Five Melbourne venues where the humble potato has had a glow-up

Carb-phobes, look away now. At these five Melbourne venues, the humble potato has had a glow-up.

Spud-tacular! Carb-phobes, look away now. At these five Melbourne venues, the humble potato has gone posh.

Eat Pierogi Make Love! Brunswick East

Here, the Polish affinity with the potato shines bright. Get the titular pierogi filled with potato and the tart twarog Polish farmer’s cheese (don’t spare the sour cream and dill) or head to vegan town with the plant-based pierogi with jalapeño and vegan cheese on top of its fluffy mashed spud filling. You can fill up on gzik, otherwise known as smashed fired cheesy potato with radish and chives, and continue the carb-fest with pork schnitzel on a bed of creamy mash. As befitting a “food for wodka” menu, there’s a range of authentic Polish potato-based vodkas to sip as you go.

161 Lygon St, Brunswick East

Owner Dominika with her Pierogi dishes. Picture: Tony Gough

Belles Hot Chicken Fitzroy, Melbourne & Docklands

If chips should get a guernsey on any list of Melbourne’s posher potatoes, it’s the chips at Belles Hot Chicken. The fat, crinkled numbers with Southern seasoning and gravy are just the ticket to a carb-induced coma (the mashed potato and gravy with a disturbing amount of butter does a pretty good job as well). But one cannot live by spuds alone, so hit the “Nashy” loaded fries with cheese, ranch sauce, pickles jalapeños and chicken tenders to round out the food pyramid.

belleshotchicken.com

The chips are a hit at Belles Hot Chicken.

Farmer’s Daughters Melbourne CBD

Get patriotic over potatoes at executive chef Alejandro Saravia’s Farmer’s Daughters, where the menus shine a light on the produce of Gippsland. Victoria’s fertile farmland is to thank for a snack-tastic menu at the all-weather rooftop oasis at the Exhibition St venue, where a perfectly cubed, perfectly golden potato rosti is graced with cheese mousse, figs and sorrel. Or there’s ‘nduja (the spicy, spreadable Calabrian salami) with stracciatella and bee pollen. Either way, you’re onto a salty, addictive winner.

95 Exhibition St, 80 Collins Precinct, Melbourne

Victoria’s fertile farmland is to thank for a snack-tastic menu at Farmer's Daughters.

Lagoon Dining Carlton

The spud gets a radical glow-up at this pan-Asian surprise package on Lygon St, where the “hot and sour shredded potato” has been a cult menu item since the doors opened in 2019. Cured filaments of spud, packing al dente bite, get hit with the tickle of chinkiang black vinegar, pickled enoki and perhaps a scattering of fried garlic or shallot. This mad tangle is a flavour-filled party – a stand-alone snack, for sure, or a wingman across the menu where “drinking food” reaches new heights, thanks to a small producer-focused wine list and creative cocktails.

263 Lygon St, Carlton

The spud gets a radical glow-up at Lagoon Dining.

Marmelo Melbourne CBD

Anyone familiar with Ross and Sunny Lusted’s fancypants Portuguese restaurant, helming the ground floor of the equally design-conscious Melbourne Place hotel, will have already fallen in love with the salted Murray cod and potato croquette. The prince of croquetas takes its inspiration from Lisbon restaurant Gambrinus Restaurante Lisboa, subbing in local fish for salt cod and serving the fried croquette sliced open as if by a surgeon’s scalpel – all the better to sluice it in a hot mustard sauce, my dear. Consider it the gateway drug to one of the most exciting restaurants to hit Melbourne in the past year.

Ground floor/130 Russell St, Melbourne

the salted Murray cod and potato croquette at Marmelo.