It must be WUV WUV WUV

The memory of these will forever remain a testament to how I was prematurely but undoubtedly overcome with wuv for their courier and ultimate caretaker.

The two boxes survived their interstate journey in immaculate condition and the macarons inside were perfectly preserved.

Adriano Zumbo, oh how I also wuv thee! Please come to Melbourne.

The Mess Hall, Melbourne CBD

Thanks to M for sharing this amazing place with me and giving me a good reason for me to visit: SQUID INK PASTA! It's a dish that I've been meaning to try yet previously had trouble encountering, so I was extremely happy to discover it at a place so conveniently located.

The dish was not fussy and so good in its simplicity. Fresh seafood ingredients tossed with perfectly cooked pasta, accompanied by a side serve of crisp vegetables made a perfect interruption to a long Sunday of work.

Sakura Kaiten Sushi, Melbourne CBD

This place is small but hugely popular, and has an amazing selection of small sized but dynamite offerings. The food is made in front of our eyes and placed on colourful plates which are then transported around a sushi train conveyor belt. Overall, the restaurant feels quite cozy and the closeness of the seats makes for an almost intimate experience.

The waitresses are always lovely and very accommodating, but make sure you do put in a reservation as the place is always very busy. We've never had to book a table but I'm certain that's only because they've come to expect someone from our office every night.

At the end of the meal, we usually try to stay for a round of Asian flavored ice creams! The others tend to favour the mochi mochi ice creams, but the black sesame is my favourite. Then again, the good ol' macha is also usually very hard to pass over, so I usually just order one of each.

Trunk Diner, Melbourne CBD

We came here nice and early on a Sunday morning, so that I could go to work and the car could be returned on time. I had been yearning to visit and really wanted to like Trunk.

For the most part, the food and the coffee were good. However the waitress was rather awful both in her attitude and competency, and this ruined the experience for me.

My granola was especially large and delicious and full of goodness! Perhaps I will have to get it takeaway to avoid the narky early morning staff.

Chin Chin, Melbourne CBD

My first Chin Chin experience was on a weekday night in early January. It was a relatively quiet day and we went down to reserve at table, with full appreciation of the most likely long wait we'd experience. Even so, our impatient stomachs almost got the better of us, especially as we witnessed others leave for dinner and even more so when they came back to regale us with tales of wondrous tales of food. Finally, after more than an hour of keyboard slamming at our desks, we finally received a text beckoning us to claim our table at Chin Chin. I was SO SO SO excited.

Correctly so, the five of us decided to share rather than order our own separate dishes. This is a most advisable approach to conquering Chin Chin's menu.

On this momentous day, we began our meal with some kingfish sashimi, son in law eggs, and a crispy salad. The kingfish sashimi was quite fresh and tasted amazingly zingy! Then we moved onto the salad which was quite intense in flavor but not too memorable other than that fact. As for the son in law eggs, they were very delicious and had good reasons to be one of Chin Chin's signature dishes.

These were followed by the special Chin Chin's fried rice, the green curry and the stir fried wild boar. The fried rice was like ordinary fried rice, although I confess to a certain degree of snobbery towards ordering fried rice in Asian restaurants. However both of the other two dishes were very delicious and the wild boar was an especially great pick!

As for the dessert, I was in awe of their offerings and had a very difficult time deciding. I would probably come back JUST to eat these pretty cups of goodness and to sample the glutinous rice dessert (they had run out of it by the time we ordered).

Siglo, Melbourne CBD

The blurriness of the pic is possibly a good indication of my levels of intoxication by the time we decided to get some food into ourselves. The selection of tapas offerings is the same as the menu for the Supper Club one level down and therefore I wasn't really excited by anything new. We stuck to some old favourites such as polenta chips, dips and some good ol' pies. They were filling and did a reasonable job of soaking up all the alcohol. At least until the others arrived and ordered a new round.

Mandala, South Yarra

I love what these guys have tried to do with the menu at Mandala. Yes it seems to be a mix-up of many different types of Asian cuisine and yes that is why it's so refreshing! The main influence seems to be Nepalese, but there are so many other tastes and flavours on offer, making the menu both diverse and exciting.

For our entrees we stuck to known favourites such as chicken, calamari and some dumplings. It was mostly quite good and even their take on dumplings was rather interesting.

We were a bit more adventurous with our mains and decided to try a goat curry. The use of spices in this dish was deliciously intense and aromatic. The goat was also surprisingly soft and tasty without being too overpowering against the other elements.

The duck was definitely the highlight of the night for me and the sweet flavors reminded me of the pork belly dish from Red Spice Road. I could not get enough of this and was only too happy that everyone else had stuffed themselves full of other foods!