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.
Make a pitstop at Maha for lunch – for $15
There ain’t nothing like a big and warm hug in the form of food during a dreary Melbourne winter, and Shane Delia’s Maha knows it all too well. Maha chefs from across the Delia group are each putting their spin on what they call Bowls of Goodness. Maha’s Lucas Mendes is up right now with a punchy Brazilian moqueca fish stew, and we’re particularly excited for Shane Delia’s bowl toward the end of the series – a veal shin tagine served on a buttery toasted almond cous cous.
Maha’s Bowls of Goodness are going for a wallet-friendly $15 from 12 noon until 3pm, seven days a week till the end of September. Bookings are recommended and you can do so right here.
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.
Meet at Springrock, stay for the meat raffle
After expanding their rooftop to near-excessive proportions, the team behind Fancy Hank’s are rounding out their offering via a third venue set within their Bourke Street complex. It’s called Springrock, its schtick is casual country public bar in the big smoke, and the menu leans into the theme with a familiar list of counter meals from former Ezard and Izakaya Den chef Jarrod Di Blasi.
The hot honey-glazed sausage curled next to a healthy serving of slaw provides a lick of nostalgia, as does the sundae – spiked with coffee bourbon, of course. What we’re really throwing our support behind, though, is their take on oysters Kilpatrick.
Springrock Public Bar is open noon until late seven days a week. Don’t miss the weekly meat raffle on Thursday evenings.
Cheesecake by weight? 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 between 4pm and 6pm.
Dinner at Brae for $5? Here’s your chance at it
The good folks at Brae are raising money for Birregurra pre-school. Help them out by buying a $5 raffle ticket and you’ll be helping yourself out with a chance to win a $2,500 dinner and overnight stay at the regional fine diner. The prize also includes breakfast the next morning, a farm hamper to take home, and bragging rights that you dined at Brae for five bucks.
Enter the Birregurra pre-school fundraising raffle right here.
North meets south at Young Hearts’ Sunday lunch
Southside hangout Young Hearts is getting a taste of the north – among other delicious things – as part of their Sunday Service series, calling in the likes of Sleepy’s Steve Chan and Conferre Group’s star pastry chef Lucy Whitlow. Nick Coulter, owner of Young Hearts, describes it as a set menu sans rules – seat yourself by 1pm, get fed, and leave when you like for an approachable $65.
Check out the full roster of guest chefs at Young Hearts here.
Lim Kopi, up late
Lim Kopi has long been a reliable choice along the Little Bourke Street strip, and with extended trading hours – until 2am between Wednesdays and Sundays – there’s almost never a bad time to schedule in a top-notch Malaysian feed. There’s a grip of new menu items too, and we think their bak kut teh, a slow-cooked pork both, is a prime spirit lifter for these cold winter’s evening – at any time of night.