This was published 1 year ago
Melbourne dining: Australia's best destination for food and drink is back with a vengeance
By Ben Groundwater
Aru Melbourne.Credit: Ari Hatzis
We all went a bit mad during lockdown. Some of us developed an obsession with sourdough. Some turned into fitness freaks. Pretty much all of us hoarded toilet paper, if we're honest.
Melbourne chef Khanh Nguyen started covering everything in pastry. Like, everything. Every bake-able foodstuff you can imagine, from whole chickens to mud crabs, he covered in the most beautiful, intricately patterned pastry, chucked it in the oven, and shared the process on Instagram.
"I did get into pastry, that was something I learnt during lockdown," Nguyen laughs now, relaxing between meal services at his Melbourne CBD restaurant, Aru, which was recently awarded the prestigious title of Restaurant of the Year in the Good Food Guide 2023.
Little did Nguyen realise, but that lockdown tinkering would lead to what is now one of the chef's most popular and well-known dishes, a perfect French-Vietnamese fusion called "Pate en croute with flavours of banh mi".
"It was something I'd been thinking about for a while," Nguyen says, "but I'd never had time to experiment. But then with lockdown going on, it gave me a bit more freedom and a bit more time to try new things, and that's where the pastry thing started."
You have to try this dish. It's pate en croute in the classic French style, a rustic terrine of pork and chicken liver – ingredients you would find, too, in a Vietnamese pork roll – baked in pastry and sliced into thick hunks, served with a side of pickled daikon and carrots to capture the banh mi experience.
Nguyen's star dish is perfect eating, and it's also perfect as a metaphor for the Melbourne dining scene, which was hit so hard during the COVID-19 pandemic. Like Melbourne itself, Nguyen's pate en croute is something brilliant that arose from hardship, a dish that speaks of struggle, but also of the creativity and brilliance of this city's purveyors of good food.
Melbourne is back. Our favourite destination for drinking and dining is back. The city's restaurants and cafes, bars and pubs are once again humming with life, with a feeling of optimism and excitement, even as food costs soar and staff prove hard to find. And I'm here to savour every last bite.
The major hardship on a gourmet tour of Melbourne in these post-lockdown days is not figuring out where to eat. It's deciding where you just won't have time and stomach space to check out. You can't go everywhere. And so on this week-long odyssey I'm having to miss some of the classics. But these choices have to be made.
Some of those decisions, unfortunately, are out of my control. I'm supposed to have dinner at Enter Via Laundry, by all accounts a sublime experience, a deep-dive into regional Indian cuisine served at a single shared table by dynamic chef Helly Raichura.
Sadly, however, her kitchen is hit with COVID-19 and is forced to close for the night. These things happen right now. You have to roll with the punches.
And so I roll all the way down a CBD laneway to Serai, a new restaurant on the Melbourne scene, recent winner of New Restaurant of the Year in the Good Food Guide, and one offering something completely different: high-end, wood-fired Philippines cuisine. If the dining room packed with Melbourne's Filipino diaspora is anything to go by – and also the food, which is taken by chef Ross Magnaye to impressive new levels – it's going to succeed.
Credit: Eddie Jim
For a city which has been on struggle street, Melbourne sure is seeing a lot of new restaurants and bars open up. Another case in point: Freyja, a Nordic-Australian fine-diner with serious pedigree. Owner Jae Bang is a Korean-born chef who was most recently based in Oslo, helping Re-naa attain two Michelin stars. Before that he was banging pans at Arzak, a legendary Basque eatery with three of those coveted gongs.
In Melbourne, Bang has commandeered prime position in the heritage-listed Olderfleet building on Collins Street, utilising gorgeous arched windows and an exposed-brick chassis to create a memorable dining space, featuring an open kitchen surrounded by a bar. This is where you want to dine, to watch as the talented crew prepare waffles with trout roe and smoked sour cream, seared Murray cod with kale and a sherry demi-glace, and duck breast roasted over fire, paired with beetroot and finger lime.
The menu here is a work in progress, but it's going to be up there with the city's finest.
Bar Rosella is new, too, over on buzzing Gertrude Street, Fitzroy's home of high-end boutiques and niche dining. Its hearty Italian fare is perfect for a cold Melbourne day. There's also Big Esso, the latest from chef Nornie Bero, a Federation Square restaurant bringing Indigenous Australian cooking to a wide audience.
Credit: Jesse Hisco
Melbourne has also, fortunately, retained many of its classic venues. Age and a pandemic shall not weary the likes of Gerald's Bar, the archetype of the perfect neighbourhood wine bar, a place that oozes charm from its every pore. I manage to bag a seat at the counter at Gerald's one night and just relax and take it in, from the friendly crowd to the classic music to the eclectic wine list that changes almost hourly.
Credit: Arsineh Houspian
This feels like home to me. I couldn't be happier.
And then there's Smith & Daughters, firecracker chef Shannon Martinez's trail-blazing vegan restaurant, which has seen a few changes during the pandemic, despite retaining every single one of its staff members, as well as its defiant soul. There's a Smith & Daughters deli now, doing casual bites and takeaway meals. And the main restaurant has shifted locations into a Collingwood space with proper wow factor.
"We love it," Martinez tells me, leaning on a big wooden counter overlooking the venue's new open kitchen. "The chefs love it. In the old Daughters, the kitchen was way out the back of the restaurant and you wouldn't even know where the food was coming from. But now the chefs get to see the customers, they get to interact with them and feel a bit more appreciated."
The pandemic has been rough for Martinez, as it has been for everyone in the Melbourne food industry. But there's resilience, a fierce will to survive – and reason to believe they will.
"I think summer in Melbourne is going to pop off," Martinez says. "It'll be our first proper summer with no restrictions, and Melbourne is ready to explode. We've had it really tough down here, so I'm just holding tight and waiting, because I think summer is going to go crazy and I'm really excited for that."
We all went a bit a bit mad during lockdown. Now it's time to go crazy without it.
DETAILS
EAT
Aru is open Tuesday to Saturday for lunch and dinner; aru.net.au. Enter Via Laundry is open for dinner Thursday to Saturday, and lunch on Sunday; entervialaundry.com.au. Serai is open Tuesday to Saturday for lunch and dinner; seraikitchen.com.au. Freyja is open for dinner Monday to Friday; freyjarestaurant.com. Bar Rosella is open for lunch and dinner Wednesday to Sunday; barrosella.com. Big Esso is open Tuesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner; mabumabu.com.au. Gerald's Bar is open for dinner seven days; geraldsbar.com. Smith & Daughters is open for dinner Tuesday to Saturday; smithanddaughters.com.
Ben Groundwater travelled with assistance from Visit Victoria
Five things that set Melbourne apart as a dining city
A World's 50 Best restaurant
The latest World's 50 Best Restaurants list was announced recently, and only one Australian restaurant made it onto the extended Top 100. It wasn't Brae, it wasn't Attica, and it wasn't Quay. It was Gimlet, the latest creation from Melbourne wunderkind Andrew McConnell, a luxurious fine-diner that was awarded number 84.
Neighbourhood eateries
This is where the magic is in Melbourne. It's not the fancy fine-diners in the CBD, or Fitzroy, or Prahran – though those are great. It's the small neighbourhood eateries, the cosy, homely joints in Carlton, Brunswick, Coburg, Yarraville and more. These places are unpretentious, they're friendly, and the food is reliably terrific.
Euro-style wine bars
Many in Australia have tried to ape the atmosphere and the class of a Melbourne wine bar, but few have succeeded. This is a city that just does classy, European-style drinking so well. Try Gerald's Bar, or Embla, or Napier Quarter or Public Wine Shop or a hundred more and you'll feel like you're in Paris, or Rome, or Berlin.
Euro-style markets
There are other great food markets in Australia. Adelaide's Central Market is a cracker. Farm Gate Market in Hobart is top-notch. But what Melbourne offers is a series of European-style covered markets, the likes of Prahran Market, South Melbourne Market, the Queen Victoria Market and more, permanent cultural fixtures with fine food and a friendly welcome.
A world of cuisine
Australians are used to being able to enjoy food from around the world, to have breakfast in one continent and then lunch and dinner in various others. Melbourne, however, takes that concept to another level, offering the most niche cuisine you care to imagine, from hyper-regional Indian food to Ethiopian to Peruvian to Palestinian to even Scottish.
See also: This is the greatest city in the world for food
See also: Six of Australia's best tiny eateries
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