The best things we ate in 2023

We ate at 61 new and revisited 128 places this year. These are our favourites.

This year, we hit up 189 total places. 61 of them were new places and 128 of them were revisits to existing places we've been to. Of the 189 times we dined out, these are the most memorable meals.

On Fire Charcoal Chicken

Flatlay of charcoal chicken in a takeaway container, chips, beef koftas, rice
On fire deal $55 - One whole juicy charcoal chicken topped with lebanese bread, Fattoush salad, rice, chips, 1.25lt soft drink & garlic sauce

On Fire Charcoal Chicken came in clutch multiple times this year, when we were too lazy to eat out and just wanted to grab take-away. Their serving sizes are generous and filling and their chicken is consistently juicy and tender.

Grab their On Fire deal.

Suzie's Makan Place

Top down of curry on a silver plate with prata, rice, pickled vegetables and two meat curries
2 Plain Prata + Briyani + 2 Meat Special $22

The folks from Suzie's Prata House in Spencer Village opened up a new shop, minutes away from us. With "prata" in the name of the store, you gotta try their prata and pair it with any of their curries.

Our usual order is their 2 plain prata + briyani + 2 meat special.

Slowdough Pizza

Close up of pizza with pesto, tomatoes, onion
The Bull $24 - tomato base, fior di latte, red onion, chorizo, roast capsicum, olives & vegan pesto

Slowdough Pizza has been on constant rotation for us this year. Our preference is for a thinner pizzas (Naples style) but we find these don't tend to be super take-away friendly. The sourdough pizzas here run thin enough for our tastes and travel very well.

Our favourites are the Mary's Lamb, Cave Man and Plain Jane.

Pelican Croissanterie

Hand holding baguette with mentaiko
Mentaiko baguette $6.5

The folks behind Pelican Croissanterie are the former pastry chef owners of Harvest Patisserie in Scarborough - Rob and Toshi. We visited a little too late to sample their croissants but a batch of their mentaiko baguettes had just come out from the oven. After our first bite, we knew it would make this list.

Get their mentaiko baguette or croissants.

Coffee Heads

Hand holding a roast chicken sandwich with crisps on the side
Roast chicken roll $15 - warm roast chicken, soft potato bun, remoulade, white pepper & onion relish

One of our favourite eats during our down south trip earlier this year was at Chef Brendan Pratt's (ex-head chef of Vasse Felix) new venture, Coffee Heads. We visited twice during our 5 day trip.

Grab their roast chicken roll and drive down to Abbey boat ramp (5 minutes away) for ocean views.

Elski

Hand holding a cup with "Elski Danish Ice Creamery" on it and a scoop of ice-cream
Avocado & Lime $6

This year, we had our fair share of ice-cream and gelato. Lots of new competition sprouted up on William Street - Cuccini and Kuld Creamery and Pietro Gelateria's new stores. The most memorable scoop of ice-cream we had was in Dunsborough, at Elski - a Danish ice creamery.

Get a scoop of their avocado and lime ice-cream.

BurgerFreak

Close up of large burger with beef patty, fried chicken and cheese
The Nightmare $28 - smash patty, fried chicken, streaky bacon, smoked BBQ pork belly, double American cheese, onion rings, B&B pickles, caramelised onion cream cheese, freak’n burger sauce, Peggy Sue’s BBQ & Sriracha

And the award to the freakiest burgers goes too.. BurgerFreak. BurgerFreak's menu features a couple more experimental burgers compared to what you'd normally see. For a big boy Asian like myself, I like their stunt burgers the most.

Get your hands on their The Nightmare burger.

Omakase Haku

Close up of wagyu katsu sando with shaved foie gras
A5 wagyu katsu sando, tare, foie gras and shokupan

Omakase Haku once again makes this year's list. Our second visit to Omakase Haku this year was our most memorable and most delicious visit so far. The favourite dish of the night being Chef Young's A5 wagyu katsu sando with tare, copious amounts of foie gras sandwiched in between two slices of shokupan.

In true omakase style, what you see is what you get (omakase in Japanaese meaning "I'll leave it up to you").

Goods Bakery

Top down photo of cruller donut on a flower shaped plant
Coffee Cruller $5

Last (but not the least) on the list, is Goods Bakery's cruller donuts. These satisfy the cruller donut cravings we've had, since discovering them a couple years back at Short Stop over in Melbourne.

Grab their coffee cruller donuts.