Movers and shakers
SYDNEY
Catching buses across Lebanon to carry out food research and cranking out more than 50 kilograms of falafel mix for taste-testing purposes – that was just part of Simon Zalloua’s prep for opening Jimmy’s Falafel at Merivale’s Ivy precinct in the
CBD. The chef’s menu will have a veg-heavy focus, but falafel is the headliner here. Joining this Middle Eastern eatery at the Ivy complex:
Bar Totti’s. It might be a scaled-down spin-off of Merivale’s Bondi restaurant, Totti’s, but Mike Eggert will ensure that Bar Totti’s is a worthy detour, thanks to his antipasti dishes and woodfired bread. Colombo Social, a social-enterprise eatery, in
Enmore has opened its doors to diners seeking a menu inspired by Sri Lanka (think beetroot bahjis, roti tacos and fried chicken with a green-chilli mango glaze).
MELBOURNE
After nearly four years at Quay, Rob Kabboord has returned to Melbourne with a pop-up at The Hotel Windsor in the CBD. If the name Lekker (Dutch for tasty) isn’t already a clue, the venture draws on the Amsterdam-born chef’s background. “Dat is kaas voor ieder” [it is to everyone’s liking] takes its cues from the cheese trolley at Merricote (another former haunt of Kabboord’s), while “Oma’s snert” recalls the time his gran prepped a severed pig’s head for soup. The menu also offers a playful take on the chicken versus egg argument, with the chef serving poached breast, confit legs, crisp chicken skin with a cream made from the bones, and yolk cooked in a seaweed oil. “There is no waste and we are using every little morsel of the animal,” he says.
CANBERRA
After finishing up at
Bar Rochford early last year, Louis Couttoupes flexed his passport for several months: he headed to Paris, which revived his joy of dining out, and Hong Kong, where a $1.20 meal in an old tofu shop was a highlight. Myanmar, meanwhile, schooled him in hot-weather ferments and old preservation methods. He’ll draw on these influences at Kiosk, a pop-up which continues his love of producer-focused, waste-minimising dishes such as green almonds with soft, smoky mozzarella, and white anchovy panzanella.
BRISBANE
The team behind Longtime has opened Same Same at Fortitude Valley’s Ada Lane. And as the name suggests, the inspired approach to Thai food remains with dishes such as prawn larb tacos, a lunch-only Southern Thai fried chicken burger and basil gelato with lychee and ginger granita and cultured cream.
DALLAS
Curtis Stone’s Georgie is named after his niece and is his second collaboration with brother Luke. The menu includes foie gras tart with pumpkin preserve and beet tartare served with red grapes.