Grazeland’s El Taco team opens Hotel Mexico, Bar Mexico
A Mexican eatery selling more than 1000 tacos a day at Grazeland is opening a new bar, with a larger bricks and mortar restaurant slated to open later this year.
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A small, family-run Mexican shop selling thousands of tacos a day is expanding.
El Taco’s Neven and Sandrow Yalda have been flexing authentic eats at western suburbs food mecca Grazeland since 2019.
The brother-sister team sell more than a thousand tacos every day, with El Taco by far the most successful business at the open-air food market.
Next month the siblings will launch two new great-value Mexican venues in Preston and Yarraville – with most dishes priced between $8 and $18.
The first, Bar Mexico, will jam 300 punters into its sizeable High St digs when it opens next month. Hotel Mexico, a heaving 500-seater Yarraville pub, will follow in August.
Founder John Forman, who is also Grazeland’s director, said both venues will fill the void of “fun, cool Mexican vibes” in the western and northern suburbs.
“High St, Preston was recently voted one of the coolest streets in the world,” he said.
“There is an energy in Preston and we felt Bar Mexico will fill a void in the area.”
Bar Mexico and Hotel Mexico will have an identical food and drink offering – with a strong focus on tequila and mescal.
The Yalda siblings will oversee the kitchens in both venues.
Highlights include birria quesadilla pizza, with accompanying beef broth for dunking, and a whopping taco feast designed to feed 10 hungry mouths; piled high with pulled beef, chicken and all the trimmings.
Latin DJs, bright interiors and colourful drinks will keep the “Mexico-meets-Miami vibes” in check.
Bar Mexico, 39 High St Preston, opening June 13
Hotel Mexico, 238 Whitehall St, Yarraville, opening August
Armadale eatery named one of world’s best steak restaurants
A suburban Melbourne eatery has been named one of the world’s best steak restaurants.
Gourmet butcher and restaurant Victor Churchill in Armadale ranked No.11 in the prestigious World’s 101 Best Steak Restaurants list for 2024.
And it wasn’t the only homegrown venue to score a nod, with CBD stayer Steer Dining Room ranking 17th, Entrecote; 86th, Gimlet; 94th and Grill Americano; 98th.
The world’s best steak restaurant was awarded to Buenos Aires’ Parilla Don Julio.
Spain’s Bodega El Capricho and Sydney’s Margaret — run by celebrated chef Neil Perry — placed second and third respectively.
Victor Churchill was founded by Anthony Puharich, as an ode to his dad and fourth generation butcher Victori Puharich. The Sydney business expanded into Melbourne in 2021.
Head chef Vincenzo Ursini oversees the kitchen, with the restaurant specialising in premium Aussie beef, dry-aged for 28 days. Cuts such as the 9+ Stone Axe wagyu sirloin and Rangers Valley Black Bistecca are menu standouts.
Restaurants are judged on the quality of meat (in terms of taste, marbelling, cut, preparation), meat range, the staff’s level of meat know-how, wine list and look and feel of the space.
The ranking of the World’s 101 Best Steak Restaurants is managed and published by Upper Cut Media House in London.
Victor Churchill, 953 High Street, Armadale, victorchurchill.com
Godfather of Sicilian cuisine unleashes insane meal deal
Chef Joe Vargetto is going to make you an offer you can’t refuse.
Melbourne’s Godfather of Sicilian food is slinging the ultimate meal deal this May — four courses, including a secret pasta — for $99.
The Mister Bianco chef and owner created the 70s-inspried feast to celebrate the American Express delicious. Month Out.
For the entire month of May, anyone who visits his Kew restaurant will be treated to the special menu.
Vargetto looked to his favourite childhood flavours and meals for inspo.
“I remember growing up and people didn’t have an understanding of ricotta in cannoli,” he said.
“Nobody knew what it was. My friends would tease me for having cheese in a dessert, and now cannoli is cool. Mum made it cool.”
Along with his ‘Cherry Ripe’ cannoli, Vargetto will cook a sweet and sour agrodolce tuna starter, paying homage to his dad’s fishing hauls at their local beach.
“Dad would go to the rocks in Sandringham for abalone.
“He’d come back with a few mussels and eat them raw in front of my friends, they all thought it was disgusting,” he said.
Red wine braised goat, jostled in his mother’s caponata (Sicilian slow-cooked eggplant), is the main event, preceded by an “off-menu” pasta.
“All I’ll say is you’ll need to check Instagram to find out what it is,” Vargetto said.
The American Express delicious. Month Out is a month-long celebration of great-value eating and drinking, boasting a calendar of meal deals and exclusive events across Melbourne and other capital cities in May.
delicious.com.au/delicious-month-out
Top chef opens first new Melbourne restaurant in a decade
Melbourne boy and celebrity chef Luke Mangan is coming home to open his first local restaurant in more than a decade.
French bistro Bistrot Bisou will move into the newly opened Hotel Indigo, on Flinders Lane and Spencer Street, next month.
Expect modern takes on French classics, centred around a woodfire grill, with Mangan also smoking meats and fish in-house.
He’ll be supported by Rory Kennedy, former Bar Romantica head chef and owner of Northcote’s Vex Dining.
Mangan said he was excited to be returning to his home city.
“Melbourne has a real European feel to it — especially as we come into the cooler months — and French fare is having a moment, so I can’t wait to share my take with diners,” he said.
“You’ll feel like you’ve taken a trip to Paris.”
Bistrot Bisou will open in early June for lunch and dinner. bistrotbisou.com.au.
‘Crookie’ storms Melbourne after viral social media post
First came the cronut, then the cruffin, now we have the “crookie”.
The croissant and choc-chip cookie hybrid has taken the world by storm after blowing up in Paris.
Now local pastry chefs are trying their hand at recreating the French-famous recipe.
Cavallini Bakery chef Robert Coco started making “cookie dough croissants” at his Fitzroy North bakery mid-April.
Coco, who brought the cronut to Melbourne in 2013, spent two months developing the recipe after watching Boulangerie Louvard’s viral social media post.
“My wife and I looked at it and thought ‘what a great idea’, especially after seeing how it took off in France,” he said.
“The purists in France are probably questioning the Le Crookie, but once they tried it, they realised they were to die for.”
Made with pure croissant dough, the cookie dough is studded with Belgian dark chocolate on the inside and out.
“I have 37 years’ industry experience and know it takes time to get a product right,” Coco said.
“For the crookie, I have changed our regular croissants to be long and narrow. It’s slightly lesser in weight and adds chocolate chip cookie dough.”
Cavallini’s “cookie dough croissants” have been so popular, Coco is considering adding another daily bake.
“We bake at 9.30am and 11.30am, but we may even do another at 1pm or 1.30pm,” he said.
As for what the next trend will be, Coco says it’s all about the shape.
“We are seeing cube, cylindrical and round croissants, being baked in different moulds,” he said.
354 Queens Parade, Fitzroy North
Longrain expands CBD footprint
Melbourne Thai institution Longrain is expanding its CBD footprint by opening a pop-up canteen on Little Collins St.
The grab-and-go lunch spot will sling shorthand versions of the restaurant’s Thai classics, turning the crispy pork hock into a roll and the crisp whole fish into fried fish fillets.
Famed curries and salads, such as the prawn glass noodles, will also feature.
A simple drinks selection of Chang beer, canned wine, longan juice and Thai coffee will also be on offer.
Longrain head chef Long Le said: “Our menu is all about tasty, affordable meals that you can eat on the go”.
“We have thoughtfully reimagined the flavours, techniques and presentation of Longrain classics that guests know and love without compromising on quality and authenticity.”
There’ll also be a Thai pantry for diners to buy hard-to-find ingredients for their own home creations.
In 2020, Longrain was one of the first Melbourne restaurants to reveal it would not be reopening after Covid, until it was brought back from the brink by TV chef Scott Pickett.
Longrain Canteen runs from May 13 until spring, weekdays from 11am till 2.30pm.
The original Longrain on Little Bourke St remains open for dinner seven days a week
and from noon onwards every Friday.
Longrain Canteen, Suite 1/430 Little Collins St.
Coffee king opens Armadale outpost
Coffee man about town Saki Samarathunga never forgets a face or name.
The talented barista has just opened his third Coffee Ministry cafe, in leafy Armadale, and is giving the old memory box a proper test.
“I always liked the area and have a lot of customers coming from Caulfield North and Armadale to my other stores, so I thought I’d meet in the middle,” he said.
The tiny cafe opposite the train station still churns through a few hundred orders per day.
But unlike his Malvern East and Caulfield North outposts, there is no indoor seating.
“We’re open from 5.30am so we get a lot of early-morning dog walkers and office people,” he said.
“We only have two tables outside, which seats six or so people, but most usually stand around and drink their coffee how they do in Italy.”
Coffee Ministry also slings a selection of takeaway sangers, croissants, egg and bacon rolls, pastries and loaves of bread, daily.
“We are open 365 days a year — even on Christmas — from 5.30am till 4.30pm,” he said.
“Business has been OK. There are ups and downs, but it’s mostly been all right. I am so lucky I have three great teams in Malvern East, Caulfield North and now in Armadale.”
Saki hasn’t ruled out opening another cafe, but for now, he’s determined to remember the names of his new regulars.
On Mother’s Day, $1 from all Coffee Ministry coffees sold will be donated to Motherless Daughters Australia charity.
Coffee Ministry, 59A Armadale St, Armadale
Portarlington favourite hits new global milestone
Commercial fisherman Lance Wiffen and his wife Lizzie once sold fresh mussels off their boat in Williamstown.
They’d talk to customers, shuck a few oysters and champion the mussel movement.
The duo would debunk common mollusc myths (yes, you can eat mussels that don’t open during cooking) and share obscure facts (male mussels are coloured white, females pink).
Over the years celebrity chefs were invited out to their farm in Port Phillip Bay, including Attica chef Ben Shewry, to educate and champion the mussel movement.
However, it dawned on Lance that while people enjoyed eating mussels, they knew nothing about them.
“It was at that moment I realised nobody knew how we grew them,” he said.
Last year the duo launched Portarlington Mussel Tours; a new public experience to teach punters about locally harvested seafood.
As part of the three-hour round trip, punters are taken to the couple’s farm off Curlewis near Portarlington – home to 72 million mussels, spawned on 240km of ropes submerged in the bay.
Guests can “pick their own lunch” before being shown how to prepare two mussel dishes, while being replenished with Bellarine-sourced snacks and drinks.
The tours have gained momentum since launching last year, with Geelong FC royalty the Selwoods and Hawkins getting in on the action in recent months.
There’s now also international interest ahead of an exciting new chapter for the tour.
“There’s a lot of interest from overseas. We’re getting people from America, different parts of Asia, and gaining interest in Europe as well,” Lance said.
“We’re also commercially diving for scallops. We’ll harvest them and hold them on the farm for future tours.”
Abalone and sea urchin are expected to follow, once Lance works out the logistics.
After all, the world is their oyster, ahem, mussel.
Portarlington Mussel Tours, portarlingtonmusseltours.com.au
World-class martini bar coming to Crown
He’s the King of Cocktails, who’s shaken stiff drinks for some of the world’s biggest stars.
Now we can taste drinks sensation Dale DeGroff’s clever creations at Crown Melbourne’s newest bar Le Martini, set to open mid-May.
The intimate 30-seater, opposite The Atlantic, will only shake (or stir) its namesake drink with a roster of world-class bartenders behind the ever-changing menu.
While the 75-year old won’t be on the tools, his three classic-inspired drinks will be pour.
“I’m using Grey Goose recipes to show the evolution of the martini — from what was served in 1888 to the 19th and 20th centuries and paying tribute to the new millennium,” he said.
The first, Fancy Goose, celebrates all things French spiked with vermouth and Bordeaux dessert nip Sauternes, bobbing with a fat Sicilian olive.
Harry’s Original draws from an 1888 recipe riff on red sweet Italian and dry white French vermouth, while the Grey Goose Millennium Dry is boozy and crisp.
After spending four days in town last month, DeGroff said Melbourne was spoiled for choice with quality bars.
“I went to Caretaker’s Cottage and then dive bar Hats and Tatts, around the corner,” he said.
“Apollo Inn is another wonderful place to be and Osteria Ilaria (Italian restaurant) was the best place on a rainy and cold day.”
While Aussies continue to embrace the no or low-alcohol life, DeGroff says the trend was sweeping the States, as was the agave movement.
“Vodka has always been No.1 but slipped below agave in the US,” he said.
“Agave, mescal and tequila are all trending, as is the culinary style of cocktail with use of botanicals and vegetables more prevalent.”
Le Martini, Crown Melbourne, opening mid-May, crownmelbourne.com.au
Could you handle this mega lasagne?
Lasagne has a firm hold on chef Telina Menzies.
As a kid, the Melbourne chef would request a slab of the hearty Italian staple from their grandmother — even though she wasn’t the best in the kitchen.
“My grandmother wasn’t the best cook, but on my birthday I’d always ask for lasagne and pavlova,” they said.
Menzies is supersizing the nostalgic dish at The Espy’s wild Italo-American disco diner, Louey’s for American Express delicious. Month Out.
Punters can order the off-menu item for the entire month of May.
“You have to tap your nose and spin three times,” they said.
“I’m joking. You can come in and say you’re here for the 30-layer lasagne and we’ll sort out the rest. Wink if you want to, though.”
The 30-layer, 25cm tall, cube comes layered in lush bechamel, pork and veal ragu and nduja red sauce, with a side of garlic focaccia.
“Coming into winter, Louey’s is such a warm space and somewhere to grab a nice red wine,” they said.
“We wanted to build something with so many layers, so you can enjoy the rich bolognese, pasta and sauce over and over again. It’s like a big hug.”
Menzies said the $30 meal deal, which replaces Louey’s menu-stayer “deep fried lasagne”, would officially migrate to the winter menu after the promotion.
American Express delicious. Month Out runs all May, promoting the best meal deals and special events in Melbourne and Victoria.
To see the full list of deals, visit:delicious.com.au/dmo
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