My mother is a bit of a foodie and keeps a keen eye out for new places to try.

h2b and I are about to move out North, new for both of us……so we are keen to try new places that way, will make the transition easier for me….as I will miss my usual haunts around Abbotsford, Hawthorn and Kew.

Bar Idda was high on her list ( 132 Lygon St Brunswick East VIC 3057 – (03) 9380 5339
Open Tue-Fri 5pm-10pm; Sat 9am-2pm, 5pm-10pm)

We called to book on the day, to be told we could only get an outside walk-in table or wait till 8:30…..this was on a Tuesday night!

We decided to leave it and try another time, only to be lucky just the next day to get a table at 7pm.

Mum and I headed over, luckily just after the worst of peak hour…Chandler Hwy is really shocking most times of the day.

We arrived just in time, to be seated right next to the front door, which usually bodes badly for being knocked by passers-by. But at Bar Idda it worked out well, there are not many tables and luckily they are not too close together.

The menu is nice and short, nice choices and nice smells from the other tables.

Starting with a bowl of marinated green olives which were probably some of the best I have had in Melbourne, close to Bouzy Rouge’s warm black version even.

The mains come plain and you add sides as you wish. I ordered chicken cooked in bitter chocolate with fennel seeds and cloves and mum ordered the swordfish.

We both ordered the same side salad of fresh peas, snowpeas and asparagus, which came with some crumbed bread and red onion.

The chicken was very interesting, I am not sure if I would order it on a regular basis but it was worth a try. The swordfish was perfectly cooked…..and we both agreed that we liked the salad best of all.

We avoided the desserts, although I have a weakness to Cassata….it reminds me of the old Italian restaurant in Kingston of my youth….Santa Lucia. This place had the wine bottles with candles and wax dripping down the side, the check table clothes….the whole shebang!

Anywhoo……Bar Idda, great place to eat but not the best for long lingering as it gets noisy with a full house.