159
PORT PHILLIP BAY SCALLOPS
WITH GARLIC BUTTER AT
ROCKPOOL BAR & GRILL
HOT 100
They’re neither cheap nor plentiful – there’s only one
harvesting licence in Victoria and it comes with strictly
enforced quotas and ongoing controversy about the
quotas. But Port Phillip Bay scallops, plucked from the
seabed by hand, are absolutely worth the fuss. Small
and beautifully formed, they have an exquisite texture
and a subtly sweet taste. Recent menu sightings
include Attica and Rockpool Bar & Grill.LONDON
LAUGH INN
Melbourne somm Charlie Mellor
has brought a dash of Australian
wine-bar style to London. The
Laughing Heart, his late-night wine
bar, restaurant and bottle shop in
East London, was unashamedly
inspired by the likes of 10 William
St, Embla and Ester. Named for
a Charles Bukowski poem, it has a
300-deep organic and biodynamic
wine list and a menu that spans
“kitsch French, regional Italian, and
pared-back Asian” dishes, says
Mellor. Rock oysters with a
natural-wine granita to start,
followed by cod roe with furikake
and crudités, and Dexter beef
rib and Serragghia capers?
Now you’re laughin’.
thelaughingheartlondon.comKEEP YOUR GIN UP
Another day, another gin. Okay, so perhaps not
quite that many new brands of gin have crossed
our tasting bench this year – but it does feel that
way. And by far the most interesting are those
incorporating indigenous ingredients: Something
Wild’s super-punchy Australian Green Ant Gin,
for instance, featuring, yes, green ants from the
Northern Territory among the botanicals; or the
complex and perfumed Brookie’s Gin, featuring
herbs and plants foraged from the Byron Bay
hinterland. adelaidehillsdistillery.com.auVENICE
CLASS
Los Angeles hit deli and bakery
Gjusta has welcomed a new
member to its family: Gjusta Goods.
The boutique is housed in a 1930s
art studio in Venice Beach and
stocks Opinel cutlery, Dorothy
Thorpe glassware, and handmade
ceramics and cookbooks alongside
fresh flowers, rare vinyl and
vintage workwear jackets from
Vietnam. Co-owner Shelley Kleyn
Armistead says the decision to
branch out from cafés was
motivated by the chance to
give customers “a view into the
other conversations that are
playing out among the team”.
gjustagoods.com>CLAM HAPPY