Stuck for easy dinner ideas? Have a less-than-well-stocked pantry and can’t be bothered messing around in the kitchen? Or maybe you just want to splash out for no reason?
Melbourne’s restaurants have got you covered. While we wait with bated breath and crossed fingers for dine-in service to make a comeback, there are tons of options from the city’s best to enjoy at home.
Here are our top takeaway picks for this week.
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SIGN UPLulu’s Char Koay Teow
If you can’t remember the last time you set foot in the CBD, let this be the reason for your return. On Hardware Lane, Lulu’s Char Koay Teow serves the charred, smoky Malaysian noodle dish seven ways. And it’s open for takeaway. Choose from original, just with prawns; with duck egg (which owner Chee Wong says makes the dish richer and creamier); with jumbo prawns; with blood cockles, also known as blood clams; with squid; with razor clams; and vegetarian. Each includes noodles made exclusively for Lulu’s, alongside Chinese sausage, egg, bean sprouts, chives and chilli – all tossed and cooked together in pork lard. The veg version omits the sausage and uses regular oil.
Order online pick-up at 27-31 Hardware Lane, Melbourne or delivery to dozens of Melbourne suburbs.
Public Wine Shop
Just before Melbourne descended into lockdown 6.0, Ali Currey-Voumard – one of the country’s most exciting young chefs, who propelled Tasmania’s Agrarian Kitchen Eatery to new heights – took the head-chef gig at Fitzroy North’s Public Wine Shop. Her and the team have run some bang-on lockdown pop-ups, and this weekend’s is no exception. Given the vicinity to Eddie Gardens, it’s doing fancy picnic packs with house-made duck rillettes, oeufs mayonnaise, clam-and-mussel escabeche and more. Add on half a dozen Sydney rock oysters with mignonette for $26, or a slice of sponge cake with lemon curd for $12.
Order online for pick-up at 179 St Georges Road, Fitzroy North or delivery within 10 kilometres. The pack is $70.
Tulum
Another picnic-perfect option is the new Turkish breakfast (or brunch) box from Balaclava restaurant Tulum. “Breakfast is definitely [the] tastiest [part of Turkey’s] cultural heritage – and a symphony of flavours,” says chef-owner Coskun Uysal. “The importance of Turkish breakfast is to share the food, which is literally spread across the entire table.” It’s a sight to behold. Expect everything from sesame-crusted simit and flaky borek, to the famous Turkish poached-egg dish cilbir and zucchini-and-tahini pie. Sides include oregano-topped feta, creamy goat’s cheese, tomato, cucumber, green leaves and more.
Pick-up at 217 Carlisle Street, Balaclava on Saturdays and Sundays. The box is $70.
Congress x Osteria Ilaria
Congress Canteen has been a lockdown mainstay. But this weekend the Collingwood restaurant is teaming up with the always-excellent Osteria Ilaria for a menu of souped-up Italian snacks. We’re talking mozzarella en carrozza (fried-mozzarella sandwiches) with kelp pesto; stracciatella alla pizzaiola (the team is calling it “pizza-flavoured stracciatella” or “pizza dip”) with a barbequed piadina; and crisp calzones filled with Wagyu silverside, ricotta, braised greens and raisins. For dessert? Soft, fluffy brioche with smoked-strawberry compote, hazelnut ice-cream, hazelnut spread and smoked salt.
Order online for pick-up at 49 Peel Street, Collingwood on Saturday from 12pm to 3pm.
congresswine.com.au
osteriailaria.com
Vesper Bar and Bistro
Marlane and Duncan Fraser-Smith spent the past 10 years in Dubai, but their new Melbourne restaurant has a decidedly Mediterranean edge. Vesper takes its cues from islands around the Aegean Sea, with a strong focus on seafood and drinks. Its lockdown “Vesperience” menu brings that into your home, with only a little heating required. Expect house-cured ocean trout with Yarra Valley smoked-salmon roe and black garlic-focaccia croutons; blackened Fremantle octopus with baked potato and chorizo oil; and a take on trifle made from dark-choc mousse, blood-orange caramel and hazelnut cake.
Order online for delivery within 20 kilometres of 23/25 Toorak Rd, South Yarra. The box is $150.
Additional reporting by Chynna Santos.
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