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Your August hit list: The hot, new and just-reviewed places to check out, right now

From lip-tingling spicy chicken (pictured) at the new-look Dainty Sichuan to suburban excursions for baked goods, here’s where (and what) to eat and drink in Melbourne (and beyond) this month.

21 stories
Southern blue fin tuna with a prawn cracker coating and ginger-turmeric sauce.

Will hyped StandardX hotel Thai restaurant Bang meet Fitzroy’s high standards when it opens next week?

  • Emma Breheny
Brunch might be house-made soda bread topped with cured salmon and fennel remoulade, or mushrooms and whipped buffalo ricotta; or beneath a fluffy scramble. 

Batch brew on tap, fluffy eggs: Code Black might be the city brunch spot we’ve been waiting for

  • Tomas Telegramma
Sujuk eggs at Cafe Jabelle

You won’t find bog-standard smashed avo at new cafes Todo Good Coffee, Hareruya Pantry and Cafe Jabelle

  • Tomas Telegramma
Floral banquettes and chic lighting are features of the new-look, and renamed Dainty on Toorak.

Dainty Sichuan returns with a luxe new look, name and rejigged menu. But is the spice still right?

  • Dani Valent
Semla’s Swedish-style cardamom buns.

Seven great bakeries have opened and (gasp!) they’re not in the inner north

  • Tomas Telegramma
Stacks of simit, a sesame-studded bread ring that is a popular Turkish street food.

‘More Turkish than the ones in Turkey’: This Melbourne bakery’s simit runs rings around the competition

  • Dani Valent
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The go-to dish: cuttlefish dosai.
14/20

Try Sri Lankan restaurant Hopper Joint’s namesake dish, but don’t miss this ‘perfect snack’

  • Besha Rodell
Society’s darkly glamorous dining room.
Good Food hatGood Food hat16/20

After a troubled birth, Society finds its groove (and regains a lost hat)

  • Besha Rodell
Visit from 4pm for martinis and apertivi.

Charming little newcomer Carnation Canteen glows in Fitzroy’s backstreets

  • Tomas Telegramma
Pints at the Beehive

Restored Hawthorn pub the Beehive Hotel is creating quite the buzz

  • Tomas Telegramma
By the fireplace is the place to be.

Suburban wine bar The Hills is the perfect recipe for a wintry Melbourne afternoon

  • Dani Valent
Springrock has opened in the former Grand Trailer Park Taverna.

Fancy Hank’s team open Springrock Public Bar on a busy corner in the CBD

  • Tomas Telegramma
East meets West in a bowl of casarecce with Lao sausage, snake beans and garlic chives.

Your guide to the best eats and seats at Richmond’s reopened Anchovy

  • Dani Valent
Orlo occupies a historic former cordial factory.

Collingwood cordial factory becomes basement bar and restaurant Orlo

  • Tomas Telegramma
Dishes of egg, cabbage, prawns with okra, and dry pork at Toddy Shop.

Tiny Fitzroy eatery Toddy Shop is a buzzy hot spot for home-style southern Indian dishes

  • Dani Valent
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The go-to dish: Pappardelle ripiene (pasta filled with Jerusalem artichoke).
Good Food hat15/20

Italian wine bars are a dime a dozen in Carlton. So what makes Bar Olo so special?

  • Besha Rodell
Tasmanian produce-focused restaurant Pure South celebrates two decades in business this year.
Good Food hat15/20

Pure South is a 20-year-old restaurant that showcases Tassie, but its riverside setting is pure Melbourne

  • Dani Valent
Tortellini in brodo.
14.5/20

Mount Eliza locals can’t stop talking about new Italian Bau Bau – and with good reason

  • Dani Valent
Southern Ranges beef, cooked over charcoal and red gum, forms the menu core at Eileen’s Charcoal Grill.

Six openings to gee you up for a Geelong trip (and a hatted bistro to visit before it closes)

  • Tomas Telegramma
Beneath a nutty granola-like topping of nuts and seeds is a silky artichoke custard.
Good Food hat15/20

‘I’m still marvelling’: The Tulip dish our critic can’t stop thinking about

  • Besha Rodell
Marchesa is a warm, lively, 26-seat Italian bistro.
14.5/20

Why you should add Italian newbie Marchesa to your next Kyneton itinerary

  • Dani Valent

Original URL: https://www.theage.com.au/goodfood/melbourne-eating-out/your-august-hit-list-the-hot-new-and-just-reviewed-places-to-check-out-right-now-20240731-p5jy35.html