Best of the Best
Best Dishes, Best Places, Best Ambiance

Sometimes you like the food but you don’t like the seating arrangements or the waiter. Sometimes you like the décor and other times you feel like shouting ‘Send for the ambience immediately’. And sometimes you are put off a place even before you get there because of somebody else’s rating of it on the Internet.

Recently, I took friends to my favourite  Sydney restaurant Pink Salt in Double Bay (which I reviewed here recently) and was mortified when they said they had some trepidations because they looked it up on the web and it had been given 2.5 out of 5.00.

Five of us had faultless meals there on a recent Saturday night and I would give it the crown for the best presentation of dishes in Sydney or Melbourne. And that’s a big call. Even vegan Lynda Stoner remarked on how appetising other people’s dishes looked. Right down to such a basic as a plate of French fries for the table which were herbed and seasoned and then stacked like logs in a log cabin. Not cute. Just class.

It prompted me to list a few other Best Of Class categories. Dishes that stand out and stamp a place as worthy of repeat patronage.

Best calamari. Number 8 at Crown in Melbourne. Dusted in seasoned flour and served in large slices without a hint of rubber. If you want calamari rings then Riva at St. Kilda Marina sells kilos of it every Saturday and Sunday at lunchtime.

Best oysters. The Botanical Melbourne. A huge selection from South Australia, Tasmania, and New South Wales. Coffin Bay from SA, and  from NSW Label Rouge, Angassi, Claire de Lune. Sold individually for $4 and $4.50 each. The Bot also rates for the best biscotti.

Best Pizza. The Pier  Port Melbourne. The thinnest, crispiest, base cooked perfectly in a wood-fired oven. A wide selection. Mrs. Nosebag  has a seafood with heaps of prawns. My favourite is a personal concoction starting with a standard Margarita to which they add salami, capsicum and super hot jalapeno peppers. In Sydney they also served light, thin-crusted gems at Limoncella in Bay Street Double Bay in Sydney.

Best Wagyu Beef.  No argument. Taxi in Federation Square. You could slice it with the blunt side of your knife. And the combination of Japanese sauces and horseradish blends into a terrific dish. If you only eat one steak a year make it Wagyu at Taxi.

Best bowl of simple stir-fried vegetables with tofu ‘toast’ on top for Mrs. Nosebag. Dee Bee’s in Double Bay which is under new management from professionals who had lots of experience at the fabled Sebel Town House. It’s become a good celebrity-spotting place, even for Double Bay, with regular customers including Michael Parkinson and Andrew Denton.

Best use of colour with vegetables and fish dishes. Salon Blanc  at Finger Wharf, Woolloomooloo.  Had a divine plate of smoked ocean trout there recently and a bowl of greens with bright orange baby carrots and sweet snow peas.

Favourite simple dinner and healthy too! Char grilled prawns and Vietnamese cole slaw at Dish in the Royce Hotel on St. Kilda Rd, Melbourne.

Best fish soup. The winter treat at The Brasserie at Crown.  You can taste the slowly rendered shells. Close second. The Botanical.

Best Greek banquet. At The Press Club in the old Herald and Weekly Times building in Flinders Street – if you can get in.

Best food and entertainment combined – usually it’s one or the other. The Waterfront Port Melbourne.

Best coffee. Number 8  at Crown and The Bot.

And, at coffee time…. That’ll do for  now.

March 17, 2008