The Melbourne food trends of 2017
FROM vegan soft serve and meat-free burgers to authentic Thai washed down with local whisky, these are the food trends to watch out for in Melbourne this year.
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FROM vegan soft serve and meat-free burgers to authentic Thai washed down with local whisky, these are the food trends to watch out for in Melbourne this year.
TOP THAI
While Melbourne has long loved its pad thai and tom yum, this looks set to be the year properly hot, sour and tangy Thai truly takes over.
Universally regarded as the world’s leading expert on Thai cooking, David Thompson — whose encyclopaedic Thai Food tome is the chilli, lemongrass and kaffir lime-filled equivalent to Stephanie Alexander’s The Cook’s Companion — quietly opened the doors to his fourth Long Chim restaurant yesterday at Crown.
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While Thompson’s Nahm in Bangkok is ranked #37 on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, it’s his fun and funky take on the authentic street food of Siam that has won fans from Singapore through Perth and Sydney — though Thompson reckons the Melbourne outpost could be the best yet.
Think fiery curries and super cool cocktails, with unapologetically bold and authentic flavours ruling the day.
Around April, ex Circa chef David Moyle (Franklin in Hobart) will open his long-awaited Longsong above Longrain in the CBD, where Thai seafood and skewers will join equally on-theme cocktails, while the team behind the perennially popular Riverland group of bars will fire up the woks and chilli-spiked hits at Bang Bang at the Rifle Club in Elsternwick, which opens on Feb 1.
THE MAIN EVENT
When even cafes are getting in on the sharing act, you know it’s time to fight for our rights
to our own private plates. Because for every family-style banquet that makes sense on carte and table, we’re increasingly seeing “our menu is designed for sharing” becoming the lazy restaurant’s shorthand for “our kitchen will send what it wants when it wants” with a thoughtless onslaught of food — often portioned in threes — jostling for space on the table.
The antidote: lick your own entree and main course plates clean at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, the new Stokehouse, Philippe and Roxborough in St Kilda.
Sharing dessert remains, of course, optional.
MIXED BUSINESS
When Calia opens at Emporium later this month, we’ll welcome our first “grocerant”. Say what? These businesses are a mixture of a restaurant and retail store, where restaurants sell the fresh produce they cook.
Eataly — which started in Italy but now has stores across Asia and the Americas — is the most famous and has rolled out the formula to world beating success, while at Calia, Michelin starred chef Francisco Javier Araya will design a Japanese menu to be eaten in store, or cooked at home. Sustainable seafood supplier Mark Eather will exclusively supply his ike-jime fish for retail sale, in a first — and win — for keen home cooks.
FLYING FISH
Speaking of fish, expect to see increasingly innovative takes on the humble fish and chip, with “healthy” — or at the very least, posh — versions springing up.
Leading the charge — tempura battered blue grenadier with sweet potato cakes at Paper Fish, the beachside kiosk that’s part of the new Stokehouse precinct.
Then by midyear we’ll see Smith and Chips, the posh chipper that’ll be part of the expanded The Smith in Prahran, and expect many more to jump aboard the good fish and chip ship before next summer.
FULL FOCUS
Just like focused fish and chips, we’ll see restaurants increasingly specialise in their offerings as a way to increase quality and minimise costs.
“Instead of an Italian venue, say, it will just serve pizza, or just calzone. This can be seen in other venues that just sell toasted sandwiches, or bagels.” says Mister Bianco’s Joseph Vargetto.
It’s a sentiment echoed by Paul Tyas, from the Grosvenor Hotel, who predicts more chefs opening their own, small, venues. “Their team will be kept small and they will offer menus with limited offerings of beautiful food,” he says.
PLANT A FEED
While we’ll continue to see more augmented, full service butchers, like Andrew McConnell’s Meatsmith — Butcher’s Diner at the top end of town from the Kirk’s/French Saloon team the first to get excited about — we’ll also, conversely, be seeing less meat on our plate.
“Our menu has been designed to accommodate vegetarians and meat eaters equally,” says Franco Caruso, who has just opened New School Canteen in Fitzroy.
“Half the menu is vegetarian/vegan as we have noticed a change in people’s eating habits over the past few years.”
The other half, it must be noted, is a range of burgers, for that’s one eating habit that’s not changing any time soon.
And according to Eric Schmidt — executive director of Alphabet (Google’s parent company) — plant-based protein (AKA vegan meat) is the biggest trend in tech.
Leading US chef David Chang of Momofuku fame (he who famously called our burgers the world’s worst) put the “Impossible Burger” on his New York Momofuku Nishi menu — a meat-free burger that looks, tastes, and even “bleeds” like meat.
Closer to home, vegetarian pioneers Laki Papadopoulos and Mark Price of Vegie Bar and Transformer Fitzroy, have just opened Girls and Boys, a vegan dessert bar on Brunswick St.
FINE DINING (ROOM)
While 2016 was all about the Uberisation of home delivery, with Uber Eats joined by Deliveroo, Foodora, MenuLog in delivering restaurant takeaway to the inner city, this year deliveries from food operators without a physical presence will be equally big news.
Taking a leaf out of David Chang’s book — his Ando delivery service has revolutionised food delivery in New York — Endulj is like a virtual restaurant, where you can follow MoVida’s patatas riojana with chorizo with Lee Ho Fook’s sweet and sour pork and finish with Saigon Sally’s famous Tirami-Sally, while sipping matched wines.
Co-owner and chef Matt Germanchis (ex Pei Modern) cooks up recipes trusted to him by the likes of Frank Camorra in the $400,000 Windsor kitchen for delivery by electric bike.
With plans for four more kitchens around Melbourne this year, before expanding interstate, a quiet night in is increasingly looking like a mighty fine dinner party.
WHISKY BUSINESS
While locally distilled gin has gained worldwide attention over the past couple of years
— led by Healesville’s internationally lauded and applauded Four Pillars — it’s now whisky’s time to shine. And the sparkling new 3500sq m Port Melbourne Starward distillery is where this wee local dram shines bright indeed.
“For me, it was about creating a distinctly Australian whisky we could take to the world, that’s always been our ambition,” founder David Vitalle says.
Compare and contrast local independent bottlings against whiskies from around the world at new Brunswick St speakeasy Elysian Whisky Bar, while the unparalleled 800-strong showing at Boilermaker House remains the booze benchmark.
NIGHT AND DAY
Though the coffee through cocktails model is nothing new — Hairy Canary in the city
was doing the 7am through 3am thing two decades ago — we’re seeing an increasing number of venues serving breakfast through dinner with real style.
Such places as South Yarra’s St Central and Higher Ground in the city have been recently joined by Gilson on Domain Rd (from Jamie and Loren McBride of Armadale’s Mammoth) and “espresso and wine bar” Napier Quarter in Fitzroy, while bar/coffeehouse/eatery Harvest, helmed by young chef Tim Martin, is scheduled to open in South Yarra next month.
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