Tastiest destinations and must-eat dishes in Melbourne this year
THERE’S no shortage of fab food in Melbourne so we’ve made a list of some of the best lip-licking dishes and must-visit foodie destinations across our great city.
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THERE’S no shortage of foodie feasts in Melbourne so we’ve found a list of some of best lip-licking dishes and places you can’t miss across our great city.
If it’s a taste of New York you’re chasing you have to try the chopped cheese sandwich from Riverland.
Or if spider crab tacos are more your fancy, you need to get yourself to Mr Miyagi.
Whatever your palette’s desire, we’ve got you covered with this list of must-eat meals across Victoria.
BETTY’S BURGERS
In a city stacked high with burger joints, Betty proves there’s always room for a tasty new player. And the queues can’t be wrong, with Betty opening on Elizabeth St in the city late last year to lines so long crowd control was called in. Hailing from Noosa, Betty keeps things simple with a classic beef burger plus chicken, pork and mushroom varieties in a soft, sweet bun with frilly butter lettuce keeping things pretty. Finish off with a “concrete”, custard ice cream blended with your choice of sugar — think fairy floss, honeycomb or fudge sauce. MM
ENDULJ
Chef Matt Germanchis and sommelier Ainslie Lubbock are two door knockers you’d always welcome a visit from. They’re the food and wine force behind Endulj, a meal-delivery service giving diners the choice of dishes from some of Melbourne’s top restaurants in a single order.
From a $400,000 purpose-built kitchen in Windsor, Germanchis and his team recreate the dishes, which are delivered by staff on electric bikes with wines matched by Lubbock. Four more Endulj kitchens are planned for Melbourne by the middle of the year. By 2020, it’s hoped there’ll be 25 kitchens across Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane. Get dishes from the likes of MoVida, Lee Ho Fook, Tokyo Tina, Saigon Sally and Thirty Eight Chairs, delivered within a 5km radius of Endulj kitchen. MM
SPIDER CRAB TACOS AT MR MIYAGI
Windsor’s mod-Japanese diner Mr Miyagi is still so hot it hurts. It was a 45-minute wait at 9pm one recent weeknight. Pick your time though and be rewarded with a Spider Crab Taco, tempura soft-shelled crab with sushi rice, curried mayo, guacamole and pickled jalapeñoś in a nori taco shell. At November’s Night Noodle Markets, Mr Miyagi sold a lazy 10,251 of these bad boys. MM
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HOP SMOKED HOT SAUCE
What’s better than a burger and beer? A burger squirted with hot sauce made from beer. The Grosvenor Hotel’s St Kilda Burger Bar already rocks one of the city’s finest versions of meat in bun, but thanks to collaboration between Melbourne Hot Sauce and local crafty brewer Wolf of the Willows, those burgers can be hotter than ever. Made from jalapeños smoked over hops and cherry wood, along with the Wolf’s Extra Pale Ale and some Tassie cider vinegar, this smoky, hoppy, hot sauce is hot stuff. Available at the Grosvenor grocery and bottle shop. DS
GOOD EGG
After seeing the egg and bacon roll fly off the menu at their Balaclava cafe Wall Two 80, owners Greg Bremner and Nick Devereux knew hatching a specialised egg cafe would be a cracking idea. Channelling New York’s Egg Shop and Los Angeles’ Eggslut, the pair opened Good Egg opposite the South Melbourne Market in November making a hero of the humble googie, in this case Real Eggs from happy chooks in Daylesford. There’s a winning Scotch egg encased in pork and fennel with panko crumbs, and a variety of challah buns from Woodfrog Bakery like the B&E with Swiss cheese and HP sauce and the AVO with avocado, corn salsa and jalapeños. More venues are sure as eggs. MM
BAR LOURINHA’S BODEGA
Ten years young, Bar Lourinha remains one of Melbourne’s hot spots for all things Iberian.
Put that down to chef Matt McConnell’s accomplished cooking and Simon Benjamin’s ever changing Mediterranean wine list.
Next month, for one night only, the Lourinha team turn their two-storey Little Collins St space into a “Spanish bodega’ with a shared six-course menu. McConnell is calling it a “night for generous feasting, fun and music’’ and will team up with brother Sean (of Canberra’s Monster). SP
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FRANKIE’S TOP SHOP
Food writer and chef Michele Curtis has bought a ’50s milk bar into 2017 with Frankie’s Top Shop. Open daily in St Kilda West, this delightful new cafe/foodstore offers filling breakfasts, great Ottolenghi-style salads, hearty pies, decadent slices, biscuits and cakes, and Dukes coffee (plus a beaut kid’s menu) to eat in or take away, all mere metres from the bay. MM
SMALL PRINT PIZZA
Guilt-free pizza? Now you’re talking. While the crew at Windsor restaurant Small Print can’t promise minimal impact to our waistlines, they are doing their bit to lessen their load on the planet. Whether using biodynamic flour for their sourdough bases or closed loop composting for the waste, the glass bottle-free zone is admirably striving to be a self-sufficient, zero waste venue. That includes using Green Box pizza boxes that are lined with paper to make them recyclable (most pizza boxes are not, due to the oil stains). Guilt-free and delicious to boot. DS
KINGFISH SASHIMI AT SPRING & SUMMER
Some places slip into obscurity, others stay in your mind, begging for a repeat visit one day soon. St Kilda’s Spring & Summer falls firmly into the latter category, a light and breezy split-level dining room with warm service, cool cocktails and a knockout pan-Asian menu. The kingfish sashimi is among the town’s best — supple slivers of fish doused in smoked coconut cream and a lively green nam jim sauce, both house made. Sublime, whatever the season. MM
CHOPPED CHEESE SANDWICH
It’s New York’s famous hot, crunchy, savoury, gooey sandwich is on the grill for the first time in Australia at Riverland. From humble beginnings in Harlem’s bodegas to turning up in Brooklyn’s hipster hangouts, chopped cheese is like a Philly Cheesesteak, but done with New York style. Made from ground beef “chopped” on a flat grill (fancy Seven Creek wagyu at Riverland), topped with American cheese melted until gooey, it’s served in a crusty roll with onion, lettuce and tomato. “It’s hand’s down the greatest sandwich you’ll ever eat,” reckons Riverland chef Egor Rodichkin. DS
BURRATA AT BAR LIBERTY
It’s the trendy cheese that’s bound to please and has found a home on many a hot menu around town. But there’s no greater place to get acquainted with the pouch of mozzarella magic that is burrata than at Bar Liberty. In a light-sapping inky pool of heady black garlic the pristine pouch sits, just begging to burst its creamy curds to swirl black and white. A pile of salty, soured cucumber adds both colour and freshness, a bowl of thick-cut, crunchy-crusted toasted and buttered sourdough is served at the ready to plumb those delicious depths. So much wow. DS
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CHICKEN BURGERS AT HUXTABURGER
Huxtaburger has flown the coop, adding three new chicken burgers to its bun line-up. With each featuring a grilled free-range chicken breast, there’s the mini Kylie for kids, the classic Britney, and, our pick, the smoky Keith, a tasty bundle of chook, bacon, cheese, pineapple and lettuce spiked with smoked-paprika mayo. MM
BRISKET ROLL AT PICKETT’S DELI
It’s one hot, juicy, oozy and downright delicious mess of a lunch. From the rotisserie at Scott Pickett’s Queen Vic Market deli the Bannockburn chicken is the go-to hero, but skip the bird and go instead to the beast: the roast beef. Thick slices of tender-soft meat are generously piled high in a crusty roll, roast onions provide equally soft sweetness. A good drizzle of gravy then mixes with a punchy fresh horseradish cream that combines into dripping saucy goodness that you’ll want to mop every last drop dry. It’s a five star, six serviette hot lunch that’s hard to beat. DS
BREAKFAST AT BABAJAN
Having taken over an old kebab shop in Carlton North and given it a brushed concrete, white walled simple makeover, Ismail Tosun (Gigibaba) and Kirsty Chiaplias (Worker’s Food Room) are serving up mod Turkish dishes that are, frankly, worth crossing town for. This is food approachable and clever, affordable, impressive and outrageously delicious — with breakfasts a highlight (and not a smashed avo in sight). The house-made simit — dense and slightly sweet sesame-topped bread — is the perfect companion to a fluffy crab and haloumi-filled omelettes that’s served with a bright cucumber and radicchio salad. The sujuck (a spiced Turkish sausage) adds heft to the harissa-spiced baked eggs, while fattoush (spiced toasted pita salad) adds crunch to a flakes of sumac-spiced cured ocean trout and dukkah-rolled eggs. Code Black coffee — or breakfast cocktails — make a Babajan breakfast simply unforgettable. DS
VIETNAMESE LUNCH BOX
Picnicking under oaks in the Royal Botanic Gardens is a great Melbourne tradition. But you might be seeking out bamboo and palm fronds if you wander in with one of Jardin Tan’s tiffin tins. Shannon Bennett’s popular gardens restaurant explores the flavours of French Indo China and for just $23 per person, his Tan team can pack you a pail containing four of its best dishes. Everything from prawn rice paper rolls to pork bath mi and Wagyu beef shin. SP
HOUSE OF FOOD AND WINE
Tucked down a laneway off Lt Lonsdale St, the House of Food and Wine will be the (b) eating heart of the 25th Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. With 10 days of delicious dining and drinking experiences — from the Natural Wine extravaganza Rootstock, through the Italo Dining Disco Club; a masterclass in cooking over coals or the burger block party — along with a bar run by Morgan McGlone (Belle’s) and wise wine guy Mark Protheroe (The Recreation), the house will be a food hot spot over the festival (and you’ll probably see some the World’s 50 Best chefs there, too). DS
BEATBOX KITCHEN
The founding father of Melbourne’s food truck scene Raph Rashid has just opened his long-awaited bricks-and-mortar version of his Beatbox Kitchen on Brunswick’s Sydney Rd. Along with his famous Raph burger, there’s an excellent whole portabello mushroom version on the grill, and clever three bite-sized cheeseburgers in steamed milk buns. There’s beats on the stereo, ping pong at the back, housemade shakes and lemonade — even green beans for the fries adverse. DS
GROSSI’S PEZZO PALACE
They’ve been flying out the door ever since they hit the menu at Ombra late last year — so much so Guy Grossi plans a dedicated palace for his pezzo, the little pizza pockets filled with all sorts of Italian pleasure, to open on Flinders Lane later in the year. For now, try the 48-hour fermented pizza dough pockets filled with sharp crauti (sauerkraut) and porketta, fried calamari with zucchini ribbons, or the original meatball and provolone winner, lunchtimes at 76 Bourke St. DS
STOCKROOM 567
Sounds rustic but Stockroom 567 is anything but. This recent addition to the CBD’s west end is a smartly fitted out restaurant (run by the same crew who run Southgate’s The Deck) serving euro fare with real flair. Chef Nicola Romano rotates superior weekday pastas and bolsters generous mains (think pork shoulder, roasted half chicken) with scintillating ‘sides’. As for the ‘Stockroom Breakfast’, it’s a doorstopper and best taken with a ‘breakfast martini’. Manager Robert Burgio will happily shake one for you. SP
BENNY BURGER
In flipping great news for burger fans across the city, Shannon Bennett’s “ethical, sustainable, organic” burger joint, Benny Burger, is set to open not one but three stores across Melbourne late April (all things going to plan). Having trialled and perfected the offering at Sydney airport since late last year, the burgers will be hitting the grill first in Richmond (95 Swan St) before stores at 430 Lt Collins St and 401 St Kilda Rd follow, the latter taking over the old Café Vue site and doubling as a Burnham Bakery/Benny Burger concept store.
ALFRESCO TURKISH AT TULUM
Since opening Tulum in mid-2016, chef Coskun Uysal has won friends far and wide with the homely and elegant modern Turkish fare at his Balaclava restaurant. And while there’s a few warm nights left up the city’s sleeve, enjoy such swoon-worthy dishes as cilbir (smoked yoghurt, with egg and crunchy chicken skin), piyaz (meatballs) and ordek (duck with freekeh and apricot) in the new alfresco area out the back of the restaurant. DS
HOKKAIDO BAKED CHEESE TARTS
They’re oozy, rich and big in Japan, and if you haven’t already tried one, you should. Name-checking the dairy capital of Japan, these tarts straddle the sweet/savoury divide with a secret molten three-cheese blend on a short, buttery base. Eat them warm, eat them cold, but eat them now. MM
GLUTEN-FREE NAAN
Sure, rice is nice but a curry isn’t truly complete until the plate’s mopped clean with a hunk of freshly baked naan. Now, thanks to Mani Waraich of St Kilda’s Babu Ji (and brand new Piquancy in Hawthorn), coeliacs and the gluten-free can enjoy curries in all their swiped-dry glory with a gluten-free naan that tastes as good as the traditional wheat version. Made from quinoa, chickpea and lentil flour with psyllium husk and a heap of spices, Waraich — with the help of his mum — has perfected a naan that’s better off bread. DS
PROJECT 49
Smoked trout, quail eggs and hazelnuts ... Rocco Esposito knows how to put premium produce from Victoria’s northeast on a single plate. But you don’t have to visit his general store in Beechworth to savour it.
At Project 49, a new deli and wine bar in the backstreets of Collingwood, Esposito (ex-Vue de Monde wine director) and wife Lisa Pidutti are serving Italian-leaning dishes sourced from “artisanal products that we love and appreciate”.
That includes their own very fine Project 49 label wines. SP
DIY ARTISAN BURGERS
While there’s no shortage of new burger joints with buns at the ready, those same artisan burger styles can now also be enjoyed at home. Balwyn store Boccacio’s burger blend is made from prime grass fed beef from O’Connors in Gippsland — a mix of brisket and short rib — that’s minced into a 70/30 ratio of meat to fat for patties with steak-like succulence. BYO buns. DS
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