HOT: Milawa Cheese Shop, 665 Nicholson Street, Carlton North

A little bit of regional Victoria can be found in North Carlton at the Milawa Cheese Shop. The knowledgeable staff will talk you through flavours, textures, ripeness and storage of their huge range of cheese. They are all as far away from insipid rubbery Kraft singles as you can imagine so of course none of it is cheap - but my view is that when you don't even very much cheap, buy a little and the best. My question: the best cheese for a toasted sandwich. Their answer: the Heidi Farm tilsit, a firm cow's milk cheese which melts but won't bubble under heat like a cheddar.

HOT: Maria’s Pasta, 677 Nicholson St, Carlton North

Making fresh filled pasta (other than using wonton skins) is such an intricate and time-consuming process that for me it crosses into a task which provides low culinary return on investment. Thank God for places like Maria's Pasta, with its upright wall-to-wall freezers bulging with a wide assortment of frozen tortellini, ravioli, agnolotti and cannelloni. At $5.90 for 500g, it's only a little bit more expensive than Latino Fresh, and it's guaranteed to be a lot more tasty and better for you.

HOT: Canals Seafood Appreciation Centre, 703 Nicholson St, Carlton North

Other than in the major Melbourne markets, fishmongers appear to be dying breed on the high street. Canals is Melbourne's oldest 'seafood appreciation centre' and I think the reason for its longevity is good old-fashioned service. If you’re at a fishmongers, I think the quality of the seafood should be a given, so the staff’s willingness to help and advise me on purchasing morwong for a Chinese style steamed fish ($8 a kilo) and fresh vs frozen prawns ($32.95 a kilo), is what will make me return.

HOT: Natural Tucker Bakery, 809 Nicholson Street, Carlton North

RM loves scones, but he is also deeply suspicious of anything organic, vegetarian or heaven forbid, vegan. When I spied the fruit-packed vegan scones lovely stacked at counter of the Natural Tucker Bakery ($1.50), I thought I’d take an epicurial risk anyway - and let me tell you, we agree that they are possibly some of the best scones we have ever had. We haven't been able to work out what ingredients they've replaced for the eggs, milk and butter, but they were so good that RM contemplated a 30 minute walk up to Nicholson Village to stock up on some more.

NOT: Nicholson Street Baker, 706 Nicholson St, Carlton North

I love a good neighbourhood bakery, so I was disappointed with my taste-test of Nicholson Street Baker. On the basis of its cheerful orange awning, RM and I had a brief morning tea there and sampled a dry chocolate cupcake and a sturdy apple and walnut muffin containing minimal fruit and nuts. The best of the bunch was 'Kylie's famous' Hummingbird cake - it was the right texture and was smothered in a nice cream cheese icing, but it wasn't so good that it deserved any sort of fame.