Kinfolk was the venue for a team breakfast on Friday and one of my colleagues was able to book the larger communal table for us. The team at Kinfolk were very accommodating of us arriving in dribs and drabs. There were times when it was difficult to flag down someone such as when we wanted to order and to pay but we got there in the end.

The coffee was declared good. My English Breakfast tea could have done with being hotter to draw out more flavour from the the tea leaves as well as to be at my preferred drinking temperature.

I enjoyed the Egg Special which was a 63 degree cooked egg with greens and a capsicum smear and I added the maple bacon which was deliciously thick and sweet / salty.  The bacon was an extra $5 for one slice which I thought was expensive. 

We enjoyed our breakfast but I think the general concensus was it was 10% pricier than it should be or there should be an extra egg or slice of bacon in the dishes. I understand it's a worthy social enterprise and I'm not begrudging of the money they need to make but even at 10% less or the extra food item, I suspect there would still be profit and would be more aligned to other cafes so the margin needn't be as inflated as it is.

IWhen your birthday falls on a Friday, it means celebrations every day over the weekend right? So for Steve Saturday celebration of his 41st birthday we went to Kisume. We'd been advised to request seats at the sushi bar so I called up a couple of days ahead and they noted the request.

On the night we turned up on time for 8:15pm booking after a couple of heady cocktails imbibed en route and to our delight we took up our seats at the sushi bar.

As expected, it's far from the zen atmosphere of more traditional Japanese restaurants and it's this upbeat electric mood that makes Kisume approachable and popular for the mainstream. Although I love Minamishima, I also understand it doesn't appeal to everyone and some may even find the omokase style daunting. Here it's fun to try and voices can be loud and questions asked.

I overhear one of the sushi chef discuss salmon with one of the wait staff and he says it's white fish which I have never heard before so I take the opportunity to ask him. He explains indeed salmon is white fish, tuna is blue fish and there's also silver fish such as mackerel and sardine. It was great to learn and chat and he shared that he has only recently re-located to Melbourne for the opening of Kisume from Sydney. I love a story behind my food.

There's the sushi bar menu featuring a huge choice of sushi and sashimi as well as an omakase option. I've seen so many pictures of the deluxe feature box that I feel I really need to satisfy my tastebud curiosity. Our waitress advises that it's sufficient enough for two as a main course and perhaps order a couple of other dishes. 

Order just a few? When there's such a vast menu to choose from and I haven't yet mentioned the main menu where there are lots of other delicious sounding items like grilled mackerel, udon noodles, saikyo miso salmon.

So the box comes in two layers and there's an array of sushi and sashimi. It also comes with an aerosol canister to spray soy sauce on our sushi so we don't over season. How fancy and at the same time a bit of a novelty. It works though and it means the fish is the hero. It's not all fish though and there's a spicy raw beef atop a disc of cucumber which is delicious and possibly my favourite and some beef nigiri with truffle.

It's a delicious box of delights. The thinly sliced raw prawn with caviar is probably my least favourite but that's not to say it's bad.

By way of accompaniments to our box we go with:

• Tuna tataki - seared bluefin tuna, wasabi tofu, chilli yuzu ponzu
• Tempura kakiage - whiting, prawn, mushroom, asparagus, eggplant and corn

Our waitress helps us make the choices. She recommends the tuna and says the tempura is a goer if we have big appetites. The tuna is actually forgotten but when we flag it to her it comes out pretty quick. I'm not actually a huge fan of the tuna. I like the big cubes of fish but the wasabi tofu I find bland except for the strong wasabi flavour which I'm not a huge fan of anyway.

The tempura tower looks impressive and the different salts are a nice touch. It's not as crispy as I'd hoped and it is a little bit greasy. I think next time I'd choose two other accompanying dishes and there are plenty to choose from.

In spite of the waitress advising us that we have ordered enough, I feel I can take on more and she suggests the Wagyu truffle balls which come out looking like black truffle but they're deliciously meaty scented with truffle and a melted mozzarella filling. Yes they are delicious and yes I could have eaten more of them.

I don't really feel like asking our waitress about more savoury dishes though. But I will bear in mind for next time, that I can do more! Our waitress is pretty busy. In fact all the waitstaff seem a bit frantic. They don't come across stressed and they are all helpful and friendly but busy. As we decide to drink cocktails and beers, there are a couple of times it's the friendly sushi chef who either flags waitstaff down to bring us the drinks menu or goes and gets one for us himself! I guess it is peak time on a Saturday night though...

We loved our dinner at Kisume. The sushi bar is fun and I would say try and get seats there but it's not the end of the World if you can't and still go in spite of that. Whereas with Minamishima I would actually rather wait until I can secure sushi bar seats.

I'm really looking forward to trying more dishes at Kisume perhaps at a less busy time though as service, although far from bad, was spread a little thin. Except for the wonderfully helpful and charming sushi chef.

Newly opened on Little Collins Street along with a handful of other popular eateries, Sushi and Nori gets pretty busy on a lunch time.

Priced at a higher point than other sushi trains at $4.50 a plate and $8 for a premium dish, it's certainly not an every day kind of lunch. But it has to be said the quality of the fish is worth it. In my opinion, it's fresher than any of it's sushi train counterparts and I like the selection they have. The premium dishes tend to be more plates of sashimi or other ceviche type so less of the rice which is my preference. Yes I have a pricey palate!

I've been twice now, each time with a work colleague and the cosy seating has been conducive to chatter. Both times I've enjoyed the sushi and sashimi. The udon is nothing to write home about with the fried chicken getting soggy in the broth so save your $7 for sashimi! And I did have to keep asking for water refills.

Food aside; my first tip would be to avoid the seating that's not around the conveyor belt because having to get up and go to the tiny pick up area to obtain your food is a big, fat pain and I'd rather wait for a better seating space or skip it.

Value for money I'd still go Tetsujin. Authenticity and for that Japanese feel I'd go Sakura Kaiten but for freshness and deliciousness, Sushi and Nori is the one for me!

Sushi trains epitomise quick satisfaction for me and when you want food quickly, there's nothing better. Sakura Kaiten was recommended to me and so my husband and I popped in peak time on Friday night. Lucky for us there were spare seats so we squeezed in. 

Where sushi trains score high on food speed satisfaction, they struggle with comfort and personal space and Sakura is no different but if it's that authentic Japanese feel you want then it wins on that score. There are the zippy little food transporters that get pushed from the kitchen to the customer. There are Japanese anime figurines all over and it just feels street style authentic. The toilet roll holding Yoda in the bathroom was a little bit of a shock when I entered but it caused a giggle.

There's a wide choice of dishes both to order and also journeying round the conveyor belt. It's possible the widest choice I've seen. Certain dishes were delicious - tuna belly, salmon belly, fried chicken...all good. Not so good was the abalone nigiri. My piece was decent but my husband's had a huge gristly piece attached that hadn't been removed. There was also a whelk looking one that was a bit fishy and sandy for my tastes. Lucky I could remove the memory of it with another delicious piece of tuna.

I found the quality of the produce better than Hotaru. The sushi skills are unrefined though as some of the cuts weren't as precise as they could be; the abalone being an example and the jalapeno in the kingfish dish was all different thicknesses and sizes some bordering on chunks than slices. Our bill came to just over $100 for the two of us including a beer and a soft drink but still within reason.

We took our table in the buzzy French bistro style dining room upstairs and settled in for the evening. It was busy and we were seated in between two other dating couples. The menu is very French with a wide selection of lighter entry course and the main courses stick to the staples of steaks, roast chicken and the like.

We started off with:

• Spanner crab, avocado, brioche and salmon pearls
• Local mushrooms en papillote with shaved black truffle, confit garlic and hazelnuts (unpictured)

The mushroom dish was a special and delicious it was - perfect for the wet and Autumnal evening outside. The spanner crab was the complete opposite but still delicious; light, bright and crunchy. We found the brioche a little dry and sawdust like but the crab, avocado and salmon roe was delightful.

We shared the:

• 700g Dry Aged Cote de Boeuf

It came with some Dijon mustard and grated horseradish so we added the fries. Surprisingly the fries came with a little ramekin of malt vinegar that took me right back to the chips in the UK - such a happy place.

The steak was cooked well; classic fare really.

My workplace is just round the corner from Massi so I walk by during the day very often as I travel between our different CBD locations. I've always dismissed it as a businessmen luncheon kind of place and I think it's because of the lettering on the window, the coat rack in the doorway and the dark wood seating. But in spite of that I've also been intrigued so when a Monday night catch up with a girlfriend needed a venue I put Massi forward.

We made plans to meet for a drink at Bar Vue across the road and as I made my way there I noticed that it looked like Massi had set up one big long table down the centre of the dining room for a big booking and there didn't seem to be many tables left so I poked my head round the door to see if I could get a table for an hour or so later. We didn't think to book given it was a Monday night. The Restaurant Manager was super friendly and assured me all would be well...

When we arrived we were shown to a table in the corner that is cosy but also roomy and we can spread out our bags and stuff we tend to carry round with us. 

As we browse the menu we put an order through for the mozzarella, charred peppers, ricotta snow and balsamic and that goes to the kitchen straight away as we deliberate on everything else.

The mozzarella arrives quickly and it's plump and delicious with the charred peppers and balsamic adding that acidic tang to offset the cold creaminess of the cheese.It's classic and it's good.

We follow up with the dusted and fried calamari, Sicilian life guard style, salmoriglio (unpictured) not knowing what Sicilian lifeguard means or salmoriglio but it's doesn't matter we don't know our Sicilians because it tastes good.

My friend goes for the special pasta of the day which is a bucatinie with a Wagyu ragu and radicchio. I order the ​ricotta gnocchi with braised beef osso buco and tomato ragu.

We both enjoy our dishes - hearty, comforting and familiar. Our summary of the dishes are that they are pleasing and heartwarming. We don't think they're quite at the Tipo 00 level but the small shortfall is made up by the comfy surroundings and relaxed atmosphere. I find Tipo 00 a bit frantic to relax in sometimes and it's hard to get a table.

Higher Ground - a place of worship? Well I did drop in two days in a row for breakfast so almost a regular church goer! Undeniably a beautiful fit out, sympathetically done and with a calm zen about it; almost holy perhaps? It's great for solo diners who can share communal benches or tables but also good to for those that like to dine with a friend or two.

My first breakfast was the much lauded kale and cauliflower salad, miso, almond hummus, avocado, poached egg, puffed rice and I added the cured kingfish. I wasn't completely sold on fish for breakfast but I guess the Japanese do it so why not me...There's a lot of green on the plate with a splash of violet form the purple cauliflower. The textures of the veggies are crisp and the flavours clean, intense and fresh with the almond hummus adding creaminess and nuttiness. It's a good dish; simple but packed full of flavour and light on the tummy. It puts a spring in the step. And my cuppa tea was a good one too.

So after a successful breakfast, I found myself in the same place the next day and gave the Eggs Benedict a whirl. No photo I'm afraid. It was delicious. Served more like a toastie on sourdough rather than an English muffin and the vinegar powder adding a delicious piquant tang. This was clever and inspired and delicious.

I was impressed by the saintly offerings of Higher Ground although when I first read the menu I wasn't too taken as it's not the traditional fare that is on offer. Minced lamb fry up isn't the first thing on my list for breakfast but now that I've been there twice I'd happily give it a go a third.

I was taken here by a couple of Greek friends and we sat on the outside terrace suspended high above the beautiful Melbourne city centre. There night was dark and the sparkling city lights made it a magical place to dine. The night breeze was kept out by the layers of plastic and sliding screens. It felt like we were in a traditional taverna on the inside but the view reminded us we were definitely in the city.

Service was friendly and we secured a table without a booking. The live music was a lovely touch and we ordered a variety of dishes to dig in and share. Feast and friendship are great things and Melina supported this premise with her whole heart.

Saganaki, pitta bread, dips, chips, lamb, octopus, salad were warmly received and they were delicious. Traditional, simple and hearty. Special mention goes to the tender lamb and the lemon flavoured octopus.

We loved the unpretentious nature of this rooftop gem and I'd sure be up for their hospitality again.

Work lunch with Lenka took us to Sam Sam where we were quickly seated in a funky little dining room. I ordered the spicy stir fried pork belly and Lenka went schnitzel. Both dishes came with rice. 

Servings are generous and tasty and arrived quickly. The pork was a little sweet so I think I prefer the Seoulja Boy version plus that one has a runny egg which makes all things better. However this was still good and we both enjoyed our meals and concluded that Sam Sam is decent place for a Korean lunch.