Trunk Diner

Trunk has a few different venues on its site in the Melbourne CBD, including a cute little American Diner next to the beer garden out front of the main restaurant. The Diner serves a range of food items on its lunch and dinner menu, including hot dogs, burgers, sandwiches and salads. It also has a variety of different appetizers, which is where Belinda and I started out our dinner.

We sampled three different appetizers between us. The crumbed pepperjack cheese sticks were quite tasty on their own, and even better with the maple BBQ sauce. The buffalo wings came with either original or Franks hot sauce (depending on how spicy you wanted them to be) and a blue cheese dressing. There were also mini corn dogs on the menu with American mustard. They tasted good, but needed a thicker layer of cornmeal on them.

For my main dish I had the waygu burger with tomato, cos baby lettuce and house-made pickles on a brioche bun. Even though it was medium-rare, the outside of the burger was a bit charred, which affected the taste of the burger a bit.

Trunk Diner does have a lot of the choices you would expect to find on an American diner menu. It would be good to go back and try their hot dogs and deli sandwiches, as well as sample some desserts.

Trunk Diner
275 Exhibition Street, Melbourne
Open weekdays 7:30am - late and weekends 8:00am - late

Burger Project

Proving that Melbourne hasn't reached its burger saturation point yet, celebrity chef Neil Perry recently opened Burger Project in the new retail complex St Collins Lane. It's the first tenant to open in this upscale food court, and there are plenty of places to sit and eat once you've placed your order at the counter.

Burger Project has many different burger options on offer, with eight different beef burgers, three chicken burgers, and one mushroom burger on the menu. You can also order fries with different flavored salts, milkshakes (yes, even thick ones), alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and assorted ice cream desserts.

For my lunch I went with the Cheese Burger, which contains grass fed beef, cheese, onion, pickles, tomato, lettuce and secret sauce. It was surprisingly good and cooked to perfection - definitely up there with the top burger places in Melbourne. I also had to try out their chocolate thick shake as it is so hard to find them here. While it tasted really good, it wasn't quite as frozen as I would have liked.

Kat had the Magic Mushroom Burger, which contains a crumbed confit mushroom, cheese, onion, pickles, tomato, lettuce and secret sauce. She thought it tasted great, especially as mushroom burgers can be hit or miss. We shared a large serving of the fries with the chipotle chili salt on them, which gave the fries a bit of a kick.

For our first trip we were quite impressed with Burger Project and look forward to returning to try out some more of their burgers.

Burger Project
St Collins Lane
Level 2, 260 Collins Street, Melbourne
Open daily 11am - 9pm

Doughboys Doughnuts

Doughnuts have become a big trend in Melbourne, with many new places opening around town that are going beyond the classic hot jam doughnut with their own unique flavor combinations. One of the best though is Doughboy Doughnuts, who keep an element of the classic with their yeast and cake doughnut creations.

Their flagship store on the corner of Bourke and William Streets in Melbourne produces a rotating range of five different flavors to choose from on any given day. I have been there a couple of times and never been disappointed by the choices I have made. They have your traditional yeast doughnuts with sugar or glaze, cream or jam filled doughnuts, and my favorite - old fashioned doughnuts, which were impossible to find in Australia until now.

Apple Cider, Mint Slice, Walnut Rock, Bullseye and Mulled Wine doughnuts

I like that their flavors are not over the top but more of a complement to the different style of doughnuts they are making. You will never be able to go back to having subpar doughnuts again after trying Doughboys' creations.

Doughboys Doughnuts
535 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Open Monday - Friday 7:00am - 4:30pm

Haagen-Dazs Melbourne Pop-Up House

Pop-up restaurants have been popular in Melbourne for a while now. Following on from the success of the In-N-Out burger pop-up events in Australia, American ice cream maker Haagen-Dazs has set up a little house in Federation Square to serve their ice cream from 11 March - 16 April.

The house is situated on Flinders Street next to ACMI and has both indoor and outdoor seating. There are 12 different flavors to choose from, which you can get as one scoop ($6), two scoops ($9) or three scoops ($12).

I decided to sample two different scoops. The mint leaves and chocolate contained spearmint ice cream with chocolate fudge chunks and tasted light and yummy. The salted caramel was rich and indulgent with its caramel ice cream that also included golden caramel nuggets. So delicious.

Belinda also tried out two scoops but went with lighter flavors. The raspberry sorbet, which was served on a bed of cotton candy, had a smooth and consistent texture with a refreshing pop of raspberry. The green tea ice cream had a strong green tea flavor with its use of matcha, and if you like green tea it won't disappoint.

If you are in Melbourne be sure to get down to Federation Square before 16 April to try out some flavors. The house will then move on to Sydney next.

Haagen-Dazs House
Federation Square, Melbourne
Open Tues-Thurs 5-10pm, Fri 5-11pm, Sat 2-11pm and Sun 2-9pm until 16 April 2016

Fancy Hank's BBQ Joint

One of the benefits of visiting a place with a large group of people is that you get the opportunity to sample a wide variety of dishes. I was fortunate enough to have my work Christmas lunch at Fancy Hank's BBQ Joint by the Queen Victoria Market. The upstairs eating area is spacious and bright, although with the warm temperatures in Melbourne having a table with sunlight streaming in over us meant it did get a bit hot (even with the fans overhead).

The place uses traditional pit smokers to cook all their meats, which really results in some great tasting selections. As we were a large group we ate off of the set menu ($38 per person), with dishes brought out to the table on large trays to share. Our meat selections were the Angus beef brisket, Carolina style chopped hog, beer can chicken and sausage. All of them tasted absolutely amazing. Our vegetarian friends were served red bell pepper stuffed with vegan beans, which they also enjoyed.

There were also a number of sides with the menu, including burnt end beans, mac & cheese, dill pickles, cornbread, potato salad, coleslaw and farro salad. Once again all of these dishes were delicious and complemented the smoked meats. We even got a few orders of French fries for the table, which were also tasty. 

Overall this was one of the best barbecue places I have been to in Melbourne. Every dish tasted great, and we were all very full by the end of the meal. I'll definitely be back for another visit in the future.

Fancy Hank's BBQ Joint
456 Queen Street, Melbourne
Open seven days a week from 12-3pm and 6-9pm

The Grand Trailer Park Taverna

The Grand Trailer Park Taverna opened earlier this year in a space on Bourke Street that used to hold a Chinese restaurant. The interior is decked out with booths shaped like caravans and Winnebagos, along with a bunch of picnic benches in the middle of the room.

The focus of the menu is burgers, with 8 different types on offer. They also have an extensive list of alcoholic drinks, including spiked milkshakes. Since Kat, Zoran and I were there for lunch and had to go back to work we didn't partake in the drinks menu, but did each try one of the burgers.

As Kat is a vegetarian she had the Cynthia Benson burger, which contains a mushroom patty, American cheddar cheese, tomato, butter lettuce, special burger sauce and American mustard on a lightly toasted brioche bun. Mushroom patties can be very hit or miss, but Kat was impressed with this burger.

Zoran had the KSA burger, which is their signature dish and contains a premium Australian beef patty, American cheddar cheese, tomato, butter lettuce, special burger sauce and American mustard on a lightly toasted brioche bun. He thought it tasted good, although it had a bit too much sauce on it.

I went with the Francis Underwood burger, which is the same as the KSA burger with the added bonus of a mac and cheese croquette in it (if you are a House of Cards viewer we did question why BBQ ribs weren't the additional ingredient). The burger tasted good, but it was a bit overwhelming to have the mac and cheese within the burger itself.

We also ordered the beer battered chips to share, which were very tasty. And after having a large, juicy burger, we were very impressed that they supplied moist towelettes at the table so you could clean your hands after eating.

The Grand Trailer Park Taverna
87 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Open Tuesday-Sunday from 11:30 am-late

Meatmaiden

Meatmaiden is a barbecue restaurant located in the basement of a building on Little Collins Street in the city. It has an industrial feel that starts with the metal stairs that lead you down into the spacious restaurant, which has both booths and tables to sit at. My friends Mary and Tash joined me for dinner tonight and we ordered a variety of mains and sides from the menu to share.

As the name suggests, they have numerous selections of different types of meat from either the grill or the smoker to choose from. We got the O'Connor pasture-fed flat iron steak, which was grilled so tender and tasted amazing.

We also ordered the BBQ eggplant and roast tomato main, which was our favorite dish of the night as the roast tomato was so flavorful and added a lot to the taste of the overall dish.

For sides we got the shaved fennel and pomegranate salad, which was so refreshing and light with its citrus dressing, as well as the mac & cheese, which had a fantastic breadcrumb topping and was really creamy. If you are feeling more extravagant you can order the lobster mac & cheese dish.

Of course we couldn't leave without having dessert, and we ordered two dishes to sample. The Bourbon creme brulee was lovely and smooth, but the real winner was the lemon meringue pie that they served deconstructed in a glass with lemon sorbet on top. It was one of the best desserts we have ever tasted.

Meatmaiden
Basement, 195 Little Collins Street, Melbourne
Open Monday-Saturday 12:00-3:00 pm and 5:00 pm-late

Mason Dixon American Sandwich Bar

In the US the Mason-Dixon line is considered the boundary between the North and the South. In Melbourne it is a yummy place to have lunch. Justin and I finally managed to escape the office to try out the Mason Dixon American Sandwich Bar, which is located in a food plaza along Collins Street. It has a range of sandwiches to choose from on the menu, including different types of reubens, cubanos, pulled pork and hoagies.

Justin decided to eat "South" and ordered the Carolina Pulled Pork sandwich, which contains slow-roasted pork, coleslaw, dill pickles and Carolina BBQ sauce on a brioche bun. He thought the pulled pork was super tender and that the flavors were subtle yet tasty.

I chose to order "North" and had The MD Reuben, which contains the classic ingredients of corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Russian dressing on toasted rye bread. It was very tasty with its high quality corned beef, and the dill pickle and pretzels really emphasized the New York deli flavors.

For dessert I couldn't resist the peanut butter pie (complete with whipped cream). It was really good with a chocolate top, crumb base and peanut butter filling that wasn't too rich.

While we were eating the American owner Garrett Huston came over to say hello and check on how we were finding the food. I really appreciated that level of customer service and the obvious pride he takes in the food he is making. I look forward to returning and trying out more of the sandwiches on the menu (I already have my eye on The Rachel).

Mason Dixon American Sandwich Bar
7/480 Collins Street, Food Plaza, Melbourne
Open from 9:00 am - 3:30 pm Monday to Friday

Bowery To Williamsburg

Bowery to Williamsburg brings a bit of New York deli to the Melbourne CBD. It is one of the spots my work colleagues and I occasionally visit for lunch, especially around American holidays when they sometimes feature a special dish that will remind me of home. The Oliver Lane restaurant has both outdoor and indoor seating, and the interior is styled a bit like a New York subway station.

The main feature of the lunch menu is the variety of sandwiches that are available for $13, or for $17 you can add a side of your choice, pretzels and a pickle. Sides include different types of salads, but really, you can't go wrong with the mac & cheese (I honestly don't know why you would want to order anything else).

On this visit I ordered what I consider to be their best sandwich - the Reuben. It contains pastrami, sauerkraut, Russian dressing, melted Swiss cheese and pickle on rye bread. No matter how many other sandwiches I try this is the one I always come back to. My work colleague John decided to order the Lechon Asado, which contains Cuban braised pork, pickled zucchini, fennel and celeriac slaw, and garlic aioli on a brioche bun. It was good, but I thought it had a bit too much aioli on it, which took away from the taste of the pork. I am a big fan of the pickle, but for some reason we were served a sweet pickle instead of a dill one on the tray, which for a New York deli place is unacceptable (I'm hoping it was just an oversight).

If you still have room to eat after such a filling lunch, there are several dessert options, including pies, cakes and brownies (yes, you can get it as take away). I grabbed a piece of the baked N.Y. cheesecake ($7) to go for my afternoon tea, and it was a decent sized slice.

There aren't that many New York style deli places in Melbourne, so it's good that Bowery to Williamsburg meets the brief for the most part.

Bowery to Williamsburg
16 Oliver Lane and 123 Hardware Street, Melbourne
Open for breakfast and lunch 7 days a week