Good tidings and Good Food: Christmas shopping guide for Melbourne foodies
We've got you covered, friends. Last-minute places to shop, hampers to send, markets to attend. Good Food loves this time of year. And the best gift to us is that you use this guide to embrace it, too.
Roslyn Grundy
My favourite place to buy gifts:
There's gift inspiration everywhere you look in this Japanese-cool Collingwood warehouse. For Japanese cooking newbies, there's a hamper of pantry staples, plus Cibi's eponymous cookbook. And for those diving deeper, there's an earthenware donabe pot (pictured), used to cook rice, soup and braised dishes. Once you've checked off your list, cool your heels in Cibi's excellent cafe.
- 33-39 Keele Street, Collingwood, cibi.com.au
What to give the food nerd who has everything:
You've tried garlic-flavoured olive oil. You've tried herb-scented olive oil. But I'll bet you haven't tried oil perfumed with the Japanese citrus yuzu. A collab between specialty citrus growers Mountain Yuzu and Mount Zero, this limited-release cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil adds zip to ceviche, grilled vegetables or burrata.
- 330ml bottle with pourer, $25.95, mountzeroolives.com
My go-to Christmas market:
At Alphington Christmas Twilight Market, I'll be buying Organic Delights apricots to make vanilla-scented jam, berries from Sennsational Berries to top the pav, and Long Paddock cheese from Castlemaine to treat the cook.
- December 23, 2-8pm. Melbourne Innovation Centre, 2 Wingrove Street, Alphington, mfm.com.au
The food hamper I'd love to give or get:
You know those hampers you have to pick through to find the one or two good products? The St. Ali Christmas Food Hamper isn't that. It has all the best-sellers from the online shop, including choc-coated licorice, Chotto Motto Crispy Chilli Oil, Lello's 'nduja-inflected sugo, Gin Mayo (yes, that's mayo flavoured with gin, pictured), and St. Ali's Italo Disco coffee beans. Chef's kiss.
- $140 plus shipping, stali.com.au
Andrea McGinniss
My favourite place to buy gifts:
Gewürzhaus: a bit tricky to pronounce, but all too easy to lose yourself in this aromatic treasure trove packed with more spice blends, herbs, rubs, salts, sugars and other delights than an Ottolenghi cookbook. They do beautifully packaged gift packs, too, tailored for the barbecuer, the baker, even the 30-minute meal maker, many for under $50. Magical. Various locations in Victoria and NSW, but my favourite is the atmospheric Block Arcade store.
- 282 Collins Street, Melbourne, gewurzhaus.com.au
What to give the food nerd who has everything:
Social enterprise Free to Feed's hands-on "cooking experiences" (from $99pp) make a wonderfully soul-restoring (and delicious) gift. But they now do cool merch, too. From hummus bucket hats ($60) to circular shoulder-slinging checkerboard picnic rugs ($140), these are gifts that look and do good, too. Win win.
My go-to Christmas market:
Come Christmas eve, I'll be jingling all the way to Preston Market for the festive buzz and some last-minute Christmas essentials (and perhaps a selfie with roving Santa), including the vegan roast and pudding for the sis-in-law from Superaw, last-minute foodie gifts from Gerry's Deli, the pick of fresh cherries from MnM Fruit and – because I really miss traditional European Christmas – some cracking kranskies, cevapi and other smallgoodies from Slavonija Deli. Last stop, Preston Seafood for prawns, and oysters that, let's be honest, will probably be slurped before I even get back to the car.
- Open until 3pm Christmas Eve, 30A The Centreway, Preston, prestonmarket.com.au
The food hamper I'd love to give or get:
A Happy Apple hamper would make anyone smile. Each variety is all killer, no filler, but for mine the Very Victorian hamper ($195) sparks an ear-to-ear grin.
Packed with premium produce from across the state, including soft cheese, chocolate, condiments, olive oil, biscuits, mince tarts, sparkling rosé and much more, with a handful of cherries on top. Cute.
- Orders close Sunday, December 19, with deliveries up to Thursday, December 23. In-store pick-up is available until December 24 from shops in Seddon, Ascot Vale and Newport, happyathomeco.com.au
Emma Breheny
My favourite place to buy gifts:
I regularly lose hours browsing Mr Kitly's irresistible selection of ethereally thin Japanese glasses, Australian-made wrought-iron cookware, hand-painted vases, gorgeous gardening gear and cute bento boxes, great for when desk lunches are a thing again. Situated one level above bustling Sydney Road, it really does feel like heaven.
- Upstairs, 381 Sydney Road, Brunswick, mykitly.com.au
What to give the food nerd who has everything:
A poster from Food for Everyone's latest collection of chef's recipes imagined in full-colour by artist Gemma Leslie. She began the project during the pandemic to raise funds for food banks and celebrate local restaurants. Limited print runs mean every poster feels special. From this release, Hellenika's marinated octopus is a vision of endless summer that I'd be happy to have on the wall all year.
My go-to Christmas market:
A temporary shop full of thoughtful and thoughtfully produced gifts has popped up right near my tram stop in time for Christmas. I'll be hitting Preston Apothecary for retro plant pots, colourful Baggu hats, Salus body treats and more.
- Open Mon-Fri 9am-4pm, 241 Nicholson Street, East Brunswick.
The food hamper I'd love to give or get:
A box full of cheese from the cave at Spring Street Grocer. You can go for a perfect pairing that heroes a single top-shelf cheese ($29) or make things ultra-festive with the cheesemonger's selection of four cheeses at their peak ($95).
Gemima Cody
My favourite place for gifts:
Remaek is a sustainable Victorian star, and it's currently my one-stop-shop for every food-leaning person I know. Anthony Nelson specialises in "food wood", rescuing old farm fence posts for stunning rolling pins, turning fruit wood prunings into porridge spirtles and using the oft-discarded offcuts from furniture-making to create multi-coloured chequered chopping boards.
What to give the food nerd who has everything:
Melbourne hospitality don Gerald Diffey, proprietor of the eponymous Carlton North bar, has finally put down the fables of his life and recipes for a good time in a new book, Beggars Belief, Tales from Gerald's Bar. It's a wandering series of snack-sized anecdotes, wisdom for budding chefs and restaurateurs and recipes that are delivered in the way a grandparent might verbally hand them down. It's medicine and mirth. Laugh, cry, weep and eat.
- Beggars Belief, Melbourne Books, $35
My go-to Christmas market:
The Prahran Market is always my last stop before I head over the border to my family in NSW. I load a giant Esky with Maker and Monger's cheeses (especially their signature comte), stunning cherry trifle from Kathy Tsaples' Sweet Greek (pictured), and an outrageous ham from Gary's Meats before fleeing north. It's worth noting, too, that if you're game to try game birds, John Cester's poultry stall is one of the few places I've found geese.
- 163 Commercial Road, South Yarra, prahranmarket.com.au
The food hamper I would love to receive:
ASRC's hampers aren't just worth getting because they help fund essential services for refugees. They're also some of the best around. No plastic-wrapped tatt you don't need. Just good spice blends, totes, maybe some maamoul cookies, plus great quality oil and wine from their partners. They do them in bulk as corporate gifts, too (nudge nudge, bosses).
Ardyn Bernoth
My favourite place(s) to buy gifts:
Made + More is a shop all about setting a beautiful table, which makes it as important as a supermarket, right? It brims with flatware, cutlery, linen napkins and tablecloths, beeswax candles, bowls of every size and shape, the most beautiful glasses (pictured). The crockery is sourced from Portugal by Di Keser, owner of Melbourne cafe Hardware Societe, in glorious colourways that flower afresh each season. It is not precious, too expensive or made only for special occasions. It brings delight every day.
And so might this snippet of news: last Thursday saw the opening of Le Petit Marche by Entrecote. It sells the smash-hit restaurant's famous secret herb butter sauce, French dressing, pickled cherries and Jason Jones' ham glaze – gourmet stocking-stuffers if ever I have seen them.
- Made + More, 128 High Street, Armadale, madeandmore.com.au
- Le Petit Marche, 146 Greville Street, Prahran, entrecote.com.au
What to give the food nerd who has everything:
I've been trying to perfect pizza dough for years. I am not there yet. But this powerful little beast is giving me every reason to up my practice. The Gozney Roccbox crouches sleekly beside our barbie ready to be fired into action, its searing flame turning a pale orb of dough into crispy, speckled pizze in about five minutes. Boasting that it is the first portable oven capable of reaching 500C, it has a following among chefs such as Matty Matheson and Mark Best and is the easiest way to make pizza at home I have come across. Now to master my leopard spots.
- $799, gozney.com
My go-to Christmas market:
Boroondoora market in Hawthorn is our monthly favourite but it's even better at Christmas time when stallholders battle for your festive attention: duck from Milawa, free-range pork, every kind of meat from Smokehouse, incredible organic fruit and veg growers, potato farmers, citrus growers, blueberry plant sellers. Take your market trolley, your dog, get there early and load up for the Big Day.
- December 18, Patterson Reserve, 484 Auburn Road, Hawthorn, vfma.org.au
The food hamper I would love to give and get:
There are a few names in this town synonymous with Christmas and Phillippa's is one of them. Her Armadale bakery drips with Christmas spirit of the edible kind and all of this can be packed into one of five hamper choices. My dream hamper, Bells and Whistles ($600), features the DIY gingerbread house, her famous mince pies, shortbread rounds, snowballs and a plum pud, Christmas cake, basically every festive treat invented.
Annabel Smith
My favourite place to buy gifts:
Chef's Hat in South Melbourne for non-tizzy, hardy hospo supplies that won't break the bank. The butcher? A digital meat thermometer. The baker? A set of offset spatulas. The coffee maker? Half-a-dozen durable Duralex latte glasses (also fun for serving wine alla trattoria).
- 131 Cecil Street, South Melbourne, chefshat.com.au
What to give the food nerd who has everything:
Crispy chilli oil got us through lockdowns, but chilli honey is yet to enter the foodie hivemind. Quinby's chilli honey ($18, 200ml) is infused with habanero chillies; do as the New Yorkers do and drizzle over pepperoni pizza, or try it with halloumi or as a topping for gelato.
- Various stockists in Victoria. quinbys.co
My go-to Christmas market:
Swinging back to South Melbourne where the market has jazz and carol singers to provide a soundtrack to your produce shopping. But I'm all about the baked goods: fruit mince pies from Yarraville baker Cobb Lane's newly opened outlet; charming French pastries from Agathe Patisserie; and mini gingerbread chalets from Aussie-Austrian bakery Austro a block away.
The food hamper I would love to give or receive:
Team Ottolenghi's latest tome Shelf Love riffs on pantry staples, and Essential Ingredient has kindly curated the must-have ingredients (cookbook optional; $100.50/$149.50), or avoid dashing around the shops and opt for the hamper of harder-to-find Ottolenghi ingredients such as rose harissa and dried black limes ($28.35). Simple.
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