• Free to Feed, a social enterprise that creates inclusive communities through shared food experiences, has launched a new event series The Social Table – spotlighting refugees and people seeking asylum. It’s hosting a pescatarian dinner on Friday October 18 in Fitzroy North, accompanied by a conversation with two Free to Feed employees about starting over in a new country.

• Indonesian restaurant Kata Kita is hosting a Balinese banquet on Friday October 25. There’ll be sate babi (pork satay), tum (a banana leaf-wrapped mincemeat and coconut dish) and live performances from dance school Sanggar Lestari and Balinese community orchestra Gamelan Dananda.

• Melbourne chef KyongHo Choi of Omnia won this year’s S Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition. The win was announced at a ceremony in Melbourne last night.

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This week in food and drink news

• “It’s all just gotten too hard, we’re completely up against it financially”: Pie Thief to close.

• First look: Indonesian sambal empire Waroeng SS lands in Melbourne.

• First look: people are driving from Werribee to Richmond to go to this northern Indian restaurant Parathaas.

• After 10 years serving A-listers in Hollywood, Grant Smillie returns home for a new project.

• We took a chef to a self-serve instant noodle bar – here’s what he made.

• A new app fights food waste with discounted “Surprise Bags” from Oasis, Milkwood and Cobb Lane.

• A Melbourne bar named in the World’s 50 Best longlist.

• We talked to “Melbourne’s Best” from Netflix’s Culinary Class Wars.

• Alice Zaslavsky’s new cookbook proves you can make friends with salad.

• Brigitte Hafner, Jung Eun Chae and more chefs on their favourite sweets in Melbourne.

• Bread break (and XO-sauce mussel) with living legend Tony Tan at Embla.

• This chef thinks Aussie pies got boring. So she’s making her own with unconventional fillings, including curried eggplant, and rainbow trout with leek.

Get cooking

• Eight dip recipes perfect for dunking, scooping and swiping.

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