I was a fan of The Sharing House in South Wharf and so was a bit sad when they transformed earlier this year into BangPop. With the restaurant revamp the food changed to Thai street food, though the decor remained pretty much the same (ie the Lego bar stayed).
I had lunch there the other month with Haz and Gaz. Haz and I decided that – being Sunday lunch time – yes, cocktails were in order. Because Sunday lunch needs celebrating – right?
For my work Xmas lunch in December, just like the previous year, I became the Lunch Organising Committee.
This had both pros and cons.
The bad part of having ultimate responsibility is having to think of a place that’s suitable budget-wise and also in the right location (away from work but not *too* far). If you’ve ever been asked for a restaurant recommendation, you’ll know that this can be harder than it seems!
However, it did mean that I got to choose a place of my liking. Not that I’m hugely fussy, but the places other people might choose aren’t always going to be one that I pick. I highly doubt anyone else at work would’ve thought of The Sharing House, but it was my first choice. It’s in a nice location, has public transport access, the food is good, and from Monday to Friday they have a set lunch menu.
Disclosure: Alastair and I dined courtesy of Shed 5.
So. Fifty Shades of Grey. Unless you’ve just returned from a voyage from Mars (Curiosity!), you know what I’m talking about.
To be honest – I haven’t read it. I don’t have anything against it, I just haven’t read it. So I don’t know whether it’s good / bad / or worth two and a half spankings. However, I think I get the gist of what it’s about. And I love some of the parodies that have popped up (oh… pun so not intended…). One of my favourite parodies happens to be 50 Sheds of Grey, erotic tweets about sheds and other manly things.
Because there’s something about sheds that’s quite, erm, exciting, don’t you think? For example, I went to an exciting shed the other week – Shed 5 – and while it wasn’t exciting in *that* sense, there was definitely a happy ending.
Shed 5 is the latest restaurant addition to the South Wharf precinct, and while it IS in a renovated ex-cargo shed, there was no BDSM or power tools – just rather good food. The food is Greek / Mediterranean influenced, and there’s a wood fired oven behind the bar that gets used for a whole section of the menu.
Ever since our first visit to Akachochin in South Wharf, I’ve been dying to go back. The only thing that prevented a second visit was my rather sad attempts at austerity (which hasn’t been going so well but let’s not dwell on it). But the perfect opportunity came up for a revisit the other weekend when Celeste was in town for a conference. Along with Haz and Gazman, we all headed down to South Wharf for a long overdue catch up with Celeste.
Last week Haz asked if I wanted to go to the Bohemian for their Lagarde wine dinner. $60 for four courses and matched wines. Austerity, what austerity? I was in.
On our first visit to Bohemian last month, we sampled tapas and paella. This night, we were there for their special wine dinner in association with Argentinan winery, Lagarde.
Another week, another visit to South Wharf.
Now that I’ve been down to the revamped area several times, I really think that South Wharf has been done well, particularly compared to other dining precincts (I’m looking at you Docklands and Southbank). I like that there’s a range of different price points and all the restaurants have a different feel, which makes me want to visit them all. So last Friday night Alastair and I headed down to Meat Market for a date night. (I say that jokingly… it was just dinner.)
Meat Market is mid-range in price, and was inspired by the Australian BBQ. Not too surprisingly, with a name like Meat Market, the menu has a focus on meat, meat, and more meat, with a few seafood items thrown in. And in keeping with the whole BBQ thing, there’s a large open kitchen in the middle of the restaurant where you can watch the chefs grill and cook your preferred protein.
Disclosure: Alastair and I dined courtesy of the venues.
Last week Hazzie and I were invited to check out a few venues in the fairly new South Wharf Promenade, located on the southern banks of the Yarra River. Last time I was down in South Wharf, it was the middle of winter last year, and the cargo sheds that several of the restaurants are in were still being fitted out.
We had four venues to hit up in a mini progressive tour/dinner. Dragging along Alastair and Gazman, we met down at South Wharf on a very dark and dreary night – not the best evening to be traipsing around outside. Fortunately, the venues were all fairly close together, so we spent minimal time in the rain.
Our itinerary was as follows:
Boatbuilders Yard: bar snacks and drinks
Akachochin: Entrees and sake
Bohemian: Tapas and paella
The Sharing House: Desserts
Disclosure: I dined courtesy of Nuevo 37 / Hilton Melbourne.
Last week, on a day when an eerie fog crept over Melbourne in the late afternoon, I was down at South Wharf looking for Nuevo 37. You may be wondering where on earth South Wharf is – and honestly, if I hadn’t whipped out maps on my phone, I’d probably have been lost in the fog.
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