Eat like a local: Melbourne CBD

Peter is a world-renowned Australian sociologist whose work has taken him as far as the US, England, India, the Philippines, South Africa and most recently China where he is Professor of Critical Theory at Sichuan University. Peter grew up in Melbourne’s suburbs and 10 years ago his long relationship with the city changed when he moved with his wife into the CBD. Since then he has gotten to know it more intimately. Who better to ask about what good eats this cosmopolitan city has to offer?

Where’s the best place to go for an early morning coffee?

“Well I do my best not to get up too early in the morning but that said the city can be fantastic in the morning. It’s really lovely when it’s still sort of empty and just starting to move. We really enjoy going to different places, we are promiscuous. When we want to exercise we walk to Patricia, if we want company or a mean Reuben sandwich we go to Barbarella in The Block Arcade. We also go for coffee near the apartment at The Little Social on Hosier Lane which is a Youth Projects place. But we don’t want to get stuck on one block; we like moving around and seeing different folks, seeing the city – that’s kind of fun for us.”

How about bakeries?

“I think this still counts as the city – Morning Market on Gertrude Street is a really amazing place. We quite often go there by way of the park where we got married. Morning Market’s great for a lot of different things: their pantry, pastries, coffee, and it’s where we buy our bread. For gluten-free we go to Kudo which is a new-ish joint on the top end of Little Collins. Gluten-free is not really for me but Kudo is really high quality pastries and bread. You might see them making the bread by hand from the corner of your eye; it’s a really great kind of small scale, artisanal place. Sometimes we wander outside of the city to go to Baker D. Chirico in South Yarra because the people there are so nice.”

As you’re in the city, do you eat much takeaway or get delivery?

“We almost never do delivery. We might do pick-up, because it’s good to get out. We really enjoy Dao Noodle for Chinese handmade noodles or Soi 38 which is a Thai place in the Wilson car park. I think it’s a public secret, it’s usually really busy. But I think when we’re eating quick, what we really like is to eat-in with stuff that we really enjoy; we’ve inherited the German tradition of Vesper – so we really enjoy a quick meal of bread, cold cuts and wine that we get from Prince Wine Store or the Melbourne Wine House. But if you’re gonna go out you might as well stay out and eat, I guess is how it happens to us.”

As a CBD local, where do you go for groceries?

“Our routine is to go to the Vic Market on Saturday, Sunday and sometimes Tuesday. Tuesday is a great day to shop. I guess we have our favourites especially some of the delis, cheese shops and the organic vegetables vendor. We tend to get as much as we can from the market twice a week when our schedules are flexible enough. It’s also good for a quick lunch, you can get a Middle Eastern wrap for like four bucks or the proverbial bratwurst – it’s a dangerous place!”

I know you love a great wine. Where in the city do you like to go enjoy a glass?

“There are a couple great places nearby so we do still stick close to the block. Number one is probably Bijou on Little Collins which is a tiny little place with a great vibe. The people there are wonderful and they have a really nice selection of wine. It’s often busy but I don’t think they’ve ever turned us away, there’s high circulation and they always manage to squeeze you in. Then we enjoy the bar Embla on Russell St, they make some really interesting lines in products like vermouth. And we would also very happily go to Grossi [Florentino]– for anything.”

You’ve spent a lot of time teaching in China, so I was curious, which Chinese restaurants in the CBD do you like most?

“We were told in Chengdu there are over 60,000 food joints – and that was five years ago when the population was 15 million, now it’s 20 million. You could basically walk into any one of these places and the food was terrific. And for five bucks – just astonishing.

In Melbourne, we are probably promiscuous here too. Lately we’ve been going to a place called Sichuan House, which is sort of tucked away at the back of Chinatown, rather than on the main drag, which is really nice. Where we lived in China, it’s Sichuanese, so we really enjoy a hot pot, but that’s kind of a big night out. For hot pot we might get to David’s on La Trobe St. For classier joints everybody likes Supernormal, it’s incredibly delicious and consistent. I think a lot of people in Melbourne still really enjoy Flower Drum which is classic Cantonese rather than Sichuanese. There’s a bit of old world charm about the place, you know, it’s an institution.”

You’ve just won a small fortune on a scratchie. At which restaurant are you going to go celebrate?

“Good question, it depends on how big the secret win is. If the win is big enough to include an Uber we would probably go to Tedesca Osteria in the Mornington Peninsula. The most extraordinary kind of overall food experience we’ve had in years; it’s like being transported to another very comfortable kind of convivial planet for an afternoon. Just an extraordinary experience. If there’s no money for an Uber and we have to walk all the way around the corner, we would go to Gimlet which is just one of those sort of consummate Melbourne restaurants, it’s a beautiful place with fantastic food and drinks and a really nice vibe. In terms of extravagance, another place just a little bit further away with a super classy ambiance is Grill Americano. It’s astonishingly good and ticks more boxes than you can think of – impeccable food and a really great all-around experience.”

With so many great institutions what would you consider to be the CBD’s secret gem?

“The place that we go to which is kind of closest to that category is Trattoria Emilia further down Little Collins, it’s great. Matteo and his staff are the kind of people who are just two steps ahead of you all the time. The setting is lovely, it’s actually an old garage that used to be a diner. It’s very comfortable and without pretence. People are having a good time and enjoying the advice of Matteo and the sommeliers. And the food is just completely superb. The quality of the pasta is extraordinary – kind of pillows of exquisite construction. You know that cliché that you go out for the stuff that you can’t make yourself? Well, there’s nothing on the menu at Emilia that I could make so everything is always a fantastic treat there.”

Melbourne CBD is a great place to eat because…

“Well, it’s got to be something like all of the above and all of the rest. We sometimes wonder while we’re out having such a great time at Dao Noodle or a fancy joint, we wonder if Melbourne CBD has much of a middle. Sometimes it feels like the top end is very well-catered for, and the cheap end is also extremely well-catered for. Sometimes we wonder if there could be more of an in-between category. We miss a place that we really felt was in the middle somewhere which was Dentons Wine Bar, a victim of Covid, that was the top end of Flinders St. Dentons was a combination of style, ease and comfort. The menu was approachable, utilising what was on hand. It had fantastic wine and was, again, without pretence. We would like to ask our friend Simon Denton to open again soon. We’re ready Simon, we miss that sort of really comfortable Friday night kind of place.”

Your Melbourne CBD address book:

Patricia Coffee Brewers: 493-495 Little Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000

Barbarella: Block Arcade, 282 Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000

The Little Social: 7-9 Hosier Ln, Melbourne VIC 3000

Morning Market: 59 Gertrude St, Fitzroy VIC 3065

Kudo: 8 Little Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000

Baker D. Chirico: 183 Domain Rd, South Yarra VIC 3141

Dao Noodle: 397 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne VIC 3000

Soi 38: 38 Mcilwraith Pl, Melbourne VIC 3000

Prince Wine Store: 177 Bank St, South Melbourne VIC 3205

Melbourne Wine House: 133 Queens Bridge St, Southbank VIC 3006

Queen Victoria Market: Queen St, Melbourne VIC 3000

Bijou Bottle Store and Bar: 194 Little Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000

Embla: 122 Russell St, Melbourne VIC 3000

Grossi Florentino: 80 Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000

Sichuan House: 22-26 Corrs Ln, Melbourne VIC 3000

David’s: 279 La Trobe St, Melbourne VIC 3000

Supernormal: 180 Flinders Ln, Melbourne VIC 3000

Flower Drum: 17 Market Ln, Melbourne VIC 3000 Book it here

Tedesca Osteria: 1175 Mornington-Flinders Rd, Red Hill VIC 3937

Gimlet at Cavendish House: 33 Russell St, Melbourne VIC 3000

Grill Americano: 112 Flinders Ln, Melbourne VIC 3000

Trattoria Emilia: 360 Little Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000

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