Añada

197 Gertrude Street, Melbourne


Spanish restaurants are one of my favourite destinations when I head out to eat, as I can always look forward to enjoying the well rounded hearty flavours and great Spanish wines. From the large selection of Spanish tapas restaurants in Melbourne, Añada has to be one of my favourites, with a lovely, cosy interior and great staff, Añada makes you feel welcome before you even try any of their delectable food offerings.

Sangria

Patatas bravas

Patatas bravas is a very well known dish and served in almost all of the Spanish tapas restaurants I have visited. The dish served at Añada contained potatoes that were fried well, with a good balance of the sauce and aioli.

Crispy eggplant

Arroz negro paella, calamari, prawns, mussels, trevally & ink

Chargrilled Angus rump cap

Although all of the dishes at Añada were exceptional, I particularly enjoyed the chargrilled Angus rump cap. Every element of the dish was prepared to a high standard, with amazingly cooked beef and a hint of horseradish, which gave it a little flavourful kick that I was not used to, but enjoyed immensely.

Crema catalana

As a lover of desserts and all things sweet, as well as having trained as a pastry chef, I was quite embarrassed by the fact that I had never heard of crema catalana before. The smooth custardy dessert was very similar to the French creme brulee, but was more fragrant and had a lovely orange flavour spread throughout it.

Añada is definitely a restaurant I look forward to visiting and is usually the first on my mind when I am thinking about Spanish food. With a great food offering as well as an expansive Spanish drinks menu and friendly team of staff, you can easily see why Añada is one of the best.

Food Rating 9/10

Overall Rating 9/10

Hinoki Japanese Pantry

279 Smith Street, Fitzroy


Hinoki is a lovely Japanese grocery store in the middle of Fitzroy that also serves a variety of fresh sushi from their sushi bar. With a spacious and clean interior while selling a variety of Japanese groceries as well as their sushi bar serving fresh and innovative sushi, Hinoki is definitely a gem that I was lucky to stumble upon.

Modern storefront 

Japanese groceries

Hinoki offers a range of hard to find Japanese grocery and pantry items such as Matcha Pocky, fishcakes in various shapes and prints and Japanese alcohol.

Sushi counter

Nosé-maki & sashimi $14.00

The nosé-maki is an experimental sushi by Hinoki which combines a vegetable maki roll with salmon, mayonnaise and tobiko on top. Because the fish is on top of the roll you get a mixture of the flavours of the vegetable and salmon as well as a really great texture with the crisp shredded carrot in the maki roll. 

Not only does Hinoki have a large range of Japanese groceries and fresh and unique sushi, they also boast a team of friendly staff with great service as well as phone orders for their sushi. A truly great find and I would highly recommend anybody that enjoys sushi to give HInoki a try.

Food Rating 8.5/10

Overall Rating 9/10