There’s plenty of news to digest in Melbourne’s food and drink scene; so much so that keeping up with the goings on might sometimes feel overwhelming. But we’ve got the cure for what ails you – or at least your attention span – with Melbourne and Victoria’s latest served up hot, fresh and fast.
Here’s how $5 could get you an overnight experience at Brae
The good folks at Brae are at it again raising money for their local community, this time for The Birregurra Hall, a century-old gathering place for local arts and culture. Help them out by buying a $5 raffle ticket and you’ll be helping yourself out with a chance to win a $2,500 dinner and overnight stay at the regional fine diner. The prize also includes breakfast the next morning, a farm hamper to take home, and bragging rights that you dined at Brae for five dollars.
Enter The Birregurra Hall fundraising raffle right here.
Express lunches are everywhere in Melbourne, and Aru is giving you 30 good reasons to order theirs
In great news for people who like to eat at fine diners at modest prices, $30 will get you a hearty bowl of duck and vermicelli noodle soup at Aru on Little Collins Street. And this isn’t any noodle soup, it’s a soup prepared by chef Nico Koevoets that’s slowly simmered with the duck’s bones and served with tender duck leg. Bonus: double down on the duck with a side of skewered duck hearts grilled over the hearth.
Aru’s $30 duck and vermicelli noodle soup is available for lunch, Tuesday to Saturday throughout winter. Bookings are recommended.
Westgarth’s Ophelia extends its all-day dining model late into the evening
It’s Yolk Group’s first foray into after-dark dining, and the trottole with prawns, bisque and espelette is just one reason to book a table. A year in the making, Ophelia’s evening service launches with a new chef packing Cumulus and Marion credentials, alongside new venue manager Heidi Modra, fresh from a successful 14-year stint at her neighbourhood bistro Pinotta.
The hot ticket at the High Street diner is Tuesday nights, with a pasta menu at $20 a bowl. On Fridays and Saturdays, meanwhile, the offering expands beyond Italy and across Europe: think smashable snacks like pickled mussels on toast and charcuterie, and a generous pork schnitzel to finish.
Ophelia’s evening service runs on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Book here.
Import to in-house: introducing Morning Market’s viennoiserie
After 12 months of research and development, the team at Morning Market are taking their baking in-house. They’re doing everything you’d expect to see in the pastry cabinet – classic croissants, almond croissants, and a morning bun soaked in spiced syrup that you’ll definitely want to take with a napkin – but if you’re getting in line for one thing, make sure it’s the apple and caramel chausson, their grown-up spin on the hot apple pie.
Morning Market’s viennoiserie offering is available at their Fitzroy and Prahran stores. Head this way for more.
Etta is doing $30 laksa every Wednesday
It turns out there are several spots around town to get a good laksa, at a great venue, and at an excellent price. For this one, Etta chef Lorcán Kan takes the staff meal to the specials board, available to you for $30 every Wednesday. Kan lets the lemongrass, garlic, makrut lime, galangal and chilli do the heavy lifting, resulting in a deeply fragrant midweek laksa hit. Bonus: it comes with a handful of crunchy deep-fried school prawns to satisfy your deepest dipping desires.
Lorcán’s laksa is limited to 20 servings at Etta’s front bar in Brunswick East every Wednesday night. Reserve a table here.
Cost of living crisis: Bad. Maha bowls of goodness $15 lunch: good.
Shane Delia is bringing the cost of living down one $15 bowl of goodness at a time, and this year, he’s calling in the team from across Maha group to help create the menu. There’s a new bowl each week, which you can take in or take out at the beloved Bond Street locale. And the first, a coconut laksa with poached chicken and egg noodles, takes an unlikely but exciting departure from the Middle East to Malaysia during the hours of 12 noon and 3pm every day.
Maha’s Bowls of Goodness series returns daily on Tuesday 10 June through to Sunday 31 August, noon – 3pm. Bookings are recommended. Find out what’s on the menu throughout winter on Maha’s Instagram.
Your new favourite oyster bar is Arlechin
Every Wednesday from 5.30pm, CBD cocktail hideout Arlechin is serving oysters at a very reasonable $3 a shell, and these aren’t just any oysters, they’re freshly shucked Appellation Sydney rock oysters. Take them natural or throw back a throwback as oysters Florentine – a serving style of days gone by where cream, parmesan and spinach are the star of this supremely savoury show.
Walk-ins only. Follow Arlechin for more.
All pizzas are now $20 at Magma, all the time
John-Paul Aziz, owner of Pizzeria Magma, thinks “pizza should be an essential service, not a luxury,” and that’s why they’re dropping the price of their pies to $20. From the Margherita to the marinara, there’s no catches, and no changes to the quality of their pizza. All that’s left to do is book yourself a seat at the table – or roll the dice and try your luck with a walk-in.
Pizzeria Magma in Fitzroy North is open from 5pm – 10pm, Tuesday to Saturday. Bookings are recommended.
An express experience at Marmelo
Do you like your yellowfin tuna with a dollop of bottarga cream? Your eye fillet with anchovy butter? And do you like it served fast? Melbourne’s Iberian fine diner Marmelo is getting down to business with preço fixo, a fixed-price two-course menu at $65 per person that takes flavour as seriously as your time.
Marmelo’s preço fixo menu is available for lunch, Tuesday to Friday, with limited early dinner sittings at 5.30pm and 5.45pm. Book here.
By Rick Stephens