The Louden Restaurant

The Louden Restaurant is in Mercure in the city. And they are a part of the Le Accor hotels program (a program which rewards guests in many different ways for their loyalty).

Here they don't offer much in terms of vegetarian food but they do have some meals which are locally sourced. And all of their wines are locally sourced.

Oddily the bathrooms are outside the restaurant. Turn right after the exit and you'll find them. You'll also find all of their awards on the wall.

The service was just ok. They did forget to record my booking (and I booked via Dimmi). And they forgot my wine until I had to remind them. It was a quiet night (it was a midweek dinner).

I had the vegetarian gnocchi. It was nice and the chickpeas gave it that crunch. It had that very subtle hint of pumpkin and it would have been better with feta and not the other grated cheese.

I loved the offering of lots of vegetables though and that lovely EVO did it justice. I love simple dishes like these.

The wine that I had was a chardonnay. This went well with the pasta and it had that light, fruity taste to it. It also smelt fruity.

Not bad for a hotel restaurant and my first one being a Le Accor Member.

Okra

RNIS was invited by Healthyintstudents site to participate and as such, they would appreciate the promotion of the Entertainment book.

Here they are located in Camberwell where the Rivoli cinema is. They are a hole in the wall place which is hard to find. And me being a westie found it hard to find.

On Sundays, they have their Hawkers market. Here all their dishes are $11.9-$18 and are not priced at the $30 mark.

The service from Laurence the owner was very friendly.

The bathrooms are upstairs and before you go there you'll see lots of pictures of Malaysia.

To start off with I enjoyed a Riseling. It worked with the Hainan chicken in that it balanced the flavors of the dish really well.

I loved their complimentary chips as they had that spicy tang. Lawrence the owner told me that everything is made from scratch. Even they make their own sauces.

Here the roti is really flaky and was not too sweet.

The Hainan chicken was ok but they forgot the soup and the rice was very overcooked. The chicken was a little bit salty from the sauce.

Many thanks to Healthyinternational students for the invite and do check out their site. Do buy the book from them as Okra has a 25% discount offer and other offers. If you buy now then you'll also receive a gift card as well as assist the Salvos over the Christmas period.

Fatto

Fatto is a great Italian place and they have been up and going for a few years now. But they have always been too expensive for us students. That is until their $10 pizza deal came up and their $5 Birra Moretti. Birra Moretti is an Italian beer which is pale in taste, but its also very wheatey in smell and taste.

The bar is always busy and the bathrooms are in the restaurant area.

Here it worked well with the mushroom pizza. Normally pizza is $20 but here it is only $10 for a plate of 400 Gradi. The mushroom pizza does not come with tomato sauce- hence it is blonde.

But the other food in the restaurant is much better. Here you can get 2 courses for $45 which is not bad. I was always a fan of the spaghettini as I saw many good pictures online of it. Here I was not wrong. The pasta was al dente and the crab was fresh. But they put too much lemon flavour in it which overpowered the dish a lot.

I loved the ricotta ball. It was a nice start to the meal. It was very light on the palate and that paste worked a treat!

Then for dessert it was cheese again. This time it was French brie and lavosh. I enjoyed the quince paste with the brie.

Rating: 15/20- enjoyed a good meal and was full at the end. The service was friendly but a little bit pushy at times. Towards the end of the night they let us sit and chatter away but not at the start where things got busy. Luckily I booked ahead.

Union food and wine

Union Food and Wine is in Ascot Vale right outside of a tram line. Here they have been featured in the Entertainment book in the fine dining section. You can buy this book off Meld Magazine for $65.

The place is open and inviting and here you can relax by the fire with a good book or paper. The staff are friendly and I loved the waitress with the glasses- she was attentive and friendly to all her staff. She also loved drinking wine.

The fireplace

The front counter

At first I didn't really want to go to it because it seemed so expensive, but it actually turned out to be quite alright as they used local produce. I had been wanting to try this ever since they opened and I kept on passing it on my tramline. Their chocolate is from a company in Collingwood and it was divine.

I had their soft chocolate with salted caramel ice cream and pear gel ($14). This did not disappoint and the salted caramel worked really well with the soft chocolate which was a tad bit sweet on its own. Sweet tooths will like this dish very much. The broken crumble gave it a crunch.

The chocolate wafer also gave it another crunch. It also gave that dish the sweetness kick to it.

After seeing a lady's hot drink and the cute cup it came in I decided to finish off with a hot chocolate. This was really lovely and it warmed my heart. It really didn't need that marshmellow.

Rating: 16/20- me likes the dessert. I can't wait to try their chips and I hope they will some dinner events soon.

The tippler and co (partially an invite)

The Tippler and Co has been open for two and a half years now and they have been going strong. This was a last minute invite so I went alone. They wanted to promote their new wine range from Bendigo so they invited me and lots of others to try their wines and nibbles However I paid for the gnocchi which was $20.

Here there were ten wines on offer and people sampled many of them. Many people wanted more so they went downs stairs to the bar to order some more. And people also got very drunk. But not I. I was very happy to just try the prosecco and two versions of shiraz and food and leave it at that.

Shiraz

I remembered that time at St Hotel where we were not offered food. I thought that it would be the same here but I was wrong.

Although they are a small place, there is lots of seating inside. And inside is warm, cozy and inviting by the bar. The bartender was really friendly, not like St Hotel where they were a little bit overwhelmed at the party.

The prosecco was light and sweet and it worked well with the aged cheese and the oyster. I came late so all the cheese was gone. Almost all the wine had gone as there was just so many people. But I didn't mind as I wanted to try the gnocchi with the shiraz. And it was amazing.

The gnocchi was a little bit overcooked but I enjoyed the balsamic and pumpkin in there. Although it looked small it was moreish.

Moreover I enjoyed the croquette which worked well with the shiraz. The two puffs (one was meat and the other veg) would have worked well with a white wine or a beer.

Rating: 18/20- loved the gnocchi, wine and the free food.

It was a pity that dessert was not offered but I was too full anyway. And anyway I have to try and avoid sugary things if I can.

Gramercy Bistro

Gramercy Bistro is a bistro in South Yarra and we used our Entertainment card. With it we got 25% off the total bill which was $32.50. What that meant was that we got the drink for free.

Gramercy Bistro is in a hotel and its right on a tram line. It is about five minutes from Prahran station. It is in front of the market and we can see the signs of a new market coming.

Lemon lime and bitters

Crab spaghettini

There is ample parking at the place. The parking is outside Woolworths.

The service was fast and friendly.

The pasta was $28 and it took about five minutes to come. When it did it was good with the cheese. The pasta was al dente but it was Barilla pasta. For that price I expected homemade pasta and bread. Many places offer free bread. There wasn't much seafood in this and I would have liked more.

The breadcrumbs added another dimension to the pasta. It added that crunchiness.

The lemon lime and bitters ($4.50) was really good and drinks are their specialities.

Rating: 16/20- great but could have done more.

Cosi

Cosi is a fine dining place in South Yarra which is intimate. Its an Italian place known for its finesse. Here the service was impeccable and the food was lovely... Almost.

It is about a five minute walk from the train station on Toorak road on the St Kilda side, towards the city.

The place is very clean and I loved the courtyard area. It was lovely in the evening and during the summer it would look much nicer

At South Yarra station I saw the ticket inspectors roughly harassing commuters. In here the service is quite the opposite. It was very friendly and relaxed and they let everyone take their time. They explained to first timers which dishes were good and which were their favourites. The wait staff said bye to me when I left. The male waiter opened the door which I thought that was really kind of him.

Bread

Spaghetti Marinara

I really liked their polenta chips and their marinara. But for $33 it was small. That's not to say that the seafood was fresh. Hwoever there was too much white wine and garlic in there. So much that it overpowered it all. The pasta was of a barilla type and it was al dente. For a pasta dish of that price I expected the pasta to be homemade.

 But still the polenta chips was very filling. That aioli was really creamy.

The bread was really dense and it was freshly baked. The olive oil was really fruity.

Rating- 13/20. Could have been better but at least the entrée was free with my discount from the Entertainment book which was 25% off the total bill.

I believe that Meld will be selling the book this year so do buy yours now from them.

Leftbank

RNIS was invited by Dimmi to try this place and therefore did not have to pay.


Leftbank is a place in Southbank and I have walked past it many times but it is always expensive and very busy. Moreover they do not allow BYO. However their drinks list is very expensive. The Dimmi rewards voucher do not let users buy drinks on that reward scheme.

Here they were lively. Outside was busy but the inside was not. Here the service was very slow. But they were friendly.

Salmon and pizza (top left). Image courtesy of Sarah on zomato.com

The garlic pizza for starters was lovely. Here it was very garlicky and buttery.

The panned salmon dish with vegetables ($37) was small. Here I loved the heirloom beetroots and tomatoes. I would have liked more of them

Rating: 16/20- a bit pricey for food and drink but loved it anyway. Many thanks for the reward Dimmi.

What was your best fine dining experience? Do comment below

Hako

Hako is a Japanese fine dining place in Flinders Lane in the city. It was here that I went for a late night dinner after exercise and fitclub. I was in the mood for a little Japaneasy.

The place was really quiet.

I have been about two years ago when they did their bentos for lunch. Their bentos were alright.

They are known for their sushi and fish and udon. Here all the people mingled with the Japanese waitress who is learning English. This is her first day on the job and she is liking it so far. The manager is really friendly and they all are Japanese.

Here the salmon and prawn nigiri were really fresh. It was pricey though at $9 a plate. But what can you expect at this high end place? Although at lunch they do a $13 lunch special.

The mini udon was nice too and was the right size for a late night dinner. I didn't want too much actually and at $10 it wasn't bad for a bowl.

Rating: 15/20- like but the excessive prices might have kept people away.

The other table ordered lots of stuff. In fact they ordered waaaay too much stuff. But they liked this place and so did I.

Bluestone Restaurant

RNIS was invited to this place by Dimmi and this place is reviewed by Claudia who understood the meaning of fine dining

Bluestone restaurant is a fine dining place and its good for all the fine dining lovers out there. You do need to take your time with your dinner as service is quite slow.  I recommend public transport as parking is a hassle.

They have a set menu which some people chose. Instead we wanted to go ala carte and ala carte we did. The service was very slow from the word go.  We waited ten minutes to order and another ten for dessert.

After we ordered the bread came. It was freshly baked in house. The extra virgin olive oil was really lovely and it wasn't too salty like some of the others.

I think they made the chips themselves as it really was quite lovely. And I was happy to have it without the sauce. But Sally wanted sauce. Typical Asian she is.

The salmon with hummus and zucchini salad however was good but the salmon was little bit dry. It was hard to cut through it all. The hummus was very nice and went well with the zucchini salad.

Dessert took ages to come. I really wanted to just go without but after seeing others photos on zomato, I just knew I wanted to try. I got the desconstructed apple pie. When it came it reminded me of the desserts on My Kitchen Rules in Colin's Kitchen and at elimination. It was just that good. All the elements worked well. Sally however went without but waited for me.

Rating: 18/20 loved that and the friendly service there. But fine dining isn't for everyone though and there are some people on Zomato who complain about the service. The service was slow but friendly.