What we covered in Melbourne food and drink this week
• A first look at Fishing Season, Melbourne’s first catch-and-cook seafood restaurant.

• We break down the Japanese Slipper, a quintessential 1980s cocktail created in Melbourne, and let you know where you can find the city’s best.

•Three cosy, cool and warmly lit new wine bars worth checking out – from Coburg to Highett via Richmond.

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• Jerry Mai just started her new gig leading the St Cloud kitchen.

• Get to know Napier Quarter’s new head chef Steve Harry, an accidental chef who worked as a chef de partie at Cumulus Inc for two years, as head chef at Auterra and, most recently, as a sous-chef at Cutler and Co.

• Four Pillars Gin was named the world’s number one producer at the 2023 International Wine & Spirits Competition.

• Helly Raichura and Kay-Lene Tan team up on Diwali dinner at Enter Via Laundry.

• Premium meal-delivery platform Providoor is back with a new team and several high-profile chefs and food personalities on board – including Matt Preston, Silvia Colloca, Anna Polyviou and Luke Nguyen.

• Khanh Nguyen was named executive chef of King Clarence, the Bentley Group’s incoming Sydney CBD restaurant.

• Serious wine guy and comedian Merrick Watts tells us about Comedy in the Vines – the comedy and wine festival taking place in Nagambie next month.

You might have missed
• An Aussie venue won Best Bar Design in the World at the 2023 Restaurant & Bar Design Awards.

Listen up
• This week on Broadsheet’s podcast *Around Town* we talk to Joseph Abboud of Rumi, discuss two major cookbook releases we’re excited to get our hands on and hear about a major international fried chicken chain’s first Australian store.

More, please
• Giorgia McAllister Forte’s Monforte Viennoiserie in Carlton North is launching soft serve this weekend. The tiny, two-metre-by-five-metre patisserie, best known for its plain croissant brushed with leatherwood honey and topped with sea salt, will be showcasing seasonal soft-serve flavours on Saturdays and Sundays over the coming weeks. First up is a strawberry sorbet.

• Maison Balzac, the Aussie homewares brand founded by Elise Pioch Balzac in 2012, is hosting a petit dejeuner au soleil (French for “breakfast under the sun”) event at its Armadale store this Saturday October 28 from 10am to 2pm. Stop by for a mimosa, croissant and a complimentary gift (while stocks last).

• Food truck Mr Baller is on a roll again this weekend. The meatball subs truck is known for two items: The Don (Wagyu meatballs served with tomato sugo, garlic aioli, salsa verde, mozzarella and Parmigiano Reggiano) and Plant Based Paulie (a vegan version of the former). It will be rolling into the Bourne Local craft market at Elwood Beach this Sunday October 29th from 9am until sold out.