American Hotel, Echuca by Foghorn Leghorn

I love smoked meat. On a recent trip to Echuca, Mrs Shiraz and I discovered a pub with so much smoked meat on the menu that we had to eat there twice.


Smoked duck

It’s the American Hotel. Echuca in general has lots of good food, but only the American Hotel has enthusiasts who spend the first half of the day loading up the smoker. You walk in at lunchtime, smell the smoky fragrance, and say “I’d like to order whatever they’re smoking”. The waitress says “Sorry, we don’t serve the smoked stuff at lunchtime, it’s only at dinner.” So what do you do? You come back for dinner, of course.

Gaylord, Docklands by Big Fil

I had been a while, several years in fact, since I accepted an invitation to try out a new restaurant. However, I was intrigued by the name Gaylord and whether it had any relationship to the now closed Indian restaurant in the old disco in Chinatown (complete with mirror walls), now a Chinese hot pot place. So on a coolish Saturday night Snooze and I were off to see what this new addition to the Melbourne dining scene had to offer.

Beetroot tikka

Located in the Grand Hotel, one of my favourite buildings in Melbourne, Gaylord is a different creature to your normal suburban Indian joint. For a restaurant aiming at a fine dining experience the style is much more semi-casual upmarket hotel club bar than formal dining establishment.

The Lake Restaurant Cafe, Patterson Lakes by Bureaucrat

After a morning of enjoying the very good beach-side playground at Carrum found us in the need for lunch.  Unfortunately, the construction of the nearby train overpass meant that all the local shops were closed, except for a tuckshop that does a busy trade serving pies, soft drinks and the like, to the construction workers.

So back in the car we went to retrace our steps.  I had noticed a suburban shopping precinct on the way to the beach - this turned out to be the Lakeview shopping centre.  We picked the Lake Restaurant Cafe as it seemed to be the most popular eateries and it offered table service.

There's a typical suburban cafe menu on offer with a Japanese twist.  For the three of us, we ordered two dishes to share.  One of the dishes was a karaage chicken served with salad.  The chicken was reasonably okay - nice big chunks of chicken thighs with soy-ginger overtones.  

Rocca's Woodfired Pizzeria and Pasta Bar, Blackburn by Bureaucrat

I love a good pizza and I'm so happy to have stumbled across Rocca's Woodfired Pizzeria and Pasta Bar.  This place left us in a gorgeous carb coma.  So often, I discard the crust from my pizzas because, well, frankly, they taste like cardboard.  But the pizza here at Rocca's is delicious!  Crisp and doughy at the same time - I would willingly eat this on its own... if only all bread tasted like this!


I don't know who Mari e Monte are, but the Lawyer and I love them both!  This prawn pizza was superb!  Gorgeous succulent and meaty fresh prawns laid on top of this cheesy, garlicky and mushroomy base.  I am definitely going back to see Mari e Monte again!

La Petite Creperie, Forest Hill by Bureaucrat

Near the corner of Swanston and Collins Streets in the city, it's hard not to see (or rather, smell) La Petite Creperie.  The beautiful aromatic scent of butter, eggs and sugar in the form of crepes cuts through the traffic noise and smell like a delicious siren song.  

Its suburban outpost, located rather unexpectedly in Forest Hill Chase Shopping Centre, has the same effect on suburbanites.  Ensconced in a cute little caravan, the staff are ready to take your order with their delightful French accented English.  For research purposes, I just had to get one of each of the main items - a crepe and a waffle.  There's a range of toppings to choose from, such as Nutella, cream, ice cream, sugar, lemon juice.

I haven't had many waffles in my life but if they're as good as this, then I'm a die-hard fan!  Soft and fluffy and wonderfully insubstantial (in a refined sugar and wheat sort of way - the best sort of way!) this waffle had both Boy Chick and I wanting more!  We had ours with salted caramel and whipped cream - divine! 

Grants on Sherbrooke, Kallista by Bureaucrat

SQUAWK!  Grants on Sherbrooke may not be known for its cafe but it is definitely known for its cocky and resplendent neighbours.  Feeding and watching this colony (crackle, chattering... what is the collective noun for cockatoos?) of cockatoos is a wonderful experience.  We went into the bird feeding area twice as it was that enjoyable.  These are big birds who love their food.  The moment we stepped through, a massive cockatoo swooped and landed on the Lawyer's shoulder.  It was hilarious (as I was unscathed!) and amazing at the same time.

I love that smiling cockatoo on the left!

Having spent some time feeding the cockatoos (more info on this below), it was time feed ourselves.  The cafe is spacious, order-at-the-counter type of place.  I suspect the menu is deliberately generic and geared towards the regular tour buses that come by.  Fairly reasonably priced (for a captive market), the types of dishes on offer included pasta, burgers, pies and deep fried stuff.