12

GOURMET TRAVELLER 81

VICTORIA

Laura

3649 Frankston-Flinders Rd, Merricks

Millions of dollars’ worth of sculpture.

Crisp architecture. A setting which

combines a vineyard with views of the

ocean. It could have all gone so horribly

wrong, but the people behind Pt Leo

Estate on the Mornington Peninsula

remembered the secret to getting a big

project like this right. And that’s investing

in the software as well as the hardware.

To that end they teamed Phil Wood,

Rockpool’s last head chef, with

restaurant-manager extraordinaire

Ainslie Lubbock, empowering a pair

of the best talents in the trade to take

things to the next level. Wood, in turn,

is all about celebrating the region; his

menu headings aren’t broken down

under entrées and main courses or meat

and seafood, but localities: “Port Phillip”

equals scallop risotto with Mushroom

Forestry shiitakes, for instance, while

“Boneo” is potato and potato (yes, you

read that right) with flathead and Yarra

Valley salmon roe.

What to order:start with Merricks,

then consider a main course of

Moorooduc, and finally, close with

a Main Ridge dessert.

Restaurant Shik

30 Niagara La, Melbourne

It’s not quite a secret that the laneway

between Lonsdale and Little Bourke

streets is home to Australia’s most

exciting Korean eatery, but nonetheless

the quality of the food and drink at Shik

does not yet seem to have been matched

by Melbourne’s fervour for actually going

to the restaurant. Which is a pity, given

that no one else in the city is doing

anything like these flavours. Chef and

co-owner Peter Jo (best known for his

work on the floor at Momofuku Seiobo

and the original Belles Hot Chicken)

combines the tradition and deep funk of

Korea with his own eye for freshness and

quality ingredients – that’s Blackmore

and Rangers Valley beef on the grills, and

a scattering of sea succulents in the raw

snapper with cabbage. Make the detour.

What to order:as meaty as the menu

is, the kimchi plate might just be its

crowning glory.

Matilda

159 Domain Rd, South Yarra

Switch one of Melbourne’s favourite

culinary sons from a classical, very

European-influenced kitchen and put

him instead in front of a hearth, with a

mission to capture the best of Australia

with the help of a wood fire. It’s not

quite Dylan-goes-electric, but Scott Pickett

turning his hand to the grill at Matilda is

pretty electrifying. As are the likes of Lakes

Entrance octopus teamed with lemonade

fruit, and Robbins Island bavette steak

with wattleseed and burnt carrot.

What to order: just when you thought

the Tatin sisters’ tarte couldn’t be

improved upon, Scott Pickett goes and

sticks one in a wood-fired oven and pairs

it with smoked vanilla ice-cream.

Sunda

18 Punch La, Melbourne

Take a talented chef who worked at

Bentley, Cirrus and Noma Australia, brief

him to do his contemporary-Australian-

restaurant thing with the foodways of

Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, throw

some native ingredients in the mix and

stand back and watch the fireworks. Or

at least that’s how the brief for Sunda, an

industrial Punch Lane space, might have

read. From Southeast Asian spice to the

resinous punch of indigenous plants,

Khanh Nguyen has some big flavours

to juggle, but whether it’s rock oysters

under a coconut-curry vinaigrette flecked

with Tasmanian pepperleaf, or a cured

kangaroo dish with toasted rice and

smoked egg yolk that lands somewhere

between a larb and a tartare, he keeps

the balls in the air.

What to order: Nguyen’s otak-otak,

reimagined as a crab-curry parfait set

on banana leaf, is an instant classic. ➤

Lesa

122 Russell St, Melbourne

Downstairs: Embla, the no-bookings, à la carte wine bar you know and love.

Upstairs: the new restaurant from the same crew, which takes bookings,

of ers a prix fi xe menu and will soon have you seduced. The fl ounder is raw,

with hazelnut and green almonds, the leek is grilled and plated with wild

herbs, horseradish and goat’s milk, while the chicken course is served

in the form of a porridge made with almond milk and black chestnut.

What to order: building on Embla’s already impressive cellar, co-owner and

wine guy Christian McCabe has invested heavily in even more great wine.

It’d be churlish not to help take it of his hands.

In service at

Sunda. Above:

green apple

with chamomile

ice-cream,

artichoke and

almond blossom

at Lesa.

PHOTOGRAPHY GREG ELMS (LESA) & EMILY WEAVING (SUNDA).