Delicious 100 Victoria: Best things our food critics ate all year

Rock lobster, pate en croute that tastes like bahn mi and a winter warmer that’ll take you out of your comfort zone — these are the best things you’ll eat this year.

Rock lobster, pate en croute that tastes like bahn mi and a winter warmer that’ll take you out of your comfort zone.

These are most delicious dishes from Victoria’s top ranking restaurants in this year’s delicious.100.

Lash out and try the half southern rock lobster at Gimlet.

½ Southern rock lobster, $160

Gimlet

Settle in for serious long lunching with Gimlet’s signature southern rock lobster. Easily feeding three people, that supple and sweet sea meat pairs perfectly with the accompanying saffron rissoto made from a bisque sauce.

Pate en Croute at Aru. Picture: Rebecca Michael

Pate en croute, $22

Aru

Nguyen’s lockdown baby Pate en Croute – shortcrust pastry wrapped meat – takes on terrine that surprisingly tastes like Viet street food sandwich Banh Mi. Its delicious centre builds around Nguyen’s mum’s meatball mix made up of Maggi soy seasoning jelly, two types of pork mince and Vietnamese pork loaf that comes together with a bright side salad of pickled carrot, daikon and kewpie. I dare you to taste the difference.

Vue de monde's macadamia and smoked eel tofu.

Macadamia and smoked eel tofu, kelp, samphire. (Part of $350 per person set menu)

Vue de monde

Don’t let the title put you off. Smoked eel? Macadamia tofu? Trust me, this is one bangin’ dish. A Vue de monde test kitchen graduate, executive chef Hugh Allen had already made a couple of versions of the macadamia tofu but wanted to elevate the dish with more flavour and better plating. At once smoky, creamy, cooling and gelatinous — it’s a wicked example of texture, temperature and almighty flavour. One of the longest dishes to develop — and well worth the wait.

Padishah

Tulum

A wonderful and wacky hybrid that marries burnt butter and caramelised onion, salty wagyu bacon and a gooey poached egg. Tulum has created the ultimate winter warmer dish that’ll take you out of your comfort zone. Served with toasted Turkish bread for the mop up, or perhaps some of the most flavoursome gluten-free bread you’ll try.

Attica’s roo frittes playful spins-off the France Soir classic.

Roo frittes (Part of $360 per person set menu)

Attica

Ben Shewry remixes the France Soir classic with his playful roo frittes.

Here he threads kangaroo meat on kitsch metal skewers and serves them alongside a peppercorn sauce riffing four types of native pepper (pepperleaf, pepperberry, dorrigo pepper and black pepper), salad, crisp fries and DIY spray bottle of saltbush and vinegar to spritz as you wish. A bunch of fun.