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The residents of Melbourne, Australia, have always suspected they were blessed with a refined sense of taste. Their suspicions were confirmed in 2014 when super chef Heston Blumenthal announced that he would move his globally renowned British restaurant, The Fat Duck, to Melbourne’s casino for six months while the original was renovated.
Melbourne? Seriously? Why?
“I’d put Melbourne in the top five cities
in the world for food,” Blumenthal said afterward. “It has a rich mixture of cultures with a diverse range of foods.”
It’s true: Melburnians know their tartare from their tom yum, their guanciale from their har gow. The exacting standards of local diners have inspired a gastronomic culture in which much of the food, whether super cheap or ultra expensive, is really good. But it pays to know where to go.
Eating in the CBD
Australians call downtown the central business district, and Melbourne’s CBD is an exhilarating place to eat. Flinders Lane is the place for good food. Mod Thai eating house Chin Chin (No. 125; chinchinrestaurant. com.au) is still madly busy more than three years after opening, so expect a two-hour wait for a table on the weekend. Tonka
(20 Duckboard Place; tonkarestaurant.com.au) tackles a complex subject—contemporary Indian cuisine—with terrific results, such
as addictive soft-shell-crab pakoras. The same crew runs Coda (141 Flinders Lane; codarestaurant.com.au; ), where chef Adam D’Sylva prepares deeply satisfying Asian- accented morsels.
Gifted local chef and restaurateur Andrew McConnell owns three popular spots on Flinders Lane: crowded brunch staple Cumulus and its upstairs sister, Cumulus Up (cumulusinc.com.au;), and super chic Supernormal ( supernormal.net.au), a designer canteen channelling the kitchens of China, Korea and Japan.
Big Nights Out
There’s a fat chance you’ll get a table at
The Fat Duck (thefatduckmelbourne.com) after an online ballot last year locked in
all 14,000 places. When the Duck’s run expires, mid-August, Blumenthal will
open a Down Under offshoot of Dinner (crownmelbourne.com.au), his wildly fashionable London diner, which revives historic British dishes, such as buttered crab loaf with purslane and smoked roe. There is far more to Melbourne fine dining
than Blumenthal’s pop-up. But you’ll find echoes of The Fat Duck’s experiential dining at Mister Jennings (142 Bridge Rd., Richmond; misterjennings.com.au), where former Blumenthal protégé Ryan Flaherty transforms boudin blanc into corn dogs and prepares a gorgeous kangaroo dish (slices of loin served with Asian pear and raspberry dust).
Celebrity chef and Qantas Airways consultant Neil Perry has three upscale spots in town, all at the casino. Spice Temple (Crown Complex, Southbank; rockpool.com) showcases the fiery delights of regional Chinese cuisine; Rosetta is
an Italian restaurant with marble floors and mahogany walls (011-61-3-8648-1999; rockpool.com; dinner for two, $135). The Perry flagship is Rockpool Bar & Grill, a glam steak house that charges $95 for a Wagyu rib eye (rockpool.com; dinner for two, $200).
For Flinders Island lamb with Australian anchovies, head 55 stories above street level to Vue de Monde (Level 55/525 Collins St.; vuedemonde.com.au).
ENDLESS VACATION 09
Roads, streets and lanes of good eating:
From left: Melbourne is the Australian home of street side dining, no space is left unused in this culinary destination. Flinders Lane is one such Mecca boasting a plethora of unique, high quality eateries and bars. From Asian Fusion to Traditional Greek and Italian Melbourne has it all in mulitple price ranges and locations.