Good Food Guide 2008

The Age has been running a "Good Food Guide" for Melbourne for several years now. This mainly focuses on the featured and best rated restaurants in Melbourne, but not necessarily the cheapest or best value. So you'll typically find modern, contemporary cuisines and a la carte restaurants here.

Occasionally, you will find something affordable here, but I'd personally recommend "Cheap Eats" which comes out in early February for the less fussy. Though why both of them tend to leave out a few of my favourite restaurants, I'm not entirely sure.

The latest edition for 2008 is out now (it has actually been out since late last year) retails for just under $30 and can be purchased at newsagents or via the Age website online.

Customer complains .... restauranteur - kills him

As if eating the food isn't a gamble enough at some restaurants.
I guess the moral of the story is think twice before you complain when dining ... may be safer to write an email instead.

A DINER was stabbed to death by a restaurateur after an argument about slow service, a court heard yesterday.
The Supreme Court was told Khanh Vo, 35, fatally stabbed customer Anh Dung Nguyen, 54, after the two men argued about the service in Vo's crowded Abbotsford restaurant, Bon Mua, on April 16, 2006.
The men and their friends fought before Vo ran into the kitchen, grabbed a fruit knife and stabbed Mr Nguyen, the court heard.
Vo, of Ivanhoe, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Mr Nguyen.
The court heard Mr Nguyen had been drinking before he and a group of nine friends arrived at the restaurant about 10.30pm.
Prosecutor Peter Jones said Mr Nguyen became upset after midnight about slow service, banged his hand on a table and exchanged words with Vo's wife, Vy Huynh.
Vo became upset when he heard Mr Nguyen had spoken to his wife and a fight erupted, Mr Jones said.
After grabbing a knife from his kitchen, Vo returned and stabbed Mr Nguyen three times.
Mr Nguyen died later in hospital.
Defence lawyer Ian Hill, QC, told the court Vo's actions had not been planned or premeditated and had "erupted spontaneously".
"At the least, the deceased was rude and aggressive in his demeanour," Mr Hill said.
Running a successful restaurant was important to Vo and "to see a person threatening that . . . may well have caused him to act in the way (in) which he did".
Mr Hill said Vo, now a father of two, had fled Vietnam with his family in 1985 and subsequently spent more than two years in refugee camps in Hong Kong.
Vo had been "frequently frightened and possibly exposed to significant trauma" while in the camps, according to a psychologist.
Mr Hill said his client had pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity, saving the state expense and sparing witnesses the trauma of having to give evidence.
"It can be seen . . . not only as a legal but also a moral acknowledgment by the prisoner of his wrongdoing, and should be taken as a sign of his true remorse and contrition for taking a life," Mr Hill said.
"He feels really ashamed about his actions.
"The only emotion that he can recall of the night was one of fear."
Mr Hill said Vo's restaurant was sold in December.
Justice Kevin Bell will sentence Vo on a date to be set.

From the Herald Sun.

Foodie's Guide to Melbourne 2008

The Age has been running a "Foodie's Guide" to Melbourne for several years now. This handy little book contains a huge list of Melbourne restaurants as well as the Foodie's Guide Awards for the best restaurants in Melbourne for the year (2007).

The latest edition for 2008 is out now (it has actually been out since late last year) retails for just under $30 and can be purchased at newsagents or via the Age website online.

Misuzu's restaurant severely damaged by fire

I hadn't been to this restaurant, but this is a real shame as I'd planned to go and it is located in a Victorian terrace on a very pretty street.

From the Herald Sun:

A POPULAR Japanese restaurant has been severely damaged after a fire broke out in Albert Park overnight.

Flames were seen coming from Misuzu's on Victoria Avenue at around 1.50am this morning.

When the fire services arrived they were faced with five-metre high flames as the blaze took hold of the two-storey building. It took 24 firefighters almost two hours to control the situation.

The fire is estimated to have caused damages of at least $500,000. An adjoining shop, owned by the same business, was saved.