Taste Confidential: Pipi’s Kiosk opens wine bar in Albert Park, Maker and Monger’s cheese toastie giveaway
Maker and Monger’s toasties have their own cult following, and on Tuesday, they’re giving them away for free. Here’s more food news with Dan Stock.
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“I reckon I’ve got the best kitchen view in all of Melbourne,” says chef Jordan Clay overlooking Albert Park beach and the boats in Port Phillip beyond — and it’s hard to disagree.
Since October he and Tom Hunter have been welcoming bayside locals to their beach kiosk for takeaway coffees in the morning and cold tinnies in the arvo and fish and chips to eat on the sand but this week they’ll open the doors to their original vision: a modern wine bar on the beach.
Having signed the tenancy for the Port Phillip Council-owned space in the middle of lockdown 1 last year, Hunter says while they were apprehensive about opening in the middle of a pandemic, “we felt so strongly about the venue we just forged ahead”.
Pipi’s Kiosk sees Hunter and Clay reunite, the duo having worked together at Flinders Lane’s Oter with Hunter’s forward-looking drinks list here complementing Clay’s modern Australian fare forged from stints in kitchens including Pei Modern and Cumulus Up.
Expect “subtle twists on old classics” served in the 40-seater, with seafood a highlight — Corner Inlet sea bream; Goolwa pipi pasta, and “shrimp on a barbie”— as well dishes with a veg-forward focus.
A daily changing “snack attack” selection might include salt cod croquettes and stuffed chicken wings and along with a splash of something interesting — a piquepoul white from Cowra in NSW, or a Portuguese red blend from Victoria’s Riverland — and you have the picture of modern Australia Hunter says they aim to champion here.
“We love our local producers and the small vignerons and we want people to experience the best of what Australia can do,” he says of the list that juxtaposes new world styles that are beginning to thrive here with the old world classics.
Luke Wheaton (Byrdi) has helped with the cocktail program that includes a signature spritz featuring foraged saltbush, a bitter amaro from Mordialloc and some salted coconut “for that Reef Oil memory”.
Hunter says locals have embraced the kiosk and that the foreshore has never been busier. “It’s great to be a part of the community down here and that’s what we want to be a good, little neighbourhood wine bar.”
Pipis Kiosk opens on April 15 and serves lunch Thurs-Sun and dinner Thurs-Sat at 129A Beaconsfield Pde, Albert Park. pipiskiosk.com.au
FULL OF BEANS
“It’s a long way from the backstreets of Fitzroy to next door to Tiffany’s, but I’m feeling OK about it,” laughs Industry Beans’ Trevor Simmons.
Founded in 2010 by Simmons and brother Steve, Industry Beans has grown from that first coffee roastery and brew bar in Fitzroy to now include cafes in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane (a 140-seat, 700 sqm behemoth in Newstead that opened last September) and this week adds an “experiential, crop-to-cup” flagship at Chadstone Shopping Centre to the stable.
“We really wanted people to see the beans roasting, smell the coffee, drink it in store or buy it for home,” Trevor says, with more than a third of the 400 sqm space at Chadstone devoted to
specialty coffee retail.
Elsewhere in the sleek, white and naturally light March Studio-designed space there’s seating for 100, with an all-day dining menu offered daily and three nights a week.
“You can have scrambled eggs for dinner, if you like, or three courses. We’ve wanted to do the all day, all night thing for ages, and am really keen to see if people like it,” Simmons says, with Matt Waters (ex MAdE Establishment/YoChi) recently joining as Group F+B director to oversee the offering across all venues.
“We want people to have the whole coffee experience here, from sourcing, roasting and brewing and maybe get something for home,” Trevor says.
Industry Beans at Chadstone (Tiffany entrance) opens Wed, April 14. industrybeans.com.au
PLANT A SEED
The meat-free movement shows no signs of slowing with plant-based fast food diner Marko opening at South Melbourne Market this week. With a menu designed by Charley Snadden Wilson (Etta, Ramblr) and delivered by head chef Nabin Shrestha (Vegie Bar, Rumi) there’ll be burgers, pitas and bowls all with a plant-based bent. With an “all-natural” philosophy the signature burger is made from lentils, mushrooms, beets, sunflower and coconut, while the green-pea falafels promise crunchy goodness within fluffy pitas by Brunswick’s Alasya Bakery.
Herb or furikake-dusted chips — potato, sweet potato or eggplant — with avocado crèma, corn “ribs”, craft brews and natural wines are all on offer for midweek lunches through weekend nights.
Co-founder Dehne Bingham says Marko is all about making food that’s better – better tasting, for the environment and for the community.
“We’re not here to convert anyone, we’re just widening the pathway to plant-based food by giving people more options that taste good, and that they can feel good about eating,” he says.
Marko, South Melbourne Market, opens on Wednesday. eatmarko.com.au
CHEESE DREAMS
Did someone say free cheese? Yes please! Purveyors of the town’s top cheese toasties, Maker & Monger, are offering the first 100 hungry mouths a Mac Attack toastie on Tuesday on them. To celebrate International Grilled Cheese Day, the toastie features a mac n cheese pattie with bechemal, leeks, Marcel Petite Comte and mozzarella, with parmigiano reggiano and gouda on the outside for extra crunch – and served with a Stilton dipping sauce.
Get down to Prahran Market from 11am Tuesday for cheese dreams for days. makerandmonger.com.au
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