (soufflés, muffins, Belgian waffels, ....). I was decided to get a chocolate pizza but unfortunately they ran out of it, then I just went for the strawberry float which is basically a strawberry milkshake, with ice cream and white chocolate. My flatmate got a chocolate soufflé... that was a kind of chocolate muffin... really yummy with liquid black and white chocolate inside .... it was almost a surprise when we discovered it....

We spent 9.50 AUD for the soufflé and 7.50 for strawberry float. I really like this place and I think I will get back again hunting for the chocolate pizza!....
Oh... are you looking for a gift? Max Brenner has a lot of merchandise, from chocolate, to cups and whatever... have a look!

Oriental Spoon

Address: 254 Latrobe St, 3004 Melbourne, Victoria
Phone: +61 03 9654 9930/1

This is a Korean Japanese restaurant. According to some of my friends is one of the best Korean restaurant in Melbourne. We went there yesterday for a dinner after work. The place was full and there was a line at the front door of people waiting for a table; and it has been this way for all the time we had dinner.

One of the things to try here is the Korean Barbecue... basically it is a mix of different types of meet cocked on your table with a small barbecue. The meat has to be rolled in order to be done, and sometimes waiters come to you table and take care of it. The meat is really good and it is something really different from the normal aussie barbecue. I think it worths trying if you never did it.

Along with the meat we ordered some soup, white carrots, rice and some other veggies with a spicy sauce... we speant 17.10 AUD each (4 people) in the CBD, a really good price for what we have got.

Brunetti

Address: 202-204 Faraday St, Carlton, 3053, Victoria
Website: www.brunetti.com.au
E-mail: info@brunetti.com.au

This is an Italian style cafè... where you can taste sweets, chocolate, cakes, coffee, and other very nice things. It is the perfect place for breakfast, for having a talk with friends, or for spending a different evening. Melbourne features two Brunetti shops one in Lygon St, and one in city square on 214 Flinders Lane.

This shop has a long history which dates back 1991 when the Angelé family acquired the shop and turned into what is a real roman café. The owner Giorgio Angelé has a long experience in the pastry industry (more than 60 years), and is still baking and preparing sweets. The Brunetti café is one of the most characteristic places to visit in Lygon.

We went there on a Sunday afternoon just to have some cappuccino and cake tasting. I got a Nocciolato Cake, which is a really tasting cake with sponge paste, light cream, and nuts... Wow it was really good.. it really seemed to me to get back to some Italian cafés... I definitely recommend this place for cakes, chocolate, and other sweet things.

Price? I spent 5 bucks for the nocciolato cake and there were many other cakes (that looked really good) in the same price range.