Short Bites: Kara Irving with Melbourne’s latest food news

A Bali holiday should top every vaccinated Australians’ travel bucket list, according to this Melbourne-expat Bali chef. Here’s why.

A Melbourne-expat Bali chef said all vaccinated Australians should be allowed to travel abroad to boost the holiday island’s crippling hospitality and tourism industries.

Dean Keddell said Bali desperately needed international travellers, with many Aussie-run restaurants permanently closed or running at a loss.

“Vaccinated people should be allowed to travel. People are suffering so badly in Bali,” he

said.

“A lot of these (Bali) venues closed temporarily, but now we are seeing them stripped and nobody is coming back. The shopping mall (stores) are boarded up. It’s really abandoned.”

To help the Balinese, Keddell released a recipe book Our Bali, Your Bali and launched the Bali Needs Our Help project to fundraise for five local charities.

Dean Keddell is an Melbourne-expat chef in Bali. Picture: Supplied.

The project has raised about $187,000 of an aspired $375,000. He also hopes to sell 5000 books.

Keddell closed his Seminyak restaurants Ginger Moon and Jackson’s Lily after opening for three months over Christmas.

They join fellow Melbourne expat Adam McAsey’s Bikini and other Bali icons Mrs Sippy, and Barbacoa which haven’t opened since March 2020.

Mr Keddell has lived in Bali with his wife and two children for 15 years and hoped to return to his home town of Lake Eildon before his eldest son Jackson turned 10 this year.

“I can’t sell these businesses as nobody is going to buy them. We don’t know how long we’ll be stuck for and there’s too much invested,” he said.

Our Bali, Your Bali is available to buy via: chuffed.org/project/bali-needs-our-help

Jackson Lily's restaurant in Bali remains closed. Picture: Supplied.

CHEESY NEW PROJECT

A lockdown cheese delivery service has found a bricks-and-mortar home selling the dairy staple in baked, fried and even cocktail form.

14 Days of Cheese opened at Port Melbourne’s Pier 35 for dinner last week, after quietly trading as a provedore in the waterside industrial estate since December.

Owners Maria Crews and Nick Burgess will champion cheese daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with head chef Drew Traynor (formerly of Eau de Vie) at the kitchen’s helm.

Maria Crews and Nick Burgess from 14 Days of Cheese. Picture: Supplied

A 1kg wheel of baked camembert and honeycomb, part of 14 Days’ dedicated baked cheese menu, gouda croquettes, and buffalo ricotta gnocchi are among the cheesy highlights.

“We wanted to create a menu where cheese was the main ingredient and show people how to

include it as part of a dish,” Ms Crews said.

Bar manager Conor Jones will also shake up milk clarified cocktails, with a liquor licence expected by Thursday, allowing the restaurant to serve booze into the evening. 14 Days also does bottomless fondue on weekends and still sells takeaway for your at-home platter creations.

Ms Crews has big plans for the space in the warmer months.

“We’re hoping to run some bigger events, like a cheese and wine festival or a produce market,” she said. “I’m so excited (to finally open), we are beside ourselves.”

14 Days of Cheese is at Pier 35, 263 Lorimer St, Port Melbourne.

Bookings: 14daysofcheese.com.au

Gouda croquettes at 14 Days of Cheese. Picture: Supplied.

LATE NIGHT YUM CHA

Tony Tan has shaken up the trolley-wheeling and tea-laden lunchtime yum cha tradition.

The influential chef is behind the Late Night Yum Cha event at RISING festival next week.

Melbourne restaurants HuTong, Crystal Jade, Dainty Sichuan and Shandong Mama will serve a cross-section of regional Chinese dishes at the Mess Hall at Melbourne Town Hall.

Friday and Saturday are sold out for the four-night event, with only late sittings available on Wednesday and Thursday.

Late Night Yum Cha curator Tony Tan and chefs Mama from Shandong Mama and Tina Li from Dainty Sichuan. Picture: Nicki Connolly.

Shandong Mama’s Meiyan Wang will bust out the zucchini dumplings and Dainty Sichuan’s Tina Li will have the lamb skewers on high rotation.

Meanwhile, mobile payment platform Mr Yum has partnered with the festival for fuss-free ordering.

Late Night Yum Cha runs from June 2-5 at Melbourne Town Hall. $55 per person + booking fee. Only 11pm sessions available on Wednesday and Thursday.

Sarah Sands Hotel is reopening in Brunswick on May 31. Picture: Supplied.

RESTAURANT BOOM

Regional Victoria is booming with new restaurants.

The team behind Geelong’s South American outfit, ALMA, opened modern Euro restaurant Felix this month.

Ex-Captain Moonlite chef Matt Podbury will follow suit with French bistro La Cachette early next month. In Ballarat, Teddy and Louis Powlett, the powerhouse duo behind thriving Moon and Mountain and Ragazzone, opened wine bar and social club Renard, in early May. Brunswick’s Sarah Sands Hotel will reopen after a four-year hiatus and $3m revamp on May 31.

cachette.com.au

felixgeelong.com.au

renardballarat.com.au

WINTER SOLSTICE

Shake off the winter chills at the new East Gippsland Winter Festival.

The month-long celebration of food, wine and art will host pop-up events across the region.

East Gippsland Winter Festival, June 19 to July 11. egwinterfest.com.au