48 HOURS TO EAT THROUGH MELBOURNE
If a weekend in Melbourne is all you have, here’s a selection of fail-safe food destinations that are sure to keep you out of trouble.
Breakfast
Cumulus Inc. 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne +61 3 9650 1445
Pull up a pew at the bar (pictured above), it’s the best view to watch the deadly efficient floor staff work their magic on your morning latte, while the kitchen serves up killer breakfast classics like the Full English, complete with blood sausage, plenty of bacon, topped with a fried egg. You can’t go past the 65/65 egg (yes, 65 degrees for 65 minutes), partnered with smoked salmon, green apple and sourdough toast. Come back after dark for swanky bistro stylings.
Queen Victoria Market, 513 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne +61 3 9320 5822
There are several things Melbourne does better than Sydney. One of them is Burek (pictured above) – that buttery, flaky pastry that sandwiches sweet or savoury fillings. The other – bratwurst rolls. Head to Victoria Market early and start the day with a coffee and one of these rib-sticking gems, and afterwards, top it off with an Italian jam donut, fresh from the fryer and rolled in sugar. Boom.
Atomica, 268 Brunswick St, Fitzroy +61 3 9417 4255
One of Fitzroy’s classic breakfast institutions. The coffee is expectedly good, but it’s the incredibly generous portions that keep hungry hungry hipsters coming back for more. Order a savoury tart, fresh from the oven while you decide what to order from the menu, and you’re perfectly set, just like the eggs (but if you can’t cook eggs properly, what business do you have running a café?).
Coffee
Proud Mary, 72 Oxford Street Collingwood +61 3 9417 5930
Whether it’s Synesso Hydra, Clover, Syphon Bar, Single Origin or house blend, these guys know coffee. And in a town that prides itself on knowing coffee, that’s quite something. Be prepared to wait on the weekends, the Collingwood masses are quite enamoured with the pulled pork sandwiches and baked eggs, as well as the caffeine IV.
Brother Baba Budan, 359 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne +61 3 9606 0449
The guys from Brother Baba Budan take their coffee seriously. From origin to cup, these guys know where these beans have been every step of the way. A perfect stop-off in the CBD for a perfect cuppa joe.
St Ali, 12-18 Yarra Place, South Melbourne +61 3 9686 2990
Their coffee machine is a Slayer. If that means anything to you, it’s because you know your drug of choice. Able to extract specific flavour profiles out of specific beans (and probably tall buildings in a single bound), every coffee aficionado who hasn’t visited St Ali should. There’s a great food menu here too.
Lunch
Hutong, 14-16 Market Ln, Melbourne +61 3 9650 8128; 162 Commercial Road, Prahan +61 3 9098 1188
Book, if you get dumpling rage, because Hu-Tong regularly books out during the lunchtime rush. The stars here are the Xiao Long Bao, or soup dumplings – thin pastry holding a searing mouthful of soup and pork meat – eaten with threads of ginger and vinegar dipping sauce. There’s a pretty faithful interpretation of mapo doufu and steamed duck dumplings, too.
Red Spice Road, 27 McKillop Street, Melbourne +61 3 9603 1601
If a CBD lunchtime meet up is on the agenda, all routes meet at Red Spice Road. Featuring dark wood interiors inside this cavernous eatery, it’s about shared plates and generous proportions of sticky pork belly with chilli caramel, black vinegar and cabbage, as well as fresh little betel leaves with salmon, lemongrass, chilli and kaffir lime. Great for after-work cocktails, too.
Dinner
Dainty Sichuan, 176 Toorak Road, South Yarra +61 3 9078 1686
Anything but dainty, Melbourne may not have the variety of regional Chinese options Sydney has in spades, but Dainty Sichuan definitely packs a punch. Roll up with a posse, order a steamboat and cook your own dinner (the pot is split into ‘stock’ and ‘chilli-oils slick’), or order from the kitchen’s menu of ma la (hot and numbing) specialities. A favourite with off-duty chefs like Neil Perry.
Huxtable, 131 Smith St Melbourne +61 3 9419 5101
Daniel Wilson is the man. The head chef and co-owner can be seen rocking the open kitchen on the daily, churning out kick-ass food with global influences, like steamed crab & corn rice noodle with XO chilli or crisp filo logs of lamb puttanesca with lemon yoghurt. Grab a seat at the bar and have a chat with Daniel and his staff… and if you’re really nice, he just might flick you a few tasty treats he’s working on.
Gigibaba , 102 Smith St, Collingwood +61 3 9486 0345
It looks just like any other cool Fitzroy bar on the outside, but once seated at the lengthy bar, you’ll see it’s more than just kick-ass cocktails (though they have lots of these too). The menu is modern Turkish, and damned delicious. Start with finely sliced smoked veal tongue with mustard figs, hummus and brilliant bread, before moving onto charred, juicy quail and pickled octopus. Çok lezizdi (That’s Turkish for seriously tasty!)
By Melissa Leong
www.fooderati.blogspot.com
