I don't know how I stumbled across this lunch delivery but I'm certainly glad I did. While there…read moreare so many options for healthy lunches in the city, I feel that a good, tasty, inexpensive salad is more of a hidden gem. The menu goes up a few days before and orders close on the Monday, for delivery on the Wednesday. Jacq comes and delivers it to your workplace and it looks like she's getting busier and busier, with this week's menu being sold out before I got a chance to order. She's definitely come up with a great idea for lunches with the focus on making healthy packages that she would want to eat. ie stuff from her 'nonno's garden'. When I first saw the lunch, I thought it was small, but my eyes were obviously too big for my stomach. Our lunch was the: TRIPLE DECKER BLISS SALAD QUINOA CRUMBED EGGPLANT - TOP layer #1 MIXED MEGA SALAD - MIDDLE layer #2 MIDDLE EASTERN RICE - BOTTOM layer #3 I couldn't get through it all, not because it wasn't tasty (it definitely was 'freakin good') but because it fills you up pretty quickly. I ended up saving some for my afternoon snack and it tasted just as good. Good Freakin Food is already on my email contact list, ready to place the orders quick smart when the menu for next week comes out.

Freakin yum, that's what! If it weren't for Jacq and her amazing lunch time deliveries, I think I…read morewould have died of scurvy by now. Well maybe not died, but I know I wouldn't be as well nourished as I am. On weeks that I get a salad delivery my boyfriend and I eat those MASSIVE lunch boxes two days in a row and my body is super happy. I love the variety - from rice balls to noodle salads, loads of mixed fresh organic veggies and usually a piece of fruit thrown in, it's always delicious and incredibly filling. Often I have to eat half for lunch and the other half a few hours later because they're so choc-ful. At $12 per salad it's an absolute bargain too, with the $20 lunchbox offering the best value. As well as the salad you get a seasonal juice and a healthy ball thing that's loaded with nuts and coconut and deliciousness.

One of the only well stocked health food shops in the Richmond area. A little pricier than others…read morebut I have always received helpful & friendly service when I have visited and am looking for something in particular! They have a wide range of supplements, health food products, skincare & cleaning products as well as a small range of fresh organic fruit and vegetables. If you are local and looking for a convenient health food shop, this is the place to go.

So happy to find this natural foods shop during my stay in Richmond, Melbourne! Very decent…read moreselection despite smaller size of the store (I'm used to my massive natural foods co-op in San Francisco and Whole Foods on practically every corner, so there's that to keep in mind), and lots of beauty products, supplements, herbs, etc. Not much of a produce selection, but it was the week between Xmas and New Years. My understanding is they have a lot more to choose from usually. No matter. Still got my "hippie essentials" (pure young coconut water, organic dark chocolate, gluten-free granola, etc.). The woman at the counter (one of the owners, I believe) was also very nice. Highly recommend this place!

Great roaster in an airport with really great coffee. Sandwiches pastries and more tooread more

It's a little hidden gem of the Melbourne coffee scene, you won't find it on a main street, but…read moretucked in right near the Carlton and United Brewery in Abbotsford. This is really a destination cafe because if you aren't into Vic Street shopping, then there is very little reason to venture down these streets, but oh my it's totally worth it. I came across the team here at the Melbourne International Coffee Expo in May 2012 and since I come every couple of weeks to pick up a fresh bag of their delicious beans, which are roasted next door. The team does an amazing job delivering the final product, in an industrial setting. They know their product and are passionate about it. Craig Simon, their roaster was a competitor in the 2012 Barista Cup - so they've got excellent pedigree. They've just added food so you can have snacks / lunch with a decent hit. So there you go - I've just spilled my secrets and shared my favourite place in Melbourne for coffee. #yourewelcome.

What is it with the trend for Southern American food at the moment? Are people watching 'Here Comes…read moreHoney-Boo-Boo' and thinking "Yeah, that's something I'd really like to emulate,"? Are they looking at the people on Maury and saying "Whatever they're eating is working for them, where can I get me some of that?"? Have the nasty images on cigarette packages finally put people off the durries and now they need to get their smoke-fix from food? Or are we, Melbourne as a collective, just determined to find a way to get more artery-clogging meatgoods into our bods? I just ate lunch delivered by Bourbon Street Melbourne. Correction: I just ate half of a lunch. The rest now inhabits the kitchen bin along with all of my hopes and dreams for decent southern style food delivered to my office. And a copy of 'The Celestine Prophecy' but that's a whole other kettle of fish (I was going to say "that's a different story" but 'The Celestine Prophecy's isn't a story, it's an abomination and an insult to bound paper). My junior colleague discovered BStM yesterday while searching on line for something that I'm sure was definitely work related as she claims. She ordered the BBQ beef in a bowl (instead of sandwich, $13.50) and I ordered the Chilli Sin Carne (also bowl, $11.50). Colleague then proceeded to get so excited about Tomorrow's Lunch that we had to put down plastic on her office chair. Seriously, it was out of control how psyched she was: anyone would think the Commonwealth Games were coming or something. Because no one should be excited about that either but there you go. 12.15 today: delivery time. Colleague had to be sedated. The delivery girl was very nice but she over-charged me by a dollar. That's ok, mistakes happen and I'm sure she didn't do it on purpose, like she has some kinda scheme going where she steals a dollar from every second person on her lunch route then at the end of the day she buys a ... I don't know, an elephant. Where would she get an elephant? Or keep an elephant for that matter? It's an absurd notion, let it go. $12.50 is still a good price for lunch and I would have been happy to pay it for good food. Sadly this was not the case. I'm not a huge eater, but this was a little serving (see photos). It was also cold but I can understand that food does get cold when being transported across time and space (I believe that is what they call entropy. Thanks Mr Campbell, year 11 chemistry!). The beans were dry and uninteresting. If you think you can't make beans interesting, you're wrong. I've done it and so has just about every Mexican in the world and there are over 110 million of them. Couldn't you have asked one of them, BStM? The 'brown' rice was actually white rice made brown with spices. Disguising something white as brown is blackface and that's racist and not cool, BStM. Brown rice is also super healthy, white rice is not. It came with cornchips that were stale. Literally everything about this dish was a fail. Colleague's BBQ was a bit less tragic - it was a fair bit bigger and came with coleslaw, and a pickle. Where's my pickle, dammit? WHERE?? For the extra dollar I really should have forgotten about how adorable cows are and ordered beef and gotten a pickle. In fact if my disappointing chilli had come with a pickle I'd probably be doing some actual work right now instead of writing a bad review of BStM.

This place and idea is amazing. Food delivery to your work, or home. Free delivery and nice tasty…read morefood. I have used this service a couple times now. Its so convenient and great for a nice lunch. The experience overall is great, From the cute delivery guy, to the last bite of the roll. I've tried the pulled pork (YUMMMM) and the Chili Sin Carne. They are both amazing. They also do kale chips, which i am yet to try.

I understand the bias. How can I not be a fan of a supermarket I live close to?!…read more Well tough titties I'm rating this place 4 stars anyway! TIP: ~ Like most (if not all) Woolworths, a lot of meat would be in the "special" section, of specially marked down for meat that needs to be used soon. You can grab some very good deals here. Just the other day I got 4 huge steaks for 10 dollars total. Somebody pinch me! Ambiance: Despite the busy atmosphere of being a grocery store on Victoria Street, the staff here do a top job of keeping this place clean and being efficient enough on the registers to get rid of large queues. The result? I never feel particularly crowded and hectic at this place, despite the barrage of customers. Contrast to say, a busy Coles, this Woolworths is a winner! Customer Service: So far, all the staff have been really nice and efficient as well. As I mentioned above, they do a great job with the queues. Selection: Overall, this Woolworths is pretty large so they have a great selection of items. Like I said, I do mainly all my shopping here and it's never let me down. --- The only thing I do have to say is that even though Woolworths does have an "Asian" section, I recommend you heading over to Minh Phat next door - for Asian goods, they do a lot better job with the prices.

Hi, usually this place has excellent customer service.Today at lunch time one of the young women at…read morethe registers was really unhelpful. Guess you can get that but spoilt my quick local shop.

The Daily Kitchen is a catering company, but it also has a little storefront on Little Collins with…read morea bunch of ready-made meals, salads, and sandwiches that are intended to be grab-and-go. I go here a lot to get their Ancient Grains salad, which is vegan and yummy and perfect for lunch. The Daily Kitchen storefront is really intended for take-out, although they do have a few tiny tables inside if you want to sit down. What I really like about this place is they have little labels on everything marking it vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, etc. so you know right away what you can and can't eat. What DOES annoy me about this place is that so many of their vegetarian options could easily be made vegan and aren't. For example, their avocado sandwich is vegan except for the tzatziki (which contains non-vegan mayo), and given that vegan mayo is super cheap and easy to come by (Praise 99% Fat Free Mayo, hi) -- well, this sandwich would be super easy and cheap to veganise. Ditto their hummus salad. It looks SO SO yummy but it has yoghurt mayo in it. Breaks my heart. There's also a falafel protein box. Totally vegan except for the egg. Arrrrgh!!! There are plenty of other sources of protein that are vegan that could replace the egg! Given that nearly half of vegetarians these days actually identify as "vegan," I think with a few tweaks, The Daily Kitchen could easily veganise their vegetarian options and open up their products to a whole new market of customers. Lots of vegans working in the CBD, yo. I personally would eat here like 2-3 times a week if they veganised the three options I mentioned above. Will also say The Daily Kitchen is a little overpriced, but they're catering to the busy professional who just wants to eat at their desk, so I kind of understand. They also have a few breakfast-y things (yoghurt, muesli, etc.) if you want something in the morning. They have a vegan mango thingie that I had once for breakfast but I wasn't a massive fan. They also have raw vegan desserts if that's your thing.

From the owner: We've all got busy lives and we know no-one wants to wait in queues for their food to be made and…read morethat most 'fast food' options are either incredibly unhealthy, boring or simply bad. So, we developed our food especially for you, the time-poor food-lovers who love life and would rather spend their lunch breaks in a park in the sunshine than in a queue waiting for their food or their latte.

There's always an employee that hands you a basket as you're on your way in. I like this. I always…read moreshop here after we see a movie, so it's never busy. The deli is still open at 9:30pm which is nice. When I was here last night though, there was nobody at the checkouts so we had to use the self checkouts which was a bit of a pain with a bigger cart or shopping.

When it comes to a supermarket chain where each branch if nearly identical, you have to look at a…read morefew things... ~ Location. Is your trip to the supermarket just going to be an "errand"? Or are there other activities in close proximity so getting groceries won't be just a chore? ~ Cleanliness. Nothing is worse than heading a supermarket where the products that are supposed to be new feel dirty and cheap. I'm a cheapass, but I don't want to feel like it! ~ Service. Supermarkets are big and sometimes when you can't find something, you need to swallow your pride and ask for it. Do the staff give you shit, or are they actually helpful? This particular Coles hits 2/3. It's located just at the Victoria Gardens Shopping Centre, so you could do a bit if shopping after a film, quick browse at IKEA, whatever floats your boat. It's relatively clean and spacious with a wide selection inside as well. The only mark that Coles doesn't hit is the customer service. I've experienced a lot of staff members that stare blankly like deer caught in headlights whenever I ask them a question. Convenient and moderately priced! Just try to avoid asking anyone for anything.

Aside from the free wifi, Rowena parade feels like a time capsule of Milk Bar that used to sit on…read moreevery major Melbourne suburban street. It's probably now more of a romanticised version of a Melbourne Milk Bar, but that's not to say it's not authentic. Rowena is still in the same Greek family (given away by the large Greek mural on the wall) - you can often see several generations sitting at the tables and behind the counter. It still functions as a Milk Bar - you can still buy milk there, but it's probably not the place for your weekly shop. That said, they definitely do have the essentials - and they also stock a some great homemade take-away meals - and when I say homemade, they genuinely do seem homemade. I'm a big fan of the Rowena burger, which has caramelised onion just right. My only gripe with their breakfasts is they don't butter the bread - which seems to be to some people's taste, but not mine. The service can be variable. Very much depends on the people on the day - That said, it's always friendly. You just sometimes need to put up a smoke signal to get served. Also, they won't split bills, so if you've got a large group, be prepared to sort the maths out yourself. Out the back there are some longer tables and a sunny garden. You need to walk though the kitchen to get there - which initially feels a little weird, but rest assured it's common practice.

A very quaint place with retro vibes but unfortunately the service and food doesn't match the…read moredecor. First we're told we will have to leave within 40 minutes for another reservation, which is fine, aside from the fact the waitress told us the food we ordered was sold out after 20 mins of waiting -- instead of telling us ahead so we could choose another item. I ordered an iced chocolate which took a solid 15 mins to arrive, and received an iced coffee which had to be remade. For the price ~$25 for a meal, I would expect optimal service which was not delivered. The food itself when it finally arrived was mediocre at best, a monotonous creamy mix of fish and egg. Don't order the smoked trout here. The one thing they did to make up for the service was to offer free drinks, but in all honesty that wasn't worth the amount of time wasted