{"id":239,"date":"2010-02-23T00:02:07","date_gmt":"2010-02-23T04:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mrmarkyoung.com\/blog\/?p=239"},"modified":"2010-02-23T00:05:11","modified_gmt":"2010-02-23T04:05:11","slug":"2010-cheap-eats-champs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mrmarkyoung.com\/blog\/?p=239","title":{"rendered":"2010 Cheap Eats Champs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Age Cheap Eats 2010 Awards<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Bar Idda<\/strong><\/p>\n

132 Lygon Street, Brunswick East, 93805339<\/p>\n

Seasonal, familial food is what this Sicilian kitchen is all about, cooked with heart by Alfredo La Spina, while wife Lisa runs a tight ship out front delivering warm service. Highlights include the mulinciani (baked eggplant) and Idda’s own pork and fennel sausages.<\/p>\n

See awards winners’ photos here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mr Hyde<\/strong><\/p>\n

11 Malop Street, Geelong, 52231228<\/p>\n

Congratulations, MrHyde, you are this year’s country champ, a three-star winner in Cheap Eats for three years running. Part bistro, part wine bar, this converted old bank with chandeliers and swanky booths delivers fine dining at Cheap Eats prices.<\/p>\n

BAR OF THE YEAR<\/em><\/p>\n

Riverland<\/strong><\/p>\n

Federation Wharf (under Princes Bridge), city, 96621771<\/p>\n

Riverland is the effortless all-rounder you can’t help but like, with its prime Yarra River possie and Six Degrees fit-out. The outdoor barbecue food is exactly what you want with a tall glass of tap beer.<\/p>\n

CHEAP EATS HALL OF FAME<\/em><\/p>\n

Bombay by Night<\/strong><\/p>\n

355 North Road, Caulfield South, 95786150<\/p>\n

When Jaspal and Arvind Gandhi moved from Bombay to Melbourne in 1990 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and opened BBN that same year \u00e2\u20ac\u201d they brought with them recipes from their homeland and created a top-end Indian restaurant. It’s still going great guns.<\/p>\n

BEST BREAKFAST OF THE YEAR<\/em><\/p>\n

Demitri’s Feast<\/strong><\/p>\n

141 Swan Street, Richmond, 94288659<\/p>\n

You’ll be hard pressed to order just one of the inventive brekkies at this Hellenic hotspot. The baklava French toast rocks, but they also do good eggs, sage mushrooms and fancy semolina pancakes with a sprinkling of edible Persian rose petals.<\/p>\n

PIZZERIA OF THE YEAR<\/em><\/p>\n

+39 Pizzeria & Degustation Bar<\/strong><\/p>\n

362 Little Bourke Street, city, 96420440<\/p>\n

Named after Italy’s international phone code, +39 is run by Remo Nicolini and, as you’d expect, this polished pizzeria is primo. File in for thin-crust pizzas, top-notch ingredients and charmingly offbeat service.<\/p>\n

CAFFEINE HIT OF THE YEAR<\/em><\/p>\n

7 Seeds<\/strong><\/p>\n

106 Berkeley Street, Carlton, 93478664<\/p>\n

Being judged as making the best coffee in Melbourne is a mighty big call. At this progressive micro-roaster run by Mark Dundon, you’ll find beans sourced from estate to single-origin to micro lot and, the bottom line, a superb cup of coffee.<\/p>\n

VEGETARIAN DISH OF THE YEAR<\/em><\/p>\n

Half Moon Cafe<\/strong><\/p>\n

13 Victoria Street, Coburg, 93502949<\/p>\n

Half Moon should be on your falafel Holy Grail. These Egyptian-style patties are made from a chunky fava bean mix and fried crisp in fresh oil, and there are five falafel combinations.<\/p>\n

WORLD FOOD DISH OF THE YEAR<\/em><\/p>\n

En Izakaya<\/strong><\/p>\n

277 Carlisle Street, Balaclava, 95258886<\/p>\n

The dish? Seared momen tofu and miso-infused eggplant. Tofu and eggplant … how good can it be? Well, pretty good. It’s the meeting of the soft, creamy, charry eggplant with the lightly crisp-fried tofu that does it.<\/p>\n

BEST COMMUNAL TABLE<\/em><\/p>\n

Dead Man Espresso<\/strong><\/p>\n

35 Market Street, South Melbourne, 96862255<\/p>\n

The recycled messmate table sitting proudly in front of the coffee machine is in the dead centre of the hip bustle yet still manages to be an uncluttered, calm oasis with a vase of fresh blooms.<\/p>\n

BEST POSH EAT<\/em><\/p>\n

The Court House<\/strong><\/p>\n

Front Bar, 86-90 Errol Street, North Melbourne, 93295394<\/p>\n

This fancy front bar is posh but not too posh, with its dark wood panelling, art deco style and knowledgable bartenders. The food is a cut above, like a grilled salmon salad or bangers and buttery mash.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Age Cheap Eats 2010 Awards Bar Idda 132 Lygon Street, Brunswick East, 93805339 Seasonal, familial food is what this Sicilian kitchen is all about, cooked with heart by Alfredo La Spina, while wife Lisa runs a tight ship out front delivering warm service. Highlights include the mulinciani (baked eggplant) and Idda’s own pork and … <\/p>\n

Read more “2010 Cheap Eats Champs”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mrmarkyoung.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mrmarkyoung.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mrmarkyoung.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mrmarkyoung.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mrmarkyoung.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=239"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.mrmarkyoung.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":242,"href":"http:\/\/www.mrmarkyoung.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions\/242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mrmarkyoung.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mrmarkyoung.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mrmarkyoung.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}