HOT: Laksa Me, Shop 1, 16 Liverpool St, Melbourne 3000

The name of Laksa Me was enough to strike fear into the heart of RM, who has a severe case of slurpynoodlephobia. However, I'm on a one-woman crusade to cure him of this unfortunate ailment, as I don't believe you can be a true Orientalist without eating the myriad of noodle soups which are part of Asian cuisine.

This unpretentious restaurant serves Modern Asian cuisine, which on their website describes food with Malaysian, Thai, Chinese, Singaporean, Vietnamese and bizarrely, Italian, influences. We started off with The Age recommended vegetarian parcels, which didn't really blow us away - it was kind of like eating fried air. Next up was a tutorial on slurpy noodle eating based around a brilliant My Mum's laksa and then a spicy chicken mince dish, which was much more appetising than it sounds. Three dishes = $28.