Beat Eats Winter 2017

FREE

Guide to eating out in Melbourne

Issue N o 6

Winter 2017

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Contents The Barre Belle’s Hot Chicken The Glory Hole at The Bendigo Hotel Biggie Smalls Feature: The Flavours of Australia Tell a Story of Migration Tunes & ‘Tails Bombini Buzz Cabinet Bar & Balcony Dandenong Market Der Partisan Bakery Recipe: Sicilian Steak Sandwich Hooked Fish & Chipper Host Dining Little Big Sugar Salt Meatmother Feature: STREAT’s Ahead Mesob Mile End Bagels Mukka Recipe: Spaghetti & Meatballs The Nelson Rice Paper Sister San Telmo Serotonin Eatery Feature: Plastic Ain’t Fantastic Sonny’s at John Curtin Hotel Tacocat Feature & Recipe: Free to Feed Tahini The Tramway Hotel Trotters Bistro Wings of Glory Feature & Recipes: SO.Crates do SO.Plates Feature: Melbourne’s Best Coffee & Croissant Tunes & Tails That’s So Hospo

Dishin’ with Gigi 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 16

In the pages waiting eagerly to be flipped before you, holds the delicious, the clever and the inspiring happenings in our city, waiting to be explored this winter. Yes, it’s cold out. But that doesn’t mean we should set up camp indoors and forget where we’re living.

Sydney has the beaches but we have the atmosphere exclusive to a 24-hour city. Not even the sun can take that from us.

The sixth edition of Beat Eats takes an influential note throughout talking with dedicated enterprises doing great things that need to be shared. There’s countless recipes of different cuisines, cultures and places, plus informative pieces on how to shed a little plastic from our lives, a short history lesson, and of course the many eateries we are proud to call our own. So readers, wrap your necks, tie your boots and embrace the right now with Beat Eats, Issue 6, Winter Edition.

Georgia Spanos

Venue Key

Free Wireless

Outdoor Seating

Gluten Free Options

Vegetarian Options

Licensed

Vegan Options

Takes Bookings

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Find us on instagram: @beat_eats EDITOR Georgia Spanos georgia@furstmedia.com.au SUB-EDITOR James Di Fabrizio ART DIRECTION & DESIGN Michael Cusack VENUE/FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY Julia Sansone @thesansberry Jem King @jemkingphotography Eugene Canty @eugenecantyphotography Hania Glapa @haniaglapaphotography Kamilla Musland www.kamillamusland.com Kate Shanasy kateshanasy.com @kateshanasy_creative Anna Madden @Bandannaphotography

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Nic Allchin nicallchinphoto.com Amy Weavell @bitesofmelbourne Tegan Louise Ringin teganlouise.com CONTRIBUTORS Jem King,Nick Mason, Tom Parker, James Di Fabrizio, Matilda Edwards, Tegan Louise Ringin, Chris Swan, Julia Sansone, Isabelle Oderberg, Kate Streader, Siena Caterina Ramsay, Jessica Over, Jacob Colliver.

ADVERTISING Georgia Spanos georgia@furstmedia.com.au Thom Parry thom@beat.com.au BEAT EATS OFFICE Level 1, No. 3 Newton Street, Richmond VIC 3121.

Phone: (03) 9428 3600

30,000+ copies of Beat Eats can be found at over 2200 points across Melbourne. For more information email beateats@beat.com.au

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Photography by Kamilla Musland

The Barre 100 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne | artscentremelbourne.com.au

By Jacob Colliver

Two years ago Hamer Hall’s Curve Bar underwent an amazing transformation. The Barre, as it became, is a love letter to the joy of theatre in all of its forms, with the beauty of the theatre appropriately represented in a glorious aesthetic of reflective surfaces and golden fixtures. The floorboards you stand upon are actually from the Hamer stage, repurposed from recent redevelopment and sliced into parquetry.

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A favourite is the chicken waffles – marinated and fried in maple syrup and buttermilk, before being drizzled with Emmental cheese. This tender slice of decadence is served on top of a mini-waffle.

Crisp on the outside with a thick and soft centre, it juggles both sweet and savoury perfectly.

From the starters menu you can enjoy a duo of succulent pulled pork sliders with a sauerkraut salad and BBQ sauce, or a pair of soft-shelled crabs enveloped in pillowy steamed buns and a zesty semi-dried tomato aioli. The polenta fries – dusted with a crunchy prosciutto crumb and served with a tomato and capsicum relish – are divine, while the roasted pumpkin and chestnut risotto provides a hearty vegetarian option, complete with smooth mascarpone, sage and amaretti crumbs.

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the pavlova; a crisp shell encases the gooey bliss of soft meringue, topped with a disk of hazelnut cream, dark chocolate sauce and a bounty of strawberries.

If you’re a lover of cocktails, the house Manhattan reigns supreme – it’s made with rye whiskey, their own raw sugar syrup and blended with house bitters. The Moscow mule will keep you toasty with its refreshing hit of Vox Vodka, ginger beer and a subtle twist of tangy lime juice.

Photography by Eugene Hyland

Belle’s Hot Chicken 150 Gertrude St, Fitzroy + 107 Swan St, Richmond + 147 Chapel St, Windsor | belleshotchicken.com

Let the dimmed lights and retro feel of Belle’s Hot Chicken take you to Nashville for a night. This fried chicken hotspot is remarkably balances inspiration from the deep South of America with something so distinctly Melbourne. sandwiches and Southern-style chicken and waffles. As records line the shelves, neon signs illuminate the room, while a selection of classic and contemporary tunes float you into poultry paradise. You’ll certainly want to dance while demolishing this first-rate chicken.

With an extensive drinks menu (the iced mint tea with bourbon goes perfect with chicken) Belle’s is a fantastic visit for a small nibble and cheeky drinks, or to go all out for a massive feast. Trust me, this (literally) finger-licking chicken will definitely have you crossing the road for more.

By Nilo Danai

With a simple yet satisfying menu, diners can chose from an assorted range of meats. As expected the star of the show is chicken – but there’s vegetarian options of mushroom too as well as fresh fish for all to enjoy. Belle’s know how to cook up chicken wings with the best of them — crunchy to perfection on the outside and succulency tender on the inside. Let’s just say it’s all you’ve ever wanted from fried chicken.

The frying technique, native to Nashville, involves adding the spice of your choice right after the piece of chook has been fried. And as the name indicates, they don’t take it easy on the spice department. The spiciest option? “Really f**king hot”, in those words exactly.

The rest of their menu features a plethora of sides, snacks and specials to keep you satisfied. Top picks include the creamy brilliance that is their mac and cheese alongside other American classics as coleslaw and spiced up bay fries. Capping it off comes their acclaimed

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Photography by Hania Glapa

The Glory Hole at The Bendigo Hotel 125 Johnston St, Collingwood | bendigohotel.com.au

By Nick Mason

The Bendigo Hotel’s new kitchen setup bucks the all-pervasive trend of hipsteraccredited cuisine. There’s no over-complicated burgers with brioche buns here.

Not one smashed avo. Instead, The Glory Hole goes back to basics, taking the familiarity of pub grub and applying their own spin to it.

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One look at the menu and you get the sense that The Glory Hole has accomplished its mission – to bring back the good old days, albeit with a twist. For example, there are the familiar staples such as roast lamb and chicken parma, but they’re nestled within the fluffy centres of hot dog buns. The Bendigo Hotel isn’t suddenly interested in becoming a knife-and-fork sort of venture. Assessing the menu, there’s an emphasis on the kind of things you’d kill to be chowing down after a few beers, watching a local band tear it up. It’s unsurprising the Glory Sausage has already proven a hit, enabling punters to hold a pint in one hand and a saucy sensation in the other. The Glory Sausage is just one stand-out in a menu of ‘boozefood’.

Speaking of sensations, it’s ironic that The Glory Hotel, in bucking trends, may have started its B E A T

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own. The deep fried tequila bites have scored plenty of coverage of late and it’s easy to see why. Imagine a churro – now, squash it down into bite-sized form and sub out the chocolate for tequila. It tastes as good as it sounds.

The Glory Hole at The Bendigo Hotel presents a twist on pub fare that gels terrifically with a live music setting. All in all, this is a classic example of knowing your audience and playing to them well.

Photography by Eugene Canty

Biggie Smalls 86 Smith St, Collingwood | biggiesmalls.com.au

With eyes opened to the stories of inspiration and achievement beyond expectations, Delia held tight to the words of the legendary Notorious B.I.G, deciding that when it comes to honouring the King of New York, the sky’s the limit.

In a sea of simple burger joints, Biggie Smalls is making premium kebabs from the casual flair of their American downtown-inspired venue. With a food truck making waves around town and a new venue in Windsor opening in September (boasting beer on tap and house-made cocktails), Biggie Smalls doesn’t do things by halves – and they don’t follow trends.

For a feast that’d make Mr. Wallace proud, tackle the Bronson. An absolute beast weighing in at a whopping 560 grams, this mouth-watering jewel offers coconut-fried beef brisket cooked in a house-made Malaysian rendang curry. Plus, it’s topped with refreshing cucumber, carrot slaw and tomato jam. If you’re after a great roast, the West Coast brings roast lamb, onion gravy mayo, mustard pickled carrots, lettuce, chips

and that all-important rosemary and garlic.

The HSP may have become a beloved kebab shop staple, but Biggie Smalls’ own BSP – the Biggie Snack Pack – packs something further still. Think succulent spiced chicken, topped with spring onion, cheese sauce, hot sauce and fried haloumi folded through hot chips to maintain that fresh, crisp crunch.

Cool down with a chocolate biscuit-encased icecream sandwich like the Turkish D-Lite (a chewy Turkish Delight ice-cream with candied pistachio) or the P-Nutty (a peanut butter treat with a hint of sea-salt and a salted caramel centre).

Quench that thirst with a boozy shake like The Shake Down (salted caramel, Oreos, cookies & cream ice-cream and a healthy dose of rich dark rum) or The Brooklyn Berry (strawberry jam, white chocolate ice cream, caramelised white chocolate and bourbon).

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By Jacob Colliver

Back in the mid ‘90s, a young Shane Delia found himself living in Detroit and submerged in a culture Australia just hadn’t experienced properly yet – hip-hop.

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The Flavours of Australia

Tell a Story of Migration The term ‘Australian cuisine’ has always somewhat confused me. What is a restaurant that bills itself as modern Australian? Is it bush tucker on a chic plate with that fancy sauce smear? Is it a poshed up version of the sausage sizzle? A deconstructed ANZAC biscuit? We’re such a young country – so what exactly is our food identity?

We’re blessed to live in a city that in its short history has welcomed migrants from every corner of the globe. We’re home to residents from about 180 different countries, we speak 233 different languages and dialects, and follow close to 116 different religious faiths. Our amazing multiculturalism has had an impact on our arts and culture, on Melbourne’s thriving fashion scene, the sports that reign supreme in the city – and, most notably, it has made Melbourne the culinary destination it is today.

teahouses and Asian groceries. As well as introducing herbal teas, they brought ‘exotic’ ingredients into what was previously very British cuisine – flavours like ginger, lime and chilli (we are forever in their debt, guys).

Melbourne’s major migration story – and the food history that goes alongside it – really starts in the post-war era. Once WWII was over, thousands of displaced people from war-torn Europe began to arrive and Australia began to look thoroughly multicultural.

Whether it’s the whiffs of pizza and pasta you get from the Italians walking through Carlton, stopping for a cheeky Greek souvlaki on Lonsdale Street, or a cheap and cheerful pho on Victoria Street, the cliché of ‘there’s something for everyone’ couldn’t be truer.

From 1947 onwards, the Mediterraneans came to Melbourne in their thousands.

So much so that Melbourne still has the largest Greek population anywhere outside of Greece. We also welcomed Italians, Turks and those from Lebanon, and with them came more diverse meat, fish and poultry, pasta, olive oil and new types of cheese.

They pioneered European coffee techniques, winemaking and what we know now as ‘cafe culture’.

Though Melburnian Jews fleeing Nazism opened Polish, Hungarian and Russian-style cake shops through the 1940s, the humble cafe as we know it now – a place of social gathering as much as food – is a Mediterranean import. In other words, how did we ever live without them?

Slowly, through the 1960s and 1970s,

Our first wave of migration – we’re ignoring our British forefathers here, what with their massacres and all – was during the Gold Rush. Apart from the UK, the biggest migrant populations were German and Chinese. In fact, the Chinese came to hunt for gold in such droves that by 1861, seven percent of Victoria’s population was Chinese.

They set up shop on Melbourne’s Little Bourke St – which to this day is still Melbourne’s Chinatown, home to an endless supply of amazing dumplings, 8

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the restrictive Dictation Test and White Australia policies banning immigration for non-Europeans were relaxed, then abolished. This opened the door to another wave of Chinese migration, as well as Indian and Sri Lankan groups alongside Vietnamese refugees – giving us the diverse range of Asian cuisines and ingredients we take for granted today, culminating in our own ‘Asian Fusion’ style of cooking and shared eating that is the trend in so many restaurants you’ll find across Melbourne.

Though European and Asian cultures have undoubtedly had the biggest impact on what and how we eat, our brilliant city is always changing and growing, and so are its influences on our cuisine. Refugees and asylum seekers from countries like Sudan, Myanmar, Syria and Afghanistan are increasing, and if you head out to multicultural epicentres like Dandenong and Footscray, you’ll find a multitude of cuisines you wouldn’t even have thought to try. And if history has taught us anything, they’re well worth it.

By Matilda Edwards photo: Padre Alfonso greeting Italian immigrants 1951 - Migration Heritage Centre migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au

Tunes & ‘Tails Oh Darlin by The Sugarcanes & The Nighthawk Cocktail

The Nighthawk is a cocktail toted as pretty to look at, refreshing to sip and guaranteed to please. We’ve paired up the Nighthawk with the sweet sounds of Melbourne’s favourite soul darlings, The Sugarcanes. The band are still riding high since the release of their self-titled LP last year, which has lead to slots at festivals including Meredith, Boogie, Summer of Soul and more. In addition to touring with The Smith Street Band and smashing countless residencies, The Sugarcanes have an innate ability to get even the shyest of punters hitting the dancefloor for a shimmy. You’ll feel like a lord of the night when you kick back for some sipping with a Nighthawk in hand and The Sugarcanes’ smooth, soulful track.

Ingredients 45ml Melbourne Moonshine 10ml Lemon juice 10ml Lime juice 20ml Creme de Yvette 5ml Sugar syrup 15ml Egg white 1 drop Orange bitters

Now Get Shakin’ Add all your ingredients to a cocktail shaker. No mucking around here, just whack it all in with some ice. Shake it short and hard. Fine strain into a pre-chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon thyme, which will complement those delightful citrus flavours and add a fresh finishing touch. Best enjoyed while having a boogie. thesugarcanes.com Need more shine in your life? Head on over to melbournemoonshine.com.au Enjoy responsibly.

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Photography by Kamilla Musland

Bombini Buzz Hamer Hall - Southbank Promenade, Melbourne | artscentremelbourne.com.au

By Jacob Colliver

The Yarra River exemplifies to so many the life-blood of our beloved CBD. No matter what time of day, it impresses with its power and prestige – and Bombini Buzz will be there to aid its wonder. You may be taking a stroll by the promenade at sunrise, drawing in the cool morning air with a hot coffee.

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Later in the day, you may feel like basking with a beer in their front courtyard, or relishing the distinct dazzle of the water at night with a creamy cheese platter, as the city’s lights bounce from its surface.

A venue with a modern edge, Bombini Buzz is proud to stock a huge range of the finest locallysourced produce. Opening bright and early at 7am, Carlton’s Seven Seeds micro-roasted coffee brings a smooth, full-bodied palate and no bitter edge to speak of. Coupled with one of Bombini Buzz’s flaky in-house pastries, it’s a great way to start a day of urban adventure.

No matter the temperature, Fitzroy North’s Billy van Creamy natural artisan ice cream and sorbet is guaranteed to soothe. An all-organic experience, the handmade flavours are crafted from the freshest elements.

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of exquisite craft frothies, including Brown Ales, Lagers and Pale Ales with a light bitter zest and effervescent aromatics. If you’re in good company, cheese, meat and dip platters make for a great day out. Finely-sliced cured meats from Kensington’s Savour And Grace indulge the delights of sopressa and prosciutto, coupled with pickles, relish, mustard and crusty bread.

Geelong’s L’Artisan Cheese presents genuine French textures, from creamy melts to sharp bursts, served with mixed nuts and Brasserie date and apricot loaf.

Be it a light bite between the intermission of a show at Hamer Hall, or perhaps a tasty treat during an early evening stroll, you’ll be sure to find little bits of everything this great city (and its surrounds) has to offer.

Photography by Kamilla Musland

Cabinet Bar & Balcony 11 Rainbow Alley, Melbourne | cabinetbar.com.au

It’s dim, with a sort of shabby-chic decor, and opens out onto a balcony right on top of the Swanston Street bustle – the ideal place to be at 5.30pm on a weeknight.

On a midwinter Melbourne evening, we retreated to a cosy corner inside where the staff – warm, friendly and effortlessly cool – were shaking and twirling cocktails impressively. These cocktails look like your standard, everyday mixes, but don’t be fooled. We were certainly in for an impressive surprise.

Our first cocktail was a tequila-based concoction with a hefty hit of chilli, complemented by a gorgeous citrus flavour in a generously saltrimmed glass. It didn’t look like it would pack a punch, but the staff at Cabinet had perfectly paired our drinks. Next to it, we had what could only be described as a liquefied red jelly snake.

Syrupy but fresh and blissfully sweet, it was the ideal partner for the fiery cocktail.

Cabinet is the perfect place to go before a gig or a night at the theatre, with its bar menu ideal for a light, early dinner or a late-night supper.

Their flatbread pizzas are absolutely delicious.

We had the sautéed mushroom, goat’s cheese and gremolata, which was filling and perfect for a little sharing plate, alongside any of their other tapas-style offerings like eggplant chips, a saucy little plate of meatballs and dainty fish cakes.

Once you’re inside Cabinet, the smog and crowds of the CBD seem miles away. Though it’s probably not ideal for an entire night out, it does perfectly what its Parisian predecessors do – a stop on the way to or from a show, a quick snack and a killer cocktail to really brighten up your night.

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By Matilda Edwards

An unassuming staircase next to a sushi shop is your point of entrance to Cabinet Bar & Balcony. Once you’ve found this hidden gem, you’ll enter into a thin lounge that might as well be tucked away on a Parisian back street.

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Photography by Julia Sansone

Dandenong Market Clow St, Dandenong | dandenongmarket.com.au

By Julia Sansone

The beloved Dandenong Market has helped to feed locals and travellers since 1866, making it not just a historical community but a one-stop destination for all things fresh food.

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Melbourne’s second largest market, the shopping utopia has everything from toys, clothing, secondhand books and leather goods. But the one place market-goers flock to is the precinct’s food bazaar, a community dining experience enriched with the flavours of the world, reflecting Dandenong’s multicultural heritage.

Although everything from gourmet burgers, bánh mì, dutch pancakes and börek is on offer, you’ll find the locals lining up in queues for Sri Lankan cuisine experts, PiqNiq Hut, They serve freshly made authentic dishes like kothu roti on a piping hot barbecue, tossed with chicken, vegetable and goat. Topped with a tangy coconut milk, it’s the perfect combination of heat for both a spice-lover or a beginner.

Cool your taste buds with a splash of sugarcane juice at Saccha. Bringing produce from Queensland, it gives Melburnians the chance to try a refreshing drink loaded with goodies like antioxidants and vitamins. It you want to keep it B E A T

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simple, you can crack open a fresh coconut to quench your thirst.

Order a selection of popular vegetable, pork and chicken dumplings from Sansan’s Dumpling House. Made fresh on the premises from an ancient family recipe, they burst with a flavour you won’t get at your local dumpling joint.

And of course, part of any quintessential market visit in Melbourne is saving room for a hot jam doughnut, hearty and satisfying on a cold winter’s day. Dandee Donuts are dairy and egg free, and haven’t changed a bit since the family recipe was brought to life in the 1950s. Team your baked goods with a coffee from Perfect Coffee, who specialise in everything from iced chocolates to espressos and Nutella-filled desserts.

With absolutely no frills to this cultural food experience, it’s as simple as pulling up a stool and enjoying a cuisine from around the world.

Photography by Eugene Canty

Der Partisan Bakery 87 Holmes St, Brunswick | facebook.com/DPBakery87

It’s all part of his tireless commitment to crafting the freshest food. Come the cool morning sunrise, Der Partisan Bakery is stocked to brim with warm, inviting treats.

Having done the rounds of the Melbourne sourdough bakeries over the years, Blair had an opportunity to do his own thing and took it.

Der Partisan Bakery is fast becoming a local favourite in Brunswick for its artisanal breads and baked goods, organically growing with an adoring community. From the moment the doors open and the refreshing aroma of a great morning coffee bellows onto the street, the shop comes alive with regulars and the curious alike.

There’s a comfortable, authentic design to the shop-front, with racks presenting loaves and buns straight from the oven for your pleasure. With dedication to providing the best possible flavour and texture, there are no added preservatives or cheap imitation flavours. Through painstaking experimentation and a lot of fine-tuning, the

impressive results speak for themselves. Among a robust array of handmade sourdough and specialty breads, the dark rye Schwarzbrot loaf proves a popular choice. Made from dense rye dough and slow-baked in a terracotta bowl that leaves the imprint of an amusing face in each loaf, it’s become a signature item that’s loved citywide. Variety is always welcome, however, and Der Partisan Bakery has it in spades.

The likes of huge, thick traditional Southern German-style pretzels have proven a massive hit at festivals. They lay plentiful alongside flaky chocolate croissants, sticky buns, brioches, danishes and plump escargot buns. Come lunch, you may find yourself gravitating toward a tasty handmade beef and mushroom pie with a tantalising slow-cooked filling, or the vegetarian black bean variety wrapped in a crisp pastry.

Everybody wins when you treat yourself to the atmosphere and personality of this delightful gem of a bakery.

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By Jacob Colliver

Before most of us are even contemplating hitting the hay, baker Joe Blair is having some dinner, popping on his favourite music playlist and preparing for an evening thick with mixing, moulding and baking.

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Recipe:

Sicilian Steak Sandwich Serves 6 Lucky Guests

Have This:

Do This:

• 4 tbsp, extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling • 1 onion, thinly sliced • 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced • 700g minute steak • ½ cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped • 1 ½ cups giardiniera (pickled vegetables), plus 3 tablespoons brine from the jar. You can get this from any supermarket, or better yet, make it yourself • 4 ciabatta rolls, cut in halves • 8 thick slices provolone cheese • Hot sauce (any type) • Good pinch of salt & pepper

• In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over a medium heat.

• Add onions and cook until just soft, about 3 minutes.

• Add garlic and continue to cook for another 3 minutes ensuring neither brown but soften rather. Transfer to a bowl, season with salt and pepper, and set aside.

• Using a meat mallet, lightly pound the steak between 2 sheets of glad wrap until the meat is approximately 3mm thick.

• Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the same skillet over medium heat. Add the meat in batches and cook until browned – about 30 seconds per side – and season with salt and pepper.

• Transfer the meat to the bowl with the onion and garlic.

• Add the parsley and giardiniera brine and toss to coat.

• Drizzle olive oil over the cut sides of the rolls and fill with steak and onion mixture.

• Top with the giardiniera and provolone.

• Cover with the roll tops. Serve with hot sauce.

E buon appetito!

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Photography by Hania Glapa

Hooked Fish & Chipper 172 Chapel St, Windsor | hookedfishandchipper.com.au

By Nick Mason

What do you imagine when you picture a traditional fish and chip shop? Perhaps a small business setup, with a goofy-looking cartoon shark on the front window, complete with white and blue tiles and illustrations of the seafood on offer. Well, the game has officially changed.

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Hooked moves to infuse a sense of fine-dining in your local fish and chip shop. Best of all, it brings that quality to customers without breaking the bank. Hooked has found the happy medium between battered, butchers-paper-wrapped grub and pick-the-right-wine indulgences.

Hooked also prides itself on its healthconscious menu, delivering healthy dishes that pay homage to British style fish and chips. Of course, the menu transcends your typical flake and minimum chips fare. The more you try, the more you’ll be, well, hooked. You can’t go past the Tasmanian salmon, combined with brown rice and superfood salad, consisting of quinoa, broccoli, spinach and semi dried tomatoes, topped with a drizzle of yoghurt and lemon dressing. For a bit of a spicy kick, treat your taste buds to the fish burrito – a soft tortilla enveloping a marinated-then-grilled blue grenadier – with B E A T

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Baja sauce, coleslaw, iceberg lettuce and homemade spicy salsa.

The mussels serve as a great entree, with hints of tomato, onion, white wine, chilli, parsley, garlic and extra virgin olive oil coming to the fore. And, for something a little bit different, the mushroom burger is highly recommended, featuring a crumbed field mushroom, melted tasty cheese, mixed salad leaves, smashed avocado, tomato and onion. However, Hooked play the hits too, and their gummy flake combined with chips and their Hooked salad is a winner.

Hooked stands as the modern-day fish and chippery, Sleek, stylish and edging beyond tradition without alienating people either. It’s a fine line to walk, but they’ve done it incredibly well. The fact that there’s three locations and they’re celebrating 11 years is testament to that.

Photography by Kate Shanasy

Host Dining 4 Saxon St, Brunswick | hostdining.com.au

Host Dining listens to their guests and changes with the season, working with only the finest quality ingredients available to them at that particular time with their menu rotating daily. As goes for their aesthetic, the interior is notably calming with unique finishes all over. It’s clear that the minds behind Host have a sharp eye for beauty and creations to make you awe.

If it’s a communal table experience you seek, a private space for an intimate occasion, a bar stool to casually consume or a booth to cosy down in, Host assure your experience is collectively like nothing as expected or imagined before.

Their food is beautiful, stunning and remarkably inspiring. Host use few ingredients in a number of fashions plating up thrilling creations that stay true to the natural elements.

Dishes such as raw Ikejime sea bream with radish oyster and sesame sound deceptively simple on

paper, but what is presented before you is a dish that quickly elicits astonishment. Further menu highlights include the Spanish mackerel with celeriac, horse radish, castelfranco and almond –which presents so craftily it will take even the most ruthless diner a moment to appreciate it before disassembling. Even a simple offering of sourdough arrives steaming fresh from the oven, promising nothing short of a home-made contentment.

Concise and focused, the wine list is an intelligent selection of small and exciting producers from both at home and abroad. The Bergerie de l’Hortus Rosé from France is a memorable drop.

Host Dining capture the subtly extraordinary element to dining which should be cherished and celebrated at all meal times. Host remind us that with an understanding of your guests, it’s possible to offer something truly beautiful every single meal.

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By Georgia Spanos

Down the charming Saxon Street in Brunswick lives an inventive eatery of a minimal vibe and modest menu, instantaneously greeting its guests with the awareness that something spectacular is about to unfurl. Host Dining – sliding its doors open just over a year ago – have considered all elements to a satisfactory dining experience, removing the overcomplicated and inviting simplicity in its most admirable form.

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Photography by Kate Shanasy

Little Big Sugar Salt 385 Victoria St, Abbotsford | lbsscafe.com

By James Di Fabrizio

Hiding within an unassuming shopfront exists Little Big Sugar Salt – a haven for food and coffee lovers that should be on every Melburnian’s cafe bucketlist. With an emphasis on fresh produce and healthy interpretations of classic dishes, it’s an underrated gem that’s loved by a dedicated selection of regulars for their friendly service and invigorating flavours.

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With a tranquil shade of blue lining the walls, the cafe is alive with punters enjoying a sitdown lunch or dropping in for an afternoon coffee. With an expansive menu that’ll cater for multiple tastes and settings, Little Big Sugar Salt is perfect for catching up with a crew of mates for a lazy afternoon brunch or for dashing in mid-week for a cheeky moment of reprieve from work.

With a passionate and expertly trained staff helming the kitchen, your tastebuds are in more than good hands. While some naysayers might suggest that spending your hard-earned dollarydoos on smashed avocado will see you priced out of the housing market for the rest of your days, LBSS’s goat’s cheese-topped spin on every Aussie millennial’s favourite dish is well worth a try. With lemon and chilli notes dancing B E A T

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together for a zesty, spicy surprise – it’s a tried and tested favourite for a reason.

Their acai bowl adorned with banana and coconut singlehandedly defies the expectation that something healthy can’t be absolutely delicious, while their aptly titled ‘This One’ featuring poached eggs and kimchi is a yolky sensation you’ll remember. Of course, the coffee here is more than on-point – so too is their fully fledged range of baguettes and hot sandwiches.

If you’d like to a avoid a serious case of FOMO, go with the Eggs with Friends option and let your table overflow with a selection of LBSS’s most popular dishes, plated up with sharing in mind.

Life’s too short for average cafes. If you’re in the market for a new local haunt, Little Big Sugar Salt should be the first thing you check out.

Photography by Hania Glapa

Meatmother 167 Swan St, Richmond | meatmother.com.au

Entering the venue, you’re met with a portrait of three burgers stacked on top of each other, helping set the tone for your evening. The well stocked bar boasts a variety of local and imported beers, while their specialty is their take on classic cocktails.

Heading upstairs, you find yourself in a loftstyle dining area with a minimalist aesthetic.

Giant repurposed industrial lights and makeshift chandeliers made from old cans hang above wooden slab tables, creating the feel of an old butcher shop.

Their tender brisket – a staple of American BBQ – melts in your mouth. The 12-hour smoked beef is coated in a seasoning that creeps up on you, letting you savour the smoky flavour of the meat before it settles in, adding a nice kick. For those looking for something a little tougher, the Burnt Ends are the way to go. These flavourful pieces are cut from the ends of smoked brisket, and are served diced, dripping in sauce with fried

shallots on top.

If you’re after a more tender meat, they also serve a variety of pork dishes with sticky ribs peeling right off the bone in one simple motion.

Coated in a smoky BBQ sauce that has a hidden spiciness, the flavour lingers as they go down smooth leaving you messy and wanting more.

The pulled pork with pineapple salsa is the standout on the menu, with the sweetness of the pineapple and the sauce working together to enhance the smoky flavour and rich texture of the tender meat without overpowering it. This sweet and succulent take on the classic dish is one of the tastiest interpretations you’ll find.

With a lovely staff, extensive menu and unique fit-out, it’s no wonder Meatmother has become one of the ‘go to’ destinations for meat lovers in Melbourne.

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By Chris Swan

If you’re a meat lover you need to head to Meatmother. This trendy, low-key restaurant that puts a new spin on traditional American style BBQ is a carnivore’s dream.

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The Melbourne start-up changing the world one coffee at a time:

STREAT’s Ahead We all know Melburnians love their coffee. The caffeine hit that gets us through the day sees our entire nation go through more than 5.9 billion cups of coffee annually; that’s equal to 70 percent of Australians drinking a cup a day. Luckily, social enterprise STREAT is making sustainability a priority, adding to the ever-growing list of goodness this business is spreading.

At the heart of STREAT is a mission to combat youth homelessness and disadvantage, one mouthful at a time. Simply purchasing a meal or coffee [from the collective?] can help a young person participate in the hospitality training STREAT 20

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offers, providing them with career skills and, most importantly, a sense of confidence and belonging.

“You get strong diversity in hospitality,” says Rebecca Scott, CEO and co-founder of STREAT. / /

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“For young people who have been disadvantaged and excluded for whatever reason, it’s a really good melting pot where people are accepted, no matter where they’ve come from. Another critical thing for us is that hospitality is a field that

equally young men or women or young trans people can do. Many industries are quite gendered; hospitality’s not like that.”

In addition to providing support and training for more than 800 young people since its establishment in 2009, STREAT is tackling environmental issues by finding innovative ways to deal with the waste from its cafes. Currently, there are 21 ways of doing good with the cup of coffee you purchase at STREAT, one of which is the training you give to young people.

Another is your coffee’s positive impact on the environment, thanks to STREAT’s system for dealing with used coffee grounds.

“One of our key waste products is coffee grounds,” says Scott. “We

work with another social enterprise called Reground who collect our waste coffee grounds, which become part of a composting system. Then, both the coffee grounds and the husks can be used as a substrate to grow mushrooms.

We harvest those every day and they’re taken into the kitchen. If you come and have a meal with us, one of the breakfast meals is a mushroom dish, so you’re seeing that full cycle with mushrooms that are being grown onsite from the coffee grounds. We try to keep doing goodness all the way through.”

provide to young people or the creative lengths they go to in order to reduce their waste, the STREAT team are generating a cycle of goodness with every step they take. And as far as their CEO is concerned, STREAT is just getting started.

By Jessica Over streat.com.au

STREAT plans to continue its pursuit of goodness with an expansion strategy in place to commence within the next three years. Whether it’s the invaluable support they B E A T

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Mesob 213 High St, Northcote | mesob.com.au

By Isabelle Oderberg

It seems only fitting that when Naz Mahari and Dawit Kebede met ten years ago and fell in love, that the venue was an Ethiopian restaurant in Melbourne.

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Since then, they’ve built a life together and given birth to two children – one is their two-year-old daughter and the other is their Northcote-based Ethiopian restaurant, Mesob.

On the weekends, you’ll regularly find a queue of people out the door waiting for tables. The night we visited, at least 30 people were turned away while we waited for our seats.

“This place came about because it was both of our dreams, but Dawit’s passion,” Mahari explains over the beautiful Gambian music playing just feet away at the front of the venue.

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because we thought, ‘If it fails we can go back to normal life’. I was working in social work and Dawit had his own business.”

The reason Mesob’s food is so good is that the team refuse to shirk on quality. Moreover, Kebede is a stickler for perfection.

“We went to Ethiopia for two weeks in April because we were running out of supplies,” Mahari explains. “The berbere – a spice mix used in many Ethiopian dishes – is made by Kebede’s family in Ethiopia, so we ship it in.”

The couple also make their own injera where possible, only buying in for busy periods like Friday and Saturday nights. But the injera they

Photography by Kate Shanasy & Anna Madden

purchase is made to strict standards specifically for Mesob, right down to the teff and red rice flours.

In Ethiopian food, the injera and your hands take the place of cutlery, using the slightly sour pancake to pinch up pieces of meat and sop up the stew juices. It’s a key part of the meal to get right. Naturally, all of this effort pays off. The food at Mesob is some of the best Ethiopian fare in Melbourne.

The dishes are colourful and tasty. Thankfully, they’re far from being watered down for the Western palate. The restaurant only opens for dinner, meaning the food you get is slow-cooked through the day and not yesterday’s leftovers.

Mahari’s pick of the menu include the Doro Wat; a slowcooked chicken dish enriched with a whole egg. Bright red with the berbere spices, the chicken melts away leaving a swirling mix of beautiful spiced flavour on your tongue. Her other highlight is the Shiro stew, which is made from organic Ethiopian chickpeas that are roasted, ground down into a flour, and then turned into a stew There are lots of vegetarian options on offer, including beetroot, cabbage and potato dahl-like stews. The

colours stand out beautifully on the injera and each dish has its own texture and flavour, which is a good indicator of outstanding Ethiopian fare.

Mahari and Kebede eyed Northcote to open the restaurant because of their love for the area, and their affection is clear for all to see. But what Mahari didn’t expect was Ethiopian families travelling from suburbs as far away as Footscray for takeout, making their way past 15 similar restaurants to try their authentic cuisine.

The other highlight of the restaurant is the live music. It started with traditional Ethiopian music and Ethiopian jazz – which is still on the bill – while expanding to include a more pan-African offering.

And now the baby second dearest to Mahari and Kebede’s heart is growing up. The dynamic duo have taken over the premises next door and there are some big plans on the cards.

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Photography by Tegan Louise Ringin

Mile End Bagels 14 Johnston St, Fitzroy | mile-end.com.au

By Tegan Louise Ringin

Simplicity is key at the humble Mile End – a low-key bagel joint that’s doing things their way at the far end of Johnston Street. The atmosphere is warm, the space is unassuming, and there is nothing to distract you from the complete perfection of their bagel sandwiches.

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The open kitchen welcomes early risers to witness the bagel baking just in time for their morning rush, with the smell of warm bread a comforting scent during the depths of a dreary Melbourne winter. Menu stand-outs would be the Number 12; loaded with brisket pastrami, pickles, a generous schemer of cream cheese and a dash of hot mustard that ties it all together with an incredible finish. Number 4 is also a popular choice, featuring smoked salmon, creme cheese infused with dill and caper, and a fresh salad garnish.

As we all know, it’s essentially sacrilege to enjoy a bagel without a certain caffeinated friend. That’s right, where would bagels be without their jittery cousin coffee? The two go together like creme cheese and rye. Their signature filter blend made with local Wood & Co. beans is rich, full bodied and the perfect complement to your meal.

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The founders, Ben Vaughan and Michael Fee, traveled far and wide to learn the art of the majestic bagel, approaching their craft with a wealth of experience and the upmost respect for their dough. The bagels are boiled in honey water before being baked in one of Australia’s finest wood-fired bagel ovens. There are five styles of bagel to choose from: classic sesame, rye, poppy seed, the Everything Bagel – with poppy, sesame, garlic and onion – and the classic cinnamon and raisin that’s best enjoyed eaten warm.

Mile End Bagels is a space to enjoy the simpler things in life. Like a freshly toasted bagel, a cup of locally brewed coffee and friend to nosh with – there’s no need to complicate perfection.

Photography by Kate Shanasy

Mukka 365 Brunswick St, Fitzroy | mukka.com.au

From a modest Vic Market food stall to a cultural pillar of Fitzroy, Indian hot spot Mukka has undergone a rapid transformation since its genesis at the beginning of 2016. most aromatic items on the menu.

Mukka also dishes up a logically concise number of dinner options. The bhel puri, gobi 65 and slow cooked goat curry are the ones to look out for.

The drinks list begs to be explored, as Mukka’s cocktail menu is just as fantastic. The bloody maharani is the perfect beverage to compliment your lunch while the maharaja whisky sour is a product of the restaurant’s bravery – delving deep into the Himalayas to exhume the Amrut single malt delicacy.

By Tom Parker

Though initially their focus was primarily North Indian – traditional biriyanis, curries and street food which never missed the mark – success has paved the way for exploration, with the appointment of a new chef from Southern India helping diversify what’s on offer, including the addition of a lunch menu.

The lunch menu is currently focused on thali – a platter comprised of several smaller dishes of breads, daals and curries. Aside from the thali, the lunch menu sports four dosa selections with four plate options and three biryanis. From the classic dosa to the chicken and smoky eggplant alternatives, immersing yourself in this flavoursome street resident will take you all the way to the thoroughfares of South India.

The banana leaf fish fry is a standout of the lunch menu. The desiccated coconut appending the marinated fish is a perfect combination, while the vegetable biriyani’s soya wadi is laced with delightful Indian spices making for one of the

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Recipe:

Spaghetti & Meatballs Serves 6 Lucky Guests

Have This For The Sugo:

Have This For The Balls:

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• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

100ml extra-virgin olive oil 1 white onion, finely chopped 1 garlic clove, peeled and halved ½ tbsp salt ¼ tbsp pepper A good pinch of chilli flakes 2 x 400g cans of pomodoro pelati (peeled tomatoes) • 700ml jar of passata • Heavy handful of roughly chopped parsley • 8 large basil leaves, ripped a few times over

Do this:

Do this:

• Heat half the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat until hot.

• Add garlic, onion, salt, pepper and chilli then cook for about 15 minutes.

• Add cans of pomodoro pleati, passata and the rest of the oil to the saucepan and bring to a delicate simmer.

• Leave simmering for one hour, adding parsley and basil at 30 minutes and stirring from time to time.

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1kg organic minced beef 500g sugo from previous recipe 2 large eggs ½ cup breadcrumbs 6 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil ¼ cup finely chopped fresh parsley 3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped 2 tsp salt 1 tsp ground black pepper 2 slices of bread ½ cup of milk Additional: 2 packets of spaghetti Additional Parmesan, chilli flakes and olive oil for serving

• Combine eggs, breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper in large bowl using a fork.

• Add beef then using your hands work together the mixture for approximately 5 minutes or until the mixture is well combined.

• In a separate bowl, soak 2 slices of bread in milk for around 5 minutes.

• Remove bread from bowl squeezing the excess milk from the bread and rip the slices four times over.

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• Add to meatball mixture and continue to use your hands to work the mixture together until combined.

• Form mixture into 1 1/2-inch diameter meatballs.

• Add enough oil to coat the bottom of a large skillet and heat over mediumlow heat.

• Working in batches, add meatballs and fry lightly for 2 minutes rotating the balls to ensure all surfaces have been cooked.

• Add sugo to the pan – this creates a luscious meaty flavour to the sugo – and cook for approximately 20 minutes.

• Fill a separate medium-sized saucepan three quarters full of salted water and bring to the boil.

Add spaghetti and cook until aldente (approx 10 minutes).

• Use tongs to transfer pasta straight from water to serving bowls.

• Add generous scoops of sugo along with meatballs in their sauce on top of the pasta.

• Top with Parmesan cheese, chilli flakes and a drizzle of olive oil.

E buon appetito!

Illustration: Daria Thies

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Photography by Hania Glapa

The Nelson 2/56 Acland St, St Kilda | thenelsonstkilda.com.au

By Tom Parker

You’d be hard pressed to find a restaurant along Acland Street’s bountiful stretch more committed to their history than The Nelson. Having been a St Kilda resident since birth, owner Sahara Noble has an uncanny intellect of the currents – what to do when people are shy at winter’s head and how to capitalise on the thunderous summer rush.

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Chef Luke McIldowney tracks his historical expertise from a different stimulus – Lord Admiral Nelson and the chronicle of rum – both of which encapsulate the personality of this bar and restaurant. Dining at The Nelson plunges you into the jungles of Central America and the Caribbean, with the menu’s rum inspiration united with its molasses counterpart.

The Nelson’s chicken schnitzel is embellished with a pungent apple and cabbage slaw, flooding Guatemalan imaginations into your consciousness. Their coconut fried chicken is one of their most popular dishes and it’s not hard to see why – crunchy fillets lathering your palate with sensation, enriching your desire for the main adventure.

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has you sorted for six evenings of exploration.

Tuesdays are the restaurant’s most popular – a steak night, the stellar option at the peak of winter. On Wednesday, it’s curry night, while Thursday sees the delectable chicken schnitzel on offer alongside a pot of beer, house red or white. Friday offers two-for-one Perfect Storm cocktails – one of Italian bartender Luka’s most distinguished beverages.

As The Nelson fires up for its fourth summer on Acland Street, chef McIldowney’s ingenuity is poised to rupture some tightly fused seashells as he careers towards the restaurant’s most diverse menu yet.

Photography by Kate Shanasy

Rice Paper Sister 15 Hardware Ln, Melbourne | ricepapersister.com.au

It’s been less than a month since their latest venture Rice Paper Sister opened its doors to the world. It’s a refined experience, but it retains the same fire and ardour of its predecessors – all about that simple tapas charm of picking up food and sharing with friends. You can still use your hands. After all, it’s how fun food is meant to be eaten.

The collision of Asian tradition with modern Australian style creates some truly unique and delicious moments. If you’re after a light snack, consider the black sesame wafer topped with fresh swimmer crab, crab roe mayonnaise and black caviar.

A classic Northern Thai tartare adds a special zing when made with the rich delight of kangaroo, chilli, fresh herbs, roasted rice and burnt eggplant dressing. There’s sashimi with sustainable

hiramasa kingfish, drizzled with white soy, fermented rice vinegar and yuzu for a truly tender taste – and a Balinese “babi guling” suckling pig roast comes complete with “lawar” young jackfruit salad and flaky roti.

If you’re after a cocktail, you’ll experience the same fusion of old ways and new journeys. You can’t go past a rejuvenating cucumber margarita, or a lemongrass Tom Collins. The Chiang Mai Bloody Mary offers vodka, lemon, spicy Chiang Mai relish, togorashi salt and tomato. Malay Medicine thrills with house-mande galangal beer, mixed in amontillado sherry and a px sherry float, and fans of a real kick can’t beat El Chaperol with the hit of chilli-infused aperol, passionfruit and lemongrass-infused gin. It may be young, but Rice Paper Sister is already carving a dynamic new path with its fresh, emerging personality.

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By Jacob Colliver

To say Rahmie Clowes and Shane Stafford share a passion for cuisine would be an understatement. Best friends since four years old, they grew up through primary and high school together in beach-side Sydney, and realised their dream of putting their own twist on the South-East Asian culinary scene when they opened Rice Paper Scissors back in 2013.

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Photography by Kate Shanasy

San Telmo 14 Meyers Pl, Melbourne | santelmo.com.au

By Jacob Colliver

A land of bountiful culture, rich history and fine cuisine, the food of Argentina is all about family focusing comforting dishes that share well and taste great. It’s this unique feel that San Telmo has come to exemplify, and it’s easy to see how once you step foot into their world.

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Eating at San Telmo is all about the experience, the process and product, with the centrepiece being the parrilla – a traditional Argentinian charcoal grill. Imported from Argentina by San Telmo’s owners, the impressive beast houses super-hot 2000 degree charcoal embers shoveled underneath the bottom plate.

There are a plethora of options, and you’re encouraged to combine them all. You’ll be tempted by sliced chorizo sausage, house made with pork and beef. The fresh zest of the ceviche – containing a soft, lemon-cured swordfish with chilli, sweet potato and onion – will captivate and tantalise the tastebuds.

The grill, however is the cornerstone of San Telmo. ojo de bife will sing out to you. A 500g platter of succulent rib eye; the premium dry-aged pasture-fed beef direct from South Gippsland, is an experience unto itself.

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For dessert, you cannot beat the flan, with dulce de leche creme caramel and a salted peanut praline. Boasting a catalogue of 80 to 100 varieties of wine, San Telmo sources its rare collection directly from Mendoza itself – the most important wine region in Argentina, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the country’s entire wine production. You won’t find these just anywhere, either - San Telmo proudly holds an exclusive selection of imports, being the only restaurant supplying them nationwide.

Some venues promise a unique flair; San Telmo genuinely delivers.

Photography by Kate Shanasy

Serotonin Eatery 52 Madden Grove, Burnley | serotonindealer.com

Serotonin Eatery – whose name captures the essence of pure happiness – offers a retreat-like experience where guests can enjoy a meal on their choice of cushion, tatami booth, a swing – or to my delight – by settling down on a patch of grass across the road.

Serotonin are committed to ensuring you’re at your truest self while in their company, serving up a plant-based diet in their mindful home. A sanctuary in every sense, a wave of calm greets its guests, particularly when founder Emily says hello, gracing the coffee machine with placidity and composure. Even their lattes boast high serotonin levels, garnished with infectious smiling faces. It’s impossible not to smile back.

Then there’s the food. Their distinctly beautiful dishes marry exquisite flavours with the highest health properties. For example, their positive pancakes – which are banana pancakes made from dehydrating organic bananas that are then ground into banana flour and served with

house made banana ice cream, fruit and nuts.

Or, their Pandan crepe inspired by Serotonin’s Thai chef Vicky, being a freshly juiced panda leaf crepe filled with banana and sticky rice before being topped with berries, yogurt and bee pollen. There’s also the smiling smashed avo, composed of a generous stack of avocado with smashed peas and mint, feta (or almond feta for a vegan option) and served on house-made beetroot relish and house-made loaf.

Home-made flavours are a prominent theme throughout the menu, as everything is created in-house, with each dish promoting produce in its purest state. Whether it’s to enjoy a smile from your latte each morning, feasting while feeling optimal health, or simply finding a place to enjoy a peaceful afternoon – Serotonin is sure to bring you where you need to be.

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By Georgia Spanos

Across the way from the Burnley line lives a humble, happy place where friendliness, health, and holistic nourishment are found by those seeking an honest, positive life.

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Plastic Ain’t Fantastic How to Help Save the Ocean in 7 Easy Steps

By Siena Caterina Ramsay

Take a second to think about what you’re doing right now. Are you typing on a keyboard?

Maybe writing with a pen? Perhaps you just touched off with your Myki or just opened a packet of chips or gum? Whatever it is, you’ve almost certainly interacted with plastic in the last 10 minutes without even realising it. And who could blame you? Plastic is so deeply interwoven in our daily lives it’s no wonder it remains unnoticed. Sure, it’s cheap, indestructible, durable and light. But if only it were degradable too.

Did you know that every piece of plastic produced still exists to this day? Humans produce 300 million tonnes of plastic per year and sadly, it takes 400 years to degrade.

You don’t have to be well-versed in mathematics to realise something doesn’t quite add up or, rather, adds up far too much. Although we do try to dispose of plastic, some inevitably passes through gutters, drains and rivers, with its final destination our beloved sea. Once plastic is in the ocean, it begins to break down into tiny pieces less than 5 millimetres long, called micro-plastics. But don’t be fooled by their size, micro-plastics are inversely proportionate to their propensity for damage.

Our ocean is a delicate ecosystem and supports the life of

Illustration: Cassie Stevens

corals, plants, fish and mammals. It’s also a food source to most parts of the world. Recklessness aside, the silver lining is that we can change how much plastic we use and how many times we use it.

If we continue our current habits, we’re predicted to have more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans by 2050.

We’ve all seen those horrible images of marine animals entangled in our waste, but did you know one third of all animals have been entangled in this way too? Or that marine animals, including birds, are starting to ingest micro-plastics, with the result that they can no longer break down their food, resulting in premature deaths?

With the global production of plastic exponentially rising, it’s time we all became a little more mindful of our waste. Here are seven easy steps on how to do so: • Recycle and reuse whenever you can. Plastic bags have an average lifespan of 15 minutes. It’s time to ban the bag.

• Addicted to coffee? Buy a reusable mug that you can use each day to avoid going through dozens of coffee cups.

• It takes six times more water to produce plastic water bottles and it’s a hundred times more expensive than tap water. Buy a water bottle, or better yet, buy one that doubles as a thermos so you can carry around hot beverages too.

• Ordering takeaway? Insist on an alternative to plastic, there’s no harm in asking.

• Look into cling wrap alternatives, like paper bags and beeswax covers.

• Spread the word among your family, coworkers and friends.

• You may have missed #plasticfreejuly but it’s not too late for a plastic-free month.

Photography by Jem King

Sonny’s at John Curtin Hotel 29 Lygon St, Carlton | johncurtinhotel.com

By Jem King

An icon of Melbourne’s bustling music scene, The John Curtin Hotel has been rustling some feathers since Sonny’s Fried Chicken and Burgers recently emerged from its kitchen.

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A neon Sonny’s sign above an American-style diner has taken over a cosy nook of the beloved Curtin.

Booths and tables are dimly lit with an open, homely feel to satisfy the masses with their pre and posthangover needs. Band posters line the walls on one side to remind you of the ace local talent playing upstairs, while music trickles in from the front bar amidst friendly staff.

Perfect for getting together with a large group of mates, sharing options are plentiful without being overwhelming. As the name suggests, Sonny’s specialises in kick-arse fried chicken, with options of white meat by the breast, dark meat by the thigh, half a bird or the whole lot. Whatever part of the chook you choose, this chicken is the real deal. The bird’s been cooked in a 24-hour brine, and is pressurefried to perfection. As a solid accompaniment to any fried chicken dish, try one of the many salads to balance things out. Special mentions go to the luscious Memphis slaw and classic potato salad with a dill twist. House-made comeback sauce, BBQ B E A T

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sauce, ranch sauce and hot sauces are also rather addictive.

Burgers are the other main menu item, with a crispy and juicy chicken burger leaving mouths watering.

Or if beef is what you’re after, try a cheeseburger with a hearty beef patty or three, topped off with American cheese, pickles, onion and bacon.

Vegans and vegetarians can also accompany their chicken-loving friends for a feed. A modern take on the classic veggie burger boasts a handmade patty with pickled veggies and an array of sides at your disposal. Think crispy deep fried pickles, loaded fries or creamy mac and cheese, to name a few.

Wash any of these options down with one of the many beers on offer from the front bar, or a dessert pie from their specials board, and your weekend will be off to a flying start.

Sonny’s Fried Chicken and Burgers stick to what they do best and nail it at an affordable price.

Photography by Jem King

Tacocat 118 High St, Windsor | tacocat.melbourne

The dining area is cosy, yet large enough to still give patrons space. An impressive mural sprawls across white brick adjacent to the bar, featuring an intricate Day of the Dead-inspired artwork. You’ll feel like you’re sitting in a upscale cantina, tied together with warm communal dining settings.

Nobody makes great decisions when they’re thirsty, so let’s talk drinks. Tacocat serves Jarittos by the bottle, and virgin margaritas garnished with black salt if you’re feeling spicy. It’s impossible not to mention the deep fried tequila shot, served with lemon sorbet. Fried bread cubes are heaped into a delicate shot glass, each laced with a hint of tequila in a soft centre. It’ll make your mouth feel sweet and warm when you toss these little treasures on your tongue.

As soon as you’ve got a beverage in hand, get your paws on the menu and head to the taco section.

Tacocat serves each and every one upon a rustic, freshly grilled base. Menu highlights include the delectable pork carnitas with a crisp biscuit of

crackling, topped with guacamole and salsa verde.

Far from a traditional Mexican experience, Tacocat explores flavours from across the globe for Melbourne’s multicultural palate – bridging the gap between the old world and new.

Case in point, Japanese fried chicken is served on an apple and cabbage slaw with black sesame seeds, seaweed, crunchy chicken bites and Kewpie mayo before being ensconced with a kick of chilli.

Tacocat’s interpretation of pho comes complete with a shot-sized broth, tender beef slices, spring onion, hot sauce, and a fried noodle crunch that brings a memorable sensation to your experience.

Contrasting worlds of flavour and texture collide as you sip on the rich broth in between bites.

Tacocat doesn’t play by the rules. They make their own and bring them to life through a myriad of exciting taco varieties that’ll take you around the world in countless tasty bites.

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By Jem King

Tacocat is a Mexican eatery on a mission – to take you around the world with tacos. A culmination of the owners’ love of food and travel, the results speak for themselves across a number of convention-defying tacos.

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Free to Feed:

Eggplant & Chickpea Curry Free to Feed is a Thornbury-based social enterprise enabling conversation, learning and exchange of food cultures over the common ground that is a feasting table. Through their mobile cooking classes, Free to Feed provides refugees with mentoring and training, a wage, transitions to other meaningful employment, and crucially, the opportunity to form genuine connections with new communities. Free to Feed host regular dinners, brunches, cooking classes and cultural events within their little kitchen in Thornbury.

Charu is a former chef and restaurateur from Colombo, Sri Lanka and is currently seeking asylum in Australia. She is a loving mother who is passionate about cooking and family feasts. Charu prepares authentic, heart (and belly) warming dishes, just like this eggplant and chickpea curry.

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is extremely popular in Charu’s family and often served at large gatherings.

The eggplants are deep fried until wonderfully golden then added to the curry late in the cook, allowing them to hold their shape nicely.

This is a well-balanced curry with distinctive sweet, sour and spicy notes thanks to the tamarind juice, sugar and chilli. / /

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“I love cooking because I love to eat and I am excited to share my traditional Tamil food from Sri Lanka with the Australian people. You will love this curry and you will know it is a good idea to come to learn in my class how to cook my food.”

- Charu

Have This:

Do This:

• • • • • • •

Remove the top of the eggplant, discarding the stalk. Half each eggplant down the middle widthways, then slice into 2cm slices. Now cut into 1cm matchsticks.

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500g eggplant Vegetable oil, for deep frying 2 tbsp coconut oil 1/2 tsp black mustard seeds 1/2 tsp fennel seeds 5-6 curry leaves 1 brown onion, peeled, halved and finely chopped 1 green chilli, finely sliced 1 tomato, roughly chopped 2 tbsp ground turmeric 1 tbsp red chilli powder 50ml tamarind juice 1 tbsp ground coriander 2 cloves garlic, roughly crushed 400g canned chickpeas, drained 200ml coconut milk 1 tbsp white sugar, or as needed Large handful of coriander, leaves and stalks, roughly chopped

Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot to 180C and fry the eggplant in batches until golden brown, around 10 minutes, turning them over halfway.

Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on absorbent paper. Repeat with remaining eggplant until all used up.

Meanwhile, heat the coconut oil in a large pan over a medium heat.

Add in the mustard seeds, fennel seeds, curry leaves and onion.

Fry until golden brown, around 3 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid the spices and onion burning.

When golden, tumble in the green chilli and tomatoes and stir to coat. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally or until tomatoes have collapsed.

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Now add the turmeric, chilli powder, tamarind juice and ground coriander and stir well.

Add the garlic then pour over 200ml of water and stir. Allow to rapidly simmer for 2-3 minutes until fragrant and thick.

Add in the chickpeas, the coconut milk and sugar, along with the eggplant that you fried earlier.

Stir everything and check for seasoning, adding extra coconut milk or sugar if too spicy of sour. Simmer for a further 5 minutes then transfer to a serving dish.

Top with the fresh coriander and serve. freetomelbourne.org

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Photography by Eugene Canty

Tahini 518 Little Burke St, Melbourne | tahinilebanesediner.com.au

By Jacob Colliver

Melbourne’s worst kept secrets are the delights hidden within its labyrinthian laneways – those sweet secluded pockets known for housing delicious slices of the global culinary scene.

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Tahini is a prime example if ever one existed – conveniently located in the heart of the city. In a true tribute to Lebanese culture, everyone is encouraged to eat together at large communal tables, although there are individual tables available to those who prefer them.

Inside, you’ll witness the theatrics of the open kitchen, where you can watch as your meal is prepared in a blur of movement and colour.

After opening in March last year the popularity and success of the venue will see another Tahini opening soon on Collins St at Collins Square with a focus on a delectable range of street food to go.

The massive range of grills, salads, dips and other items can be combined to share with any number of people. The level of dedication to providing a genuine Lebanese experience is exemplified in the falafel, accompanied by house-made tahini sauce, which took several months of experimentation to expertly perfect its secret flavour.

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Two of the favourites at Tahini are the souffra – a selection of small dishes both hot and cold that together form a massive feast, and the tablieh – your choice of a toasted wrap with side helpings of salad, pickles, dip and fries.

Get in early at 9am to enjoy a Lebanese breakfast tablieh, complete with smashed eggs, labneh (Lebanese yoghurt), ful (a Lebanese bean dish), sahen khodra (a refreshing salad consisting of lettuce, cucumber, tomato, olives, mint, radish and pickles), halloumi, bread and olives. When it comes to dessert, you can rejoice in the tasty treat of baklava French toast, topped with fresh vanilla ice cream and grenadine syrup. On top of this there’s also cocktails and an extensive wine list, constantly rotating with sulphur-free Lebanese, French and Victorian-made offerings.

There’s always something new to try, and plenty of old favourites to keep you coming back.

Photography by Nic Allchin

The Tramway Hotel 165 Rae St, Fitzroy North | tramwayhotel.com.au

I’m sure we’re all familiar with a restaurant or cafe that’s overly preoccupied with image; a forced sense of style that can take away from the overall vibe of the place. The Tramway Hotel, on the other hand, is somewhere that comes off as entirely free of pretension. There’s a cosiness to the place that doesn’t feel expertly managed, a certain coolness that comes naturally. made available as vegetarian and vegan options, with the alternatives just as appetising as the originals.

The menu’s primary focus is complemented with a variety of side. There’s your classic bowl of fries, mac and cheese (chipotle or original), onion rings and a particularly moreish poutine that stands to conquer patrons before their main course should they lack self-control.

By Nick Mason

Their focus is independent beers, burgers and music. That much is apparent from the menu and the specials board, with the burgers named in honour of ‘Melbourne Bands Who Rule’.

For instance, you can wrap your laughing gear around the Batpiss Burger – a prospect much more delicious than it sounds. Appropriately, though, it’s potent stuff, with a choice of beef or mushroom patty, blue cheese butter, onion rings, BBQ sauce, rocket and chipotle pickles. There’s also the Whipper, which resembles an Americaninspired super-sized cheeseburger.

A word on the burgers too – they’re massive.

You get plenty of bang for your buck from The Tramway Hotel’s kitchen, as well as a rigorous jaw-focused workout trying to negotiate the best way to devour their miniature mountains. In a recent initiative, all of the hotel’s burgers were

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Photography by Kate Shanasy

Trotters Bistro 398-400 Lygon St, Carlton | trotters.com.au

By Georgia Spanos

Greeting the very beginning of the Lygon Street excitement keep lives Trotter Bistro, a classic Italian eatery emanating warmth, cosiness and just how beautiful simplicity can be – and taste.

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Dating back nearly 30 years, Trotter classifies as a Carlton institution where not much has changed except the world around them. The space is quick to elicit comfort from a combination of details, such as the wooden interior, haphazardly shaped tables and particularly, the comfort of the many others around. It all culminates in feeling as if you’re part of Trotters’ big Italian famiglia.

The food is best described as those dishes Nonna makes, which seem to always cradle you into a coma of well-fed contentment. Trotters offer simple beauty for lunch like butternut pumpkin gnocchi, eggplant parmigiana, mushroom or mussel risotto and house made ravioli. Such dishes will undeniably slow down your day, and hey, why not let it? An afternoon lengthily lunching while soaking the sugo from your gnocchi is a dreamy scene that no one could reject. Then there’s Trotters’ dinner menu, exemplifying the richer side of Italian cuisine.

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creation, beetroot risotto with roasted chestnuts and cauliflower penne are just a few of the dishes offered for an indulgent night indoors.

Although, to my utter fulfillment, Trotters doesn’t just run as a lunch and dinner house as expected.

They offer all day breakfast too. You can order corn and sweet potato fritters at any old hour, or a smoked salmon and kipfler potato hash to fulfil your after-hours yearnings. Lunch, dinner or all-day breakfast, their star dish of all would have to be the lemon and ricotta pancakes – a classic pancake dish with a touch of Italy paired with the classic class of Lygon.

Trotters is one of those few places you can wander into at any hour, at any tummy-grumble, assured to feel well-looked after, well-entertained and last of all, well-fed.

Photography by Amy Weavell

Wings of Glory 288 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne | wingsofglory.com.au

A wise man once asked, “What’s wrong with taking the backstreets?” What indeed, when you can discover the hotspot of deliciousness that is Wings of Glory.

Bringing many twists on classic American-style buffalo wings, you’ll be coming back for more with each visit different from the last.

BBQ. The boneless lemony pepper wings serve as a simple yet effective example of how Wings of Glory has its specialty down to a moreish, mouth-watering science.

As you might have guessed, Wings of Glory is a perfect catering option, the restaurant offering 30-piece, 40-piece and 50-piece platters, each with a range of flavours and dips. It has afterwork gathering written all over it. Clearly there’s something about Wings of Glory that’s worth talking up, so it’s best you check it out for yourself ASAP.

By Nick Mason

As far as city dining goes, it’s a modest affair.

The outdoor decor, complete with synthetic turf, ensures a refreshing disconnect from the hustle and bustle of Melbourne’s concrete jungle. The venue has an evolved pop-up feel about it, as if a Wings of Glory food truck was plucked from a festival and deposited right into the heart of the CBD. There is, of course, that emphasis on fingerfood, given the restaurant’s titular expertise.

In this case, anybody who foregoes a knife and fork will reap the rewards. There are options aplenty to help you construct the perfect combo. Firstly, it’s a matter of picking between the Original Glory Wings, boneless wings and – as crazy as this will sound – vegetarian wings.

Then things get interesting, with flavour coming into play. You’ve got your choice of Chilli FlaMango, Bees Knees Honey, and Smokin’ Gun

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SO.Crates do Soul Plates The Melbourne hip hop duo offer a masterclass in soul food alongside a curated playlist to cook to.

Cazeaux O.S.L.O.’s T.T. and the Cult Funk Cornbread For me, food has got to be soulful. That means handmade with love to promote life and togetherness. Growing up in an African American household with Creole roots, I learned many things about food. It was central to us. Sadly, many of our signature soul food dishes can lead to health problems down the line. So now when I cook, I do it consciously, keeping all the love and soul by respecting the bodies I’m feeding.

Have This:

Do This:

Playlist:

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• Pre-Heat oven to 204°c. Grease an 8 or 9-inch baking pan • In a bowl use a wire whisk and mix the egg, sugar, honey, oil and butter • In a separate small bowl mix milk and baking soda • Combine the milk and egg mixtures • Mix the rest of the dry ingredients in a separate bowl • Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well • Pour batter into prepared baking pan (spread jalapeño peppers evenly over the top if you feel like some kick) • Bake for 30 min or until golden brown on top and center is cooked through. Use a toothpick to test.

• Allow to cool for 10 minutes and break bread with your folks

McCoy Tyner Beyond The Sun

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1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup corn meal (polenta) 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda ¼ tsp sea salt (or you can try that Himalayan pink business) ½ cup unsalted butter, melted, slightly cooled 2 tablespoons raw Manuka honey 1 large egg (cage-free my mellow) 1 cup whole milk ¼ cup raw sugar ¼ cup rice bran oil

• Optional addition: 1-2 chopped jalapeño peppers

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Yesterday’s New Quintet Sunrays Mac DeMarco On the Level John Coltrane Quartet Lonnie’s Lament SO. Crates (Divide) ft. Allysha Joy

Skome’s Trinidadian Callalloo I wanted to share my grandma’s recipe for gulasch but Cazeaux got in early with the cornbread so I’m going for something that will match up with that to create a proper meal. This goes nice with Cazeaux’s cornbread, or have it with rice and some fried plantain on the side.

This is an adaptation of a recipe for Trinidadian callalloo. It’s usually made with amaranth leaves (aka callalloo) which are hard to get here but you can use pretty much any leafy green – apart from English spinach which is too bitter. I use choy sum because it’s cheap and cooks down nicely.

This dish is also often made with crab but I’ve swapped that out for saltfish.

Partly to tie in with our song Saltfish and Sinnerman, partly because I love saltfish, and partly because crabs are a hassle to deal with.

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1 onion 8 cloves of garlic 3-4 red chillies A half-thumb sized piece of ginger chopped up 5-7 sprigs of fresh thyme 3 sprigs of shado beni (AKA ngo gai, available from most Vietnamese grocers) A hand sized piece of salted cod 4 bunches of choy sum (or equivalent amount of your choice of leafy green) chopped up small 2 diced tomatoes A large handful of fresh okra cut into fingernail-ish sized pieces 1 can of coconut milk 1 tbsp of coconut oil for frying 2 tsp of black pepper

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• If you have it together enough to prep the day before, soak the saltfish over night. You need to draw out some of the salt and plump it up a bit.

• If not, bring a pot of water to the boil, throw in the fish, turn the heat down and let it simmer for about 20 minutes, change the water and do it again.

• Rinse the fish off in cold water, debone and shred it up with your hands into fingernail-sized pieces.

• Fry the onion, garlic, chilli, shado beni, thyme and 3/4 of the ginger in coconut oil till the onions are soft.

• Add the fish and stir it all up so everything gets touched.

• Add the choy sum and okra then pour in the coconut milk and a cup of water. Bring the liquid to a light boil then turn the heat down, put a lid on the pot and let it simmer for about 20 minutes.

• Add the tomatoes, remaining ginger and black pepper, stir it up, put the lid on and cook for 10-15 minutes.

• You want the leaves of the choy sum to mush up and the stems to be soft while still keeping together.

The okra should be soft and gooey.

There should have been enough salt from the fish, but taste it at this point and add salt and or extra pepper if need be.

Royal Daintes Herbalist

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SO.Crates Saltfish and Sinnerman ft. Mike Thesis Sensible J Fire Sign feat. Remi and Sampa the Great Nasty Mars Liona Skomesese Alive Remix ft. Cazeaux O.S.L.O and Baro

Catch SO.Crates at The Evelyn Hotel on Saturday July 29 when Foreign Brothers and PBS 106.7FM present Momentum: Chapter 5.

Photos by Gianna Rizzo (left) & Duncographic (above)

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Start Your Day Right With

Melbourne’s Best Coffee & Croissants The French have bestowed some pretty great food trends on us, and starting your day with a buttery pastry and a latte pretty much tops the list. Even if you spent half your morning shivering at the tram stop or wishing you were still in bed, it’s undeniable that a Parisianinspired breakfast will add a little romance to your morning. Here’s some of the best croissant and coffee venues you’ll find in Melbourne. Bon Appétit!

Tivoli Road Bakery

flavours for you to sample in exclusive dining experiences. Try their ham and cheese croissant with shaved ham, Swiss Gruyere and seeded mustard with a long black. The perfect way to kick-start your day.

Not only is Tivoli Road Bakery’s interior worth drooling over, their croissants are the real deal. Using only organic flour, the bakery crew pride themselves on their freshly baked pastries. Grab one of their classic croissants, best served warm with butter, jam and a cup of Small Batch Roasters coffee on the side.

119 Rose Street, Fitzroy

Rustica Sourdough

Rustica believe in locally sourced ingredients, ensuring their products benefit farmers and contribute to the community. Knowing your money is contributing to sustainable produce is satisfying in itself, but starting your morning with a freshly baked Rustica croissant and a cup of Rumble Coffee definitely helps.

3 Tivoli Road, South Yarra

Der Partisan

Baked fresh every morning using unbleached flours and hand crafted to light and flaky perfection, Der Partisan definitely know their way around a good croissant. Don’t forget to try their delicious Wild Timor coffee.

Plus, you’ll receive a discount if you bring your own reusable cup or mug.

402 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy

Gontran Cherrier

87 Holmes Street, Brunswick

Gontran Cherrier’s breakfast menu contains eight croissant options.

They’ve got all the classic flavours and offer the choice to slather them in their homemade jam, which is a complete no-brainer if you ask us. Pair your morning pastry with a café au lait and say bonjour to a happy tummy.

Lune Croissants

Lune Croissants is a bakery born with the sole purpose of crafting perfect croissants. They are perfectionists and it shows, taking things to the next level with their Lune Lab which concocts new sweet and savoury 44

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Woodfrog Bakery

Woodfrog Bakery was born when a team of baking experts got their hands on a vacant ex-furniture store.

They’ve since expanded to several other venues across Melbourne, though their original store holds a special sense of magic. Or maybe it’s just their almond croissants and frothy coffees that are spellbinding.

Either way, anyone will tell you it’s worth a trip to Woodfrog Bakery.

108 Barkly Street, St Kilda

Loafer Bread

Using only ethically sourced ingredients alongside free-range milk, eggs and meat in all of their products, Loafer Bread ensure their pastries are as high quality and guilt free as possible. Their croissants are buttery bites of heaven that melt in your mouth and only improve when washed down with a cup of joe.

146 Scotchmer Street, Fitzroy North

By Kate Streader

Tunes & ‘Tails Dreamer by Sugar Teeth & The Sweet Berry-T Cocktail

Even the darkest of souls will find a little solace in this heart-warming and sugary delight – the Sweet Berry-T. It even includes blueberries which are not only delicious, but chock full of antioxidants to help you combat the snotty season. You know, for your health. And we’re all about that.

A sweet cocktail needs some sweet tunes and Sugar Teeth are one of the sweetest outfits kicking around Melbourne. Their track Dreamer is an absolute gem. The trio take their influence from retro, ‘70s-style rock, injecting it with a ferocious and modern indie rock feel. Sugar Teeth are most definitely a bunch of straight-up darlings, but they still pack a formidable punch. Equal parts sassy and sweet, we reckon they’re tipped to do big things this year.

Ingredients 50ml Sweet Tea Moonshine 20ml fresh lemon juice 10ml crem de mure or other dark berry liqueur 10 fresh blueberries

Now Get Shakin’ Muddle the blueberries in the bottom of a rocks glass.

Add other ingredients and stir over crushed ice.

Garnish with more berries and a wheel of lemon. sugarteethband.bandcamp.com Need more shine in your life? Head on over to melbournemoonshine.com.au Enjoy responsibly.

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