Best places to eat and drink in Melbourne and Victoria
Helping long forgotten Lygon St regain some cool cred, could wine and pasta haven Agostino be the final piece of the puzzle? From lakeside breweries to chic wine bars, we’ve got the best places to eat and drink this weekend.
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Whether it’s pasta at a reborn Lygon St legend, a mod Melbourne feast at a Fitzroy wine bar or beers by Lake Nagambie, here are Dan Stock’s top picks for where to eat and drink this weekend.
FOR PASTA AND PRIMITIVO
The final piece in the long-awaited, multifaceted, multi-level rebirth of Carlton’s landmark King and Godfree has slotted into its Lygon St place with the opening of Agostino.
Joining the ground floor K&G Deli and grocers and the rooftop party bar Johnny’s Green Room, this part wine store, part cellars, part pasta bar has well-to-do Carlton firmly in its sights, where good things on the plate are trumped by great things in the glass.
A selection of simple, modern classics – terrific baccala mantecato served on grilled polenta; culatello (cured pork) with slivers of salted persimmon – join a tight list of pastas that includes a sunshiny spaghettini with crab and macheroni with vodka-splashed tomatoes.
Bigger plates, such as pan-fried fish with borlotti beans and fennel, and desserts including a lovely semifreddo with nougat, are equally simple to let the wine shine.
Those drops include an excellent selection of imported Italians and homegrown on-theme varietals that’s offered by the glass but it’s the extensive cellar from local vermentinos through to wallet-busting Barolos and vintage Burgundies that is a real drawcard for vinophiles the city over.
Agostino, 297 Lygon St, Carlton. agostinowine.com
FOR A MOD MELBOURNE FEAST
Fitzroy’s fabulous hidden gem of a wine bar, Little Odessa, has a new chef and a new direction.
Brother-and-sister team Stefan and Sofia Soltys have welcomed Ryan Dolan into the kitchen, who brings with him some cool cooking cred having worked at Amaru, Ramblr and Igni here as well as time spent in Paris and Lyon.
It means a move away from the Eastern European-leaning menu that the year-old wine bar opened with and towards a modern Melbourne menu that looks to the seasons (of course) with such dishes as carrots with lardo and cumquat, roasted chicken with leeks and cannellini and nannygai (red emperor) with lemon, capers and fioretto (or cauliflower blossoms).
“(Ryan)’s food is truly inspired and honest. It makes us so happy that even though Ryan has only just started with us, customers are already coming up to shake his hand and thank him for their experience,” Stefan says, adding the new menu is a perfect fit for the natural-leaning wines that fill the fridge and cellar.
Little Odessa is open Wed-Sat for dinner and Sunday for lunch at rear 274 Brunswick St, Fitzroy.
FOR A VIEW TO THRILL
The Nagambie Brewery and Distillery is the latest hospitality project of Jayco king Gerry Ryan and joins his Mitchelton Winery down the road to truly put the Goulburn Valley town on Victoria’s wine-dine touring map.
Located in the heart of the town, this $6 million makeover of the circa 1870 police station by Melbourne firm Six Degrees has brewery tanks at its heart, where Jamie Chesher has spent the past six months brewing a range of house beers that locals have then voted on their faves.
While Chesher’s whiskey is at least two years away the house gin should be ready for late spring while Mitchelton’s bang-for-buck wines are joined by a well-priced cast of central Victorian drops around the $10 glass/$50 bottle point.
Executive Chef Dan Hawkins (Mitchelton, The Prince Hotel) has developed an easy-pleasing menu that nods to old-school American smokehouses with burgers, smoked meats, pizzas and the like.
Those wood-fired pizzas are terrific. Crunchy-thin bases with good char-marked edges come with judicious toppings, elevated – the fungi we tried is molten cheesy mess of field and pine mushrooms sprinkled with thyme and topped with crisp-fried sage. Simply lovely.
Small plates include a fat wodge of halloumi, roasted in the oven until golden and served with a chunky fig chutney, green beans with a dollop of spicy romesco sauce, and a chilli crumb-topped, smoked bacon mac and cheese.
But arguably the best thing about Nagambie’s newest wine-dine venue is the incredible views across the town’s namesake lake. While the huge wraparound deck is the prime spot to drink in the views when the weather’s fine, big windows – and a couple of roaring fires – make the all-seasons most of the lakeside location.
Nagambie Brewery and Distillery, 295 High St, Nagambie. Ph: 7019 8170
FOR A FINE WINE TIME
Presiding over the top of Flinders Lane end of town for the best part of two decades – first with Verge, then with Kappo and Nama Nama – Simon Denton has doubled down on his true love and has transformed his Spring St space into a wine bar.
It makes vertically integrated sense given Simon, along with father John, have 32 ha of Yarra Valley under vine from which winemaker Luke Lambert makes nebbiolo, pinot noir and chardonnay that are poured by the glass at the bar.
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Simple pleasures abound. A changing line up of both drops by the glass and food on the plate keeps city dwellers on repeat and might feature a steak or cured salmon but there’ll always be a considered selection of cheese and charcuterie to go with something interesting to drink alongside.
And the walls of wine to take home are worth a visit alone – a terrific collection of young guns (Mac Forbes, Koerner, Jamsheed, Athletes of Wine) doing delicious and interesting at very keen prices.
Denton Wine Bar and Bottle Shop, 1 Flinders Lane, Melbourne. Ph: 9639 9500