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While some cities (such as Paris) are famous for their food, others, while less celebrated, offer an equally rich and varied cuisine. For many years, Melbourne was hardly among the upper echelons in the cuisine stakes, but the secret is out: as
Out To Eat--Melbourne 2000 reveals, there is a tremendous variety of cherishable restaurants, cafes and bars in this vibrant city, and any traveller to Australia would be well advised to have this in their back pack.
The guide is able to come up with over 400 venues, and covers both ends of the price spectrum: from the no-expense-spared blow-out to the bargain banquet. An interesting aspect of eating in Melbourne that comes across here is the individual character of much of the food on offer: in this city, you should expect full-on flavours with an intriguing mixture of textures in the same meal. (It is possible, of course, to sample some very variegated foreign cuisine here). Another speciality of the city is the wide variety of vegetarian options (the guide rates each restaurant in this department). The index is enjoyably quirky, detailing everything from fireside dinners to informal Cajun and Tex-Mex. Another nice touch is the organising of reviews by neighbourhood, so a casual glance makes it clear that St Kilda is an area in which it's possible to enjoy the noisy, lively atmosphere of the George Melbourne Wine Room or pop down the street to Greasy Joe's Burger and Grill (actually, the last is a bit of a misnomer: with a top-of-the-range menu in its category, and--it's claimed--the instant breakfast hangover cure). Other useful topics include a Melbourne User's Guide to Caffeine--highly relevant these days--and the amazing world-famous Camberwell Market. The text is always individual, with some refreshingly jargon-free descriptions.--Barry Forshaw
Kurzbeschreibung
The crunchiest, juiciest series of restaurant guides ever, Lonely Planet Out to Eat begins with Melbourne, then travels on to Sydney and San Francisco. The series takes its food seriously, but offers a fresh approach, with independent, unstuffy opinion on hundreds of hand-picked restaurants, bars and cafes in each city.