Victoria
Surf’s up
Conveniently close to Melbourne Airport, UrbnSurf isn’t just a massive two-hectare artificial pool generating epic waves, but also home to the Three Blue Ducks’ 350-seat first Melbourne venture. Sit on the deck overlooking the breaks for friendly, family food like burgers, grilled octopus and, our pick, the mushroom pizza with caramelised onions.
Country surprise
Set in the skeleton of an old Benalla pub, That Dude and His Wok is a big surprise – excellent home-style Vietnamese in crisp minimalist surrounds that matches anything in Melbourne.
The twice-cooked chicken sings with spiced salt and lemon and cubes of skilfully cooked beef arrive humming with black pepper in the “shaking beef”.
Favourites like spring rolls, satay and salt and pepper squid are also all on parade, but the more adventurous should try the rice-paper rolls with Vietnamese luncheon meat and the caramel-coated grilled fingers of compressed pork mince like skinless Saigon snags (nem nuong).
The tight drinks list includes Vietnamese beers and local North East Victorian wines that won’t scare the bank manager.
If you love ferment Asian in the Barossa you’ll love this place – and it’s only a short detour from the Hume if you’re making the Sydney to Melbourne drive, or heading to the snow.
Totally Melbourne
When friends from interstate ask for the perfect Melbourne dining experience that won’t cost more than the flights, it tends to be a toss-up between Andrew McConnell’s exemplary Marion Wine Bar, Dave Verheul’s similarly relaxed but totally delicious Embla and the same wine-focused obsession with excellent interesting food of the Carlton Wine Room. You could do a lot worse than adding them all to your own Melbourne hitlist.
Try the Stracciatella (pickled mushrooms, chive oil, potato focaccia) at Carlton Wine Room. Picture: Kristoffer Paulsen
New Society
This year will finally see the opening of Martin Benn’s Society in Collins Street in Melbourne’s CBD – the culmination of a three-year project to lure one of Sydney’s most influential chefs to Melbourne. The images of new dishes from Benn’s development kitchen are as sexy as anything served at his critically acclaimed Sepia so expectations are high for Society to challenge for the spot as the city’s top restaurant when the doors fly open on the grand dining room in March.
The belle Bellarine
Victoria’s other peninsula has a laid-back joy all its own, whether you’re lounging in an Adirondack chair in the shade-dappled sun at Bellarine Distillery with a long G&T made with its Teddy and the Fox gin, or plundering the excellent Victorian wines on offer at Noble Rot in Point Lonsdale along with its zucchini, pesto and feta pizza for company. Also keep an eye out for local Port Arlington mussels, shop for interesting smallholder organic produce at Tuckerberry Hill at the weekends and try the great crisp Vietnamese chicken wings at Barwon Heads’ impeccably credentialled Hanoi Kitchen.
South Australia
Adelaide’s pizza game
I feel a keening when I think of Adelaide and all the visits I didn’t get to make this year. There’s so much to love there at the moment but a special word of praise for the city’s mod pizza scene. What Pizza e Mozzarella Bar pioneered – impeccable chewy, puffy crusts that would bring a tear to the eye of a homesick Neapolitan – has grown into a full-grown new-age pizza movement, whether it’s the Swiss chalet meets inner-city dive bar vibe of Sunny’s, the tiny but terribly tasty Etica that has the blessing of Naples’ own pizza association, and Madre which, besides great pizze, makes the best rum baba I’ve had outside Naples.
Go wild in the country
You’re spoilt for choice when it comes to eating well outside Adelaide, whether it’s a pilgrimage to Hentley Farm in the Barossa or a shorter jaunt up the Adelaide Hills for the homemade artisan vibe of The Summertown Aristologist where local natural wine features. It’s the Salopian Inn in McLaren Vale, however, where my compass is pointing next trip. Chef Karena Armstrong is a food hero who loves to champion the best of SA (and her own organic kitchen garden) in the likes of slow-cooked kangaroo tail with pickled daikon and chilli caramel, and steamed buns stuffed with red-braised free-range pork.
Tasmania
One of the first things penciled in my diary for 2021 once borders reopened was a trip to Tassie. On the agenda: chasing crays on the west coast, fishing off The Hazards, visiting The Agrarian Kitchen Eatery (love Rodney Dunn’s book but regretfully I haven’t got there yet) and try to time this all to coincide with one of Sarah Clare’s pop-ups in Cygnet, or anywhere Luke Burgess might be cooking.
The Agrarian Kitchen Eatery. Picture: Adam Gibson
New South Wales
Nomad returns
I have always enjoyed Jacqui Challinor’s food at Nomad in Sydney. It’s honest, invariably handmade in-house and never shy of flavour. Her new menu takes her signatures to new heights. Smoked mussels are served with a garlicky toum to slather on a darkly crisp hash brown, a cracking house charcuterie plate stars outstanding wagyu bresaola, and a little skewer of thinly sliced, date-glazed grilled wagyu tongue you’ll daydream about.
Sapphire Coast
The oysters of Merimbula, Tathra, Pambula and Narooma alone would be worth the trip to the stunning NSW southern coast even if there weren’t other prime food attractions like the excellent Eden Smokehouse at Eden, the Wild Rye’s Bakery in Pambula, and lunch with my old mate Kelly at Eastwood’s Deli and Cooking School in Bermagui, but only after a swim at the pristine Blue Pool. Don’t forget to check out the outstanding pastries and sourdough around the corner at Honor Northam’s tiny Honorbread.
Mod pasta
While Adelaide, like WA, is in the grip of an excellent pizza revolution, there’s a pasta renaissance going on in Sydney, from the rich, dark prawn casarecce at Totti’s and the crazy-good sourdough gnocchi at Cafe Paci to the spicy homemade pici with ’nduja and salted ricotta from Nigel Ward at Uccello. Think fun, funky and sleek as the respective experiences at each.
Core values
For any Harbour City egos bruised by the loss of Sepia and Martin Benn (see above), then the arrival of London’s amazing Clare Smyth from Core in London at Crown Sydney will be more than the perfect salve (as if the new places from ex-Bridge Room’s Ross and Sunny Lusted, Ormeggio’s Alessandro Pavoni, the legendary Ryuichi Yoshii and a local branch of Nobu at Crown weren’t already enough).
Harvest home
Landing at Harvest, Barrio and Sparrow Coffee is a return of sorts for David Moyle, who has had a couple of stints cooking previously at Byron Bay’s Beach Hotel. His restrained approach and produce-driven obsession should be a natural fit for the Newrybar stalwart of the Northern Rivers and perfect for the low-key-loving Hollywood megastars and rich-listers who have flocked to Byron over the past couple of years. The good news for the rest of us: you won’t need a seven-figure Netflix deal to cover the bill.
Queensland
Brissie’s best
I’ve fallen in love with eating out in Brisbane in recent years, be it laffa bread and wood-fired muhammara from the Middle Eastern-inspired menu at Gerard’s Bistro or the sleek Mykonos poolside vibe of Hellenika, but there’s so much more on the radar since my last visit.
I’m desperate to try the udon noodles with kombu butter at The Boom Boom Room izakaya (the newbie from Jake Nicolson and the boys behind Donna Chang), any of Mal Meiers’ food now he’s taken over the menu at dinky Gerard’s Bar (which comes recommended by no less than power-cook Alanna Sapwell) and dinner at the long-awaited venture from gun chef Ben Williamson.
His very sexy-looking Agnes is a favourite of my first-choice Brisbane dining companion and Queensland food guru, Anooska Tucker-Evans from the Courier Mail, who has never once steered me wrong (well, apart from a certain vegan place). This year should also see Sapwell back in a kitchen after the success of her Esmay pop-up, a new project from the team behind Gauge and a first Brisbane opening from storied Melbourne baker Daniel Chirico, who has made the move up to the Sunshine State.
I might even try to land a table at one of the hardest restaurants to book in Australia, the incandescently hot but tiny Joy. Watch this space.
Agnes restaurant is the long-awaited venture from gun chef Ben Williamson. Picture: David Chatfield
Urban farming
Much love emanating from north of the border, too, for the Farm House in Kedron. This looks like someone has plonked down a corrugated farm shack from outside Roma in the quiet suburban streets of Brisbane’s northern suburbs. The project is inspired by the best local farm produce, the service is reportedly top-notch. Add breakfast ideas like gnocchi arrabbiata with thick-cut bacon or a coconut panna cotta with Queensland mango and I’m sold.
Western Australia
The remotest dinner
At more than 100km from Tom Price in the Pilbara, it’s probably the hardest trek for any dinner in Australia this year, but the reward is making it to the Fervor long-table dégustation in the Karijini National Park on April 9. Ten courses are built around local produce and sustainably foraged native ingredients in a truly unique and remote location.
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