i am a big fan of a good steak. just check out the squire's loft and the grill room reviews. it's not that i'm a big meat eater at all - i generally choose the vegetation option and don't really cook meat at home - but fuck, the point is another step up in the steak stakes. they have their own meat supply (i think they have their own farm) so their beef is probably some of the best available.

ringwood is not the place i think of first when someone says 'let's do japanese'. in fact it's not even second. i know! hard to believe. it's way down the list. way down. just how far? far. but suishaya does have quite a lot going for it and it has such a cure little waterwheel (that's what suishaya means) in a pond just inside the door. ahem, fucking nice pond, i mean.

you just know a place called madam something or other is going to be different from your average pick-up melbourne bar (for that, think pony or long room, yikes). and the history of madam brussels is interesting to say the least. but the first thing you notice is that it has grass indoors and many people seem to be reclining on garden furniture - again, indoors. if you do go to madam's place already pissed it's a bit disconcerting to walk along the indoor garden path and step onto the lawn. as if handling the drink is not fucking hard enough. if you do go in a sober state the difference can at least get the jaded bar-goer's attention.

here's a thought. if you pay waiters and staff well, you get good food and good service and good waiters will want to join your restaurant. so you get good staff and waiters, and so on and so forth. it's not rocket surgery. it's quite obvious that the manager of movida has worked out this tricky and complex equation. the result? what seems like almost instant success. the kitchen staff are relaxed and professional, the bar staff are efficient and snappy, and the floor staff attentive and friendly. even for a brand new joint, movida feels like everyone working there are part of a well-worn family.

i'm not sure what i expected from long room. obviously i'm thinking it's a room and it's long. i speculated that they serve drinks of some sort and that there would be some sort of music. past that i was willing to go with the flow. the first thing that surprised me was the retail store front with door bitches to prevent people without collared shirts from getting in. i mean, we all know that when you wear a collar, you're a better class of person. in spite of the overwhelming evidence against my choice of clothing, i was permitted into the inner sanctum. i should have known better.

just try and find gills alley. i dare you. it's not easy. and so not what you expect, either. alley is probably overselling the whole narrow laneway thing. and diner doesn't come close to describing what is achieved at gills diner. if you imagine an old car repair shop with bakery cafe in the front, tables and chairs in front of an immense kitchen in the back and top class food and service, that would be gills.

i so wanted to like this fucking place. never a good sentence to start with. it just really got on my tits after a while. ok they have good, even great coffee. but a little thing called service wouldn't go amiss. it's always the same, though, isn't it. have a great idea - pay crap wages. why do it? why not do it right?

i remember when trunk was just some chinese place. sure it was expensive (it's on exhibition - what the fuck do you expect?). now, though, trunk has taken on a decidedly Italian flavour to their chinese food. and there's no more chinese food. craziest chinese restaurant I've ever been to. lets just say it's italian and move on.

why have i never been to the wine shop. or the european, for that matter. it's a question i'm still asking myself with no good answer. the wine shop is directly under the supper club and beside the european restaurant. the same guy owns all three (lucky fucker) and has basically cornered the market in cool. in the spring street area, anyway.

i had a chance to sample steak on the other side of the pacific recently. the forbes mill steakhouse is located in a 'nice part of town' which immediately had me thinking of camberwell and the other silver-haired suburbs of melbourne. sure enough, they still had their christmas lights up on the street and it was just lovely. in a scary kind of way.