Dan Stock rates the best Victorian dishes of 2017
FROM a humble roast chook that’s a showstopper to a baklava sundae that’s a heart-stopper, these are the Victorian dishes that delighted Herald Sun food reviewer Dan Stock this year.
delicious.100
Don't miss out on the headlines from delicious.100. Followed categories will be added to My News.
IT’S been another year of good eating across Victoria.
From a humble roast chook that’s a showstopper to a baklava sundae that’s a heart-stopper, these are the most delicious things I ate this year.
THE BEST DISHES YOU MUST TRY IN 2017
Roasted Milawa Chook from Wilson + Market
Who would think that the humble chook — ordinarily the “why bother” restaurant dish I don’t let those sitting opposite me order — would be one of the most memorable things I ate this year?
It’s testament to Paul Wilson’s zealot embrace of the organic, the biodynamic, the sustainable that informs the menu at Wilson + Market, because if ever a case needed to be made for happy produce translating to the plate, it’s his roasted Milawa chook.
Brined, smoked and then twirled over coals until burnished golden and glistening, it’s tender yet complex, alluring yet comfortingly familiar. Served with an excellent salad of leaves, croutons and hunks of pancetta — and a gravy that puts all others to shame — it’s simply a winner.
DISCOVER VICTORIA’S DELICIOUS. 100
FINE DINER CROWNED VICTORIA’S BEST RESTAURANT
DELICIOUSLY DIFFERENT NEW EATERIES
Chicken at Saxe
Another chicken dish — this time at Joe Grbac’s regal legal district diner, Saxe — goes down the more familiar buttermilk-brined then crunchy-fried path, but Joe then rather brilliantly serves it with broccoli many ways — charred florets, puree and the finest slivers of stalk — for guilt-free snacking of the highest order.
Late night eats at Arlequin, The Mayfair and Juliet
With the influx of late-night eats keeping Melbourne fed from night until bright, there’s no need for midnight hunger games now that Arlequin is serving salty-creamy-crunchy baccala and leek sloppy joes until 3am, or The Mayfair is cooking crumpets to order and then topping them with curried-mayo crab until late in the night.
Or, indeed, that Juliet — the subterranean sibling to the CBD’s Punch Lane — has one of the best versions of vitello tonnato with black garlic richness added to the blushing pink veal seasoned with subtly tuna-spiked mayo.
Tongue and cheek at Uncle
St Kilda’s Uncle added new CBD digs that channel Da Nang at the top end of Collins, and in a menu filled with hits it’s the “tongue and cheek” that stands out.
Batons of rich pulled pork fried to a crisp are served with slivers of equally decadent char-marked tongue.
A bright chilli and coriander salad atop the lot provides cut through with class. Pass another Bia Ha Noi.
Noodles at Ramblr
Over at Ramblr, a recent makeover has helped the room match the skills and style of Nick Stanton’s flame-and-coal powered open kitchen and while the calamari “noodles” remain a must, it’s a newer dish of actual noodles, cooked in master stock with an ocean of freshly picked crab tossed through, that will draw me back to Chapel St.
Mud crab at Kisume
Crab, of course, also features at Kisume — Chris Lucas’s three levels of reimagined Japanese that’s redefining how we eat seafood, and the mud crab dressed with creamy uni (sea urchin) and topped with caviar is gloriously redefining luxe.
But it was the grade 9 David Blackmore wagyu served with a dusting of fresh horseradish, wasabi a few pearls of salmon roe, that was the real surprise.
Steak at Bellota
In a year filled with many great steaks, another stands out.
A flawlessly treated piece of flatiron served sliced and topped with a forest of thyme-laden, cream-spiked mushrooms, Nicky Riemer’s deft, always delicious touch has brought life anew to South Melbourne’s Bellota.
Dirty potato at Amaru
Savoury, cold, creamy and nutty — the bonkers/brilliant “dirty potato” at Amaru was the year’s best way to bridge the savoury sweet divide.
On a soil made from potato skins and dark chocolate sat a crunchy, crisp potato filled with potato ice cream.
Sounds weird, was wonderful and is yet another example of the super clever cooking to be found in this Armadale gem.
Semifreddo at Stokehouse
At Stokehouse, desserts are now as much a drawcard as that view, thanks to gun hire Lauren Eldridge who’s serving up an elegant, restrained semifreddo, where toffee-covered pistachios are turned through a blood orange jam, the cream delicately scented with rosewater and dusted with raspberry.
Baklava sundae at Shukah
And how can you go past the baklava sundae at Shukah — especially when it comes with the proverbial cherry on top?
It’s every bit as sweet as you’d imagine, with salted caramel and walnut praline, ice cream and cream and crumbled filo, but it’s every bit as good — if not better — than its pastry namesake.
Anchovies at Napier Quarter
Snack attack? Fitzroy’s Napier Quarter is serving up one of the best.
A thick piece of crunchy crusted light rye that’s toasted, topped with a fanned boiled egg and generously draped with meaty Cuca anchovies.
It’s a salty, creamy, crunchy winning partner to something crisp from this excellent backstreet wine bar.
Mortadella at Union House
And for the perfect partner to a rose or crafty pint, Richmond’s Union House has a bowl piled high with charred slivers of mortadella, the fatty smokiness countered with a dice of smoked tomatoes. Swoon.
Polpette at Park Street Pasta and Wine
More heart-thumping mortadella at Park Street Pasta and Wine, this time in crumbed and fried polpette form.
Crunchy, golden pork orbs juicy and rich, sweet and heady, served on a bed of summery pesto and under a blizzard of parmigiana, they are next level meatballs.
Meatballs at Small Axe Kitchen
Taking breakfast to the next level at Small Axe chef Adam Pruckner draws on his Sicilian heritage to create meatballs with lemon zest and pine nut heft.
In a pot bubbling with sweet sugo and a poached egg atop, two fat slabs of heavily buttered toast provide the perfect vehicle for the dunk diner.
It’s the brunch that’s hard to beat.
Brussels sprouts at Play the Fool
Mornington’s Play the Fool is also doing very smart breakfasts, none cleverer than the winter winner of porky roasted and caramelised brussels sprouts, with fat chunks of smoky kaiserfleisch, with pickled shallots and chestnuts.
Burst an egg atop and it’s a sun shiny start to the day.
Scotch egg at Kirk’s or Parker Street Project, Devilled Eggs at Rare Hare
Eggs at the end of it are equally as good — see the golden-centred, spiced nugget that’s the Scotch egg at Kirk’s pub in the city.
Or during it — whether the rabbit Scotch egg served with a delightful parsley cream at Dunkeld’s Parker Street Project, or the delicate crumbed shell that surrounds the heavenly devilled eggs at Rare Hare on the Mornington Peninsula.
Tarte tatin at Oakridge or Brae
From the tart tatin files, two extraordinary dishes: the onion tarte tatin at Oakridge that’s golden, viscid, bittersweet and to which eucalyptus adds a bushwalk to the thick soured cream alongside.
And, over at Brae, where last-of-the-season tomatoes top a sticky glazed flaky pastry, the tart finished with tiny basil leaves.
Simply perfect.
Why wagyu cannoli should be on your must-eat hit list
Marameo serves up kitchen hits like a knockout plate of reginette and the terrifically twisted wagyu cannoli. But it’s not just the food luring in the office lads and ladies to this reborn CBD stalwart.
The stupidly delicious dish you need to order at Maha Bar
Everything you need to know about Shane Delia’s new venue Maha Bar, the northside sibling to his Maha restaurant, can be found within the four-bite must-order borek bun.