There’s plenty of news to digest in Melbourne’s food and drink scene; so much so that keeping up with the goings on might sometimes feel overwhelming. But we’ve got the cure for what ails you – or at least your attention span – with Melbourne and Victoria’s latest served up hot, fresh and fast.
Half-price drinking and dining at Brae? Here’s how
Earning those stripes in the hospitality industry can be a tricky thing, but the good folk at regional fine diner Brae are making it 50 per cent easier for hospo trainees and apprentices with half the cost wiped off the food and paired beverage bill on Wednesday and Thursday evening bookings.
It’s all in the spirit of professional development for the next generation of the hospitality community, and if that sounds like you, it’ll get you a look-in to the process and practice at one of Australia’s most respected dining destinations.
Want a seat at the table? All you need to do is have your employer reach out to Brae on enquire@braerestaurant.com along with a copy of your current signed apprenticeship training plan.
Maha East is making a $15 dinner very possible
Maha East is bringing the cost of living down one $15 bowl of pasta at a time as part of their ‘Arab’iata series, an eight week round-robin featuring some of Melbourne’s top chefs on the pans. Head Honcho Shane Delia has stepped up for round one with a pan-fried halloumi, mint and cumin-spiced lamb gnocchi, while the chef’s chef Peter Gunn (Ides) has taken second spot serving up the classic mac ‘n’ cheese with a little brown butter and dukkah.
Still to come? Toddy Shop’s Mischa Tropp, Benjamin Cooper from Chin Chin and more.
‘Arab’iata is available from 5pm from Monday through Wednesday until early November, and you can find out which chef is up next, and what they’re serving via the Maha East Instagram.
Bookings and walk-ins are welcomed. Find out more here.
Manzé is making moves, but their potato cake is staying exactly the way we like it
North Melbourne’s favourite Mauritian restaurant is turning three, and with several rotations around the sun comes several delicious changes. The new set menu sits at $80, and it offers up a grip of Manzé all-stars: red mullet from Lakes Entrance with masala salt, wood-fired Loddon Valley lamb chops, and steamed coconut and rice cakes to name a few.
The real bang-for-buck, however, is found in their Thursday to Saturday lunch set menu. It starts at $40 and it’ll get you a seat at the table for the very best of Manzé’s via an express iteration of the menu. And yep, Manzé’s hit potato cake with mandarin hot sauce, is stickin’ around.
Bookings are recommended for lunch and dinner at this 24-seater, and you can do so here.
It’s all eyes on steak night at Ides, at $38 per person
A visit to the Smith Street fine diner is usually reserved for a degustation experience, and a damn fine one at that. But on Wednesdays, Ides is bringing their iteration of steak night into the fold. It’s served up in their bar, it’ll set you back $38 and each month you’ll find a new cut from the team’s favourite suppliers – hello, O’Connor Beef – alongside the necessary sides. All executed with that signature Ides precision, of course.
You’ll might find a grilled O’Connor rump cap with smoked coffee barbecue sauce, for example, with a truffle mac and cheese, celeriac gratin and a garlic and rosemary bun made from Ides’ sourdough starter.
Book in for Melbourne’s steak night end-game here.
Lunch and a show on Sundays at Bar Lourinhā
There’s nine more hours a week to experience everything you know and love about Bar Lourinhā. From midday on Sundays, Matt McConnell and co will be serving up their à la carte menu – and might we recommend the fried cuttlefish montadito to start – along with a $70 chef’s selection that covers off plenty of Lourinhā classics.
The team are sweetening the Sunday deal, too, with a grip of guest performers, DJs and the odd winemaker joining the afternoon affairs.
Book in for your intimate lunch this or any other Sunday here.
Smith + Daughters’ new era goes back to its roots
There’s a new head chef, Sean Mears, joining Shannon Martinez in the Smith + Daughters kitchen, and together, they’re taking the vegan diner back to a simpler time, where big and brash plant based cooking was front and center. The new menu is rich in snacks, it’s umami loaded, and it’s damn easy on the wallet with plenty under $10 a pop.
The baps with smithemite – a pillowy dinner roll paired up with Smith + Daughters’ take on Vegemite – is a particularly pleasing way to start. The corn dog bedded in golden curry ketchup, meanwhile, is a clear indication that Martinez knows how to create a cracking vegan variant of almost anything. The new era also comes under a new name: hit Smith + Daughters Social Club for a more casual, more approachable hangout for spring, summer and beyond.
Find Smith + Daughters Social Club, and the new menu, at 107 Cambridge Street in Collingwood.
Grab-and-go oysters are good-to-go in the CBD
Footscray’s legendary D&K Live Seafood’s just-opened CBD outpost is dedicated to the oyster, and only the oyster. They’re served live and shucked from the tanks, and that means they’re always fresh, and they start from as little as $2.80 a shell. We recommend heading a little further down the menu for what Muli Express call the Super Charge – and what most call an aged Sydney rock oyster – coming in at $5.80 a pop.
They’re open from 12 noon seven days a week for anyone looking for grab-and-go oysters, and if you’re in the CBD later in the evenings on Mondays and Tuesdays they’re open till 9pm.
Find Muli Express at 163 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne.
Cheesecake by the gram? Get it in Collingwood
Collingwood’s recently opened cheesecake bakeshop is about as Collingwood as it gets. You’ll find Lulu & Me in a large, sparsely decorated warehouse, where a collection of ovens, several scales and the Lulu & Me team serve up pay-by-weight cheesecake. Basque, New York-style, pandan, and caramel versions are all available in servings as small or large as you please, and whole cakes are up for grabs, too. Want to try the goods before you dish out the dollars? Go nuts – sampling is encouraged.
Lulu & Me is open Thursday through Sunday, 9am to 2pm.
Cheap as heck tacos on Tuesdays. You know what they call that?
The cost of living is indeed a thing right now, but if you look hard enough, you could eat well and well below your budget every night of the week. How about on Tuesdays? Upstairs Mexican spot Mesa Verde is serving up $5 tacos – goat barbacoa, braised ox tongue, and a beer-battered market fish are all up for the taking, as are veg-friendly numbers like fried okra and portobello tacos.
Order up on $5 tacos at Mesa Verde every Tuesday from 4pm.