Book Review
Rama Gaind
By Rama Gaind
PS News Books

2012 Eating and Drinking Melbourne
   Edited by Dale Campisi, Michael Brady and Genevieve Gannon (Hardie Grant, $29.95, softcover, 320 pages)

Melbourne and its people are “unquestionably food-and-drink obsessed”—as illustrated in this colourful, brisk, handy guide to more than 700 of the best restaurants, nifty bars and cheap treats.
   Elizabeth Street in the city has emerged as a cheap and cheerful hotspot with new cuisine on the block coming from an influx of Korean students who have transformed the city into a “tasty New Seoul”.
2012 Eating and Drinking Melbourne edited by Dale Campisi, Michael Brady and Genevieve Gannon.
2012 Eating and Drinking Melbourne
edited by Dale Campisi, Michael
Brady and Genevieve Gannon.
   Variety is of the essence from Japanese, Thai, Malaysian, Indian, Chinese and Afghan treats for under $10; the restaurant scene is dominated by the culinary empires of local celebrity chefs including Shannon Bennett, Frank Camorra, George Calombaris and entrepreneur Con Christopoulos; and found all over town are the coffee houses of Salvatore Malatesta (St Ali).
   Also giving a new edge to the dining scene are Ralph Rashid’s mobile food vans, Beatbox Kitchen and Taco Truck.
   With sections on high quality, cheap and cheerful restaurants and the bars of the moment, it enables you to search for what you want in three easy ways: by geography and category, by business name or by cuisine type.  
   The editors have excelled in their efforts to provide a bounty of Melbourne’s drinking and dining scene in this all-inclusive compilation with its distinctive locales, to suit any budget or occasion, from the ‘burbs to the city’s bright lights.
   Fine dining appears to have gone casual, music is becoming loud in restaurant bars and the service has attitude.
   While the bar scene tends to be more ‘minimalist aesthetic’, the local boutique breweries feature in increasing numbers at venues with treats that include more than beer and cider and move to whiskies and tequilas.
   Oh, and as fashionable as ever is the hand-made cocktail—at a mighty fine price too!
Edition 330, 11 September 2012

To find out more about Rama Gaind click here.
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