Melbourne Best Cafes and Chinese Restaurants

Melbourne is the most livable city on planet earth in 2012 according to The Economist Intelligence Unit's Livable Survey. 

Well, according to Mercer's Cost of Living rankings, Melbourne is also ranked No.15 for The World's Most Expensive Big City in 2012! But that was because the Australia dollar was stronger than the US dollar in 2012. Since 2013, the Australia dollar has been sliding South and I believe Melbourne's ranking in the World's Most Expensive Cities would drop to where it was in 2011 - No.21.

Back to the subject of Most Livable City - one reason why I agree that Melbourne is the Most Livable City on planet earth is because the food that are served in Melbourne's cafes are freaking good. You don't have to travel far to experience mouth watering delicious food as the very best restaurants are located in or near Melbourne Central Business District (CBD).

Previously, I have published three articles relating to food in Melbourne. Please click the links below to read them before proceeding to read this article any further so that you get an idea of the various types of food served around Melbourne and in restaurants mentioned in this article. 

Melbourne Food is Freaking Good - This article was my first article concerning food in Melbourne where I posted many photos of the meals I had in Melbourne. The restaurants I visited then were Stalactites in CBD which serve Greek food, Hungry Jack where you can get a complete meal for AUD5, St. Ali Cafe at South Melbourne where I really liked the dish Mexican Cousin, Auction Room which won the award for the Best Cafe in Melbourne, Seven Seeds at North Melbourne, breakfast at The Hardware Societe in Melbourne CBD, Snag Stand for a quick but messy meal, fine dining at Taxi in Federation Square, Mercadante Italian restaurant at Lygon Street, Red Spice Road for some delicious fusion Thai food, Curry Vault in CBD where they have very good Indian food and Pappa Rich at QV Square for Malaysian Cuisine like mouth watering Nasi Lemak.

Melbourne Food is Freaking Good - Part II  - In this article I highlighted a place called J Cafe which specializes in Sushi Burgers at Exhibition Street. You must try their soft shell crab sushi burger. Taxi Pub and Cafe for some fish and chips (would recommend the Taxi Fine Dining restaurant located above instead where the food is really good but cost more), The Grand Tofu at Newmarket for Malaysia Chinese food where the curry fish head is the best I had in Melbourne and how to get to Richmond by tram for Vietnamese food.

Melbourne Food is Freaking Good - Part III - in this article I posted photos of the lunch meals I had at Hardware Societe which was really good, dinner at Red Hot Wok at South Yarra where the chilli crab and Teochew style steam fish were good, value for money meals at Hanaichi and Don Don in CBD. But Dim Sum at Dragon Boat on Lonsdale Street is a no no after 1pm as their selection is really pathetic and not worth the AUD18 for all you can eat. Once again I visited Red Spice Road when they opened another branch at QV where I would have the pork belly every single time I go there. I also mentioned that I dislike the char-siew at Pacific BBQ on Lonsdale Street.

I am now going to list my favorite cafes and restaurants where the food is consistently good and everything on the menu taste delicious. Of course being in the No15 World's Most Expensive City, the food is not "cheap" compared to the restaurants in South East Asia; but then again, the quality of  food served in these restaurants are top notch. 

In order for a cafe to be listed as my favorite cafe, besides the food tasting great, it has to have good coffee ( I am a coffee addict besides a chain smoker) and more importantly fast and friendly service.  I would suggest you only visit the cafes mentioned below on weekdays only. They are really busy during weekends and not the place to go if you have kids as you may need to queue and it may take some time (up to 45 minutes) before you are seated.

THE BEST CAFES IN MELBOURNE

Here is the list of my favorite cafes near CBD in alphabetical order:

Space Hotel Melbourne Queen Ensuite Room Review

An article by GenX published 

at Melbourne Victoria Australia www.melbournevicaustralia.blogspot.com

Please do not reprint or republish in part or in any form.

I revisited Melbourne in early December 2012 and once again stayed at Space Hotel, Russell Street, Melbourne. I took a cab from the airport to Space Hotel and it cost me AUD54 for the ride. It was after 1am when I reached Space Hotel and my room key card was given to me upon me presenting my Agoda voucher. The guy on duty did ask for my credit card and charged AUD1 to confirm that my card was valid.

The last time I stayed at Space Hotel was back in May 2012 where I shared a twin room with my son for a couple of nights and then moved to a single room by myself after he flew back to USA to start his summer internship job. That time we had to use the shared common bathroom. This time around, I went with my wife and therefore I booked the Queen Ensuite Bedroom.

Previously I booked my rooms directly via Space Hotel website because I found their weekly rates to be lower than Agoda.com rate per night; but this time around, I only stayed 2 nights at Space Hotel and found that Agoda daily rate was better than Space Hotel website rates. Click here to read my article on Agoda versus HotelClub for Online Room Reservations.

Without further ado, here are some photos taken of the Queen Ensuite Room I stayed in at Space Hotel. Fresh towels were provided daily and toiletries included bath gel, shampoo and conditioner. 

Melbourne Food Is Freaking Good Part II

An article by GenX published 

at Melbourne Victoria Australia www.melbournevicaustralia.blogspot.com

Please do not reprint or republish in part or in any form.

Back in June 2012, I published my article Melbourne Coffee and Food is Freaking Good. This article will be a continuation where I will post more photos of food that we can get in Melbourne - The World's Most Livable City.

Sushi Burger- Exhibition Street between Bourke St and Little Bourke Street

I highly recommend this place where you must try their Sushi Soft Shell Crab Burger which is really good. However, in order to dine in, you need to purchase minimum AUD12 per person; so, you need to order at least 2 sushi burgers or just take away if you can only eat one. 

Melbourne Coffee and Food is Freaking Good

I was in Melbourne for close to 3 weeks and had the opportunity to savour what Melbourne has to offer in terms of food. Well, I am pleased to inform you that you won't have any problems finding the right food because Melbourne offers you all kinds of great tasting food from all over the world.

If you need to put on weight, Melbourne is the place to be :) I definitely put on a few pounds while I was in Melbourne. I tell you, the coffee in Melbourne is really good; I guess this is because the milk there is fresh. And below is how coffee is served in Melbourne :)

Coffee serve at St Ali South Melbourne

The first place I dined in upon reaching Melbourne was at Stalactites, a Greek restaurant. I ordered the chicken souvlaki wrap with pita bread and the serving was huge for my standards. I asked for a knife and cut it into half and shared it with my cousin. My son on the other hand could finish one by himself. Anyway, the food tasted not too bad.