By Terry Durack
What time's dinner? Well, that depends. My London pals think any restaurant reservation made before 9pm is hicksville. The Spanish refuse to dine, even with their children, until 11pm. No wonder they invented the tapas bar, so you could at least have something to eat and drink while you're waiting to have something to eat and drink.
The fact that so many Australian restaurants no longer take reservations means I'm eating earlier and earlier in order to ensure I get a table. I'm not the only one – queues starts forming outside Melbourne's Chin Chin and Potts Point's Billy Kwong by 5.30pm. In New York, this would be the cocktail hour, not the dinner hour.
Illustration by Simon Letch
Why so early? It could be a lifestyle thing. When you're up with the sun and heading for yoga or a surf before work, you don't want to hang around for hours after work before grabbing a bite.
Dining early has its fans, and they're not all babes-in-arms. It gives the body a fighting chance to digest the food properly before it lies flat in bed. It means you can follow the meal with a leisurely stroll, a nightcap in a bar or a bit of online shopping.
It also means you don't get so hungry beforehand that you order enough for six, just to fill the gaping hole where your stomach used to be.
But if we're going to face the world as grown-up international cities, then we need dining options early and late, and all day, every day. Well, helloooo Melbourne, where Archie's All Day cafe will do you a wagyu burger at 10am or a negroni on tap for afternoon tea. Nice.
The life-saving Cumulus Inc has always been open – and full as a goog – for breakfast, lunch and dinner, seven days; while its modern Asian stablemate Supernormal does the 12-hour shift from 11am to 11pm, seven days. After midnight, there's always the mighty suckling pig at the Supper Inn, or sausage rolls and a glass of excellent red at The Melbourne Supper Club
And Sydney? Sorry, Sydney's not allowed to stay up late at the moment because it's been naughty, but at least you can still feast on congee and crab at the Golden Century in Chinatown at 2am, if you don't mind being seen with every second chef in town. Or if you are Spanish.