Very Cheap Eats

AOF 2008, Very Cheap Eats, weblog, viewed 17th May 2011, <http://www.verycheapeats.com/>.

This is a blog that came into existence in 2008 because the bloggers believed that The Age Cheap Eats Guide did not honestly represent it's $30 price guide any more. One of the writers had eaten at a past Cheap eats restaurants of the year, Rumi and paid $80 for a meal! So the Very Cheap Eats blog was formed with reviewers able to contribute reviews of any eateries for meals that cost round about $20 for at least two meals. People can contribute reviews from any where in the world, although the majority appear to be from Melbourne and some from other parts of Australia. There are 38 reviews of different eateries to be found on this blog archived by year, month, restaurant title and contributor. It is disappointing that there is no way to search eateries by countries cuisines. Initially there were 27 reviews in 2008 but since then review numbers have tailed off and it's seems the contributors enthusiasm is not as great as it once was with only 2 reviews for this year. There are reviewing guidelines and the reviews are all well written, informative with information on ambience, service, price, taste and most come illustrated with photographs. It is great to see a collective of blog food reviewers come together to create such a useful resource. T.N.

Spatula, Spoon and Saturday blog

Kat 2008, Spatula, spoon and Saturday, weblog, viewed 28 April 2011, <http://www.spatulaspoonandsaturday.com/>


Spatula, Spoon and Saturday


 Spatula, spoon and Saturday is one woman's personal Melbourne-based food diary giving full reviews of each eatery, and at times including recipes, of weekend meals with family and friends. The reviews are clear, well written and insightful from the author's personal eating experience for each eatery visited. High quality photographs adorn each review depicting the food and venue under review. The photographs alone tell a story but can almost overpower the review due to their size and quantity. The reviewer's blog has been included in the popular urbanspoon website and its associated smartphone application. Each review gives details of the eatery, food consumed, price, overall ambience and feel as well as service recieved. The blog is well indexed with seperate indexes for recipes, reviews by eatery category (cafe, restaurant, Melbourne CBD lunches, etc) and most importantly for this project, by cuisine. As a place to gather ideas and inspiration for multicultural eatries to try, on a budget, Spatula, spoon and Saturday would be a great place to start, and to keep coming back to read new reviews and blog entries. J.S.

Melbourne Culinary Journal

PiCi & BC 2010, Melbourne Culinary Journal, weblog, viewed 29 April 2011,
<http://www.melbourneculinaryjournal.com/>

This blog is ranked number four on the urbanspoon Victorian blog leader board and reviews a wide selection of restaurants, bars, cafes and food stores (some are cheap eats) mainly in the Melbourne CBD. A recently created blog, it covers reviews from September 2010 to present and each review includes photos of the venue and dishes reviewed, a rating and at the end there is a selection of further restaurants that may interest the reader. All reviewed restaurants are listed on the left side of the blog as links so they are easy to access. Overall reviews are concise and well written. The blog features an explanation of the rating system for both formal and informal dining, a score out of 5 and 10 respectively. The authors are also willing to provide restaurant recommendations and further information on reviewed restaurants via email. It is well designed and organised blog and easy to navigate. S.S.

MEL: HOT OR NOT blog

Live Sideways Pty Ltd 2011, MEL: HOT OR NOT, viewed 8th May 2011
http://www.melhotornot.com/

This blog's decisive mission is to rate what is Hot or Not in Melbourne. This blog is ranked as number 6 on Urbanspoon's blog rankings and has been viewed 91366 times and has 181 posts. Right from the get go I love all the navigation tags on the side bar, it made it very straight forward to organise restaurant and cafe reviews by price, type or suburb. Searching by the under $20 price range brings up over 25 pages of reviews! There are also tags for Japanese and French eateries. The blog post restaurant and cafe reviews are written well and follow what Joyce has eaten and show photographs of the ambience of the eating place and some of the food she ate. A large majority of the blog posts are rated hot rather than not, as the author usually researches what she reviews before she visits and she usually does not waste her time if she has a feeling some thing will be sub standard. There is also a great Google heat map that she has mapped hot places to visit. There is a also a great pages of links to other websites called Mel: HOT reads. It is a very busy and informative blog which I have been excited to find as I am sure I will find some great eating places to try out. T.N.

Sweet And Sour Fork blog

Ming 2011, Sweet And Sour Fork, weblog, viewed 29 April 2011, <http://sweetandsourfork.blogspot.com/>.

Ming, a university student, is a food blogger and gastronomic adventurer who only began the Sweet And Sour Fork in February this year and already attracted 2415 pageviewers to her blog. Ming’s blog includes reviews of Melbourne's CBD restaurants, cafes, multicultural cuisine venues, and cheap eateries. Ming’s true passion for food is evident from her postings, which reflect her social life of eating out with friends. V.O.

Eat and be merry, for tomorrow we die(t) blog

Eat and be merry, for tomorrow we die(t) 2010, viewed 30th April 2011, <http://eatandbemerryfortomorrowwediet.blogspot.com/>

This blog is currently number 1 on Urbanspoon's blog rankings, boasting over 125,520 page views and 176 blog entries, each giving a detailed review of eateries in and around Melbourne.  Although this blog only started publishing restaurant and cafe reviews in February 2010, it has quickly attracted a large following with its attentive and even treatment of each of the establishments visited.   Each post includes photos of the venues and the dishes reviewed, and is punctuated with a concise rating summary.  Any Melbourne foodie would do well to have this blog bookmarked. W.V.