Local legends serving some of Melbourne’s best cuisine in the suburbs
FORGET the city — some of our best dining is hidden in Melbourne’s suburbs. Did your favourite local restaurant make our top 10?
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WITH food trucks parked on every corner, unmarked bars down every nondescript laneway, and a new opening seemingly every second day packing in the hungry hip, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking Melbourne’s food scene begins and ends with the Hoddle Grid.
And while the inner-city’s food offering is certainly smart and often world class there are very many good operators whose business it is to feed greater Melbourne.
Whether in Sydenham or Spotswood, Rosanna or Rowville, suburban restaurants are often the trusty local — that fabled “Cheers” joint where everybody knows your name.
And sometimes what is offered transcends postcodes, with these restaurants becoming destinations in their own right.
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Suburban superstars
Little Black Pig & Sons, Heidelberg
A refurbished restaurant that reopened last week now provides fitting surrounds to enjoy chef/owner Glenn Laurie’s rustically refined Italian fare. Having worked for many years in London’s River Café, Glenn serves up textbook examples of those classics here.
48 Burgundy St, Heidelberg. littleblackpigandsons.com.au
Mee Dee Thai, Springvale
Those in the know know some of the best Thai boat noodles in town are found at Mee Dee Thai. The deep, dark, decadently rich broth holds all the luxurious flavour that’s the hallmark of this dish. Noodles, crunchy pork, liver and fresh chilli complete this deeply restorative soup.
1 St Johns Ave, Springvale (also Paramount Food Court, CBD) medeethai.com.au
Cerberus Beach House, Black Rock
It has a prime position on the bay and while many just come to Cerberus for fish and chips on the beach, its upstairs dining room doesn’t rest on those million-buck views. A seafood bent to the menu is complemented with interesting, modern dishes.
Half Moon Bay, off Beach Rd, Black Rock cerberusbeachhouse.com.au
Potsticker, Caulfield North
It’s all about the yum cha — and dumplings — at Potsticker. A pan-Asian approach (Vietnamese beef ribs sit next to Mongolian dry roasted lamb) keeps everyone happy, while the pink-lit cherry blossom water feature adds a touch of colour to the always busy dining room.
58 Hawthorn Rd, Caulfield North thepotsticker.com.au
Sagra, Malvern
At the start of this year Sagra opened in Malvern — an Italian restaurant that’s also an art gallery. There’s a bar on the rooftop, as well as a deli-slash-provedore selling all the essentials to whip up great pasta at home.
256 Glenferrie Rd, Malvern sagra.com.au
Chef Lagenda, Deer Park
Long-time Malaysian favourite Chef Lagenda in Flemington opened a larger store in 2012 in Deer Park, which specialises in roasted meats served alongside seafood fare (Malaysian chilli crab, fish head curry).
835A Ballarat Rd, Deer Park (also 16 Pin Oak Cres, Flemington) cheflagenda.com.au
O. My, Beaconsfield
Produce primarily sourced from their kitchen garden makes up the clever, ever-changing offering at O. My, where the degustation-only menu is a bit of a bargain (four courses, $55 through eight courses, $100).
23 Woods St, Beaconsfield omyrestaurant.com.au
Union Food and Wine, Ascot Vale
It’s a top spot where a barbecue bacon toastie in the morning turns into a classy salad at lunch and dinner can be three-courses of class. Stuart McVeigh nails the suburban eatery.
169 Union Rd, Ascot Vale unionfoodandwine.com
The Black Toro, Glen Waverley
Vibrant Latin American flavours washed down with pitchers of mojitos and sangria set a summery scene all through the year at this bustling hotspot.
79 Kingsway,
Glen Waverley theblacktoro.com.au
Prosciutto Brothers, Eltham
With 20 local craft beers on tap along with more than 40 bottles in the fridge, Eltham has a fully fledged craft bar that’s all about spreading the love of good hops.
31 Peel St, Eltham
Dimmi’s highest-rated neighbourhood gems
[1] Fabulous Fine Food, McKinnon
[2] Il Forno Restaurant, Hampton
[3] Omni Restaurant, Essendon
[4] The Garden of Good & Evil, Cheltenham
[5] Overflow Cafe Wine Bar, Mount Waverley
[6] Vasko Restaurant, Ivanhoe
[7] Il Sogno, Surrey Hills
[8] True South, Black Rock
[9] Six Keys, Restaurant Beaumaris
[10] Roti Boti, Hampton
[11] The Black Toro, Glen Waverley
[12] Preserve Kitchen, Glen Iris
[13] La Svolta, Hampton
[14] Mimi’s Restaurant, Camberwell
[15] Vincent’s Cafe, Restaurant Beaumaris
[16] Sun Wah, Mordialloc
[17] The Way To San Jose, Mckinnon
[18] Templestowe Living Room, Templestowe
[19] Cerberus Beach House, Black Rock
[20] The Last Piece, Mulgrave
*collated from 40,000 diner reviews of 800 Victorian restaurants
Bringing the city to the suburbs
Garen Maskal left his sous chef position at Ezard in the CBD to open The Black Toro in Kingsway, Glen Waverley, in 2012.
A local boy, he wanted to create a place that drew on his fine dining experience but in a locally accessible package.
“It was a change coming from a fine dining background, trying to please the suburban diner,” he says.
“A lot comes down to understanding the clientele. We wanted to bring a city restaurant to the suburbs but at the same time we need to consider people come to this strip three, four, five times a week. We get regulars in every two days. They don’t want a complete fuss of food, they want to have a decent meal at a reasonable price and they’ll come back tomorrow.”
To that end at The Black Toro they offer a modern Latin American menu of tortillas, tacos and sliders along with bigger dishes for those wanting to make a night out of a meal.
In November, 2013, Garen also opened Sezar in the CBD, where he draws on his heritage with a modern Armenian menu.
“The difference with the two restaurants (apart from cuisine) is that idea of travelling into the city to make a night of it. I’m a suburban boy. If we go into the city, it’s not just for a quick feed, we make an effort, and we’ll have a great night.”
Big night out
The idea of a Big Night in the City is something Stuart McVeigh knows well. With more than 25 years cooking in some of the world’s best restaurants, the UK-born chef most recently helmed the Sofitel’s flagship restaurant No35 before moving to Ascot Vale to open his own Union Food and Wine two years ago.
These days it’s likely to be locals walking down the road who dine on Stuart’s produce-driven dishes, which could include roast chicken on parsnip puree and pine mushrooms, or pork belly with plums, chard and barley.
He says a restaurant catering to locals is a different proposition to one in the city.
“Ultimately, I learnt we’re not cooking for ourselves, we’re cooking for our customers and (they are) the people around (the area). If we’re not doing the right thing, you learn very quickly what’s going to work and what’s not.”
Community chest
But any such artistic compromises are made up for with the genuine sense of community that comes from being an owner-operator in a small shopping strip.
“It’s nice to have a relationship with people outside of the business,” Stuart says. “You come to know a lot of people, see customers down the street, can stop and have a conversation. It’s pretty special, I have to say.”
Garen says the owner-operator is one of the defining characteristics of the suburban restaurant and a reflection of the genuine sense of hospitality.
“A lot of the successful restaurants you’ll see the owner working the floor, or working the kitchen,” he says. “There’s a direct love, a bigger love for hospitality. In the suburbs, you see the recognisable face in a venue. It’s not just a money-making machine.”
Cab charges
Money — in particular cab fares — is the reason many people prefer to dine locally, especially if they want to enjoy more than a couple of standard drinks.
“Cabs in and out of the city are super expensive. To Eltham, it’s $80 or $90 each way. That’s what you can spend on a night out,” says Jamie Cox, who, along with fellow brewer Clyde D’Angelis, recently opened Prosciutto Bros in Eltham.
“A lot of people say to us this is like a Fitzroy or Brunswick St venue, but in Eltham. They say it’s exactly what the area needed, and we’re rapt with how it’s been received.”
With 20 craft beers on tap — “everything independent, everything Australian” — to wash down a great range of wood-fired pizzas, the industrial space has been packed since the doors opened in May.
“A great bar with really good food that’s local, that’s what we do,” Jamie says.
Dining fine
At the other end of the spectrum, the Bertoncello brothers — Tyson, Blayne and Chayse — are proving that fine dining degustation is a concept that can be embraced by the outer suburbs.
“When we opened everyone said we’d struggle, that no one around here knows what degustation is, they won’t understand it,” Tyson says. “So we opened doing degustation, a la carte, breakfast, tapas, even sliders on public holidays.”
Fast forward two years and their restaurant, O. My in Beaconsfield, is now a degustation-only affair, where locals and folks from far farther afield choose a four, six, or eight-course meal made primarily from produce grown in the kitchen gardens out back. The 30-seat restaurant is regularly booked out, thanks in part, says Tyson, to MasterChef.
“Everyone’s interested in food now, how it’s produced. People who wouldn’t normally come out to degustation-style restaurants come to us because they understand what we do through MasterChef.”
A core group of diners from the local areas — Berwick, Narre Warren, Pakenham — who come during the week is augmented with those coming down the M1 from the city
on weekends.
“Everyone’s asking us when are we moving to the city? But realistically, why should we move to the city, when people are coming here.”
Money talks
It’s not that people aren’t willing to spend on a meal out in the suburbs, Garen says, but when it comes to wine, diners are more price sensitive at The Black Toro than at Sezar.
“The majority of bottles are in the $35 to $50 range, whereas in the city people tend to order bottles around $60 or $70. Anything under that they don’t think is any good,” he says.
Stuart McVeigh says that while he has to be keenly aware of his prices, if the produce is good people are happy to pay.
“I had a wagyu beef cheek on recently, it was the first time I had a main course on the menu for over $40, and it sold itself. We had a cauliflower soup with truffles for $20 and that was the biggest selling entree of the night. So I get surprised by people as well.”
That people are more comfortable spending money in city restaurants is borne out by the figures. According to restaurant booking site Dimmi, the average spend at city restaurants is $53.48. At suburban restaurants, it’s $45.97
Interestingly, 28 per cent of all bookings at suburban restaurants are for lunch (noon-2pm), compared with 17 per cent in the city. It seems the CBD long lunch really is a thing of the past.
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