FOUR DISHES

Gourmet Traveller staffers share their favourite plates of the moment.

Our favourite plates this month.

BARRAMUNDI COLLAR, LEMON MYRTLE SALT AND BURNT BUTTER, Pony Dining

Nut-brown butter makes everything better – including this clever snack of barramundi collar. Flake off the clean white flesh, dip it in the butter and repeat. The lemon myrtle is used sparingly. And yes, you’ll want to lick your fingers. Pony Dining 18/45 Eagle St, Brisbane, Qld, (07) 3181 3400.

FIONA DONNELLY QUEENSLAND EDITOR

SCALLOP AND MACADAMIA TARTS, Paper Daisy

It takes imagination and no small amount of patience to use slivers of green macadamia as the pièce de résistance on these one-bite scallop and cucamelon tarts. The canapés change often at Paper Daisy, but local seafood, tropical plants and sharp wit are always on the menu. Paper Daisy, 21 Cypress Cres, Cabarita Beach, NSW, (02) 6676 1444.

PAT NOURSE, MANAGING EDITOR

FLATHEAD TACO, Bar Patrón by Rockpool

Bar Patrón may be making headlines with its $100 Millionaire’s Margarita and extra añejo tequila, but the admirable range of salsas to accompany tostadas and tacos suggest that there’s guts to go with the glory. Case in point: the pico de gallo complementing the battered flathead tacos. Bar Patrón, 2 Phillip St, Circular Quay, NSW, (02) 9259 5624.

DAVID MATTHEWS, SENIOR EDITOR

EEL, LARDO, FURIKAKE AND ICEPLANT, d’Arenberg Cube

Out of the river and onto the hibachi grill. A thick cut of eel gets a lick of flame and smoke before chefs Brendan Wessels and Lindsay Durr apply a few clever touches – lardo and furikake adding umami and sea herbs lifting it. d’Arenberg Cube, 58 Osborn Rd, McLaren Vale, SA, (08) 8329 4888.

DAVID SLY, SOUTH AUSTRALIA EDITOR