Introduction to Mietta's On-Line Restaurant Guide

The basic philosophy of this guide is to tell you why an establishment is worth visiting. It assesses the full diversity of Australia’s restaurant, cafe and bar industry - from a good place for coffee to the most expensive dinner available. Because, all have a role to play as we use different sorts of establishments to suit the company and the occasion.

Using Mietta's Best Australian Restaurants

The book is ordered alphabetically in states, which are then subdivided into city and country. Cities may be divided again. For example, Melbourne has three divisions – CBD and Southbank, north of the Yarra and south of the Yarra.

Price

The '$' and '+' signs show the cost of food, per person, without drinks (this figure is supplied by the establishment). They also indicate the type of experience you will have. Clearly what you buy for $10 is very different to what you get for $100. The $10 place is a deli, an ethnic cafe or somewhere for coffee, but $100 buys you, damask tablecloths, crystal glassware, good silver, professional waiters and elaborate food.

and symbols

Establishments are awarded plates (up to three) for the quality of their food in relation to its price. On the same basis they are awarded rings (up to three) for ambience. Service is included in ambience. Bars only receive ratings for ambience.

Cuisine

Is noted where appropriate. If no cuisine is indicated then the establishment is one of the 55 per cent

who describe their menu as ‘modern Australian’ with a bewildering number of influences.

Opening hours and holidays

‘Open’ indicates days and hours of opening. ‘L’ stands for Lunch, ‘D’ is Dinner, ‘Brk’ Breakfast. For example, 7 days L, D; or Mon-Fri 7am-7pm (Fri 8pm). ‘Shut’ refers to holidays. For example Good Fri; or Xmas-8/1 means closed for annual holidays for two weeks from Xmas Day.

Licence, BYO and Corkage

Licenced is ‘Lic’, licenced and BYO is shown as ‘Lic/BYO’. Corkage, type permitted and charge appears as ‘Cork Wine only $btl’. A complete example is, Lic/BYO Wine only (not Sat) $5 btl (or ea, i.e. per person).

Bookings Credit Cards and Private Rooms

It is assumed that establishments take bookings when they don’t ‘No Bookings’ appears. Similarly credit cards are only noted if they are not taken – ‘No Cards’. Private rooms are indicated by the number of seats in the room. If there is more than one they are separated by commas. For example, Priv Rms 12, 20, 40 means three private rooms holding 12, 20, 40 respectively.

Statistics

Population statistics are projections for 1998 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. These figures and the percentage of migrants from non-English speaking backgrounds come from their web site (www.abs.gov.au). Tourism numbers come from the scraps of information that the Bureau of Tourism Research allows one to download free from their website (www.btr.gov.au).