Would you believe a lunch buffet in a five star hotel for the cost of a two course meal at a regular restaurant? $45? That's what's on offer at Collins Kitchen.

The assortment/choice of food is reasonable considering the price and included Oysters, Salmon, Sushi Rolls, Salads, Fresh Wood fired pizza, Pasta (Spaghetti or Fettuccine), assorted dim sum, various antipasto ingredients, Asian rice dishes (Chicken rice) and a variety of meats - mini burgers, mini steaks, sausages and more. Desserts were a good range with six types of ice creams, an assortment of cakes, fresh baked cookies and other single serve desserts.

Quality wise, the food was fresh and tasted good. The issue I do have is that the cooking staff serving the food to you do not wear rubber gloves when cutting meats, preparing sushi or scooping ice cream into cones. I was really worried when one of the staff was scooping ice cream was holding the cone with a hand that had several band aids around the fingers - who knows how old these band aids were??!! Another staff member went from cooking pasta and adding ingredients (parmesan cheese, garlic, spring onion) with his hands and then cutting pieces of chicken with the same hand, even if his hands are clean, you don't necessarily want the smell of parmesan cheese on a Chinese chicken dish. The place also does a la carte which caused some confusion with what was for buffet and what was a la carte. The cooking is completed in a central area which is on display for all to see, and the a la carte items are placed in an area that can be easily mistaken for further fare on offer. One of the chefs totally lost it and blew up and screamed at one of our guests for touching the a la carte dish he had put out for serving yet there was no sign saying that these dishes were not part of the buffet! Hardly professional or courteous! They need to put a sign there saying it is a la carte only!

The wait staff are very attentive and looked after us well. It is just the Kitchen staff who probably need a bit more training on food handling and safety!

On a quality and value count, this place provides great quality and value for what is on offer. It is the service that needs to be lifted to be part of a five star hotel!

Approximate cost: $45

Given that this place won the Best Pizzeria of the year in 2010 we had high expectations of a good pizza with plenty of quality ingredients and most of all - taste and flavor.

We ordered a traditional pizza, Capricciosa, and Saliccia (Sausage pizza) and found that the flavors were okay to good, However they did not represent pizzas that make you say Wow! That was good. The Pizza bases ended up being reasonably dry, but not dry enough that it was like a cracker. Ingredients were sparse like Pizzas you would find in Italy, however the flavors of the ingredients did manage to shine through. We found the serving sizes average - other places we have been to tend to be a little bit larger for pizzas and pastas.

The pasta menu we found limiting with only four pasta dishes, however the canneloni was good with its cheese and spinach filling.

Approximate cost: $20

If you're mad on sushi and looking for a good range then this is a good place to try. I ordered Salmon and Cucumber maki here which were both fresh and the Salmon did not smell fishy. I also ordered Teriyaki Chicken on rice here and the prices are reasonable and the taste of the food is good. It's not going to be a revelation in Japanese food, however given the prices and the reasonably good serving size of the Teriyaki Chicken it represents good value. Because of the value for money equation, this place can get quite full at lunchtimes, so you may need to wait a bit or otherwise get there earlier!

Approximate cost: $12

This pie shop has been around for more than 30 years and the pies and other items used to be one of the best kept secrets in Melbourne.

You would not find this place unless you went searching hard or stumbled upon it by accident!

The original owner has gone now and some new people are running the place. The venue has been refurbished to a more modern upbeat look - so the atmosphere of a 1960s pie shop with vinyl floor tiles and fixed tables with fixed seats are gone! As someone said, it's like a "Noo Yawk" style pie shop now!

The quality, whilst not as good as it used to be when the previous owner was incredibly fussy about everything from the crust to the filling, is still good. The range of pies, pastries and cakes however seems a lot smaller now.

My main favorites continue to be spinach and cheese in filo pastry and chicken and leek pie. The steak and pepper pies pack a punch with quite fiery pepper corns and the steak onion and tomato is are my favorites for a beef pie.

So all in all, it's a good place to grab a pie or a filo but I think that it has lost a bit of it's edge with the new owners! Bring back the old recipes!!

Approximate cost: $6

About 10 years ago now, one of the brothers running Tokio in The Causeway just off Bourke St broke away from the place and started his own business in Gurner's Lane which is near William and Collins Street. Being in the "Business district" of Collins St they have attracted the business lunch crowds and despite the place being small, the queues at lunch time can go out the door and it is a mad rush for seating as there are only 10 or so tables. The reason for their popularity is like their sister restaurant, Tokio, they provide consistently good tasting and reasonably priced Japanese meals. For me it's the Teriyaki Chicken and Tempura on Rice - both reasonably priced and very tasty. True to form they still follow Japanese tradition of taking care with the way dishes are presented. I also have the bento from time to time which provides a good assortment of chicken or beef, rice, potato salad and other condiments all well presented. Service is good given that sometimes they are out of control with so many orders, however they thank you for waiting and are always very pleasant despite being under pressure with lots of orders mounting up from the hungry people waiting for their orders. If you're in the business district and after quick Japanese on the run, visit Don Bay for that Japanese fix!

Approximate cost: $16

This place has been around for more than 20 years and I have been a regular visitor when I used to work in the city and now when I visit the city to see clients I often go there for a quick snack or lunch on the run. The place's popularity is reflected by the crowds that they have at lunchtime. They continue to provide consistent, very good quality Japanese at reasonable prices. The Gyoza are cooked just right, as is the karaage (fried chicken) and I normally order the Sukiyaki beef or the Ten Don- Tempura veggies on rice. Consistently great tasting and good value for money Japanese. If you are on the other side of the city - near William and Collins St, I highly recommend the sister restaurant Don Bay in Gurner's Lane - see my other listing!

Approximate cost: $15

This place provides amazing service despite the fact that they don't have a physical store. Their phone support and help with recommendations and videos of new products makes buying IT equipment easier and it's normally at a very competitive price. The only bug bear is that you need to order $200 to get free shipping so sometimes I prefer to go to the local Officeworks store, let them check estore's price if it is cheaper and then they beat estore's price by 5%! A little tricky but hey, you gotta make sure your hard earned money gets you value! eStore also tends to store more up to date models - which is what happened when it came time to buying a new modem/router - Officeworks had no idea about the modem and eStore was one of the first in Australia to make it available at a price nearly $100 cheaper than it's nearest competitor!

Approximate cost: $300

Have you ever wondered how the other half live? Well of course you have! There are a few ways of achieving a champagne lifestyle on a shoestring and this is one of them!

The Entertainment book can be purchased from many charities around Melbourne such as Peter Mac Callum Cancer, Anti Cancer Council, and Wesley Mission, just to name a few. Other States, please check with the website and call the local branch - www.entertainmentbook.com.au.

What the book does is provide you with a discount of between 25% to 50% off meals, shopping and activities.

Many of the restaurants in the book offer buy one get one free so that $50 gourmet dish you had all of a sudden becomes a $25 plate provide you order two dishes - effectively it can halve the cost of a meal!

In addition, the book has vouchers for shopping and where you will redeem the value of the book and more is the fact it allows you to purchase Coles Gift Cards for use in Coles Supermarkets and even better, Woolworths Gift Cards for use in almost any Woolworths store (think Big W, Woolworths, Dick Smith, Caltex-Woolworths Petrol). All of a sudden, you don't need to chase those 4 cent discount vouchers and try to spend $30 for the discount because the gift cards are issued at 5% off the value - so a $100 gift card is $95. Use it to buy petrol and save hundreds if not thousands of dollars each year! With petrol running at $1.50 this means you automatically receive a 7.5c discount off your petrol just by buying the card! (Are we smiling yet??!!) It also means that anything you buy at the supermarket automatically is 5% cheaper - think regular purchases like bread, milk, cheese, veggies etc. If it's on sale, it's also 5% cheaper than what you see!

If you have a problem or issue with the card, the support people at the entertainmentbook.com.au phone centre/help are friendly and helpful and if you are after books for overseas locations (Think USA, NZ etc) you can also buy those from them too!

The book if used regularly (and I dine out a lot!!) is a great way to try new places and receive a discount which lowers the "risk" of trying new places.

There are lots more things on offer there including cinema, parks, magazines, hotel, car hire discounts and more!

Highly recommended - go get one today and become a member of entertainmentbook.com.au. And know that you're doing good for the Charity you buy it from too as they benefit from the sale!

Now that you've probably found a way to save a few dollars (especially on petrol!) please leave a favorable comment for me if you can -leave a "Great Writing", "Useful" or other comment to let others know you're happy with my reviews! Thanks!

Approximate cost: $65

I visit this store for something special and is Australian made, which is hard to find nowadays. I highly recommend these as a gift as the boxes of chocolate that I have purchased have all been very appreciated by the recipients. I also buy a few for myself but it is hard to control the desire to consume a box in a day or two... don't sit infront of the tv with these or they'll be gone real fast! Some of my favorite are the salted caramel, dark hazelnut clusters, caramelised coconut, and gianduja truffle. I am not really a fan of the alcohol based ones, however the alcohol content tends to be on the lighter side for those who enjoy a bit of a kick in their chocolates.

I recommend finding out what types of chocolates your friends or the recipient of the gift likes first and then visiting the store to select the ones you know they will like. They have different sized gift boxes which are flat rate so you can mix and match what would be your friend's or relative's favorite selection! I purchase a box which costs around $50 which for those who can't decide what will best suit your recipient will enable you to select almost one of every type in the store!

Approximate cost: $50

For fast Mexican on the run, visit Salsas for burritos, mexi crinkles chips, nachos, tacos and quesadillas.

Whilst we found the burritos to be great tasting and very filling, however the chips were quite salty (causing the need for lots of water!!) and the quesadillas were not crisp - I think wrapping it in foil did not help - probably wrapping it in greaseproof paper would have been better to ensure that the pastry part did not go soggy.

The food is great and pricing is reasonable. However from a nutritional point of view after reading the saturated fat content of many items, it's not far off many items that McDonald's offers so it pays to be a bit careful here as the health aspect is not necessarily any lower than having McDonald's!

Approximate cost: $15