fox maiden is a great little fashion retailer hidden down in the southern suburbs on aceland st in st kilda, offering one teaspoon, wildfox, something else, maurie & eve, ksubi, cheap monday among other brands, and they used to hang it on these amazingly cool thick heavy metal hangers. they've since changed it to wooden hangers, which are nowhere near as awesome (or heavy!) in my humble opinion.

this restaurant is unique in that it has no menu. you'll sit up at the counter, the chef will talk to you to gauge your tastes, then you'll watch with intrepid awe as he prepares plate after plate of deliciousness according to your tastes and what he has to offer. this style of restaurant is called omakaze in japanese and its uncommon in australia, therefore you'll be able to enjoy a unique experience coming here. the service here is impeccable, enhanced by the friendly charisma of the chef/owner. im not fully sure what his reaction would be if you told him you were a vegetarian or vegan, but probably he'd take it as a challenge and seek to impress as always.

the coriander here smells amazing, very much outdoes all other corianders from other vendors in this market in terms of appearance, smell and flavour. the king edward potatos were smooth and creamy when cooked, and their ginger is off the wall ridiculously good. these guys also offer purple kale.

i had to draw the line at the portuguese garlic though. i just couldnt justify spending around $68 a kilo for tiny bulbs of garlic, however cute and fresh smelling they were.

i like this place because the old guy shouted 'thank you' to me as i was leaving. twice. also it offers some pretty decent sushi rolls. they aren't prepared fresh but, as i said, their decent. haven't tried the bentos or ramens but i've heard they're good too. one drawback, at least for me, is that they'll make you regret your reliance on plastic with their 'cash only' policy.

this place has a wow factor for all the wrong reasons. after sipping my soy chai latte and feeling like i'd just made out with a woman composed entirely of cinnamon and honey who bite my tongue off, rolled it around her uber sweet body, dipped it in a bag of cinnamon then shoved it back inside my mouth, i was a little surprised, so i headed back to get another one. as it turned out, the girl had actually put honey in it when i didnt ask for it, without checking, and with extreme prejudice by the taste of it. so i told her, forget the chai, make me a normal soy latte. then as i was leaving the restaurant she cries out "oh! thats not soy!" just after i'd taken the first sip. that was kinda the final straw, i just asked for my money back at that point and left never to return.

i used to be in love with this japanese grocery store. im not otaku per say but i loved all the cool little homewares (they have about 40% of the store devoted to homeware) like a tiny can of glue spray and a mop-broom combo and unique food products like korean bacchus-d energy drink (their equivalent of red bull, and infinitely better), sencha green tea, takoyaki chips and these awesome sake and and soft drink cans.

but beyond the hype and awesomeness of tinier, sexier japanese products, they are actually expensive (much of their homewares section is flat priced at $2.50 per item when most of it is worth little more than $1) and at some point you've got to ask yourself, do i really need this tiny can of glue spray?

i still cannot believe the older woman who seems to run the place tried to argue with me about the redemption of my stamp card and tell me i couldnt use the reward until 'next time'...

basically stop here to grab your korean bacchus-d and your 20c udons but expect fake smiles and eyes following you out the door.

hindustan imports has a nice selection of some exotic ingredients. they choose to stock mainly south-east asian ingredients (indian, sri lankan, thai) and a few middle eastern ingredients, so you will not find east asian, european or north/south american ingredients here. some have been imported by other companies and resold by hindustan, others are imported and labeled by hindustan. home delivery is $15 or you can get free delivery with an order over $90. their products are averagely priced, there is not much incentive to buy a higher quantity.

dissapointingly, hindustan never confirm the order has been succesful and your online payment has been received, so you are always left wondering. they dont give any indication when the order will be delivered, date or time-wise, either, and in my experience many orders have arrived missing ingredients because they are 'out of stock' yet the website does not tell you this. i've also had my customer queries via email ignored.

all in all they provide an opportunity to get a few exotic ingredients delivered to your home but with the cost of really bad customer service.