Wow, what a strange culinary weekend it has been, topped in the end by a visit to the best named…read morerestaurant ever; 'Marks Restaurant'. Not 'Dave's restaurant', not 'Rogers', 'Marks'. I would love to have been a fly on the wall during that light bulb moment. "Um...Metallica, Midget.......Mark!! Let's call it 'Marks'". "But what's that got to do with anything, Rog?" "I know, but it just might be crazy enough to work." I was taken aback by the pure joy expressed by the maître dee (whom I can only presume was Roger) when he found out he would be hosting one for dinner. Rog showed me to my table with what felt like a wheel of fortune "ta da", pleading with me to accept the crap vowel he had proffered. It is restaurant law that single dinners should be shunted to the back of the restaurant less their general wrongness upset the worthwhile clientele. Thankfully, a professional waiter took my order, and I lived happily ever after. By the way the pork was meh. The oysters were fresh and to the point but the chocolate mousse was amazing.

Lovely service, good price. Family friendly environment, but...the menu wasn't very good at all!…read moreEverything had cream or cheese or both in it, from starters to deserts, so if you don't want a dairy overload, don't go there. We all came away with an upset stomach and couldn't finish the meals.

Delicious Chinese food! There's a reason there's a line outside to get into the restaurant, they…read moreknow how to make great food. I ordered the Kung Fu noodle dish and loved the flavor of the dish. There were plenty of veggies and chicken mixed in with the noodles. The sweet sauce that was on the dish was great and balanced out with the chili flakes. Portion sizes are also large, so there is plenty leftover for a second meal. Make sure to wait a few minutes and keep any eye out after ordering, a table will open up, even if it looks crowded. Also, be prepared to eat with chopsticks because that is the only utensils they provide.

Winter isn't kind to the main street of Lorne. With temperatures dropping people hibernate and from…read morethe number of for sale signs up and down the street, the small businesses that call the Parade home, suffer greatly. Searching for dinner amongst a number of dark shop fronts, we found Chopstix which was alive with the chatter of a handful of diners. This noodle bar crossed with Polynesian Tiki is a delicious shift left of the usual seaside fish and chips. We were served promptly and dinner came only moments later. Our main size servings of Pad Thai and Nasi Goreng were so large we carried noodle boxes out with us back to the hotel. Leftovers for breakfast - WINNING! The highlight for me? The Coconut Panda 'mocktail'. Served in a fresh coconut it was a blended drink of banana, coconut milk and coconut pieces. Where was Chopstix this morning at 8am when I craved this for breakfast.

Fun little stop on the Great Ocean Road in Apollo Bay…read more We ordered the Mushroom burger, the Aussie burger and kids burger with loaded fries. The mushroom burger has no meat. It is a large battered mushroom dressed like a burger. Good bun, batter and flavor. The Aussie burger is a joy. Over easy egg, beets, pineapple on a nice bun. The yoke coats the burger when you push down on it. Wonderful. Kids burger was good sized and tasty according to my daughter. Fries/chips were great plain or loaded with cheese and ham. The rockstar of the meal is mac&cheese. It is savory with sweet pickles. So unexpectedly wonderful. Just order it. Stellar place.

Excellent breakfast! Very friendly staff and the big breakfast was very tasty. Had 4 rashers of…read morebacon and the sausage was good. Lots of avocado on the toast.

Food was pretty good here, especially the local seafood chowder which is a house specialty…read more Service wasn't that flash for either our arrival or departure. Not too sure whether they have made up their mind on their style of decor...you could say its 'bitsa'...a bit of this and a bit of that.

Now a Chinese/Thai restaurant, stocks local beer and wine, has friendly efficient staff and a good…read morechef. The view is pretty good too. It was open after 8pm on a Monday night and well worth the visit. We certainly left happy and will return.

Great atmosphere and a good bar with friendly staff. Unfortunately this is yet another venue that…read morepulls peeps in with the open late label (11pm). I was after drinks and food and arrived just after 9pm. I had to leave because the kitchen was all done :-(

Great to see open very early and teh venue makes use of water view, competition were all closed on…read morea Saturday sunny morning at 7:30am, so I chose this venue, great view of ocean, amazing ambience and the coffee was great. Poached eggs on toast for $10 amazing I added the extra of a large mushroom and with the side of BBQ sauce OMG the best eggs on toast I have ever had. Great service amazing staff, I will be back for sure.

winter has come to brae!…read more two foodie friends waxing lyrical about dan da man! i wanted to believe but it's 8hrs by flight for me and another 2hrs from melbourne airport? hmmmm trepidation..... but like what michelle obama just said hope is contagious, hope is making a comeback! and so a birthday treat perhaps? took the plunge and here i am lounging at their humble abbot for the night, after an early memorably delightful degustation. it's the total package akin to total football. the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, here in brae. arriving before check in time of 3pm, met by alex and was given a quick intro to what they try to achieve here. encouraged to take a casual, self guided tour of their property and engage their staff as we go. a slight drizzle ensued and lo & behold out came alex with brollies in hand. check in was a breeze, personal yet informative. thereafter just kicked back and soaked. a rainbow welcome as you peeked out. a comfy, home away from home. retro vinyl & record player, chill indeed. refreshed and recharged, only awaiting refilling. 5pm early bird, attention showered as you stepped in to their dining room. a celebratory blanc de blanc, what's not to like? a melbourne sake? let's do adventurous, no regrets! a warming broth of chicken and thyme simple, simply heartwarming. potato gem and black truffle truffle, enough said, nothing pompous, just pimped pommes de terre! baked custard of rainbow trout and saffron glazed with beetroot the beetroot was the clever gelling touch! sea urchin and serrano honey, romanesco and chickpea crisp umami sans ammonia and textures contrasted. fennel and swede marinated with cultured citrus and biodynamic cream definitely highlighting the produce with a nice nordic touch. cauliflower, lemon and sea plants on fried sourdough so effortlessly moreish! murray cod and crustacean butter, finger lime and rapini probably the healthier protein, the crisp skin, the perfect prawn partnership. brae farm vegetable garden mom will be proud you polished this clean! pork jowl barbecued with smoked eel a stalwart and highlight, leaving you wondering how they rendered it so. aged pekin duck roasted on the bone, pickled radicchio, sweet and sour plums unfortunately, not my favourite protein and least impressive of the gamut. duck liver cream, cocoa and pistachio this lifted the duck dish and would stand tall alone! half-time (choc) orange amazingly they coupled white chocolate with varied textures of orange! caramelised red kuri pumpkin and cultured cocoa nib praline shockingly not bacon, an accomplished pumpkin rendition! parsnip and apple fan of parsnips rejoice! how desserts like these satiate! the finale a trip to the kitchen for a chat and photo op. winter warmth in brae, do seize the day! ;)

Bad food, worse service…read more Not only was the food quality at Brae extremely poor, and the menu--which highlighted greasy fried potato, skewers of pure pork fat, a disgusting savory oyster ice cream, and rubbery fried chicken--completely out of sync with the price tag ($290 pp for lunch), but this was easily the worst service experience I have ever encountered. Just over 24hrs before our meal at Brae, I was contacted by my family to tell me that my grandfather was in the ICU and if his condition worsened, we should be ready to get back to the US. My fiancé immediately emailed the restaurant to notify them of our situation and to ask if we could cancel the reservation--hopeful that they would make an exception to their extreme 7-day cancellation policy given the severity of our circumstance. Their host, Seb, responded with an extremely obnoxious email about how it was within the cancellation period and that we would be charged 100% of the meal price if we cancelled. They then immediately submitted the full meal cost to our credit card without a response. We emailed back asking for them to help us find a replacement and to notify us if they could not. They did not do this; we had to call the next day to confirm. The next day, my family had not contacted us to get on a flight, so we went to the reservation because I couldn't get my mind around wasting $580. Upon our arrival, the person greeting us at the door jokingly asked how if we had had "no tragedies" that day. We were the last table seated for lunch, so there was no ambiguity about who we were. It was very clear there had been no communication about our situation. Even if we wrote the greeter off as ignorant, the man responding to our previous day's emails, Seb, served us during lunch and not once inquired about how we were doing. When these experiences come up in life, there is a certain level of kindness and respect that most people display that was entirely absent here. Given the food and service, I am not at all surprised that Brae was taken off the World's 50 Best list. This is not a world-class restaurant, and I strongly recommend that you spend your time and money elsewhere.

I love the old house/relaxed vibe that is cafe Moby. The breakfast menu is fairly extensive and a…read morebit out of the box for Torquay. The fresh juices are divine on a hot day. The only thing holding this place back is their absence of table service and the long queue you have to wait in to place an order. It makes your visit very anti social as you need to leave people to mind the table but others need to queue. It means second rounds of drinks/desert etc are usually abandoned! Moby- You've been a leader in Torquay with your menu options, buck the trend and offer table service! We usually visit in a fairly sizable group and we can usually get a table without a wait even in the mist of summer (Torquay's peak time) due to the large amount of tables inside and out.

Cafe Moby was our lunch stop as we began our drive on the Great Ocean Road…read more The food was pretty good but it is a little expensive. The line can be long over lunch time (especially during summer). Therefore, be sure to come early if you want a seat at the cafe :)

Short and sweet: rather overpriced, very nice wait staff, and everything we had on the menu got…read moregreat reviews. Coming from New York, we were happy with the meal but it was almost painful to order anything. We hear it's a typical Australian pub. Although it felt like a restaurant, you sit where you want, order food at a counter, and get your drinks at the bar. Again coming from New York, it felt very strange paying that kind of money and not being fully waited on. However, my duck dish could not have been better prepared so I was pleased.

Calamari and chips was wonderful, girlfriend throughly enjoyed gamers bowl, beautiful place to eat…read morelooking out by the sea