| The beauty of Melbourne is that in one city you | | | | to the more upmarket restaurants such as |
| can get a taste of a whole myriad of cultures | | | | Flower Drum. The other benefit to Chinatown is |
| without having to travel for hours. You can go | | | | that most of these restaurants are open until late |
| from the really cheap budget options to the other | | | | and are close to a lot of entertainment venues |
| extreme, the upmarket and premium dining. This | | | | around the city, so great for a late night meal. |
| article intends to fill you in on just a few of them. | | | | To continue with the Asian food theme, you can't |
| If Italian food is what you have a taste for, then | | | | forget Victoria St in Richmond. This little street is |
| Lygon St in Carlton is the place to be. As you | | | | wall to wall vietnamese restaurants. There is |
| walk along Lygon St, you will be greeted almost | | | | plenty of choice here, however unlike some of |
| constantly by restauranteurs trying to drum up | | | | the other "food" streets in Melbourne, this one is |
| business for their restaurant. At first this starts | | | | fairly quiet and generally you don't have people |
| off cute, but eventually it wears thin; Who knows, | | | | out the front greeting you. You will also find you'll |
| maybe I'm just a grump. That aside, these folks | | | | need to make a booking for a lot of these |
| still know how to provide great service. | | | | restaurants as they can be quite popular. |
| Restaurants along here have just about every | | | | Especially on a Friday night. The food here ranges |
| Italian dish imaginable from pizza to pasta to | | | | from traditional Vietnamese fare, to dishes |
| risotto and of course amazing bruchetta. | | | | tweaked to more "Aussie" tastes, to even food |
| Italian food of course isn't for everybody, so just | | | | that would look more in place in a chinese |
| a short walk away is Lonsdale St. This is the | | | | restaurant. In all, a great place to eat if you'd like |
| epicentre for all things Greek. There are plenty of | | | | to try something different and out of the CBD. |
| Greek restaurants along here all with their unique | | | | Another key restaurant strip in Melbourne is along |
| character. There are the more traditional eateries | | | | the south bank of the river in the aptly named |
| as well as restaurants with a more modern feel. | | | | Southbank. There are two main sections of |
| A lot of the food also has a distinctive | | | | Southank; Southgate and Crown Casino. Both |
| "Melbourne" feel to it as well. A guaranteed | | | | these areas cater for family dining as well as |
| crowd-pleaser. | | | | serious upmarket and premium dining. The food |
| A few more blocks up the road from Lygon St is | | | | covers just about everything you could think of. |
| the very small, but bursting at the seams Little | | | | There are places for great steak, places for great |
| Bourke St. This street is Melbourne's Chinatown | | | | pasta, places for great steak AND pasta, you |
| and this is made obvious by the big traditional | | | | name it, it's there. There's premium asian food |
| chinese archways at either end of each block. For | | | | such as sushi, teppenyaki and chinese fare as well |
| Chinese food, you need to look no further, but | | | | as typical pub food such as parma and chips. |
| they also have thai food and japanese food here | | | | So as you can see, Melbourne is a city with many |
| as well. The street runs for about three blocks, | | | | complementary and contrasting styles of food |
| and all the way along you will be greeted by | | | | and it makes it a hub for trying different foods |
| restauranteurs trying to get you to eat in their | | | | from around the world. You can go from the |
| restaurant. The restaurants on this street range | | | | very cheap, to the upmarket dining experience. |
| from the very basic dumpling houses where $20 | | | | It's well worth a visit, and if you happen to live |
| will have you leaving extremely full and satisfied | | | | here already, get out there and experience it. |