Orient East: 348 St Kilda Road South Melbourne

Carrying on from the theme of being transported to another place and time, we come to Orient East. It is an almost kitsch bar that somehow also manages to have a modern day expat vibe to it. I have stumbled across similar places in Vietnam and Singapore and always been overjoyed to find such an oasis.

Fittingly, Orient East serves South East Asian food, with small or large plates and lots of veggies. I got carried away eating and talking so I didn't take many pictures sorry.

We all ordered multiple small veggie dishes to snack on. The dishes were well suited to cocktails and company and weren't too westernised that they lacked spice or that lovely sourness that I like about SE Asian food.

What wasn't vegan could easily be veganised. I did really want to try the lamb ribs or the mandarin duck steamed baos but after hearing my newly vegan friend talk about animal cruelty for 30 minutes before I ordered I just couldn't bring myself to do. Sadly. With some space and time I'm headed back with some meat leaving friends to get my carmel pork on.

This restaurant is definitely a shining star in the wasteland that is St Kilda Road Melbourne (you otherwise don't reach the really good stuff until you get to St Kilda proper).

Two ticks. This is another restaurant that I'd be happy to go back to and show off to my out of town friends.

In order of appearance - the rice crusted smoked tofu with sweet potato crisps, mushrooms and pears (yum, love those enoki mushrooms with pear!) and the french beans with black olive and mustard greens (also perfect). We also had the mee goreng, the vegetarian spring rolls and something else from the specials menu.

Kinfolk: 673 Bourke Street Melbourne

Kinfolk is a cafe that is run the way I think the world should be - it serves seasonal, local and organic produce and is staffed mostly by volunteers (there are some paid staff) with profits donated to local charities.

All of this means a happy and eclectic place to enjoy breakfast or lunch that benefits the community.

The food is good, the drinks are even better and the atmosphere is wonderful.

For lunch, there are a range of salads, soups, curries, risottos and sandwiches. Senor Gringo and I both ordered a sandwich. For Senor Gringo the meat toastie (with ham, salami, purple sauerkraut, homemade mustard and bechamel sauce). His sandwich looked so good, I really wanted it. Why does cheese have to make everything better when I can't have it? Sad face. For me - the BBQ pork neck ban mi. It was a little too sweet for me but that was likely because I removed the jalapeno mayo (damn egg intolerance). You could taste the quality though.

We followed up our sambos with a navel orange and passion fruit homemade soda (I'm picturing a soda stream out back, a couple of scoops of fresh passion fruit and a squeeze of orange juice). Bless their hearts, it was divine.

I recommend you support this fantastic local cafe. They even have sugar free chocolate and a range of pastries and muffins to snack on.

Bangpop: 35 S Wharf Promenade South Whaf

Here is a restaurant that is not getting the attention that it deserves simply because it is in the wrong place - South Wharf. It has food to rival Chin Chin, a great atmosphere and an enviable list of cocktails. 

I walked right in on a Saturday night with no booking, was seated promptly and then struggled to choose what I wanted to eat as everything sounded so appetising. I settled on the pad thai with no egg or shrimp and the pork belly croutons with stir fry Chinese broccoli, soy, chilli and garlic. The dishes were huge but we courageously powered through, did a little dance in our seats and blessed the universe for chefs that can cook so well. 

Words fail me when I try to explain why but I think the following questions say it all: 

• How come some people can cook the food that is served at thousands of other places and just do it so much better? 
• Why aren't more people blessed with this talent?
• Is food allowed to taste this amazing?   

I recommend you take friends, as many friends as you have, and then insist on ordering for all of you so you can taste lots of dishes. They will thank you at the end of the day, even if they do call you bossy. 

Here are some pictures to wet your appetite: 

We're back (after being turned away twice, turns out you need to book for standard dining hours). 

This time we ordered the beef short ribs with salad as well as the vegan rice crackers with a red chilli and herbs dipping sauce (nam prik ta). 

The beef short ribs were AMAZING. They were caramelly and smokey all at once, with a little chilli zing. They were perfectly matched with a cucumber, bean shoot and cashew nut salad that was tangy and citrusy but not too sharp. The rice crackers were also great, my only gripe is that there was not enough sauce. It was so good I wanted more and there was only enough for a little on each cracker. I would order these again to dip in a curry.

We also ordered mocktails. Usually I steer clear from mocktails as I consider them overpriced fruit juice with a distinct lack of booze but these were stunning, with lots of flavour.