The five best things to eat in Melbourne this October
From bug salt chips and butter-soft calamari to the most elite pre-dinner snacks, here are five delicious things to eat this month.
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From bug salt chips, butter-soft calamari to the most elite pre-dinner snacks, these are the best things to eat in Melbourne this October.
Crab tostada
Hacienda, 3 Southgate Ave, Southbank
There is a lot to love about this lively Mexican restaurant overlooking the Yarra River at Southbank. Hacienda is home to a feast of authentic snacks, including this refreshing crab tostada ($28 for three) that’ll keep you on your toes. Expect shatter-fine tostada (deep-fried tortillas) frisbees piled with cold crabmeat, a zippy habanero mayo and radishes. The crunch, chilly breeze, punchy spice and limey freshness — what fun!
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Calamari, ndjua, chilli oil
Circl Wine House, 22 Punch Ln, Melbourne
Glowing so brightly with chilli and ’'nduja, you’ll need shades inside. This knockout calamari dish is so tender it slips from my fork like jelly through chopsticks. The heat, meaty morcilla (blood sausage) richness, a tingle lingering for eternity ... it’s one of those powerhouse dishes that’ll have you wanting more and more.
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Braised olluscos
Morena,71-73 Little Collins St, Melbourne
What I’m calling the unofficial potato three way. Olluscos ($11 each) are a speckled purple white root veg similar to the spud used throughout Latin America. At Morena, the third restaurant by Peruvian chef Alejandro Saravia, it is braised, pureed and cured for the ultimate off-road textural adventure that’s spicy, sweet and earthy. Very clever cooking, indeed.
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Circl Wine House snacks
Circl Wine House, 22 Punch Ln, Melbourne
Can we please talk about the snacks at Circl? Executive chef Elias Salomonsson is responsible for some seriously delicious two-biters deserving of double gold in the snack-lympics.
Take the delicately layered smoked eel tart ($12) underpinned by sharp horseradish and cleansing apple gel, cutting through a buttery fine shortcrust that’s applause worthy in its own right. Then comes a feather-light beetroot eclair ($21) that does the sweet and salty dance all too well; think wads of Yarra Valley goats cheese and sugar-glazed craquelin choux with earthy undertones. And lastly, pickled mussels ($15), fat and juicy as they should be, served straight from a curled back tin so you can load at your own pleasure chunky dill mayo on to potato chips. Just add wine.
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Grasshopper salt chips
Hacienda, 3 Southgate Ave, Southbank
Is chapulines Mexico’s answer to our beloved chicken salt? Quite possibly. At Hacienda, your hot chippies are jostled in a salt made from powdered roasted grasshoppers that chef Ross McCombe sources from his mate Juan Carlos in Mexico. Served with a sweet and sour ketchup with the right amount of tang, they taste just like your bog-standard food court cut, with a tingle of spice.
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Six spritzes to sip in the sunshine
The pre-mix spritz is fizzing in popularity this season. Here are six to slink in your glass while the weather’s warm.
Iconic Greek cafe closes after 62 years in CBD
One of the city’s longest-running Greek cafes is serving its last baklava after six-decades in the game, with the owner sharing his sad reason for the closure.