MELBOURNE DINING UPDATE

Midnight soup, moghrabieh, skinny magics and markets.

There’s been a bit of chatter lately about who has the best restaurant scene – Melbourne or Sydney – and I’m here to tell you it’s all a load of old rubbish. The Melburnians I know adore Sydney, and everyone I know in Sydney jumps at the chance to eat in Melbourne.

If you live in one city that you love and respect, then it’s an absolute bonus to have another one that you can get to in the time it takes to digest lunch and start looking forward to dinner.

The differences between them are to be celebrated, because those differences have developed over time and come from different cultures, migration patterns, governing bodies, climate and agriculture, and above all, the will and fundamental nature of the people. There can be no winner, and no loser.

And besides, my money is on Brisbane and Adelaide putting an end to the duopoly (duopoly: a situation in which two suppliers dominate the market for a commodity or service) over the next few years.

In that spirit, here’s a quick update on my occasional guides to Melbourne dining. If you’d like to see a Sydney equivalent one day, let me know. Happy to oblige.

NO. 100 FLINDERS LANE, FOR PRIX-FIXE LUNCH

A new little deli and diner has popped up in the ever-more-interesting Flinny Lane precinct (Supernormal, Gimlet, Grill Americano, Chin Chin, Eau de Vie, etc). Run with that breezy, easy professionalism seemingly innate in Melbourne hospo folk, it’s the perfect stop-and-drop for a glass of wine and something interesting.

That might be calamari noodles and ’nduja, or chicken liver pate with speculaas (!) and walnuts, taken on a comfy banquette by a bevelled, wood-framed and half-curtained window.  Go for the daily prix fixe menu for just $40, which brought a crisp-skinned confit duck leg on kipfler potatoes, the tart of the day, and a glass of wine. (Repeat, AND a glass of wine). No 100 Flinders Lane.

WARKOP, FOR COFFEE AND SANDWICHES

Good things are happening at the top end of Little Collins Street, from the sweet little gluten-free patisserie Kudo, tucked into the side of The Windsor, to Babajan – an excellent spot from which to pick up some nourishing and flavourful food to take home for dinner (best bet: salad of the day).

But Warkop is something else again, an Indonesian-influenced sandwich bar (also at 12 Risley Street in Richmond) that seems wreathed in smiles no matter how under the pump they get. Divine coffee from Duke’s Coffee Roasters, and a genuinely exciting list of window-to-Indo sangers that include beef brisket rendang, and gado gado. And kaya-glazed crullers. And this filet o fish with fried rockling and sambal matah in a potato roll.

MAHA, FOR 15 YEARS

Maha is such a staple, quintessential Melbourne restaurant that it’s hard to remember there was a time when we said ‘who is this bloke Shane Delia, and why is he muscling in on Greg Malouf Middle Eastern territory?’

Typically, the 15^th birthday bash at the restaurant was filled with family, friends of the restaurant, and food – so much food.

If I tell you that guests were ferried there by Mercedes-Benz and that the wines were all from Levantine Hill, you’ll get an idea of the level of hospitality. And with several of Shane’s fellow chefs swearing that they would not be here today were it not for his game-changing lockdown food business Providoor, you’ll get an idea of the depth of loyalty in the room. And look at that jolly crew pictured with Shane, aren’t they great?

Warmly hosted by Pat Nourse and orchestrated by Karla Dawes and the KDPO-team, it kicks off a couple of months of celebrations in the restaurant with a special menu of greatest hits from each of the fifteen years which runs until the end of July.

Pick and choose what you want at lunch, or go for dinner and get the lot for $185pp; the best way to make sure you don’t miss out. (Start with cocktails at the glam next-door bar, Jayda, for the full Maha experience).

Highlights: smoked hummus with pine mushrooms (2015), the divine moghrabieh Milanese (my favourite dish: large pearl couscous cooked as if risotto, with saffron); and the non-negotiable lamb shoulder, marinated in toum, sumac, cumin and lemon and slow-roasted overnight, served with za’atar and pine nut jus.

KAFENEION, FOR THE GREEK-MELBOURNEYNESS

So of course it seemed like a good idea to end the night – or rather, start the following day - at winter pop-up Kafeneion, which has slotted into the top of Bourke Street as if it has always been there.

This is heartland stuff – tzatziki, keftedes, avgolemono, steamed beetroots served with their own greens - with a focus on ladera, the slow-cooked, olive oil-based home cooked dishes that don’t usually make it onto fancy menus.

And best of all, a supper menu that runs from 10pm to 1am. Midnight soup! Big thanks to Con Christopoulos and Stavros Konis for making it happen. Now can you make it happen beyond winter. (Sorry for the bad shot, but it was midnight).

CODE BLACK COFFEE FOR MAGIC

In Sydney, I order a double-shot café latte. In Melbourne, that’s a magic (built on a double ristretto). In Sydney, you ask for skim; in Melbourne, that’s a skinny.

In Code Black’s newest location at South Melbourne Market, on the side of the street that gets the winter sun, a skinny magic is indeed all about light and shade.

Also – and this happens a lot in Melbs – Code Black is owned by the entrepreneurial Joseph Haddad, with six cafes across town. And who just opened No 100 Flinders Lane. Circles upon circles.

 SOUTH MELBOURNE MARKET FOREVER

The real reason I think the Sydney/Melbourne dining debate is bullshit, is because none of that matters if you can’t go to a fresh food market and pick up some amazing food - and know how to cook it.

Good cooks make equally good diners, because they know how things should taste, (and because they appreciate someone else making the effort), and they’re more likely to question bad food than people who don’t know how to cook. Context, people.

So here’s the thing about a great market: I went determined to pick up everything Greek, and I came away with everything Spanish instead.

Public warning: if you stop at La Central’s little deli and bodega (stall 45) for a brilliant breakfast of pan con tomate ( tomato-rubbed toast topped with jamon and a drizzle of Spanish olive oil), then I am not responsible for how much you spend when you go to pay the bill.

I couldn’t leave without some Cuca anchovies, a glass jar of alubias beans, some chorizo and a lovely coiled sausage whose name I forget, and wonderfulLY fruity piquillo peppers, and Marcona almonds and a huge bottle of Spanish vermut. And Spanish wine, and Estrella beer.  Oh, and the bread rolls and jamon to recreate breakfast for lunch, with a plate of their tuna empanidillos.

With thanks to Alberto Andres and team for magically transporting me back to my Saturday mornings at Garcia’s Spanish deli in Portobello Road, London.

So now, you’re going to go to South Melbourne Market determined to stock up on Spanish food, and will probably go home with Cantonese dumplings and Polish presswurst studded with dill pickles and THE BEST EVER fruit bread from Woodfrog Bakery. Which is as it should be.

Thanks for dropping by! And as always, thanks for your comments and opinionated thoughts. Special thanks to Terry for also thinking that going to Kafeneion at midnight after eating and drinking all night was a good idea. Sometime, we’re like two kids playing hooky and leading each other astray; and sometimes we’re very strict and parental with ourselves. The kids won.

Shane dropped in on our jolly table of great Melbourne (and Sydney) peeps: From left: Shaney, Brahman, Trust, Anthea, Jill, Terry, Jason. One of the great nights.

I would also like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon which I work, live, cook and play; the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. I fully support the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice to be enshrined in Australia’s Constitution. It’s only fair, folks.