A cool vegetarian restaurant in St Kilda, a trendy inner suburb of Melbourne. When this place opened about a year ago it made the front page of the free tabloid MX because a) it has an amusing name and b) it operates using an honour system, ie the customer pays what they feel the food is worth. Obviously most people are civilised about this and happily fork over $A10-20 for a meal.

The owner and head chef is a Sri Lankan Buddhist who trained in Malaysia and when I ate here the limited menu reflected this, featuring for the most part basmati rice and lentil dishes. It was tasty, wholesome fare but the small selection was rather disappointing. However, I have since learned that the menu is constantly changing, and according to today's Age newspaper, "lentil burgers take a back seat" four days a week thanks to a visiting Japanese chef. The udon noodles in particular are highly recommended.

Perhaps the highlight of the Lentil as Anything experience is the interior decor. Posters, postcads and paintings are jammed up against each other so that there is barely a clear spot on the walls. Since it is about 5m wide the restaurant is perhaps not the most comfortable of places, but what is cool is that every chair, table and lamp is different. The table we sat at was actually a desk, overshadowed by a bookshelf with a nice selection of books and magazines. Being in the centre of St Kilda there are naturally a couple of outdoor tables, though the street is narrow and these too are cramped.

Lentil as Anything is BYO and there is of course no corkage unless you want to pay it. Credit cards are not accepted. By Victorian law smoking is prohibited inside. The address is 41 Blessington Street, near Acland and Barkly Streets (Melways map 58 A12). Open 11.00-23.00 daily.