Best places to eat out around Melbourne and Victoria this weekend

WHETHER squid on a stick or lamb on a skewer, a modern Melbourne Middle Eastern Feast or a celebration of Central Victoria, here are Dan Stock’s top picks for where to eat this weekend.

WHETHER squid on a stick or lamb on a skewer, a modern Melbourne Middle Eastern Feast or a celebration of Central Victoria, here are Dan Stock’s top picks for where to eat this weekend.

INSIDE THE YARRA VALLEY’S SECRET WINE REGION

BLACK PEARL NAMED BEST BAR IN AUSTRALASIA

Try some squid on a stick in Footscray. Picture: Nicole Cleary

FAST FOOD WITH A DIFFERENCE

Speedy squid snacks

They’re seen as often on the Lygon St trattoria menu served with aioli as on Victoria St covered in salt and pepper batter but we’ve never seen squid quite like this.

Melbourne’s first fast food squid store is opening its Footscray doors on Saturday, and the giant squid skewers are set to be a summer hit. The tasty tentacles and tender tube crumbed and fried to a crisp are served with a variety of south east Asian sauces: there’s a Singaporean salted egg sauce, Thai tangy tom yum sauce, soy and ginger Japanese glaze and super-hot Korean spices.

There’ll also be squid bites, squid balls and battered snack rings served from the fast food store opposite Footscray station. To celebrate the opening on Saturday, the team will be serving two-for-one $10 giant squid skewers all weekend.

IKA8 at 24 Irving St, Footscray opens on Saturday at 11am and then daily 11am-9pm. ika8.com.au

GET OUT OF TOWN

To market, to market

Talbot: population 442. That is until the third Sunday of every month — that’s this Sunday — when this tiny, charming central Victorian gold rush town swells to 5000, all flocking to one of the state’s longest-running — and best — farmer’s markets.

It’s on those days you’re best advised to book a table at the Talbot Provedore, the only café/eatery in town, for when the market’s done to laze away the afternoon with a glass of something suitably local in hand — perhaps a beer from Ballarat, or a Pyrenees —– while grazing on a platter that’s laden with the best of the region.

The charming Talbot Provedore will be packed this weekend, when 5000 people descend on the tiny town of Talbot for its famous monthly farmer’s market.

Part café, part eatery, and part food store where shelves are laden with preserved fruits and local jams, oils and spices and tea and chocolates, this is a showcase of the best of this part of Victoria.

That grazing platter is a must-try, where thick hummus and great curry-tinged pickled veg join crunchy-crusted chorizo croquettes, a chunk of tangy cheddar, a dense and rich pig’s head terrine and fabulous ham from Ballarat’s Country Style smallgoods. It’s perfect to share. The small lunch menu is augmented each week by a blackboard of specials, while the cellar is impressively stocked with wines from less than 100kms away.

The signature tasting platter at Talbot provedore that makes the most of Central Victorian produce.

While visiting on market day makes the most of a day trip to Talbot, its gorgeously sleepy gold rush charms and a meal at the Provedore make a compelling reason to visit on every other weekend, too

Talbot Provedore and Eatery, 42 Scandinavian Cres, Talbot. talbotprovedore.com.au

FOR A SPECIAL NIGHT OUT

Truly Maha-vellous

Like a good wine, Shane Delia’s Maha just gets better with age. If it’s been some time since you’ve headed down the Bond St stairs for one of the chef’s famed multi-course Middle Eastern “soufra” there’s every reason to revisit.

Celebrating its 10th year, this sexy subterranean space is stylishly opulent, cossetingly comfortable and march-to-its-own-drum cool.

But just as the real housewives of Toorak know, looking this good doesn’t come without work, and the madeover dining room now looks as good as the food tastes.

And with the new look, a renewed focus, with the whole team, from the celeb chef down, looking and refining the offering from every angle. It is, I reckon, now better than it’s been for ages.

The sexy, sleek new-look Maha dining room

The food, always big-heartedly generous, has a refined, elegant edge, the flavours bold, the plating beautiful.

Spears of Koo Wee Rup asparagus come with a sprinkle of crisp sujuk on top and a sharp sour yoghurt underneath, cucumbers pickled in arak are dusted with black olives, chemen (fenugreek) cured kingfish has dots of Kewpie and a touch of Turkish chilli pepper, and the hummus, drizzled with lemon butter, is best in class.

And that’s just to start.

Refined and elegant: the orange blossom glazed pork cutlet at Maha

There’d be a riot if the slow-roasted lamb ever left, so it’s there, but there’s an admirable focus on veg across the offering now, with vegetarians and vegans well looked after across even an eight-course feast. Lunches on Weekends feature a feast made up of recipes that have featured on Delia’s Spice Journey series and are a hit with fans.

With sharp service and a terrific cellar, Maha delivers Middle Eastern that’s unmistakably Melbourne.

Maha 21 Bond St, Melbourne. maharestaurant.com.au

FOR A FAMILY FEAST

Do the char-char

Billed as Australia’s first “ocakbasi” restaurant, Taksim Square recently opened in Moonee Ponds.

Ocakbasi, which loosely translates as “stand by the grill”, is a style of Turkish barbecue where the food is cooked to order over an open charcoal grill in the restaurant, with seats surrounding the action much like Japanese teppanyaki.

On the grill here, chef/owner David Evren cooks the signature adana, a version of kebab that takes minced lamb meat seasoned with salt and paprika molded over a long, flat sword-like skewer called a zirh that’s then cooked over coals.

Australia’s first ocakbasi restaurant has opened in Moonee Ponds. Picture Rebecca Michael

It’s served by the 20cm – up to a metre long – and it’s fabulous, the deliciously seasoned lamb with its fatty juice and sumac sozzled red onions is served with warmed flatbread for wrap and roll good times eating. It calls for cold Efes beers, shots of raki and dancing to the Turkish pop hits that are played by a band on weekends.

Before the meat cooked over coals there’s a heap of great cold and hot mezze to get things started.

Dips, mezze and loads of good things from the grill. Picture Rebecca Michael

Dips, of course, will be quick to hit the table. The fabulous chunky, homely Turkish version of baba ganuosh – where eggplant is mixed capsicum, tomato and onions - is is the pick, while beautifully cooked octopus drizzled in oil is also a win.

For mains, a range of fish and meat is on show in a glass cabinet festooned with lights before being cooked on the grill and includes a plate of fat, juicy kofta that come with a good caramelised crust.

It’s busy, it’s fun, it’s great for a night out with the family.

Taksim Square is yet another suburban star cementing Melbourne’s culinary capital cred.

Taksim Square, 561 Mt Alexander Rd, Moonee Ponds. taksimsquare.com.au