Honeymoon Recs for Aus and NZ

[rpulido]

Hey Chowers.... I am writing you from Mexico City, looking for expert help for my honeymoon.

I will be going to Australia and New Zealand, and need some advice on 3-5 amazing meals.

In Australia I will be heading to Sydney and Melbourne mainly, I already have a booking at Tetsuya's and I am looking for one additional in Sydney and one in Melbourne.

In NZ, I am looking for THE recommendation in Queenstown, as we will be celebrating our 1st month anniversary! the other place in NZ is Christchurch!!!

Thanks very much, if you need any recs for Mexico let me know!

[PhilD]

For Sydney I would complement your Tetsuyas experience with something that contrasts. One option is "Longrain" (http://www.longrain.com/intro_sydney.htm) for excellent Thai food, it has a clubby atmosphere with shared tables and a good cocktail bar. A more formal option is "Sailors Thai" head downstairs for a clasy restaurant with very refined Thai food. Thai food in Sydney is possible some of the best in the world outside Thailand and IMO often rivals what you can find in Thailand.

Another option is to head to a waterside diner with a great view, Tets is great but it is city centre, with no view. "Quay" is the best, it is formal and exy; "Guillaume at Bennelong"(http://www.guillaumeatbennelong.com.au/) is in the Opera House and is a spectacular room with good views (although you can't see the Opera House because you are in it). A cheaper option is "Aqua Dining" on the north side of the harbour so you get a good view back.

A new opening in an old space may be worth checking out (I have yet to go to this incarnation) is "Tapas at the Summit" which on the 47th floor of the Australia Square building, it is an revolving restaurant so a bit retro. Definately worth checking out for a drink (http://www.summitrestaurant.com.au/)

"Rockpool Bar & Grill" is the big night out restaurant, great aged steaks (80+ days), "Marque" is very innovative and stylish, "Mamak" is cheap and a funky space and a great intro to Malaysian food, "Billy Kwong" and "Spice Temple" are doing very accesable, yet still authentic, Chinese food; and a good entry point for Vietnamese is the "Red Lantern". Obviously lots more cheap and authentic hole in the wall type places doing great noodles and dumplings. So lots and lots of choice.

[ozinboz]

When are you heading to Melbourne and how long will you be there?

I see there are no Melbourne replies. I am no expert, but I lived in Melbourne for a decade and there are places I like. So here are some of my recommendations, for what it is worth. I hope it helps.

Don't know if you're just looking for high-end gastro experience. I tend not to go to fancy places. But if you're completely unfamiliar with the food scene, perhaps it will help in your research for me to list some places that are highly regarded by Local critics and diners.
Coda is a recent place that is getting good reviews. I kept meaning to go but never got my act together:
http://www.codarestaurant.com.au/
Teage Ezard is very well established and respected, sounds like overall you are assured of a good experience here tasting modern Aussie food.
http://www.miettas.com.au/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/Ezard_At_Adelphi.html
Greg Malouf is one of my very favourite chefs. When he's restaurant Momo shut down I was despondent, the taste of his luxurious, spice-redolent pigeon bisteeya stays in my sense memory years after the fact. He has reopened to rave reviews:
http://www.momorestaurant.com.au/
But I hear it is expensive:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/epicure/i-dream-of-pigeon-bisteeya/2009/05/11/1241893913238.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2

If you like high-end gastro experiences like Tetsuya, Vue de Monde (very fancy, molecular style dining with foams and stuff) has been getting HEAPS of mad foodie praises. The chef is so well-regarded the place was booked months in advance on the day that it opened. I've never been myself, and I've heard everything from "OMG that is the best food experience I've ever had" to "I came out still hungry." I hear it is playful, unique experience, check out the reviews to see if it appeals to you. But the reservations are apparently MONTHS in advance, so don't know if you can get a table. Give it a go, it might be OK if you don't go on a weekend.
http://www.vuedemonde.com.au/

People and critics alike rave and rave about a neo-Greek place called The Press Club. I’m not so hot on it, I thought the food under-seasoned and I didn’t understand some of the fusion elements. I like my Greek food Tasty and Traditional. But I am apparently VERY much in the minority, so you might like to check it out http://www.thepressclub.com.au/.

Spanish food is really the up-and-coming in the Melbourne food scene, two fantastic places are Movida and Bar Lourinha.

Movida is extremely popular, a mouthwatering Spanish experience (mmm paella), you need to make a reservation. Fri, Sat & Sun nights are booked months in advance, the other nights might be ok. They have a place called "Movida Next Door" which is, of course, next-door! I personally love going there, great casual atmosphere some really nice wines. Depending on the time and night, sometimes they say "come back in 45 minutes", so we go to Cherry Bar on Hosier Lane, have a drink and come back. We order a bunch of tapas. When I go there I usually can't remember exactly what I ate except I know I said "Mmmmmmm" a lot. I drink a little too much and have such a great time with friends. But last time there was a bacalao croquetta (my mouth is watering) and something fantastic with eel. They have opened 2 new restaurants that I have never tried. I still love the old place on Hosier Lane. Don't forget to walk down Hosier Lane, it has *fantastic* graffiti and an atmospheric little bar called Cherry.
http://www.movida.com.au/

One thing I love to do in the Melbourne CBD is graze. Now, by grazing, I don’t mean that you can’t eat a very filling meal at these places. I just mean they are not “sit down and eat and swill wine fine restaurants”. They are fun bars that just happen to have really yummy food. Some of the best nights are when we stagger from one place to another, eating one thing here and then another thing there. But I am keeping in mind you are not local. So here are some places where you really can eat very well.

Bar Lourinha has great atmosphere and yummy little very savoury Spanish bites. It can be hard to find, it is a little tucked away. Make sure you are clear you know where you're going before you head out. It is not especially dangerous in that area, just hard to find in some little side street behind a car park (with all the usual disclaimers that I am speaking as a local). Fantastic tapas (not a big menu, but very seasonal) and very nice range of jerez. I had a pork mince and clam thing that made my mouth sing. Plus I always drag my friends there for dessert late at night. They always complain where am I taking them, until they get the churros dulce de leche or pannacotta in their mouths, then they know why :
)http://www.barlourinha.com.au/

Near to Bar Lourinha, is a casual Italian “canteen-style” eatery with very yummy Italian food called the Mess Hall. Satisfying and focus on seasonal. They have good coffee and if you are staying in the CBD near here, they also make good breakfast. (But the whole area can be very quiet on weekend mornings.
)http://www.themesshallmelbourne.blogspot.com/

Another place I really love to graze at is the Toff In Town. I think of the food as Italian influenced beer food :). It is also a cool place to take visitors, because you have to go up these dark, dodgy looking stairs to the third floor and it has a frisson of danger. (But the whole building has bars and restaurants so it is actually OK). Then you go into the bar and they have these booths like in a train. If you can get a booth (either by reservation, or you might get lucky – but don’t hope for it on Fri or Sat night), there is a button that you can press and the servers will come to serve you, it can feel romantic and private, although as a whole the place can be quite noisy. But beware there is a video camera in each booth 
http://www.thetoffintown.com/

One floor down from Toff In town is a bar called Cookie with a neo/modern-Thai restaurant. It is very cool and popular and always smells amazing. The food is very good. But I avoid because it is too crowded for me and the tables are too close together and too hard to get a table and I feel I have to rush my meal. But that is just my opinion.

Having said all that, I think the key to eating in Melbourne though is the amazing ethnic food experiences rather than high-end meals. In particular I think you’ll be blown away by the cheap and plentiful Asian cuisine.
Walking up and down Victoria St in Richmond, popping into the dozens of Asian grocery shops and trying to decipher the ingredients, most of them sell snacks up the front of the shop. Stopping for a savoury bowl of pho (Vietnamese beef noodle soup). Everyone has their favourites, two that are well-liked:
Pho Dzung Tan Dinh - 208 Victoria St & Co Do - 196 Victoria Street Richmond 3121
I also like the Vietnamese pancake (Banh Xeo) from Thanh Ha - 172 Victoria St.

Catch some dumplings during lunchtime in the CBD (Central Business District) two of me and my friends’ favourites are:
Hutong Dumpling Bar
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1435735/restaurant/CBD/Hutong-Dumpling-Bar-Melbourne
Dumplings Plus
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1476084/restaurant/CBD/Dumplings-Plus-Melbourne
At Dumplings Plus you can see the women make the dumplings fresh in a little window from the dining room.

Visiting Victoria Market (which is NOT near Victoria St). This is a lunchtime experience. After gazing at the fresh produce and fish/meats, head to the Deli section. Get in the unruly line at the famous Kebab store (I think it is called the Turkish store. It is right opposite the fruit & nut store) for a lamb kebab. I like it with chilli and garlic sauce. When they call for me, I yell "lamb chilli garlic" and they know exactly what I want :) Their boreks (long bread-things with various fillings) are also very popular snacks. Two stores down, is the famous bratwurst with sauerkraut sandwiches. So grab what you want, then go outside in the sunshine and passive-aggressively hound someone into relinquishing a table, and shoo the birds away as you eat :) If you go whilst the place is busy, it might not be genteel, but it will be an experience! (Vic Markets only open Tue, Thu, Fri & Sat. I can't remember about Sun.

)

Try excellent Chinese yum cha. The local favourites are out in the suburbs like Doncaster or Blackburn. I am assuming you won't want to make the trek out, so a good option is Red Emperor in Southbank, which is a nice place to visit and walk along that shopping precint anyway. http://www.redemperor.com.au/

OOPS sorry, not quite the question you asked. But I started writing, got homesick and gone on and on. Hope there's something helpful in all this.

[rpulido]

Thank you all very much...

ozinboz: I will be heading to Melbourne on June 30th and staying for three nights, all of your recs sound pretty good. All I have read / wacthed / heard about Melbourne's food scene matches exactly what you say!!! there are so many recommendations, that apparently you cant go wrong! Thanks for the email, and I will make sure I try some of your recs and tell you all about it!!!

[ecumer]

Hi R,

Let me endorse everything Ozinboz said; those are a lot of my favourite restaurants. To make you even more spoiled for choice I'd like to throw a few more in.

Cumulus Inc does modern Australian, which means bits of French (great charcuterie), bits of Mediterranean, lots of small plates and a few large ones, all with great quality and sophistication. It is also well known for breakfast although I haven't had that there myself. They don't take bookings so if you get there early there's a prettty good chance of getting a table.

http://www.cumulusinc.com.au/

The most amazing meals we've had lately were at Attica & Lulo. Atica is very big on local produce and moving into molecular gastronomy or techno-emotional or whatever you want to call it, in a very approachable way by blending it with more traditional methods. I had three or four moments where I was silent with awe at the skill and creativity of the team. It's in Melbourne's top 10 restaurants and you would want to book. It's in an inner southern suburb, a reasonable taxi from the city but also right by a railway station.

www.attica.com.au

Another amazing meal was at a favourite that doesn't hit the radar much in the press and restaurant guides. Lulo does innovative modern tapas with some South American influences to a very high quality. Not as flash as MoVida but you can get a booking on a Friday with two weeks' notice instead of two months'. Inner eastern suburb; 15 minutes' train trip and then a 10 minute walk from the CBD or about an AUD 20 taxi ride.

http://www.lulo.com.au/

http://ongoldenfond.blogspot.com/2010...

The Mac Daddy of Melbourne dining is Jacques Reymond, modern French with Asian influences. It has been in the top two or three Melbourne restaurants for I think a decade. It's in a Victorian-era mansion in in inner south-eastern suburb (for variety), again a short cab trip from the city. Less casual than most Melbourne dining experiences, but a long way from formal or stuffy.

Have a great wedding and honeymoon.

Cheers.