Where to eat and drink in Melbourne this weekend
Whether it’s a glamorous bistro serving the best duck and desserts in town, a glass of wine with some Indian flatbreads at the city’s newest hot spot, here are the best places to eat and drink this weekend.
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Whether it’s a glamorous bistro serving the best duck and desserts in town, a glass of wine with some Indian flatbreads or a market in support of bushfire-affected High Country communities, here are the best things to eat and drink this weekend.
FOR A FINE WINE TIME
Chef/restaurateur Jessi Singh (Daughter In Law, Horn Please, Don’t Tell Aunty) has doubled down on his “unauthentic Indian” in the CBD but this time he has wine on his mind.
Taking over the Flinders Lane site that was until recently Guy Grossi’s pizza pocket place, Pezzo, Mrs Singh is a “wine and champagne bar” that doubles as a wine shop and filling the fridges and stocking the shelves is Australia’s best sommelier, Bhatia Dheeraj.
Part bottle shop, part wine bar, part supper club, Mrs Singh takes the terrazzo floor inherited from Grossi and teams it with collectibles Singh has gathered from his world it’s a similarly global approach Dheeraj has taken with the 250-strong wine offering, that traverses affordable and approachable through big-hitting heroes.
Singh’s menu is focused on complementing the wines, with snacks, small plates and a “bread bar” serving naan, paratha and Indian kulcha flatbreads hot from the tandoor with toppings such as taleggio and truffle, onion and blue cheese. Traditional wine bar staples – cheese, charcuterie, terrines – will augmented by the less conventional. The vindaloo momos – North Indian pork dumplings served with a vindaloo sauce – promise to be as tasty as a pina colada served in a pineapple is fun.
With the bar and bottle shop open until 1am on Friday and Saturdays – and until 11pm other days – for late night fine wine times, Mrs Singh is on song.
Mrs Singh, 88 Flinders Lane, city. mrssingh.com.au
FOR THE BEST DUCK IN TOWN
Omnia is a glamorous bistro that’s taken over the ground floor of the super-luxe Capitol Grand building that rises 50 storeys above the corner of Chapel St and Toorak Rd.
It’s a glorious room; a soaring atrium filled with light and hanging greenery giving way to a low-ceilinged, cellar-like moody space opposite the open kitchen in which a phalanx of staff led by Stephen Nairn (Estelle by Scott Pickett, Vue de monde) get on with feeding the 100-seater.
This is bistro writ bold but approachable – chicken parfait and steak tartare; whole flounder with butter sauce and sirloin with chips and bordelaise – that welcomes both South Yarra shoppers and solo diners and families in from the leafy east in equal measure.
The roast duck is an early signature of the kitchen and while spending almost 100 bucks on a whole duck might seem excessive, what if it’s the best duck you’ll eat?
A glorious bird is presented to the table whole then carved in the kitchen, its glossy, honey-lacquered, brittle skin covering deeply magenta flesh that’s tender as a whisper but with enough gamey chew to make it go-back-for-more irresistible, while a thin line of fat leaves the perfect amount of mouth-coating cuddle.
A couple of small roasted turnips, some bitter orange puree, and its legs, expertly confit with crisp skin and fall-from-bone flesh served alongside, finishes a dish that’s quite simply sublime.
Add a couple of sides – crunchy green beans, creamy-fluffy pomme dauphine – and this $98 bird would feed three happily.
Other hits include pork belly – soft and crisp everywhere it should be – served with a cheek of roasted peach dusted with fennel seeds a disc of creamy boudin noir. Great flavours, executed with class.
Desserts are a must: a frozen strawberry shortcake is all sorts of buttery, biscuity, cool creamy class while the “wet” cheesecake with a sharp blackberry sorbet to the side is a silken, custardy delight.
Omnia marks the welcome return of South Yarra’s glamour days.
Omnia, 625 Chapel St, South Yarra. omniabistro.com.au
FOR A BURGER WITH ATTITUDE
Hip Sydney burger joint Mary’s has turned a successful stint last performing canteen duties at pop-up bar Fancy Free into a permanent home here.
Mary’s Melbourne offers the same American-style double-hander cheeseburgers, fried chicken and mash and served with forward-looking (mainly Victorian) wines and beaut beers in the new 140-seater found by looking for a red light down an alley off Franklin St in the city.
Dark and dim and very loud, and with a motto of “get fat”, Mary’s has made its mark on Melbourne.
Mary’s Melbourne, 167 Franklin St, city. getfat.com.au
FOR SUPPORTING VICTORIAN PRODUCERS
More than 100 producers and makers from across Victoria’s northeast who have been knocked for six by the devastating bushfires and the resulting tourism downturn are coming to Melbourne on Sunday to bring a bit of the High Country to town.
The day will offer the chance for Melburnians to support the fire-affected regional businesses that rely on the busy summer tourist trade to see them through the year.
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Wineries and food producers will be selling their wares – don’t forget your #emptyesky – while tourism operators will be reminding city slickers of all that’s on offer that makes a visit to the High Country such a year-round treat.
Door entry on the day will be donated to High Country CFA districts and wildlife rescue.
On Sunday, February 2, from 11am-5pm, at The Timber Yard, 351 Plummer St, Port Melbourne.