Best places to eat and drink in Melbourne and Victoria
With the perfect combination of fudgy chew and crackly crust, the double-choc brownie at a little Dromana bakery is one of the most delicious in the state. It’s the best $5 you’ll ever spend.
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Whether it’s beaut beers in a new brewpub, a bowl of Melbourne’s most famous pasta, a brownie slab or a pina colada taco, here are the best spots to eat and drink this weekend.
FOR VICTORIA’S BEST BROWNIE
I know, I know, line up and tell me I’m wrong in the comments below, but I reckon I’ve found the best brownie in the state.
It’s certainly the best I’ve eaten …. and it’s definitely the best five bucks you can spend this weekend.
A large square that borders on a slab, it’s the perfect combination of fudgy chew and crackly crust, the tempered sweetness of the dark chocolate brightened by bursts of white choc pieces hidden within.
It’s magnificent — and it’s also not even best thing you’ll find at Miller’s Bread Kitchen, a brilliant bakery/cafe just off the highway next to Aldi in the industrial back bits of Dromana.
Since April the cafe has been turning out crusty sourdough loaves to go and coffee by local roastery Little Rebel to sip in, but it’s the laden cabinets of sweet and savoury treats, from artful Danish to fluffy-topped pies, that’s worth a zip down to the peninsula alone.
Focaccia is a specialty and what’s not to like about the bouncy bread stuffed with slow roasted pork and then toasted so it’s decadently oily and crisp?
Excellent baguette comes filled to bursting with a daily changing line up of flavours — the roasted chicken with mayo, pesto and crisp lettuce has lunch sorted — while bready pizza bases come topped with such tastes as sausage, onion and roasted potato for carb loading done with real class.
And then there’s that brownie…
Miller’s Bread Kitchen, 116 Nepean Hwy, Dromana.
FOR BREAKFAST WITH A TWIST
The hills are alive with the sound of … coffee grinders filled with single origin beans.
The boys who brought inner-city cool to Ferntree Gully with Lorna have done it again just up the hill in Upwey. Josh O’Brien and Omar Viramontes have opened their second cafe, Maria, which is named after Josh’s grandmother, as Lorna is to Omar’s).
It has a similar focus on artisan coffee that made Lorna such a hit with locals and those heading up the 1000 steps, though Maria has a stronger Mexican influence across the menu referencing Omar’s heritage — think huevos rotos (eggs with chorizo, potatoes and fired bread) and jalapeño scrambled eggs and brisket tacos.
Oh and pina colada tacos, topped with white rum custard, pineapple compote, coconut and salted caramel popcorn. Aye caramba!
Maria cafe, 56 Main St, Upwey. mariamelbourne.com.au
FOR BEAUT BEERS AND BITES
Two years in the making, the team from Dr Morse eatery in Abbotsford opened their brewhouse just across Johnston St in August.
The old auto workshop is a multi-zoned space of booths for dining, high stools for sipping, long tables for big-group feasting and a huge main bar bookended by equally huge stainless steel tanks holding a some of the dozen-odd signature beers.
Filled with ephemera it’s a terrific space that retains a drop-in casual vibe (dogs welcome) that’s elevated so you don’t just feel like you’re drinking in a warehouse.
Head brewer Tristan Barlow has unleashed a handful of new beers, including the delightfully named mid-strength IPA Speccie Juice and a quenching new world-style pilsner alongside more experimental brews — a hybrid ale brewed with pinot gris juice and skins, for instance.
At around $12 a pint, the beers deliver top-value drinking.
In the open kitchen, Johny Dominguez is turning his high-end experience (Dinner by Heston; Vue de monde) into approachable, beer-friendly Latin American fare with not a burger or pizza in sight.
While not to everyone’s tastes, antichuchos — a classic Peruvian dish of marinated beef heart — is nicely done, ani panca chilli adding a lingering tingling heat to the two skewers of surprisingly subtle meat also threaded with roasted potato.
The tostda macha — a deep fried tortilla — is a pretty tasty vegan snack but piled so high with avocado and tomato swiggled with a tofu cream you’ll need cutlery to eat it.
Bigger plates include two steaks — a flank and cauliflower — and both are excellent.
Smoky, tender, pink and well-rested, the Mexican-style beef served with charred corn is executed with simple style, but it’s the cauliflower that’s a real star.
With crisp-fried florets and puree joining the thick-grilled veg, it’s a clever triple-play of cauli brightened with pickled onions and punchy chimichurri. It’s a meat-free plate as satisfying as they come.
With beaut beers, knowledgeable staff and original, well-priced fare, when it comes to brewery food and frothies, Abbotsford’s new home of true brews is an exciting addition to the genre.
Bodriggy Brewing Co, 245 Johnston St, Abbotsford. bodriggy.beer
READ MORE:
WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK IN GIPPSLAND
TASTY FOOD TRENDS SWEEPING VICTORIA
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FOR THE MOST FAMOUS PASTA IN TOWN
Sure, Melbourne’s most famous pasta bar is now firmly placed on many a tourist’s must-do list, but Tipo00’s charms are such that rather than becoming a victim of its own success, this loud little laneway space is as good as ever thanks in part to terrific staff who manage the throngs, and pasta that remains utterly queue-worthy.
And why wouldn’t the world want to experience the simple pleasure of spreading fresh ricotta on crunchy warm focaccia to begin? Or such signatures as a knockout tortellini, stuffed with mushrooms and served with fat, buttery pine mushrooms atop, feathery gnocchi tossed through braised duck, and hazelnutty rabbit to twirl through supple pappardelle ribbons?
Experienced players know to ask for guidance with the wine list filled with little-seen Italians, and to order non-pasta dishes that are equally compelling. Whether just-warm beef carpaccio drizzled with parmesan oil and bolstered with borlotti beans, or pan-seared calves livers in a sticky balsamic glaze, this is rustic Italian served with a Melbourne eye. No wonder it’s packed.
Tipo 00, 361 Little Bourke St, city. tipo00.com.au