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Esurientes - The Comfort Zone

Saturday, July 09, 2005

Melbournians?



In about 12 hours I'm leaving for Adelaide, but before then I have a birthday dinner for friends at a great little French brasserie, and hopefully getting a decent amount of sleep. Speaking of great little restaurants in Melbourne, I've been wondering for a while how many readers are actually from Melbourne? You see, I'm feeling a little lonesome here plugging away at this blog, watching the Sydney foodblogging community explode in size. Of the three I have listed in Melbourne, Esther has just announced her departure, and with his brand new baby, I'm not sure how much time Kitchen Hand will have for blogging! In any case, we both would like company. It's easy to set up a foodblog, you know!
But it's readers I'm also interested in. I have a number of little cafes and restaurants I've tried about which I've been considering writing brief reviews. But I know I've been guilty of clicking on to the next blog when I find a review of places in, say, San Diego or Seattle. Sure, they'd be a fantastic resource if/when I visit those places, but for me right now, limited in time and hungry for instant entertainment, they don't do it for me.
So, a large reason I would put up short reviews of places in Melbourne (such as the fabulous little French place tonight) would be if there are enough readers in Melbourne interested in such a thing. So, please drop a comment if you're a suave Melbournian, shivering through our winter. If you've never left a comment before, this is your chance (friends, family...you know who you are...!).
I leave you with a tempting box of Chocolatier chocolates my mum received for her birthday yesterday. I can only dream of getting a box of such quality chocolates with couverture imported from Belgium. But, they're all hers to enjoy.

posted by Niki at Saturday, July 09, 2005

22 Comments:

  • Well, I'm not a regular here, but I do pop in once in a while. I used to live in Melbourne (only for a year though). It's my favourite city in the world so far (hm.. except for the weather) and I would enjoy some restaurant and even bar reviews to get a bit nostalgic! Even random pictures from Melbourne would be fun!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7/09/2005 10:02:00 pm  

  • Hi Niki

    Another Melbourne foodblogger here - I'm always happy to read reviews of interesting places I might like to try.

    Just started blogging at wwww.myfavouriteplum.blogspot.com. I think it will be a while before it's up and running the way I want it to, but I thought if I don't simply start blogging, when will I learn how to do it?

    I've just posted a review of my First Ever Haigh's Creams - I'd be interested to know if I am the only one who feels like this about them!

    Happy baking!
    Plum

    By Blogger plum, at 7/09/2005 11:31:00 pm  

  • Just make sure you intersperse some lemon curd between the reviews.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7/10/2005 06:39:00 pm  

  • Melburnian here! Yes, PLEASE continue posting reviews about great places in Melbourne. I love Melbourne and I love food!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7/11/2005 03:27:00 am  

  • I'm a Hobartian but a regular visitor to Melbourne so some reviews would be great.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7/11/2005 11:44:00 am  

  • I live in Melbourne and read your blog regularly. Yes, it would be great to read more reviews about local eateries. Keep up the interesting food writing and photos! Your efforts are definitely appreciated. It's a shame that Sydneysiders are beating us at our own game. Melbourne is the food capital of Australia (in my humble opinion!).

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7/11/2005 03:04:00 pm  

  • I read your blog about once a week. I'm in Los Angeles.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7/11/2005 06:21:00 pm  

  • Hi,
    My lovely friend and fellow food lover, Anna, asked me to send you my food blog... it is originally intented for friends, but happy to share my little food blog from Melbourne.. http://spaces.msn.com/members/levoyage. :)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7/13/2005 10:44:00 am  

  • Hey Nic
    I am sure I am one of the people you click right on past if you happen to visit mt blog on restaurant review days. No problem, - I can't expect people from other places to be interested in them, unless they are funny or have some other appeal. (sometimes they are, sometimes not) I do find that now I literally get hundreds of hits a day from people searching for restaurants by name and such using google and yahoo etc. I don't know if any of these readers become regulars in the end, but my readership has very slowly but very surely been increasing and a lot of it is down to the number of referrals I get. So it wont just be your regular melbourne readers who'll thank you, if you stick with it a while and get your google page ranking up, you could find yourself a whole new audience in the end. It won't be overnight - it will be gradual. Make sure you have an informative title, include the full address and if you like, hide "search engline-type" words under any photos you include. I think the way I organise my posts this way results in me getting more hits.
    Hope that helps
    -Sam

    By Blogger Sam, at 7/14/2005 01:24:00 pm  

  • Anon - thanks for popping in, and I do agree with you about Melbourne being a favourite city. The weather isn't too terrible really, especially in the first half of the year where it seems to be clear and sunny every day. June to November is very different though!

    AG - Yes, I should have thought about other Aussies having an interest too. It's more likely other Aussies would visit Melbourne and be looking for places to eat. Thanks!

    Plum - I've been to your blog, and I'm so happy there's another Melbournian. I agree with you about Haigh's cream chocs too!

    Anon - I think I know who you are. :-) Don't worry, I plan to make some more!

    b & beck - such encouragement! Ok, will do.

    Anna - I agree with you about the food capital, but shhhh, the Sydneysiders get a bit funny about that! Thanks so much for your encouragement.

    Terila - thanks so much for dropping by!

    Saechier - another Melbourne blog! Fabulous! Thanks so much for letting me know.

    By Blogger Niki, at 7/14/2005 02:02:00 pm  

  • Sam - you are so right. I already have a lot of people who find my site on Google looking for a restaurants, so as a way of getting myself out there, it would be great. Also, some restaurants have very little web presence, and I'm always looking for some mention of them on the net, so little reviews would be very useful.
    I have read a few of your San Diego reviews actually. They're not too long, which maintains interest. I think that's very important, but also very hard to do.

    By Blogger Niki, at 7/14/2005 02:04:00 pm  

  • It's "Melburnian" not "Melbournian".

    And yes there are lots of us here. Your site is fabulous.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7/14/2005 04:01:00 pm  

  • Anon - I'm sorry, but I'm of the group that believe Melbournian is the correct spelling. Unlike the Americanised 'Melburnian', which I (and many others) feel is incorrect. Unless we pass a motion to change the spelling of our city to Melburne.

    By Blogger Niki, at 7/14/2005 04:22:00 pm  

  • Oh dear... never heard of that one before. At least no publication I've seen spells it "Melbournian" and indeed, the English settlers didn't.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7/14/2005 05:07:00 pm  

  • I'm sorry to hear that the tour at Haigh's was a disappointment. I love your blog both the recipes and the reviews. Very useful being a Melbournian.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7/15/2005 02:22:00 pm  

  • Strange, I wasn't Anon when I posted the "sandwich" message, but I'm reassured by your answer! Also strange, the message I sent congratulating you on at least getting the Callebaut question in and then telling you I'd e-mailed Haighs asking them about sourcing simply disappeared. Anyway I'll pass on any reply. Plum and nectarine jam!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7/17/2005 07:35:00 am  

  • Owen - Odd, I wonder what's going on with Blogger comments! Usually when a comment is deleted or retracted it's already been forwarded to my email account, but I've had nothing from you since the Fair Trade comments. Very strange.
    I would be extremely interested in any answer you receive from Haighs. Very much so!

    By Blogger Niki, at 7/18/2005 05:03:00 pm  

  • please do post reviews! i've recently returned from a trip to australia, and melbourne was my favorite city. i've never eaten so well in my life. you are so lucky to live there, even with the unpredicatable weather. :)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7/22/2005 07:05:00 am  

  • Came across "Archdiocoesis Melburnensis" - Melburnian is derived from the Latin tho I'm not clear whether it's synthetic Latin or there's any historic derivation associated with Roman occupancy of Britannia.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7/28/2005 10:02:00 pm  

  • Yes, there's certainly very heavy support, both in terms of numbers and academically, for the spelling Melburnian. It is listed as the spelling in dictionaries, but quite a few - mroe recent editions - also have Melbournian as an alternative. I think it's going to be a contentious issue for us for quite a while.

    By Blogger Niki, at 7/28/2005 10:14:00 pm  

  • Hey there, I'm from Melbourne too...and i have just sorta started foodblogging. I truly wish I had people to go out and try new food with too :( Would be great fun. But anyway, keep on blogging, and if u ever plan any foodblogger events, i'll be sure to jump in on the fun!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7/29/2006 12:22:00 pm  

  • This is a great post Dmitry. I just had one of the ‘Doh!’ moments and ran back to correct my own site before publishing my comment. You see my own comment form did not match what I’m about to advise. I get less comments than you, so never noticed any problem. I’ve changed it now anyway so here goes.
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    By Blogger Unknown, at 1/14/2010 08:30:00 am  

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