petemelb

Border's have it for $49.95.

I really enjoy this list and the discussion/theories that follow. They did get the Australian restaurants in the correct order.

The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival (http://www.melbournefoodandwine.com.au/html/2242-home-page.asp) always has plenty to offer.

Terry Durack released a fantastic book called Hunger. I'm not sure if it is available outside of Australia but it is worth tracking down.

A perfect white peach followed by a white nectarine (summer in Melbourne, Australia).

Romaney, Here are a few more suggestions (due to my Ezard recommendation being shot down in flames): MoMo - Middle Eastern. Ladro - Melbourne's best Pizza at the moment. Da Noi - Great Italian food, go with the Chef's menu (just tell them what you don't eat) and you'll have a great meal. Supper Inn - The other end of the Chinese Scale from the Flower Drum, great for a late night snack in the City. Check them all out on http://melbourne.citysearch.com.au/

Romaney, Circa has always done high standard food in a great setting. They have recently changed chefs and I haven't eaten there since the change. The new chef is Andrew McConnell, formerly of Dining Room 211 (now Interlude, he sold it to his former Sous Chef). Andrew's other restaurant is Mrs Jones (featured in this month's Gourmet Traveller). I recently had a great meal at the new Brasserie by Philippe Mouchel at Crown Casino. Philippe is a bit of a legend in Melbourne and has recently returned from being in Tokyo for a couple of years. Very good French Brasserie food. You should try to get to Ezard at the Adelphi as well. The best East meets West food in Melbourne. Hope this helps, Petemelb

There's a place about an hour out of Melbourne (Australia) called: "The Wooden Swallow" It took me a while to get it, still makes me chuckle.

spoonbread - pleased to hear that you like "Simply Asian". Another Australian Chef who does the Asian-inspired thing well is Teage Ezard. He has a great book that was released a year or so ago called "ezard" (helenas referred to this earlier). His website is worth a look (http://www.ezard.com.au/). Cheers, Pete

Terry Durack wrote a good piece in the Sydney Morning Herald a couple of weeks ago (Article was - Guide to the good life - The 40 foodie things you should know by the time you're 40.) One of the pointers was - "How to pronounce things correctly". He wrote - "The three worst culprits are trattoria, bruschetta and gnocchi. If we can learn to say them correctly, then perhaps the waiters of the world will follow. So, it's broosketta, not brooshetta and nyokky, not nokky. Trattoria has the same sound structure as diarrhoea, not Victoria."

Hi there Spoonbread - I use Neil Perry's "Simply Asian" book quite a bit. If you haven't checked out the Rockpool Website (www.rockpool.com.au) it's worth a look. It lists his other books. Check-out his current menu at Rockpool. He has some fantastic dishes listed.