Great-value Melbourne lunch and dinner deals worth sinking your teeth into

Some of the city’s top chefs are teaming up to share great-value meal deals — including a one-off, $20 slow-roasted lamb wrap that’ll send your tastebuds into overdrive.

The year of the collab is going strong, with Gary McBean and Shane Delia partnering for a one-off shawarma. Picture: Chege Mbuthi

The year of the collab is still going strong — with many of our favourite Melbourne restaurants teaming up to share great-value meals and deals.

The latest sees popular Prahran Market player G.McBean Family Butcher unite with celebrity chef Shane Delia to create a one-off lamb shawarma all weekend from Saturday September 14 until sold out.

Delia, who will wrap Maha’s weekday $15 lunch bowls this week after successful two-month innings, said the art of the collaboration was a win for both parties.

“They’ve always been around, pop-ups and collab dinners,” he told the Herald Sun.

“It’s pretty flattering to have someone want to work with you, whether that’s a local restaurant or a takeaway shop, to get your name our there and leverage.”

Delia and long-time butcher Gary McBean have known each other for more than a decade, and said the lunch deal made sense.

“We’ve never really collaborated with many people before, as the old shop didn’t have a kitchen,” McBean said.

“So it was a natural conversation between Shane and myself that progressed to create a fun special for the weekend between old friends.”

Punters can wrap their laughing gear around a $20 lamb shawarma, made from slow-cooked shoulder meat cooked over coals at the shiny new Gary McBean butcher in the Prahran Market.

The lamb is marinated in a housemade merguez (Moroccan style seasoning) for two days, before being slow-spun on the spit. It’s then wrapped in A1 Bakeries Lebanese flatbread, smothered in Maha’s toum (garlic paste) and filled out with pickled onions, hot chips and parsley.

“Collabs are a fun way for the whole team to get creative,” McBean said.

“It’s a good learning exercise for our kitchen team to work with such an iconic chef, and we get so much out of watching him do his thing.”
Delia said the collab also helped share the Maha story with new customers.

“We may see some of Gary’s customers, who may not be engaged with our brand for a long time, come in after trying the shawarma.”

Shane will join Gary at the Prahran Market between 12pm - 1pm on September 14.