Short Bites: Dan Stock with Melbourne’s latest food news
This late-night Chapel St icon, visited by The Boss and Pearl Jam, is still the perfect place for a feed after a big night out. Dan Stock with the latest food news.
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Since opening in 2014, those in the know are acutely aware that for the city’s best XLB — xiao long bao — all roads lead to Emporium and, specifically, New Shanghai.
And they’re not alone, for the group, which also has restaurants in Sydney and Brisbane, serves more than 5 million of the famous Shanghainese soup dumplings a year.
But later this month, those dumplings and hot pots and noodle dishes will be joined by cool cocktails, Chinese-style tapas and expansive outdoor dining, when New Shanghai opens a new restaurant as part of the St Collins Lane centre.
With a balcony overlooking Collins St, owner John Chen says the new restaurant “takes the best aspects of our New Shanghai venues and adds a stylish modern twist”.
Grilled skewers — think Japanese yakitori, but with added soy and Sichuan pepper — will be a new signature, and with more than 200 dishes on the new menu and space for 300 diners, it’s yet another sign of confidence of our CBD returning to busy, bustling life.
“Australia is doing a great job during the current pandemic; Melburnians will start to see the CBD back in full swing again soon,” Chen says.
The original Emporium restaurant will continue normal operations for the next six months or so, with St Collins Lane opening on March 30 and then serving lunch and dinner daily from 11am.
NAUGHTY AND NICE
It’s the booze-free revolution that’s taking liquor retailers by storm.
Non-alcoholic beer is the success story of the past year, with B2B drinks marketplace Kaddy reporting a ten-fold increase in non-alcoholic drinks sold through the platform.
“Twelve months ago we didn’t even have a non-alcoholic beer on the platform,” Kaddy co-founder Rich Coombes says. “Now, some of our best performing products are non-alcoholic, brands like Heaps Normal and Sobah are doing really contemporary full flavoured beers without the alcohol. We’ve seen the category grow so fast.”
Coombes reckons the polarisation seen on food menus over the past few years, where it was either burgers and dude food or clean-eating superfoods, has made its way into beers.
“On one hand you have these crazy, double dry hopped, mango milkshake IPAs and the other end of the spectrum non-alcoholic beers — both great tasting in their own right, but polar opposite ends of the spectrum.”
TURNING JAPANESE
Not only are Chris Lucas and Martin Benn behind what will be arguably Australia’s most anticipated restaurant(s) opening this year when Society and Lillian Terrace welcomes their first diners mid-year, the duo are also opening a two-level modern Japanese eating house, Yakimono, next door. The restaurant reflects a love of Japan — Lucas spent time in his 20s living there, while Benn’s respect for Japanese ingredients and techniques saw his Sepia restaurant acclaimed as one of the country’s very best restaurants — and Lucas says it promises to be “busy, bustling, filled with smoke and noise, really fun and accessible”.
Daniel Wilson (ex Huxtable/Huxtaburger) is slated to come on as head chef when the restaurant opens in the second half of the year.
GLOBAL GRUB
No travel bubble needed to head across the world this weekend as the much-loved Melbourne Food and Wine Festival event Dandenong World Fare returns to Melbourne’s most multicultural market. Featuring more than 20 one-day-only dishes from market traders, from Filipino ube cheese pandesal to Kiwi beer-battered oysters and Sri Lankan lamprais, there’s something for all tastes from all corners of the globe. Stretchy pants at the ready, Dandenong World Fare is on Sunday from 10am.dandenongmarket.com.au
IF THE WALLS COULD TALK
Pearl Jam liked to go there for breakfast, and The Boss went there for supper every night after his shows when he was last in town, but most Melburnians who have partied in Prahran will know it best as the one place open for early-morning munchies before heading home from a night of drinking and dancing.
For more than four decades, Chapelli’s on Chapel St has served everyone at all hours — and until last year, had not shut its doors since opening in 1979.
Manager Lisa James — daughter of Albert Seoud who opened Chapelli’s with his brother Nazih — says the 24-hour institution is as busy as ever.
“Of a night, just as busy as ever. It’s mainly those in their 20s and 30s in the middle of the night, they’ve been out all night and come in for a feed,” she says.
It was James who kicked Seattle rockers Pearl Jam out of the restaurant when they wandered in looking for breakfast.
“I noticed they weren’t wearing shoes, so told them they could take a seat outside. They asked me where the best surf beaches were, ate their breakfast and left. Another customer said to me, ‘did you know that was Pearl Jam?’ I was a huge fan at the time, too. I can’t believe I didn’t recognise them!”
Bruce Springsteen was “such a lovely, genuine person, an all-round really good guy”. He was also a big tipper, but everyone from sport stars, actors, politicians, journalists “and some unsavoury characters we won’t mention” have headed in for a bowl of penne alla matriciana throughout the years.
Chapelli’s is one of the iconic businesses along the strip that feature in The Soul of Chapel series of video vignettes which share the stories of the custodians of the precinct’s unique culture.
“I’ve always said, if our walls could talk, a defamation suit would result,” James jokes.
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