Best places to eat and drink in Melbourne and Victoria
On a cold winter’s night there are few dishes that deliver such deliciously warming comfort as a French onion soup. Here’s where to find the best version in town.
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FOR THE BEST FRENCH ONION SOUP
It sounds like a recipe for disaster: French food cooked by a Dutch backpacker in a restaurant run by a couple with no hospitality background save a love of good food.
But Curly Whiskers is, instead, one of Melbourne’s quietly lovely dining experiences.
What started out as a gourmet creperie up the Gardenvale-end of Brighton run by the wife-and-husband team of Rosalind and Oliver Virnik has, over the past 18 months, been operating as a French bistro, with Silas Orre now in the open kitchen (and in partnership with the Virniks).
My word can he cook.
His onion soup, for instance, is quite possibly the best in the city — it’s certainly the best I’ve tried.
A lighter, more ethereal version than the deep, dark and powerfully rich soups you find elsewhere, it’s a masterful broth that’s delicate and bright with the lovely herbal lilt of thyme elevating the onion’s sweetness.
With a wodge of crusty bread thickly topped with stringy melted gruyere, it is a hand’s down winter winner.
On a cold winter’s night there’s few dishes that offer such delicious comfort.
Other dishes might include a richly rewarding cassoulet, where the rich stickiness of the braised butter beans is teamed with terrific confit Milawa duck with rendered crisp, golden skin, and an excellent Cape Grim eye fillet with crunchy duck fat potatoes and a perfectly dressed salad.
Crepes remain a specialty, and the crepes suzette is an enjoyably nostalgic step back in time.
Come for the soup, stay for the steak and become reacquainted with Suzette. Curly Whiskers is a charming French bistro that locals love but is worth a visit from further afar.
Curly Whiskers, 124 Martin St, Brighton. curlywhiskers.com.au
FOR A NICE SLICE
“It’s pizza out the front, party out the back,” says Nick Stanton of Leo’s By The Slice, the New York pizza shop and bar that has taken the place of fun fine diner Ramblr on Chapel St.
From the same team as Leonard’s House of Love around the corner and the rollicking Leonardo’s Pizza Palace in Carlton, Leo’s is an eat-in/takeaway pizza slice shop with a bar and pool room out the back.
Eight pizzas are on offer — meatlovers and margherita and pepperoni, of course — that includes two vegan choices with slices from $4.99-$8.99 each.
Stanton has spent months perfecting the dough which is naturally leavened over a 24-hour ferment. The resulting bases are crisp, yet pliable and designed to be reheated to order.
Meatballs subs and garlic bread round out the simple food offering.
A vending machine of tinnies takes care of the beers to go with, while cocktails and dozen wines are served in the bar.
Leo’s is open nightly Wed-Sun from 5pm, with slices served until 3am weekends.
363 Chapel St, South Yarra.leosbytheslice.com.au
FOR FREE CHAMPAGNE
What’s the only thing better than a glass of chilled champagne after a hard morning’s shopping?
A free glass of chilled champagne, of course!
To celebrate The Glen’s new dining precinct, Kyla Kirkpatrick, aka The Champagne Dame, will park her Emperor champagne truck in the precinct and offer a complimentary glass of bubbles to diners who make a lunch purchase in the new restaurants between noon and 1pm this Friday and Saturday. For those looking for a restorative glass before or after hitting the stores, an Emperor pop up bar will be serving all the good stuff out the front of the new David Jones store from Thurs to Sunday.
Raise a glass!
The Glen Shopping Centre, 235 Springvale Rd, Glen Waverley. theglen.com.au
FOR A BEAUT BREW
How many beer taps is enough? When your venue is an old mechanics warehouse that will comfortably hold 400 merrymakers, that magic number is 64.
It’s been two years in the making, but on Friday Jon Costelloe, Anthony Daniel and Pete Walsh of Dr Morse a few doors down will open the doors to the Boddriggy Brewing Co brewhouse in Abbostford.
The striking space has been transformed from an LP conversion auto shop into a modern brewery, informed by the trio’s month spent touring more than 100 breweries across the US East Coast in 2017.
Having won crafty drinkers across Melbourne with their Highbinder pale and Space Milk, head brewer Tristan Barlow will unleash seven new brews on thirsty beer lovers in the new home, including a Cosmic Microwave New England IPA.
It will join natural wines on tap as well as a huge selection of mescal and tequila behind the bar.
Eating is not cheating at this brew hub, with Johny Dominguez in the kitchen who will turn some seriously high-end experience (Dinner by Heston; Vue de monde) into approachable, beer-friendly Latin American fare — think smoked fish tacos and Peruvian beef-heart skewers among other classic dishes.
Bodriggy Brewing Co at 245 Johnston St, Abbotsford, opens on Friday. bodriggybrewing.com.au
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