Chef Josh Niland’s first book, The Whole Fish Cook Book by Hardie Grant Books Australia, won two James Beard Awards last night in the USA; best in category Restaurant and Professional and the ultimate accolade Book of the Year. This is a significant achievement of note! We have visited Saint Peter in Paddington for rave reviews but yet to visit Fish Butchery.
The James Beard Awards are held each year and are arguably the most prestigious culinary book awards in the USA, if not the world. The awards are given in many categories recognising chefs, restaurateurs, authors, journalists and broadcast media.
Josh Niland is the only Australian to have won a James Beard Book of the Year Award. Josh Niland is widely recognised for his transformative work with fish. Josh and wife Julie Niland opened their award-winning restaurant Saint Peter in Sydney in 2016. It has been celebrated by the Australian culinary community since opening. Niland has also attracted global attention from some of the world’s greatest chefs for his respectful, groundbreaking and unique approach to working with fish.
Melbourne restaurants are getting ready to re-open but we have experienced amazing takeaway dishes from a number of restaurants during challenging times. While we are excited about the re-openings we hope many Melbourne restaurants still offer takeaway options as it's proved to be a hit. Here are a few of our favourites -
The Olympics may have been postponed, but the highest rated American single malt – Westward Whiskey – has still managed to take home gold at the 2020 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
Are you in a rush to make dinner and don’t want to resort to fast-food or microwaveable meals? Typically, eating healthy dinners requires a little more preparation and patience than less healthy ones, but this doesn’t always need to be the case.
There are plenty of healthy andfast recipesthat you can prepare in under 10 minutes, so you have something to eat without compromising on nutrition. Even though these recipes are designed to be quick, you will still get as much nutritional value from them as you would with dishes that take longer to prepare – it’s all about the quality of the ingredients.
Melbourne Gin is a gin specifically crafted for Melbourne bringing together the best of Melbourne in a gin. Australian Distilling Company have produced a series of gins for each Australian city, and we were sent a bottle of Melbourne Gin to review. It's a follow on for us to the Adelaide Gin, which also has it's own unique character.
Tremila fresh gourmet pizzas, popular with Melbourne cafes and restaurants, are now available for home delivery at affordable prices. The good news is also that Tremila pizzas are top quality and come vac wrapped so you can store up a supply in the freezer. Tremila is about young chefs expanding their Melbourne wholesale gourmet pizza business in light of COVID-19 lockdown laws. Brilliant.
In our current world of COVID-19, with struggling or closed hospitality businesses and overworked frontline staff, the initiative OPERATION THANK YOU: FRONTLINE MEALS launches today. The goal of this initiative is to show our gratitude by feeding frontline workers dealing with the COVID-19 Pandemic while supporting Melbourne’s hospitality industry, who will provide meals paid for by the community. All donations can be made via the website (www.frontlinemealsmelb.org) that has gone live today. All monies will pay the hospitality businesses and see that the food is delivered to those who are working so hard for us on the frontline.
Recently we were sent a box of goodies from small boutique fruit & vegetables business Early 'N' Fresh, recently mentioned by Epicure at The Age. This company were supplying cafes and restaurants in the south eastern suburbs of Melbourne and they got hit really hard with the closure of non essential services. In an effort to save their business and their employees who depend on them, they are now offering home deliveries of fresh fruit & vegetables to homes in Melbourne. Big point of difference - they deliver produce to order at reasonable prices not pre-made packages! For a next day delivery your order will need to be received by 10pm (that's generous!). They require a min $50 spend on a delivery which is fair enough. And amazingly there is NO charge for delivery! Ordering is easy on the website. I reckon it's a game changer.
As an example of adjustment and transformation in these times Grosvenor Hotel in St Kilda is operating as a providore. With the pub and bistro forced to close in line with government rulings, its bottle shop, Grosvenor Cellars, has taken centre stage and become the new hub for customers. As well as selling alcohol, the bottle shop is adding four new streams to its business: Premium fresh meat cuts, cheaper than supermarkets and other gourmet offerings.
O’Connell’s Hotel is an iconic heritage Melbourne’s dining establishment, featuring stunning architecture, charming dining spaces and a top notch menu. When it comes to a business lunch O'Connell's has you covered. If you're coming here on a Friday afternoon plan a good 2 hours in the diary and tell the PA to advise customers that "you're in a meeting" for the rest of the afternoon. The World Loves Melbourne was invited along for lunch and we were highly impressed. Like other institutions in Melbourne right now they are adjusting to the Coronavirus situation. When we dined there was "social distancing" in place but now the restrictions are more severe. O'Connell's Hotel is currently closed until further notice as at March 2020, but we want to celebrate them and look forward to their return.
Dinner en Rouge returned for its second year for a feast of reds; a lavish five course dinner in celebration of the release of Levantine Hill lovingly aged, single-vineyard 2017 Levantine Hill Estate red wines. We were invited along to experience this joyous release, albeit in an atmosphere of soberness given recent worldwide events (with appropriate social distancing).
Helping hospo during this COVID-19 challenging time is imperative. We all love the Melbourne restaurant and hospo scene and we want to help local business continue to be strong and viable. As you are aware, restaurants and cafes have already taken a huge hit due to the increase of self-isolation. Here are some Melbourne restaurants and companies who have adapted new strategies to try and get through this crisis that we can support. I wish I could include everyone as we are getting alerted to about 30 initiatives a day (check your favourite restaurants and their intiatives).
Fire up your belly, St Hugo has marshalled some of Melbourne’s top restaurants to create a series of special Formula 1 pairings and offerings, available at icons Entrecôte, Grossi Florentino, Rockpool and Sake from March 9 to 23. We have been invited along to a dinner atEntrecôte to raise a glass to the limited edition 2016 St Hugo Coonawarra Shiraz and St Hugo’s new Fine and Rare Collection, hosted by St Hugo Chief Winemaker Peter Munro. Here are the details of the exclusive Culinary Racing Regale offerings featuring the St Hugo fine-dining tour around the world (get your tickets).
Prahran Market is leading the way in terms of new initiatives, tours and in terms of sustainability with its Green Earth Soil food created from waste from the market. The World Loves Melbourne was invited along to check out a new food tour and the sustainability initiatives of Prahran Market along with four leading Melbourne influencers. We visted some of the world class stalls such as Sweet Greek Shop, Nahedas Choice, Paddlewheel Prahran, Libertea, Damian Pike Mushroom Man, The Food House, Blackhearts & Sparrows, and The Cheese Shop Deli. Following our tour with Declan, we were treated with an extraordinary brunch cooked by celebrity chef Tobie Puttock.
Food visionary and multi-venue Creative Director, Matthew Butcher, has opened the doors to three new independent venues within the refurbished Crowne Plaza Melbourne; Yugo, Dive Bar and Pow Wow. The World Loves Melbourne was invited along to a media launch lunch at Yugo restaurant and was highly impressed, if not inspired.
Best fries and chips in Melbourne range from thin to chunky, spiced up to plain, as well as many being house cut. Gone are the days of rubbish soggy fries; chips are a big deal. Many Melbourne fries and chips offerings are well considered and have descriptive names and personalities. One of the best things to do in Melbourne is to enjoy top notch fish and chips; with many offerings fitting the gourmet bill.
Citibank Dining Program offers diners the opportunity to receive a free bottle of wine when you dine with partner restaurants, with several partner restaurants located in Melbourne. If you're travelling to other states you may wish to take advantage of the offer. The Citibank Dining Program is known for food and wine offers, as well as access to complimentary tickets to food and wine shows, or VIP access at dining events. If you have a Citi credit card or debit card you can be part of the program (I've had a card for over 10 years).
Opus Dining located in Balwyn is an exciting new modern Australian restaurant addition to the Melbourne foodie scene. This is a restaurant that brings to diners flair and innovation, bold flavours and a menu that pleases a variety of tastes. Opus Dining is the culmination of a dream from owners who ventured around Melbourne for 3 years visiting restaurants and experiencing the unique flavours this city has to offer. They wanted an expression that recognises Melbourne as a true food city with its high quality of produce, openness to experimentation (some excellent twists and interpretations at Opus Dining) and homage paid to the heritage and tradition of food origins. The World Loves Melbourne was invited along to experience the joyous dining experience at Opus Dining.
Chargrill Charlie's are a chicken shop destination of note on Proespect Hill Road in the Camberwell Shopping precinct, making waves in Melbourne following on from their success in Sydney. Chargrill Charlie's is the ultimate chicken shop but "more than a chicken shop" with an astonishing range of salads, chicken, desserts and tasty comfort food dishes. The vibe is appealing in its Camberwell restaurant and a modern fun place to dine, or indeed take away. We as a family have a Sunday ritual of a chargrill chicken based lunch so the invitation to experience a Footy pack from Chargrill Charlie's was welcomed.
Melbourne is a great city for dining including cheap and affordable eats! Check out our best cheap eats in Melbourne. For the student and city worker there’s a plethora of cheap eateries where quality and price converge.
The best bars in Melbourne are world class and there's a thriving bar scene in Melbourne. Whether you are looking for sophistication or a casual style bar, there is a bar for every taste and occasion. Here are our favourite bars in Melbourne as rated by The World Loves Melbourne.
