Melbourne on the Menu

Long touted as Australian’s food capital, Melbourne is also making its mark on Hong Kong. Published in Discovery – February 2007.

With the opening of chef Geoff Lindsay’s Pearl On the Peak restaurant, Hong Kong has been enjoying a taste of Melbourne in a truly stunning location. Lindsay’s innovative approach and his commitment to the art of food and interior design are typical of the current crop of chefts who are reshaping and reinventing Melbourne’s restaurant scene.

Over the past few months, Australia’s most cosmopolitan city has seen an explosion in exciting casual and fine-dining options. It’s no surprise that British TV chef Jamie Oliver chose the city to open his first restaurant in the Asia-Pacific region. Fifteen Melbourne (Tel +613 8648 6000).

Among other newcomers, award-winning chef George Calombaris has opened his lnog-awaited restaurant. The Press Club (Tel: +613 9677 9677) at the former Herald & Weekly Times newspaper building in Flinders Street. The beautifully designed basement space features an open kitchen from which Calombaris sends out traditional Greek cuisine with a modern twist.

Teage Ezard, well known to Hong Kong diners for establishing the Opia restaurant at the boutique Jia Hotel in Causeway Bay, has opened a second restaurant in Melbourne; Gingerboy (Tel: +613 9662 4200), in fashionable Crossley Street, dishes up Ezard’s take on hawker-style Asian dishes such as taro dumplings with minced porl, deep-fried oysters and caramelized Wagyu ox cheeks.

Wagyu steaks feature on the menu of Neil Perry’s new Rockpool Bar & Grill (Tel: +613 8648 1900), along with King Island chicken, wood-fired tuna and whole abalone. The former Cecconi’s site at the Crown Casino Complex can accommodate 200 people with an informal bar and separate dining room and an outdoor terrace.

Over in the revamped Melbourne Central shopping complex, restaurant entrepreneur Paul Mathis has surprised diners again with SOS (Tel: +613 9654 0808), a “veg-aquarian” diner serving seafood and vegetarian dishes. All the seafood is “ethically harvested and sustainable, taking environmentally friendly eating to new heights – or depths”.

Well-loved Barcelona style tapas bar Mo Vida now has some serious competition in the form of Bar Lourinha (Tel: +613 9663 7890) in Little Collins Street. Beautifully decorated with elaborate light fittings and cosy tables, this atmospheric bar is the place to sip a glass of Spanish red and nibble on snacks like thinkly sliced kingfish, confit rabbit pastries and orange blossom crema.

There’s more European Style to be found at Commer Kitchen (Tel: +613 9631 4000) in Alfred Place, where southern French and Spanish food is on offer, as well as a serious list of 350 fine wines. Expect fantastic steak bordelaise, braised, pork belly and rare grilled ocean trout. The luxurious Comme Wine Room is perfect for an after-dinner drink.

Lastly, excellent modern Thai/Asian food is behind the success of Longrain (Tel: +613 8671 3151) which has opened into a converted warehouse at the corner of Little Bourke Street and Punch Lane in Melbourne’s Bustling Chinatown. The large, communal tables create a welcoming banquet atmosphere and the menu from famed chef Martin Boetz is a unique blend of modern Asian cuisines. Artworks decorate the space and include a giant sea anenome sculpture.

If all this is not a great reason to visit Melbourne, next month the city will be hosting the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival from 16 to 30 March, a must-do experience for gourmets, which showcases the best of all Victoria’s food and wine regions at more than 150 statewide events.

For full details, see www.visitmelbourne.com.