Melbourne’s top restaurants offer a range of takeaway options to stay afloat
You might not be able to book a table at your favourite restaurant but that doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy their delicious menu options. Here’s a look at some of the best Melbourne eateries doing takeaway.
Lifestyle
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Just couple of weeks ago these were Melbourne’s hottest restaurants where a reservation took months of planning or waiting for hours for a table on a Friday night.
Since lunchtime on Monday, however, they have been empty of diners. But they are not devoid of life.
Ever creative and resilient, our top restaurateurs have quickly adapted to our new socially distant reality and have kept their kitchens open, turning to takeaway of their acclaimed fare.
And in order to keep as many staff in a job, they’re often delivering these meals on wheels themselves.
This week, chef Ben Shewry launched an Attica at Home menu, with four cars delivering meals to homes in the suburbs surrounding the Ripponlea restaurant, while delicious.100 best new restaurant Di Stasio Citta - along with the St Kilda original – is offering piati pronti (ready meals) to grab-and-go or to be home delivered.
These restaurants have changed their business model overnight, setting up online ordering and payment systems and working out menus that can be adapted for takeaway.
“We’re learning as we go, everything’s changing so quickly,” says Martin Pirc of CBD stalwart Punch Lane and Richmond’s Saint Urban.
“We’ve just got to find ways to get through this.”
Many are offering restaurant-style meals ready to eat at home; others, such as Saint Urban and Mister Bianco in Kew, are offering pre-made comfort meals to cook at home – think beef bourguignon and Paris mash, or slow-cooked lamb with fresh pappardelle.
Melbourne’s world renowned restaurant scene looks nothing like it did a week ago. To ensure your favourite local haunt is going to be there when the lockdown is lifted it needs your help now.
Enjoy a night out that’s a night in – for the family cook still needs a night off even when in lockdown. Actually, make that more so.
We put a selection of Melbourne’s favourite eateries – old and new – to the takeaway test to see how this new world order tastes.
And the verdict is in: dining at home might lack the glamour of a Big Night Out, but there’s no faulting the food that’s as creative, as interesting, as comforting and as downright delicious as we’ve come to expect from our local dining scene.
It’s food that tastes as good as it feels supporting an industry in crisis.
Though just a small fraction of the offering across Melbourne, here are the meals we put to the At Home Taste Test this week.
ATTICA
Attica is for most people a once-in-a-lifetime event. Call it a silver lining, but Ben Shewry’s world-famous fare is now available in affordable three-course form.
WHAT’S ON OFFER: Shewry has resurrected the restaurant’s famous Potato Cooked in the Earth it was Cooked in dish (a nod to the New Zealand hangi-style cooking of Shewry’s childhood) where a whole, potato is served on tangy curd and topped with crunchy salt bush leaves. It’s easy to assemble at home and travels well. As does a generous oblong of excellent slow-cooked lamb that comes in a punchy native pepper and spice crust, stickily decadent mash, braised spinach with pine nuts and a deeply rich lamb jus to drizzle alongside.
To finish, a trifle version of the restaurant’s Plight of the Bees dessert – creamy curd, honey, raspberries and a few pumpkin matchsticks – is pitch perfect. Perhaps even better, there’s a “Shewry family meal” that teams terrific, béchamel rich lasagne with pull-apart garlic bread and a lovely little leaf salad with a mustard seed dressing.
There’s also a tub of buttermilk ice cream with bush apple swirled through the sweet sharp creaminess which is as adult a pleasure you’d imagine Attica ice cream to be. It’s accessibly posh comfort food of the highest order.
COST:Attica’s classics at home for two people is $95 pick up ($110 delivered), the family meal for two is $60 ($75 delivered).
VERDICT:Perfect for an isolation anniversary.
ORDERS: attica.com.au/delivery
BABAJAN
Carlton North’s marvellous mod Middle Eastern Babajan has twisted to takeaway, with chef/owner Kirsty Chiaplias not only serving up her acclaimed salads, boreks and koftes to go, but is also cooking 10 meals a day to be donated to the Red Cross to help those in need through the crisis.
WHAT’S ON OFFER:Turkish pastries (pide, simit and haloumi pies) and cakes, dips, drinks and fabulous family sized boreks to cook at home (including lamb and potatoes, mushroom and ricotta and the classic silverbeet and feta).
Other meals include ready-to-bake trays of pasticcio – a Greek baked pasta with lamb and bechamel – which, after just 45 mins in the oven, is a cheesy, bubbling filling family feed.
COST: Those bake-at-home trays are terrific value at $22, while pastries sweet and savoury are around $5-$7.
VERDICT: Frugal family feasting done with flair.
ORDERS: babajan.square.site
BELLOTA
Nicky Riemer’s new dine-from-home menu at Bellota is available to pick up (noon-9pm Mon-Sat) or for delivery (between noon-6pm). It also comes with the added win of wine for home from the adjoining Prince Wine Store.
WHAT’S ON OFFER: Riemer’s famous fresh and fab salads – the shaved cabbage with chilli and parmesan is a classic on the menu for good reason – are ready to grab and go from the fridge, while heartier mains include a deliciously rich confit duck with lentils and Madeira jus that comes with microwave and conventional oven cooking instructions.
The orecchiette with broccoli and Sicilian pesto (tomatoes, almonds and pecorino) makes for a terrific meal for one – good as is, even better when finished with a sprinkle of parmesan and olive oil once heated at home.
COST:Pasta $20, duck $25, salad $15, with pantry staples (pasta, oil, tinned beans) also on offer.
VERDICT:Flavour-first food and a fine wine time.
ORDERS: princewinestore.com.au
CHIN CHIN
It’s the restaurant that made waiting for dinner a rite of passage, but if there’s any upside in this COVID-19 cordon it’s that Chin Chin now comes with without having to queue.
WHAT’S ON OFFER:A truncated menu of the pan-Asian hits that has made Chin Chin our most famous restaurant includes prawn and ginger hargow, pad thai and stir-fried prawns with egg noodles, a massaman curry and a rich Wagyu beef rendang.
Six packs of Peroni Red and Singha, along with a couple of whites and reds are also available.
Pick up available Wed-Sun, with delivery soon to come.
COST:Dumplings are $9.50, noodles $17.50, curries $19.50, booze $28
VERDICT:A plus for Q minus.
ORDERS: chinchintakeaway.melbourne
DI STASIO CITTA
In these strange, unsettling times, we all need moments of comfort. And many have long found that solace at the bottom of a bowl of pasta from Di Stasio. Pick up something from the still-glamorous-even-when-empty Citta, wander across the road and find a (socially distant) spot in the Treasury Gardens sun and enjoy the simple, sublime pleasure of sploshing sauce on your shirt.
WHAT’S ON OFFER:A condensed menu of travel-friendly fare includes the hug-into-nonna’s-bosom-while-standing-1.5m-away that is Di Stasio’s COVID-busting version of chicken noodle soup, an equally health-affirming chickpea and cavolo nero braise that begs to be mopped dry with the buttered Baker Bleu bread served on the side, as well a couple of mains (roast chicken, fish and chips, beef with polenta). A classic paccheri Bolognese and lasagne are offered, but the fresh tagliatelle with roasted tomatoes, a heap of crunchy-fatty nubs of guanciale (cured pork jowl) and a handful of grated pecorino is a simple, sublime pleasure. I haven’t enjoyed a pasta as much in an age.
Offered for pick-up and delivery from St Kilda and city.
COST:Soup is $18, pastas $28, mains $28-31.
VERDICT:Di Stasio glitz, glamour and good times served al coucho.
ORDERS: distasiodelivery.com
MISKA
He heralded the era of cool Collingwood when he opened the hottest little restaurant on Smith St a decade ago, now Gigibaba’s Ismail Tosun has added his Turkish cool to Coolaroo. After a successful stint as a food truck, Tosun recently opened a bricks and mortar restaurant Miksa last month
WHAT’S ON OFFER: Anatolian adana, kofte, chicken sish and snapper all cooked over coals and served in outrageously good Turkish bread. The adana is all sorts of smoky, spicy, charry meaty goodness served with finely sliced red onion, sumac and roasted peppers, but the more simple pleasure of snapper cooked over coals and served with a crunchy fresh iceberg, lime and sumac is equally excellent. There’s also Turkey’s national soft drink – Gazoz – that’s rightfully billed as “the better Fanta”, along with the salty yoghurt drink, Ayran, that team well with.
COST:$15-$18.
VERDICT: On fire.
ORDERS: askimmiksa.square.site
MISTER BIANCO
Jospeph Vargetto has turned his Mister Bianco restaurant’s Kew kitchen into a powerhouse of freshly prepared pasta, sauces and schnitzels ready for fridges and freezers that are delivered to the door in a Mini, a la The Italian Job.
WHAT’S ON OFFER: Freshly made-then-frozen pastas – pappardelle, maccheroni, fusilli – and sauces including cacio e pepe, Bolognese and basil pesto – are perfect for the freezer for isolation lockdown. Other meals include ready-to-fry chicken schnitzels, lasagne and chicken brodo. Can highly recommend the pappardelle as a terrific partner to the Sicilian slow-cooked lamb and lemon braise, the supple ribbons (7 mins in boiling water when cooked from frozen) are perfect to twirl around the rustic sauce with proper lemon zing. It’s super tasty, but needs parmesan (not supplied) to properly shine.
COST:Pastas $13-$16 500g, sauces $12-23, schnitzels $9.
VERDICT:Maxi flavours, Mini fun.
ORDERS: hungryhungry.com/italianjob
MRS SINGH
Chef/restaurateur Jessi Singh (Daughter In Law, Horn Please) is serving his “unauthentic Indian” for pick-up and delivery from the Flinders Lane site where he recently opened Mrs Singh wine bar.
WHAT’S ON OFFER:Singh’s flavour-first mod Indian curries – including the world’s best dahl (no, seriously these are lentils like no other) – are offered in four “survival packs” that each feature two curries, rice and garlic naan. The survival pack A tried is a one-two sucker punch of rich,creamy, crowd-pleasing butter chicken and the Aunty Dhal, with naan hot from the tandoor brushed with a corona-busting amount of garlic oil. Quality booze from the Mrs Singh fridges is also available.
COST: Survival packs are $35-$40
VERDICT:Singh for your supper.
ORDERS: mrssingh.com.au
SAINT URBAN
One of the CBD’s first wine bars, Punch Lane, has teamed with sister venue Saint Urban in Richmond to deliver a DIY Dining menu for delivery or pick up from either restaurant.
WHAT’S ON OFFER:There’s a well-chosen selection of deli goods for home (arborio rice, fresh gnocchi, proper chicken stock, eggs and fresh bread) as well as stuff from the meat fridge (porterhouse steaks, pork chops and lean mince – yes mince!) along with a range of vac-packed meals for two. Nuno’s Portuguese chicken will brighten a dull day, the family friendly spiced chicken good to go after 25 mins under the grill, black-eyed peas with rice ready after a couple minutes’ zap in the microwave. For colder nights, the beef bourguignon is as decadently delicious as the mash is silken comfort. Boil in the bag dinners never felt so rich.
COST:Meals are $26 and easily feed two.
VERDICT: Three bags full.
ORDERS: sainturban.com.au
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NAVI, YARRAVILLE
Navi at home offers dinner for two for $70, pick-up/delivery Wed-Sat.
restaurantnavi.com.au/navihome
TONKA, CBD
Mod Indian, whole dry-aged duck to cook at home and pantry survival kits or same day pick up and pre-order delivery.
tonkarestaurant.com.au/take-home
FAYE, BRUNSWICK EAST
Mod Melbourne wine bar fare for pick-up (Wed-Sun) or delivery Wed-Sat.
ISH, FITZROY
DIY curry packs (ISH butter chicken, cashew korma and more) to cook at home, plus ready-to-eat to go.
ST ALI, SOUTH MELBOURNE
Community breakfast box includes everything needed for artisan breakfasts, including coffee, of course.
ASSADO, SOUTHBANK
Argentinian grilled meats for the family and a range of ready-meals for home. asado.melbourne/takeaway
DINE DIVINE, SASSAFRAS
Comfort classics (parma, fish and chips, pot pie) available for pick up Fri.-Sun evenings. dinedivine.net.au
ETTA, BRUNSWICK EAST
Fire-flecked fare — and the best sourdough in the north — vailable for delivery. ettadining.com.au
LORNA, FERNTREE GULLY
$10 dishes, takeaway daily.
LAMARO’S, STH MELBOURNE
Gourmet grocer, wine and grab and go meals from chef Geoff Lindsay.
WOVEN CAFÉ, SEDDON
Cafe staples plus spag bol, vegan Napoli
and other frozen meals for pick-up and delivery daily.
BAR LOURINHA, CBD
Cook at home menu — empanadas, croquettes, churros with dulce de leche — available for delivery on Tue and Fri.