RESTAURANT NEWS
MELBOURNE
Despite a 14-day lockdown Melbourne’s hospitality troops are firing on all cylinders, with new openings still coming through. One of the most hotly anticipated arrivals is Aru, the latest venture from Sunda’s executive chef Khanh Nguyen.
The menu rests on the flavours of south-east and east Asia, remixed for the modern Australian restaurant scene, underscored with fire, smoke, fermentation and curing techniques, all overlaid with Nguyen’s Vietnamese-Australian heritage. Take the bites and snacks: a Vietnamese-Bunnings sausage sanga hybrid, which sees a duck sausage glazed with leatherwood honey, and served on soft white bread with caramelised onion and hoisin sauce. Potato wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce? They’ve shape-shifted into hasselback potatoes with a spiced herb sauce and a dressing of Laughing Cow cheese, and a potato-peel miso from their head of fermentation, Dennis Yong.
Collingwood has welcomed a real-life incarnation of Hope St
Radio, transforming the digital music station into a bricks-andmortar wine bar. The venue is the first to open up within the new Collingwood Yards precinct and will have you both grooving and boozing. The menu features an extensive list of natural-leaning wines, alongside snacks such as oysters; focaccia with caramelised garlic, tarragon butter and anchovies; and kingfish tartare.
Finally, Anchovy’s Thi Le and Jia-Yen Lee are set to open a yet-to-be-named bánh mì thi.t store right next door to their modern Vietnamese restaurant. After selling takeaway rolls of khao jee pâté, the Laotian baguette sandwich traditionally stuffed with pâté, pickles, herbs and sai gork (Lao pork-and-herb sausage) throughout lockdowns, the pair will turn their sandwich side-hustle into a permanent business, five days a week.
SYDNEY
Chef Phil Wood has secured a charming corner terrace in Paddington as the home for his first solo restaurant. While the name of his restaurant is still under wraps, the New Zealandborn chef is ready to take on the culinary stomping ground he knows well after spending eight years at Rockpool and Eleven Bridge. “After being in lockdown last year and not being in restaurants, I realised how much I missed cooking and the sounds of a busy restaurant,” says Wood. “I’m most excited about having that place I can call my own which has those sounds and sights, and memories that are created in it.”
Circular Quay’s iconic 19th century wool store, Hinchcliff House, is now home to a series of unique venues, courtesy of acclaimed Kiwi restaurateur Scott Brown (Amano, Good One). Lana, which sits on the first floor is a luxe, pink-hued fine diner with a Mediterranean-leaning menu serving fish-focused dishes; on the entry level there’s Grana, a smart-yet-casual day-to-night eatery with bakery attached; and below it all, Apollonia, a moody Sicilian “drinking den” offering Negronis, digestifs and a long list of spirits. A dedicated dessert bar – Grana Sweet – is due to join them soon.
Elsewhere, Marrickville has scored an all-day dining spot, slinging blueberry pies and fried mortadella sandwiches.
Valentinas takes cues from the classic American diner, and is the second venture from owners Elise Honeybrook and Scott Clark, who also own Camperdown’s muchloved Grumpy Donuts.
Double Bay is continuing to ride the wave of its local dining resurgence with the arrival of Roxy’s. Head chef Denzer Aseoche will bring his talents from Kepos Street Kitchen to the Middle Eastern-inspired restaurant, serving plates of crisp za’atar-rubbed chicken spare ribs, a four-cheese pita toastie and king prawn studded falafel.
BRISBANE
The Sunshine State has scored the talents of Thailand-viaMelbourne import Arté Assavakavinvong (ex-Longrain). He’ll lead the kitchen at Bulimba’s
Melrose, a Thai- and Balineseinspired eatery. The rooftop restaurant will be serving up bebek betutu (a confit and flash-fried half duck served with cauliflower and sambal); grilled fish wrapped in banana leaf with sambal matah (a raw Balinesestyle condiment with lemongrass, makrut lime leaves and shallots); and a larb that calls upon rich and fresh yellowfin tuna, in place of the usual ground pork or chicken.
ADELAIDE
Jake Kellie is behind a new flame-forward restaurant in Norwood. Drawing on his time working the grills at Singapore’s Burnt Ends and Sydney’s Mimi’s,
Arkhé will play with smoke and fire to showcase the best of South Australian produce.