Delicious 100: Why these Victorian restaurants didn’t make the best restaurants list

Several iconic eateries were absent from Victoria’s best restaurants list. Here’s why they didn’t make the cut.

There were some noticeable absences from this year’s delicious. 100 list.

After a forced, two-year reviewing hiatus (thanks Covid), at least 16 beloved Victorian restaurants had closed for good.

City favourites Bar Saracen, French Saloon, Lello, Saxe, Ike Jime, Annam, Bar Tini and Lesa were long gone before our dedicated reviewing team hit the circuit.

Embla owners Dave Verheul and Christian McCabe closed Lesa, the restaurant above their Russell St wine bar, on day one of the city’s first ever lockdown and never reopened.

Richmond’s Anchovy had been visited during the delicious. 100 eating season, but as the list was being finalised, owners Thi Le and Jia-Yen Lee had changed the concept from Vietnamese to Laotian cooking, and rebranded as JEOW.

Gemma Gange and Matt Germanchis closed Anglesea’s beloved Captain Moonlite before Covid.

Meanwhile, the Hosier Lane address that housed Movida’s Bar Tini (which ranked 56 in 2019) had been replaced by Mexican taqueria Tres a Cino, which debuted at 98 in 2022.

Joseph Vargetto’s slick Sicilian CBD eatery, Massi, had closed and was briefly replaced by his new project with Iceberg’s Sydney founder Maurice Terzini.

However Cucina Povera Vino Vero traded for only a couple of weeks before suddenly shutting its doors over an ugly business spat.

In the regions, Yarra Valley winery restaurant Seville Estate, which ranked 27 in the 2019 list, quietly closed its doors earlier this year, while tiny Ballarat fine diner Underbar was reviewed just days before closing to relocate to its new location at Hotel Vera.

Seville Estate closed without warning earlier this year.

Fellow small eatery Chae was reviewed at its new soon-to-open location in Cockatoo.

Matt Germanchis and Gemma Gange bid farewell to Anglesea’s Captain Moonlite in 2020 and sold fish and chipper Fish by Moonlite earlier this year, allowing Matt to concentrate on his new exec chef role at the Lorne Hotel, which has been acquired by Sydney hospo giant Merivale.

Sweet success

Kōri’s Joane Yeoh and Bernard Chu with some colourful ice cream creations. Picture: Tim Carrafa

Opening her dream ice-cream shop in the middle of winter has worked out unseasonably well for this young Melbourne chef.

Joane Yeoh, 29, teamed up with her former boss, Bernard Chu (Lux Bite chef/co-founder), to open Kōri Ice Cream in Hawthorn earlier this month.

And there are already lines out the door, with people queuing up to 30 minutes for a scoop.

“This is my first time doing a business, and it’s winter-time so I didn’t expect people to be lining up outside for an ice cream,” she said.

Kōri – that’s Japanese for “ice” – has 24 Japanese-spiked flavours including miso, sake, matcha, nori (seaweed), sweet potatoand Aussie firsts such as purin (flan-like custard) caramel pudding and Hōjicha (charcoal roasted green tea) hazelnut.

Yeoh also makes a selection of plant-based, dairy and gluten-free options.

“I really like savoury ice-creams, which is why you’ll find miso, nori seaweed and white sesame flavours,” she said.

Fear not, Yeoh still makes the classics with a twist.

“There’s pistachio with matcha and strawberry sudachi (Japanese lime) which gives off a sourness to counter the strawberry sweetness,” she said.

Yeoh has worked as a pastry chef across kitchens here and abroad for the past decade, starting at Lux Bite with Chu before cooking at Rosetta, Spice Temple, Press Club, Tonka and Coda. She was also staged in Japan at Tokyo’s Chocolate Academy and two-Michelin star restaurant Narisawa.

“I’ve always worked in a restaurant as a pastry chef, but I like ice-cream. It’s very easy. You don’t have to think too much about it,” she said.

In a couple of weeks Kōri will also sell ice-cream cakes for takeaway.

While it’s early days, Yeoh hopes to expand Kōri across the two levels of its Glenferrie Rd base, as well as open more locations citywide.

659 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn, open daily from noon.

Holy Water Festival is Melbourne’s newest drinks event.

Westside drinks

Raise a glass to Melbourne’s new Holy Water cocktail festival pouring boutique booze this weekend.

The three-day event unites 30 Victorian craft distilleries under the same roof, such as Grainshaker Vodka, East Pole Gin, NED Whisky, JimmyRum Orlando Marzo’s Loro, Maidenii, Marionette and Monceau.

Think food by Burn City Smokers and Porcupine Pizza, drinks and plenty of free masterclasses to watch, including an oyster and cocktail demo by Pearl Diver’s Alex Boon and a guide to batch cocktails by Nick and Nora’s Kayla Reid.

Holy Water Craft Distillery Festival, $65 per session. Seaworks 82 Nelson Pl, Williamstown.

Two of Latin America’s top chefs will be heating up Rockpool for a chef dinner series next month.

Heat is on

Two top Latin-American chefs will bring the heat to Rockpool Bar and Grill next month.

Diego Hernández Baquedano (of the now closed Corazon de Tierra) and Argentina’s Pedro Bargero (Chila) – who both helmed LatinAmerica’s 50 Best Restaurants – are leading the On Fire dinner series at Rockpool’s Melbourne and Sydney outpost in September and October.

Rockpool’s executive chef Santiago Aristizabal and Melbourne head chef Declan Carrol will join the duo to create a four-course feast.

Diego’s Melbourne dinners will be held on September 7 and Pedro’s on October 19.

Tickets cost $245 per person, and include a cocktail, snacks on arrival with wine pairings at an additional fee.

rockpoolbarandgrill.com.au/rockpool-melbourne