Mirka at Tolarno Hotel

Australia has one of the best food magazines in the world, the Gourmet Traveller, and this month’s edition came with the yearly Australian restaurants guide book. Over the years we’ve already tried quite a few trendy and acclaimed Chefs (at MoVida, Ezard, Ladro, etc…). For this Sunday lunch we decided to head down to Saint Kilda to meet a friend and try Mirka at Tolarno Hotel. It was a real success. From the original Mirka Mora murals gracing the walls, to the friendly service, the food was perfect from start to finish. We all enjoyed the wonderful Goat Cheese beignets and while my friends went for trout and John Dory I settled for a beautiful and tender, generous and perfectly cooked, chunk of beef (I rarely eat meat). The other surprising thing is that French wines are now getting back to affordable price levels and my friends could enjoy an apparently very tasty wine from my hometown called 'Sincerite' by Joseph Mellot. Congratulations to Chefs Anthony D’Augello & Domenic Marzano. Later this week we are supposed to go to the new one from George Calombaris. I’ll tell you about it…