We're venturing up to St. Kilda this week, and was just wondering if anyone has any recommendations on restaurants in the St. Kilda area? Specifically around the Luna Park end of Ackland Street?
Any tips and price ranges etc would be greatfully appreciated.
We were thinking maybe Soul Mamma which seems to do nice vegie food, but no BYO. And looking at the wine list does not fill me with confidence. I could forgo alcohol if necassary, but that would be a drastic step. ;)
Hi Mat We used to go to Soul Mama fairly regularly (monthly) until it changed hands around a year ago at which point the value, quality of food & service went well down. It's still ok but not what it once was. The end of Acland St you are talking about has some great restaurants, the best of which is IMO Cicciolinas. Virginia Redmond is the Owner/Chef here and the passion is everywhere, great room, quality service and sensational food. They have a no bookings policy though which can be a bit of a bummer, have a look at
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If you want asian style food it can be hard to go past Balas around the corner in Shakespeare place or Claypots for MAGNIFCENT seafood just off acland on Barkly st. Those 2 are both BYO BTW. You could also do quite well at the my restaurant rules Whisk, which Jodes & I ate at the week it changed over, good food and BYO only. Cheers Andrew
Thanks a lot. I thought you might have some info on the topic. :)
I'm going to try to drag ppl to Claypots [sounds delish, I would love to take a nice white to drink]. But we seem to have developed a "Let's just get there and walk around" plan. We're on a tight schedule, so I'm sure much hilarity will ensue.
Apparently we've just joined the cast of Secret Life Of Us. And apparently St. Kilda on a sunny Saturday evening is a guaranteed walk up start. Yes.
Well it turned out really well after all. The peeps we were with had a place lined up. And the time we went there was a table to be had. It was full by time we left though.
I suggested Claypots [too far], Balas [no one heard of], Whisk [too hard to get in]. But to my pleasant suprise we had a place to go.
It was fairly cheap and cheerful cafe style, La Roche, but it was really quite excellent. Staffed by snooty English backpackers I think. They were actually quite helpful, they just sounded like they were from a
1950's news reel.
The menus were mispelled, my wine was dregs from one bottle and fresh from a newly opened one, the white was too cold, and the decor was a bit cheap and cheerful. That makes it sound worse than it actually was. They were the only tiny complaints.
But for $10AU I got a bowl of pasta I could barely finish. It was spiral pasta with salami, olive, chili and some other stuff [it had disappeared under something else on the menu]. The rim of the bowl was dusted with parsley I think. The dishes were all very well presented. I got the Stepping Stone cav sauv which was a mistake with hot pasta, they had some shirazes I'd never had, should have got one of those.
The other half got a beautiful pumpkin risotto [I'd been off risotto since I had a really gluggy one] which she couldn't finish. There were some other pasta and chicken salad dishes. All excellent quality.
The damage for 5 very full people with drinks was $75. I couldn't believe it. I wondered if it was a charity or something [they have the pastas at $5 some days]. I couldn't believe a hip place like Acland St could be so cheap. Maybe because there are about 30 food places in a 200 hundred metre strip.
Amazing value, and the food was really excellent and huge servings. And all just a 30 second stroll from a cleanskins place, all the Ackland St. cake shops, Luna Park, St. Kilda beach etc.
I'm certainly looking forward to going back, having a stroll around St. Kilda and getting some of those cakes we missed out on. Mmmmmm, those cakes.
Haha, like I said, I'd be happy with beans on toast and a bottle of Queen Adelaide. :D
Dinner at the house of two professional chefs and two very enthusiastic amatuer sommeliers. I'm sure its going to be a dinner to remember.
Also, last night I accidently while flicking from the Grand Prix ads caught a show starring none other than Shannon Bennett.
"THREE EMPERORS DINNER: RECREATING A CULINARY PAST A seat at one of the greatest dinners of European history when Australian chef Shannon Bennett opts to recreate the Three Emperors Dinner; first cooked in Paris in 1867 and regarded as a masterpiece of style and time."
It was from 2002 and he was recreating the 3 Emperor's Dinner from the
1800's. Traditional French cuisine [with some modifications for modern taste, unavailability of ingredients, vagueness of recipes, and a rather troublesome vegan who they found out about at the last minute {all the dishes had egg, milk, or ten types of meat in them}]. And wine to match. A 1967 Y'Quem which the sommelier called the best wine he has ever known.
Some of the dishes were amazing. And the pastry chef Thierry someone was amazing too. The dinner was $3500AU a throw.
It was all pretty impressive. No wonder his food is so good at his restaurant [from all accounts].
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