Where to eat and drink in Melbourne and Victoria this weekend
It’s wagyu all the way at this Japanese barbecue, with tables with built-in grills that sear melt-in-your-mouth meats before the smoke is ingeniously sucked away. And it tops Dan Stock’s tips list this weekend.
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From Argentinian steak to Japanese barbecue with a side serving of Eastern European dumplings in a country pub, here are Dan Stock’s top picks for where to eat and drink this weekend.
Warning: don’t read this when you’re hungry.
FOR DECADENT BARBECUE
It’s wagyu all the way at Japanese barbecue restaurant Niku Ou.
Having run South Yarra’s popular wagyu Ya for the past five years, Roy Yu and Emily Wu opened a sister restaurant on Bourke St, with the same focus on premium wagyu from David Blackmore in Victoria, as well as the super-premium A5 Hida from Japan.
Barbecue is the main attraction for what seems to be an exclusively Japanese audience, with tables with a built-in grill that’s filled to order with glowing coals, the smoke from the embers and searing meats ingeniously sucked away.
Before you call for coals, there’s a raft of things from the sea and the pretty sashimi platter served on ice is a fine place to start, with vibrant salmon, ruby tuna and luscious hamachi, or Japanese yellowtail.
Niku sushi — meat sushi — sees slices of beef either seared or raw draped over fingers of rice and topped with varying levels of luxury, from uni and caviar to truffle and foie gras, though this feels more an exercise in excess than the best way to wagyu.
But all roads lead to the barbecue and the menu offers myriad choices of cuts and marble score, ranging from Blackmore’s ox tongue and M7 tri — tip to 200g of M10+ sirloin for $110. That A5 Hida tenderloin is $1 per gram, with $65 buying you 100g of oyster blade.
A little goes a very long way. There are sauces (chilli miso, sesame, sweet soy) offered for the dipping, but the rich, beefy meat is pleasure enough on its own.
Staff — plentiful, friendly and who work the room well with eyes across all sections — are happy to both guide into a varied selection of cuts to compare and contrast and do some time on the grill, if you want.
With Japanese Suntory beer on tap and an extensive selection of sake, this is a unique Japanese experience in the heart of the city.
Niku Ou, 108 Bourke St, city. nikuoumelbourne.com.au
FOR GERMAN BRUNCH
Chef Ashley Davis has given a “modern Berlin diner” makeover to his year-old German restaurant Messer and with it comes a new bottomless brunch on Saturdays.
Over 90 minutes from 11am-3pm, feast on schnitzels while drinking steins, dig on duckwurst hotdogs and German mac and cheese — as well as mountains of sauerkraut and pretzels — while downing Berlin-style mimosas and more.
For $55 a head, this is the heartiest way to start a Saturday, which will see you right through the weekend.
Messer, 166 Gertrude St, Fitzroy. messerfitzroy.com.au
FOR UNMISSABLE DUMPLINGS
Frank Moylan and Melissa Macfarlane are back behind the bar of the Royal George Hotel in Kyenton. And it’s good to have them back.
The husband-and-wife duo have been, over the years, responsible for much loved pubs in the city — the Eastern European The Crimean in North Melbourne — and country, including The Farmers’ Arms in Daylesford and ran the Royal George to great acclaim in the late 2000s.
A touch of taxidermy and artfully chosen vintage pieces add colour but the bones of this 160-year-old beauty remain much as they were.
Along with $9.50 pints of Carlton, there’s Castlemaine’s Shedshaker on tap — as well as proper Czech Budvar if you’re lucky, a nod to the duo’s love of Eastern Europe.
The wine list is a tight, well-chosen cellar of local drops and Euro flings where there’s good drinking by the sun $10 glass or $40 bottle, while the equally sharply priced menu is a broadly Eastern European carte of greatest hits with a few eclectic outliers, such as fantastic Nashville pickle chips — lightly battered gherkin slices served with a punchy chipotle mayo.
A terrific chutney of sweet and spice is on dunking duties for the Bulgarian banista, a fat filo cigar filled with pork and cabbage, while a plate of wonderfully sharp pickled octopus teams chilli heat with cool mint tzatziki for a triple threat of tastes.
Whether you plump for the fat Siberian pelemi — filled with pork and beef and served with sour cream and paprika — or the Ukrainian vareniki filled with a potato and quark mix on a splosh of onion puree, you can’t go wrong with the two fab plates of dumplings here.
Oh, and did I mention they serve a chicken kiev croquette? Yes, it’s every bit as good as you’d imagine it would be.
Great booze and amazing food at a country-keen price, the Royal George is in great hands. Again.
Royal George, 29 Piper St, Kyneton. royalgeorge.com.au
FOR A GREAT STEAK
Looking for a mighty meaty feed? Look no further than Palermo, a handsome South American restaurant from the team behind San Telmo and Pastuso.
Firing up the parrilla grill and stoking the asado here is Ollie Gould (ex-Stokehouse) who is dramatically roasting meats on the open fire while serving up a menu that treads the familiar meat-and-malbec path honed to such winning effect at San Telmo over the past six-plus years.
Along with various cuts of cow expertly treated, there’s great grill-branded chorizo with deftly balanced spice, even better suckling pig croquettes, definitive beef empanadas and even a nice line in vegetables.
The broccoli, for instance, charred soft and served with green chilli, anchovy and a dusting of parmesan, is the definitive way to eat your greens.
To finish, there’s the famous flan — a wickedly wobbly custard of duche de leche and salted peanut — that’s outrageously sweet and decadently good.
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With switched on service, an extensive range of Argentinian wines served in a fetching space that cleverly nods to theme (cow hides, vintage siphon bottles) and you have the complete package.
A newer 250-seat sibling, Asado, adds similar Argentinian swagger to Southbank. Make a date with steak this weekend.
Palermo, 401 Lt Bourke St, Melbourne. palermo.melbourne
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