Young couples first trip to Oz (Sydney, Melbourne) and NZ (Christchurch), looking for advice!

Yes I was unfair to Carlton, too broad a stroke, I'll admit it. There are certainly some good places, if you know where to look, but I will hold fast to my original post, it is rife with pitfalls and tourist traps and a visitor to Melbourne has a very good chance of being ripped off unless they choose one of the three Italian places you listed above (out of 100 bad options that will likely be screaming at them!) And let's face it, any visitor to Melbourne will be told to go there for Italian (as I was when I first moved here) and it is good to forwarn those with taste that Lygon St. Is Not an authentic Italian neighborhood full of old world charm, it's a nightmare.

Carlton versus Pellegrini's Essprosso... Carlton may (arguably) have better food but it has less charm than Pellegrini's, I just think that pellegrini's is a great place for visitors, so unique and random.

egeibel in Australia/New Zealand

Young couples first trip to Oz (Sydney, Melbourne) and NZ (Christchurch), looking for advice!

Some Melbourne advice;

For seafood Sydney is your best bet, nearly everything in Melbourne comes to us through Sydney anyway and the local stuff is mostly snapper, overpriced crays, and flathead. As far as top notch, affordable food in Melbourne goes focus on the Asian options and you cannot go wrong. Victoria St. Is a must for Pho in the morning or for lunch, head to Footscray for Bahn Mi and more Vietnamese, just walk around and follow your stomach, it is easy to spot the good places by the lines.

I would steer clear of Cafe di Stasio, it's pretty uninspired and very expensive, you would be better off at Da Noi (Sardinian) at $85 for a fixed menu, and it will be half the price for the same amount of courses at di Stasio and far more interesting and tasty. Also, avoid Carlton's "Little Italy" like the plague unless you like being shouted at and forced to eat bad Italian food that comes with a free bottle of red tinted stomach lining stripper (I fell for this twice when I first moved here).

If you like spicy, top notch Sichuan food for reasonable prices head to Sichuan House in China Town (Corrs Lane) or Dainty Sichuan in South Yarra.

For an extremely affordable, and unique, Melbourne Italian experience Pellegrini's Espresso bar is very fun. Standard red sauce and meatballs fare, but you have to experience it to understand why it is a must do.

I would also advise you to try some of Melbourne's excellent Lebanese options, Rumi is outstanding, exciting, and affordable (for Melbourne).

That's all I have for now, hope it helps! Enjoy your trip!

egeibel in Australia/New Zealand

Restaurant coupon/discount service in Australia

Stay away from them, they are the last hope of failing restaurants and will rip you off. If $20 for a bottle of wine, two mains and a desert sounds like a good deal in Melbourne CBD it's because it is. Pay the extra money and go to a respectable restaurant, trust me. Burned twice by living social, never again. One of the restaurants I got a coupon for went under before I could even exercise the coupon and Living Social will take no responsibility for that.

egeibel in Australia/New Zealand

Best value seafood platter in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth?

Nicks may be in a touristy area and have touristy prices, but they do have amazing seafood. And for a visitor, you really cannot beat the view or atmosphere. You will pay an arm and a leg for the seafood platters, but I would rather pay an extra $50 and get exactly what I was looking for than save money and leave dissapointed. Just a thought.

If you do go, they do these butterflied prawns, shell on, quickly seared and carmelized on the bottom that changed my whold perception of prawns. I dream of them, then again, maybe it's just eating them while gazing over Darling Harbour on a sunny day that made it such an enjoyable experience.

egeibel in Australia/New Zealand

Sydney & Melbourne suggestions

Avoid Half Moon at all costs!!!!

It is not what you saw on "No Reservations". It is nothing but bad pub food, they lost their chef And owner and the menu reads like a TGI Fridays, except less imaginative.

Made that mistake a week ago. It was god awful, undercooked Chicken Parm was the star of the menu. No joke.

egeibel in Australia/New Zealand

Anyone in Melbourne know when Sichuan Feast opens?

I was there when they photographing for the new menus, they had a camera set up on a table and for each dish that came out they took the picture quickly. If you see the Cumin Spareribs pic on the menu, I ate that plate. Yup the same one you are drooling over. Thats my only claim to fame. Sad I know, but it keeps me going.

egeibel in Australia/New Zealand

Tough Decision in Melbourne - Vue De Monde, Grossi Florentino, or Jaques Reymonds

Thanks so much mr_gimlet and e_ting, this is Exactly what I was looking for!

Now I just need to sit the folks down and have them choose based on your feedback. So much better than looking at menus online or reading reviews (where they all appear about equal).

Thanks for the Cuttler & Co rec and Attica reccomendations. I will look into them for Sunday (if they are open). Right now I have Press Club for Sunday night as most other places are closed, but I havent tried those two yet (Although they do look amazing and you seem to know your stuff, may be worth reconsidering!).

I would guess that they will go for Jaques R. They love French but shy away from the very modern stuff, I will let you know how it turns out.

egeibel in Australia/New Zealand

Tough Decision in Melbourne - Vue De Monde, Grossi Florentino, or Jaques Reymonds

I am looking for some advice on the above three places. We want the best experience possible, top tier chef, atmosphere, and food. I know that they are all very different, but I just would like to cut through the hype, get some first hand feedback.

egeibel in Australia/New Zealand