Delicious.100: The hottest restaurants to open in Victoria in 2019
From Indian fling with Bollywood bling to a Balinese banquet, these are the 15 hottest restaurants to open in Victoria in the past year.
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Another day, another new restaurant to try.
They don’t call Melbourne the food capital of Australia for nothing – and 2019 has been jam-packed with exciting new eateries to check out.
Whether it’s an Indian fling with Bollywood bling to Milanese style in the heart of Melbourne, a Balinese banquet, a plate piled high with Eastern European dumplings or a slice of New York-style pizza pie, these restaurants around the state have you covered.
From Bright to Carlton, Port Fairy to Balaclava, these are Victoria’s best new restaurants - chosen as part of the Sunday Herald Sun’s delicious.100 top 100 restaurants.
So grab a group, book in a date night or plan a gourmet getaway and get stuck in.
DI STASIO CITTA
Milan comes to Melbourne in the most spectacular way at Città.
Rinaldo ‘Ronnie’ Di Stasio’s CBD outpost of his St Kilda stalwart made a multimillion-dollar splash upon opening earlier this year with its mix of modern art and hospitality’s timeless arts.
The full menu that covers all bases – from fab fried anchovies and little milk buns piled high with mortadella through saltimbocca alla Romana and agnello al forno – is cleverly served all day, all night and packed with things you’ll want to eat and return just for.
REED + CO
Hamish Nugent and Rachel Reed – of Bright’s late lamented Tani Eat & Drink – have turned their attention to gin and in the process have made Reed & Co. into Bright’s brightest eat-drink destination.
Following a similar local-produce-simply-treated ethos that was employed at Tani to such acclaim, a plate of cured meats and marinated olives might precede local trout or beef, with subtle Japanese accents across the short menu.
The food, from the redgum-powered open kitchen is, quite simply, spectacular.
SEVILLE ESTATE
Picture this: a cellar door in the Yarra Valley where you sip and savour some of Victoria’s best wines while drinking in a view that takes in vineyards, paddocks and misted mountaintops.
That’s what you get at Seville Estate ... and that’s before you even sit down to a meal.
YIELD
Simon and Kara Stewart took over Birregurra Farm Foods and, on the first day of spring last year opened Yield, a one-two restaurant and provisions store.
In the handsome Main Street storefront space you’ll find Simon (ex Bespoke Harvest) cooking a daily changing set menu of four courses served with gentle humour and patent pride by Kara, who’s charged with telling the stories of the local producers to whom the concept pays its respects.
DAUGHTER IN LAW
Twisting tradition into “unauthentic” but delicious dishes wrapped up in all the colour and drama of a Bollywood soap, Jessi Singh’s brand of Indian is a fun-first riot of big-flavoured good times that takes nothing too seriously.
Apart from the cooking, that is.
Dining with a group is a good way to go, for the large menu has much on it you’ll want to try, starting with one of the naan pizzas that top a thin, crisp smoky base with such ingredients as tandoori chicken.
GLADIOLI
In terms of tiny towns that punch above their weight in the eat-drink stakes, Port Fairy stands above all others.
In historic Seacombe House you’ll find one of the state’s best-value degustations – it tops out at $100 for seven courses – but where three courses of a la carte is just $65 a head.
It makes such plates as confit Great Ocean duck served with beetroot many ways – roasted, cubed, curled, puree – taste even better, where country-style generosity is teamed with city-style smarts.
AROMI
Italian has defined Melbourne 2019 and Aromi in Brighton is Paolo Masciopinto and Salvatore Montella’s (ex Sarti, Bar Carolina) contribution to the canon.
And it’s up there with the best, for Masciopinto is turning out some truly excellent versions of the classics.
Start with his knockout gnoccho fritto, for this puffy fried dough square stuffed with soft cheese and draped with wagyu bresaola is one of the best snacks you’ll eat this year.
MAKAN
You’ll find My Kitchen Rules’ 2016 champs, sisters Tasia and Gracia Seger, in the kitchen of their first restaurant, Makan, which is their attempt to elevate Indonesian food here above the usual cheap and cheerful uni-student fare.
Hits include traditional street snacks like a fried crepe roll filled with chicken and veg, spicy soft shell crabs nestled in fluffy bao and a classily executed classic – nasi goreng.
MYA TIGER
St Kilda’s reborn Espy has proven it’s more than a summer fling of prize views and long queues, still pulling a crowd whatever the weather.
And one of the grand dame’s drawcards is Mya Tiger, the first-floor Cantonese charmer where velvet booths, rattan and peeling paint take shabby chic to covetable new heights.
Helmed by ex-Longrain chef Sarah Chan, the kitchen is pumping out food that’s for enjoying not analysing, making the $57 banquet menu a winning – and value-for-money – way to maximise the fun and the feasting.
LEONARDO’S PIZZA PALACE
At this retro-cool Carlton eatery you’ll find a simple offering of pizza and pasta that looks to Wise Guy Noo Yawk rather than Italy’s deep south for inspiration, where carb loading comes with rarely seen class.
Pizza is the main game and they are big in size and calorie count – especially when you dunk the crusts in the creamy-sharp ranch sauce served to the side.
Every other table has ordered the pepperoni, so you’ll want to, too.
FULL LEONARDO’S PIZZA PALACE REVIEW
PRETTY LITTLE
It’s all about wine, dine and a rollicking dinner party vibe at Pretty Little, which is, just as it says on the tin, pretty little.
This diminutive diner offers cosy communal seating for just 16 along a single oak table that runs the length of the room where, after that bottle of Heathcote shiraz, you might find your next-door neighbours turning into your new best friends.
GIRO D’ITALIA
At Giro d’Italia, owner/chef Domenico de Marco is taking North Carlton locals on a ride through Italy, one dish at a time.
From the focaccia he serves with a side of Napoli for dunking, to the pork and fennel sausages he makes, Domenico is kneading and baking, rolling and making, toasting and roasting in the kitchen, including the cotoletta alla valdostana, a hefty crunchy-crumbed puck of veal that’s stuffed with fontina cheese and smoky ham.
ROYAL GEORGE
Frank Moylan and Melissa Macfarlane are back behind the bar of the Royal George Hotel in Kyneton.
The husband-and-wife duo have been, over the years, responsible for much-loved pubs in the city and country, and ran the Royal George to great acclaim in the late 2000s.
The changing line-up of taps includes sub $10 pints while wines come from a tight, well-chosen cellar of local drops and Euro flings.
TEMPLAR LODGE
There’s salumi with pickled veg and haloumi with edamame and masterstock pork with marbled tea egg. You might find green-tea noodles with shiitake mushrooms and a hefty ribeye with salsa verde or a Mexi-spiced chicken with black beans.
Chef Emma Handley (Villa Gusto; Astra, Falls Creek) has transformed a gloriously creaky old Masonic lodge just outside Mount Beauty into the north east’s newest dining hotspot, cooking food she loves to eat.
KAZUKI’S
Kazuki’s – Daylesford’s delightful high-end Japanese – has relocated to the gingham-clad heart of Lygon Street.
Kazuki Tsuya himself delivers dishes that make up the five- or seven-course degustation served on Friday and Saturday nights (a la carte available other times) that starts with a handful of snacks that sets the bar high.