Eating Out
 
Melbourne is justly famous as the culinary capital of Australia and its lively restaurant scene has a long history, strongly influenced by the history of immigration. Each successive generation has built on the strengths of the past with always a large contingent of young Turks redefining and challenging the public taste.

 

With a large Italian population and a love of coffee that borders on obsession, it is not surprising that many of Melbourne's historic restaurants are Italian. The grande dame of these is Florentino's (80 Bourke St, Melbourne) which has become a Melbourne institution since it first opened in 1900. With three separate eating areas - the cellar bar for a quick pasta or a glass of wine, the grill for a bistro type meal and the upstairs restaurant with its famous murals for a really superb dining experience - Florentino's is a must for the Melbourne visitor. It is also a few doors from another Melbourne institution, Pellegrini's (66 Bourke St) which was the city's first espresso bar when it opened in 1952 and remains unchanged and much loved to this day.

 

Also in the CBD and reflecting the strong history of the Chinese in Australia is the Flower Drum (17 Market Lane), for many Melbourne's finest restaurant and a dining experience that defies superlatives. From the moment the diner enters the lift to be taken to the first floor restaurant an aura of calm descends and nothing disrupts the seamless perfection of dining at the Flower Drum while you are there. The staff seem to predict every wish before it is expressed and the Cantonese cuisine has been showered with every award as foodies and restaurant guides confirm what its legions of devotees have always known: that the Flower Drum is a rare and special restaurant.

 

Moving out of the city diners, you can head to one of the many local bars or restaurants that proliferate in the Melbourne suburbs. Greville Street in Prahran is a small strip of shops that defines what is best about Melbourne: great shopping and great food all within walking distance of the best shopping. The recently opened Fog at number 142 is indicative of a new type of Melbourne experience that is moving towards a much more glamorous style of eating and drinking. Designed by architects,  Wood Marsh,  in rich dark hues, Fog offers a number of dining and drinking areas with a focus on the luxurious.

 

Around the corner from Greville Street is Chapel Street, one of Melbourne's premier shopping streets. Visitors to Melbourne can get an idea of the diversity of Melbourne's dining scene by starting at Vodka, Borsch and Tears at the Windsor end of Chapel St (no 173) with their contemporary Polish cuisine and over 100 types of vodka before moving on to Caffe E Cucina at the South Yarra end (581 Chapel St) with its tiny dining space cram packed with celebrities. For lovers of French food there is France-Soir around the corner in Toorak Rd (no 11) for an authentically French meal in another Melbourne institution.